A walk in the woods

     Dear Destiny,

Carly and I are in town on a trip. I bought a packet of frozen peas while Carly was doing some boring, sensible shopping (*DULLSVILLE!!*) so, you hang round by the window, I’m sure I can pass it to you.

Your narky knickers top will never know!

Hugs,

Your super-adorable ally,

Jo

After reading her email, Destiny discretely sent her reply.

     “Jo,

      I can’t believe your timing, and OMG, frozen peas would be a dream come true. I can barely even sit, but you have to be careful if Adele finds out. Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.”

      Your brat buddy and ally,

      D

      Destiny quietly stood by the open window, waiting. She was so nervous. Any minute Jo was to pass by, and Destiny wanted to be ready; the thought of a bag of frozen peas was too much to resist. Sitting was unbearable, and she still had so many lines to write.

     Unbeknownst to her, Adele linked into Destiny’s email, so as soon as Adele read the message from Jo, Destiny immediately sent an email to her fellow Top Carly.

 Hey Destiny,

Looks like I won’t make it…

Somehow, Carly knew what I was planning! Sometimes I think you must be psychic or something!!

Just been ear-marched all the way back to the hotel (so embarrassing!!) for a good spanking! 

Who knew Carly got a new implement while she was here? Something called a spurtle – and it’s super super ouchie!!

Anyway, got to go – got loads more lines to write about showing respect to Carly’s toppy friends! 

Wait… I just heard Carly talking to Adele on the phone – apparently, your top’s taking us on a long sightseeing drive later!

Carly’s laughing about how we can compare notes in the back seats!!

Our poor ouchies! We won’t have any seats LEFT!

SO not fair!     

Ugh, how could Adele embarrass me like this? She promised not to reread my emails. Well, she didn’t promise exactly, but I thought we had an understanding, not cool. Destiny whined to herself before typing back.

Oh no, Jo, that doesn’t sound very good, being ear-marched back

Be careful what you say. Adele has been rereading my emails.

It’s been a while since she’s done that, but my last bit of trouble seems to have fired up her Toppy side something fierce.

Oh, and you can thank infomercials and Adele’s wicked sense of humor for the ouchie spurtle. We have a set at home, she got it as a joke, but the sting is not funny and lasts for days.

I know the ride will have us wiggling, but oh boy, it’s going to be so much fun. Maybe if we put our heads together, we can figure out how to destroy the spurtles.

     After hitting send, Destiny went in search of Adele. Finding her in her office, Destiny knocked sharply but only entered once she had Adele’s attention. “Adele, we need to talk.”

     Not surprised, Adele motioned for Destiny to sit, then waited for her to speak.

     Destiny was so sure of herself before entering the office but seeing Adele’s serious expression became a pile of nerves as she sat. It took a minute for words to come, and when they did, it was snippy. “Why? Um, Adele why are you still reading my emails? It’s not fair, I thought we agreed?”

     Adele knew as soon as she foiled Destiny’s plan, she’d come storming in here, and she was ready. “Little girl, I agreed to no such thing and you may want to drop the attitude.”

     “I don’t have an attitude, I’m just mad. You ruin everything.! I have no privacy!” Destiny shouted.

     Adele had enough, quickly got up, and was around the desk, stunning Destiny as she grabbed hold, lifting then swatting. “Oh no, you are mad because you two brats got caught trying to break the rules.” Swat, swat, swat. “And you’ll get your privacy back when you earn it and not a minute sooner.” Landing a flurry of hard swats, Adele stood then turned her little girl, holding her at arm’s length. “Do I need to continue? Or are you going to behave?”

Hey Destiny,

I reckon it will be fun. It’ll be great to spend time with you and, let’s face it, this won’t be the first time we’ve had to ignore the ache in our bottoms.

Fact is, that ache is one of the things that keeps me grounded in Carly’s love… and it’s cool to share that special achy feeling sometimes with someone else who gets it.

I think we’ll have to get used to those spurtles (though, given how my butt feels right now, I reckon that might take me a while). You know what tops are like about keeping hold of implements once they find them… effective.

Looking forward to later, though I might be wearing some extra padding for the journey.

x  Jo  x 

Jo thought hard about the message before hitting “send.”

She wondered whether it was wise to mention the extra padding, but (even if she read the email) it seemed unlikely Adele would want to cause her any more grief just for a bit of padding. Indeed she’d been disciplined enough.

If Destiny chose to put on some extra padding, too, surely Adele wouldn’t mind if she figured they’d be behaving themselves.

Still, the possibility of Adele reading the email was her reason for saying she’d accepted that spurtles were here to stay.

Once she was with Destiny, and within whisper range, she figured coming up with a de-spurtling plan could be fun.

     Destiny giggled as she read the email from Jo, her brat ally. Just the thought of her wearing some padding was enough to ease some of her soreness. But, of course, Adele would never let her get away with doing anything that would stop her wiggling. Destiny was sure Adele loved watching the faces she made sitting on a particularly sore spot as if the spanking itself wasn’t bad enough.

     Now giving up on destroying the spurtle had to be a diversion. There is no way Jo was serious, hmmm,

Jo,

oh, I can’t wait either. I thought I screwed up earlier, and I was so mad about Adele reading my emails I confronted her. Let’s say I’ll be wiggling on the drive. It’s not fair!! Let me tell you; Adele doesn’t even need a spurtle; her hand is like steel.

Well, I hope we aren’t just riding around all afternoon. I want to go hiking and climbing, oh man, I wish we could go swimming. Imagine how good the cold water would feel in certain areas.

See ya soon,

D

Now it was Jo’s turn to giggle. The thought of them soothing their tails together in some lovely cool water was almost too good to be true.

Hey Destiny,

Sounds like you got an extra dose of tail tanning. So sorry about that – it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t texted you earlier about my stupid ice pack plan.

Hopefully, I can make it up later.

See ya soon  x

No sooner had she hit “send” than she felt Carly’s hand on her ear for the second time that day.

“Oww! Ow! Ow! Ow! Carly, please!”

Ignoring Jo’s protests, Carly dragged her brat to the nearest chair.

“I had an interesting text from Adele just now,”  she said.  “Apparently, your friend Destiny is going to have an even redder bottom on our trip together, thanks to the fallout from your little frozen pea stunt.”

She turned Jo across her lap and flipped up her skirt.

“Ooh, now what do we have here?” she smirked.  “Either your bottom has grown in the past couple of hours or someone’s been padding her pants. Really… do you think it’s fair that Destiny earns extra swats while you get to sit in comfort?”

Jo whined loudly as several pairs of pants were pulled down at once. This spanking was really gonna sting –

And boy, did she deserve it.

     Destiny didn’t get a chance to answer Jo’s email because Adele decided a lecture was a better way to spend her time. The lecture centered around behavior and seemed to go on forever; Destiny tried to focus but lost track of what she was saying. After a while, all she heard has yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah.

     Later that day, Destiny was somewhat surprised when Jo hobbled over, rubbing her bottom. Running around to hug her, Destiny asked the obvious questions. “Jo, What? On no, not another spanking and where’s the extra padding? No, Don’t even tell me, you got busted.” Shaking her head, Destiny added, “Please tell me you brought a bathing suit.?” Before Jo could answer, the Tops directed both girls to sit in the backseat.

     In the backseat, Destiny reached in her sack and pulled out a massive bag of treats. As she presented the bag to Jo, she said. “I brought enough snacks to last all day. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sneak any ice packs.” Hearing the giggle, both Tops looked back simultaneously, trying to see what they were plotting.

Thinking as quickly as she could, Jo scanned the treats from Destiny’s bag and – yes! She’d included one of her favourites! Which, as luck would have it, was also one of Carly’s. 

“I was just telling Destiny how much you like these,” she told Carly, handing her the treat and lowering the tone of her voice.  “I thought you and Adele could share it, as a kind of apology for the trouble I caused everyone today.”

Taking the snack, Carly kissed her brat on the forehead.

“Don’t you worry about that,”  she said.  “I keep telling you not to drag things around with you.  I know it’s hard… and I know you’ve had a lot of that in your life… but you have to learn to let go. You know we all adore you, right? It’s just you that keeps giving yourself a hard time.”

Destiny added weight to this by giving Jo a massive hug – and it was a heartfelt one, too (though it didn’t hurt that she knew it would also earn her some extra brownie points from Adele, as well as give her a chance to cover the massive collection of treats as she leaned forwards).

It also meant shifting her weight on a particularly sore part of her derriere. Jo felt the wince and hugged her back harder in sympathy. Having seen the nice weather and remembered the suggestion of hiking, she had changed into her shorts – under which, as she now whispered to Destiny, she was wearing her bathing costume.

Whether or not it was officially part of Adele’s itinerary, she had decided that part of their brat mission on this trip would be to grab some butt-cooling swim time no matter what. 

     Destiny was grateful for Jo’s quick thinking. These leather seats were hard enough without adding another round of swats. Starting the car, Adele glanced back toward to girls to verify, “Are you both buckled in?” Then raised her eyebrow in warning before Destiny could return with a smart reply.

     Self-preservation kicked in, and they both said. “Yes, ma,am.” Then as soon as Adele was concentrating on driving and talking to Carly, Destiny quietly joked with Jo, “I wonder how long it’ll take before we get in trouble again?” Carly shrugged then reached for the snacks.

      Destiny caught Adele looking back every once in a while. When their eyes would meet in the rearview mirror, Destiny’s heart would melt as Adele’s lips curled up into a smile. Destiny, happy her wife, was in a good mood, and smiled back each time, lingering on her wife’s reflection before returning to making plans with Jo.

     Time flew before either of the girls realized they were pulling into a parking lot. Tucking her stash under the seat, Destiny grabbed her backpack and jumped out of the car, ready for their adventure to begin.

It was a lovely woodland trail, and it was particularly good to be out of the car – a chance for the brats to stretch their legs and do some severe butt rubbing.

Destiny and Jo were busy comparing notes about Carly and Adele’s cute habits. Both were trying to outdo each other with tales of lovely adorable treats their toppy partners would give them when they weren’t in bottom-spanking mode when Destiny noticed a pond over on a side trail below them.

“Follow my lead,” she said.

A few yards further on, Adele and Carly found a bench where they could enjoy an impressive view through the trees. They noted their brats’ reluctance to join them on the bench with mischievous grins.

 “Hey, race you!” grinned Destiny, giving Jo a pretend swat on the seat of her shorts.

Jo raced after her friend and, just as Destiny had hoped, Adele called after them – “Don’t go far!” – before carrying on her chat with Carly.

Free at last, the brats made for the other path. In no time at all, they were changed into their costumes and jumping into the pond. Although it was a hot day, the water was nice and cool in its shady spot beneath the trees and felt wonderfully refreshing on a couple of aching backsides as the brats splashed and played together.

The chance to be totally silly was so exciting. They completely lost track of time – until snapped back to reality by the sight of two very stern-looking tops glowering down at them from the water’s edge.

Worse still, they were both wielding spurtles! 

“You wouldn’t!” whined the brats.

“Not very smart of you girls to go swimming,” said Carly with another of those mischievous grins. “Just think how much these spurtles will sting on wet bottoms!”

Jo and Destiny looked at each other in horror.

     The look brought an evil laugh from their Tops. Destiny looking for any escape glanced toward the opposite shore, then back toward Adele. When it appeared her fate sealed, she tried bargaining. “Adele come on, how about you join us. The water is so refreshing.” When Adele’s expression didn’t change, Destiny whispered to Jo, “Say something.”

     Staring up at Carly from the water, Jo could only see the wooden spurtle. Immediately she knew there were no words magical enough to save them. Of course, that didn’t stop her from trying, “Come on, Carly, Don’t be cross, we’re just having fun.” Jo’s eyes pleaded with Carly, and for a moment, she felt hope.

      Both Tops proceeded to put hands on hips and glared down at the girls as if planned. Adele spoke up first. “Don’t be cross? You two plotted behind our backs, then snuck off to jump in the pond. Did either one of you think to let us know where you were going, so we didn’t worry?” Two sets of guilty eyes found each other. “Yes that’s what I thought. Now, no more stalling and come here.”

By the time the two brats had – very slowly and reluctantly – hauled their now massively tingling behinds out of the pond, Adele had packed both sets of shorts and t-shirts into Destiny’s backpack and slung it over her shoulder. 

“Carly and I were just talking about how much we value our cardiovascular exercise,” she said. “Keeps us nice and fit for good long hikes. Now, we know the pair of you like to run off if there’s mischief waiting for you,  but we thought it was time to test how fit you really are. Now get your shoes on.”

The brats tied their sneakers, dearly wishing Adele would let them use the towels in Destiny’s pack to dry themselves off.

“Put simply,” explained  Carly, “the faster you can run, the fewer swats you’ll get on the way back to the car.  And don’t try reaching your hands behind to protect your backsides, unless you want very sore hands. Off you go!” 

Jo and Destiny launched themselves down the trail towards the car park, quickly discovering how fast their tops were – not to mention how fiercely their wet bottoms magnified the stinginess of those spurtles.

“OOOOOOWWW!!  OWWWWEEEE!! YOOOOWCH!!  OOOOOOHH!!”

Occasionally, one of the brats would stumble, earning her upturned bottom a flurry of super-stingy swats so they were both more than a little relieved to have reached the car park. That is until they saw a small group of girl hikers laughing at their predicament as they raced red-faced to the car.

“So much for sisterhood!” sighed Jo.

“Just hope they don’t have their phones out!” replied Destiny.

As they reached the car, they realised neither of them had keys.

“Ok, girls,” said Adele.  “That was a good run. Now bend over the hood so we can finish your lesson.”

“But – but you just said you were chasing us to the car!” protested Destiny.

“Yes,” replied Carly, “but we didn’t say your spanking was going to stop there.” 

“Something funny?” asked Carly as she and Adele paused by the giggling group of hikers.

“Well, you have to admit, it is pretty amusing,” said one of them,  “seeing you chase a couple of swimsuited girls across the car park.”

“They’re athletes,” said Adele.  “They’re doing some outdoor training – swimming, running… They have a fiercely competitive trial coming up” – she swished her spurtle enthusiastically – “and these give them extra motivation to stay in front. You want to try?”

“Er… no thanks… no, we’ll just get in with our hike,” replied the girls, quickly hurrying off down the path.”

“That’s what we thought,” sniggered Carly as she and Adele turned back to their brats, who had reached the car.

     In unison, the girls groaned, and Destiny unwisely decided to argue. Jo stood in stunned silence, just watching, unable to stop her friend as she saw the brat emerge. “No! Adele,” her foot-stomping fingers tightened into fists, “you can’t, not here!”

     Adele, not one to put up with disobedience, seemed to glide over to Destiny, clamping the girl’s ear lobe between her two fingers. Destiny’s scream almost drowned out Adele’s lecture. “Little girl, You do not tell me no!” Earlobe, in one hand, Adele frogmarched Destiny to the front of the car. Screeches and apology’s followed the sorry girl as Jo stared in disbelief. Once Destiny was in position, Jo glanced toward Carly her expression had Jo scrambling to join her fellow brat.

     A small crowd of onlookers gathered but stayed far away when Carly and Adele glared their way. Now beyond embarrassed, Jo and Destiny leaned over the hood, each using the cover of their arms in hopes of hiding their scarlet faces. Destiny whispered, “sorry, Jo.”

     Carly pulled Adele aside. The teasing of their brats turned slightly more serious by the bit of defiance. Carly was irritated, and it wasn’t even her brat stirring up trouble. She decided the best thing for all was to step back and chill. Adele shook her head as she stood next to Carly, watching the girls. Then she said, “I believe my girl has earned herself a few extras, don’t you think?”

     “Oh, I agree, I’m going to enjoy watching those two brats trying to sit still for dinner tonight. Ok, what do you say we finish up and go to our next stop?” Adele agreed. Feeling much calmer now, she was ready to bring a bit more color to her brat’s derrière.

   Bracing herself for a spanking she knew was going to sting like a hornet carnival on her bottom, Jo reached over and squeezed Destiny’s hand. 

She could take pretty much anything over Carly’s knee – that was as close as anything came to being her special safe place. But bending over something felt different somehow – less intimate. Perhaps she was just a little spoiled, with Carly sharing her lap so freely and always giving her oodles of OTK time when she needed it. Besides, there were few brats more adorable than Destiny to share a spanking.

They stared at each other in shared anticipation, Destiny mouthing a silent “thank you” as she squeezed Jo’s hand back.

That was when the spanking started. Thanks to the swift rhythm of Adele and Carly’s shockingly coordinated swatting technique, the hot sting quickly built up across their barely-covered backsides – especially when their tops switched their attention to a couple of very tender sit spots.

“Oww!! Ouch!! Owee, that stings!! Oowch!! Ooow!!”  

If they had hoped the run through the woods had dried the relevant bits of swimsuit fabric enough to dull the sting-intensifying wetness, they were sorely disappointed (in the most literal sense of the word “sorely”).

When the swatting finally stopped, the touch of Carly’s hand ruffling her hair made it clear to Jo that her spanking had come to an end. She tightened her grip on Destiny’s hand, knowing that her friend had another dose of walloping to come.

The sight was so adorable, Carly didn’t have the heart to pull her away, and (after a short lecture on throwing tantrums, which, this time, Destiny felt far more inclined to listen to) Adele delivered the final few wallops in record time.

Despite wanting to be brave for her friend, Destiny was howling when the spurtle found her sit spots again. Both brats breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the tanning was over.

“Did you hear what Carly said to Adele about the next stop?” whispered Jo as they gingerly stood up to give their burning bottoms a rub.  “I wonder where they’re planning to take us now.”

“Probably a synchronized spanking class,” replied Destiny, though without any real amusement.  “Did you feel how in sync their swatting was?” 

The two brats sighed at the sight of the back car seats.

Adele reached into Destiny’s backpack and pulled out their t-shirts and shorts. Pulling her shorts on, Destiny folded her t-shirt, took a deep breath, and tucked it snugly inside the seat of the shorts.

Unable to control a little giggle at this other display of rule-breaking, Jo did the same with her t-shirt,  and the tops found it hard to contain their chuckles as the two brats lowered their slightly-padded bottoms onto the back seats. Given their expressions, it wasn’t helping much.

     As Adele drove, the girls in the back seat were sure she aimed for every pothole in the road. Each time, they lifted their bottoms and dropped them down on the hard seat. The thin layer of t-shirt material was useless. Destiny whined, “Ow, Adele, watch where you’re going!” The girls used their arms to hold themselves up, trying to relieve some pressure, but then they hit another pothole.

     “Sorry babe, it’s the road, I try to avoid one and another sneaks up.” Carly reached back with her hand, hoping to soothe Jo, who whimpered with every bump. At this point, neither brat cared where they stopped next, just as long as they could stand up. The ride became more manageable once they were off the dirt road and back on the main highway.

     The smooth ride didn’t last nearly long enough before Adele turned down yet another dirt road. Thankfully they didn’t have far to go; Adele and Carly retrieved a small cooler and beach bag from the trunk. This action had the girls looking on in shock. Jo was the first to ask. “Is this a trick? What are those two up to?” Destiny shrugged. She was to ask. She was just happy to be out of that back seat.

     Carly and Adele led the way up a narrow path; they walked maybe ten minutes before hearing sounds of running water. The further down the trail, the louder it became. On the last bend, Adele had the girls lead the way. She knew what was there but wanted to see their expressions. As she imagined, their faces lit up and squealed with excitement. Right in front of them was a pool of the most transparent water fed by a thirty-foot waterfall. The temptation to jump in was overwhelming, but recent events had them both turning to their spouses for permission.

     Receiving a smile and a nod, the girls stripped out of their shorts and jumped into the watering hole. Immediately the cool water eased their soreness, and they began splashing around. Once the initial excitement eased, they goaded Adele and Carly to join them and were both surprised when they too had their swimwear under the clothes.

So, just think,” Adele told the brats, “you could both have avoided a darn good paddling if you had just shown a little patience.”

Jo and Destiny looked at each other, seething at the way their tops had outmaneuvered them once again.  The fire in their bottoms went straight to their faces, and they could feel that bratty streak of protest rising inside them.

But their throbbing backsides gave them pause even here in the cool, refreshing water. Jo reached out to squeeze her friend’s hand again.

“Looks like the sooner we admit defeat,” she said, “the sooner we can start having fun.” 

Destiny nodded softly.

Jo turned to Carly and felt that familiar hand of hers slide round the back of her neck, playing with her wet hair.  Such a teasingly gentle hand, now that it wasn’t torching her bottom, fingers curling ever-so-gently around her dripping locks. 

And then that gorgeous Carly smile radiated out like the ripples from that waterfall.

Jo launched herself into her beloved’s embrace, and Carly let the force carry them both back towards the splash zone, where they could shower themselves into each other again. What a gorgeously lyrical thought.

“Sometimes, I think being with you is bringing out the poet in me,” she whispered to her brat with a gentle butt-squeeze that had Jo squealing (though not unhappily).

Destiny, however, was feeling a little more tentative.

They watched Adele’s smile, just as she had done in the drive’s rearview mirror on the drive…

As she felt Adele’s fingers glide across her cheek…

She thought about how much fun it used to be and how, just lately, it had turned into a bit of a battleground.  Watching Jo and Carly pirouetting together through the sparkling water, she wanted that with Adele. The yearning bubbled up with unshed sobs, and she could feel her defenses start to tumble.

“What is it, hon?” asked Adele. “What’s wrong?”

    “Oh, Adele,” taking in a deep breath, Destiny let it out along with emotions she didn’t know she was holding. “I want you to want me like that,” tears began to fall. Destiny used both hands to cover her face, embarrassed by her loss of control.

     Adele was momentary shocked. She didn’t realize Destiny was feeling so insecure. Even at her brattiest moments, Adele never wants her to have doubts about her love. She wrapped her strong arms tightly around her girl while whispering reassurances. “My love, I do and more.”

     Destiny looked up into Adele’s eyes. The intensity and love she saw looking back at her melted her heart. “Adele, oh, Adele.” was all she could say before their lips met, and Adele lowered them both into the water up to their necks.

    They stayed locked in each other’s embrace, hands roaming, only breaking apart when a barrage of water came splashing down on them. Destiny and Adele were flush when the water hit them, and giggles reached their ears. But Jo’s comment, “get a room.” Had Destiny ready to retaliate.

     As Carly joined Adele, they kept far away from the two brats, with tons of water flying between them. At least they were no longer focused on derrières. Although before the battle of brats could turn into trouble for the pair, Carly suggested she and Adele swim below the surface and surprise them.

     It was almost time to set out the picnic, so they ducked under, and once they were close enough, each grabbed one of their partner’s legs. Squeals filled the air, followed by laughter as they realized what was happening.

A couple of good dunkings later, the brats found themselves by the water’s edge.

“So, are you girls going to help us get the picnic ready?” asked Adele.

Each having worked up a good appetite, the brats were happy to help, and a lovely spread of everyone’s favourite food was ready in no time.

The tops had decided it would help them get to know each other better if they each sat with the other’s partner – though the poor brats were still more reluctant to do any sitting at all.

They could see how much their writhing, wriggling discomfort amused their conversation partners during the meal, and the fact that these were not their regular partners added to their embarrassment. But it was still a delicious picnic, and the brats didn’t need much encouragement to chat freely.

Adele and Carly were struck by the parallels between their brats and their shared insecurities. – as well as the gaps that somehow each brat filled in the other.

With the sweet sound of the waterfall background, and both brats eager to sing the praises of their tops, the time passed beautifully.

“Well, Carly?” asked Adele. “Do you think our girls have earned themselves a good rub with the cream we brought?”

The brats positively glowed at this.

“Well, they have been very well behaved on our picnic,” replied Carly.  “But it’s just such a shame they had to spoil it by smuggling all those treats into the car.”

The glow faded, as once again Jo and Destiny found themselves looking at each other in dismay.

   Destiny, shocked even by the innuendo, positively cringed. They didn’t even eat any of the snacks besides how they knew Adele and Carly planned a picnic. Neither top explained or, for that matter, forbid them to bring anything. Destiny was the first to find her voice. “That’s not fair, how were we supposed to know today’s itinerary if you all didn’t tell us.”

      Reluctantly Jo chimed in; although she knew her butt couldn’t take any more attention, she fell in line with Destiny. Thinking, if one brat goes down, they both go down. Luckily their tops were teasing. They went overlaps but only to have soothing lotion applied. Sighing, Destiny was content and could have stayed in this spot forever.

     Of course, that was not to be, and soon she was lifted and placed in front of Adele. Destiny was standing there awkwardly. A blush rose to her cheeks as she struggled to keep the towel in place. Jo giggled when she had a similar problem with the towel. Although they were secluded, Carly and Adele held the towels so the girls could right their clothing without flashing any passing hikers.

     “Adele can we go back in, please.”

     Looking to Carly for confirmation, Adele said. “Yes, but it’s time to leave, I don’t want to hear any fussing.” Hand in hand, the girls ran to the edge and jumped in together. “Well, so much for the lotion.”

     Carly smiled as she watched their girls laughing and splashing. “You know what, Adele, I think we should join them.”

      Removing her t-shirt Adele challenged. “Last one in is a rotten egg!”