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McGillicuddy shouted from the front of the bow.
    “Dumb luck,” Sean said.
    I smiled at Sean. I would feel guilty later about laughing, as I always did when I laughed at Sean’s mean jokes. But while I was there with him, he was so charming, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
    When I looked back at Adam again, he was in the middle of a 540 to blind, which was fine, but for the love of God, he hardly had time to land before he hit the rails on the pontoon boat. I waved to get his attention, then swiped my finger across my throat: cut it out . He signaled for me to speed up.
    I told Cameron, “Adam would like to spend this summer in traction. Speed up.”
    I turned back around in my seat to watch Adam again. Sean was leaning toward me in his seat, watching me . “Cold?” he asked me.
    Pardon? Yeah, the ninety-degree afternoon and ninety-percent humidity always gave me a chill I couldn’t shake. But one delicate, haughty brain cell in the back of my mind told me he was flirting with me and I should feign helplessness .
    “I’m freezing!” I squealed. And just like that, Sean Vader moved across to my side of the aisle and scooted against me in my seat until I made room for him. He put his hot bare arm around my bare shoulders. And I fainted.
    No, I didn’t really. But I did feel dazed, perhaps from the hyperventilation. Suddenly I realized Adam had been gesturing wildly at me for several seconds without it even registering with me. He signaled me to slow down. I told Cameron.
    Adam did a front flip. Sean said in my ear, “Gosh, I’ve never seen anyone do that before. Makes me want to buy a wakeboard from Vader’s Marina!” I giggled. Adam signaled me to slow down more, and I told Cameron.
    Adam did a back roll with a grab. Sean put his free hot hand on my bare knee and whispered, “You don’t believe Adam’s bigger than me, do you?”
    This time I missed a beat. I was used to locker room humor. But Sean directing locker room humor at me , flirting with me ? It seemed unlikely that Stage Two: Bikini had worked so quickly. Was I reading him wrong? Adam gave me the thumbs-down, and I told Cameron to slow the boat one more time.
    Just as I turned back around, Adam launched into what could only be an S-bend, which was absolutely impossible to land with the boat going this slowly.
    Sean, McGillicuddy and I all swore at once, and watched Adam’s long, slow death-splash with interest and resignation.
    “Down,” I called to Cameron.
    Sean gave me the funniest look that said no shit . I laughed out loud. He smiled again as he found his board and slipped over the back of the boat to the platform.
    Adam emerged from the depths, vaulted over the side of the boat, and stood close to my seat so he dripped on my formerly comfy, sun-dried self. He commented, “S-bend or what?”
    “Or what?” Cameron said. “What the hell were you doing, trying it that slow?”
    “Sometimes I want to try new things,” Adam said. “Sometimes I want to do things I know are bad for me, just for fun and profit. Don’t you, Lori?”
    I gazed way up at him and gave him a look that said, Stay out of my net, little dolphin . He grinned right back at me, defiant.
    “Yeah, Adam,” I said. “Sometimes I like to stick my finger in a light socket to see what will happen.”
    He pointed at me. “Exactly.” Without another word to me, he took off his life vest and handed it to Sean.
    Sean got up on his first try without any trouble. He never attempted any tricks he couldn’t do perfectly. We always ended the exhibitions with him. We could count on him to do impressive moves, but nothing he couldn’t land.
    That’s why I watched in disbelief when, after a few textbook flips, he launched an air raley. Surely he wasn’t doing it just because I’d landed one. Or maybe he was, and this was his way of teasing me. Anything I could do, he could do better.
    Except he couldn’t. He panicked at the peak of the trick. Overcorrecting, he did lose his