The rest of Friday passed quickly, the group took the canoes out on the lake and swam and sunbathed more. Saturday went much the same way. Four women in shades lined up on lounge chairs catching rays and relaxing.

Saturday was also the day that Joy got a sunburn. It was late in the day, and Joy hadn’t reapplied sunscreen for a long while. Seulgi, Irene, and Wendy decided to go for another swim and instead of following the unnies, Joy stayed behind and fell asleep on her stomach. When the three returned they found Joy in a deep sleep, drooling, her back red. They wondered who amongst them had the guts to wake up Joy. Eventually Irene pushed Seulgi forward, the scared bear did her best to gently awaken the sleeping monster, but Joy screamed when she rolled over, unaware that her back was on fire.

Irene was slightly gleeful at Joy’s pain, “This is cosmic retribution for arguing with me the other day, you should have used more sunscreen.”

Joy jumped up and chased Irene, complaining all the way about her sunburned back.

Seulgi and Irene could only shake their heads, and followed the other two back to the cabin. Luckily, Wendy was prepared as always and had aloe in her bag to help ease Joy’s suffering.

-----

Sunday was finally upon them, and Mr. and Mrs. Son had made another appearance for the “Family Barbecue.” Wendy and Seulgi were outside with Mr. Son at the grill.

“Have you ever made hamburgers, Seulgi?” Mr. Son asked.

Seulgi looked sheepish and shook her head no, “There’s no time like the present, You’re in charge of the burgers, Seul,” Mrs. Son said.

“But, Dad…”

“No worries Wendy, I’ll be right beside her.”

-----

Joy was sleeping the afternoon away still trying to get over her sunburn, she hadn’t gone outside at all, just relaxed and rested. She was happy to sleep, and the unnies were happy to get away from her complaining.

-----

Irene was helping Mrs. Son prepare the other food they were going to have with the meal. “Have you decided how you’re going to give her the necklace? Where have you hidden it?” Mrs. Son asked Irene as she cut tomatoes for a salad.

“I’m still not sure yet….what do you think I should do? Any ideas? And about the necklace, it’s still in my bag, the one I had it in when I showed you  in the van.” Irene asked.

“Good, she hasn’t looked?”

“No, but she has asked me about the van ride. I told her I’d tell her all about our conversation soon.” Irene said.

“Seungwan likes to overthink things and worry. It doesn’t surprise me that she asked about our conversation,” Mrs. Son said.

“I can’t believe I’ve been able to hide it from her, but I still don’t know how I should give the necklace to her,” Irene scrunched her eyebrows in thought.

“I think it’d be nice to be able to get away for a bit. As much as Seulgi and Joy mean to you, it may be better if it’s just you and Wendy, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I agree, but where should we go? I can’t drive,” Irene said thoughtfully.

Mrs. Son smiled, “You don’t need a car, take her to the lake, or on a hike. Fancy locations don’t mean much if they’re forced. Besides, Seungwan is partial to simple places anyway.”

“I know, I’ll think of something, I just want her to know how committed to her I am, I’m nervous.”

“She’s in love with you, there’s nothing to worry about, she shares the same feelings,” Mrs. smiled and hugged Irene.

“Thanks Umma.”

“No problem, just let me know how it goes,” At that exact moment, just as they finished the conversation, Wendy walked in from the back deck through the sliding glass door.

“What are you two talking about?” she asked.

“About the salad, what else should we put in it?” Mrs. Son said casually, picking up the sliced tomatoes and throwing them in the salad bowl.

Wendy saw that Irene’s face was red, but didn’t push further with her questioning. Wendy walked toward Irene who was staring at her shoes. She hugged her from behind, peeked over Irene’s shoulder, and looked toward the salad, “It looks good to me, I’ve got some salad jokes, want to hear them?”

“No,” Mrs. Son said, laughing, “They’re probably inappropriate.”

“Well…they might be,” Wendy smiled, her arms still around Irene.

“Did you need something, sweetie? Or did you just come in here to visit?” Mrs. Son asked.

“I’m here to get the corn for Dad to put on the grill, is it ready?”

“Yes,” Mrs. Son pointed toward the foil wrapped ears on a tray.

“Thanks,” Wendy said, letting go of Irene and grabbing the tray with both hands, “Oh, and just a warning, Dad’s got Seulgi on the burgers so they may or may not be edible, see you in a bit,” Wendy leaned in and gave Irene a kiss on the cheek. Irene blushed a deeper shade of crimson. Wendy walked back outside.

“That was close,” Irene said.

“Yeah, she missed your lips and hit your cheek instead.”

Irene reddened again, “So you’ve got jokes too?”

“Of course, like mother, like daughter.”

Irene thought for a moment, “Did she say Seulgi was grilling the burgers?”

-----

Dinner started and Seulgi raved about the cheeseburgers, “The grill marks, the perfectly melted cheese, and the excellent blend of condiments, this burger is awesome.”

“Is it because you helped grill them?” Irene asked slyly, having not taken a bite of hers yet.

“No,” Seulgi’s eyes lit up, “But that doesn’t hurt the taste.”

“She’s right though,” Joy said, “This food is really good.”

Irene picked her cheeseburger up and took a bite, she was pleasantly surprised, “Wow, Seul, this is really tasty.”

“I’ll pass your compliments to the chef,” Seulgi joked, “If you ever get a chance to come to Korea, we’ll cook for you,” she said to Wendy’s parents.

“Really? Thank you,” Mrs. Son said.

“That means I’ll probably do the cooking,” Wendy said in English.

“I’ll help you,” Irene answered, proud she understood Wendy.

“Well, at least we know I can make good burgers, that’s a start,” Seulgi said, grabbing her burger and taking another large bite.

-----

After dinner, the group went to the backyard where Mr. Son had magically set up an obstacle course for a bit of friendly competition.

“Mr. Son, when did you set this up?” Joy asked.

“While you were sleeping,” he laughed.

Joy laughed as well, “You’re Dad is hilarious.”

“How do we pick teams?” Wendy asked.

“I’ve got an idea,” Mrs. Son said, he left and went back inside, returning a few minutes later with straws that had been cut different lengths.

“I’ll shuffle these, and we’ll pick, deal?”

“Deal,” everyone answered.

When the picking was done, and the straws compared, the teams were: Mr. Son & Irene, Mrs. Son & Seulgi, and Wendy & Joy.

“This could get interesting,” Irene said.

-----

There were cones to zig zag through, a make shift balance beam, an obstacle to crawl under, tiny hurdles, and a small foam wall to jump over. The girls were impressed with the set up that Mr. Son had prepared, it looked professional.

“So, we’ll just go one by one, right?” Seulgi asked.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Wendy answered.

“How about two heats, and we’ll time each person, then add the times up and see who wins?” Mrs. Son asked.

“That’s probably better than racing, and if two people finish near each other it will be hard to tell who won, let’s go with the timed race,” Irene said.

“Fine with me” Seulgi said.

“Get ready to lose, Kang-Seul,” Joy bragged.

“Okay,” Seulgi smiled.

“Joy, don’t say that,” Wendy said, she rolled her eyes, “We’ll probably lose.”

“There’s nothing wrong with confidence,” Joy said, continuing to eye Seulgi.

-----

Irene, Wendy, Mrs. Son were the first group. Wendy finished first, Mrs. Son second, and Irene lagged behind. She’d gotten stuck on the foam wall portion and took longer than the other two.

“Way to go Grandma,” Joy shouted as Irene ran past the finish line.

“Joy, stop,” Wendy said.

“It’s okay, Wendy, you did well, let’s see how Joy does,” Irene grabbed Wendy’s hand and smiled.

-----

Joy, Seulgi, and Mr. Son lined up next. Mr. Son had timed the first heat, now it was Mrs. Son’s turn.

Mrs. Son prepared to time them, and shouted, “On your mark, get set, GO!”

And the three competitors were off. This heat started out evenly, the cones were a breeze for everyone, and the balance beam was easy too, even the crawling obstacle was a piece of cake, but when they hit the tiny hurdles, Seulgi pulled away, along with Mr. Son, and then Joy tripped on the third one and hit the deck.

Irene and Wendy winced when she fell but Joy recovered quickly, and got up. Then she got to the foam wall and got stuck on it like Irene had. When she finally made it back to the finish line, Seulgi had finished first, followed closely by Mr. Son. Joy fell to her knees in defeat.

“Well, I really regret my pre-game trash talk,” she said.

“I thought you might,” Wendy said.

“I guess I’m not the only grandma around here,” Irene laughed.

“Sorry, unnie, no hard feelings?” Joy asked.

“None whatsoever,” Irene said, lending a hand to help Joy up.

“What’s the final tally, coach?” Joy said to Mr. Son.

“Well, looks like first place goes to: Seulgi and my wife!” Mrs. Son high-fived Seulgi, “Good job, Seul!”

“Second place goes to: Irene and I!”  Irene laughed and did a dance.

“That means we were last, sorry Wendy-Unnie! I cost us with my chatter!”

“It’s okay, we’re not playing for a ring or trophy, want to do the course again, this time no teams?” Wendy asked.

“Yeah, that would be great!” Joy said.

They kept playing until it got dark, acting like kids, and enjoying their time together.

Thanks for checking out my story!