What’s in my Pool bag?
My kids and I spend a lot of time at the pool during the summer. Our gym has this great outdoor pool with three slides that my older kids love. When we go, we’re usually there for hours, so I always have to be prepared for anything. Before I had my youngest, that mostly just meant that I needed sunscreen, towels, goggles, and a good book. My older kids didn’t need much. This year, though, our swim bag is pretty much filled to overflowing. A few things we can’t live without are:
Babyganics SPF 50 sunscreen. My littlest is very fair skinned, and even though I keep him covered, there’s always little slivers of bare skin—like the back of his neck and his feet. Its mineral based and fragrance free, so it doesn’t bother his sensitive skin. (My older kids get slathered in sunblock too, but since they’re older they’re skin is less sensitive and they can use anything with a high SPF. Only baby uses the fancy Babyganics stuff.)
Diving rings. My older girls love these things, and they keep them occupied for hours. Plus, mama doesn’t have to get off her lounge chair to throw them into the pool. I just let the girls bring them to me, and then I toss them into the water for them to find.
A wetbag. I came across these while cloth diapering my kids, and they’re a must-have for summer days. The inside of the bag is usually lined with polyeurathane laminate, which makes it waterproof. At the end of the day, we can just toss our swimsuits into the bag and they don’t get everything else in our pool bag soaking wet.
Nike flip-flops. Okay, yeah, I know that I could get cheap flip-flops somewhere else for less than half the price. But there’s something to be said for shoes that last the entire summer instead of falling apart halfway through. My family is hard on shoes, especially living on a farm, and these flip flops will last until the weather starts getting cold. They’re also perfect for sliding wet feet into during bathroom runs or to go buy snacks at the concession stand. Bonus: spray them off with a hose at the end of the day and they look brand new no matter how dirty they were.
A good paperback. It’s too sunny outside to read on my phone comfortably, so if I’m at the pool only a paperback will do. This week’s pool read is We, the Wildflowers by LB Simmons. It’s actually not even published yet, so it’s printed on a big stack of 8.5×11” printer paper. I love her work because there’s always a love story, but at the heart of each one are lessons that we should all learn. How to love ourselves. How to be brave. How to let go. How to forgive. I’m just hoping this story doesn’t make me ugly cry in front of all the other moms.
Title: Heart of Glass by Nicole Jacquelyn
Fostering Love Series Book Three
Publisher: Forever
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Length: 368 pages
Summary:
The next standalone novel from Nicole Jacquelyn about love, friendship, and forgiveness.
Henry Harris was living his dream as a staff sergeant in the Marines. When he’s killed in action, his devastated family is in for one more shock: he had a daughter they never knew about.
Morgan Riley has been raising Etta on her own, and that’s always been fine by her – until Henry’s brother Trevor arrives on her doorstep, willing to do anything to help and make up for his brother’s mistakes. Their attraction feels wrong, but Morgan can’t seem to turn him away.
Trevor is suddenly in too deep. He has always wanted a family, but Etta and Morgan come with complications. Yet as Etta brings them closer together, Trevor begins to imagine giving Morgan and Etta the life his brother never could. But he wonders if Morgan will ever learn to trust another man with her heart, especially a man whose last name is Harris.
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Excerpt
“I thought it was probably a mistake, coming down here,” he said quietly, stepping into my space. “Hadn’t heard from you in a while and I wasn’t sure what kind of reception I’d get.”
My eyes widened as he backed me up against the wall. I didn’t protest, even though I was gross and pretty sure he was going to notice it soon. If anything, my body softened at his advance, the tension in my shoulders and neck dissipating.
“Went back and forth, the whole drive down,” he said, his hand coming up to rest at the side of my neck. “Is she going to tell me to leave her the fuck alone? Not answer the door? Try and let me down easy? Does she miss me?”
He grinned and my heart started to race. I wasn’t sure if it was panic or euphoria.
“I should have trusted my instincts from the beginning,” he said conversationally. “I was so worried about stepping on your toes, though.”
His fingers began to play with the hair at the nape of my neck, and I shivered.
“Your instincts?” I croaked, frozen as his fingers drifted back and forth against my neck.
“You want me,” he said easily, his hand tightening fractionally. “You’ve wanted me from the start.”
I started to argue that it wasn’t so simple as that, but he cut off my words with a few of his own.
“You wanted me when you were staring at my chest in the pool,” he said softly. “You wanted me when you invited me in here.” He tipped his head to the side as his knee notched between my thighs, letting me know that the here he described wasn’t the house. “You wanted me when you kicked my ass out. You still wanted me when you called from your sister’s dorm.”
“What made you come to that conclusion?” I rasped, tipping my chin up a little in defiance. The words he said were true, but the delivery was given in a way that was totally foreign from the Trevor I’d come to know.
“The way you look at me,” he replied.
It was the simplicity in his answer that stopped any argument I could have made.
“I look at you the same way,” he said sweetly, his head dropping down so that his mouth was just millimeters from my ear. “Like I’ve been swimming under water and I’ve finally come up for air.”
My head fell back against the wall with a thump as his lips met the skin just below my ear. “Like I’m looking at the present I’ve been asking for all year under the Christmas tree.”
His lips drifted across the front of my throat and dipped into the notch of my collarbone. “Like I can’t believe how lucky I am that I finally found you.”
“Were you looking for me?” I asked dumbly, the words tumbling from my lips before I could hold them back. I froze as soon as I’d realized what I’d said.
“Baby, I’ve been looking for you my entire life,” he replied, raising his head until our foreheads were pressed together. “You might not be there yet,” he breathed. “But I’ve never been more sure.”
Author Bio
Nicole Jacquelyn is the author of the popular Aces series as well as the Fostering Love novels. She is also the mom of two little girls and one lazy Boxer pup. She hasn’t watched television in well over a year, she still does things that drive her mother crazy, and she loves to read. Since the age of twelve she knew she wanted to be a writer. But first she became a mom, then she went to college, and during her senior year–with one daughter in first grade and the other in preschool–she sat down and wrote a story.
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I have read all of Nicole Jacquelyn’s books LOVE them! Cannot wait to get started on my new Read! She rocks!