Chapter Eighteen
Scarlett
I have the day off today, and because I do, I’m going to use my time to relax. Usually, I clean to keep my mind off things, but if I end up mopping my floor again, I’m only going to think about kissing Wade. And reliving that kiss is off-limits today.
The sun is shining. The temperature is rising. That means it’s the perfect day to tan by the pool.
I dig around in my closet and find some semblance of a swimsuit—it’s a couple of years old and starting to stretch in strange places, but it’ll have to do. Steve said he would open the pool soon, and while that does sound nice, I’m not much of a swimmer in weather below a hundred degrees. So today is all about the sunshine and soaking up some vitamin D.
I put on my swimsuit and a swim cover-up, then flop my way up the first flight of stairs to the main floor. I spot Gloria down the hall, standing in front of the elevator bank. I wave as I head toward one of the side exits that lead into the courtyard.
“Are you going swimming? I thought Steve was testing the pool heater today. I don’t think it’s going to be warm enough yet, sweetie!” Gloria calls to me.
I hold up the big book in my hands. “I’m not going swimming. I just need some sun.”
Her face brightens. “Oh! Let me go put on my bikini, and I’ll come join you! I have a book I bought for you!”
I can’t help but smile. “Okay, I’ll save you a spot. We might be fighting the crowds today,” I joke.
But when I walk out into the courtyard that surrounds the pool, I think maybe I was right. Steve is out there skimming bugs from the water, and I see at least five other residents I know plus a few people I don’t even recognize, which could be the long-lost seasonal visitors. The pool season tends to bring out family members who never visit during the winter.
“Hey, Steve! How’s it going?”
He glances up at me and shakes his head. “I hope you realize this pool is literally fifty degrees right now. Just because I turned the heater on this morning doesn’t mean it’s warm. It doesn’t technically open until June first.”
“Oh, I know. I just want to lie on the deck and get some sun.”
I walk over to the lounge chairs Steve has recently pulled out of storage in the basement. “Did you haul all of these up the elevator by yourself?”
“You don’t even want to know what happened,” Steve replies as he walks past, flinging a netful of bugs and leaves into the bushes.
Luckily, he’s already wiped down the chairs and they’re not covered in last year’s grime. “I think I actually do want that story. Tell me about it?”
“I ended up sandwiched between two chairs and couldn’t hit any of the buttons. I was stuck riding up and down in the elevator until someone stopped it.”
“I wish I’d been there. ”
“I’m sure you do,” he says flatly as he pretends to shake out some grime from the net. Instead, he flings some cold drops of water toward me.
“Hey, now! It’s not my fault!”
“You laughed,” he says with a smile.
I grin back. “Did anyone get pictures of this big event?”
“It better not be plastered on the parlor wall in the morning, that’s for dang sure.”
“Yoohoo! I’m ready!” Gloria calls from behind me. I’m not sure what she’s wearing, but Steve has been stunned into silence.
I sit up and peer over the back of the lounge chair. Gloria makes her way toward us—in her string bikini and a thong.
What a brave woman. I couldn’t do it. But I’m glad she’s comfortable enough. Besides, she’s bright enough to need all the sun she can get.
She’s practically glowing fluorescent.
“I just remembered some paperwork I need to finish,” Steve mutters as he tosses the cleaning net down and practically sprints back inside The Serendipity.
“Good idea to get a little vitamin D today. You’ve been looking a little pale,” Gloria tells me as she sits down in the chair next to me, making me immediately look tanner.
“I’m glad you came out. How’s life at your altitude?” I ask. It’s our little joke since Gloria lives all the way up on the third floor.
“It’s been going great! I bought something for you and my neighbor Phoebe. Have you met her yet?”
“No, I haven’t, but you mentioned her the last time I saw you,” I reply.
“Yes, well, I know both you girls like to read, so I got you a little something.” Gloria passes me a book. “I think you might want to read this. I read it in two days. I noticed you read a lot of history, and even though this is very different, I thought it might interest you.”
She sits down on the chair next to me and passes me the book. I look at the cover. It is not a history book. It’s not literary fiction. In fact, it looks like a fantasy. It reminds me of the book I saw at Novel Notions on the horrid date. I wish I had bought that book and ditched him. I smile at her and say, “This looks great, Gloria. Thank you for thinking of me.”
“Read it, and then we’ll talk about it when you’re done. I’d like to know your favorite parts. I need to talk to somebody about this book. No one else has read it.”
I smile and crack open the book to read the blurb on the inside cover. There’s lots of yearning and moaning even in the blurb. I’m not sure this is the book for me, but I’m going to give it a try.
After reading for only a few minutes, I’m interrupted by my ringing phone. I make note of my place in the book—chapter seven already. Gloria was right—it’s definitely engrossing.
When I pick up my phone, I see that it’s my mom on a video call. I take the call, and both my parents’ faces fill the screen.
“Hi, honey,” Mom says as she waves. “How are you doing?”
“Is it sunny at home?” Dad asks, his forehead looming closer. I don’t think he has a good understanding of camera angles.
I flip the screen around so that they can see that I’m lying on a chair in the courtyard. I point the phone at the sky so they can see the glaring sun against a bright blue background. “I bet you it’s even warmer than where you are!” I say with a laugh. I flip the phone back around so they can see me.
Dad pokes his face in front of the screen and points to his forehead. “Do you see this? I am sweating. I’ve been sweating ever since we stepped off the plane. I’m beginning to think I’m going to turn into a raisin down here. I thought it was supposed to be humid and that that would keep me moisturized, but now I just can’t tell if I’m sweating or swimming.”
“We get humid a little bit here. It can’t be that bad.”
His eyes bulge as he says, “Trust me. It’s that bad.”
We chat for a little while, and I catch up on all the news about Grandma and what they’ve been doing there, about the Everglades tour where Dad accidentally dropped his phone in the swamp, and then Mom tried to catch it and fell in—and there was a gator. And then they swore they would never go to a swamp again. But then they replaced the phone, and now they’re calling to make sure it works.
It’s a heck of a story, and the two of them are giggling like two guilty middle schoolers. It’s adorable.
“How is Wade doing?” Mom asks.
Her question takes me by surprise. I don’t know why she would think to ask me that.
“I’m sure he’s fine, Mom,” I say.
“Oh, I just was wondering if you had seen him around much or if he’s been busy.” She swipes at her eyes, which are watering from laughing so hard.
“I see him occasionally. I’m pretty sure Phoenix is paying him to check on me. He might be getting a good salary out of the deal.”
I fight to keep my face neutral, but I must not do a very good job because Mom zeroes in on my expression.
“What’s going on? You just rolled your eyes about Wade.”
“Oh, nothing much. He’s just being kind of annoying, that’s all. He’s putting his nose in things that he doesn’t have any business butting in on.” Oh, and he kissed me because I asked him to . The little thing I am trying my darnedest to forget. I’m not about to mention that to my mother, though.
“Well, probably because he cares,” Mom suggests.
“He’s almost as bad as Phoenix, asking about my dates. ”
“Oh? Have you gone on any dates?” Mom asks in surprise. Usually, I tell her about who I’m interested in, but I haven’t told her about my brilliant plan to find love while everyone is out of town.
“A few. Nothing promising. Wade has interrupted a couple of them already.”
“Has he, now?” Dad says, his eyebrows shooting up. “That’s very interesting.”
I don’t know what he’s thinking, but it has me suspicious. “What’s that supposed to mean, Dad?”
“I’m just saying that Wade is a nice boy.” He waggles his eyebrows.
“I’m not even going to grace that with a response, Dad.” Nor am I going to mention to my father that I have already kissed that nice boy.
My parents like Wade. I have no doubt they would be thrilled if we dated. But I’m too scared they would be disappointed if Wade got tired of me. I am not an exciting person. I like my routines. I’m happy with how my life is. I am not looking for some big, scary adventure to turn my life upside down.
I’m pretty sure Wade would get tired of me in about six weeks. And I think I may need to just have the talk with him and make him realize this needs to end here. It can just be a memory of a good kiss. Leave it at that. We don’t need anything ruining our relationships, with each other or with our families.
I talk with Mom and Dad a little more, steering the conversation away from Wade and onto the latest news in Serendipity Springs. They tell me about their plans to come back in a couple of months.
“Your grandma’s improving a lot faster than we thought, so the six months is looking like it might even be closer to three months,” Dad explains .
When they’d first left, I’d been excited at the prospect of six months to find love. But the search has been so awful, I’ve given up. I just want my parents to come home and tell me the wholesome lie that I’m too good for everyone in the dating pool.
“The physical therapist says they’ve never seen anyone so determined,” Dad laughs.
“They also said they’ve never seen anyone so mean,” Mom adds with a laugh. “I think they’re doing double the appointments just so they’ll get her out of their office faster.”
I can’t help but laugh. I can totally picture it. My dad’s mom is not a nurturer, nor is she a good patient. I am so glad I am not the one who has to take care of her while she recovers from a hip replacement. It literally requires both my parents to take care of her. Granted, she’s probably bossing them around and having them repaint her house or hand-wash the roof or something else ridiculous like that.
We say our goodbyes, and I look over at Gloria. She’s snoring softly, so I look down at the book she bought me.
I’ve never read a romantasy book before…and now I feel like I’ve been missing out. I dive back in, and somewhere around the point where the couple shares their first angry kiss, Gloria wakes up.
“Oh, dear, I’m going to miss my lunch appointment.” She leaps up, adjusting her sun hat. “Honey, you’d better go inside before you get sunburnt. You know how it is when you lay out for the first time of the season.”
My knees are starting to look a little red—she’s probably right. I stand up and gather my things, slipping my swimsuit cover back on.
“I can’t wait to hear what you think,” Gloria calls back as she hurries to the entrance. “If you like it, I have the whole series, and you can borrow it!”
I laugh and wave as she bustles inside. I follow slowly in her wake, thinking I might be making the trek up to 3G this evening for book 2. This is the perfect distraction from my own love life troubles.
I don’t even bother to change clothes when I get back to my apartment. I walk straight to the couch, flop down and start reading the book again. I need the enemies to kiss—again. I don’t know why I’m so invested in this.
WADE
You okay?
Usually, Wade texts me at the end of the day to make sure I’m alive and well. So him sending the ‘you okay?’ text in the middle of the day feels different…almost as if he’s checking up on me post-kiss.
SCARLETT
Yup.
I don’t send him my usual emoji, instead opting for those three little letters.
Because what else can I say? Do I pretend like nothing happened? Do I lay the blame for that kiss at his feet? I can’t really do that. Not when I was the one who asked him to kiss me.
But all of that is a problem for tomorrow. And I have tomorrow off too. I think I’ll just lie on the couch and finish reading this book Gloria gave me and pretend I won’t have to face Wade ever again.