Nineteen
Henry
The horror and acute shame I feel at having literally thrown a half-naked Tait away from me makes everything in me (and on me) instantly deflate. Thankfully, the pond beyond the light is pitch black, so although there are ripples, I doubt I’ll raise much suspicion when I exit and wrap the towel around me.
Charlie and Grace come around the corner as I’m walking up the dock, and I send up a prayer of thanks that I didn’t chance it after all.
“Hey guys,” I say, voice coming out a pitch higher than normal.
Grace quirks a brow at me. “Taking a dip?”
“Yeah, heatwave, you know.” I do a weird hand shrug and try to herd them to the house. “Can I get you a drink?”
“No, thanks. We figured Grady couldn’t drive and we’d grab him and take him off your hands,” Charlie says .
“I’ll go drag him to the truck. Night, Hen,” Grace adds.
Charlie studies me for a second longer than is comfortable.
“Did you see Tait tonight?” he asks.
“Uhhh, yeah, she came by and had dinner with Grady, and I. Grady and me—and I.”
“Don’t hurt yourself there.” He chuckles. “Did she bring you up to speed?”
Oh, fuck me. Why does that sound dirty? Shit. Shit. Shit. “On what exactly?”
“I told her you’d show her around and go through the production schedule with her.”
“Oh, okay. Yeah, of course I will. Are you sure she’s ok with that?”
He frowns at me. “She didn’t take an issue with it when I told her earlier. Why wouldn’t she be? You guys seemed… friendly?”
“Yes—yeah, totally. We’re good. Is Duane going to shit when I can’t be around for all the pre-production setup, though?” I’m not sure why I’m trying to find reasons not to, but it’s clear that Charlie wants her to be looked out for, and all the plans I had for her a minute ago were not exactly what I would call nice, making me feel like an utter piece of shit at the moment.
Oh, God… I threw her across the pond.
“He’ll be fine. He doesn’t even know she’s here yet. How is she?”
Probably spitting mad and ready to gut me. “She seemed good.”
“Good. Good. Okay. Thanks.”
I start walking to the house when he steps around me toward the end of the dock.
“Charlie, uh— ”
“You forgot your other towel.” He bends down and picks it up. Then he looks over at me, then out over the pond with a frown. He remains there for a second, contemplating. But if he has any suspicions, he lets them lie, walking back and handing me the towel with a look I can’t decipher.
“Goodnight, Henry.”
“’Night.”
“Henry?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t let this heatwave get to your head… People always seem to get stir crazy when they’re overheated.”
I nod, feeling my face tighten.
Oh God… I fucking threw her across the pond.
As soon as the truck is out of sight I slip my feet into boots and rush over to Tait’s cabin. The light is on now at her place, so I know she must have snuck back. I almost burst through the door, but figure it’d be prudent to knock first.
“Tait?” I call when she doesn’t come. Finally, I hear footsteps, and the door swings open. She leans against the doorway casually, if not a little awkwardly, blocking me from coming in, and says, “What’s up?”
“Uhhh—I’m sorry about… back there. I just didn’t want them to see you. I didn’t think you’d want them to see you.”
“Probably for the best.” She looks right at me with a shrug. Ah. I see. That’s how we’re going to play this. I suddenly feel stupid standing here in my towel, flustered and panicked while she is so unaffected. I let myself take her in again—she’s changed into a Willie Nelson T-shirt that reaches mid-thigh, each of which has a cute freckle in almost exactly the same spot, I’m now noticing. She’s taken down her wet ponytail and washed her face, which now wears a look of icy indifference instead of the undone one I was losing myself to just minutes ago.
“Did you need anything?” she asks, pulling me out of my reverie, away from the freckles I’d veered off to again.
Did I read things this wrong? I must have. But no way did I read her sounds, her returning kiss, or the way she grabbed me wrong.…
“Are you going to just stand there and brood or do you have something you feel you need to say?” she says, shrill now.
“I am picking my words carefully. It takes me a minute sometimes, okay?” I say, and it’s the truth, but I repeat my apology. “I am sorry. I didn’t think before I did it, I just registered that you were half naked and probably needed to hide.”
At this, I see a blush creep up her neck and her hand ball up in a fist. It’s an odd combination of adorable and terrifying.
“My tank top was around my waist. Wouldn’t have been hard to pull up really quickly and it’s a pond, people swim in it when it’s hot. It was you who didn’t want to be seen, Henry,” she says, and holds up a hand when I start to interject, to remind her that I was naked and that it would’ve been hard to explain away that.
“I meant what I said. It is probably for the best. I am only here for a few weeks, and that was… well… too intense for a few weeks.” She looks down her leg and watches her foot as she traces circles on the floor. I let her words sink in and realize that she’s right, it was intense. Her honesty leaves me feeling hollow, though. Too intense, but not worth it?
Of course not. Not to her.
“You’re probably right,” I manage, trying to mask the sour feeling in my stomach.
She looks up at me, something passing over her face—something like regret—before she smiles a half smile.
“Would’ve been fun though,” she offers, and we both let out a quiet laugh. Sex would ultimately complicate things and bring our messes to the forefront, which neither of us wants.
Still. “Oh, I have no doubt about that.”
I also have no doubt that mixing family and my love life will risk disaster again, and the last thing that Tait or I need is drama. That kind of intensity blows the door wide open to drama.
“Friends?” she asks, holding out her hand for another shake, and fuck me if she doesn’t take my breath away in that moment again. One of her eyes has more flecks of brown than the other, but they’re such an interesting shade of green, the irises lined with gray. At first, I thought they reminded me of Charlie’s, but up close I realize they’re all her own.
“Friends,” I confirm, switching the hand that I’m holding the towel with so I can shake hers.
“Sorry you have to escort me around some more, but the quicker we start, the quicker I can get out of your hair, so, how about tomorrow?” she asks, all business.
“Tomorrow I have a meeting that had to get rescheduled, and I think your uncle will kill me if I bail again. How about the next day?”
“Sure.” She grins and leans off the doorway, signaling the end of the conversation.
“Okay. Uhhh, goodnight, then?”
“Goodnight, Henry.”
I turn to leave and start walking down the steps when she says, “Oh, Henry?”
I turn back to see her expression pulled into a smirk. “Since we both know you owe me. You know, since I had to sneak through a dark pond with my tits out, army crawl up a bank and slip in through my own back door… drop the towel. It’s the condition of my friendship.”
I laugh, but when she doesn’t, I realize she’s not kidding. Fine, I owe her a bit of embarrassment on my part. But I’ll be damned if I act fazed. I unwrap the towel and fold it carefully over my arm, not rushing. I then walk it over and hand it to her. She doesn’t take her eyes off of mine; the only indication that she’s affected at all is the blush that’s spread to her cheeks.
“Sweet dreams, honey,” I say, and take all the care I can to turn and march slowly away, down the porch steps and toward my place, her laugh following me.
“Sweet dreams, sweet cheeks!” she calls when I finally make it to the dark part of the road.