Chapter 12 #2
Clay set the charcoal briquettes just so and held a lighter to them. After several seconds, satisfied the fire was started, he stood.
“No, Bridge. I don’t think it’s wise. But I don’t know what the hell to do about it. She put me on the spot. Asked if Andie could come to her party in front of Andie.”
“She needs friends her age.”
“I know that,” he snapped. “I don’t know where to come up with them.”
“Relax, Clay. I’m not accusing you of anything. Just made a comment. Maybe we could set up a playdate with one of the girls from her dance class. I think Diana lives on the island. They seem to get along.”
“Good idea. I need all the good ideas I can get. Payton’s mom called this morning to wish her a happy birthday. She ended the call by threatening me.”
“About?”
“She doesn’t want Payton exposed to Andie.” Clay said it with a scoff. “The queen addict is passing judgment.”
“What in the world does she know about Andie?”
Clay told her about the run-in with Robin’s lawyer at the convenience store.
“So what’s the threat?” Bridget asked.
“Let’s just say Andie’s past isn’t pristine.”
“Well…neither is yours.”
“Thanks for the reminder. She’s got a police record and no permanent address.”
“Yikes.” Bridget turned her attention to the biker in question. “She’s a little rough around the edges but she’s pretty. Especially when she doesn’t try to look all tough.”
Clay grinned in agreement. Wisely or not.
“That doesn’t mean I think you should get involved with her.”
Ignoring her—it was either that or snarl at her—Clay went to the meat cooler and pulled out the hot dogs and burgers.
He was the only one who seemed to notice that Andie was more than the bad girl front she put up. That she had a bigger heart than she would probably ever admit to herself.
Or was he just seeing what he wanted to see?
By the time they’d eaten dinner and cake and Payton had ripped open her presents, the sun was low in the sky.
Macey had joined them long enough to shove down a hot dog and watch Payton unwrap the bead set she’d given her.
The evening’s weather was perfect, which meant the beach bar was filled to capacity, and now she was back tending bar.
“Well, Miss Payton,” Clay’s dad said, “I believe it’s time for your grandma and grandpa to go. We’ve got a long drive home. Did you have a good birthday, pumpkin?”
“The best birthday ever!” Payton moved from present to present, inspecting each one more closely now that all the wrapping paper was removed. She carried the plush turtle Andie had given her.
Bridget had left a few minutes before to meet Reid when he got off work. Andie stretched out on the beach blanket next to Payton while Clay sat on Payton’s other side. He and his parents stood to start packing up their belongings.
“Thanks for coming all this way,” Clay said as they stuffed the shredded wrapping paper into a trash bag.
“We wouldn’t miss it for anything. We’ve got lots of time to make up for with our granddaughter.”
Coming from his mom, Clay knew that wasn’t a shot, but he felt bad about the missed time anyway. For all their sakes.
“Come tell your grandparents good-bye, Payton,” Clay said. He folded his mom’s chair while his dad folded the other one.
“Bye, Grandma.” Payton hugged her with a lot less energy than the embrace when they’d first arrived. Clay needed to get her home to bed.
“You be easy on your dad, pumpkin, you hear?” Clay’s father said.
Maybe he meant nothing by it, but his words grated on Clay anyway. Knowing his dad, it was a veiled insult. He’d never believed Clay could handle being a single father. Clay let it go though. He’d given up battling his dad years ago.
“Let’s get this stuff loaded,” he said, ready to send them on their way. “Where’d you park?”
“Right next to your truck.” His mom picked up her purse and a bag of leftover supplies, and the three of them went up the stairs, across the crowded Shell Shack patio, to the lot. At the trunk of their car, Clay hugged his mom.
“Thanks for coming. Payton was glad you were here,” he said to his dad.
“Take care of her, Clay.”
When he got back to the beach, Andie and Payton were stretched out on their backs, side by side on the blanket. Payton hugged the turtle, staring up. Clay gazed up to see what he was missing.
“We’re watching for the first star so we can make a wish,” Andie explained.
Clay lay on the opposite side of Payton and joined their search of the purple-blue sky.
The beach, previously packed, had emptied as the sun fell.
The muffled conversations of well-fed customers filtered over them from the bar, but the roar of the waves covered most of it.
To the far west, streaks of pink and orange still lightened the sky, but above them, it deepened to dark blue.
Several minutes passed without any of them saying a word. Clay was as content as he’d been for a long time, next to his daughter, in the peace of dusk. He wouldn’t let himself consider how the woman on the other side of Payton contributed to his mood.
“There,” Andie whispered just loud enough to be heard over the waves. She pointed, and after several seconds, Clay saw the faint twinkling. He turned to gauge Payton’s reaction and grinned, meeting Andie’s gaze over the sleeping child. “It’s been a big day.”
Clay tucked his daughter closer and looked back at the star. He didn’t, however, make a wish. In his state of mind tonight, that was liable to get him in trouble.