13. RJ #2
“I dunno. But it made her so mad, and that’s why she said that she would only let me touch her food. Did I give her more poop juice?” More tears spill down her cheeks as I wipe them away and pull her into a hug.
This must be what the boys were referring to on the fishing trip when they said they made her breakfast wrong.
If it’s possible to love this woman more, I do.
Even after hearing stories about her kids accidentally dosing her with laxatives.
It shouldn’t make me want her more, but it absolutely does.
And now her poor daughter is worried she did the same thing to her mom.
“You didn’t give her poop juice. It’s gonna be okay.” I’m not sure what else to share since I don’t want to tell this sweet girl that she accidentally got her mother drunk.
I release her from the hug and swipe at the last few tears on her face. “I have an idea. You know how you and your brothers keep asking to go crab hunting?”
“Yeah, but Mom said no because she thinks they’re gross and she doesn’t want them to taste her with their feet.”
I chuckle, remembering Logan sharing that same fact about crabs with me earlier. “What if Sophie took you? She wants to be a marine biologist one day. That stuff doesn’t gross her out at all.”
Her eyes light up. “Can we?”
I nod my agreement, hoping Sophie will be on board so I can take care of what will probably be a very drunk Summer. I hand her a bottle of water. “How about you go back outside and give this to your mom? And tell Sophie that I need to talk to her.”
“Okay!” Lana skips to the door, excited with our plan.
When Sophie walks in minutes later, I brace myself.
“I think Summer is drunk. She’s giggling a lot, and her words sound funny.”
“Hey, Soph.”
“What do you want? You only ‘Hey, Soph’ me when you need a favor.”
How has my daughter figured me out this well? “I need a favor.”
“I knew it.”
“Lana gave Summer the wrong daiquiri, and she’s gonna need someone to take care of her tonight. It’s my fault. Can you take the kids crab hunting as a distraction so I can help her if she gets sick?”
“Oh shit.”
“Language.”
“Sorry. Yeah, I’ll help.”
My eyebrow lifts in surprise. “Just like that? You aren’t going to fight me on this?”
She rolls her eyes. “Summer helped me with something embarrassing earlier this week, no questions asked. So I’m happy to do that for her.”
“I’m sorry that we haven’t spent more time together on this vacation.”
Sophie gives me a look. “Seriously, Dad?”
“It’s not like I wanna be glued to you for a week.”
I examine her face and when I’m confident in her sincerity, I clap my hands.
“Alright. Let’s rally the troops.” I pull out my phone and do a quick search.
“According to Google, we’ll need nets and buckets.
I think I saw some in the toy bin outside.
And we’ll need bait. Lemme place a delivery from the store in town before they close. ”
Sophie heads back to the porch to check for supplies while I straighten up the kitchen, keeping an eye on Summer through the glass door. When I join them on the deck minutes later, Sophie has found several buckets and two nets.
“Who wants to go crab hunting tonight?” I ask as I clear the plates from the table.
A chorus of “Me’s” erupts from the kids.
“Why don’t you all help me get this mess cleaned up and then Sophie will take you down once it gets dark. But you better hurry, the sun is setting.”
“I’ll do the dishes.” Logan takes a stack of plates from me and walks into the house.
“I’ll clean the table and sweep off the deck.” Lucas runs inside for a broom.
“And I’ll watch them and make sure they do what they say they’re going to do.” Lana follows her brothers inside.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, alerting me that the delivery is here. “The supplies for crab hunting just arrived. Can you grab them off the porch, Soph?”
“On it.”
Once Sophie leaves, Summer swings her head in my direction. “What juss happen?”
Fighting back the chuckle, I take a seat next to her. “Sophie’s gonna take the kids crab hunting. We can sit out here and watch them or go to bed if you’re not feeling great.”
“I feels great. Juss fine. Bet I’d feel great in bed wiff you too. But I don’t want crabs. Do you half crabs?”
God, I hope she doesn’t remember this. She’d be mortified. “I don’t have crabs.”
“Dats good because crabs taste gross. And apparently their creepy wittle feets taste you. Didja know Todd had crabs? Dats how I knew he was a cheetah.”
My blood boils at her admission, and my jaw ticks with how hard I’m clenching it. “A cheater?”
“Dats what I said. A cheetah. He gave me crabs. And not the kind you eat.” She leans in close, attempting to whisper though her volume never changes. “He gave me the private crabs. On my lady parts. And I thought. Das weerd. Why does my hoo-ha itchy? Do you know what I mean, Arj?”
I squeeze my fist at my side. “Got it.” It’s an effort to stay calm when I’m consumed with thoughts of punching Todd.
“’S’okay doh. Don’t be mad and have them no more. I mean, I don’t have dem. I’s not crabby. Used a speshh-ul sham-POO.” She attempts to wink but ends up blinking both eyes in rapid succession.
It’s going to be a long night, but oddly there’s nowhere I’d rather be.
Is it sad that I’m looking forward to this?
She’s pushed me away all week, done her best to keep me at arm’s length.
If it weren’t for her watching me in the shower and her sleepy admission this morning about my cock, I’d think she wasn’t into me.
But maybe she’s fighting this as much as I am?
Tonight would’ve been the perfect night to tell her how I feel, and I’m kicking myself for my part in this mess.
And while I’m dying to know what she wanted to talk about, I know that conversation isn’t happening tonight.
Lucas bursts out of the house, broom in hand as he does the quickest sweeping job ever, knocking all the food down the porch steps and onto the sand below.
Sophie rounds everyone up, and I pull her aside. “You’ll need to check Logan in about an hour, but if he’s showing any signs of high or low blood sugar, test him immediately.”
“Got it. I got CPR certified back in New York when I was babysitting, so I do know the signs. Besides, Logan’s been good about telling one of us when he needs something. We’ll be fine. And we won’t be far.”
“Text me or come get me if you need anything.” I pull her into a hug.
And then they’re off, racing down the stairs and toward the waves, the lights from their flashlights bouncing as they run.
I sit next to Summer, taking in every inch of her profile as she stares down the beach.
Once I realized I’d have a week with this woman in my bed every night, I had all these plans to show her how good we could be together.
And each time I came close to a confession, those plans were ruined.
It’s starting to feel like the universe doesn’t want us together, but that’s crazy when the only thing in my life that feels good, that feels right—aside from my kid—is this woman in front of me.
And the fact that they get along feels like kismet.
Summer leans on the arm of her plastic deck chair, and the sudden shift in weight causes it to tip.
I catch the chair before it can topple and pull it flush with mine.
Her warm floral scent fills my nostrils, making my racing heart level out.
She’s always had this calming presence over me, I just need to work up the nerve to tell her.
Her head flops onto my shoulder, and I look down at her right as she blinks up at me. Fuck, her eyes are beautiful. All I want to do is stare at her and count each individual freckle on her face. “Your face dimple makes me say things my brain wants to keep secret.”
A dopey grin lights up my face at her words, and even though I shouldn’t, given the state she’s in, I can’t help myself. “What kind of things?”
“That I wanna do the book stuff to you. Alls of it. The sitting face. The spankings. And throat bracelets?—”
“What’s a throat bracelet?”
“’S’when you grab my necklace.” She hiccups and then breaks into a fit of giggles.
“Do you mean a hand necklace? When someone grabs you by the throat during sex?”
“’S’what I said. You get it. How come we didn’t do that in high school?”
“I was just lucky you wanted to kiss me in high school.” I tug on the back of my neck, unsure of how much more to admit.
“I wanted to do more than kissing you in school. But then you broke my heart with Jessica. Jessica.” Her tone is mocking.
Leaning back, I search her face. Shit. Breaking her heart was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I need to tell her the truth about what happened back then. But not like this. “We should talk about this later. When you’re feeling better.”
“That s’what I wanted to talk to youse about. I thought about you dis whole time. All da years. I feel…” She hiccups. “I feel drunk. Am I drunk?”
Smiling, I cup her face in my hand, wishing I could admit the mess of emotions swirling around my head. “You are very drunk, but I’ve got you.”
“You keep saying dat. ‘I got you.’” Another hiccup. “Why do you keep saying dat?”
I let out a long breath. “I know I fucked up. And I want to make it right. I want you to know that I’m here and I’m going to keep showing up for you.
I’ve got you, Summer.” I lean down and press a kiss to her forehead.
“But right now I’m taking care of you because I don’t like how wobbly you are or how glassy your eyes look.
” I stand, leaning over her as I slide my hands under her back and legs to lift her.
“Okay,” she whispers against my chest as I carry her to the bedroom.