Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
DECLAN
Summer at the lake in Wyoming was something I always missed while I was living in Chicago. Yeah, there were piers, but this is different. Lovers Lake feels more intimate and relaxing—less to worry about and more time to enjoy being in the moment.
Which is why when Luca asked if Susie and I wanted to have another lake day later that week, saying yes was a no-brainer.
However, I wasn’t exactly aware that Ruby would be here too. At the same time, it shouldn't surprise me. Now that all the Asher kids are living in the same town again, they make it a point to spend more time together.
My watch vibrates at the same time my phone dings.
I glance at my wrist to read a text from Steven.
He’s been working with our PR team on the news that leaked of both my company and Davenport Inc.
looking to purchase Collins Corporation.
Too many media outlets want a comment on the feud it sparked.
Little do they know that, for the past few years, all three companies have been walking around to see who was going to light the match first.
Looks like we all got tired of waiting.
Susie hollers at me while I scan his text. It’s just another update, same as the others over who has been reaching out.
“Dad, you said you wouldn't work today while we were at the beach.” Her lips are turned down.
I did say that.
“I’m not,” I reply and hold my hands up.
I can reply later. There is a reason Steven holds the position he does. He can handle this.
“Yay, okay, will you be on my volleyball team?” Susie runs up, kicking sand along the way.
She’s clearly up to something.
Three.
Two.
One.
“My mom is going to be on my team,” Max says, appearing at my daughter’s side as if they were magnetized together.
I glance at the beach volleyball net, where Ruby and Miles lower the height for the kids. Ruby is wearing a black bikini today and it’s—fuck, my thoughts right now should be illegal.
They’re nothing compared to the ones I had when I saw her in the store a couple of days ago. There is just something about the long skirts she wears with shirts that stop just at her belly button, giving me a tease of the smooth skin of her stomach, that turns me on.
Then, I made her smile. A genuine smile.
But of course, one of the school moms walked up and ruined it.
Praising me for buying fucking food.
Blows my mind. Has this town never seen a single dad care for his child?
“You and me against them?” I ask, pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind.
“You, me, and Luca against Ruby, Max, and Miles.”
“What about Shay and Quinn?” I ask. “Don’t they want to play?”
“They are reading over there.” Max points and sure enough, both ladies are lounging with books in their hands.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
“Careful now, Ruby has played this a time or two,” Mr. Asher warns me, joining the party with a bucket filled with ice, beers, and bottles of water.
“Noted.”
She’s probably the only Asher sibling besides Hudson who has any kind of athletic skill.
But I’ll never let the boys know that I think about that.
Boys basketball is sacred … you know, when we get around to playing it.
I follow Susie and Max to the net. An upbeat song is playing from Miles’s Bluetooth speaker.
Luca is waiting at the side of the net. He points me toward the middle.
Ruby is directly across from me with a smirk.
“I’ve seen you play sports before,” she teases in an attempt to get under my skin.
I let out a sarcastic laugh.
“But you’ve never seen me play volleyball.”
“No, but I imagine with your age, it won’t be easy.”
“My age?” I nearly gasp. “I’m not that much older than you.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Eight years.”
“Almost nine,” she rebuttals.
“That’s not much of an age gap,” I defend myself.
“Oh, it is.”
“No, it’s not.”
She shrugs. “I guess we can agree to disagree on whether that’s a gap or not.”
The nerve she has.
To make a show of how ready I am, I strip my shirt off and stretch one arm across my chest, followed by the other, my gaze never leaving Ruby’s. I tilt my head side to side, hearing the crack but ignoring it. Next, I jump up and down, then side to side with a grin.
Warming up is necessary and—oh, fuck!
I rub the back of my head and spin. “Luca, did you just hit me in the head with the ball?”
“How was I supposed to know you were going to start jumping up and down during my serve?”
“Maybe look first.”
“My bad.” He laughs.
But it’s not his laugh that consumes me—it’s the one on the other side of the net.
“Solid start.” Ruby grins.
“Solid start,” I mimic her. Then I say in my normal voice, “Just be ready.”
“If you say so.”
I do say so, and now I’m determined to win.
Luca serves the ball again, this time making it over the net.
Miles bumps it low, Max hits it awkwardly, Ruby dives to save it and launches it over the net.
Luca is ready, bumping it to me. I bump it to Susie, who misses completely.
I instantly look at Ruby to make sure she isn’t laughing.
She’s not. She’s squatting low so that Max can whisper in her ear.
“It’s okay, Susie, you’ll get them on the next one.”
“I know.” She nods quickly. She closes her eyes and mouths, “I can do this. I can do this.”
“Ready?” Miles asks, already in position to serve.
“Ready!” Susie shouts.
This time, Luca bumps it, and I spike it over the net to Ruby, who blocks it instantly.
The ball falls back onto my side, at my feet.
She smiles.
Damn it, that was good.
“It’s okay, Dad. You’ll get the next one.”
“Thank you, Susie.”
“Okay, let’s get serious,” Luca says.
“I was serious,” Ruby argues with her brother.
“I’m not playing if you two are going to argue,” Miles adds and walks off.
“Anyone want ice cream?” Mr. Asher asks and both kids go running in his direction.
“I’m out, too, then.” Luca moves to sit by Shay.
Ruby is still standing by the net.
“I guess that means we won.” She shrugs. “Sorry, old man.”
Old man.
I’m not old.
Looks like I’ll just have to prove it.
“No way. One on one.” I say, the words falling off my lips before I can think twice. “That didn’t count.”
“It counted. I won. You didn’t.”
“Rematch. One game. We each get to serve.”
If I had to guess, her eyes are narrowing behind her sunglasses as she stares at me.
“Fine. One game.”
“Ladies first.” I pick up the ball and hand it to her under the net. She grabs it from me.
This will be fun.
I back up, making sure I can easily access all the space on my side.
Ruby, too, gets into position and looks at me.
I nod.
She nods.
Then she spikes it over the net.
I start gently with a bump.
After a couple of volleys, I spike it.
Ruby hits the sand, saving it and returning it to my side.
I spike it again, assuming she can’t stand up fast enough, but I’m wrong.
She’s quick to her feet and blocks it.
I’m quick, too, and I don’t let this one hit the sand.
I send it back to her, she spikes, and I earn a face full of sand as the ball lands right next to me.
Ruby’s cheers are followed by those from the rest of the group.
I didn’t realize we had an audience.
“Now, this is the kind of game I wanted. Please resume.” Miles waves a hand in the air.
I stand up quickly, ready for redemption.
Ball in hand, I serve it over.
Like before, Ruby bumps.
I bump.
Then Ruby spikes the ball with fury, and it hits me dead center in the face. I feel the blood rush down, over my lips and chin.
“Shit!” someone yells as I drop to my knees and cover my nose.
“Are you okay?”
“Damn, Ruby, how hard did you hit the ball?”
“Let me see it.”
Quinn, Shay, and Miles all hover over me. They ask question after question, and I answer as best I can in rapid-fire response.
But my next words freeze on my tongue as Ruby drops to her knees next to me and places a wet towel to my face.
I reach up, my hand grazing hers, and our eyes lock as everyone fusses around us.
Normally, I can read the expression on her face, but right now, I can’t.
“Are you okay?” she asks quietly. Again, her voice is void of any emotion, but her hands are shaking.
Oddly, I’m a little more concerned about her now.
She’s always been easy for me to read.
I don’t like this.
“I’m good.”
“Good.”
Although her answer is short, she doesn’t pull her gaze from mine.
The others make their way back to their seats, and I lean closer to Ruby.
“Are you good?”
She nods.
“Are you sure?”
Another nod.
I use the napkin Ruby brought me to dab at my face. The bleeding has stopped.
“That was fun though,” I tell Ruby. “Your dad said you’ve played before. Was it in high school?”
“Yep. Before I got pregnant, of course. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”
A smile touches her lips.
“Wait, wait, wait. Does this … did you just have fun … with me?”
“No.”
“I think you did.”
“I enjoyed the challenge. Not you.”
“Oh, I get it. You like to be challenged. I can work with that.”
“Don’t make this a thing.”
“I’m not making it a thing.”
“You are.”
“I’m just saying that if you open yourself up to the idea of friends, things like this could happen more often.”
“Me hitting you in the face with a ball?”
I bump her shoulder with mine.
“You having fun.”
“I have fun.”
“Do you?”
“I … let’s just move on.”
“Right. I told Max he was welcome to come over for movie night tonight if it was okay with you.”
“Of course.”
“You are welcome as well.”
She laughs. “No, thank you."
Then she rushes off to help Shay and Quinn start packing up. My eyes shamelessly veer to her ass in her bikini. I give myself a good one, two count and look away.
I take a deep breath.
There’s no point in being attracted to Ruby. She wants nothing to do with me.
And yet … I don’t know why I’m determined to make Ruby my friend, but I am.
Maybe I like the challenge, too.
Nothing beats a long cold shower after a day in the sun. I saunter down the steps to the living room. Susie is already curled up with a blanket and a large bowl of popcorn in front of her. Next to her are three bowls.
She grins innocently.
“Movies always have to come with popcorn, Dad.”
I sigh. Some nights, there isn’t any point in arguing with my daughter.
I flop into the recliner, lean forward to scoop up a bowl of buttery popcorn, and Max walks through the front door.
Ruby is right behind him.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” I ask. “It’s Mario.”
“I’m sure,” Ruby says while Max makes a beeline for the couch to sit by Susie. They place the big bowl between them and both start eating as if we didn’t feed them all day.
“Are you sure this is okay?” Ruby asks, crossing her arms in the doorway. “You’re not tired or sore or anything and want to call it a day?”
I nod while the kids start to argue over who gets the remote.
“It’s fine. I’m fine. If he starts to doze off, I’ll send him home.”
Ruby nods and then turns on her heel. I follow her out the front door.
“Or I can text you when he’s ready, and you can come get him.”
She nods, turning to face me as she takes the first step off my front porch. Her gaze trails from my gray sweatpants up to my face, stalling slightly on my bare chest the way it always does. Maybe that’s why I keep not wearing one.
“Have I mentioned how much I hate that you have my phone number?”
I’m opening my mouth to respond when a blue car pulls up. It’s still daylight, so it’s not late by any means, but I wasn’t expecting company.
The driver parks quickly and jogs toward us.
What is Logan, my landlord, doing here?
“Hi, Ruby. Hey, Declan. How’s it going?”
“Fine.”
“That’s good. How’s the packing going?” he asks.
I glance between Ruby and Logan. Who’s packing what?
Ruby’s brows dip toward her tiny nose.
“Are you asking me?” I ask.
Logan nods. “You got my email, didn’t you?”
I step farther onto the porch and rest my hands on my hips as I stare at him.
“What email?”
Logan cringes. “The one with my thirty-day notice to vacate.”
“Vacate,” I snap. “This house?”
Logan nods. “The wife and I finally listed it.”
“I’ll pay you double in rent for the next three months to wait,” I say instantly. I hate tossing money out this way, but this situation calls for it.
Luca swore my house would be ready by the end of the summer. I need him to be right.
Ruby grunts, but I ignore her.
“That would be amazing, Declan, but we accepted an offer this morning. It was word of mouth and sold quickly.”
This can’t be happening.
“Wait, so what are you saying? I now have less than a month to move?”
He nods, zero hints of guilt on his face.
“Two weeks, to be specific.”
“Two weeks?”
Ruby rushes past me to close the front door so the kids don’t hear me shouting.
I nod in thanks and then return my attention to Logan.
“I never saw an email. You should have called when I didn’t reply to let you know I read it.”
He holds his hands up.
“Yeah, I should have, but it’s too late for that now. Your contract technically says I just have to give you notice.”
The silence around us fills the air with tension.
“I’m just...” Ruby says quietly, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at her house and backing up.
“I’ll be back in a bit for Max. Oh, unless you want me to take him now?
I’m sure you … actually, I don’t know what you need right now.
I mean, obviously a place to live, and you only have … you know, I think I’ll just go.”
I’ve never heard that woman ramble in my life.
I think I like it.
“Is that all you stopped by for?” My tone to Logan is anything but kind, and given the circumstances, I’d say it’s fucking valid.
“Yep.”
“Great. Goodbye, Logan.”
“I really am sorry, Declan. I’ll talk with you soon.”
“Yeah, call this time,” I say, and he waves with his back to me.
Fuck.
Two weeks to find a new place and move. Somewhere that doesn’t require a lease, because we’ll be moving into our own house in a few months.
I walk back into the house and freeze at the sounds of Susie and Max laughing.
Susie.
This is going to devastate her. I thought I had time to prepare her for the move across town.
Now I don’t even know where we are going to live for the summer.