Chapter 14
chapter fourteen
Summer
Monday morning comes with a welcome relief. I had a fun weekend, but I’ve gotten too used to my solitude. My birthday is in two days. I’ve been trying not to think about it.
After starting a load of laundry and taking a leisurely walk on the beach with coffee to enjoy the sunrise, I do some stretching on the back porch while waiting for Jack to arrive.
He’s been to the bungalow before to take measurements of the space, so he knows to just come around to the back to meet me. When he appears on the side yard of the house, I stand up from my yoga mat and greet him with a hug.
Jack is a few inches taller than me. His curly black hair brushes his broad shoulders. His bright smile is contagious.
“How are you, Jack?”
“Can’t complain. Glad a lot of the tourists from Marg Fest left. Traffic was nuts.” He walks up to the mural space and puts a piece of painter’s tape on one end.
“How’s Lala?”
“She’s great. Getting further along, almost halfway now. She’s been working on her book a lot, trying to finish before the baby comes.”
“That’s great. I didn’t know she was a writer.”
“She’ll be a bestseller one day.” He grins proudly before turning toward the wall. “Okay, so, I have the mock-ups, and I’m going to mark where it will start and end with the tape so you can see.”
He sets his folder down on the ground and uses the tape to mark each end of the cinder-block wall. He grabs the ladder lying on the ground by the porch he left here and marks the top boundary.
“Okay, you ready to see it?”
I nod, eager to see what he came up with. We walk over to the old patio table that was left here by previous owners. He takes the folder from me and opens it up to reveal the mock-up drawings for the mural.
It’s a beautiful landscape of my favorite place on the island—Sunrise Beach on the lighthouse side.
The bungalow is located at the end of it.
The drawing has everything I wanted, including a cloudy pink sunrise, palm trees on the beach, the shadow of a whale shark and some sea turtles in the water, as well as a couple of surfers paddling out on their boards and an iguana lounging on a striped beach chair.
“The details are amazing, Jack. You captured it all.”
He grins before pulling out a sheet of sample paint colors to discuss specific colors for certain parts of the mural. After going through everything, I bid him farewell to let him get started on the stencil. It’ll be a while before he starts painting since he needs to sketch it out first.
I don’t teach yoga on Mondays, so I usually spend them running errands.
My first stop of the day is Oceanside Market for groceries, followed by a hair appointment to get a few babylights foiled in and a trim at Salt and Sand.
After Sav showed me the girl who posted a picture with Dayton, I went down the rabbit hole of stalking her profile.
Her hair looked so healthy that it made me feel strangely insecure about mine.
I swim in salt water multiple times a week, which dries it out.
My hairstylist gives me a deep conditioning treatment and sells me an oil mask to put on it once a week to help lock in moisture.
After my hair appointment, I get my nails done and an eyebrow wax. I refuse to believe that I’m doing all this because of how extremely gorgeous Dayton’s ex/potential current girlfriend is.
I just went through a breakup. A self-care day should be expected afterward.
Today is the day Cheri and I agreed to meet up for lunch at Mario’s Island Fusion. I’m nervous to see her, not knowing if she’ll bring up Dayton or what they’ve even talked about. I’m hoping I’ll get the chance to nonchalantly quiz her about his love life.
Once I park my Land Rover on the outskirts of the Street Eats food truck circle, I start walking toward the one that’s painted bright green and advertises having chicken sandwiches.
“Summer! Wait up!” I hear from behind me.
I turn to see Cheri jogging up in her pink scrubs.
“Hello!” I call back, waving. I’m wearing yoga pants and a cropped T-shirt.
She smiles at me and pulls me in for a side hug before we continue walking. “Your hair smells amazing.”
“Thanks. I just got it done.”
She nods. “So glad we’re finally doing this! Dayton came over Saturday night and told me that he’d seen you at Marg Fest this weekend.”
“Uh, yeah, we kind of went as a group, I guess. He keeps dropping in to check on the house, so my friend invited him out.”
She laughs. “He’s stressing you out with that house renovation, isn’t he? I keep hearing about it from him too. You’re both so funny.”
I shrug. “He’s a control freak.”
She lifts both her eyebrows and nods dramatically. “That he is. Okay, if you like spicy food, you have to get the spicy chicken sandwich with slaw and pickles. They’re homemade. The house-made secret sauce will make your eyes roll back in your head.”
We both order and sit down to wait for our food. I clear my throat, deciding if I don’t find the nerve to ask now, then I might chicken out.
“Yeah, Dayton was kind of being weird this weekend, honestly. I can’t believe he’s spending so much time here when his girlfriend is in New York.” I attempt to keep my voice nonchalant.
Cheri frowns. “Girlfriend? Who?”
I shrug. “I saw some girl on social media tag him in a picture. Her name was Nelly or something?” I know damn well what her name was, but can’t let it get back to him that I was stalking her.
“Ah, you mean Noelle.” Cheri rolls her eyes.
Our names are called, so we get up to grab our food and sit back down under the covered awning with picnic tables.
“Maybe that was it. Noelle sounds right.” I take a huge bite of the sandwich. The fried chicken crunches, and the secret-sauce flavor bursts on my tongue. The sour pickles and slaw create a delicious taste and texture to accompany the chicken. “Wow, this is amazing,” I say, covering my full mouth.
She nods, swallowing her bite. “I only let myself come here with friends because if I didn’t, I’d eat it every day for lunch.
” She sips on the Coke she ordered with her food.
“So, Noelle and Dayton are not together, and they never were. To be honest with you, I always thought she was a little self-absorbed. I’ve met her on FaceTime, but never in person.
They were just hooking up. She lived in his building back in New York.
He hasn’t brought her up in over a year. ”
I despise the way my body physically relaxes at the news. “Oh, well, you would definitely think they were more than that based on what she posted.” I shrug, feigning indifference at my shameful digging.
Cheri laughs. “I mean, I’m pretty sure most women who meet Dayton are interested in more with him. He had a girlfriend in college for a couple of years, but he broke up with her right before he moved to New York. I knew he would never propose. Her name was Anna.”
“It doesn’t surprise me that he’s a commitment-phobe.”
“I think he’ll commit hard when he can manage to lock down the right one.” She smirks at me.
I finish chewing my food, feeling awkward for how much I pried.
Please, please don’t tell him I asked.
“You should come by the house one night this week. Jack is starting today.”
Her eyes light up. “I’d love to! Amelia loves Jack. She goes to school with his daughter.”
“Well, I want you to bring her, of course. We can eat out on the deck and walk down to the beach.”
She nods. “That sounds perfect.”
“If you, uh, wouldn’t mind not mentioning the mural to Dayton, that would be great. I don’t think he’s going to be thrilled about it. I was waiting to tell him until I could make enough money with photography clients to cover the cost. I have a family shoot this evening.”
She laughs, holding her finger up to her lips. “Your secret is safe with me.”
It starts raining right after I finish my sunset photography session. I stay up late editing the photos before falling asleep with my computer still open on my bed.
I’m woken up by a loud noise that sounds like thunder. I sit up in bed, groggy and confused. My lamp is still on. I lie back down, shutting my eyes, until the banging happens again, and I realize it’s someone pounding on my door.
“What the hell?” I mutter.
It’s dark outside, and my alarm clock reads twelve thirty.
My stomach knots as I climb out of bed, peeking through the curtain to see who it is.
A Dayton-sized shadow is standing there, getting soaked in the rain.
He has a duffel bag in one hand. My heart thumps an irregular beat.
I walk over to the door and twist open the knob with a shaky hand.
The last time he was at my door like this, I had accidentally texted him pictures of me in my lingerie.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, shivering when the cool rain splatters outside and splashes little droplets on my feet. My nipples harden.
His white dress shirt is soaked through, revealing his impressive chest and shoulder muscles. My mouth waters as he steps inside.
“Hey! You’re all wet.”
His presence fills the small studio. He doesn’t speak, but the hard set of his jaw and dark shadows in his gaze tell me he is not happy with me.
“What do you want, Dayton? I was asleep.”
He drops his bag to the floor before reaching up to unbutton his shirt. My eyes bug out of my head. I remain motionless, watching him loosen each button, one by one.
If this is a part of the game, I might need to tap out now …
My tongue darts out to lick my dry lips.
His eyes flicker down to watch the motion.
His jaw tics, but he doesn’t say anything.
He gets to the last button before peeling the shirt off his shoulders.
I’m glad he can’t see the saliva pooling inside my mouth at the sight of his abs and the V dipping into his pants.
Water is dripping down his skin like he’s in a damn cologne commercial.
My knees are quivering with the memory of his hand on my thigh. I’m seconds away from telling him I give up. I don’t want to play the twisted game anymore. He can gloat all he wants with his win, if he’ll just stop fucking with my head like this.
Before the words come out, he turns toward the bathroom and walks over to the beach towel hanging on a hook near the bathroom door. He grabs it, drying off his chest and abs. I try not to watch, but my eyes reluctantly follow the movement.
I just know he doesn’t skimp on his protein intake.
“I heard there was a new contractor on-site today.” He finally speaks. His voice is gritty and deep.
My eyes jump to meet his. My lips part.
Oh no. He knows about the mural.