by Jewel E. Ann
I chuckle. “You leaving, or are you staying to watch me get dressed?”
When her eyes meet mine, she grins. “I might stay.” She shrugs. “After all, you watch me strip all the time.”
“Sometimes.” I correct her, retrieving briefs and shorts from my dresser. When I drop my towel, her eyes bulge into saucers.
Yes. I have an erection.
“Whoa …” she says slowly.
I smirk, stepping into my briefs. “What can I say? I really like your dress.”
She coughs a laugh as her smile grows. “Yeah you do.”
After buttoning and zipping my shorts, I snag a tee from the closet and slip it on. “Did you enjoy the show?” I hold out my hand to her to pull her off the bed.
She places her hand in mine. “More than you can imagine.”
I pull her toward the stairs. “Does your mom know you like to stare at naked men after they shower?”
She snorts a laugh. “No. She raised me better than that.”
I turn toward her after taking one step down. “What happened?”
She presses her hands to my cheeks. “Professor Nathaniel Hunt, American Jamie, hockey showoff, endearing single dad …” Her thumb brushes along my bottom lip. She does it a lot.
I like it … a lot.
“He said he wanted to kiss me.” She shrugs, trapping her lower lip between her teeth, giving me that sexy smile. “And it shook me like a snow globe or maybe more like a martini because after he said it to me, I felt drunk …” Her voice lowers to barely even a whisper. “You’re so…” she shakes her head slightly, like she’s trying to figure it out as she goes “…intoxicating.”
Encircling her wrist to keep her thumb at my lips, I nibble it. “This … selfish … un-fatherly part of me wants to die right now.”
Her brows knit together. “Why?”
“So I can come back in another body and be the young nurse you have an affair with in the nursing home.”
Her head inches side to side as her mouth inches closer to mine. “So intoxicating …”
“Dad?” Morgan calls from the living room.
We smile. I release her hand, and we descend the stairs.
Neighbors.
Friends.
Pen pals.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Gracelyn
“Nathaniel is quite handsome,” Mom says as we swing on the deck, watching Nate swim with the kids while Dad and Mr. Hans get groceries for our holiday celebration tonight.
“He’s fine.”
“Fine or fine?”
I grin. “Your point?”
“I see him look at you.”
“We’re neighbors. Gabe and Morgan are friends. It’s hard to not occasionally look at each other.”
Nate’s mom pushes through the screen door, carrying a glass of lemonade. She takes a seat in the rocker opposite us.
“I was just telling Gracelyn how handsome your son is.”
Thanks, Mom …
She smiles. “Just like his father. Nathaniel has been through so much. I’m glad he took Morgan away and lived the dream he and Jenna had always hoped to share with their little girl. We didn’t think he’d do it. So much happened after Jenna died. Nate’s past. His nanny. Trying to figure out how to be a single dad.”
The nanny. I need more information on this nanny. Why mention her unless there was something to it beyond just hired help? It’s odd.
“We’re glad it’s about over, though. Eight years is a long time to go without being able to hug your child and your granddaughter.” She frowns. “I’m sorry, Sharon. That was insensitive. Nathaniel told us you lost a child. It’s unimaginable.”
Mom keeps her gaze on the water as we swing our legs in unison. “No apologies. You weren’t insensitive. I’m sure eight years felt like a lifetime. Honestly, I still keep thinking I’m going to see Kyle or that he’s going to call me. It might take me eight years or more before reality really hits. It’s easier to think that he’s traveling.” She rests her hand on my leg, and I rest my hand on hers.
“Our little granddaughter sure thinks the world of Gabe.”
“I HATE YOU, GABE! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!”
Our three heads whip toward the beach, the commotion, and Morgan marching up the sandy hill in her red bikini, hands fisted and wet hair plastered to her face.
“I may … have spoken too soon,” Nate’s mom murmurs.
Nate follows Morgan, shooting us a confused expression while Gabe grabs a towel and dries off, not seeming the least bit phased by the recent outburst.
It’s so very … male-female, yin-yang, Mars-Venus.
“You’re up,” Mom says, nudging my arm as Nate’s mom sets her drink on the little round table and heads to their house.
“I’m up.” I nod. “Yeah, I’ll just … talk to him.”
“You let him know you’re on his side, no matter what.”
After standing, I glance over my shoulder. “What if he’s in the wrong?”
“He needs a team. He’ll need you the most when he’s wrong.”
“You know I’m terrible at this, right?”
She smirks. “Doesn’t matter. I’m always on your side. I’m your team.”
Tears burn my eyes as I smile. “Thank you,” I whisper over the lump in my throat.
If I don’t mess this up, if Gabe turns out okay, it’s because I’ve had the very best mom setting the very best example. There are so many things I remember about her raising me, but the underlying emotion has always … always been love.
After Brandon died and his family left his bedside, she stood in the doorway to his room and refused to let anyone take him away until my last tear fell, until my hand released his. She insisted I stay with her for two weeks after Andy cheated on me so she could protect me from anyone telling me to just “get over it and move on.”
When Michael left me at the altar, she had the DJ play my favorite songs as my family and friends stayed to eat all the food, drink all the alcohol, and cake … Mom insisted I cut the cake. I’m pretty sure I ate most of it too. She never asked me why Michael walked away because she knew.
She knew it was my fault. Yet … she was on Team Gracelyn.
When Gabe makes his way to the porch with messy hair and a towel wrapped around him, Mom goes inside. I nod to the steps, and we sit next to each other, staring out at the water.
“So …” I sigh. “What just went down?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Well, I guarantee you Morgan is over there telling her dad everything. It—”
“No.” He shakes his head. “Trust me. She’s not.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because she doesn’t want to get in trouble.”
I chuckle. “I’m not following. It seemed like you did something to upset her, but she’s the one worried about getting in trouble?”
He nods.
“Did you threaten to tell on her? Is that why she’s upset?”
Gabe shakes his head.
I don’t speak pre-teen. It’s a complicated language that’s a mix of vague words, crooked facial expressions, shrugs, nods, and head shakes. A translator would come in handy right now.
“What if I keep it a secret?”
Another head shake. “You won’t.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because grown-ups share everything.”
“Is she taking drugs, drinking, or smoking something she shouldn’t be?”
“No.”
“Did she steal something or kill someone?”
He smirks and shares an eye roll. “No.”
“Then you can safely tell me, and I won’t tell Nate.”
He blows out a long breath. “She has a phone.”
“A cellphone?”
Gabe shoots me a look. I’d say a “duh” look. “Is there any other kind?”
“Actually, yes, but we can go over that later. How did she get a cellphone?”
“When we went to Disneyland with Hunter, she got a new phone, but they didn’t have to give back her old phone because of how old it was. So she gave her old phone to Morgan so they could message and do stuff on social media. She can only use it with Wi-Fi. She can’t actually call anyone. Hunter set up an email account for her too.”
“Wow … okay. Sounds like a real coup.”
“What’s a coup?”
“Sorry … it’s … I just meant it was quite the plan to get her a phone without her dad knowing.”
“You can’t tell him.”
“I’m not, but now can you explain why she hates you?”
He picks at a string hanging from the towel. “I won’t follow her on TikTok.”
“Oh … well, I’m not that familiar with TikTok. That’s why she hates you?”
His nose wrinkles.
“Gabe …”
He frowns. “I don’t follow any girls on there because they do the most annoying stuff. My friends don’t follow girls either. And she just kept bugging me to follow her and asking why I wouldn’t. So I told her.”
I wait.
Nothing.
“I’m going to need to know exactly what you told her.”
“You said you wouldn’t say anything.”
“I’m not, but I still need to know what I’m working with here so I can find some way to deal with the damage.”
Rolling his eyes to the sky, he shakes his head. “I said I don’t follow girls because they are annoying. She asked if I thought she was annoying.”
“Annnd?”
“I said sometimes. And she just lost it.”
“Wow … okay. Well, I think she likes you … a lot. So I’m sure when you said that, it hurt her more than it would if she didn’t like you so much.”
“I know … it’s just that she’s always talking, always asking me things that I don’t know, saying weird stuff, bragging about places she’s been. And she’s leaving next month, so I don’t know why she thinks we need to be best friends. I have other friends. It’s not my fault that she doesn’t.”
Ouch …
How do you teach a child to reason when they are not mentally capable of doing it very well?
It sucks to like someone when they don’t like you back the same way. I was Gabe. I was the one who just couldn’t reciprocate equally. Maybe the heart is like a child—impulsive and unable to reason.
I tried to love Andy and Michael the way I loved Brandon. My brain pushed my heart to feel something it didn’t—it tried to make it see reason and reality. We can’t turn off the sun, run from the wind, or push back the tide. Some forces are just too strong.
Love isn’t an emotion. It’s a force.
“Well…” I wrap my arm around him, hugging him to me while kissing his wet head “…I won’t make you apologize for your feelings, but when things cool down, you should consider apologizing for hurting hers.”
We glance left at Nate walking our way.
“I’m out of here.” Gabe stands and runs inside.
Nate’s gaze narrows as it follows Gabe’s retreat. “Where’s he going?” He stops at the bottom of the steps, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Inside to change his clothes.”
“Well, we need to talk. Morgan refuses to let me into her room. She won’t talk to my mom either. I need to know what happened.”
My nose wrinkles. “I think you need to wait for Morgan to tell you.”
“Do you know?”
Biting my lips shut, I nod.
“Then tell me.”
“I can’t. I promised Gabe I wouldn’t.”
Nate’s eyebrows slide into peaks. “Are you serious? That’s not how this works. We’re the parents. We stick together to get these issues solved. You can’t not tell me because you pinky swore.”
“It wasn’t a pinky swear. Just a regular promise.” I smirk.
Nate doesn’t show signs of finding this humorous at all.
“Look …” I stand, brushing off the back of my shorts, my one step putting me closer to eye level with him. “I don’t know how to navigate all the drama that comes with raising a child, but I do know I want Gabe to feel comfortable confiding in me. We need that kind of trust. So while I won’t tell you details, I can say it’s nothing awful, just something that ended up being a little hurtful on his part. I fully expect him to eventually apologize to Morgan.”
He stares at me without blinking for several seconds. “Wow … okay. I thought we had developed some sort of team effort to deal with them. Apparently not.”
When he turns back toward his house, I grab his arm. “Whoa … whoa … wait. Where are you going? Are you seriously mad at me? It’s not a big deal. Can’t you just trust me and be patient? Wait for Morgan to tell you in her own time?”
“You’re letting them pit us against each other. You’re protecting him when he just needs to be honest with everyone. You’re acting like an accomplice not a parent.”
I release his arm. “You’re just pissed off that Gabe’s not afraid to tell me the truth. Maybe if you stopped trying to control her so much, she might not lock you out of her room … out of her life.”
He opens his mouth to reply but closes it just as quickly and walks away. I fight the urge to stop him again, to try again to reason with him. I’m no better than Gabe at explaining my feelings without offending anyone.
“We’re loaded up.”
I turn toward my dad’s voice as he, Nate’s dad, and Mr. Hans head my way with bags of groceries. “Hey. Great.” Fake smiles have never been easy for me, but I do my best. Our parents are here. Mr. Hans is excited about our grilling plans tonight, and it’s a holiday. I’m not going to let two ten-year-olds ruin this.
“Which place?” Dad asks when they reach the boardwalk.
“Mine …” I grin at Mr. Hans. “Yours.” I wink.
He chuckles as I lead them up the stairs. “Technically, they’re both mine.”
The men deposit the groceries on the island, and my mom and I start unpacking everything.
“Beer?” Mr. Hans opens the fridge.
David and my dad perk up and take cans from him as he hands them out.
“We’re good. We have food to prepare.” I wink when he holds up two more cans for us.
He shrugs. “Okay, we’ll just get out of your way then.”
The guys disappear to the deck.
“How did things go with Nathaniel?” Mom asks as I wash vegetables.
“Not good. I don’t think he adheres to the same team motto. He thinks I’m supposed to be on his team, not Gabe’s. He’s upset that Gabe told me what happened, but I wouldn’t tell him because I don’t want to break my promise to Gabe. If it were something major, something life threatening, I’d say something.”
“Maybe you should say something to Morgan. Woman to woman.”
“But I’m Team Gabe.”
She grins while taking the scrubbed potatoes and peppers from me to cut up. “You don’t have to talk to her about Gabe. Talk to her about Nathaniel. Maybe get her to open up to him.”
“You want me to be Team Nate?”
“Oh, baby …” She eyes me with an ornery grin. My grin. We share the same smile. “I’m quite certain you were Team Nate before we arrived.”
I frown, returning my attention to the running water and veggies. “He’s mad at me.”
“Lovers’ quarrel.”
“We’re not lovers.” I laugh.
“Have you kissed him?”
I scrub the last few layers really hard. “Can you believe Morgan had never been to Disneyland? Nate doesn’t like stuff like that. I guess he thinks it’s too commercialized. He’s in for a rude awakening when she goes to public school this fall.”
Mom nods slowly while cutting potatoes. “So he’s a really good kisser?”
I grin. “Yeah … he’s a phenomenal kisser.”
“Go.” She turns, pointing the knife at me. “I’ve got this. Go make things right. Go
be Team Nate.”
I narrow my eyes, not wanting her to be right all the time, even if she is. “Fine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Nathaniel
As I drink a much-needed beer on the deck with the rest of the guys, Gracelyn shuffles her flip-flop clad feet in our direction.
“Mom need help?” her dad asks.
She shakes her head, climbing the stairs. “No. We thought it would be best if I came over here to check on Morgan.”
“What’s wrong with Morgan?” Dad asks me.
“Nothing. She’s fine.” I take a swig of my beer, eyeing Gracelyn, letting her know with a look that my daughter is fine and doesn’t need her to do anything.
“Just girl stuff.” Her lips pull into a smirk as she opens the door.
I don’t like anyone undermining my authority with my child, so I set my beer aside and follow her into the house where Morgan is helping my mom make deviled eggs for the party. She’s also doing all the laundry and dishes from now until she fesses up, but I doubt she’ll disclose that.
“Hey, Morgan, can I talk with you alone for a few seconds?”
Morgan looks up from the table and the partially peeled egg in her hand and gives my mom a look as I hang back just inside the door.
My mom smiles and nods. “I’ll head over and help your mom as soon as I’m done here.”
Gracelyn waves her off. “She’s good. I’m heading back over just as soon as I’m done talking to Morgan.” She turns to follow Morgan upstairs. They give me an evil glare but don’t say anything. I hold my own. This isn’t my fault they’re keeping secrets from me. I’m the only functioning adult in this situation.
When I hear the bedroom door click shut, I inch up the stairs and hover next to the door with my ear almost touching it.
“Gabe told me about your secret.”
“Gah! He’s such a snitch.”
Gracelyn laughs a little. “I’m not defending what he said to you, even though I do believe he wasn’t intentionally trying to be mean or hurt you. And the only reason he told me everything was because you put him in an impossible situation because you don’t want to tell your dad.”
“I can’t tell him. He won’t understand. I’m already sentenced to laundry and dishes for something he knows nothing about. He would kill me … literally kill me if he found out.”