He loosens his arms enough for me to look up at him. I can feel my eyes opening wider, his smile is so disarming, so confident.
“Does my dad know, about us I mean?” I ask question number one.
“Yes,” Will says, his grin only broadening.
I gasp a breath in and start to carry on again, but Will’s finger presses against my lips. “Questions, Piper, let’s just stick to questions and answers for now, okay?” he asks, showing the patience of a saint.
I feel confused, but arrange my thoughts to include everything I want to… everything I need to know about Will.
“How do you know my dad, really?” I ask.
“We were raised in the same boy’s home as orphans. I was fostered, your dad wasn’t.”
It’s a shock to hear it said so plainly, but I always knew my dad was an orphan, although he never mentioned Will. His eyes are dancing now, inviting my next question.
I clear my throat and focus again. “What is it you actually do?” I ask. This is probably what’s been eating me up more than anything else. Even more than the man himself today.
Will sighs, looking like he’s been caught smoking or doing something he might get in trouble for.
“Promise not to get mad?” he asks, looking innocent enough to match his saint’s patience.
Of course I readily agree.
“I developed a computerized pool filtering system years ago… and the chemicals to run in it. I do pretty well out of that,” he says, matter of fact.
I do feel mad, and anger wells up inside me.
“You’re a pool boy!” I exclaim, nearly shrieking. Will ignores me and his body shakes with silent laughter.
“Not exactly, but I’ve cleaned a few in my time. Ask me another,” he says, teasingly, knowing that he has me stumped now.
The two things I never quite understood have been cleared up and I have to say, it’s a bit of a relief to hear it explained so clearly.
So normally.
“So, why couldn’t dad be a part of your pool thing?” I ask, a logical question I think.
“Pride,” Will says, sucking air in through his teeth, then puffing his cheeks as he blows out.
“I asked your dad to come work for me, even be partners, but he always wanted to do things his way. He hated it when I went away from the boys home and hated me for a long time once he found out I’d gone to college and set up my own company. The computerized filtration systems were the last straw and he wouldn’t speak to me for years.”
“So… you do clean your own pools, but just humor dad by letting him clean them so it gives you a reason to support him, us?” I ask, feeling like my whole life’s been a lie, but glad it’s Will that’s behind it.
“Not really,” Will says firmly, taking my face in his hands and explaining further, reading my mind again.
“Your life’s not a lie, Piper. Your dad loves you more than anything. Raising you is the one thing he’s managed to do that nobody else could. I might even go so far as to say he loves you more than I do,” he says, smiling.
“But a father’s love is different,” he continues. “And I’ve only helped out financially, putting money in an account every month. Money your dad’s only used when he knew he had no other options.”
“But you set him up in business?” I ask.
“Yes. As a loan, which he paid off plus interest. Your dad is as stubborn as you are inquisitive,” he observes, giving me a sideways glance with a raised brow.
I sigh a breath of relief, feeling totally relaxed now. Lighter.
And much better informed, which calms my mind instantly.
“Alright,” I tell him, deciding to give him some of his own medicine.
“Alright what?” he asks, looking puzzled, the smug grin sliding from his face as he looks at me like I might’ve finally cracked under the pressure.
“Alright,” I tell him again, with greater conviction.
“Alright what?” he asks, before I have to answer his question just like he’s answered mine.
“Alright, I’ll marry you,”
“You… you will?” he asks, “I mean…” he stammers, “…just like that… you’ll say yes before I even ask?”
He examines me for a moment, then his smile comes back. Bigger and wider, more confident than ever.
“C’mere pool boy,” I purr, and hooking my arms around his neck, I pull him closer to me, kissing him tenderly.
Proving that the pool boy or pool girl fantasy is no myth… it’s sometimes just the only way destiny can run its course.
And it’s sometimes as easy as falling off a log. Or even into a pool.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
Will
“Now, Will. You know I can’t do that. It’s bad luck for the groom to see his bride before the wedding day.”
I want to roll my eyes, to ask Guy if he’s serious. But he’s been so good about Piper and I getting together, even getting married, that I just don’t have the heart to really argue with him.
She’s staying at his place for the day or two before the wedding, and although it bothers me to have her out of the house, our house for a few days, it’s the least of his worries for me to see her now.
If only he knew what I’ve been doing to her day and night for the past six months.
“But Guy,” I start, shake my head and chuckle once his hand goes up, once I can see how serious he’s taking this whole thing.
“She asked me to come over, told me she had some big news she couldn’t tell me over the phone,” I complain, watching his face contort in disbelief.
“You’ve been calling each other on the phone?” he asks furiously like I’ve just spit in his eye.
“Only texts,” I promise, “and nothing that isn’t absolutely necessary.”
Like Piper showing me what I’ve been missing out on every breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I’m not sure if he’s being serious or if he just has to block out what he knows is really going on between me and his daughter. I remember it was a fight to have her move in with me in the first place. At first, he insisted on separate rooms, which I arranged easily, considering he’s not at my house to see where Piper is at every hour of the day or night.
But I really feel that Piper needs to see me, in person. Something’s up. I can feel it.
“Daddy! Will, you just let him in, please. I need to talk to him. It’s important.”
Guy closes the door in my face and I hear him stomping up the stairs, then a low murmur of his voice mixed with the shrill tone of Piper’s voice has me counting down from ten to stop from losing my shit altogether.
I’m forty for Christ’s sake, not fourteen.
After a few minutes, Guy reappears at the door, smiling like he’s won a raffle.
He waves Piper’s phone in front of me and wags the finger of his other hand in my face too.
“You’ll just have to wait until your wedding day tomorrow young man,” he says glibly, making want to snap his damned finger off.
I have to let it go, he’s been so good about everything so far. Even insisting on paying for the wedding himself, out of money he’s saved all on his own.
I shrug and hold both hands up, promising Guy I’ll be ready in the morning. That I won’t be late and most of all… I won’t leave his daughter standing at the altar.
As if.
Turning to look up at her window as I leave, I have to shake my head again. The old man has even boarded up her window with inch thick plywood.
‘til tomorrow then darlin’
The next morning, after a sleepless night and getting out of bed with a hard on that speaks of almost three days now without my girl, I get the call.
“Ah jeez, Will. I’m sorry. I shoulda let you see her yesterday. She’s a mess. Been up half the night and now throwing up all this morning. I thought it was just nerves but now she’s talking about hospital-”
He keeps talking, but I’ve dropped the phone. Th
ey live about twenty minutes away, I make in about five.
The front door’s already open and there’s a stream of people in and out, flowers, a hairdresser, and of course, the wedding dress I’m not supposed to see.
But everyone looks worried and a hush falls once I leap from my car and sprint up the drive.
I bound up to Piper’s room. I can hear her dad in there talking to her so I knock gently.
He opens it a fraction, only letting me in once he sees it’s me.
He’s shaking his head too, looking thoroughly miserable. Like the whole thing’s about to be called off.
Over my dead body.
I shoo him out, and instead of smothering Piper like I want to, I notice her depressed look and kneel down in front of her instead.
I’m almost sure I see a small grin flash across her face, but when I look down at her again, and she’s looking worse than ever.
“Piper, tell me what to do. I’ll do anything but for god’s sake just tell me you’re alright,” I beg her.
She hides her face in her hands, listing off everything that’s wrong.
“…and now the dress doesn’t even fit. They had to send it back to be altered. I only had it on a few days ago. I’m such a pig!” she exclaims, and I feel wounded just hearing her talk like that.
I try to put my arm around her, but she pushes it away.
“I’ve been so sick, every morning really. Been hiding it from you, Will.”
I feel sick myself, wracking my brains to figure out how I missed any of this.
Damned Guy, he’ll pay for this. If only he’d let me see her-
And there it is again.
I could swear I just saw her smiling through her fingers up against her face.
Remembering her love of having me on, of having the upper hand… and recalling how she proposed in the first place, I decide to play along.
“Then, I guess the wedding’s off. I can’t marry a sickly girl who won’t keep her dinner down, let alone anything else in her mouth.”
She snatches her hands away from her face, her eyes slits and her mouth pressed into a frown.
I laugh and kiss her on the forehead.
“Alright, sweetie. You win. You got me. Now what is it, really and honestly now. No more fooling. You’ll give your dad another heart attack.”
As soon as I say that she bites her lip, grimaces and shakes her head.
She reaches down next to her, under the bed and pulls out a brown paper sack.
“My wedding gift to you, Will,” she says, her voice suddenly choking with emotion.
I figure there’s a rubber chicken, or a joy buzzer inside, the way this morning’s panned out.
But when I see the little blue plus sign on the white plastic…
Once I realize it’s a positive pregnancy test.
“I figured it had to be that. I only just did it now,” she says, starting to cry and I feel like I’m half way to joining her.
“It’s still wet with pee, by the way,” she says, and we both cry-laugh.
I hug her so tight, as tight as I dare.
“I’m gonna be a daddy!” I exclaim.
“And I’m gonna be a mommy,” she squeaks, letting me know my grip on her is tight enough.
“Are we gonna tell everyone?” I ask, leaving that decision totally up to her. She is the mommy now.
“Should we?” she asks and I consider everything her dad put in place to up hold tradition before the wedding.
“Hell no,” I suggest, reminding her of her dad’s antics regarding our wedding.
“Imagine what he’d do if he found out I knocked you up before the big day?”
“You’re right,” she says, thinking and chewing her lip, looking more gorgeous than ever.
“We’ll leave it ‘til after the honeymoon. Tell him it’s a rapid pregnancy test or something.”
I stand, and despite myself, she notices her usual effect on my anatomy.
“Nobody’s gonna come in here for a bit. They think I’m having a nervous breakdown,” she says, a shiver in her breath as she runs a flat palm up and down my bulging front.
“And I know just how to make you squeal in no time,” I add convincingly.
“Then c’mere, pool boy. Let’s have our last fling as single, free spirits before we’re tied together forever.”
Extended Epilogue
Eighteen Months Later
Piper
“Will!” I scream, stumbling forward, my hand reaching out for our baby girl. I’d only turned my back for a second and now she’s making straight for the-
“It’s alright mommy!” Will cries out, winking at me as he catches Bella who’s leapt into his arms. “Daddy’s here, and Bella knows what she wants.”
He makes this wide eyed face and puffs his cheeks out, holding his breath before he makes sure Bella’s done the same and with both of his strong hands, he dips her under before lifting her back out.
Bella screams with excitement.
“I got her, Baby. I’ve always got her,” Will says, giving a smile.
He knows I’m still a little gun shy of the pool, but its fenced now and Bella’s only in here if we are and Will’s in the pool. The indoor pool is locked and Will only uses it when Bella’s sleeping.
“She’s just like her dad,” I muse loudly, dipping my toe in as I settle on a wicker chair by the edge.
Its fall, and I watch the leaves starting to tumble from the elm tree nearest the pool, the water catching one before it gets sucked closer to the leaf trap.
The pool’s heated now too, but despite all his efforts, I just can’t bring myself to swim anymore.
“It’ll come back honey,” Will says encouragingly, taking his eyes away from me just long enough to dunk Bella again, making us both laugh once she squeals with delight all over again.
“It ‘um ‘ack umma,” Bella laughs, squeezing her dad’s finger as we both stop laughing and watch her, dumbfounded.
“What did she just say?” I ask, not believing my ears, Will shrugs, promising he hasn’t coached her to say a word at all.
“It um ‘ack ‘umma… ‘ump in!” Bella shrieks, and starts to splash her feet as she laughs.
Will and I look at each other. I feel my heart swell as he holds Bella closer, kissing her head the way he does mine, whispering something in her ear.
Most likely how much daddy loves his little girl.
By the time he’s looked back at me, I’ve slipped out of my tropical wrap and am slowly making my way into the water. One timid step at a time.
“Are you sure honey?” Will asks, giving me that look that tells me his hands are full if I get into any trouble, but I give a nod, watching Bella the whole time until I’m in the water and swimming towards her.
Her tiny fingers reach out for me as I get closer, her daddy holding her up by her belly so she can stretch out, just like she does when she’s learning to swim.
I feel something shift in me when our finger touch, like it’s okay not to feel the bottom sometimes.
Like I’m allowed to float, and then control where I go by swimming. I won’t drown again because I’m so close to the ones I know who keep me up. The ones who keep me afloat. My family.
I move past Bella, paddling right out past Will into the deepest part of the pool, right over the spot where I fell in.
I scoop a leaf from the trap, and study it for a moment before making my way back to the man I love and our beautiful baby girl.
I hold the leaf up, studying it.
I ask Will one more time, for the last time, if he’s been teaching Bella anything else apart from how to swim, like I dunno… maybe how to talk?
His face is clear and his eyes tell me it’s the truth.
Bella laughs, and splashes us both.
I figure there’s no better way to get to the bottom of this than to ask her myself, seeing as she’s in the mood to talk.
“Who taught you how to talk, Bells?” I ask, not even trying to ba
by her. Asking her like she’s a real life grown up...baby.
“An’ ah,” she gurgles, spitting some pool water out as I motion for Will to lift her up.
“Who?” I ask again.
“An’ ah,” she says loudly with even more determination, face palming herself when she sees we just can’t understand.
And then it clicks.
Will and I look at each other, right as he comes through the gate, whistling with his pool equipment in hand.
“An’ ah!” Bella shrieks, pointing as I wave to my dad.
Will and I both look at each other and he winks, a little tear in the corner of one eye.
“That damned pool guy,” he says grinning, moving over to me and kissing me tenderly.
“I love you Piper,” he says in a rough voice, turning his body so my dad can’t see him get emotional.
“And I love you, Will. You’re my hero. My real pool boy fantasy,” I tell him, pecking his cheek and taking Bella from him, only so I can pass her up to her Grandpa, who comes every day it seems.
“To clean the pool, and maybe just see how young Bella is doing. How you all are doing.”
We’re doing just fine, dad. Just fine.
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A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Pool Girl: An Instalove Possessive Age Gap Romance (A Man Who Knows Who He Wants) Page 8