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“You aren’t staying with Jaxon,” she says into my chest, and a smile forms on my lips.
“Good. I didn’t want to stay with him either.” I kiss the top of her head.
Sally pulls back, a scarlet blush coloring her face. Her eyes flare with annoyance. God, she’s so hot when she looks at me like that.
“You did that on purpose.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I muse.
“Invite revoked.” She weakly pushes at me, pretending to want to be free.
“Can I show you something before we go to your place?”
She stills at my serious tone. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just want you to see more of me since you’ve placed so much trust in me.”
She just nods as I take her hand, and we walk toward the inlet of water near the shack.
A dock comes into view with the family boat still tethered to the wood. Just seeing the vehicle reminds me of days out on the water with Pops. That was the only time he didn’t drink or yell. He was calm when water was involved.
It’s ironic that the water relaxes me too. Like father, like son, I guess. But I don’t want to be like him ever. I will love my kids no matter what.
We reach the wooden dock. Sally lets go of my hand, walking toward the boat as my body stays glued to the ground. This isn’t even the first time I’ve gone down here to make sure she’s right where Pops left her.
“Oliver, was this your father’s?” Sally guesses that pretty quickly.
“Yeah.” I wince. “It’s the boat we used when he couldn’t go out on the lake.”
My feet move toward Sally, crouching down with her to look at the white-and-red exterior.
“It’s actually quite pretty. I bet it looks nice on the water.”
“I wouldn’t remember. Pops stopped taking me out when I was thirteen.” He never told me why, but if I had to guess, it was probably because having me around ruined the image of being free that he clung to through this boat.
“If I could take away your hurt, I would.” Sally turns away from the boat and wraps her arms around me. “Can we please go back to the house?”
I run my fingers through her hair. The floral scent from before floods my nostrils.
“I’ll stay with Jaxon,” Ella tells Sally from outside the master bathroom.
“Thank you for this, sis.” Sally’s voice is soft, but there’s a little bit of sadness in her tone. I’m going to have to kiss that shit away later. “Are you and Jaxon getting pretty serious?”
“As serious as a summer fling can get, sure.” Ella lets out a laugh. “I like him a lot more than I was expecting, so we are seeing where it goes.”
The idea of Jaxon and Ella together isn’t that bad. I’ve just never seen him with a girl for more than a month or even just a few hook-ups. Ella seems to have his balls in a vise grip, though. Anytime he’s not in the shop, he’s with her.
A little bit of relief fills my heart. My plans to leave meant leaving Jaxon, but if he has Ella, then maybe he’ll be okay while I’m gone.
Sally’s and Ella’s voices trail off, and the creak of a bed comes through.
I run my fingers through my wet hair, pull it from my eyes, and wrap a towel around my waist before walking out of the room. Sally sits on the edge of the bed. Her eyes meet mine, and a smile of relief plays on her lips.
She’s not radiating that sad tone from before. Selfishly, I hope it’s purely because I’m in the same room as her.
“Thanks for letting me stay while I figure out my mess.”
“Well, the choice was a selfish one because I like sleeping in the same bed as you.” She shrugs her shoulders with a coy smile.
