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He frowned and followed her to a shed in the back. She had a key and opened it.
“Mine is the yellow one. Skyler’s is red and you can use his.”
He grabbed the yellow one out for her and handed it off, then returned to get the red one and set it down. The paddles came out next.
He wasn’t going to argue with her about carrying it to the water. She’d only fight with him, he was sure.
“Do you feel the pressure to have to do so well to show that you earned the job and it wasn’t handed to you for being a family member?”
“I do,” she said. “I can say in life that nothing is free or nothing is handed to me, but very few believe it.”
“Have you had guys you’ve dated in the past feel otherwise?” he asked.
“If I talk about my past, you have to talk about yours,” she said in a singsong voice. “Are you willing to do that?”
“To a point,” he said.
“Then the answer is yes,” she said.
She walked to the end of the dock and put her kayak in. She’d had her vest on already and he’d grabbed one when he was in the shed. He was a strong swimmer, but he wasn’t going to be stupid either. Anything could happen on the water just like it could happen in the sky.
“Tell me,” he said.
She easily got into her kayak and he did the same into the one he was using, adjusted the paddle to his arm length and the two of them were off. He’d follow her to where she wanted to go, but she was staying close to the shore.
“It started in school. Girls only wanted to be friends with me once they realized who I was related to. I never felt I could trust them and their reasons. They always wanted to come over and do things that I had. Maybe go places with me. Vacations or concerts. Skyler and I were always allowed to bring friends places if none of our cousins were there.”
“I could understand that,” he said. “Trust has to be earned.”
“It does. I don’t give it easily. But because I always doubted people’s intentions that might have driven some true friends away too.”
He’d never thought of it that way. “We all think we know what is right until it doesn’t work out the way we thought it would,” he said.
“And I’m sure you’re not going to elaborate on that.”
“Not much more than foolish mistakes of the youth,” he said.
“I don’t buy that,” she said, “but I’ll let it go for now.”
He laughed and adjusted his sunglasses some. She had a pair on her face too. The sun was bright, but he loved the feeling of the heat on his body.
“Go on,” he said.
“From friends to boyfriends. Boys thought the same thing when I was younger. As I got older it was more about what I could bring or give them.”
“They thought you’d buy them things, like a sugar mama or something?”
She burst out laughing and almost lost her paddle. “God, no. That is a funny thought. I mean, I think some of them thought we’d go on trips and stuff and maybe I’d pay for it all, but I wasn’t doing that. I paid for an equal amount of things. I don’t keep score, but I’m not going to be the one doing it all either.”
“No one should,” he said.
“Yet you’ve been paying for everything,” she argued.
She was still annoyed he’d paid for all the supplies for her shelves. He didn’t need her money and told her that.
“You pay for all the food you cook me,” he said. “And we know you buy good ingredients.”
She let out a sigh. “I won’t argue there. See. I can be reasonable despite what many think.”
