“Give me twenty minutes, and I’ll go with you.” That suggestion seemed ambitious, but we’d see how it went.
Beau just shook his head and let me go. “It’ll take you longer. The shower alone takes you twenty minutes.”
“Make scrambled eggs. I’ll be fast.” I left him there to argue with himself. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking, and my hair wasn’t going to style itself.
I never imagined I could adore Beau more than I did, but boy, I got it wrong. The way he cradled Daisy Mae, Scott’sbaby daughter, melted my heart in the most gratifying way. We needed to have children of our own someday.
“Sir, your credit card has been declined.” I had to rewind those words in my mind as I shifted my attention from the peaceful scene to focus on the phone call.
“That’s not possible,” I finally answered. “Can you try again?”
“I did, three times,” she said. “You’re a good customer.”
Sure, I appreciated the sentiment, but how did being a good customer have anything to do with my credit card? “Thank you?” I answered.
My shoulders tightened, and my belly knotted. It had to be a power play from my father. Were all my credit cards suspended now? “Can I pay cash to the delivery driver?”
“Absolutely. The total’s seventy-five twenty.”
“Great,” I said. Seventy-five dollars seemed a high price to feed four people.
“Give us about thirty minutes. Thank you, Dash.”
“You too.” I ended the call and brought myself back to the present. I’d delve further into this tomorrow.
With barely a toe through the door onto the patio, Beau’s gaze locked on mine. He swayed back and forth, cradling the baby like a pro. My heart did a somersault. “At first he was all like, nope, not touching her, and now I’m not sure he’ll ever let her go.”
“I feel like bein’ a godparent is like being a grandparent. I can love on her then give her back.” Beau’s genuine grin and heartfelt words hit me right in the feels. What a loving man. A good mix of loyalty, strength, and tenderness. No matter what curveballs my parents tossed our way, we would manage it together.
“Her face scrunches up at any noise or change in the breeze. I can tell she’s a fighter with a warrior’s heart.” He ran the tips of his fingers in small circles over her heart. “But I think she’sdone somethin’ in her diaper.” He walked slowly toward Scott, suddenly ready to hand her off.
“I’ve got this one,” Lauren said as if anyone else was trying to take on the duty. Beau gently handed Daisy Mae to her mama who cradled her just as tenderly as Beau. “I’m gonna feed her. Maybe we can both take a quick power nap. I’m tired.”
Scott rose, giving Lauren then the baby a quick kiss. Even more endearingly, he went ahead of his family to open the door. “We’ll be quiet out here. If Daisy Mae doesn’t go to sleep, text me and I’ll come get her.”
They were sweet. Scott barely shut the door before he jerked his head toward Beau, superiority in his expression. “Just closed a ten-thousand-dollar contract. My cut is ten percent. I’m definitely gonna win.” Scott’s tone held confidence and determination. I’d only heard stories about this rivalry between Scott and Beau. I’d never seen it head-on. My brow crinkled, having no idea what he was talking about.
“Ha,” Beau shot back, not in a happy way. Condescension laced every word he said. “I put my application into buyin’ a FedEx ground route. When I get it, you’ll be left in the dust.”
Beau buying a route was news to me.
“Ha,” Scott mimicked. “You can’t afford a route. Good luck with that. And we agreed you weren’t usin’ his money.” With the way Scott pointed a finger at me, I felt suddenly and unwittingly included.
“I know nothing about any of this,” I said, my tone suggesting Scott and Beau were insane. The guy I lived with was trying to buy a ground route, and I didn’t know? We spent every available free minute together. The sweet emotions rolling through me from earlier turned into confusion and maybe a little hurt thrown in. I kept very little from Beau.
Before I could react, Beau started scanning the roof. I followed his gaze, wondering what he saw. Within seconds, hestarted toward the corner where one side of the house connected to the other. With one foot on the edge of a patio chair, he grabbed the ledge and was off, hoisting his body onto the roof. His balance was insanely good. With that same fluidity of movement, he fearlessly ran across the roof.
He repeated the same maneuver onto the second floor. A sudden memory of a younger Beau climbing in and out of his grandparents’ window helped me deal with the overwhelming burst of anxiety at Beau’s recklessness.
Another leap had him landing on the peak of the dormer window. He was as far up on the house as he could go. He mimicked Scott’s confident attitude as he glanced down at us. Well mainly at Scott as Beau splayed his arms and hands out. “I win.”
Besides the beads of sweat forming in my pits, all I could think about was how ridiculous they were, and how selfish Beau was being. What happened to our relationship if he miscalculated a step? Was I destined to pine for him for the rest of my life?
“Beau, get your ass down here,” I said firmly.
“Oh yeah, watch this.” Scott’s challenging tone had me looking away from the crazy guy on the roof to the other one shaking his fist, loosening his wrist and arm. A stone began to skip across the water in the pool. It managed to stay on top of the water for three quarters of the way before sinking to the bottom. The gauntlet was thrown. “I took the stone-skippin’ crown at the Dog River Festival three years runnin’. I didn’t want to rub it in at the time, but I win.”
Oh no, that was Beau’s old title. I felt to my bones the depth of how badly Scott got under Beau’s skin. He didn’t hesitate to respond and ran the few feet across the peak. Remarkably, he didn’t lose his balance before leaping into the water. A perfect cannon-ball off the roof into the deep end of the swimming pool.
