“Oh, yeah. Relentless training. You should see the regimen I had to follow.”
“It must’ve been crazy,” I agreed, my eyes drifting shut as we fell into another comfortable silence.
One of my favorite things about him was this, that it never felt like work being around him. I didn’t have to forceconversation or pretend. I could just exist and he was perfectly content doing it with me.
We kept floating, talking on and off while the sun warmed our bodies and the water lapped gently at the boards. Naturally, just as the peace of the moment wound its way into my muscles, the growl of a boat engine interrupted it.
I opened one eye. “Oh no.”
Theo groaned. “It’s Avery, isn’t it?”
As if to answer him, the pontoon boat appeared around the bend, music blasting and the others cheering as they raced toward us, the Party Island following behind them like a parade float. Avery cut the boat toward us, shouting as he waved.
“Hey! We’re going to attach the tube to the boat now.”
Theo finally sat up, shaking his head as Avery pulled up to us and cut the engine. “Leave us alone!”
“Get in!” Avery countered, grinning as he waved at the giant inflatable tube being tied behind the boat. “I promise to take it easy on you.”
I snorted. “I’ve heard that before.”
“Oh, come on,” he coaxed, pointing at both of us. “Think of it as a bonding activity. Get your lazy asses on that tube.”
It took a few more minutes to realize he wasn’t going to let us go. We relented, leaving the paddleboards to Luis and Jared while Theo and I hauled ourselves into the tube. Avery grinned like he’d achieved a tremendously important task, but at least Theo was the person I was about to die alongside.
He lay beside me, one arm draped across the tube to grab the handle at the front while the other was firmly wrapped around the handle on the side. While the others got themselves ready, he glanced at me, the look in his eyes strangely serious for the moment.
“Can I ask you something?”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Now?”
“Well, yeah.”
He glanced toward the boat, but no one was paying attention to us. They were flipping open coolers and passing around more drinks while we bobbed behind them, a private moment despite half the town being on the lake right now.
When Theo’s gaze returned to mine, my stomach twisted itself into dozens of tiny little knots, but I nodded anyway. “Sure, go ahead.”
“It’s nothing bad,” he said quietly. “I just don’t want this to be weird between us.”
“Is it weird?” I asked, a little confused. Today hadn’t been weird at all. It should’ve been, but so far, it’d been way too easy.
Theo held my gaze, his head shaking slightly before he finally allowed a tiny smile to slip through. “No, it hasn’t been weird, but I think we need to consider what we’re doing.”
I sucked in a sharp, utterly involuntary breath. I’d been trying so hard to avoid exactly what he was suggesting, choosing to not acknowledge the reality that he was from out of town. Eventually, Martha would be all fixed up, and once she was, he’d leave.
“You’re breaking up with me already?” I teased instead of letting him see how badly I wanted it not to be true.
He laughed. “No.”
“Well, that’s good. It would’ve been pretty awkward, hanging here with you and being forced to stay if you were breaking up with me.”
“Nah.” Those eyes searched mine for a beat, warm but without any humor shimmering in them for once. “It’s just that I’m not from here, Raquel. I think we both need to consider what that means for us.”
“Yeah, we probably do.” I nodded slowly. “I don’t just hook up with people though, you know.”
Theo winced, so guilty that I couldn’t help laughing. “Oh.”
“Oh?”
