It turned out that Matt had swim trunks on under his khakis. He whipped off his t-shirt and pants blindingly fast. Bailey gaped at him, but Matt saved him from embarrassing himself with the obvious ogling by running for the water. Running through the waves, he sent water splashing all around him in a beautiful sight. Then he dived in and swam off.
"Is he too far away?" Joey asked worriedly.
"He's OK. See what a good swimmer he is," Bailey told him. Neither the father or the son could take their eyes off him as he kept swimming.
Joey combined watching Matt with jumping on the waves, running in place for maximum splatter and noise. Then Matt swam back and got out and that was another stunning sight, all wet, muscles glistening with droplets of water.
After the swimming, the splashing and the ogling was done, they all headed back to the house. Matt was wet and dripping on the porch and both Matt and Joey had wet, sand covered feet. Noticing Bailey frowning at the idea of tracking sand inside the house, Matt pointed out the hose.
"Should we see if it works?"
"Good idea," Bailey said and went to get it. It was tangled and Bailey got it even more tangled. Matt chuckled and came over to help him while Joey stomped on the porch to shake off the sand. "That's how a dinosaur does it," Matt said to him and Joey growled.
Matt was still wet from his swim and having him close wearing so little made Bailey almost dizzy with desire. He didn't even notice that Matt had the hose untangled and now he was bending over to turn on the water. Soon they had their feet all cleaned up.
Matt was still wet though. Going inside, he ducked into the bathroom to dry off and put on his clothes.
"You wait on the porch, I'll be right back," Bailey said to Joey.
Going inside the house slowly, Bailey sighed at all the mountains of useless stuff his grandfather had collected. He had put extra shelves in the living room but there were still boxes of stuff stacked against the walls.
It was jarring to be in Grandpa's place with him gone. Then Bailey saw a photo of him and his grandfather right there on that beach and he got choked up. He couldn't let his emotions get the better of him now. There was work to be done.
Bailey got some towels for him and Joey so they could dry off their feet. He saw Matt was dry and dressed now but still amazing-looking.
Joey was cautiously coming through the door. Seeing how Joey was tiptoeing inside, Matt told him, "It's not scary."
"Daddy said it was," Joey protested.
"I said scary messy, not scary scary," Bailey said.
"I guess your granddad was a bonafide packrat," Matt said as he saw the living room.
"What's that?" Joey wanted to know.
"That's someone who collects too many things they don't need," Bailey told him and pointed at the tower of old magazines then warned Joey, "Make sure not to touch anything." He could just picture that tower and lots of other things toppling over.
"Are there comics?" Joey asked eagerly.
"I don't know what there is, but don't touch anything without asking," Bailey told him again.
"Does that go for me too?" Matt asked.
Bailey could have sworn Matt looked him up and down as he said that, but he wasn't asking for permission to touch Bailey. Matt was gesturing at the piles of stuff. Deciding he must have imagined the suggestive look, Bailey told him, "Oh, no. You can dive in. Most of it goes in the trash or to be donated, just keep an eye out for anything that looks personal or important. Now let's open some windows and let the sea breeze in. It's stuffy in here."
It was lucky that Grandpa liked to collect cardboard boxes too so they had plenty. Bailey started by uncollapsing them, then labeling them for donation. Matt was already filling a trash bag with takeout containers Grandpa had meticulously washed and saved up.
"I can take these to the recycling center," Matt said. "The magazines too."
"Oh, that's great. Thank you so much. I'll pay you extra for that," Bailey said and Matt smiled. "Did you know my grandfather?"
"I'd seen him around, but I didn't really know him," Matt said.
Bailey nodded. "Grandpa wasn't really a sociable guy, especially not after my grandmother died. He was nice though."
Bailey packed up some more stuff then he looked around for Joey. He didn't like having the kid out of his sight.
"He's still reading that book you found for him," Matt said before Bailey even asked.
