Page 31 of Crossed Lines

True to her word, she made the trip to Blue Haven the first week of July. Sawyer and Beck were both cool about her coming. Beck offered to take the week off work so he could be with Jade, but I told him not to. Not only do I still need the money, but I also like hanging out with Jade. Plus, I made this commitment to them. I’m not going to flake out just because my friend is in town.

On her first day in town, I decide to take Jade to the pool so Macy can meet us at the ranch. Macy loves a good pool day anyway.

“Why do I need sunscreen?” Jade asks as I rub the white cream down her arms.

“So that your beautiful skin doesn’t get burnt by the super hot sun,” I explain.

“But why do I have to smell like a coconut?”

“What’s wrong with smelling like a coconut? There are worse things you could smell like.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she concedes.

“I know I am.” I close the sunscreen. “Ok, you’re good to go.”

She grabs her goggles and pulls them down over her eyes before she walks into the zero-depth entry pool at the guest lodge.

Macy chuckles as she pulls off her bathing suit cover-up. “She’s a cute kid.”

“I told you. She’s made this job easy peasy,” I tell her as I remove my own bathing suit cover. I went for the bright red bikini today. It’s one of my boldest ones, so I usually don’t wear it. Macy talked me into it because she’s wearing the same suit, just in white. We bought them together last summer when we spent most of our spare time at the pool in our friend’s apartment complex.

I get into the pool with Jade while Macy takes her spot on a lounge chair to work on her tan. Jade and I spend a lot of time diving for pool rings, and then she wants to jump in and have me rate it on a scale of one to ten. Macy joins in on the ratings, too, which makes Jade even more excited.

We’re having so much fun that I lose track of time. I don’t even realize it’s past Jade’s normal lunch time until I look up to see Beck walking into the pool area. He’s smiling at us and holding a brown bag.

“Hey!” I call out excitedly. It’s almost sad how happy I am to get to see him every day. And an impromptu visit always makes me giddy. I’m sure he just wanted to see his daughter, but my brain twists it to mean he wanted to see me, too.

“Hey,” he says, walking up to the side of the pool and squatting down next to us. Jade launches herself up off the side of the pool and lands a big wet kiss on his cheek. “Brought you guys lunch. I talked to Aspen, and she said you guys were still out here, so I thought you might be hungry.”

“That’s really nice. We were having so much fun, I lost track of time,” I admit.

“Good. I’m glad you’re having fun.”

“I’m hungry,” Jade says, staring at the bag.

“Well, let’s see what Daddy brought us,” I tell her. As soon as the words leave my mouth, I hear Beck suck in a breath. I can’t tell if he likes it or not when I call him daddy, but I like any reaction from him, so I keep doing it. He hasn’t told me to stop yet.

I help Jade get out of the pool before I hoist myself up. Beck’s eyes are burning into me, but I don’t look at him. I can’t. If I see what I think I’m going to see, I might pounce on him in front of all these people. And that would certainly be inappropriate.

“Beck, this is my friend Macy. Macy, this is Beck, Jade’s dad.”

It feels weird to introduce him as Jade’s dad because he feels like so much more than that. Before this summer, I would’ve also introduced him as my friend. At least, I think we were friends. Maybe he just hung around me for Sawyer’s sake, but it never felt like that to me.

“Beck.” Macy says his name like she’s tasting it, and I don’t like that at all. But I know Macy, and I know she wouldn’t try to hit on him after everything I’ve told her. She’s just admiring him, which I can’t even blame her for. Beck is hot. Especially in his shirt with cut-off sleeves and backward hat. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Likewise,” he says as they shake hands. Macy glances in my direction and smirks. I don’t even want to know what she’s going to say to me later. “I knew your friend was here with you, so I brought a few options. You guys can split it how you want.”

He sets the bag down on the table next to our chairs, and Jade starts pulling out sandwiches and bags of chips.

“Will you be joining us, Beck?” Macy asks.

I finally look over at him, only to find his eyes trained on me. He answers without even looking at her. “Nah, I’ve got to get back to the stables.”

“What a shame,” Macy says before she picks up one of the sandwiches. I hear Jade ask Macy to open a bag of chips for her, but I can’t pull my focus from Beck. Why does he have to look at me like that? Everything else around me disappears when his attention is on me.

“I should head back,” he says barely above a whisper. I know he feels the exact same way I do, which makes this so much harder. If he didn’t like me, I could pretend that these looks meant nothing.

“Ok, thanks for bringing us lunch.”