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"I love animals, but I figure I would just mostly see the sick ones if I was doing that."
"Yeah, you would."
"Plus, all the owners."
"Yeah, the owners," I said, knowing what he meant.
"I would have gotten myself one by now, though. I've just been too busy with school and sports."
"I didn't mean to get Ralphie. He was thrust upon me, and I couldn’t resist him."
"I see why," he said, making eye contact with me.
Beau's hair seemed lighter since the last time I saw him. Something had changed. He might have been more muscular. He reminded me of his cousin, Charlie. He had on a fitted t-shirt and I stared at his chest. "You're still working out even though you're not playing lacrosse anymore," I said it as a statement and not a question.
"I'm working out more now than ever," he agreed. "It was the one thing I made time for when I was traveling. I had to. I get nervous traveling, and I had to get energy out—for my mental health."
"I feel the same way," I said. "I'm not nervous out here, but I have to get energy out. That's why I was asking if you wanted to go on the tire. I've been sitting here working for so long that my butt's sore. I feel like I need to stretch my legs."
"I’m up for that. We can definitely do the tire swing if you don't want to go on the boat."
"No, I do want to do the boat," I said. "Or even both."
"Do you need a new chair?" he asked, looking at mine.
"No, I'm just sore because I've been sitting so long. I probably do need another chair sometime, but I'm not doing all that right now. Aw, it is right there, though. Ouch." I went down into a deep lunge. "It's down in the meat part of my muscle, down where the muscle meets the bone. It feels like sore meat."
"Your rear end feels like sore meat?" he asked, looking comically confused and making me laugh.
"Yeah, down there by the bone," I said. "I don't know how else to say it. That's how it feels."
"You just need a new chair," he said, looking at mine.
"I just need to walk. Let's go down to the lake."
Chapter 9
I spent the late afternoon hours with Beau. We went onto the lake for a while, and then we came back and swam in the pool. We interacted with other people a little, but mostly, it was just the two of us. Our conversation was easy and natural. A couple of the guys there had flirted with me. AJ flirted outright, and Caleb was discreet with it, but I could tell they were both open to the idea of a romance on some level.
Beau was different. We just had good, clean fun together. He was exactly my style. The two of us were instant and easy friends. I enjoyed getting to know everyone in the family, and I thought they were all great, but my connection with Beau was more natural than any of the others. Maybe it was because I knew him from Chicago and he was the one who helped me end up here. Either way, there was a special place in my heart for Beau Cameron, and I was so happy he came. Hanging out with him was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.
We talked about my work, and he even gave me some useful advice about how to use one of my tools—something I hadn't thought of before. We met up with everyone else at dinner time, where we all gathered and ate tacos that were prepared by Sarah.
Astrid was in a good mood because she had her whole family there. She called a nearby town and paid the guy at the ice cream shop too much to drive forty miles round trip and make a delivery to us. It was a cool store, and we ended up with twelve quarts of ice cream, in all sorts of unique flavors.
They were a close family, and all of them had questions for Beau about his trip, which they asked over dinner and ice cream. I had heard some of his stories already, and enjoyed hearing him retell them more intensely for the large group. Beau was funny. They all were. We bantered and laughed, and we passed an hour or two in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
At around 8pm, Hope and Charlie decided to go to the hammock area in the woods, and several of us went with them. A tire swing hung from the other side of the same gigantic tree as the hammock, and there was a nice deck and whole picnic area out there.
The tire swing hung on a high branch, so it took your stomach away to ride—even if someone was barely pushing you. We all took turns riding that and the hammock for the next hour. We talked about music and food and also other things like businesses and investments. There were several people, and all of them had interesting things to say, so there was never a break in conversation, and the time flew by.
"I need to turn in," I said, finally.
"Me too," Charlie added.
Hope and Caleb both agreed they needed to as well, and we all started walking back to the house. There were seven of us and two dogs, and the whole pack headed down the trail.
"You're going to hurt yourself walking barefoot in the dark," Rose said on our way back.
