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As if he heard me, Beau came trotting out of the water toward me. He shook himself off on the sand, then continued forward until he laid down by my feet.
I reached down to pet him. “Thanks for joining me, bud.”
I took another swig of beer, noticing that the boat was still docked. They must’ve been waiting for someone…
As if on cue, TJ and Ellie came strolling down from the house, holding hands and looking completely in love with each other…and,completely ignorant of the fact that a whole boat full of people were waiting for them… a boat full of people that she told to hurry up.
“Do not shake that baby or else,” TJ called out to me.
“Or else what?” I asked as they neared.
“Or else you’ll be wifed up like me!” he shouted with a laugh while flashing me his tattooed ring finger.
Ellie shoved him and rolled her eyes.
“Shit. You know I love you baby!” He kissed the side of her head and she struggled to keep a straight face.
She took off running toward the dock, and he let out a bark of laughter before charging after her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and swung her around to stop her from winning their little foot race to the boat.
I snorted at the two of them. They were always racing everywhere… And TJ was always cheating to win– like picking her up before she crossed the finish line.
As the boat roared to life and pulled away, I tried to drown out the people partying around me– the loud flip-cup game, the on-going Swedish lawn bowling tourney, and the people playing volleyball in the water. I was pretty decent at drowning the world out. That's what I did every time I laced up my skates and played in a stadium after all.
I stared down at Grey’s cute kid soundly sleeping in the crook of my arm. By passing her to me, Grey pretty much dumped a bucket of water on my internal flames. I couldn’t stay in a negative mood while holding a baby. Maybe Grey knew that would happen because that’s kinda what happened to him– maybe Jules was his bucket of water that calmed the anger out of him.
Gracie was an adorable little girl with sweaty, hazelnut ringlets and a cute button nose. You could definitely see both Grey and Jules’ genes inside of her.
And looking down at her, for the first time in my life, I wondered what it would be like to have kids of my own one day… Like what if there was a little kid running around here that was half of Claire and half of me? He or she would be the best kid alive, I was sure of it.
I never let myself even think of a future with kids as a possibility… Until I was back here with Claire. She was the only girl I ever thought about being serious with before life got so complicated and difficult. Now, I was sitting here thinking I’d have ten of these little guys if Claire wanted them… But that’d only be possible if Claire wantedme.
______
After about a half hour, the boat was still gone and I was still holding Gracie, but I was itching to get up and move around.
Not wanting to wake the snoozing toddler, I craned my neck to search around for Grey and Jules. I squinted my eyes to spot them a ways off in Max and Paige’s rickety, old gazebo. It looked like they were slow dancing to no music at all. Jules had her head leaned against Grey’s chest, and every once in a while she’d look up at him and smile, like he was some kind of superhero… It kinda blew my mind that such a tough ass like Greyson Scott could act so gentle with her.
All I could think of while I watched them was that I’d give anything for that to be me and Claire at the moment…
I decided giving them some extra time together wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Maybe it’d bring me some good karma.
At one point, Paige came around with lemon squares, and I grabbed two. I knew Claire loved them, so I wanted to save one for her just in case they were all gone by the time they got off the boat…
———
By the time the boat came back into sight, I was no longer babysitting. I crutched near the bonfire that my teammate Campbell had started. It was still only dinnertime, but someone had probably told him to start it up to keep bugs away.
I decided to stand there because it would give me the optimum chance to intercept Claire. She’d have to pass the bonfire pit to get up to the house for the bathroom… My thinking was that there was no way the ladies on the boat wouldn’t all be heading to the bathroom.
But as soon as Max docked the boat, I regretted everything I’d been thinking.
I gulped as I watched Tyler jump out of the boat first, then reach to hold Claire’s hand to help her out.
My eyebrows drew down angrily. Claire didn’t need help. She was a better athlete than almost everyone here.
But he did help, and then he led her to the edge of the dock where they both took a seat to splash their feet in the water.
It felt like a punch to the gut. Because that wasour spot. That’s where I kissed her all those years ago…
