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“She’ll sleep better in her crib, but you and Chance should come in and hang out with me. We can hop into the pool, even. It’s still hot as fuck.”
“Chance is asleep,” I remind him.
“Chance would like to swim,” Chance murmurs sleepily, and we both burst out laughing.
“Shh, shh,” Chance shushes us, and in the mirror, I see him reach over and rub Quinn’s hand as if to soothe her. “You’ll wake the princess.”
“I see you’ve picked up on that,” I say as we turn onto the street for Ashley and Kyler’s…and my house now. “We all call her the princess.”
“Well, she is a princess,” he declares.
I glance over at Phoebe to see her eyes watering. She clears her throat, looking away from me quickly, and as I park in the driveway, she jumps out before I can catch her.
Once we’re unloaded and in the house, I roll Quinn’s bassinet right to the door of the patio and get her cozy in it before we head out to the pool.
“I’m not going to get in,” Phoebe says. “You two have fun, though. I can keep an eye on her.” She nods toward the bassinet.
“You sure?” I ask.
“More than sure,” she says. “I’m so tired, I couldn’t even float if I wanted to. I want to check out the pictures I took today, anyways.”
She scoots a chair over near the door and settles in, taking out her phone. She starts swiping through the photos she’s taken today, and a part of me wonders if she’ll post them. It’s a silly thing to worry about, right? But if she posts about me, I feel like I’m more than a fling to her. Like this is more than summer fun.
“You coming, Isaac?” Chance calls, and I turn to see him on the diving board, ready to dive in.
“I sure am.” I head toward the pool as he jumps and hits the water perfectly, going pretty far down before he comes back up. I pull off my shirt and jump in, curling into a cannonball. The water splashes all over the place, like a tidal wave over Chance’s face.
He’s giggling as I surface, wiping his eyes clear of the water. “You got me good,” he says.
“Can you do a flip?”
“Almost. It’s hard to get my legs all the way around.”
His forlorn expression tugs at my heart. “Hey, let me help you.”
“Really?” He smiles wide, the lights from around the pool reflecting in his eyes.
“Yeah, sure. Let’s get started.”
He holds his nose and leaps into his flip, arching perfectly, but then his legs go all over the place. I guide them into the right place, and when he comes up for air, I know how to explain to him what’s going on.
I open my mouth to start, and Phoebe’s shriek catches me off guard. She jumps up and races to the patio rail, screaming at a stranger with his phone out. “What are you doing, you pervert?”
I’m out of the water in two seconds. “Chance, get out of the water for me,” I call over my shoulder.
I reach Phoebe’s side in a flash and wrap my arm around her waist. The figure is circling the fence, the light from his cell phone illuminating his location.
Her hands are shaking as she calls the cops, but I’m ready to take off after him when she grabs my arm. “Don’t. It would just cause trouble for you.”
She has a point, and I have a family to worry about, so I stop. I’ve got my life halfway together now. I don’t need any trouble.
“You might want to call Ava. Maybe she’s got some information now. I’m going to call Ashley and Kyler. If they pull up and lots of cops are here, they’re going to panic.”
Phoebe grabs my arm before I can turn back to the table for my phone, and she pulls me down to kiss me fiercely. Her lips mold to mine as if they were made for me, but there’s something else to her kiss this time. Almost a sadness.
“Hey, it’ll all work out,” I reassure her. “We’ll get through this.”
She nods and we grab our phones. Chance went inside with Quinn when I told him to get out of the pool, and when I head inside, I find him dripping on the kitchen floor.
