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Our breaths, a little shallow with our lungs pressed together, came and went in sync. Somewhere a clock ticked. But he didn’t make a move, and I convinced myself all I felt was sweet relief.
I slid off and knelt next to him. “How’s your head? You banged it pretty hard.”
He rubbed the back of it. “I’m fine. A little bruised. You know what would help?”
“What?” I sensed a joke coming, and his smile brightened, knowing I was waiting for it.
“I have a hot tub out back that’s great for aches and pains if you want to get in with me. And if things heat up too much, you can always check and see if my fridge has anything interesting in it.”
I smacked his chest.
“What? I was talking about the temperature of the water.” He jumped to his feet and made a run for it before sliding towards the opposite wall and bracing himself with his hands for a perfect landing. I didn’t believe for one second he’d never slid around in his socks before.
“I don’t have a swimsuit,” I called out.Or the guts. There was cozy time with him all to myself, and then there was the two of us half-dressed in the moonlight with relaxing bubbles. I respected the difference. Yes, ma’am.
“Grace and Piper always leave suits here, and I throw them in the wash after we swim. Grace wouldn’t mind if you borrowed one.”
“She would totally mind.” Not to mention my girls would need adequate coverage, and not that I’d been checking out his sister in pictures, but I was pretty sure we were not the same size.
“We’ll call and ask if it’s okay. As it is, I’m not sure she believes you’re real since I don’t have any pictures of you on my phone.”
“Pics or it didn’t happen?”
“Exactly.”
“I will absolutely take selfies of us with your phone. But we’re not asking her for a suit. That’s putting Grace in a position where she has to say yes. I’m not about to mess with another woman’s wardrobe.”
“She told me it’s old and threadbare, and the only reason she hasn’t tossed it out is because it’s convenient to leave it here. She would never let me wash my jeans with one of her good swimsuits.”
I put my hands on my hips. “In that case, I’m offended, but I accept, contingent on her saying yes and it fitting. And I’ll take a big T-shirt to go over it. Please and thank you.”
He seemed shocked that I’d agreed, and honestly, I was, too, but a dip in a hot tub sounded divine. I hadn’t been in one in way too long. Besides, I’d be all covered up.
Isaac went to grab towels and a shirt for me, and it wasn’t until he’d already texted his sister and gotten a yes that I realized he’d still be half-dressed even if I was not. Which was fine. Totally fine. I wouldn’t even notice.
“You okay?” he asked, reading me too well.
“Yeah. I’m great. Super-duper.”
“Okay. The suit is in the top drawer in the guest bedroom. Just holler if it works, and then I’ll go get changed, too.”
I took the towel and shirt and locked myself in the guest bedroom. Sure enough, Grace’s swimsuit was inside the top drawer of the dresser. It was a stretched-out one-piece that had probably seen a lot of fun in its day, but needed retirement desperately. Despite it being a size smaller than what I usually wore, I stretched into it okay. I put on the forest-green xl tee Isaac had brought me, and was happy to see it hit mid-thigh. Booty coverage and not see-through to boot. Five gold stars for Isaac.
“Let’s do this!” I hollered through the door.Hot heavenly water with jets, here I come.
I got an answering whoop before Isaac’s heavy footfalls ran down the hall to his bedroom. The dork.
Chapter 26 - Isaac
Carmen was just as curious about my backyard as she was about seeing the inside of my house. I turned on the outside lights, and she inspected the weight set on my porch, and then walked over to see what was growing in the raised garden beds I had against the wall separating my property from Beebee’s and Mimi’s. She looked like absolute perfection in my shirt with her shapely legs on display, going on tiptoe and leaning over to inspect the carrots and onion growing in one corner, and the snapdragon flowers in the other.Rein it in, Romano.
I turned to face the other direction and studied my pool, watching the suction sweeper slowly creep around, doing its thing. A cold dip in the pool didn’t sound all that terrible at the moment. Even if it was January.
“When do you have time to garden?” she asked.
“The raised beds were here when I moved in. I mentioned it to Beebee once, and she said she used to garden all the time. So, we do it together. It gets her out of the house. Sometimes Mimi comes over, too.” I glanced back. “You’re shivering.”
“I’m storing up all the coldness before I get in the hot tub.” She rubbed her arms. “Okay, I’m ready to get in now.”
