My mom and I laugh, crinkling our brows, breaking apart.
“Yeah, she’s fine, Brad,” Mom informs him, pretending to fix the tray. “Just a mother-daughter moment.” She looks at me from the corner of her eye with a devilish grin.
“Sappy shit, I’m sure.” His eyes roll to the back of his head. He points his attention to me. “Listen, we’re going to have a volleyball game tonight. Grab your suit, Pipe. You have to head the girls’ team.”
“No, I don’t. Have Bayli do it. She’s the bride.” I sit down on the stool and help my mom finish the setup.
“Piper, you know as well as I do, she’s not athletic.”
“Are any of the girls?”
He shrugs. “Not really.”
“Then, make it coed. Split the guys and girls up.” I arrange a tray full of olives and cheese.
“Why? It’s pointless then,” he whines like the baby he is.
“I’m going home after we eat,” I announce.
They both whip their heads to me.
“Why?” my mom asks. She stops cutting the tomatoes.
“I have a work thing in the morning. Just some meetings with a few students who are attending summer classes. I’ll be back right after.” The retreat of my apartment sounds nice right about now.
“But you’ll stay tomorrow night, right? We have to do the favors and the table arrangements, and I have a refrigerator full of flowers downstairs.”
My mom is my brother’s florist. It’s something she dabbled in for a few years, but now, she mostly does it only for friends.
“I’ll be here right after, and I’ll stay until the wedding.”
My mom releases a breath, relieved.
“You taking Bea with you?” Brad asks.
I shrug.
“She’s all over Dylan out there. She won’t even allow the poor guy to breathe.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t mind.” I toss my hand up at Brad leaning over my shoulder.
My mom disregards us. She’s used to our unimportant conversations.
“Look at her.” He points outside.
I laugh, witnessing Bea holding Dylan’s hand and pointing to different tattoos. “It’s none of your business.”
“Everything’s my business.” He laughs.
But I don’t find any humor in his remark.
“Hey”—he knocks my shoulder with his—“I’m kidding.”
He chuckles again, and I smile up at him.
I change the conversation. “Good luck with the Barbies out there. Make sure you don’t lose one of them in the water.”
My mom and I laugh, as Brad pretends to narrow his eyes.
“Hardy har har, Piper. You sure you won’t join us?” He reaches over and snags a black olive. I smack his hand and he comes back for another.
“Nope. Have things to do.” I’ve exceeded my fill of Tanner for tonight, and I’ll be safer at my apartment.
“I’ll get you in the water at some point this week,” he threatens.
I know he will.
thirteen
CURTIS AND I SIT BY the pool, our feet mindlessly swishing the water back and forth. The guilt eats me up about the lie I told him about Tanner and me. Maybe my confession of a previous relationship with Tanner wouldn’t have bothered him. He’s not a self-conscious person, and he definitely has self-esteem—maybe too much at times.
“How’s the internship going?” I ask. I allow his foot to mingle with mine, but it leaves no goose bumps rushing up my spine.
“It’s good. Dad is . . . you know.” He shrugs his shoulder.
Truth is, I don’t. I met Curtis’s dad once, passing him in the hallway of the office. He barely acknowledged me, except for squeezing my hand so hard that I thought blood was going to burst out. I doubt he remembers my name or anything else about me. From what Curtis says, his dad’s a workaholic to the top degree. He’s never home, always at the office or in court. When he isn’t, he can be found at the corner bar with his partners or high-profile clients.
“You positive law is what you want?” I’ve asked this exact question to Curtis other times because he’s beyond unhappy too often.
“It’s the family business. Not to mention, I’ll have security, and we’ll never want for anything.”
He knocks shoulders with me, and I hesitate to find my voice. Curtis constantly throws hints out about marriage, making me think the firm has some kind of contract stipulation about getting married before joining the firm. It’s an absurd thought. I guess the book Marry Me for Money by Mia Kayla that I read last week stuck with me.
“Happiness is important, too.”
I stare out at the calm water of my parents’ pool, remembering all the laughs and jokes the three of us have made here. The annoying middle school stage when Brad and Tanner made fun of my friends and me only because they were curious about girls. There was my first kiss during a game of Marco Polo when Vinny Montaldo surprised me in the corner of the pool.
“It is.” Curtis leans over and lowers his voice. “But you can’t survive on happiness. Plus, when you have as much money as we’ll have, it’s guaranteed that we’ll be happy.”
I release a breath when he moves back over to his own space and out of mine. Tanner’s been here less than twenty-four hours and already I can’t stop comparing him to Curtis.
“There is a phrase about that . . . money doesn’t buy happiness,” I mock him because he’s ignorant and I’m annoyed.
The kids I teach at the community college struggle to make themselves better and to get an opportunity to become more. Then, there are people like Curtis who went to an Ivy League college and haven’t held a real job ever. For my students, money would buy them happiness because they strive and earn what they achieve, but for Curtis, the same phrase doesn’t hold true. Trust fund babies like Curtis, will never fully appreciate the money they have because they’ll never have enough. The fact that he’s throwing me into the mix disgusts me.
“Believe me, babe. You won’t be complaining with our plane, yacht, and handful of houses.”
I should correct him now. I should stop him from assuming that I’ll be alongside him. Plus, I’m not exactly the high-society country club type. I’d fail at being his wife. Could he imagine introducing me to his coworkers as his wife who teaches at Woodlake Community College? They’d probably think I did it for charity.
In the middle of my thoughts, a huge body plops into the water, splashing me right at my face. Knowing the culprit before he surfaces, I pull my feet out from the refreshing water before he can grab them.
“Oh, come on, Piper.” Brad laughs to my back when I stalk over to grab a towel. “Get her, man.”
Having no time to look, two strong arms grab me around the stomach and pick me up. My fists punch the arms while my body wiggles from side to side.
“Let me go!” I scream, only earning a hefty laugh from my kidnapper.
Hanging me over the water, I’m reminded of too many times in the past. Preparing for the impending plunge, I stop fighting and Zen myself for the coldness of the water.
“Just do it,” I relent.
Brad obnoxiously laughs.
“Hmm . . . I do like you wet,” Tanner whispers in my ear, knowing Curtis can’t hear him over Brad’s loudness.
Even though I hate it, warmth shoots right between my legs.
“Toss her!” Brad yells.
Tanner grips me harder, his fingers gliding along my rib cage. His face resting in the hollow of my neck, his breathing tickles my skin.
“Do it,” I egg him on because I can’t allow my body to warm to him.
“It’s not as much fun when she goes so willingly.” Tanner backs up.
My body slides down his half-naked one at a painfully slow pace until my toes hit the warm cement. When his arms are completely off my body, I only crave for them again.
“Thank you,” I murmur, walking over to a pissed off Curtis. “Now, you adolescent boys can have some fun without me for once,” I joke, tossing my head away from them.