I laughed and tossed my grass braid at him. “No, of course not. You rub a little on your skin.” I hesitated then plunged ahead. “Then you smell it when you get anxious.”
He raised himself to a sitting position and scooted closer to me. “So Max smelled you, and that was the magic?”
My heart raced wildly, and I tried to distract myself by focusing on the kids, who swung next to each other, pumping their legs and singing some made-up song.
“It worked for him,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound as wobbly to Slade as it did to me.
“Hmm.” Slade’s responding hum was close—so close it made me shiver—but I still wouldn’t look at him. “Better let me try it. Where should I sniff? Your neck?”
Startled, I turned toward him, and I froze at the look in his eyes. I must be imagining… He couldn’t be thinking of…
“Well?”
“Well, what?” I sounded croaky.
“Should I just sniff randomly?”
I knew that my face was on fire. Every part of me wanted to jump up and take off running. Well, not every part. One part of me had this crazy desire to lean into him and see if what I hoped I’d seen in the way he looked at me was true. To see if he really did want to kiss me.
Instead I held out my arm, while simultaneously scooting away from him. “My wrist. I put it on my wrist.”
He locked eyes with me for an eon before his gaze shifted. Then he cupped the back of my hand and gently raised my arm, then closed his eyes and sniffed. I wondered if my pulse would burst right through my skin. I was pretty sure this was what it felt like to swoon. I’d always thought it was some made-up word in old romance novels, but now I had proof it was real.
“I can see why it worked,” he said, his voice husky. “It does smell like magic.” He lowered our hands, and I pulled mine out of his, reaching for new blades of grass to braid.
“Slade! Trina!” Gillian charged across the park toward us. “Look at Max!”
Max balanced on a branch of a tree, waving to us.
“Oh my God.” I jumped to my feet and started toward him.
Slade put a hand on my shoulder. “He’s all right. That’s barely five feet off the ground. Let him be.” He smiled down at me. “Just trust me.”
“Watch me, Trina!” Max yelled.
I caught my breath as he hauled himself up to a higher tree limb.
“Oh no,” I said, moving toward him again.
“He’ll be fine,” Slade said, jogging next to me, “but we can spot him if it’ll make you feel better.”
We stood under the tree, looking up at Max, who waved down to us, deliriously happy.
“Think you can get down by yourself, buddy?” Slade called to him.
“Yeah! No problem, dude.”
Slade and I laughed together, and for the first time it felt like we really were partners. Maybe it was a small thing, but we’d seen Max make progress today, and I knew we were both proud of him.
Max clambered down the tree and jumped into Slade’s waiting arms.
“Awesome, buddy.” Slade high-fived him as he set him on the ground.
Gilly spun in circles shouting, “Max is awesome! Gilly is awesome!”
“What about us?” Slade teased her, ruffling her hair.
She giggled and spun faster. “Slade is awesome! Trina is awesome! Slade and Trina sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
Slade laughed as he chased after Max, while I watched Gillian spin in circles singing her song, wishing it were true.
Nanny Notes: Jungle Quest
PROS: I am braver than I thought. Okay, I didn’t exactly go hang gliding. But still. Also, Max loves me now.
CONS: No longer immune to the Slade spell.
PRO/CON/??: Maybe I could tell him. About why I can’t swim. About my family.
About my brother.
Chapter Twenty-One
Slade
Saturday, June 15
I hoped nobody would drown today because of me. I was having a hard time focusing up in my perch in the lifeguard chair, where I was subbing for Lindsay.
All I could think of was Trina.
Trina convincing Max to climb the wall, and then climbing without a harness to rescue him, even though she was scared of heights. Trina sitting under the tree at the park refusing to look at me, and then shyly letting me smell her magic wrist.
It had taken all my self-control, something I didn’t even realize I had, to stop myself from kissing her right there. But Trina was like a beautiful, anxious bird, ready to fly away if I moved too fast. It was like trying to catch a shadow, but I was determined to succeed.
“Hey, Edmunds!” I looked down to see Alex flipping me off, his usual greeting.
“Yo, dude. What’s up?”
“When’s your shift over?”
I glanced at my phone. “Twenty minutes.”
“Cool. I’ll grab us a couple of chairs.”
I thumbs-upped in agreement and turned back to the pool.
Thank God everybody here was a great swimmer, and the little guys stayed in the wading pool. I’d never had to actually rescue anyone, and hoped I never had to.
Once my replacement arrived, I stopped by the snack shack to grab sodas and hot dogs, then joined Alex, who was talking to a couple of bikini babes who obviously had lousy gaydar.
The girls turned their flirting superpowers on me. Normally I would have lapped it up, but today it was annoying. Trina never acted like that. I didn’t think she even knew how to flirt.
I wasn’t rude, but I didn’t flirt back, so the girls wandered away after a few minutes.
Alex took off his shades and stared at me. “What’s wrong? You sick or something?”
“What’re you talking about?” I asked around a mouthful of hot dog.
He narrowed his eyes. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Since when do you ignore chicks throwing themselves at you?”
I shrugged.
He gave me the evil eye. “Is it Beth? Are you actually in some sort of relationship thing with her?”
“Beth?” It took me a second to realize he was talking about the girl I’d met a couple of weeks ago there at the pool. “Hardly. She left town. She was just here visiting relatives.”
Alex crossed his arms. “You’re holding out on me, Edmunds. I know it’s impossible to turn queer overnight, so it’s gotta be a girl. A very special girl, if you’re not biting even when the fish throw themselves at you.”
I shrugged. “Who has time for that? I spend all my time nannying and subbing for Lindsay and—”
“Holy crap,” he interrupted, realization dawning on his face. “It’s Bird Brain, isn’t it? I mean Trina,” he corrected hastily, probably because of the look on my face.
I never could keep any secrets from him.
“Chill out, dude,” I said. “You’re imagining things. Trina’s just my work partner.” I couldn’t let him know how I felt. I wasn’t ready to talk about it, especially not to someone whose personal mission was to turn me into a loser who gave girls monogrammed cookies.
He narrowed his eyes. “Whatever you say, Edmunds.” He ate some fries then spoke again. “Though I can see the attraction. I told you before, I think she’s visually interesting.” He snorted. “Translation into man whore language: I think she’s pretty, in her own unique way.”
He grabbed another fry. “And she’s smart. Like you.” He paused, examining me like I was a criminal and he was the asshole detective. “How’s the relaxation mission going? You working your magic?”
Magic. I was back in the park again, sniffing her hippie chick oil. Maybe I should’ve kissed her right then, even though we were on duty. If she’d kissed me back, I’d know if I might have a chance with her.
My eyes traveled around the pool deck. Lots of easy pickings here, if I wanted. But I didn’t want any of them.
Alex slurped from his straw. “Hey, I’d love to be proven wrong about your shallow, sorry ass.” He pointed his hot dog at me. “Don’t be a dick to her.” He looked at his hot dog and laughed. “So to speak.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’re back to that?”