“If I go with him, I can’t bring you,” she replied.
The air wooshed out of my lungs, as if someone had punched me in the gut. Chloe was usually an open book, but every now and then, she confused the crap out of me. And the idea that she’d rather take me out on the lake than Clint wasn’t helping my motivation to be respectful of their relationship.
“You don’t have to feel bad leaving me here. I’ve never seen fireworks from the water, so I won’t know what I’m missing.”
“Ugh.” She groaned with a gigantic roll of her eyes. “What you’re missing, is the point. I want you to come specifically because you haven’t experienced it. And because we’re a team. Teammates don’t leave each other behind.”
“You’ve left me behind before,” Marissa observed gleefully.
Chloe stuck her tongue out at Marissa and sassed, “Well, he’s cuter than you are.”
Now I understood. This was about ensuring that I didn’t feel left out. It made a lot more sense than her wanting to seduce me in a canoe—which is what I’d been hoping she meant.
“Chloe, I swear it’s okay if you go without me.”
She ground her teeth. “No, it’s not. We both go, or neither of us does.” She stood and brushed the wrinkles from her shorts. “I’m going to find Matt and Shelly so I can negotiate passage for us tonight.” She glared at Marissa and added, “Reasonably priced passage.” Then she looked back at me and said, “You won’t owe anyone anything.”
“Don’t stress,” I said with a flick of my wrist, trying to bring her intensity down a notch. “I’ll pay for both of us. I’ve got a couple billion in offshore accounts that I could probably consolidate before tomorrow.”
My joke fell flat because she was already leaving. She waved her hand dismissively and yelled without looking back, “Just meet me by the boats in one hour.” It was no use arguing. When Chloe had her mind set on something, that’s what she got. She’d make sure we were on that canoe, come hell or high water.
I went home to brush my teeth and cologne myself. An hour later, I passed Marissa on my way back down the dock. “Hey, you’re going the wrong direction.”
“Nope, I’ve got to bail.” She clutched her stomach. “That cheeseburger isn’t sitting well in my gut. Don’t want to be stranded on the water should nature come calling.”
I laughed. “At least our bathroom window faces the lake. Maybe if you sit backward, you could still see the fireworks from the toilet.”
“Thanks for putting it out there like that. I’m way less humiliated now.” Marissa made a disgusted face before it morphed into that mischievous smile she’d been giving me a lot lately. “Have fun tonight. Make me proud.” She winked, then took off at a jog. I had a funny feeling in my gut, too, but it wasn’t from the cheeseburgers.
Chloe was waiting for me, without Matt or Shelly. “Where is everyone?” I asked.
“I guess Matt decided he likes Julie now, so he’s skipping out in the hopes that he’ll get some action. Shelly said being in the sun all day was making her feel drained, and she didn’t have the energy to go with us. And Marissa…”
I finished her sentence. “…Will be watching the show from the bathroom.” She nodded and giggled. “I’m an awful brother. It’s my fault she’s sick. I pushed her, and she ate too much.”
“She could have said no.” Chloe lifted two life jackets up and offered me one. I wrinkled my nose, so she threw them both back. “Marissa needs excuses like that to justify eating the good stuff. If you think about it, you actually did her a huge favor.”
I snickered. “A life without cheese isn’t worth living.”
“Amen!” She held an oar in each hand. “We get boat five. You want to paddle or steer?”
“Steer,” I replied.
“Great. You can paddle.” She shoved the oars at me.
“What?” I screeched.
Chloe snickered. “You were supposed to offer to paddle, on account of your huge muscles, and whatnot.”
“My muscles aren’t huge,” I argued as I stepped onto the canoe.
“Compared to mine, they are. Now be a gentleman, and help me down.” I stuck out my hand. She gripped it tightly, holding on for much longer than necessary.
I sat on the front bench, and she took the rear. “Fine, I’ll paddle.” When I conceded, she grinned triumphantly and nudged us away from the dock. I dropped one of the oars in her lap. “But, you have to help. Now where are we going?”
“Sheesh. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I was going to help.” She pointed to a large pontoon boat. “That’s where the fireworks are being set off. They shoot east, and we have to stay at least 100 yards away. Let’s go over there so we’re under the ashes when they fall.”
“That sounds risky.” I spun around and stuck my oar in the water, continuing to talk even though I wasn’t facing her anymore. “What if an ember falls on us and catches the boat on fire?”
“You’re a swimmer. I trust you to save me.”
Chloe’s chosen destination didn’t look that far away at first, but after we started paddling, I realized it was a longer trip than I thought. By the time we got there, my arms were dog-tired. “I’m out of shape.” I huffed, breathing heavily. “This is as far as I go. If we don’t stop now, I’ll never make it back.”
“Sounds good to me. Spending the night out here could be fun.” There she went again, suggesting things that were probably innocent in her brain but skewed inappropriately by mine.
We shouldn’t have come alone. I should have insisted that Clint join us. The sun was dipping below the horizon, the pink and orange clouds fading to purple and dark blue. The first stars of the evening were beginning to twinkle. Chloe was right; this was incredibly romantic. Unfortunately, now everything she said was going to sound like an invitation to make out. I was such a sucker. This would quite possibly be the longest hour of my life.
Chloe laid her oar down and moved to my side of the boat. “Can I sit here?”
“Sure.” I scooted over.
The breeze coming off the water was chilly. “I should have brought a sweater,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s too bad, seeing as I’m nice and comfy. You’re blocking the wind for me now.” More dumb jokes. I had a feeling that’s all I’d be able to speak until we got back to shore.
She picked up my arm and wrapped it around her, snuggling up next to me. “Well, if you aren’t going to trade me spots, the least you can do is keep me from freezing.”
“Is that all I am to you? A human blanket?”
She laughed. I should have switched places with her, but I liked how she felt curled up to my side. Her body heat wasn’t the only thing keeping me warm. Tiny little sparks pricked me wherever our skin touched, as if there was static building up. But the charge in the air wasn’t electrical, it was chemical. My heart beat a little faster when she was near me like this. I couldn’t help it.
“Looks like they’re starting,” Chloe said, pointing toward the pontoon boat.
The first firework brightened the sky, then set the water ablaze, its surface reflecting the light back on us. “Wow. It really is like seeing them twice.”
“Mm-hm.” Chloe hummed softly. She leaned her head on my shoulder and set her arm on my leg. I glanced down at her hand. This was a hand-holding moment if ever I’d seen one. But I had to be strong. Her hand wasn’t my hand to hold. I shouldn’t even be keeping her warm right now. Or touching her. Or thinking about her the way I was thinking about her.
I turned my attention back to the fireworks, and that’s when I noticed the other canoes spread out around the lake. Even with the blasts of light, I could see silhouettes, but I couldn’t identify who the passengers were. If I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see us. We were truly alone. Knowing that made it even harder to restrain myself.
Chloe turned under my arm and gazed up at me, smiling. “I told you coming out here was worth it.”
“Totally,” I replied. My voice felt thic
k and heavy.
The next firework exploded, but Chloe continued to look at me. A gust of wind picked up a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail, whipping it across her face. It stuck to her lip gloss, so I reached out and peeled it away, then tucked it behind her ear. My fingers lingered on her skin; my thumb brushed her jaw. Every neuron I had was screaming at me to make a move.
But kissing her would be wrong. If the roles were reversed, if Chloe was mine and she was out here with Clint… I couldn’t begin to imagine how upset I’d be. Of course, if Chloe and I were dating, she wouldn’t be out here with Clint, because I’d have brought her myself.
As the light in the sky faded, a thought occurred to me. We’d spent a lot of time alone in the past few weeks, some of it in precarious situations like this. In all those moments, when I thought about nothing but kissing her, I never wondered why it seemed like she’d let me. Even now—in this setting which she knew would be romantic—she was choosing to be with me and not Clint.
In theory, that was great. But in reality, it meant something I didn’t want to digest. My guilt was replaced by resentment, and the moment was gone, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. I didn’t want to kiss the kind of girl who’d cheat on her boyfriend. And I definitely didn’t want to be the guy she cheated with. I focused my attention back on the fireworks. “It’s too bad everyone else isn’t here to enjoy it with us.” I saw her frown in my periphery.
The show lasted another ten or fifteen minutes. I continued to keep her warm because the goose bumps on her arms and legs told me she was legitimately cold. And that’s what a good friend would do. I’d be a good friend. But that’s all I’d be.
“You were right; that was awesome.” I shifted away from her to grab the oars. “And now we should head back, before you turn into an ice cube.”
She folded her arms and rubbed them with her hands. “I’ll be fine if you want to stay out for a while. We have the canoe for the evening; might as well take advantage of it.”
“I was actually thinking it might be good to check on Marissa.” I stuck both paddles in the water, so Chloe moved back to her original seat. “She seemed pretty uncomfortable when I passed her on the way to the dock.”
“She did?” For a split second, Chloe looked confused. “Oh, right. Irritable bowels.”
“Maybe we can get Matt and Shelly and have a family game night so Marissa won’t feel excluded.”
“That’s a good idea,” Chloe replied, but her voice and her words weren’t in agreement. She was definitely disappointed.
The ride to the dock was uncomfortable. Maybe not for her as much as for me, but either way, we didn’t talk a whole lot. Miraculously, I’d gotten a burst of energy and it only took about half the time to get back. I rowed us to the landing. The second we bumped against the wood, Chloe rose to her feet.
“Do you need help?” I asked. The step up was rather large, and the boat was wobbly. She’d asked for help getting in, so I offered her my hand again.
“No, thanks,” she replied, hoping onto the deck like a pro. “I’ll see you back at the cabin.” She didn’t wait for me to secure the canoe so that we could walk together.
I didn’t try to stop her, and I didn’t run to catch up. In fact, I walked slower than I normally would have. I needed to figure out what to do. I couldn’t leave things awkward for the next month. It would be unbearable. Plus, I didn’t want to lose her friendship. It’s not like I’d kissed her, then wrote her off—nothing had happened. We could bounce back from this. In a day or two, everything would blow over.
I’d almost convinced myself that things would be fine when I saw someone jogging down the path toward me. For a second, I worried it was Chloe. But then I saw short purple hair shining in the moonlight. Marissa stopped in front of me, a tad winded. “I can’t believe I’m out of breath. It’s all the bread, I tell you.” She took a gulp of air. “What happened?”
“What do you mean?” I asked. But I knew Marissa being here meant that Chloe had been visibly upset when she got home.
Her fists went to her hips. “Don’t play dumb with me. Chloe came back, all down and depressed. She’s never depressed. Something happened.”
I held my hands up in surrender. “I swear nothing happened. We rowed out to the middle of the lake, watched the fireworks, and came back.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “We didn’t argue or anything.”
“So nothing happened?” she reiterated. “Nothing at all?”
“Nothing happened.”
Marissa sighed. “Well, there’s the problem.”
“How’s that a problem?” I argued, even though I understood exactly what she was suggesting.
She cocked her head to the side. “You can’t be that dense.” I blinked slowly, dumbfounded by how to respond. Marissa continued, “Chloe would kill me if she knew I was telling you this, but it appears I need to spell it out. She likes you, ya big dolt. And after your little stunt during the performance today, she thought you liked her back. That’s why I bailed on the fireworks. I was trying to help a brother out.”
My irritation surged and I exploded. “Yes, I like her! I like her a lot. But why would I do anything about it when she has a boyfriend? What kind of jerk do you think I am?”
“Boyfriend?” Marissa looked perplexed. “Chloe doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
It was confusion all around. “What about Clint?” I asked.
Marissa snorted. “She’s not dating Clint. He wishes they were together. But she keeps shutting him down because she likes someone else. And his name is Garland,” she added sarcastically.
“It didn’t look like she was shutting him down when I saw them kissing.”
“Huh?” Her forehead wrinkled up.
“Clint was leaving your room one night last week, and I saw him kiss someone behind the screen door.”
She shook her head. “Not possible. She would have told me.”
“Well, I’m not blind. And since her being with Clint isn’t to my advantage, I have no reason to make something like that up.”
Marissa pursed her lips, thinking hard. “I’m too old for this kiddy drama crap. Let’s just go ask her.”
She spun around and headed back for our cabin at a faster pace than I cared to match. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I called. When she didn’t stop walking, I jogged to catch up. “Please, don’t say anything. If she’s upset, the last thing I want to do is make it worse. Give it a day for the dust to settle.”
Marissa was as angry as I’d been a minute ago. “No way! If she’s been feeding me lines all summer about how much she likes you, then kissing Clint while your back is turned, I have a right to be mad. Friends don’t lie to each other.”
“All summer?” That had to be wrong.
She stopped long enough to roll her eyes at me. “Dude, Chloe liked you before she met you. She’s been playing it cool because she didn’t want to seem too forward.”
I had about a thousand questions, but I didn’t have time to ask any of them because we’d made it home, and Marissa was storming up the porch. She looked at me as if to ask whether I was coming. I shook my head and hurried into my own room. This was a personal conversation, one I had no desire to barge in on. However, since I had a lot at stake, I felt like I deserved to know what was happening. That’s how I justified sitting on the ground next to my open door, where I could hear everything.
Marissa plunged right into the inquisition. “Are you hooking up with Clint?”
“No!” Chloe cried. “Why would you even ask that?”
“Because a credible source told me they saw you kissing him the other night.”
“Well, your credible source is full of it.” The tone of Chloe’s voice had gone from shocked to defensive. “I’ve been telling Clint to bug off since I got here. You know that. How could you believe I’d kiss him? In public, no less.”
Marissa sounded more and more accusatory. “You weren’t seen in public. You were seen right here in this
cabin. I was told he kissed you goodnight before leaving.”
You couldn’t pay me to be in that room right now, but man, I wished I could see what was happening. Facial expressions go a long way when interrogating someone. I heard a creak of springs and feet thump hard on the floor. Chloe got louder. “That’s ridiculous! And it’s a blatant lie. Tell me who your source is so I can beat the nonsense out of them.”
“My source is irrelevant. All that matters is that they distinctly saw Clint kissing someone behind the screen door as he left our room.”
“Wait a second.” There was a long pause. “Did this person say they saw Clint kissing someone, or they saw Clint kissing me?”
Another pause. “They said someone, but who else would it be? Clint’s not going to sneak some random chick into our room so he can make out on your bed, hoping you’ll catch him and get jealous. He’s not that smart. I’m sure as heck not kissing him. So, if it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t you, the only person left is…”
Dead silence. The sound of nothing filled the air. No movements, no speaking, no breathing. Not even the incessant chirp from the hundreds of crickets who usually kept me awake. Then, as quickly as it came, the silence was replaced with rage.
“I’m going to kill him.” Chloe growled. Her door slammed open, and heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs.
I peeked through my own screen and jumped. “I’m guessing you heard all that?” Marissa said from the other side.
“I think half the camp probably heard it.” I grabbed the windowsill above me and used it to pull myself from the floor. “She won’t really kill him, will she?”
Marissa opened my door. “No, but she might severely maim him. I’m going after her. You should come. It might take two of us to pull her off of him.”
We’d already lost sight of Chloe, so we booked it to Clint’s cabin. When we came up empty, we tried a couple of other spots, also with no luck. Next, we headed toward the lake, where we arrived just in time to see her yank Clint from the staff make-out spot under the dock. Shelly scrambled out behind him, brushing sand from her clothes and hair. Luckily, it was after curfew and the beach was devoid of witnesses.
The Danger With Fireworks (Holiday Romance Book 3) Page 9
