The Pool Boy - Nikki Sloane Page 0,74
the people in the pool. “What’s the verdict?”
Cassidy brightened. “Everyone wants a burger except Lilith.”
He nodded and began counting the patties on the grill but paused as he thought about something. “You want one, Erika?”
“Oh, that’s nice and it smells great, but no. Thank you.”
“You sure? We’ve got plenty of food.”
I smiled. “I’m sure. Are you celebrating something?”
His tone was warm as he exchanged a look with his girlfriend. “It’s Cassidy’s birthday.”
“Oh. Happy birthday,” I told her.
She grinned. “Thanks.” And then she leaned in, setting a hand on Greg’s shoulder. “You need anything? Another beer?”
He picked up his can to evaluate how much he had left. “That’d be great.”
As Cassidy left us, it was good timing for me to make my exit. I was out of place in slacks and a blouse, while everyone else at the party was in swimsuits. Plus, Greg and I were the only ones who didn’t appear to be in their twenties. But I didn’t move. I was rooted to the ground beside the grill, partially obscured from the partygoers’ view by a crepe myrtle bush.
My voice was low, but loud enough for Greg to hear over the music and sizzling grill. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
If that made him nervous, he didn’t show it. “Sure.”
“Dating someone a lot younger than you are. Is it hard?” I frowned. “I mean, do you worry about what other people think, or—”
“No,” he answered quickly. “In the beginning, yeah, it was tough. Especially for her because people assumed the worst. I was just the guy with the trophy girlfriend. And Judy’s been a real piece of work.” His gaze drifted toward the pool and all the people there, oblivious to our conversation. “The hardest part for us was our situation with Preston. Once we got a handle on that, we didn’t really care what other people thought.”
I nodded, not sure what to say. His priorities were absolutely in the right place.
“It gets easier too,” he added. “In a few more years, she’ll be in her late twenties and no one will care we’re together.”
He saw his relationship with Cassidy going the distance, even with how complicated the dynamic was with his son. My relationship with Troy had less obstacles. Just my friendship with Jenna, and how Troy was my client. Easy by comparison to Greg and Cassidy.
“So . . .” Greg’s expression turned devious, “you and Troy, huh?”
“What?” I blurted out. His direct question rattled me, and I groaned my irritation. “Did Preston tell you?”
He laughed. “No, I made an educated guess. I was on-call last week, and when I came home, I noticed Troy’s Jeep in your driveway—at four a.m.”
I threw my hands up in the air, because why fight it? It felt sort of good that people knew, and there was no judgment in his eyes. I tucked my mail under my arm and twined my fingers together. “Okay, yeah. Troy and I . . . I don’t know how it happened. But it has.”
“Hey,” he sounded amused, “if anyone’s going to understand, it’s going to be me.” His expression turned thoughtful. “My unsolicited and clichéd advice? Do what makes you happy. That’s coming from someone who spends a lot of time dealing with the unexpected, like motorcycle accidents, strokes, and aneurysms.” It carried far more weight than a simple platitude. “Life is short.”
There was a loud splash from the pool, followed by the playful screams of those who’d gotten drenched.
“You’re an asshole, Preston,” a girl scolded.
It broke the tension between Greg and I, and he turned, pulling down a branch of the crepe myrtle to check on his son. What I didn’t realize until the flowering branch was out of my way, was I recognized one of the guys sitting at the edge of the pool, his feet dangling in the water. He laughed as a girl wrapped her arms around Preston’s shoulders and tried to dunk him.
Greg heard my sharp intake of breath. “Oh, yeah. Preston invited him.”
It was surreal to see Troy like this, and an uncomfortable pain banded across my midsection. Wasn’t this how he was supposed to be? Hanging out with friends who were the same age as him? Dating a girl who didn’t know what the other side of twenty years of marriage looked like?
But then his posture stiffened as he went on alert, and it only took a single heartbeat for me to know what had set him off. His eyes, hidden from me behind his sunglasses,