She shakes her head, strands of her hair falling across her face. She pushes them back behind her ear. “Carter Daniels.”
I clench my jaw. “I just saw him.”
“He’s on the pool staff now apparently,” she mumbles.
People mull around the room, eating off paper plates. Hadley halts, staring at the back of the room. Carter and about a dozen people I don’t recognize have gathered around the table. My hands fist at my sides, looking for any excuse to knock him out.
“I’ll be right back.”
Someone claps a hand on my back. “Yo, Will!”
It takes me a second to recognize Ethan Beauman. “Holy shit, kid,” I say. “You grew like a foot.”
“That’s what happens when you leave for two years without a visit.” He’s grinning. “Let me introduce you to the others. You have a lot of catching up to do.” He leads me to a group of other lifeguards.
He turns to a petite girl, her arms more muscular than most girls. “Daisy, this is Will. My next door neighbor.”
A few of the pool staff huddle around us as Ethan introduces me. I match names to faces quickly.
“Nice to meet y’all,” I say, making the girls giggle. I’ll have to make a note to curb the accent I inherited.
“You don’t call, you don’t write,” someone comments behind me.
I turn and grin, landing a fist bump with Tyler Goode, a regular rotation in Lily and Hadley’s group of friends. And my exes brother. Seems like a million years ago. “Hey, man.”
“Dude!” Tyler says. “Where have you been? You disappeared off the planet.”
I swallow. “I’m living with my dad and aunt in Texas.” Half true. I divert the question. “How’s your family?”
He nods a few times. “They’re good.” He presses his lips together briefly before continuing. “Sarah is Mrs. Winters now.”
The last name sounds familiar. Tyler answers before I even ask, bobbing his head. “One and the same.”
“No way,” I say.
Tyler rolls his eyes. Jordan Winters owns most of the town’s larger plaza properties. Rumors of his shady deals filtered around town, but no one ever brought it up in his company.
“Isn’t he in his forties?”
“Yup,” Tyler pops the end of the word. “And she’s pregnant. It only took her a month to seal the deal after they got married.”
I try to remember as many details as I can about the guy. “Wasn’t he married?”
“His wife died of cancer almost two years ago. Sarah was his secretary.” He trails off. “It looks like you dodged a bullet.”
I laugh. “That’s your sister.”
“Only by blood.” He grins.
Skye appears next to us. “Hi Tyler. Looks like we’re going to be working together this summer.”
Tyler smirks, a look I know very well. He shakes her outstretched hand and I find Lily, not my top choice but at least someone who knows me. She’s leaning against the corner of the food table, absently munching on the heel of a sub. She’s glowering again. But at least not at me.
I indicate Carter and Hadley talking in the corner. “When did they become friends?”
Lily snorts. “You mean exes?”
My chest tightens. “They dated?” I try to keep my voice level.
She stops chewing. “They broke up a few weeks ago. Not sure he’s cool with it.” She leans close to me, lowering her voice. “It’s a strange twist of fate that you’re here but I am telling you now. If you hurt her again. I will hurt you.” I watch her retreating body as she crosses the room to Hadley. I wasn’t dumb enough to think my leaving wouldn’t have an effect but, with Lily’s warning, I realize I might have underestimated just how much of an effect I had.
Hadley
I don’t know why I feel the need to explain myself to Carter. It’s not like I was the one to quit the job, but I had told him everything about Will when we became friends after working together last year. Well, the platonic parts. I kept the night he left a secret. Only Lily and Will knew. I hid long enough from everyone. Carter seemed okay with it, but I knew they had some competitive history. I needed to tell him that Dad did this behind my back.
Carter breaks away from the other pool staffers and presses his hand against my lower back, leading me to the corner of the room. His face is close to mine and his jaw is set. His hands hover between us like he doesn’t know where to put them.
“I can’t believe you, Hadley.”
I step back. “What are you talking about?”
“We were together for two years, I know when you’re lying,” he spits.
“Carter,” I say. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
He exhales between his teeth. “You expect me to believe that you didn’t break off with me so you could act on your fantasy crush on him?” His voice is a low hiss. “I only quit so I could give you the space you asked for.”
“What do you expect Dad to do? He had to fill it because you quit!”
“How can I work with you after you broke it off? I don’t do the friends thing with girls. We’re either together or we’re not.”
My mouth clamps shut and I close my eyes, remembering our conversation from two weeks ago. “You agreed.”
“Yeah, that’s when I thought we still had a chance”
“Carter,” I say, exasperated. “We broke up.”
“Because of him,” he says.
“This has nothing to do with Will. We’re going to be across the country from each other in the fall. This is going to happen either now or later. I don’t think either of us needs to be tied down. I just need some time to adjust to that. But I don’t want to lose you in the process.”
He leans back, inspecting me as if my nose was about to grow ten inches long. “You’re serious about the friends thing?”
“Yes,” I say. “I just want to be free this summer. It’s our last summer before we move on with our lives.” I want to touch him, somehow reassure him, but I don’t want to lead him on. Instead, I wait.
His frown deepens. “The only way I think this can work is if you don’t see anyone this summer.”
I
