“I’m not horrified. I’m impressed. My biggest concern when I was fifteen was trying to hide my constant boners in school.”
Gigi laughed hard. “I love that.”
“It was a nightmare and the ultimate paradox. When you don’t want boners, you have them all the time. When you’re old, you have to take pills to get them. Why can’t we store boners for when we need them later in life?”
“That is a question for the ages.”
“I’d really like an answer. We need a storage facility for boners where you can bank them for later and withdraw as needed.”
“Now that’s a business idea that’d make you a billionaire.”
“Boner Bank. I need to get that trademarked before someone steals my idea.”
He loved the sound of her laughter.
“Will you have a drive-up window at the Boner Bank?”
“Hell yes, with one of those plastic tube things that shoots you out a boner any time you need one.”
She laughed so hard, the car swerved out of the lane. “Thanks for the laugh. I needed that.”
“I like when you laugh.”
“I like people who make me laugh.”
“What happened today?”
“What makes you think something happened?”
“The rage-swimming was my first clue. But then you told me stuff you said you don’t tell just anyone, and that has me wondering what happened that has you thinking about the past.”
She gave him an odd look that he could read by the way her brows arched over her sunglasses.
“What?”
“You’re rather insightful for a boy your age.”
“A boy,” he said with a snort. “I’m all man, sweetheart. I’d be happy to prove that to you any time you’d like.”
“After a pickup at the Boner Bank?”
“Nah, I’m still getting plenty of them all on my own. Such as whenever I come upon you in the pool in that white bikini. You’re giving me a lifetime of spank-bank fantasies.”
“Oh, Boner Bank and Spank Bank ought to go into business together.”
Laughing, Cooper said, “That’d be one heck of a partnership.” Thankful that the pain pills were starting to work, Cooper put his head back against the headrest and looked over at her. “I haven’t forgotten my original question. What happened today?”
“Jordan found out she’s pregnant,” Gigi said, sighing. “I’m so happy for her.”
“What else?”
“Nothing. That was it.”
“No, there’s more. You’re happy for her, so why were you rage-swimming?”
Hesitantly, she said, “It’s not rage so much as fear.”
“Of what?”
She pulled into the town beach parking lot and took a spot at the far end, which was usually less crowded. After shutting off the engine, she kept her hands on the wheel as she stared at the water. “When you have no real family of your own, your family becomes the one you choose for yourself. Jordan and Nikki are my family. Their grandmother is mine.” She swallowed. “They’re making lives for themselves here, which means they’ll be staying when I go back to LA.”
Cooper began to get the picture. “Nothing says you have to be there if your family is here.”
“I can’t live on Gansett Island, Cooper.”
“Why not? A thousand other people do it year-round. They seem to love it. Look at my brother and Lizzie.”
“I’d go stark raving mad here year-round.”
“Okay, so then live in LA part of the year and spend the summers here with your girls.”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you going to tell me that the girl who sued her parents for emancipation at fifteen can’t figure out a solution to this challenge? I refuse to believe that.”
“When you put it that way, it does seem far less daunting.”
“You’ll work it out.”
“Thanks for listening. It was an eventful half day at work, and I was still processing it while I was swimming.”
“Is Jordan excited?” he asked as he got out of the car, took a second to catch his breath from the pain and then carried their beach chairs to the boardwalk.
He gestured to a spot several yards from the nearest group. “How’s this?”
“Perfect. I don’t want to people.”
“I’m sure you do plenty of peopling in Los Angeles.”
“I can’t go anywhere anymore without being mobbed by paparazzi and fans, which I’m told is a good problem to have.”
“Until it happens to you.”
“Exactly, and you need security to leave your house. The drive-up window at Starbucks has become my best friend.”
“We’ll serve coffee at the Boner Bank for our female customers.”
“So you’re saying the ladies can’t buy themselves a boner with no man attached, because if so, you’re missing out on a crucial demographic.”
“You make a good point.”
“Hahaha, a good point. Nice pun.”
“I’ll see what I can come up with next.”
“It’s hard to think of a good pun.”
“At the Boner Bank, we’ll be all about the dick puns. I wish I’d had this idea in grad school. Imagine the fun I could’ve had with that as my business plan.”
“Men everywhere would be flooding to your Boner Bank to drop off unneeded boners for use later on.”
They laughed so hard, Cooper had tears in his eyes. “You’re good at this.”
“Everyone has their talents. My talents apparently include dick jokes. I get enough dick pics to stock your bank for years.”
“Ew, do you?”
“Yep. I had to hire someone to manage my social media—and Jordan’s—to deal with the dudes who think we want to see their junk. Among other things.”
“Gross.”
“You have no idea. Dick pics and prisoner mail. Apparently, that’s how you know you’ve made it in Hollywood. That’s why I pay someone to manage our social media.”
“Good call.” He handed her the salad with chicken she’d chosen at the deli and dug into his roast beef sandwich with mustard, horseradish, onions and hot peppers. As he devoured the first half, he realized the onions might’ve been a mistake, as he’d very much like to kiss her again as soon as possible. He picked them off the second half. “Thanks for telling me the things you shared earlier.”
“Thanks for not making a big deal out of it.”
“People usually do?”
“Most people don’t know, but those who do feel ‘so bad’ for me, and I don’t want that. I was raised in a mansion in Beverly Hills. A lot of people had it way worse than I did, especially the kids who spent their entire childhoods in foster care.”
“Yes, I’m sure a lot of people had it worse, but your situation was no picnic.”
“No, but I always had what I needed.”
“Did you?”
She shrugged. “The important stuff. I don’t dwell on any of it. That was years ago. I have a whole new life now.”
“Which is going to change if Jordan permanently relocates here.”