“What? Nothing to say, big guy? Not going to stick up for your girl?”
I let out a sarcastic bite of a laugh, pausing to turn around and face him. “As much as I’d love to show you what little of a man you are, I don’t need to.”
Josh frowns.
“In case you couldn’t tell, she’s beyond capable of handling herself.”
Josh looks a little stunned by my comment, his eyes flicking to Amanda behind me before he clears his throat and takes a swig of his beer.
With him silenced, I easily push Amanda off the shore and jump in the kayak behind her. We’re paddling off down the river when Josh calls out behind us.
“You’re not fooling anyone!”
I just paddle faster.
Amanda doesn’t speak the rest of the paddle back, and she’s quiet when we load up the cars and get ready to say our goodbyes, too. But while Julia and David are getting Tucker situated in their SUV, I pull her aside.
“You okay?”
She laughs, running a hand over her knotty hair with a shrug. “I guess.” Her eyes meet mine. “Thank you. For staying out of it. For letting me handle it myself.”
I shrug. “Like I said to him, I knew I didn’t need to save you. You already saved your damn self the moment you left that piece of shit.” Then, I glance around us to make sure no one’s watching, and hold up our sign, fingers curling into my thumb to make that lowercase b.
Badass.
A smile cracks at the corner of her lips, something sweet and longing in her gaze. She shakes it off though, blowing out a breath as I slip my hands in the pockets of my swim trunks.
“I can’t wait to get home and take a shower,” she says.
“You know, after today, I was thinking… might be the perfect night to check another item off our list.”
Amanda groans. “I don’t have energy for anything else, not right now.”
I look around to make sure David and Julia are still busy, that Josh isn’t in earshot, and then I lean in closer, whispering in her ear.
“Not even getting high?”
I step back with a crooked grin, and Amanda doesn’t have to answer. The mischievous smirk she gives me is reply enough.
“Alright, we’re loaded up and ready,” David announces, and then he pulls me in for a hug, clapping me on the back. “Thanks again for coming, man. It was great to have you here.”
“Wouldn’t miss it. I’m going to go say goodbye to Tucker and Julia.”
I leave him with his mom and make my way over to the Subaru, tickling a very tired Tucker, who gives me his best sleepy giggle before I hug Julia and thank her for the day. When I make my way back over to my car, I see Amanda waiting by the passenger side door.
I frown, confused.
“Cool if Mom rides with you?” David asks as he passes. “We need to make a pit stop at Julia’s sister’s house, and Mom is ready to get home and showered.”
I glance at Amanda, who gives me a shy smile in return.
“No problem at all.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
AMANDA
I can’t stop giggling.
I can’t stop giggling, or eating Funyuns and gummy bears, or staring at Greg’s big, stupid, handsome face.
“What?” he asks, his eyes barely slits as he grins back at me.
“What?”
“You’re staring at me.”
I giggle, popping another gummy bear in my mouth. “Aren’t I allowed to?”
He smiles, leaning back on the shingles of the roof. “Only if I’m allowed to stare back.”
His eyes fall to my cleavage then, and I sock him in the arm, which only makes us both break into another fit of laughter.
Finding marijuana edibles proved to be a rather easy task, especially now that the drug is medicinally legal in the state of Florida. Turned out, Greg knew someone who knew someone, and by the time we got back to my house, we had a special delivery on the doorstep.
We only ate half of that little square gummy each, Greg taking the first nibble before giving the rest to me. It had taken almost an hour to kick in, but once it had, we were both goners.
It was Greg’s idea to come up to the roof, him bundled up in his sweatpants and hoodie, and me in my favorite oversized sweater and leggings. We’ve got snacks littered on the shingles all around us, and two bottles of water each that are damn near empty.
My stomach hurts from laughing so much.
But my heart… my heart feels good. Happy.
Liberated.
It was a hellish week after the nightmare of a date with Samuel. He never tried to text or call after, thank God, but I was content to just sit in my misery and be alone. I ignored Greg, thinking it was for the best, and then when I saw him this morning at the river…
I instantly regretted it.
All week, I’d been agonizing, when if I’d have just opened up to him earlier and let him in, I know I could have put that date behind me within minutes. But I was afraid to. I was afraid to admit what happened — ashamed, really.
Until today, when Greg reminded me just by existing that it was just a bad date, it doesn’t mean anything, and everything will be alright.
I feel better when he’s around.
It’s as simple and unfortunate as that.
“I have a weird question,” I say after chewing my gummy bear.
“I like weird questions. Shoot.”
“How often do you work out?”
He barks a laugh. “That’s your weird question?”
“It’s one I’ve thought often,” I admit. I reach over and squeeze his bicep. “Like seriously, you’re a doctor. Aren’t you supposed to heal patients instead of making them faint upon seeing you?”
Greg smirks, shrugging. “I work out almost every day. I usually take one day to rest a week, when I’m feeling too sore to perform.”
“Every day? Ugh.”
“I like it. It’s part of my routine. Meditation takes care of my mind, working out takes care of my body.” He pauses. “I think if I didn’t work out, I’d go crazy.”
“Sounds like me if I had to give up wine. Okay, another weird question,” I say, dusting the Funyon crumbs off my pants and sitting up straighter. “Why do you have so little in your condo? Haven’t you lived there for like… two years now?”
Greg’s smile slips, and he sits up, too, taking a long drink of water before he replies. “I don’t know. I guess part of it is that I’m not sure what I want to put in there, other than the necessary furniture that I have already. And part of it is…” He grabs the back of his neck. “It doesn’t feel like home.”
My playful grin slips away, a frown replacing it as I watch a shadow of sadness wash over Greg’s face.
“Nothing ever has, honestly. When I was growing up, my mom and dad always wanted the house ready to entertain. I never had toys left out, never had more than school or family pictures on the walls, and my room looked more like a hotel room than anything else — just in case a client or friend needed to stay the night after a dinner party.”
I swallow, wanting so badly to reach for him, but I sit on my hands to keep myself from giving into the urge.