He gives me a terse look before pushing back enough to give a breath of space between us. But it can’t go unnoticed that his hand remains firmly on my hip.
“That was awesome!” Everly squeals, and Max turns to look over his shoulder to see that Everly has reached the next platform and is standing with the guide.
His body sags with relief, and his hand reflexively tightens on my hip before he lets go completely. “Good job, kid!”
“Dad, you go next!” Everly calls back.
Max’s Adam’s apple slides down his throat as Chad disconnects us to untangle our lines. He attaches Max’s zip trolley to the cable next. “Ready, Big Daddy?” Chad says with a dopey smile.
“It’s Mr. Fletcher,” Max growls at the dude.
“Hey, chica.” Chad looks at me. “Smile at this dude again…I think it helps with his mood.”
“What?” Max barks, and without warning, Chad shoves him down the cable for his ride.
I laugh at the girlie scream that slips out of Max’s mouth when he first takes off. He does not appear to be enjoying himself as he grips his line like he’s hugging a security blanket. By the time he makes it to Everly, she’s cheering him on and laughing loud enough for the entire adventure course to hear. When he’s caught on the platform, her little arms wrap tightly around her dad, so I quickly pull out my phone and zoom in to snap a picture of them. They really are so adorable. I think Chad made a mistake earlier. It’s not my smile that brightens Max’s surly demeanor. It’s Everly’s. Without a doubt.
“This looks amazing, Michael,” I state, standing by the grill outside where the chef who’s been cooking for me for years is grilling up shrimp, chicken, and steak kabobs.
“Wait until you see what we’ve got cooking inside,” Michael says, elbowing me gently and pointing back to a staff member he brought with him tonight.
“Oh, I already sampled the mac ’n’ cheese.” I pat my stomach. “You do such great work. Thanks for making extra on short notice.”
“Anytime!” Michael replies just as my front doorbell rings.
“They’re here,” Everly peals, running toward the deck from the pool area where she’s been inflating floaties for the better part of an hour. “I’ll get the door!” She tears past me barefoot in nothing but her swimsuit.
I smile. Damn, I wish she looked that excited every time I picked her up on the weekends from her mom’s. Maybe sheltering her away from my friends wasn’t the best idea. I join her at the front door and see Josh holding his little brown-eyed toddler on his hip.
“Holy shit, Julianna has gotten big,” I blurt out honestly.
“Language, Max,” Josh chastises, and I cringe when I see two kids old enough to understand my curse words flanking Josh. They are also brown-haired girls that look a lot like their aunt Lynsey. “This is Lennon and Claire. Lennon is a brand-new teenager, and Claire is a whopping ten years old.”
“You don’t have to say brand new.” Lennon rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest.
Josh shoots me a desperate look as Everly’s fingers wrap around my hand. She tucks behind me, suddenly acting very shy. I give her a reassuring squeeze. “Well, Everly here is eleven, so you girls should have tons of things to talk about.”
“Dad,” Everly groans and rolls her eyes just like Lennon did.
“Do you want to take the girls up and show them your room?” I ask, desperate to get past the eye-rolling phase of the evening.
“I want to see your room,” Claire chirps, saving all of us from awkward doom. Or “Awkward City,” as Cassandra would say.
Lennon glances up at Josh with a too cool for school look but follows the girls into the house and up the winding staircase.
“Dude…if I end up with three girls in my life…send whiskey. Lots and lots of whiskey,” Josh says, shifting Julianna over to his other hip.
I laugh and hear Lynsey’s voice squeak from behind Josh. “You’re in my way, babe.”
Josh moves inside to reveal his wife, Lynsey, weighed down with a beach bag, three life jackets, a pool noodle, and a round charcuterie board overflowing with meats and cheeses.
“I told you I had the food all covered.” I cut a look to my buddy as I take the board from Lynsey’s struggling hands.
“She wouldn’t listen,” Josh huffs, eyeing his wife with a knowing look.
“Charcuterie isn’t food. It is life!” Lynsey proclaims, looking mildly less stressed now that I’ve taken it off her hands. “Let’s see this big ass pool Josh wouldn’t shut up about!”
I place the charcuterie board in the kitchen where Michael’s assistant is setting up a buffet and lead Josh, Lynsey, and Julianna out back. Lynsey instantly puts a life jacket on Jules, who’s looking pretty comfortable in her dad’s arms and nowhere near ready to get in the water. Everly, Lennon, and Claire dart past us, wasting no time jumping off the diving board. I watch cautiously for a moment and feel relieved when I see they’re decent swimmers. I don’t need to perform two water rescues this week.
Miles and Kate show up next, an adorable redheaded little boy named Tucker in tow. He’s four months old but looks like he’s going to be a bruiser like his dad. Dean and Norah arrive next, and I take a moment to congratulate them on their engagement that happened a couple of months ago at a concert. I’ve known Dean for years, and I was certain he would be a terminal bachelor with me until we were old and gray. I guess he fell in love with more than just Norah’s croinuts.
I pull Norah into my bedroom/office to have her sign some documents that popped up for her this week.
“This is weird signing papers in your bedroom,” Norah says with a laugh. “I couldn’t believe you weren’t in the office this week.”
“Trust me, more work gets done in here than sleep. Why do people keep freaking out about me not being at my office?” I ask, handing her a pen and opening the document to the pages she needs to sign. “I’m not that much of a workaholic, am I?”
Norah’s brows lift. “Let’s be honest, Max. You’re the CEO of Fletcher Industries. You probably should have handed me off to one of your client managers months ago.”
I shrug. “I keep all my favorite clients. Plus, I’m an investor in your franchise so helping you helps me.”
“I appreciate that, but you’re a full-time dad this summer. You need to let some things go and enjoy your time with Everly.” She gets a soft look in her eye, and I swear I see her hand touch her stomach.
I’m just about to ask her a question when we’re interrupted by Kate banging on the deck slider. She opens it up and her eyes sweep the room. “So this is where the millionaire Max’s magic happens.” She waggles her eyebrows lasciviously and runs her hand along the duvet that covers my king-sized bed. “I like the color. It’s very Christian Grey of you.”
“Would you stop with the Christian Grey jokes?”
“You’re the richest guy I know nonfictionally. Christian Grey is the richest guy I know fictionally. I love to draw parallels in my life. Now show me to your red room of pain.”