Page 124 of Anyone But Her

"Cal, honey, keep it down. We don't want the neighbors to complain."

"Yeah, got it," Cal says, glaring at me.

"I left some drinks out by the pool."

"Thanks, Mom." Taylor loops her arm around Cal's. "C'mon, let's go. You can finish your story by the pool."

He reluctantly lets her drag him outside. Birdie and I follow.

We each take a lounger by the pool. My eyes go to Taylor as she lifts up her t-shirt.

"Taylor!" Cal yells.

"What? I have a swimsuit underneath."

He sighs and shakes his head, then turns to me. "Just so you know, I am not okay with this. Maybe someday I will be, but now? I am SO not okay with this. I thought—" He stops and I follow his eyes to Birdie, who's slipping her sundress off to reveal a bright red bikini. She has some extra weight on her but it's in the right places. The girl's got curves and Cal has definitely noticed.

I nudge Cal. "You were saying something?"

His eyes are still on Birdie, who is now spreading her beach towel out on her lounger, her curvy ass facing Cal and me.

"Cal," I say, trying to get his attention.

"What?" He pries his eyes off Birdie. "What do you want?"

I laugh. "Nothing. Go ahead and look."

"Look at what? I'm not looking at anything." He leans back in his lounger and closes his eyes.

"Would you put lotion on my back?" Birdie asks Taylor.

"Sure. Spin around."

Birdie turns to face Cal. She leans over and her large breasts practically spill out of her very tiny bikini top.

"Cal." I nudge him. He clearly has a thing for Birdie and now that I know that, I'm not letting it go.

"Leave me alone," he says. "I'm trying to sleep."

"You might want to wake up for this," I say in a low voice.

"What?" He opens his eyes and I nod toward Birdie. He looks over at her and I hear him mutter, "Holy shit."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I thought you might enjoy that."

"Okay, you're all set," Taylor says, putting the lotion away.

She and Birdie lay back on their loungers. Cal is still staring at Birdie but she doesn't notice, her eyes now closed.

"Feel that sun." Taylor smiles as she puts her sunglasses on. "I love being out here when it's hot like this."

"I knew you were lying this morning," Cal says.

She ignores him and keeps talking to Birdie. "Are you going in the water later?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't decided."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Taylor says, "Cal offered to give you swimming lessons."

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