Page 32 of Love and Other Champagne Problems

“We’re still on country club grounds, which means you’re not my babysitter right now.”

“I don’t need you to fight my battles?—”

“If you can fight mine, I can fight yours.” I pulled my arm from his grip. “And I’ll fight yours because, apparently, you won’t fight them yourself.”

I unbuttoned my shirt sleeves and rolled them up to my elbows asI walked toward the pool. Whoever bordered on sexual harassment had chosen a poor day to get on my bad side. I’d been far too ready to rip into anyone who crossed my path, and unfortunately for them, they’d stumbled into it.

There was only one person at the pool when I opened the gate, sitting on one of the lounge chairs. Her polka dot swimsuit ducked down in a U at the back that exposed her wrinkled skin. She sat waiting patiently for Sumner to return, and even from here, I could see the eagerness on her profile. There was a wheelchair parked beside her.

All traces of my anger vanished, replaced by an overwhelming urge to sigh. So, I did. The woman turned at the sound, taking in the two newcomers. “Oh, good,” Nancy said as she focused on Sumner. “You found some sunscreen. Margot, have you checked out this boy’s tush? It’sdivine, isn’t it?”

CHAPTER NINE

“You ruin a poor old girl’s fun, you know that?” Nancy grumbled, the pool lounge chair creaking underneath her as it shifted.

“I’m just a horrible person,” I agreed, slathering her wrinkled back with thick SPF. The U in her polka dot swimsuit dipped far lower than it should’ve on a ninety-year-old “Putting sunscreen on you so you don’t burn to a crisp. Just a downright mean soul, I am.”

“I didn’t wantyouto do it. That handsome fellow?—”

“You can’t ask the staff to rub sunscreen on you.”

Nancy puffed out a breath. “Before, that nice boy, Trevor, did?—”

“Yes, and he stole four-hundred dollars from your purse while you were distracted. We caught him on the security footage.”

“I was just paying him for the wonderful service he performed, that’s all.”

My features twisted on their own accord at her words, unable to stop the instant disgust. “Just ask me to do it next time. Or better yet, ask my mother.” Or Yvette.

“I’m half-tempted to,” she said, turning her head as faras she could to look at me as I recapped the sunscreen. “Those ladies will do whatever I ask to just get on my good side.”

Tossing the sunscreen on the empty chair beside Nancy, I sat down on its edge, linking my fingers between my knees. “Is that how you convinced Mrs. Holland to bring you here today?”

Nancy gave me a wide smile, showing off her pearly dentures. “I might’ve dangled a little carrot. I suppose the charity for the dying bees doesn’t need the beach house in Florida.”

I didn’t smile back. “I heard about how weak you’ve been lately. How weak your heart is. This is too much for you.”

“Do you want me to die alone at home, then?” she demanded, finally showing the barb beneath her flippant words as she glared at me. “With Yvette sobbing at her soaps or Ally calling whichever flavor of the week, and where time passes in a crawl? Tell me, Margot, which would you prefer?”

I gave her a look. “Nancy, I just?—”

She twisted away from me to glower at the pool. “The others are too gushy, and you’re too suffocating.”

I stared at her pouting figure as her words shifted into my heart like a dagger.This is why no one likes to talk to you, dear.

“Sorry, I hope that didn’t take too long,” Sumner said in a breathless voice as he approached with a tray of two drinks. Much like how he’d been doing it when I first saw him, he held the tray incorrectly, its center of gravity tipping more to one side than it should’ve. IfI were to have picked the glass up, everything would’ve toppled. “The girl at the drink station was chatty.”

I wondered what girl was working the drink station today, and whether or not I could fire her for beingchatty.

“Oh, dear, I’m glad you’re back,” Nancy said as Sumner set the tray down at the foot of my lounger. “Help a little lady into the pool, would you?”

He paused in offering the pink drink out to Nancy, blinking. “I—I’m not a lifeguard,” he insisted. “I really think we should move to the other pool, where they’re on the clock?—”

“Surely a strong man like you can save me.” Nancy squeezed his bicep, making a face at it. “Well, we can work on this, hmm?”

Everything in me rebelled at the idea of allowing her to get into the pool. It would exhaust her ninety-year-old body, and all she had to do was lose strength in her legs, or slip, oranything, and she’d submerge like a stone. Nancy wasn’t a light little thing, and the pool’s shallowest footage was four feet. It would take both Sumner and me to pick her up if she fell. Letting her get in was an idea that practically made my skin crawl.

But instead of voicing any of those concerns, I simply said, “Drown if you want.”

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