The number of times I imagined those words from his perfect lips while I was masturbating with Mr. Lemon last night should be illegal. But I maintain my cool and give him a slow eyebrow.
“I wasthe bestgirl. Seven chapters.”
“Wow, I do appreciate an overachiever.”
“I’m ready to show you the wonders of cloud gazing. Did you bring the equipment?” I ask him with a straight face.
His green eyes widen. “I didn’t know I was supposed to. Is it something we can… rent?” He looks completely confused.
Unable to hold back my laughter, I let it loose and shake my head. “I’m teasing.”
Reno visibly relaxes, his mouth curving into a wry grin. “All right, funny girl. Are you ready?”
After stopping by one of the side patios of the main lodge to pick up a beach blanket and a small cooler of water, we head to the back of the property.
“We probably should have brought some breadcrumbs to drop,” I say with concern as we reach the bottom of the hill. “I can be… directionally challenged.”
Reno leads me with confidence toward the head of a dirt trail. “It’s okay. I’m good with that kind of stuff.”
“Glad you are. I got lost in the grocery store one time.”
He laughs as we start heading up the path that meanders through the lush greenery. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope. Just to clarify, I was only seven, and it was back in the storeroom, which is where the restrooms were. I found the ladies room okay, but when I came back out, I couldn’t remember which way to go. There were just stacks of boxes everywhere, and it all looked the same.”
“I can imagine that would have been scary for a kid,” he says, walking beside me on the wide trail.
“I was only gone for about five minutes before my dad came looking for me. He found me eating an apple I’ddug out of a box.”
Reno snorts. “Why were you eating an apple?”
I shrug. “I was convinced I was lost forever in the back of the Piggly Wiggly, and I guess my survival instincts kicked in.” Giggling at the memory, I say, “Dad picked me up and took me to the front to pay for my pilfered apple. After that, he always walked me all the way to the restroom and waited by the door.”
“And your mom?”
“She wasn’t around much during that time in my life.”
Reno reaches for my hand and folds it inside his much larger one. I like it way more than I should.
“I’m sorry, Juliette.”
“It’s okay. She wasn’t a bad mom; she just wasn’t a good mom. She sent cards and gifts on holidays and birthdays, but she wasn’t a nurturer by nature.” I squeeze his hand. “But I had two great dads.”
“Two?” he questions as we veer to the right.
“Dad is my biological father, and Pops is my stepdad, though I don’t think of him that way. They actually shared custody of me and my three siblings, which sounds bizarre, but it worked.”
“Wow. It’s amazing that they got along that well.”
I release a soft chuckle. “They called themselves the Delphine Caldwell Support Group. That was my mom’s maiden name.”
The trail grows a bit steeper and narrower, and Reno keeps a firm grip on my hand, glancing over his shoulder at me as he takes the lead. “How old were you when your parents divorced?”
“I was almost two. Shortly after the divorce was final, she married Pops and almost instantly got pregnant with my brother Bubba.”
“So she had Bubba when you were about three?”
“Yep. Delphine stayed until Bubba was a year old and then took off.” I watch the bunch of Reno’s thick calf muscles as he climbs. “I became instantly attached to my brother when he was born. That’s why our dads decided to go for the unusual arrangement. They didn’t want to separate us. Luckily they found a judge willing to go along with it, andthey were granted fifty-fifty custody, so Bubba and I spent half our time with Dad and half with Pops.”
