Page 15 of Second Chance Vacation

She would almost be adorable in her frantic nature if she wasn’t so accusatory.

“Excuse me? You were literally lying on top of me. If anyone in that scenario was responsible, I would argue it was the person pinning the other down.”

“I was not!” An octave higher, her voice pitches so much that she instinctually clears her throat.

Okay, she is still adorable when she is flustered.

“You were.” I roll my eyes, standing to face her on my side of the bed.

Her eyes meet mine as silence sets amongst us, my eyes pinning her in place. I am no novice to the female gaze, but something about it coming from Gen sends warmth straight to my stomach. She’s staring at me like she’s starved, and I’m her last meal. Her eyes meander from my face to my chest and all the way down. She shakes herself out of it as her eyes fix on my half-morning wood. I fight the smirk that pulls from me.

Looping my thumbs in the sides of my shorts, I quirk a brow and grin. “Do you want to watch? Or can I change in peace?”

The screech she emanates is almost worth the amusement it gives me.

She nearly sprints away and slams the bathroom door without a second word. I make good on my promise to change and am comfortably in a white polo and golf shorts within a matter of seconds. Gen, however, has been in the bathroom for twenty minutes. I’d normally make a short-sighted joke about her having fallen into the toilet, but I know instinctually that she is awaiting the sound of my leaving the room. As entertaining as continuing to torture her would be, I would like to continue my day past staring at a closed door.

I click the door behind me, stepping into the hallway at the exact moment Wes exits his and Savannah’s room. He is clearly heading down to the pool, standing in his swim trunks with a towel draped over his arm and a colossal bottle of sunscreen in his hand. Wes did a rotation in dermatology and is incessant about the importance of sunscreen. Apparently, something stuck in his brain from that experience.

I join him down the stairwell. Savannah apparently has either not gotten out of bed or is getting ready; either would be on brand for Savannah to take forever to do.

“So, what’s the plan for today?”

“Hell, if I know. I think we’re just hanging around the house today?”

I guess we’ll be waiting for Savannah to grace us with her presence.

Now that I see Wes in his swimsuit, I am tempted to go upstairs and change, but I’d rather hang out by the pool without a chance of swimming than risk the wrath of Gen by going upstairs.

I have a feeling this trip is going to involve a lot of tip-toeing around landmines.

Saint-Tropez is starting to convince me it exists in a vacuum where perfect weather is the standard. We have only been here for less than a day, but I have yet to see a cloud in the sky. The waning of the waves against the sand mixed with the perfect eighty-degree day is enough to convince me that maybe living in Atlanta isn’t the right move. Professionally, it makes the most sense, but I would be lying if I said I don’t miss North Carolina.

My choice to go to Duke over something in-state was made long before I was ready to leave for college. I wanted to go to Duke as early as I could remember. My dad went to Duke, as did my mom, and when they graduated, they returned to Live Oak to raise their family. Don’t get me wrong, I loved growing up in Live Oak, but sometimes I wish they’d stayed in North Carolina. There is something special about the coast.

Leaving for college was something I looked forward to for a long time, until Gen. Undoubtedly, I knew her forever, but there was something special about that summer before I left for school.

Something shifted for us.

* * *

“Stop!” Viv laughed.

She splashed into the water with force as my hands dunked her underwater. I couldn’t help but laugh, too.

That wasn’t a new occurrence for us.

Messing around in the pool at my parent’s house. The number of times that exact interaction had happened in our lives was so infinite that I couldn’t even count them. That day, however, was different.

When Hannah decided to hang out with Henry from school, but Viv was planning on coming over, I figured it would be business as usual. I mean, she was always at our house anyway.

As she came back up for air, her hair splashed against the back of her neck, her skin pebbling with water droplets the instant her body hit the air.

My hands felt like they were searing into the bare skin of her hips in a way that I hadn’t really focused on before.

That was new.

I should’ve let her go by this point, so why hadn’t I?

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