Joey paced on the pool deck, growing more annoyed by the minute. Chelsea had all but commanded him to be here at two, and here it was, a quarter after and she was nowhere in sight. Ordinarily, things like that didn’t bother him—everyone ran late once in a while. But when she’d acted like punctuality was the most important virtue a person could have and then she didn’t even bother to show up, well, that was just . . . annoying.
Caitlyn was on duty that afternoon, and he walked over to the base of her tower. “My private client hasn’t shown up yet. When she gets here, could you give me a call? I’ll be around. Doing something. Kicking something, probably.”
She laughed. “Sure thing.”
Joey left the pool and walked across the parking lot. Maybe he’d go visit the small animal barn and hold a bunny. That would be a nice, calming, non-psychotic thing to do.
He’d just made up his mind to go do that when he saw Chelsea trotting toward him, waving one arm. Her oversized beach bag was draped over her other arm, and it hit her leg with every step she took.
“I’m sorry I’m late! Please stop!”
He stopped.
“I fell asleep. I’m really sorry. Can we please go swim now?”
“Caitlyn’s on duty. She could keep an eye on you.”
Chelsea glanced over her shoulder toward the pool and then back again. “But isn’t she watching everyone right now? And aren’t you supposed to be assigned just to me?”
“That was the arrangement, but I also thought you were going to be here at two. It’s now twenty after. I’m not going to sit around and wait for you to show up—I do have other things to do, you know.” He wasn’t in the mood to play pretty princess with her. Yes, she had money—he had his dignity.
She reached out and touched his arm. “I do know, and I’m sorry. Please come back, Joey. It won’t happen again.”
He looked at her hand on his arm, then up into her eyes. Dang it—those eyes. He shook his head. “Listen. I’m not going down that road again. I’ll come back because I need the money, but not because you batted your eyelashes at me.”
“Of course not. And I don’t know what road you mean.” She took a step back, but he caught her hand before she could escape.
“You know full well what road—the one where you snap your fingers and I come running. I’m not that person anymore.”
“And I’m not either.” She tugged her hand from his. “Let’s get to work, all right?”
“All right.” He followed her back to the pool and took his position on the second tower while she stretched. Then he watched her go back and forth, back and forth, thinking it was probably a good thing that he didn’t get motion sick.
The warmth of the afternoon sun lulled him into a kind of trance, as did watching Chelsea’s rhythmic swimming. As soon as he heard the loud voices coming from across the pool, though, he snapped to attention, his gaze darting around to locate the source of the noise.
Two men stood on the opposite side of the pool deck, yelling at each other, bottles of beer in their hands. Caitlyn was trying to talk to them from on top of her tower, but they weren’t listening, and she gave Joey a frantic look. He could see the problem immediately—she couldn’t leave her tower as long as there were swimmers in the pool, and the men were becoming more and more angry. Joey grabbed his whistle, blew into it, and climbed down his tower.
Chelsea’s head crested the water as she came up for more air, and he gave another quick toot. She stopped swimming, and he bent over at the side of the pool. “I need you to sit tight a sec,” he said, trusting that she’d listen to him. Then he crossed the concrete pad and approached the two men.
“Excuse me,” he said, raising his voice loudly enough to be heard over their brawling. “Mind telling me what’s going on? You should know for starters that bringing beer here is against the rules.”
They turned and looked at him. “Oh, Mr. Baywatch here doesn’t like it that we brought beer to his little kiddie pool,” one of them sneered.
Joey glanced up at Caitlyn. She flashed him her cell phone, signaling that she was texting for backup. He gave her a nod, then turned back to the men. “That’s right. I’ll need you to hand me those bottles and then to excuse yourselves from the pool area.”
“And if we don’t?” The other man folded his arms across his chest, probably trying to make himself look bigger or more intimidating or something. It just reminded Joey of a bad television show, and he wasn’t impressed.
“Can we please step over to the side and discuss this? We have some children in the pool right now, and I don’t want them upset.” Maybe diplomacy would work, an appeal to their kind hearts . . . if they had kind hearts . . . he was starting to wonder.
“I’m fine right where I am,” the first man said.
Joey shrugged. “Suit yourself. Just thought I’d save you a little embarrassment, that’s all.”
“Embarrassment? How do you figure that?” He took a step forward and put his face right in Joey’s. “The only person I see who’s gonna be embarrassed is you after we get done with you.”
Joey looked back and forth between the two of them. “Now, see? You’re united against a common enemy, and the squabble between yourselves seems to have melted away. Go ahead. Shake hands. Be friends again. Consider this a day of rejoicing in your newfound relationship.”
The men looked a little taken aback. “Listen, whistle boy, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you’re getting on my last nerve.” The first man shoved his bottle into the other man’s hands and took another step. He was now so close, Joey could see all the little flecks of gold color in his eyes.
“All I’ve asked is that you hand over your beer and leave the pool area. I don’t understand what’s so hard about that,” Joey said.
“And I don’t understand why you have such a problem with our being here.” The man reached out and shoved Joey’s shoulders, making him stumble backwards.
Joey regained his footing easily enough, but shook his head. “I really wish you hadn’t done that.”
“Oh? Why’s that? You want to run crying home to Mommy?”
“No. It’s just that according to the employment contract I signed with River’s End Ranch, I’m to treat every guest with the utmost courtesy and respect. Unless, of course, there’s an unusual situation that puts me in some kind of danger, and then I’m allowed to defend myself.”
The first man looked over at the second. “He thinks he can defend himself,” he said, laughing.
“Actually, what I’m going to do is remove you from the pool area, which is pretty much what I’ve been asking this whole time.” Joey took a step forward, grabbed the man’s arm, used his other hand to pinch a nerve in his shoulder, and walked him out the gate. He saw Charley and Tony, two of the ranch’s security guards, running toward them, and he grinned. “Great timing,” he called out.
Within a matter of seconds, both men were in custody, and Joey turned back to the pool. “Sorry, everyone,” he said, noticing how all their guests had stopped swimming and were either hanging on to the sides or had gotten out altogether. “You can go back to having fun now. Just remember—you may not bring alcoholic beverages here, and if you’re going to argue with a lifeguard, make sure you’re stronger than they are.”
Everyone laughed, which was what he’d been shooting for, and he looked up at Caitlyn. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s great.”
“All right, then. Let’s shake this up a little bit.” He walked over to the little booth that housed the refreshment stand, reached inside, and flipped the sound system onto some fun beach music. Then he made a big show of dancing all the way back over to his tower, making some of the children giggle.
Chelsea sat on the side of the pool, waiting for him.
“Sorry for the little interruption,” he said. “Thanks for waiting for me.”
“Well, I didn’t want to miss a second of that little show,” she said, nodding across the pool. “Do you have to throw people out of here often?”
“Hardly ever, actually,” Joey said. “Our guests are usually here to relax and spend time with their families and enjoy nature. We don’t tend to get a lot of angry types.”
“You know, that guy was right. You are a little Baywatchy,” she said, scrutinizing him.
“Baywatchy? Is that even a word?”
“Sure it is. I just spoke it, so that makes it a word.”
“I see.” He nodded as though that made any sense at all. “And just what makes something Baywatchy? If it happens by water?”
“Yes. That’s the first thing. And of course there’s danger involved, and a pretty girl.” She nodded over to Caitlyn, who was studying the pool intently. “She seems nice.”
“She is. And a great swimmer, too.”
“Is she your girlfriend?”
“Nope. Don’t have one of those. Are you ready to go again, or did you want more of a break?”
“Ten more laps and then I’m done.”
This time, she waited until he was on the tower before she dove in. He appreciated that.
***
Joey finished up with Chelsea and told her he’d see her that night, then he crossed over to Wade’s office and knocked on the door.
Wade looked up from his desk. “Hey, Joey. Thanks for coming by. I see you got my text.”
“Yep, just now. I guess you need an incident report filled out?”
“Sure do.” Wade slid a paper across the desk to him, followed by a pen. “Just so you know, one of our guests stopped by a second ago and asked that we commend you for the way you handled the situation. She was very impressed, especially with the way you made her daughter laugh afterwards.”
“Thanks,” Joey mumbled as he concentrated on filling out the form. “It was just one of those things, you know? Sort of over-the-top stuff that didn’t need to happen.” He paused, his pen hovering over the page. “So, what happened to those two clowns?”
“They’re packing up to leave right now. They were passing through on their way to Montana, and their truck blew a tire just outside the ranch last night. So we got them patched up this morning, and they’ll be heading out in a few minutes. You might want to stay here in the office until Charley texts that they’re gone—they might be carrying a grudge.”
“Yeah, I’d rather not get involved in anything else.” Joey marked on the sheet that no property had been damaged during the incident and that he had sustained no injuries. “So, here on this line where it asks if the guest was injured, there’s not a place to mark ‘Vulcan death grip.’”
Wade laughed. “Do we need to put that on there?”
“Couldn’t hurt.”
“Well, for now, just write it in on the line that says ‘other,’ and I’ll get Bernie to work on updating the form.”
Joey finished, signed the page, and slid it back over to Wade.
“Thanks. We’ll have Caitlyn fill one out too when she gets off shift.” Wade leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “How are things going with your special assignment? Will tells me it’s been a blast from the past, so to speak.”
“Yeah. It was a surprise, that’s for sure. I think it’s going all right, though.” Joey glanced at the clock. “Hey, Caitlyn’s coming off shift here in a second, and if those guys are still on the ranch, maybe she should get an escort over here? I mean, if you don’t want me leaving until they’re gone, maybe she should get some protection too.”
“Excellent point.” Wade grabbed his cell and sent a text. It chimed a minute later. “Charley says she and Tony are helping our friends finish up, but their new officer, Troy, is on his way over.”
“Thanks. I just think it’s safer to take precautions.”
Wade nodded. “You’re a good man, Joey. In fact, Will and I were talking about you earlier.”
“Um, nothing too terrible, I hope.”
“Not at all. More like, giving you a promotion. As you know, Ellie’s due pretty soon, and some adjustments are going to need to be made in the aquatics department. Will would like to make you their assistant. With a raise, of course.”
Joey blinked. “That would be great. I do need to let you know, though, that I’m still taking classes in the fall and winter. Would that be a problem?”
“Not at all—those are the slow times around here for aquatics anyway. Should I tell him you’re on board?”
“Yes, please. I’d really appreciate it.”
“Done.” Wade picked up his phone when it chimed. “Charley says she just heard from Troy—he and Caitlyn are on their way over, and the two rabble rousers are heading out now. Looks like you’re free to go.”
“Great. Thanks, Wade. I’ll see you later.” Joey exhaled with relief as he left the office. Even though he knew he had the right to defend himself, he’d still been a little nervous to meet with Wade. That had gone much, much better than he’d anticipated.