Joey stood outside the main house, waiting for Frank to arrive with the newest guests he’d just picked up from the airport. He rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands in his pockets, wishing he didn’t have to do this. But it was his job, and he needed the money, and he was loyal to Will and had said he would take this on . . . and so he waited.
When he finally heard the crunch of the ranch’s shuttle on the gravel road, he pasted a smile on his face and tried to look just as pleasant as he possibly could. Kelsi Weston Clapper, who was walking past at the moment, paused and tilted her head to the side.
“Are you okay, Joey? You look like you have food poisoning.”
“Nope, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? I can find you a bucket if you need one. Or those bushes over there would work too, but maybe on the far side so no one would see.”
“It’s okay, but thanks for caring.”
As she smiled and walked away, he wondered if he shouldn’t have taken her up on that bucket offer. He was feeling a little nauseated, now that he thought about it.
The shuttle pulled up in front of the main house, and Mr. and Mrs. McAllister stepped out first. They looked as chic and elegant as ever, even coming to a ranch in Idaho. They gave Joey the faintest nod as they went inside, and he knew they didn’t recognize him. Why should they? He’d only been a part of their daughter’s life for eleven months—that wasn’t long enough to get to know someone, was it? Not that he was bitter or anything.
Then Chelsea climbed out, and he held his breath. He could see now why she’d been held up getting out of the shuttle—her purse strap was tangled with the seatbelt, and it took her another second to be free of it. Then she was standing there and Joey was standing there and everything stopped moving, and he couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Hi,” he managed at last.
“Hi,” she replied.
She stepped forward and gave him an awkward hug-thing, which he returned just as awkwardly, and then she mumbled something about needing to find her parents, and she disappeared inside.
Frank shook his head as he came around the front of the van. “That was painful to watch,” he said.
“It was painful to live through.” Joey ran a hand down his face. “She’s only going to be here a few weeks, right? I can do this for that long?”
“Ex-girlfriend?”
“Yeah. It was ugly. Oh, man, it was ugly.”
“I can tell that just from where I’m standing,” Frank said, nodding toward the main house.
“I’m supposed to be on hand to show her the pool,” Joey went on. “She’s going to come back out and I’m going to need to use words and stuff. I should have told Will no when he asked me to do this. One of the Kates would be a lot better suited for this.”
“You’ve got this,” Frank replied. “I know you do.”
Mr. and Mrs. McAllister came back outside. “We’re in the Copper Cabin,” Mrs. McAllister said to Frank. “If you could please take our luggage over there, we’d appreciate it. We’ll walk over in a bit.”
“Of course,” Frank replied. He got back into the van and drove off, and the McAllisters turned to Joey.
“And you’re the lifeguard who’ll be working with our daughter during our stay?” Mr. McAllister asked, shaking Joey’s hand. “We appreciate it. She’s our pride and joy—wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.” He paused. “Do I know you? Have we met?”
“Chelsea and I dated for a little while,” Joey replied. No sense in saying more than that—Chelsea probably didn’t want it brought up any more than he did.
“Oh, that’s right. I remember now.” He shook Joey’s hand harder, but Joey knew the man hadn’t remembered him at all. He looked just as mystified as ever. That was all right. It was just as well that they weren’t starting out this little adventure with Chelsea’s parents already hating him.
“Would you like to see the pool?” Joey asked.
“Yes, and if you wouldn’t mind showing us to the spa, we’d like to see it too,” Mrs. McAllister said. “We’ve arranged for some massages with the therapist here, and we’re told you have an excellent chiropractor available.”
“Yep. Dr. Michelle’s the best I’ve ever seen,” Joey replied. He held out his arm. “The pool’s this way. There’s an indoor pool attached to the spa, but I assumed you’d prefer the outdoor pool because it’s bigger. More length to your lap.”
“Good thinking,” Mr. McAllister said. He turned to Chelsea. “And here you thought this place wasn’t going to be any good. This young man has thought of everything.”
Joey flicked his eyes over at Chelsea. She just shrugged. She was using her “I’m too bored for words” face, but he knew that face well, and he knew it meant that she was protecting herself from something. What, he didn’t know. And he didn’t really care, so why was he even thinking about it?
He unlatched the gate that led into the pool area. “As you can see, we have six lanes, and I’ve blocked off the one on the far right. I remembered that was always Chelsea’s favorite position.” He didn’t glance at her this time. “I’ll be here at six every morning for the requested two hours of private swim time. Occasionally throughout the day there will be other lifeguards on duty, but they’re all highly skilled, so if I’m not here for some reason, you’re still in good hands.”
“I hope you don’t feel as though I need some kind of babysitter,” Chelsea said, turning toward him. “I’m not a beginner.”
Joey pulled in a deep breath. “And because you’re not a beginner, you should know better than anyone how important it is to have a lifeguard present at all times when you’re in the water. Not only that, but this is a public pool, and by law requires a lifeguard to be on duty. We often have three on shift at the same time when we have young families staying with us—that’s just how it is, and those rules aren’t going to change for anyone.”
Mr. McAllister gave Joey an approving look that he supposed was the equivalent of a slow clap. Chelsea opened her mouth as if to retort, but then she clamped it shut again, most likely knowing she wouldn’t win.
“This pool has a nice wide deck,” Mrs. McAllister said, probably trying to ease the tension in the air. “And I love the little umbrellas over the tables. They’re so charming.”
“We have towels over there, and a refreshment stand,” Joey went on. “The refreshments are included in the price of your room.”
“Oh, that’s just wonderful.” Mrs. McAllister beamed at him as though he had something to do with that. “Nothing too heavy, though, I imagine—you shouldn’t swim right after eating!”
“That’s right,” Joey said, giving her a smile and a nod. He’d almost rather deal with Chelsea than with this.
“What do you think, sweetheart?” Mr. McAllister turned to his daughter. “Much better than a community pool, don’t you think?”
“It’s fine,” she replied.
“Let me show you the way to the spa now,” Joey said, thinking they’d probably seen everything there was to see at the pool. There was water, and sun, and lanes . . . not a lot to talk about. Instead, he led the way over to the spa. “This building houses not only a salon and makeup studio, but also trained and qualified healthcare workers who deal with injury and recovery,” he said. “The ranch is becoming well known as a rehabilitation center for all sorts of accidents, injuries, and things like that.”
“That was the main reason we chose to come here,” Mr. McAllister said. “Of course, the fact that you also do horseback riding and fine dining and river rafting didn’t hurt a thing.”
“None of which I’ll be doing,” Chelsea inserted. “I’m here to work.”
“And we’re here to play,” her father said, lifting an eyebrow at her. “We’ll all get what we want.”
She glanced away. Clearly, they’d had this conversation before, and she hadn’t enjoyed it then, either.
Joey pointed out the way to the Copper Cabin, agreed to meet Chelsea at the pool early that evening for her first swim, and then said goodbye, exhaling with relief as he walked away. One awkward reunion—check. Now he only had three weeks’ worth of awkward swim sessions to get through and he was all set.
***
“We’ll go with you to your first appointment with the chiropractor, but you’ll be mostly on your own the rest of the time we’re here,” Chelsea’s mother told her over lunch. “Your father and I signed up for so many wonderful activities, we’ll be busy every second, and we don’t want to interfere with your training schedule.”
“That’s totally fine, Mom. I’ll be either swimming, sleeping, or having physical therapy all the time anyway—there’s no need to feel like you have to be there. Besides, this is your twenty-fifth anniversary. You’re supposed to live it up a little.” Chelsea took a sip of her water and smiled. She hadn’t really expected her parents to stick around much, but it would be nice if they wanted to. It was just all too typical of how things usually went. They paid the bills and came to her meets, and the rest of the time, for the day-to-day stuff, she was on her own.
She knew they loved her—that was never a question. What she did wonder about was the way they showed that love. She only had to look back one generation, though, to start getting some insight. Her parents came from old money and had been raised at arms’ length by their own parents—no wonder they weren’t the warm and cuddly type. At least Chelsea hadn’t been sent away to boarding schools her whole life, like her mother had been.
They finished eating, then went back to their cabin. Chelsea went through her suitcase and unpacked, devoting one whole drawer of her dresser to swimsuits because she’d brought so many. Then she decided to take a nap—the trip had worn her out, and her pain meds made her a little drowsy too.
She had just gotten herself comfortable with her leg propped up on a pillow when she heard her parents’ voices coming from the kitchen area of the cabin. She should have closed her door tight. She was just about to get up and do that when she heard her name, and she decided that she’d do the oh, so mature thing and eavesdrop.
“I think that lifeguard is the boy Chelsea was dating before she went off to college,” her mother was saying. “The way they were acting around each other this morning? It wasn’t natural. Something happened—I’m sure of it.”
“You and those romance novels of yours,” her father said good-naturedly. “You turn everything into some kind of romantic conflict. Wouldn’t Chelsea have told us if anything had happened? We have a good relationship with her—she wouldn’t hide things from us.”
“I suppose you’re right, but I still think it’s rather odd.” Her mother sighed. “Well, no sense in fretting about it. Let’s go visit the general store. I know I’m going to want a ton of souvenirs, and I want to see what they have available.”
“A budget, my dear?”
“Of course not! We’re celebrating, remember?”
They both laughed as they walked out of the cabin, and Chelsea relaxed back against her pillows.
Something had happened. Something had most definitely happened. It came in the form of a scholarship, one that she hadn’t even needed because her parents could easily afford to send her to college. But the university had sent out a scout, he’d seen her compete, and he’d done everything he could to entice her to enroll. In the meantime, Joey had been competing in the men’s division of that same competition and he’d had even better times than Chelsea. But the scout was looking to build up the women’s swim team, not the men’s, and he’d overlooked Joey entirely. Joey, who had actually needed a scholarship and could have benefited from it.
She’d never been able to get over that guilt.
She sat up, plumped the pillow under her knee, and lay back down. It was over. There was nothing she could do about it now. In fact, there was nothing she could have done about it then—it wasn’t like she could have asked them to give the scholarship to Joey instead because they already had enough swimmers on the men’s team. It was out of her hands. But the thought that maybe there was something she could have done, something she could have said, wouldn’t stop rearing its ugly little head.