I start to read the preview when she shoves the phone into my chest. “You read it. I can’t do it.”
“You need to let go if you want me to read it.” She’s gripping her phone to the point that her knuckles are white. I help peel her fingers off the device. “Good, Sutton baby.”
She takes a step backward. Then turns around.
“What are you doing?” I laugh out.
“Can’t look at you. Can’t watch. Just push me in the water and leave me to my misery after you read that I didn’t get it.”
I tap in her code: 0131
The day we met.
It’s been set to this since she got her first cell phone. And she tries to say she hated me for five years. Yeah, if hate were a synonym for love.
The email opens, and it takes everything in me not to tackle her into the water with excitement. I can’t have her believing she didn’t get it, because she did.
Welcome to Team USA.
“Oh my gosh. They are giving reasons why I didn’t get it. Dang it, Cooper, I knew we should have added in?—”
“You got it,” I cut her off. “Sutton, you got it. You are part of Team USA.”
Tears well in her eyes, and she quickly swipes at them.
Sutton shakes her head. “No,” she whispers.
“Yes,” I whisper back. “You did it. You made it to Team USA.”
“It’s an internship.”
“Stop. It doesn’t matter. I’m so proud of you, baby.”
She scrunches her nose again. Eyes closing as she laughs fully and lets out an excited scream.
I throw my arms around her, swinging her into a hug.
“Do you want to read the full email?”
“Not yet. I want to enjoy the moment a little bit longer.”
The sun reflecting off Lake Bensen catches my eye. I run us off the dock, jumping into the lake. It’s cold as we plunge under the surface. The water won’t become much warmer than it is now. Come late July, it’ll still be refreshing with a side of pin pricks when you first get in.
I relinquish my hold on Sutton while we are underwater. We kick our feet and swim to the top, cresting the surface at the same time.
She flicks her hand, sending a miniature wave at me. I tuck my head into my shoulder to avoid the splash, but she strikes again.
My fingers skim the waistband of her biker shorts. I tug on it, bringing her flush with me. Sutton wraps her legs around my waist.
“You’re incredible, you know that?”
“Yeah, I know,” she says confidently. “I love you,” she says to me, raking a hand through my wet hair.
“I love you more.”
“Canthatnot be a competition between us?”
“I love you the same. Is that better?”
