“Yes, Luke explained it to me,” Annie said.
“What did Luke explain?” I asked in a measured voice.
“You know.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “That you go to work at Roy’s on weekends.” I could have sworn she physically shuddered in revulsion when she said it. The last time she had been so repulsed, we had been talking about bed bugs. “That you guys are…struggling. I want you to know, I understand.”
Yes, I worked at Roy’s. Yes, we were “struggling,” if that was a euphemism for “poor.” And I was certain that she didn’t understand—but at least she was making the effort. “Ok, don’t worry about it, please. Not a big deal,” I answered. “Excuse me, I need to bring Charlie his equipment bag.”
She was gone when I came back to the bleachers. What exactly had Luke told her? Now I was almost glad he wasn’t texting. Almost.
Neil was watching me as I checked my phone again—nothing—and huffily sat down. “Everything ok?” he asked.
“Yes, great!” I answered, and smiled at him brightly.Everything was just peachy.
He seemed a little taken aback by my exuberance. “Great!” he parroted. “So, I didn’t get a chance to ask you at the meet, but Ellis and I would love to take you and Charlie out fishing.”
“Fishing? It’s not too cold?”
“No, not at all. I have a Tiara 3800 docked up in Leland. There’s a covered cabin if anyone gets chilly and wants to get out of the wind. We could go out for the day, have some lunch, maybe even dinner. Does Charlie like fishing? It would be fun to get the boys together.”
Charlie loved fishing, and I would love to get him on a boat. “I’m not sure we can go for the whole day. My sister…”
He was nodding. “Totally understand. We can come back in whenever you want. Whatever you’re comfortable with. What day would work for you?”
Neil was a nice guy. “Well, thank you for inviting us. Sundays are usually good. Let me see if I can find someone to hang out with Cassie, and then, yes, we would be happy to go.”
“How about a week from this weekend?” he asked me. “This Sunday is the Feeding Frenzy.”
I looked at him blankly. “Oh, right the team dinner.” With the super cute name.
We sat together, talking about swimming and the kids. Neil’s ex had moved to Virginia to get re-married. Ellis spent the summers with her, but it didn’t sound like a great situation. “She moved on,” Neil explained. “Has two more kids with her new husband. Ellis feels like he gets in the way.”
Now I felt pretty bad that I had threatened him. Poor kid.
Tara rushed in. “What a day! Neil, scoot over. We have lady business.”
“Tara, nice to see you, as always,” Neil said, not moving an inch. I liked this guy more and more.
She laughed as my phone dinged with a text. Eagerly I grabbed it and read the message. Oh. “Why do you look so pissed, Em?” Tara asked me.
“What? Oh, no, this is good news. Jason Irving is coming to look at our hot water heater after work on Wednesday. Only one more day without hot water.” If he could fix it. I didn’t want to consider the possibility that the water heater would need to be replaced.
She tilted her head at me. “That is good news. So why are you still looking disappointed?”
“I’m not.” Totally not disappointed.
“Sure,” she said. “Sure. Why don’t I pick up the kiddos after school that day and you can have your rendezvous with Jason?”
“Tara!” I poked her.
Neil stood up. “I’ll leave you ladies to it. Emily, I won’t be back at practice this week, but I’ll see you at the dinner this weekend. We’ll work things out for next Sunday.” I nodded and smiled at him.
“What’s going on?” Tara demanded. “What are you doing on Sunday?”
“Neil wants to take me and Charlie fishing so the boys canhang out.”
“Oh, Neil wants Ellis to hang out with Charlie? That’s so convenient, since you’re Charlie’s aunt and Neil wants to get in your pants,” she said.
“Tara!” The woman did not have a filter. “Neil wants them to be better friends, and so do I. This has nothing to do with my pants.” I got busy checking my emails and ignored her.
