I groaned, gripping the edge of the pool. I could do this quickly and get it over with. I launched myself off the wall with as much force as I could, the water blocking out all other sounds as my arms and legs propelled me forward. When I touched the opposite wall, I pushed off again, torpedoing back to where I’d started.
When I blinked the water from my eyes, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary at first. But then I realized Mia and Kitty were nowhere in sight, and not only that, but my clothes were gone too. I’d been duped not once, but twice.
I looked wildly around the pool area. They were probably hiding behind the shower wall and waiting for me to freak out before they came back. But then a minute passed and another, and still no girls. I looked down at myself in the glowing water of the pool and cursed. How had I let the girls bully me into this?
The gate leading from the parking lot creaked open, and I whirled around. “What the hell was that?” I said, expecting to see Mia and Kitty. But to my great embarrassment, I was met not by my nieces, or even Old Gary with his whistle and a safety float, but by the silhouettes of a man and a teenage girl who didn’t belong to me.
“Hey! You’re Mia and Kitty’s aunt, right? It’s me, Greyson!”
So not only had I been caught naked in the pool, but I’d been caught by a teenager and her supposedly hot dad. “Hi, Greyson,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I cast a hopeful look over my shoulder for Mia and Kitty. They’d be lucky if I didn’t ship them back to North Carolina on the next flight.
“Where are they?” Greyson asked. “I was just telling Dad I wished my phone would’ve been charged, so I could’ve gotten their numbers.”
“Uh, they went for a walk on the beach,” I said, wishing it were Old Gary who’d caught me after all.
“Looks like we aren’t the only rule breakers tonight. I knew you had good taste in friends,” Greyson’s dad said. He turned toward the pool. “Itisagainst the rules to swim after dark, right?”
“Uh, yeah,” I said.
“Dad, can I go find Mia and Kitty, please?” Greyson said. “I promise I’ll use my head and won’t do anything reckless.”
“How about you wait until they come back?” he said, and Greyson groaned dramatically.
The two of them walked over to the table beside the pool. I was frozen in place, my brain moving slower than I would’ve liked. What was I supposed to do? If I said something, they’d know I was naked in the pool. But if they came any closer, they’d also know I was naked in the pool. Either way, they’d know I was naked in the pool, and I didn’t want to flash Greyson or her dad, who was about to strip off his shirt.
“Wait!” I called out.
He let go of the hem of his shirt, and both he and Greyson turned to me expectantly.
I hesitated. I hadn’t thought of what I was going tosay. “Can I borrow a towel? I... lost my clothes.”
“You lost your clothes?” Greyson’s dad said.
“I lost a pair of shoes once,” Greyson said. “I took them off in my room, and then they were just gone. Never did find them. Too bad, because they were really cool. They had these wheels on the bottom and I was always crashing into stuff. Dad hated them. Come to think of it, maybe they weren’t lost.” She turned to her dad. “Did you steal them?”
Greyson’s dad didn’t respond. He was looking at me. “Oh,” he said, and it was clear from his tone he’d put things together. “I’m sorry... I didn’t...” He shook his head and backed into the table.
“Do you have a towel?” I said again, blushing so fiercely I probably glowed like bioluminescent algae.
“Oh, right,” he said. He grabbed his towel and started toward the pool, then hesitated. “Um, I won’t look.”
“What’s...” Greyson started, but paused. “Wait, are you naked in there?” She turned to her dad again. “Is this one of those places Marla and Tom like to go to? Anaturalistresort?”
“Of course we didn’t move to a naturalist resort, Greyson,” her dad said as he walked slowly over, eyes averted, the towel in his outstretched hand. When he got within a few feet of me, he tossed the towel to the side of the pool.
“Turn around, Grey,” he said. He returned to the table, and both he and Greyson faced the parking lot.
I pulled myself out of the pool and hurriedly wrapped the towel around me. “All right, I’m... decent,” I said, clutching the towel.Decentdidn’t seem like the right word. What was decent about getting caught skinny-dipping in the condo pool by a potentially hot stranger and his teenage daughter?
Just as Greyson and her dad turned back around, Mia and Kitty burst through the gate, their laughter ringing out into the pool area.
“How hard were you freaking out?” Mia said. But when she and Kitty realized I was out of the pool andnotalone, they paused.
“You’re back!” Greyson called, racing over to the girls and clearly undisturbed by the events that had transpired.
“I am going tokillyou,” I hissed at Mia.
Kitty’s lip trembled. “I’m sorry, Aunt Jo. It was Mia’s idea, and then we found a nest of turtles hatching and lost track of time.”
