Before I leave the room, though, I look at the drawer once more because my OCD really wants to close it, but I keep my hands to myself, getting the idea that anything could sethimoff.
As I head down the stairs, Liam meets me at the front door with Dylan by his side. “You’re going to need a towel and a bathing suit,” hetellsme.
“Oh . . . I—” He couldn’t have mentioned this twentyminutesago?
“Just in case. Guardians need to be prepared to help the child in the water.” I want to ask him if he would be doing that part today since he seems to be doing everything else, but I keep my thoughts to myself for the timebeing.
I scramble back upstairs, trying to hide the mild limp I’ve been fighting against. Tearing open my bag that I should have unpacked yesterday, I find my bathing suit—bikini—that I didn’t intend to wear in front of a child, but it’s all I brought, so let’s hope he doesn’t drown today—not to mention the fact that if he starts to drown, we’re likely going down together since I can’t swim. I’m sure the training is in shallow water, though ... it has to be. I mean, it’s the ocean. How far out could they go? I close the door and quickly strip down, slipping into the small pieces of material. I grab my cover up and flip-flops then head for the closet where Samantha told me I would findtowels.
I’m back downstairs in less than two minutes, now prepared for drowning. As if I were a nuisance to wait for, I find Liam and Dylan outside, already heading down a cobblestone path toward the back of the house. “We’re not driving there?” I shout ahead.My ankle wantstoknow.
“Training is just down there. You can see the pool of water they use from the breezeway upstairs,” Liamexplains.
Still following in their trails, I watch them having a conversation even though I can’t hear what they’re saying, but Dylan is laughing and Liam wraps his arm around his shoulder. It’s sweet to see how well they get along, but that thought ends quickly when Liam glances over his shoulder at me with that damn smirk again. They’re probably talking about me. I’m not sure why I should expectanythingelse.
At least Liam wasn’t lying about the distance. By the time we reach the bottom of the trail, which takes less than a few minutes, there is a group of a dozen or so kids who are all Dylan’s age, in matching red board shorts circled around their instruct— You have to be freaking kidding me. Okay, I’m moving home tomorrow. That’s it. Sterling is the instructor? That explains how Sterling and Liam know eachother.
“Dude, did you recover from that killer swell this morning?” Swell? What are they talkingabout?
“Oh, check this out,” Sterling holds up his rope-like muscular forearm, showing off what looks like a burn andagash.
“Oh man, you hit the rocks?” Liam asks him, taking acloserlook.
“Eh, I didn’t realize I did damage until I got out. It’ll be fine.” I forgot they met up this morning, which makes no sense. Wouldn’t Liam have already known I didn’t spend the night with Sterling? I’m going to go with the thought that my ego is going overboard and I’m not important enough to discuss because the thought of Sterling making up a story would cause an unpleasant scene. Besides, I don’t know him well enough to assume he’d be ajackass.
Sterling looks past Liam and over to me, offering a quick wink. There’s no smile for show but his dimples deepen enough to hint at a questioning thought running throughhishead.
“Alright, lifeguards, follow me,” Sterling shouts tothekids.
Dylan tosses his towel over to Liam and runs along with the other kids. They each grab one of the red, plastic floating devices that were pre-dug into the sand, and run into thewater.
Now, standing here alone, I assume it’s safe to take a seat on a rock a few feet back while I watch the training. I guess this isn’t so bad. Pulling my sunglasses down over my eyes, I see Liam stand up from the rock he was sitting on and cross his arms over his chest, watching the class intently. Let me guess ... now I look lazy. Why does this have to be so complicated? I’ll just get up and join him. “So, what should I be doing right now?” Iaskhim.
“You can go back to where you were. Igotthis.”
“No, this is my job and I’m trying to figure out what I should be doing.” I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry for so many different reasons at one time. My blood feels like it’s boiling within me, and there is absolutely nothing I can do but keep taking this crapfromhim.
“Okay, then stand here and watch the kid you’re being paid to watch,” he sayscoldly.
“Did Sterling tell you I slept with him?” I can’t stop the words from pouring out of my mouth. I need to know if hesaidit.
Liam looks over at me and pulls his sunglasses down over his frecklednose. “No.”
“Then why did you assume we slepttogether?”
“To piss you off.” He pushes his sunglasses back up his nose and redirects his attention to theocean.
My breaths are heavy and my pulse is racing faster than it needs to in this heat, but he’s testing every one of my last undamaged nerves, and I have no idea why he’s acting like this. There’s no reason. I’ve done nothing to piss him off. He isn’t giving me a chance to prove I’m not one of the other nannies who were obviouslychasedaway.
“Look, I won’t talk to you, and you don’t have to talk to me. That way you can put a stop to your agenda,” Itellhim.
“I don’t have an agenda,Julia.”
A muffled scream comes from the water and we end our conversation, frantically looking out to see what’sgoingon.
Sterling is holding onto a kid but I can’t see which one. “Shit,” Liamgrunts.
“Is it Dylan?”Iask.
