“What do they have riding on this little bet of theirs?” Ronda said.
“A hundred bucks.”
“Those scoundrels.” Ronda shook her head disapprovingly as she stared off into the crowd. A moment later her gaze shot back to Jenna, an impish light in her eyes. “Get ’em to raise the bet.”
“What?Why?”
“By the time their dad and I are done with them, they’ll be so sure of themselves they’ll at least triple that amount.”
Jenna’s lips twitched. “What do you have up your sleeve?”
“You don’t raise three boys without having a few tricks of your own.” Ronda offered her a smug grin that reminded Jenna of Ty’s.
Jenna smiled. “This is going to be entertaining.”
“Just leave it all to me.”
Speaking of Tyson, Jenna spotted him down the beach in conversation with a couple of friends. His tan did nice things for those wide shoulders and tapered waist.
“So, your mom and Gordon seem to be hitting it off. I haven’t seen her so happy in years.”
“Yeah, she seems really cheerful lately.” Mostly because she had her head in the sand.
“And Gordon’s certainly solicitous of her. He seems like a good guy.”
He was good all right. “He’s very attentive and helpful around the house.” As he should be since he was basically freeloading off her mom.
Ronda’s focus burned into the side of Jenna’s face, but she was determined not to confess her suspicions. At least, not until she had concrete evidence. Ronda and Jenna’s mom were close, and Jenna didn’t want to put her in an uncomfortable position.
Gordon returned, but instead of joining Ronda and Jenna, he headed straight for the water.
A text came in and Jenna checked her screen. Tyson.
Meet me at the restrooms.
She glanced at where she’d last seen Ty, but he was gone.Okay.
She turned to Ronda. “I’m going to the restroom real quick.”
“All right.”
Concern knotted her brow as Jenna traipsed down the beach to the walkway that led to the restrooms. It had to be important if he wanted to talk right now.
She found him in the shade of the building. “Everything okay?”
“I was just getting ready to enter the restroom, and you’ll never guess who was inside talking on the phone.”
“Gordon?”
“I slipped around the side and listened. It seemed like he was talking to a woman. His voice was all soft.”
“I know what you mean. Did you hear anything important? What did he say?”
“Mostly he just listened. But at the end of the conversation it seemed like they were talking about when he was cominghome. And he said ‘I love you’ before he got off the phone.”
“Sounds like it’s the same person he was talking to before.” She tempered her response. “It could still be his daughter, though. Or any female relative really.”
“Not unless she’s living in his house. At one point he gave her instructions on some glitch with his microwave.”
