He nods, a slow thing. “It does.”
I don’t want to say the words, not in the least. But I push them past my lips regardless. “Think you’ll try dating then?”
Lawson’s brow furrows, but he doesn’t have a chance to answer me before there’s a commotion that sounds far from playful coming from the direction of the float. We head that way immediately, Lawson’s voice ringing out. “Everything okay here?”
Chloe sends an impolite gesture Koda’s way. The teen is in the water with his buddies, laughing. “You’re a dick,” she snaps.
“Language,” Lawson cautions, using his teacher voice that, weirdly, does things to me. “Someone care to share what’s going on?”
Lawson and I stop at the edge of the float. Only one boy is on top of it, the rest in the water swimming toward shore now, not having stayed to chat. Wendy’s cheeks are red, her friend Chloe rubbing her arm as a few of the other girls hover nearby.
“Just boys being stupid,” Chloe says. “Sorry, Gavin.”
The teen named Gavin shrugs.
“Wendy?” Lawson asks, clearly clocking the situation same as I did.
His daughter’s lips remain shut, and no one else seems inclined to voice a thing, so I clap my hands together once, garnering everyone’s attention. “All right. Let’s head in and break into the ice pops in the cooler. A little shade and hydration will do us good. C’mon now.”
Everyone but Wendy gets off the float. Lawson shoots me an appreciative half-smile, and I nod in return before herding the teens toward shore and some sugar. I keep my eye on Koda aseveryone grabs ice pops, the other chaperone reminding the kids to reapply sunscreen.
Lawson and Wendy join us before long, Wendy heading toward the spot where her friends are sunbathing. Lawson meets me at the periphery of the group.
“Well?” I ask. “Do I needa kick the kid’s ass or what?”
Lawson huffs a laugh, but there’s reprimand in his eyes, as if he’s warning me to behave. “Apparently, Koda was making fun of the fact that Wendy is on her period.”
My gaze shoots Wendy’s way. Of course, being seventeen, Wendy is old enough to have a menstrual cycle. I just never thought much about it, likely in part because I haven’t been here the past few years.
I shuffle that guilt off to the side for the time being. “How’d he even know?”
Lawson’s lips pinch. “Guess he saw her tampon string and decided to point it out to the crowd.”
My mouth drops slowly open.
“Oak,” Lawson warns. “You can’t beat the kid up.”
“We sure about that?”
“Very,” he says, tone flat. “I’ll mention it to Liv. She’ll make sure he’s given a warning about his behavior.”
“A warning?” I ask harshly. “What does that even mean? He’ll get a slap on the wrist if we’re lucky and go right back to being an insensitive douchebag?”
“Oak,” he says again, stepping close enough to block my view of Koda off on the other side of the sandy beach area. My eyes snap to Lawson’s face when he places his hands on my cheeks, gently redirecting my gaze. “As much as I appreciate your outrage on my daughter’s behalf, you can’t go off on the kid. He’s only seventeen. And Wendy will be okay. You know she’s tough.”
My gaze slips Wendy’s way again. She already looks relaxed, chatting with her friends as if the incident on the float never happened. But that can’t be an easy thing to discard, having several of her peers laughing at her expense.
Lawson lets out a soft chuff. “You gonna be good?”
“Sure,” I mutter.
He sighs but releases my face, giving my cheek a gentle pat. “You’ve got a good heart, Oakley Beaumont.”
“Uh-huh.”
Lawson shakes his head as he walks away, checking on the group, giving the go-ahead to head back into the water if they’d like. My gears turn.
Maybe I can’t reprimand the kid myself, but there has to be something I can do. For Wendy’s sake if nothing else.
