Playing the Player(40)

“Slade! Trina!” Gillian charged across the park toward us. “Look at Max!”

Max balanced on a branch of a tree, waving to us.

“Oh my God.” I jumped to my feet and started toward him.

Slade put a hand on my shoulder. “He’s all right. That’s barely five feet off the ground. Let him be.” He smiled down at me. “Just trust me.”

“Watch me, Trina!” Max yelled.

I caught my breath as he hauled himself up to a higher tree limb.

“Oh no,” I said, moving toward him again.

“He’ll be fine,” Slade said, jogging next to me, “but we can spot him if it’ll make you feel better.”

We stood under the tree, looking up at Max, who waved down to us, deliriously happy.

“Think you can get down by yourself, buddy?” Slade called to him.

“Yeah! No problem, dude.”

Slade and I laughed together, and for the first time it felt like we really were partners. Maybe it was a small thing, but we’d seen Max make progress today, and I knew we were both proud of him.

Max clambered down the tree and jumped into Slade’s waiting arms.

“Awesome, buddy.” Slade high-fived him as he set him on the ground.

Gilly spun in circles shouting, “Max is awesome! Gilly is awesome!”

“What about us?” Slade teased her, ruffling her hair.

She giggled and spun faster. “Slade is awesome! Trina is awesome! Slade and Trina sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

Slade laughed as he chased after Max, while I watched Gillian spin in circles singing her song, wishing it were true.



Nanny Notes: Jungle Quest

PROS: I am braver than I thought. Okay, I didn’t exactly go hang gliding. But still. Also, Max loves me now.

CONS: No longer immune to the Slade spell.

PRO/CON/??: Maybe I could tell him. About why I can’t swim. About my family.

About my brother.





Chapter Twenty-One


Slade


Saturday, June 15

I hoped nobody would drown today because of me. I was having a hard time focusing up in my perch in the lifeguard chair, where I was subbing for Lindsay.

All I could think of was Trina.

Trina convincing Max to climb the wall, and then climbing without a harness to rescue him, even though she was scared of heights. Trina sitting under the tree at the park refusing to look at me, and then shyly letting me smell her magic wrist.

It had taken all my self-control, something I didn’t even realize I had, to stop myself from kissing her right there. But Trina was like a beautiful, anxious bird, ready to fly away if I moved too fast. It was like trying to catch a shadow, but I was determined to succeed.

“Hey, Edmunds!” I looked down to see Alex flipping me off, his usual greeting.

“Yo, dude. What’s up?”

“When’s your shift over?”

I glanced at my phone. “Twenty minutes.”

“Cool. I’ll grab us a couple of chairs.”

I thumbs-upped in agreement and turned back to the pool.

Thank God everybody here was a great swimmer, and the little guys stayed in the wading pool. I’d never had to actually rescue anyone, and hoped I never had to.

Once my replacement arrived, I stopped by the snack shack to grab sodas and hot dogs, then joined Alex, who was talking to a couple of bikini babes who obviously had lousy gaydar.

The girls turned their flirting superpowers on me. Normally I would have lapped it up, but today it was annoying. Trina never acted like that. I didn’t think she even knew how to flirt.

I wasn’t rude, but I didn’t flirt back, so the girls wandered away after a few minutes.

Alex took off his shades and stared at me. “What’s wrong? You sick or something?”

“What’re you talking about?” I asked around a mouthful of hot dog.

He narrowed his eyes. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Since when do you ignore chicks throwing themselves at you?”

I shrugged.

He gave me the evil eye. “Is it Beth? Are you actually in some sort of relationship thing with her?”

“Beth?” It took me a second to realize he was talking about the girl I’d met a couple of weeks ago there at the pool. “Hardly. She left town. She was just here visiting relatives.”

Alex crossed his arms. “You’re holding out on me, Edmunds. I know it’s impossible to turn queer overnight, so it’s gotta be a girl. A very special girl, if you’re not biting even when the fish throw themselves at you.”

I shrugged. “Who has time for that? I spend all my time nannying and subbing for Lindsay and—”

“Holy crap,” he interrupted, realization dawning on his face. “It’s Bird Brain, isn’t it? I mean Trina,” he corrected hastily, probably because of the look on my face.

I never could keep any secrets from him.

“Chill out, dude,” I said. “You’re imagining things. Trina’s just my work partner.” I couldn’t let him know how I felt. I wasn’t ready to talk about it, especially not to someone whose personal mission was to turn me into a loser who gave girls monogrammed cookies.

He narrowed his eyes. “Whatever you say, Edmunds.” He ate some fries then spoke again. “Though I can see the attraction. I told you before, I think she’s visually interesting.” He snorted. “Translation into man whore language: I think she’s pretty, in her own unique way.”