All Grown Up(49)

“No. I haven’t talked to him. That’s not why I’m calling. I just wanted to let you know I’ll be out in Montauk tomorrow. I have a contractor meeting me to give an estimate at two o’clock for the pilings we need replaced.”

He’d already had one guy come to give an estimate last week.

“Was the first one not good or something?”

“It was high. This guy’s supposed to be more reasonable.”

I sighed. “Okay. Fine. But I’ll be here, so you don’t need to come out.”

“We’ll get a better price if I’m there.”

My brows drew down. “Do you know him or something?”

“No. But men get better prices.”

Such a dick. “Who says?”

“It’s a known fact.”

“I don’t know that to be a fact.”

“That’s because you’re a woman.”

I rolled my eyes. “I can handle it myself. I’d prefer if you didn’t come out.”

“You don’t have to be a bitch about it. I’m coming, and that’s the end of the discussion.”

That sounded more like the Ryan I knew.

“Actually, this is the end of the discussion.” I hit disconnect and tossed my phone on the table.

God, how had I stayed married to that jerk for twenty years?

I decided to go for a walk on the beach to clear my head and get some exercise. Changing into a sundress, I dug my headphones from a drawer, lubed up with sunscreen, and tied my hair in a ponytail.

On the way out, I found a new yellow sticky note stuck to the back door. Kiss Ford more. I peeled it off with a smile on my face. I wasn’t even sure when he’d stuck this one here. That was one to-do item I wouldn’t mind doing.

The hour-long walk did me good. I even jogged for half of it, and the rush of adrenaline left me feeling more relaxed. As I approached my house, I heard music blaring. Bodies were out on my neighbor’s deck. The closer I got, the more skin I saw. It looked like Bella and her friends were starting their party early. Ford stood at the deck railing, leaning over and watching me as I walked.

“Come save me,” he yelled.

I smiled. The bikinis on the women flitting around behind him were pretty small. “Doesn’t look like you’re being tortured.”

“Looks can be pretty damn deceiving.” He waved for me to come up to the deck. “Come on. You forgot to take the gift I bought you home today.”

I cocked my head. Gift?

He smirked. “At the toy store. Don’t worry, if you’re too busy to come up, I’ll just ask my sister to deliver the bag.”

“Cute. Very cute.”

However, I didn’t put it past him to actually hand his sister anal beads and porn to deliver to me, so I walked up his deck stairs instead of mine.

Bella was laying out on the lounge chairs with two of her friends. She greeted me and made a face at her brother.

“Oh boy,” I whispered. “Still giving you an attitude, huh?”

He nodded. “She actually had the balls to ask me to pick up alcohol for her and her friends. Can you believe that shit?”

“Ford!” the girl I’d met earlier yelled. I think her name was Sierra. “Can you help us carry these chairs down to the water’s edge?”

He shook his head. “They think I’m their cabana boy, apparently.”

“But if you do it, they won’t be sitting up here on the deck with you.”

He pointed to me. “That’s very true. I’ll be right back.”

I watched from the deck as Ford lugged lounge chairs down the stairs to the beach. When he was done, Sierra gripped his arm and tried to pull him into the water with her. She wore a thong string bikini bottom and two small triangles up top that barely covered her nipples, and she did her best to get him to notice. The girl definitely had her eye on him.

“I think you have an admirer,” I said when he returned.

“Sierra’s a pain in my ass. On my sister’s twelfth birthday, she had a sleepover. That one snuck into my bed while I was sleeping. I was eighteen and woke up with a twelve-year-old next to me.”

I covered my mouth. “Oh my God. It’s a long-running, unrequited crush then.”

“Lucky me,” Ford grumbled. “You want some wine or something?”

“Actually, I’ll take a water, if you don’t mind.”

He nodded. While he went to fetch us drinks, I watched the girls on the beach. Sierra was doing cartwheels and back handsprings. She really had an incredible body. She may have been a girl when she first tried to get Ford to notice her, but she was definitely a woman now.

Ford returned with my water and leaned on the railing next to me, watching what I’d been watching.

“Your little crush is quite limber.”

He turned to face me, still leaning. “Is that a hint of jealousy I detect in your tone?”

How could I not be jealous of that girl’s body? “She’s pretty. With the body of a nineteen-year-old.” I shrugged. “I can’t compete with that.”

“You mean she can’t compete with you.”

I wasn’t being insecure or jealous. I honestly didn’t comprehend how Ford could say such a thing—yet I really believed he meant it.