“That’s a lie. Now, let’s go swimming before you decide pregnant women weren’t allowed to swim either.” Nick took her arm, but their path was blocked by a big guy with dark brown beard, wild looking hair, and Hawaiian print bathing trunks. “Oh, sorry Sir, I should have been looking where I was going.”
When Nick tried to guide Rachel around the guy, he stepped in their way once more.
Rachel glared at the man. “Hey, Kong, we’re trying to get over to the pool.”
“Your boy here’s been checking out my wife for the last twenty minutes.” The man’s hands clenched into fists at his side. “I want to know why.”
“It’s your imagination, Sir,” Nick said with a smile. “I don’t even know who your wife is. The only woman I’ve ever loved in my life is standing next to me, nine months pregnant with my son. Before she came over to join me by the pool, I was going on the pool slides with my daughter.”
Nick’s matter of fact accounting threw the man off. He kept glancing to the side where a blonde woman in a red bikini stood with arms folded over chest, and an angry look on her face. When she saw the man Rachel tagged as Kong looking at her with confusion, she stormed over to his side.
“He wasn’t looking at you, Hon,” the big man told his wife. “This is his wife, and she’s nine months pregnant.”
The blonde pointed at Nick. “He was staring at me, and making lewd gestures, while you were in the room.”
Jean arrived gripping Nick’s arm. “What’s wrong, Dad.”
Nice timing, Dagger. “The lady here claims I was staring and making gestures at her the last twenty minutes. Would you tell her husband what we were actually doing the last twenty minutes?”
Jean smiled up at Kong. “My Dad and I were riding the slides until Mom came over to swim with him.”
Nick could tell Jean’s arrival had completely disarmed the guy. He moved behind his wife, whispering to her. Nick had a suspicion this wasn’t the first time the wife had put him in this situation. For her part, the wife shifted her glare to Jean, who put the lie to her jealousy gambit for attention. The woman spun away from Kong and headed for one of the other cabanas.
“Sorry about that,” the man mumbled before following after his wife.
“Gus said to tell you he can’t take you anywhere. Now that I’ve saved your life, can I go finish my cheeseburger?”
“Sure, and thanks for the save.” Nick shoulder hugged Jean. “I think maybe your Uncle Gus is right. That was very smart sending you when he did.”
“I was thinking about saying something like, ‘wow Dad, this is the lady you’ve been staring and waving at’, but I resisted.” Having said that, Jean skipped off toward the cabana.
“Well, it’s nice to see she recognizes a target rich environment,” Rachel said.
“As of today, I’m taping everything to play back when she’s sixteen.”
Rachel smirked, yanking Nick toward the pool. “It won’t matter. By then my head will have exploded. What were you going to do with Kong?”
“Nothing. He wasn’t going to attack me. We may have had to call for security if he kept blocking our way to the pool. Kong was the real victim. He’s married to that shrew who will eventually get him maimed or killed if he doesn’t wise up.”
“That was really sweet what you said about loving me.”
“My life was in danger.”
Rachel hugged his arm. “A life was in danger, but it wasn’t yours. That was so sweet.”
“If you knew how much I really loved you, I’d get taken advantage of, so I try to keep it to myself. It’s too late now though. I may as well admit it. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. If something happened to you, and the kids were grown, I’d probably be looking for a way to cash out like Dan.”
“I’d haunt you. I’d be in your thoughts so much, you wouldn’t be able to think of cashing out. Besides, Jean will have you committed to a padded room if she sees even a sign you’re getting mushy in the head.”
“Mushy in the head? Really. Just for that, I’ll go out looking for a young Mom to ravish the moment something happens to you,” Nick said.
“In that case, I’ll let you rot on the vine in your own rancid thoughts until you can’t think of anything else except death.”
Nick began looking around. “Where is that blonde in the bikini Kong’s married to?”
*