“Good. Thanks for hooking me up with TGG. I called on the way over, and Dad’s taking me to meet them Friday.” Evan wore a black tank top, revealing his gangly arms. He quickly scanned the boat. “Where’s Jamie and Vera?”
“They’re not here yet, but hopefully they’ll get here soon.” She watched Evan cross the deck and join Amy, Tony, and Caden.
Her heart went out to Jenna, standing at the edge of the boat, peering over the parking lot. “He’ll be here, Jenna.”
“I’m not so sure.” Jenna nodded toward Jamie coming up the dock. “Where’s Vera?”
“No idea.” Bella wondered that, too.
Jamie waved as he approached. His thick, dark hair stood on end against the breeze.
“Hey, sorry I’m late.” Jamie stepped onto the boat. “Gram wasn’t up to coming, but she sent chocolate chip cookies for Evan.”
“Lucky kid. Is Vera okay?” Bella asked.
“She said she was really tired. I think she had second thoughts about spending the day on the water. You know how she is about ruining other people’s fun. If she got tired or hot, she wouldn’t mention it. She’d rather suffer in silence than make a boat turn back.” He rubbed his stubbly chin and turned compassionate eyes to Jenna.
“Jenna, don’t kill the messenger, but Pete stopped by and said he had a pool emergency.”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “What kind of excuse is that? A pool emergency?”
“Jenna, he does pool maintenance,” Bella reminded her. “I’m sure it’s not an excuse.”
“Whatever. You know what? Men suck.” Jenna touched Jamie’s arm. “Not you, of course.” Jenna stomped off toward the far end of the boat.
“Sorry.” Jamie shrugged. “For what it’s worth, he seemed pretty bummed about missing the fishing trip.”
“You know Jenna. She’ll shake it off in five minutes and be back to her bubbly self. Please do me a favor, though. Can you clue her in that Pete was bummed? You know it feels like a rejection even if it was a valid excuse.”
“Sure.” He followed Jenna across the deck.
Bella watched as he gave her the news. Jenna hugged him, and Jamie said something that made her laugh; then he slung his arm over her shoulder and offered her a cookie. She was glad to see Jenna smiling again.
The boat moved swiftly through the water as they left the marina and headed out into the open water. Bella and Caden leaned against the railing at the bow of the boat. The crisp air stung against her skin, but beneath Caden’s protective arm, Bella was toasty warm.
“Evan’s really excited about TGG. I don’t think I properly thanked you.” He kissed her cheek. “It means the world to me that you include Evan in your thoughts.”
She turned toward him, and her hair whipped across her cheek. Caden reached over and gathered her hair in his big hand and held it away from her face. “That’s how you first stole my heart, remember?”
“I remember.” He glanced at Evan, feverishly texting on his cell phone.
She loved the way he was conscious of acting appropriately in front of Evan. It made their stolen kisses even more special. Heck, she loved everything about him, stolen kisses or heated, exposed kisses, and it still surprised the heck out of her, because she’d been dead set on sticking to her plan.
“I missed you last night.” He moved so close she could see his long eyelashes tangling at the corners of his eyes.
She felt her cheeks heat up as the others joined them.
Caden took a step back, but the heat of him remained.
“None of that kissy-face stuff, please. It’s depressing me.” Jenna pushed her way in between them. “I’m instigating a five-foot rule.” She pointed to Leanna and Kurt, standing arm in arm. “You too. Five feet between you at all times. Give a girl some slack, will ya?”
“You’re such a nut. Jamie said Pete was bummed about not coming with us.”
“I know. But Jamie’s so sweet he probably made that up.” Jenna smiled at Jamie.
“I’m not that nice,” Jamie said as he joined them by the railing.
The captain cut the engine and the boat slowed.
Amy ran to the railing. “Oh good. Now we get to fish. I’m so excited.”
“Fish barbeque in the quad tonight?” Tony whipped off his shirt. Caden, Kurt, and Jamie followed his lead, and the bare-chested men began readying the fishing lines.
“Who needs Pete with this much eye candy around?” Jenna slapped Jamie’s butt.
Bella caught Caden’s eye and blew him a kiss. “You’re telling me?”
Tony was helping Amy with a fishing rod. “Hey, Ames,” Jenna called. “Hands off Tony’s rod.”
Amy blushed.
Bella laughed, glad Jenna was back to her old self.
Bella couldn’t tear her eyes from Caden. She could still feel his hips against hers, his muscular thighs, heavy and tense as they joined together last night.
“Hey, girlie. If you keep looking at him like that, his son is going to learn a lot more than fishing on this trip.” Leanna bumped her shoulder against Bella’s.
“Sorry.” Bella turned away from Caden. “Now I know how you felt with Kurt. I’ve never felt like this before.”
“Neither had I. Remember how it freaked me out?” Leanna shifted her eyes to Kurt and sighed. “He’s everything to me, Bell.”
“I know, and I get it. I feel the same way about Caden, and of course Evan.” She glanced at Evan, who was still texting. “As a matter of fact, I think I’ll go talk with him a little and see if I can get him away from his cell phone for a few minutes.”
“Hi, Ev.” Bella sat beside him.
He pressed the lock button on his phone. “Hey.”
“Don’t you want to fish?”
“In a minute.” Evan shifted his eyes away, and when he brought his attention back to Bella, a chill ran up her spine at the frightened look in his eyes.
“You okay?”
He looked away again and fidgeted with his phone. “How long are we going to be out here?”
“A couple hours, I guess. Is something wrong?”
He looked at Caden, then dropped his eyes to his phone again. “I can’t get any service. I had it back at the dock, but I’ve lost it.”
“That happens a lot out here. Is something going on that you need service right now?” She didn’t like the way his demeanor had changed since he arrived.
He shrugged again.
“Ev, if something’s wrong, I’m sure Joe can get in touch with someone for you.”
“I’m cool.”
“Ev, come take this line.” Caden waved him over to the railing.
Evan shoved his phone in his pocket and joined Caden. Caden handed him a fishing rod, but Evan’s expression didn’t change.
“Remember when you caught that big one two summers ago?” Caden asked Evan.
Evan handed him the pole. “I don’t want to fish.” He stalked to the other end of the boat, leaving Caden to stare after him.
Bella reached for the pole. “I’ll take it. You should go to him. I think something’s wrong.”
“He’s just moody.” Caden draped an arm over her shoulder, holding the rod in the other hand, and nuzzled against her neck.
“I don’t think so.” She watched Evan standing farther down the deck with his shoulders hunched forward as he scrolled through his phone. He fisted his hand around it and punched the air.
“Babe, he’s just going through something right now. You even said he’d get through this hard time just fine.” Caden turned back toward the water.