Never Let Me Go (35 page)

“Well, good morning to you, too,” I said, leaning up on my tiptoes and kissing him. I pulled away about as quickly as I kissed him, patting his butt playfully. “Sit down. We can eat as soon as Skylar gets back.”

He did as I asked and took a seat across from me, leaning back in his chair. He brought his hand up to his chin, rubbing his thumb along his lower lip.

“Sky seems better today.” He paused. “What did you do?”

I shrugged. “I told her that her mother loves her, and so do about a million other people. And I dunno. She kind of cheered up after that.”

Hayden stood up, grabbing plates, cups, and flatware from the kitchen cabinets at the same time that Skylar pranced back into the kitchen. She set herself in one of the chairs at the table, looking up at her father expectantly.

He set a plate in front of each of us, then sat back down. “What do you want to eat, Skylar?”

“Everything!” She grinned. “Michele let me get cinnamon rolls!”

“I saw!” Hayden turned to face me. “Cinnamon rolls are her favorite.”

I laughed as I reached across the table and served myself breakfast. Once breakfast was served to the three of us, we said grace silently and commenced eating.

I watched in nervous anticipation as Hayden tried the stewed apples and biscuits. I’d never made them for anyone but myself before, so I wasn’t sure if he and Sky would like them or not.

“These biscuits didn’t come from a can, did they?” he asked, his mouth full with a bite of food.

“Daddy!” Skylar exclaimed, smacking her hand on the table. “
You
said we can’t talk with our mouth full!”

I burst out laughing. She sounded appalled at the fact that her father was talking with his mouth full, and that only made me laugh harder.

“Sorry,” Hayden said, a grin on his face.

“No,” I said, finally answering his question. “They’re not from a can. It’s actually Nickayla’s Nonna’s recipe. When I was a kid, I spent every weekend at Nic’s house, and every Sunday, Nonna would come up and make us apples and biscuits. When we were teenagers, she taught us the recipe.”

I looked over at Skylar, who, to my surprise, was doing with her apples and biscuits what I used to do. She stabbed a wedge with her fork and then ripped her biscuit in half and stuffed the apple inside.

I did the same thing with my own food, and Skylar grinned up at me before we both took a bite at the exact same time.

“This is
so
good, Michele!” Skylar exclaimed.

“Thank you! You did a great job on the cinnamon rolls, cutie.”

Hayden turned to face me. “What are we doing today?”

I shrugged, taking another bite of food. Honestly, I hadn’t even accounted for plans for the day. All that I was thinking about when I came back to Hayden’s last night was that I was in love with him and I needed him to know as soon as possible. I figured that the rest would work itself out later.

Besides that, I only had about two weeks left of my Big Springs adventure before I had to return home, and I just wanted to spend every moment that I could with Skylar and Hayden. I didn’t care if it meant hanging out at the beach house at the edge of the pool every single day, as long as it meant that I could be with the two people who I’d learned to love.

Wait. That’s it!

I’d promised the day I met Skylar that I would teach her how to swim before the summer was up. That was perfect!

“I’ve got it!” I exclaimed. “I believe I promised a special little blonde girl that I would teach her how to swim.” I winked at Sky, giving her my biggest grin.

“Yeah, Daddy! I gotta learn to swim!”

Hayden chuckled, leaning back in his chair.

“Okay, I concede! We’ll teach you today. But the question is, where?”

I knew the reason that he was asking. If the circumstances were different, we’d just go back to the beach house and I’d teach Skylar in the backyard. But since Brody was still there—and considering what’d just transpired between the three of us recently—things would be extremely awkward.

“We can go to Aunt Livie’s!” Skylar was more excited than I’d anticipated. “She has a pool!”

I exhaled with relief, thankful that she hadn’t suggested we go to the beach house.

Hayden pondered that for a moment. “It
is
a weekend. I’ll have to call her and see if they have plans or not.” He gnawed on his lower lip. “You know what, though? If we go to Livie’s, we have to invite Lizzie, and Asher and Jourdan, and Summer, and Bailey and Vik and the kids.”

I laughed. “Well, what’s wrong with that? Let’s make it a whole family affair! Your sisters are growing on me, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear from you. You know—” I lowered my voice, “considering.”

Hayden shook his head again. I wondered why he was a bit reluctant to spend time with his family. They seemed like a tight-knit bunch, like they spent a lot of time together and got along well, so I was a bit confused.

“I know, but after last night, I kind of wanted it to just be the three of us.”

“Baby, we have two more weeks left together. I doubt that
one
day will kill you.”

Even though I was flattered, I really wanted him to give in. He was lucky to have the kind of family that he had.

“It
will
,” he said with a small pout.

“
Please
, Daddy? I
really
wanna learn how to swim! Pretty, pretty, pretty please?!”

I grinned. Skylar was relentless.

“Yeah, baby.
Please?!”

He nodded, a laugh catching in his throat. “Well, okay—if you insist. I’ll see if they have plans, then.” He looked at Skylar. “Finish your food while I text Auntie Livie.”

I winked at Skylar, clapping my hands wildly. “Yayyyyyy!” I reached over and high fived the four-year-old sitting next to me. “Good job, cutie!”

“Ha, ha, laugh it up.” Hayden looked extremely amused. “You guys won’t get away with ganging up on me all the time. You’re just both exceptionally adorable today.” A beat. “And evil.”

Skylar grinned as she took a bite of her cinnamon roll. “Nuh-uh! I’m a good girl!”

“Not when you and Michie get together, you’re not.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Oh, you know you love us.”

He laughed, pulling out his cell phone and typing away on it. I assumed that he was texting his older sister. “Yeah, unfortunately I do. Now finish eating, Skylar. You asked for everything, so you’d better eat every single thing on that plate.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

I clapped my hands again. “Today’s going to be fun!”

Chapter Twenty Four

“Hey!” Hayden exclaimed, strolling into Livie’s house, his fingers interlocked with mine. Skylar was in front of us, racing through the house before us. “Olivia Dawn!”

I playfully smacked him on the chest. “Geez, you call her like she’s in trouble or something. The only time my mom says my middle name is when she’s mad at me. Nic’s the only one who uses it regularly.”

He grinned, leading me through the house and out to the backyard. “What
is
your middle name, by the way? You know mine is Lucas, and Sky’s is Rose. Now you know Livie’s is Dawn, so what’s yours?”

I flushed.

“Alexandra.”

Hayden grinned. “Michele Alexandra Taggaro. That’s beautiful.”

About an hour after we finished breakfast, Hayden had heard back from Livie via her boyfriend Spencer. They didn’t have plans that day, and they weren’t expecting any company. Spencer offered to buy food to cook and contact Hayden’s other siblings to invite them over.

Summer and Lizzie were the first to arrive, neither of them having work that day. Bailey unfortunately had to work, but she’d sent her husband Viktor over with their daughters Grace and Peyton, and Asher was out of town on business, so Jourdan was coming down with their girls.

We were the last to arrive, mostly because I had to stop by the beach house to get clothes for the rest of the week and to pick up my bathing suit for the day. Thankfully, I didn’t run into Brody, but I
did
get stopped by Colin on my way out.

He told me that he’d planned a surprise spa day for Nic, and he wanted me to be the one to take her. She’d been working her ass off at the internship for Vixen because she
really
wanted to secure a permanent position there for after high school. He thought she needed a break, so he’d reserved us a day-long spa session at
La Victoria Hot Springs and Spa.

We made it to the backyard and I was immediately greeted by an excited Summer. She hugged me tightly, squealing the minute she saw me.

“I’m so happy to see you!” she yelled. “You’re the first one to pull HJ out of his funk so far, so thank you.”

Blushing, I hugged her back. I’d gotten used to her tendency to damn near squeeze the life out of me until I returned her enthusiasm.

“Well, someone had to, right?”

Summer looked amazing, her curves perfectly accentuated by her 50s styled strapless swimsuit and a pair of white shorts over it. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail and all she had on was lip gloss. Sometimes, it was when surrounded by girls like Summer—and even Bailey, with her dark midnight hair and tanned skin—that I wondered how Hayden could choose to be with someone like me.

I set my beach bag down at the same exact moment that Hayden approached me with a tall, brown-haired, blue-eyed man laughing along with him.

“Hey, love, I want to introduce you to someone,” he said. “Michele, this is my best friend, Viktor Rossi. I’ve known this guy since the eighth grade. He’s Bailey’s husband. Vik, this is my Michele.”

Viktor laughed. “Don’t let him fool you. We haven’t always been best friends. I’ve been
annoying
this guy since the eighth grade.” He extended his hand to shake mine. “It’s nice to meet you, Michele. Skylar and HJ are lucky to have you.”

I grinned. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Viktor.”

“Please, call me Vik.”

“Okay,” I said with a smile.

“Vik’s been annoying all of us since eighth grade, Mich,” Summer said, crossing her legs as she sat down on one of Livie and Spencer’s lawn chairs. “He only calmed down once he married Bailey and knocked her up.”

Viktor playfully nudged Summer’s feet. “Hey, I wasn’t that bad!”

Summer raised her eyebrows, then turned to look at me.

“Hayden told you about his ‘bad boy’ days, yes?” When I nodded, she continued. “Vik the Dick here was HJ’s wingman back then. If HJ was smoking pot, Vik was the one who bought it. If HJ got into a fight, Vik was the one who started it. HJ changed the minute Skylar came, but Vik…well, he took quite a bit of convincing.”

I laughed.

“Well, thankfully a lot of us change after high school,” I said.

“Not me,” Summer said. “I’m the same old Sum I’ve always been.”

The sound of a door slamming caught our attention and stopped the conversation. Hayden’s sister-in-law, Jourdan came waltzing in with her seven and three year old daughters trailing behind her.

All the kids seemed to gravitate toward Jourdan and Asher’s oldest daughter, Eliana. She was just a smaller version of her mother, delicate and beautiful.

“Hey, guys!” Jourdan said, coming over to us and sitting down on the lawn chair beside Summer. “What up with the impromptu pool party?”

Hayden grinned, nodding his head in my direction. “Michele wanted to teach Sky how to swim.”

Jourdan’s eyebrows quirked as she grinned at me. “Well, what are you waitin’ for, then?”

Taking her question as a sign that I should hop to it, I stood up, unbuttoning my shorts and tugging them down to my ankles. I stepped out of them gracefully and then untied the knot that I’d put in Hayden’s button down and took it off, revealing my pink floral bikini top and white bottoms. As per usual, I kept a scrunchie on my wrist, so I pulled it off and tied my hair up in a ponytail.

As I made my way to the edge of the pool, I wondered if Jourdan was testing me—wanting to see if I was good enough for Hayden and Skylar. I hadn’t spent much time with her or gotten to know her, but it seemed like a logical explanation. She perched herself on the lawn chair and called Skylar and Kayla over to her. She eyed me over the girls’ heads as she lathered them with sunscreen.

I braced my hands on either side of my legs, letting my feet get wet up to my calves. I closed my eyes, hoping that teaching my boyfriend’s daughter how to swim wouldn’t end in chaos. I jumped into the water, not letting my hair get wet at first. I stood in the water, then turned around and waved to Sky. She smiled broadly at me just seconds before I held my nose and dove beneath the surface of the water.

When I resurfaced, Jourdan was walking Skylar and Kayla over to the stairs that led into the pool.

I waded over to where Sky was standing, her eyes wide as she registered the deepness of the pool. I scooped her into my arms, holding her on my hip as I waded deeper into the water.