"Okay, fine," I concede and put my hand over her shoulder.
"Daddy," Mia says softly. "My tummy hurts." She puts her hand to her stomach, and I look at her.
"Mine, too," Emma adds softly, putting her head on my hip.
"Oh, no," Erika says, reaching over and checking to see if she is hot. "She isn’t warm."
"Do you guys want to stay here with me and watch movies? We can have a relax day," Erika suggests to them, and they both nod their heads.
"I’m not going to leave you here with the girls," I insist, and she looks at me.
"Why not?" She shakes her head. "Go spend time with your family. We can have a chill day."
"Are you sure?" I ask, and I look over at my father, who is watching us.
"Yeah, I think we need a break from the sun," she replies, turning and walking back into the house with the girls.
"What’s going on?" my father says, coming beside me.
"The girls aren’t feeling well, so Erika is going to stay back with them." I look at him. "I think the New York shirts made them sick to their stomachs." I smirk at him and walk into the house to check on them before I leave. Erika pushes me out the door, and I don’t even have a chance to give her a kiss before I have to get into the SUV.
When we pull up to the dock, four boats are waiting for us, and I look over to see a lot fewer people than I thought. "Where is everyone?" I look over and see that it’s only the guys.
"The girls decided to do girls' stuff," Max says, making sure Dylan and Michael get on the right boat. The both of them go down to the rooms to sleep it off.
We sit down, and the boat starts to leave the dock, and when we are far enough away, the captain gives us the all clear. We get up and walk over, grabbing the fishing lines and start fishing.
My grandfather goes down and drags Michael and Dylan upstairs. "You like to party like a rock star," he scolds them. "Then you suffer like a rock star."
"Pretty sure rock stars aren’t fishing the day after.” Dylan stands up.
"I’m pretty sure rock stars have strict rules not to be woken up before six p.m.," Michael says, standing on the other side of him. "And then they repeat the cycle."
"Well, good news," my grandfather states. "You aren’t rock stars." Max laughs and looks over at his son.
I shake my head and cast my fishing line and look out onto the water. The memory of the talk we had this morning replays in my head. When I walked out, and she said we had to talk, I thought she was going to come right out and tell me that she knew that I loved her. Last night when I brought her home, I made love to her. Every single time I touched her last night was me telling her I loved her in my own way. There was no way I was letting her get away from me.
My father stands beside me as we cast the fishing line, and he looks over at me. "What’s up with you?" he asks with his chin going up. "You look worried."
"Just thinking," I say, and then I can feel his eyes still on me. "I’m going to fire Erika." I start with that and just saying it makes my stomach burn.
"What?" he asks, shocked and surprised. "Why the hell would you do something so stupid?"
"Because," I reply and turn to look at him. "I think I’m in love with her." I look at him as I wait for his reaction. I’m expecting him to be shocked, but what I’m not expecting is for him to throw his head back and laugh. Like full-on belly laugh as he shakes his head.
"Dumbass," he mumbles, and I just watch him as he puts the fishing pole in the hole in front of him. "You think you’re in love with her?" He turns to me.
"Okay, fine," I fess up, ignoring the look he’s giving me and look back out onto the water. "I’m in love with her," I say the words, and I can’t believe how at peace I feel saying them. Like I’ve been made to say them. Like I’ve been saying them my whole life.
"I thought you were smarter than that," he says, and I look over at him angry.
"It just happened, Dad," I growl, not sure I can handle if he’s disappointed in me again. The pit in my stomach is burning.
"It didn’t just happen, Cooper.” His voice is soft, and I look over at him. "You’ve been in love with her since forever," he says the words, and I just look at him.