“Back off, Jack.”
Christ, couldn’t he catch a break?
“I know she’s damn fine to look at. Hell, an SI model. But Beau, come on, brother. You’re a Simon. You’re Beau-Fucking-Simon. Why are you trolling the cheap seats when you can afford the platinum?”
“Jack, you need to back the fuck off, or…”
“Or what? You’ll take a run at me? What the hell’s gotten into you Beau? She get inside your head?”
“Jack—“
“Look, I’m just concerned. She’s not the type of girl you normally go for, and considering her past...”
“Maybe that’s why I’m still single,” Beau snapped.
“What did you say?” Tucker asked from the water, where he was floating on his back enjoying the show.
Fuck me.
Beau’s hands fisted at his side. He was so wound up and pissed off that he wanted to smash his fist into something. He glanced at his brother Jack.
“You’re in love with this girl,” Jack said softly.
“What?”
Shit. Fuck. Shit.
“I think he’s right.” There was Tucker again.
“You guys aren’t making any sense.” Beau shoved his hands into his pockets, because the urge to hit something was
still so strong. He was screwed. Royally screwed. “How can you fall in love with someone over the space of a few weeks? It’s not possible.”
“I gotta disagree with you, bro.” Tucker floated closer. “I fell in love with Marley the day after we met.”
Beau and Jack looked down at Tucker.
“You sure it wasn’t the first day?” Beau was being sarcastic but Tucker didn’t catch on. He was taking a walk down memory lane.
“Nope. It was definitely the second day. I ran into Starbucks to grab a coffee before class and she was behind the counter. She looked up. She smiled. And we connected. I can’t explain it and I know it sounds corny as fuck, but in that moment she stole my heart and there wasn’t another woman for me. I knew it then…I knew it right then and I…I never looked at anyone else. What was the point?”
Yeah, Beau thought. What was the point? He hadn’t thought of anything but Betty since he’d left her this morning, and he was old enough to know it wasn’t infatuation. He was thirty-three years old. Not a kid anymore.
He’d been around the block a time or two and knew what he wanted.
It was her. He wanted Betty Jo Barker.
For a few seconds, none of the boys said anything and then Beau muttered, “shit.”
Jack glanced at him, a wicked glint in his eyes and before Beau knew what the hell had happened, he was end over end and falling through darkness.
He came up, gasping for air and whooped when Jack came sailing off the dock, to land in the water just behind him.
God, it felt as if they were kids again—three overgrown kids, fully clothed, out in the middle of the lake.
They carried on, horsing around like boys will do and none of them knew how much time had passed until a sound caught their attention.
The three Simon men treaded water, teeth chattering from the cool lake, as they gazed up at a woman on the dock. Small and petite, with soft blond hair that hung just past her shoulders in soft waves, and dressed casually in hoodie and tights, the woman stared down at them with a smile.