“Birdie!”
Almost as if everyone at Dockside Eddy’s has been watching a live feed of my brain on the TVs inside instead of a baseball game, the patrons in by the bar all shout the woman’s name starring in every thought in my head.
Bodhi and I turn in our chairs, and since there aren’t any walls on the part of the building where the deck is attached, we can see inside and everything happening. And what’s currently happening is a gorgeous blonde walking through Dockside Eddy’s, turning heads and being greeted like she’s Norm on that old show Cheers my dad used to watch reruns of.
“Oh, did I forget to mention my date with Tess is starting here, and my bribery also included getting her to bring your girl with her tonight?” Bodhi prompts from next to me. “Just wanted to remind you I’m on your side, but you still have to work for it a little.”
“What in the hell did you bribe Tess with for that?”
I don’t even bother turning to look at him, and he just replies with a laugh that should probably make me nervous. I just barely notice Tess and Wren walking through Dockside Eddy’s as well. My eyes are glued to Birdie, and my legs and feet suddenly have a mind of their own, slowly lifting me from my chair until I’m standing so I can get a better view.
Her blonde hair is hanging soft and wavy and loose all around her shoulders, and I watch her swipe a long lock out of her eyes and tuck it behind her ear before hugging an older woman who gets up from a table to greet her. I’ve watched Birdie’s skin get a little more golden in the hot sun the last few days working outside, and with the white, off-the-shoulder, one-piece shorts thing she’s wearing that I think women call a romper, she’s got a whole hell of a lot of sun-kissed skin showing and looks like a beach goddess.
She’s stunning, and she takes my breath away, and it’s getting harder and harder to give her time to process things even though it’s only been a few days. I want to charge across the deck and up inside the bar, and I want kiss the hell out of her so she’ll stop processing and start understanding. I’ve been keeping things cool and casual and light and easy at work so she doesn’t freak out, but maybe I’m the one who’s freaking out.
I spent the last two years shutting these feelings down and forgetting what an incredible human being she is so I could try to move on with my life and not miss her every second of every goddamn day. I thought I would come back here and slowly get to know her again and let those feelings build, but as I watch her walk through the bar, stopping to chat with everyone, even pausing to help the waitress out and clear a table, I should have known I’d never stand a chance coming back here and not falling fast. Why did I ever think she’d change and become someone else I’d have to get to know or fall for all over again?
Birdie has always been a hard worker, even when I first met her and she was a fifteen-year-old caddie who could barely lift a bag of golf clubs but insisted she could do everything a boy could do and better. And she did. Every damn day, she earned more tips than her male counterparts, and it wasn’t just because she was young and hot, and creepy, dirty old men liked to stare at her. She worked twice as hard as everyone else, always offering to help in other departments, doing extra work and learning different jobs on the course during her breaks without getting paid, just because she didn’t like not knowing how something worked. It drove her insane if someone asked her a question at SIG and she didn’t know the answer.
I watch Birdie get pulled in a hundred different directions as she walks through Dockside Eddy’s, her smile never faltering and the greetings of hugs never stopping even though she’s trying to relax and sit down after a long day of work just like everyone else. I think about how she does the same at SIG, always getting pulled away from something she’s doing and how she never complains or says no to anyone. She helps wherever she’s needed, and she gives whatever is asked of her, even if it takes everything out of her.
Even with how busy she’s been at SIG, I’ve also watched her take a pile of work with her and rush out of the clubhouse to take her nephew Owen to the mainland for a baseball game or to the other side of the island for practice when Wren has been too busy at the ice cream shop. Something Birdie has done a hundred times over the years and will probably continue to do, always putting her family first, and always doing whatever she can to make her single-mom sister’s life easier.