Laughing, he said, “Mostly. I just supervised.”
“I guess you could call that supervision,” she said, smirking at him.
Moving down the stairs, she walked into the cabin and grabbed the camera out of the bag. Handing it to him, she said, “Just use the arrows. Delete any of you that you hate.”
He flipped through them, smiling at one point, then said, “None of them are terrible. You can post these on Facebook if you want.”
Slightly huffy, she said, “I don’t take terrible pictures.”
Tugging on a strand of hair that had escaped her clip, he said, “Do me a favor and tie off that side of the boat.”
She slid the camera cord around her wrist, then complied. She tied off both sides, then moved into the cabin to grab the fruit out of the refrigerator. She left the sodas and water, then packed up her towel, sunscreen, and sunglasses. She stuck the camera in the front pocket of her backpack.
After Chris had tied off his side of the boat and probably double-checked her knots, he came in to pack up his bag, then picked up the cooler. They headed onto the dock and out to the car in silence.
It was clear that something had shifted between them, but neither of them seemed ready to address it.
When they reached his house and got out of the car, he finally spoke.
“That was fun. I’m glad you invited yourself out on my boat today. You should do that more often.”
He popped the trunk and set the cooler down. Grabbing her backpack, he passed it to her.
“I’m glad I did too. It was a good time.”
Shifting her back pack onto her shoulder, she gave him a hug and brushed her lips against his cheek.
“Enjoy the rest of your weekend.”
“You too,” he responded.
She picked up her cooler, moved to her car, then disengaged the alarm, popping the trunk. After putting the cooler in, she shut the trunk again and opened her car door. Taking a moment to let the hot air waft out, she looked up to see Chris still staring at her with a strange look on his face.
She got into her car and drove away after giving him one last wave.
By the time she made it home, she was ready for a shower and a nap. Her brain was already working overtime, though. Even in light of today’s success, she was still a little bit apprehensive about potentially destroying friendships.
Her whole apartment was spotless by midday Sunday. Some people ate when they were stressed. Chloe cleaned. After she had thoroughly scrubbed her bathroom and rearranged the kitchen cabinets, she decided enough was enough. Obsessively worrying about things wouldn’t change them. All she could do now was just wait and see what happened. Hell, she could be making a big deal about nothing.
Finally, with nothing left to do, she fiddled around with her camera and uploaded the pictures to Facebook from Saturday’s outing. Tagging Chris in the album, she logged off and ate the last of the fresh fruit.
Realizing she had gotten rid of a lot of her food in the fridge during her OCD freak out, she made a run to the grocery store. As she was getting ready to check out, her phone buzzed.
Checking her texts, she saw one from Sara. “You guys looked pretty cozy. Fair warning, though. Deacon saw that picture.”
Wincing, Chloe quickly texted back, “Shit I didn’t even think about that.”
Sara responded quickly saying, “He called me over and asked if I knew when that started being a thing. I played dumb. He didn’t seem pissed off. More confused than anything.”
Chloe sighed, a little relieved to hear that and replied back. “Damage is done now, I guess. Should I warn Chris? He gave me approval to post the pics.”
A moment later, Sara texted back, saying, “I wouldn’t say anything. It’s done now. Gotta go. Keep me posted!”
Chloe moved toward the checkout now, cart filled with purchases. While she waited in line, she impulsively pulled up her Facebook app. She was surprised to see a few notifications. Four people liked her album, including Deacon, Chris had commented on one of the photos, and Peter had commented.
Shutting her phone down, she paid for her purchases and went home. After putting everything away, she moved to her laptop and opened Facebook. She saw that Peter had made a snide comment about being replaced quickly. She deleted it, and blocked him.
Chris had commented on the sea lion picture, saying, “Good thing they’re cute because they really stink.”