“Are you sure John can’t join us?” Paige asks while gathering towels for the beach.
“Yeah, he wishes he could, but he has stuff to take care of today.” I throw my book and sunscreen into the communal beach bag my mom brought.
“Bummer, maybe we’ll catch up with him later. We can have dinner or something!” my mom offers, looking excited again.
“Yeah, maybe.” Except probably not, because we’re not actually dating, and I’d kind of like to crawl under a rock and never speak to him again after last night.
“All right, is everybody ready? Paige, you packed a cooler with lunch and drinks, right?”
“Yup! We’re good to go.”
We climb down the stairs and walk toward the road. Just as we are about to clear the main house, the slam of a front door closing has all three of us looking to the right.
“Hey.” It’s John, wearing blue swim trunks and a white tee, coming our way with a beach towel under his arm.
“Oh, John! Are you able to join us? We packed extra sandwiches just in case, so we have plenty of food!” Mom offers.
“Yup, thank you.” He gives her a tight smile.
Did I miss something?
I give him a questioning look.
He meets my eyes for a second and then falls into step next to me as we resume walking. I slow my pace slightly to let Mom and Paige get a bit ahead of us.
“What are you doing? I thought you didn’t want to play games?”
“I just said I’m not good at playing games; I never said I didn’t want to help you.” He offers nothing more.
“And now you’re going to help me anyway?”
“Yup. I still don’t think I’m the best person for this. You should have asked Matt; he would have been great.” Although he says that with a slightly pained look.
I smile. “Well, thank you. I appreciate it. And just so you know, I don’t usually play games either. I’m just desperate for it to look like I've moved on.”
“I get it,” he says and then glances over at me. “Have you not moved on?”
“I have. I’m totally over my relationship; I just haven’t started dating anyone else yet. I made that part up.”
He nods.
We venture onto the beach and walk a little way down to find a clear spot to set our things. John knows the owner of a beach chair rental place, so he offers to go grab us some. I offer to go with since that would be something that someone who was interested in dating him would definitely do. Plus, he took his white tee off, and I can’t bring myself to part with his biceps.
“Do you make it to the beach very often? I bring a book here almost every afternoon, and I never see you,” I ask while we walk the beach.
“Not really…too many people.”
I nod. “You’re really not a people person, are you? Not that it’s a bad thing. Just an observation.”
“I guess you could say that.”
I don't want to push him, especially since he’s already doing me a favor, so I don’t ask any more questions. We get to the beach chair stand, and we grab four chairs as well as an umbrella. He somehow manages to carry three chairs and an umbrella while I carry one.
Once we make it back, we arrange the chairs into a line and stick the umbrella in the sand in between Mom and Paige’s chairs. I slip my swim cover off and push my chair back so I can lay flat. After Paige and I help each other apply sunscreen, I lay down on my stomach, prop up on my elbows, and position my book under my face to read.
Before long, Paige has fallen asleep, mom is engrossed in her own book, and John is staring quietly at the ocean. Taking in the sound of the waves, I try to focus on my book, but it’s hard to concentrate because I’m constantly sneaking peeks at the man next to me.