“So did they date?” I ask.
“For like five minutes,” Simone says. “But it was an intense five minutes.”
“Did Jack break Tori’s heart?” I ask.
“Nobody’s sure who broke whose heart,” Simone says.
“I noticed he and Brett don’t seem to get along,” I say, instantly regretting it. I need to watch my gossip.
“I’m not sure that had anything to do with Tori,” Bailey says. “They’re both teacher’s pet.” Bailey and Simone exchange knowing looks again.
“What teacher?” I ask.
“Robert,” Bailey says. “He’s the guy who owns this place. He likes to pick someone to mentor every couple of years, usually a boy, of course. He’d been mentoring Brett for years when Jack came along. The two guys couldn’t be more opposite if they tried. But both can’t be favorite.”
I have so many questions to ask, but I sip my drink, biting my tongue.
After about an hour of resort gossip and backstories on everyone we’re going to meet, we head to the pool, dragging a wagon behind us with the margaritas in two big pitchers with spouts. We come in through an employee-only entrance, and I get my first look at my new workplace. It’s definitely got an adults-only vibe. Rocky walls with waterfalls sprawl up the sides, and a large grotto you can swim in and out of sits at the top.
“They’ve got it going on here, don’t they?” I say, taking it all in.
“Not your typical family resort,” Bailey says. “Robert’s goal is for this place to be an escape for parents. We’ve got an amazing pool for kids with all the slides and stuff and a lazy river ride on the other side of the resort, but this is where the adults come for sanity.”
“My parents would have had us coming to this place when I was little if they’d known about it,” Simone says. “God knows they needed some peace from my brothers and me.”
“It’s not open at nighttime?” I ask.
“It closes at seven,” Bailey says. “Parents typically pick up their kids from Kids Company at five, so it’s usually a ghost town here after that.”
Bailey takes one side of the beverage dispenser and Simone gets the other. As they lift it onto the table, Simone says, “Lucky for us.”
It’s not long before the guys who were at the beach show up along with some others I don’t recognize. I can’t help it, but I scan each group as they come in the gate, hoping to see Brett, silly girl I am.
Bailey and Simone pull off their cover-ups, so I do the same. I’m wrapped up in a conversation about office gossip led by Bailey when the gate clangs, and my attention is drawn to Brett, Tori, and Val. Tori is rocking a pair of cutoff jean shorts and a bikini top, working her curves like nobody’s business. It seems impossible to me that Brett could not see her in a sexual way, but I remember that they are more family than anything.
Brett and Val take off their shirts and do matching flips into the pool.
“Show-offs,” Bailey says, wiggling in her seat.
“Mmm-hmm,” Simone says with a grin like she’s got Bailey’s number.
Drinks are poured, cans are popped, and everyone gets into the pool.
The girls minus Tori cluster at the three feet while the boys set up a basketball hoop that someone pulled from the employee-only area, and it’s middle school all over again—boys versus girls on either side of the gym.
A security guard walks in and I think we’re all sunk, but he just gets himself a margarita and leaves us. I turn to Bailey. “I see what you mean now. Lucky he’s working, huh?”
“We wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t,” she says with a waggle of her eyebrows.
Part of me feels like I’m back in college. I haven’t done anything sneaky in eons. The pool parties I’ve attended in recent years have included high-end cocktails poured by a personal bartender and the latest theme in charcuterie boards.
The more drinks that flow, the closer the guys get to the girls. Flirtations start, and couples draw together like magnets.
Two of the guys I’ve met in the past couple of days approach our group. I’m still learning names, but I’m pretty sure the white guy is Logan, and the black guy is Isaac. “I’m walking over to the bar to get some ice,” Logan says. “Y’all want to come? Sneak a shot while we’re there?”
Bailey and Simone shrug and then turn to me. “You want to go?” Bailey asks.
I glance over at Brett, who is talking to Val and that other good-looking guy, Cohen, I think. He gives me that player smile he’s so good at.
“I think I’ll stay,” I say.
The girls seem to catch on. “Cool,” Bailey says.
“Come on, Kylie. I’ll show you Big Fish Pub, my bar,” Logan says.
Isaac backhands him. “The bar where he works.”
“Same difference,” Logan says with a smile. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve seen him without a smile on his face yet.
“I’ll see it soon. I’m just gonna hang here and finish my drink.”
“We’ll be back in just a bit. It’s right around the corner,” Simone says.
“Take your time,” I say.
They head out, and I relax back on the side of the pool, closing my eyes and letting my feet drift to the top of the water. I can feel movement toward me as the water pushes in my direction, and someone pinches my toe. I open my eyes to find Brett there, and my stomach does a little sizzle.
“What do you think about your new workplace?” he asks.
“If only I could hang out in the pool every day, this job would be fantastic.”
“Better than working at the family pool, I guess.”
“But I’m so good at picking up ice cream wrappers and shouting at kids to stop running.”
“You may have to turn the hose on some couples in that grotto.” He glances at it.
“Tonight?”
He grins. “Definitely, but during the week, too. The moms and dads start drinking about
