Page 58 of Guarding My Love

“This is awesome,” Charlotte said on Saturday morning.

She was in her bikini with a cute sundress over the top of it. Her sandals were off and she was sitting on the edge, her feet hanging over, her arms resting on a metal bar.

The boat was tipping and in a past life she might have been scared silly, but with Foster behind the wheel, she didn’t have a care in the world that the water was spraying all over her and she might fall out.

Nah, he’d get her if she did.

“I’m glad you like it,” he yelled.

“I’d offer to help,” she said, “but I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Stay where you are,” he said. “We are almost where I’m heading.”

Charlotte did as he said and enjoyed the ride. There were other boats around in the distance, but it was early yet. She was fine with that. She had no plans but to spend time with him.

If she wanted to see him last night, she didn’t text to see what he was doing. No reason to be clingy.

They’d had some kind of text daily and that was sufficient for her. If in the past she felt she needed more communication than that, she told herself, this was the change she needed in her life and she actually didn’t feel...needy.

He was home late last night too so he must have had to work. She didn’t want him to know she was watching either. Because that would come off as clingy. In her mind, she just saw the headlights flash by.

Her house was so small it was hard not to notice unless she was in her bedroom or the bathroom.

“I do feel bad you’re doing all the work,” she said. “I mean if you want to show me how to help, I’d love it.”

“I’ve got it,” he said.

He looked more relaxed than she’d seen him before. He had a bathing suit on that hung low on his hips and stopped just above his knees.

She liked to look at him. The muscles on his arms as he moved around the deck and tightened ropes and tugged at the sails. She had no clue what anything was called and didn’t want to sound like an idiot. To her, the sight of the man operating the vessel was more than enough.

It was so nice to be with someone who knew what they were doing rather than throwing money around and issuing orders to others.

It was close to thirty minutes later that they slowed down and were more or less in one spot of a cove.

“Where are we?”

“A little place to sit and watch the action,” he said. “You can see out further, but I like to drop anchor here.”

He moved over and started to lower the anchor into the water, the sails coming down also.

“Can we bring out the food I brought?” she asked.

She’d packed some breakfast and lunch food. He said they’d be on the water most of the day if she was fine with it. She hadnoproblem.

“Sure,” he said. “I could eat.”

She moved to where he’d walked under the deck and watched as he grabbed their food. She’d got a quick tour earlier and seen the bed and tiny bathroom in there. She was shocked he’d fit, but he said he could take weekend trips if he wanted and had before. His form of vacation.

She thought that was a pretty great way to go even if the quarters were tight.

He handed it off and she moved to a bench where they could sit. She opened the basket and asked, “What do you want? I made muffins and cinnamon buns. Only those canned ones. Not sure why I got them. Just a childhood memory. A good one.”

She didn’t want him to think her entire childhood was miserable. It wasn’t.

“I’ll take a cinnamon bun,” he said. “I don’t remember the last time I had one of these. Probably when I lived at home. My mother used to make three cans of these and we’d still fight over them all.”

Charlotte laughed and passed him one while she took one too. “One of those nostalgic things we can’t outgrow,” she said. “Thank you for this. I know we’ve only been on the water for an hour, but it’s been the best. I wish we could have brought Marco, but there is no way he’d be okay with this.”

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