Page 23 of Only One Tent
Danny and Lee were putting in when we walked up. “Hey!” Danny shouted. “Catch up with us.”
“Okay!” Skyler waved back at him. There were a few people in front of us, but it didn’t take long before we were in the water with Skyler sitting on the front end of the board, leaning back on his arms, looking so casual. I stood in the middle, just behind him, and paddled us toward where Danny and Lee were doing their best to wait for us. But they were making an effort to keep moving upriver a little at a time and not being pulled back by the current. Finally, they pushed out to a calmer area of water and hovered for a bit, and we caught up.
“Hey, let’s look for a place we can beach for a bit. So we can get in the water and swim.” Danny pointed up the river at the side of the shore. We paddled along for a little while until Lee found a spot he liked. It had a tree with a low branch that we could climb on along one side and a little bit of shallow water with a sandy bottom across the main opening. We paddled into the cove and propped our boards in with the trees and overgrowth so they wouldn’t float away. I helped Skyler off the board, not that he needed it.
“Thanks,” he muttered, then splashed over to Danny. It was my understanding that they had known each other for a long time, and it was interesting seeing them playing in the water together.
Lee chuckled at their antics. “They used to be best friends. It’s nice seeing them have some fun like this.”
“What happened? Why aren’t they still friends?” Yep. I was very curious.
“Oh they’re still friends, only not as close. Time gets in the way. Plus, Danny found another Little friend he hit it off with, and well, Skyler is not a little.”
He could have fooled me with the way he and Danny were playing in the water. “Maybe not a Little, but he sure needs a daddy.” I didn’t know Lee well, but since he was into that stuff,and I knew he was Danny’s daddy as well as husband, I felt comfortable with it.
“I’ve been saying that for years.” He stretched his fist out for me to bump. So I did. “Let’s show them how to have fun.”
“What do you have in mind?”
He pointed at the large branch hanging over the water. We climbed up and jumped off, surprising the boys with cannonballs. Then they had to get their turns in.
After a lot of jumping off the tree, splashing around, and exploring underwater with Danny’s snorkel and mask, we finally decided to head back.
On the way, Skyler jumped in the water and swam around. Then climbed back on. Several times. He was growing bolder and enjoying himself. I made a quick promise to whatever god was listening that I’d get him outside more if we stayed together after this trip.
Once we returned to the dock, we pulled the kayaks and paddleboard up on the grassy area between there and the swimming hole and jumped in. We’d only been out a few hours, and dinner was still at least an hour or so away, so we walked around the cool water.
Skyler jumped on my back, wrapping his legs around my waist. “We should have brought the noodles to float around on.”
“I can go get them if you want.”
“Nah. Next time. Right now, you’ll work.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Hell yeah.” He was laughing, but when I fell back into the water, dunking him, he came up spurting water. “Not funny.”
I couldn’t help laughing because I was simply happy he was warming up to me. “Okay. I won’t do it again. Hop on.”
He started swimming away, but I grabbed him, pulling him back. After a little good-natured wrestling, he climbed back on me, and I waded farther out. He pulled himself in close, so wetouched, his chest pressed against my back. He kissed my neck. “Crow?”
“Yes…”
“You seem like such a good guy now. I don’t understand why you blew my case. Why?”
“Really?” I knew we would get to this conversation, but I didn’t expect it yet.
Skyler dropped down in the water, and I turned to face him. “Yeah. I mean. I drew up the contract myself. That out clause was solid. No way we could lose.” He grabbed my arm as if he was begging me for an answer.
“Sometimes in life, you do the hard thing because, like it or not, it’s the right thing.” I hoped he could understand. The situation was spiraling out of control at the time, and I needed to move fast. I didn’t regret my decision. My holding company was trying to buy a business, but it turned out there was baggage associated with it that I didn’t want to deal with. I took what Skyler called theout clause. It was a stipulation in the initial contract that allowed me to back out of the deal. But then I found out more about the owner’s financial situation, the reasons behind him selling when he didn’t actually want to sell in the first place, and the reason he sued me. He felt he had to. It was such a complicated situation.
Skyler crossed his arms over his chest. “How was paying that guy twice the purchase price and then not ending up with any ownership of the business right? Fuck, I could have at least negotiated a better deal for you if you would have told me you wanted to settle. I don’t understand.”
“Skyler,that guy? He needed the money a lot more than I did. He was only selling his business, the business he built from scratch, because his wife had cancer, and their crappy insurance left them with astronomical bills. Avoiding the PR nightmare we would have had to face because of this lawsuit alone wasworth that price. And settling gave him the opportunity to take the money and not have to swallow his pride.” That was the truth. No way was I going down as the big bad businessman who squashed the guy whose wife was dying of cancer. Not happening. But a part of our deal was that both sides would keep quiet.
“Nobody told me this. You didn’t tell me.”
“Two reasons, Skyler. First, you didn’t give me a chance to explain. But the conversation was private, and an NDA accompanied the agreement. Technically, I wasn’t allowed to tell you. I’m still not. And your career was never in jeopardy. Drew knew.”
