Page 44 of Ocotillo Kisses
“Swimming! Oh that sounds fun. I haven’t been swimming in ages.”
Both of them turned to face Ginny standing behind them. How long had she been there? Britt hadn’t seen her a second ago. Britt looked back at Con, who seemed resigned. Britt’s grandmother was the only one in the area who had a pool.
So she pasted a bright smile on her face and turned to Ginny. “Do y’all want to come over and swim tonight?” Maybe she and Con could still get some time alone, after everyone left.
“That would be so much fun.”
Con frowned at Ginny, which made Britt wonder if Ginny was only doing this to keep Britt and Con from being alone together. Was that because she was looking out for Poppy, or looking out for Con?
“I’ll go tell the others, maybe we can all bring snacks or something.”
“Not exactly what I had in mind,” Britt said when Ginny took off without placing an order.
He gave her a cheeky grin. “Me either. There’s always the possibility that we can chase them off early.”
Chapter Seventeen
Thenight was gorgeous, the stars visible above the lights that rimmed the pool, illuminating the water and the limestone patio around it. Adrenaline pumping, Britt prepared for her last minute company, along with her delighted grandmother. Britt realized then that maybe her penchant for planning parties came from Millie, because she seemed as excited as Britt to have the company.
Still, Britt could have done a lot more with more time to plan. But spontaneity was good, too.
She carried a few small tables from the house to the covered patio area to set up the snacks, and found an ice chest which she rinsed out and filled with ice, loaded with the beer she’d picked up from the grocery store. She quickly changed into her cutest suit, and waited for her guests to arrive.
Lacey and Beck brought their twins, who they outfitted with arm floats and tubes, and hovered over near the shallow end of the pool. Poppy came, of course, and Javi. He mostly sat on the edge of the pool with his feet in, and Sofia would splash him teasingly, but not push. Ginny and Austin played around in the deep end. Considering a pool party had been Ginny’s idea, she wasn’t very sociable.
Millie didn’t mind the invasion. She sat on the lounge chair near the pool for a while, enjoying the energy of the young people, before excusing herself to go inside after her long day.
“Listen, before we start having too much fun,” Sofia announced as they sat around the edge of the pool, some with feet dangling in, some on the steps leading into the water. “I came up with a timeline of what needs to get done before the Fourth. I kind of worked backwards, and so we are already two weeks behind schedule.”
Con laughed, but Britt understood exactly what Sofia meant.
“The bad thing is, we can’t do the power washing, window cleaning and painting until we get the walkway covers repaired. So we need to get that started right away.”
“And by we, you are not talking about yourself,” Beck clarified.
“I will step in if you need me, but that’s not my area of expertise. I will go to San Angelo to rent the power washer and return it, I will run the power washer, but I also thought next Sunday could be the day we work on the grocery store, getting it cleaned up, and next Monday we can start on the diner, if there’s time.”
