Fit for the Job (23 page)

Bodie was taking a sip of water, but nearly choked on it when Sassy let out a high-pitched shriek. “Look at that! It’s freaking huge!”

“Holy hell, Sassy,” Evelyn said. “You scared me.”

“Wow,” Jay said, climbing gingerly up toward Sassy in the canoe. “That is one big toad.”

“A toad?” Bodie said. “You punctured my eardrum over a toad?”

Sassy pointed toward the wooded shoreline. “Look at it, Bodie!”

Bodie maneuvered the canoe forward a bit, and spotted a fat toad the size of a baby’s head sitting on a flat rock at the water’s edge. “Yeah,” he said. “Big freaking toad.”

“I wanna see it jump.” Sassy reached her paddle over, stretching the end of it toward the toad.

“Sassy, don’t!” Jay said. “Leave it alone.”

“I’m not gonna
hit
it, Jay. I just want to make it jump into the water.”

“Maybe it doesn’t want to go in the water,” Jay said. “Maybe that’s why it’s sitting there on a rock. Ever think of that?”

“You are such a killjoy.” Sassy continued to stretch her oar, waving it in front of the toad’s face. The thing didn’t move, just sat there like it was made of stone. “Hello...” Sassy waved the oar. “Hello, toadie.” She looked back at Jay. “It’s not even scared!”

“I don’t think that’s a toad,” Evelyn said. “I think it’s a frog.”

“No, it’s a toad,” Jay said.

“Who cares?” Bodie snapped, his irritation getting the better of him. “Just leave the stupid thing alone.”

Jay turned and looked at Bodie, raising his eyebrows. “Whoa! Cranky.”

Bodie
was
cranky. It wasn’t the exercise, or the hot sun. He’d been physically challenged far more than this is his life; the leisurely canoeing wasn’t what had him in a bad mood. He tried hard to shake it off. He didn’t want to be the prick today, especially on Sassy’s birthday. But he was irritated, and wanted to get to the cabin so he could corner Jay and see what the hell was up with him.

“I’m gonna touch its face,” Sassy said, shuffling closer. She stretched the oar out again, easing it toward the toad.

“Just leave the freaking thing,” Bodie said. “Do you like being knocked into the water when you’re sunbathing?”

“I just want to see it jump,” Sassy said.

“Well, welcome to life, Sassy,” Bodie said. “You can’t get everything you want.”

“What’s the matter with you?” Jay asked.

“Nothing,” Bodie said. “What’s the matter with
you
?”

“Uh oh,” Sassy said. “I hear girlfriends
fighting
.”

“No one’s fighting,” Jay said. “Bodie’s just kidding.”

“Holy crap!” Sassy said. “Look!”

They all looked. The toad had opened its mouth and clamped down on the end of Sassy’s oar.

“Oh wow, that’s cool.” Jay chuckled. “Are you convinced now it wants you to piss off and leave it alone?”

“Let go,” Sassy said, tugging at her oar. “Let go. Let go!”

Bodie saw Sassy’s oar fly back, and the next thing he knew a toad slapped against his face with a hard splat, knocking his head back and stinging his cheek.

“What the fuuuuuck!” Bodie screamed loud enough to wake a Sasquatch as he stood. The toad went into the water with a loud splash.

“Oh my God,” Sassy shouted. “I’m sorry, Bodie!”

Bodie ripped off his tank top and wiped frantically at his face.

“Bodie sit down, you’re rocking the boat!” Evelyn said, then fell into giggles.

Bodie lowered himself back down, still wiping his face. “I told you to leave it alone!” he said, unable to temper his mood, which had grown instantly blacker after being slapped by a wet toad. “It got fucking slime on me!”

That set Sassy off, and she wailed with laughter.

“Bodie!” Evelyn said. “Enough with the swearing.”

He turned around and glared at her. “Did you just get hit in the face with Toadzilla? No. You’d be swearing, too. That hurt!”

“Oh God.” Sassy crumpled over in the canoe, holding her stomach, jerking with laughter. “Make him stop. Make him stop talking.”

Bodie glanced over at Jay, who stared at him with his mouth hanging open. “I...” Jay shook his head. “I cannot believe that just happened. Are you okay?” he asked through a barely disguised laugh.

Bodie gave him a sarcastic smile and nodded. “I’ll live,” he said. “Can we please get going?”

Jay poked at Sassy’s shoulder. “Get up, come on,” he said.

Sassy caught her breath and sat up, her face flushed bright red. “I’m sorry,” she said, her giggles trailing off. She picked up her oar and grinned at Bodie. “I’m sorry, Bodie.”

“It’s...fine,” he said. “Let’s just keep going. If you’re done laughing.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be done laughing at that,” Sassy said, but stuck her oar in the water, and they were off again.

Bodie regained his composure...and his dignity, as they rowed. He forced himself to be pleasant and make jokes, a bit shamed that he’d lost control of his temper. He was only angry at himself now, bothered by how much Jay’s chilly demeanor was affecting him. They’d slept together twice; he didn’t own the guy. And the guy didn’t owe Bodie anything.

He rethought his intentions to corner Jay and demand an explanation when they got to the cabin. He’d do no such thing. He wasn’t angry with Jay. If Jay didn’t want him for whatever reason, so be it. He wasn’t gonna beg the guy to have sex with him again. Though part of him wanted to do just that, grab Jay and shake him. Demand to know why he didn’t want to fuck him anymore.

Yeah, not angry at all. Right.
But Jay had done something to Bodie, opened him up and made him need something so passionately it had been all he could think about. But now, for whatever reason, Jay was slamming the door on him, and Bodie was left hanging, vulnerable. It pissed him off. And it hurt. He’d been hurt by people before, but this had a rawness to it he’d not previously experienced.

They rowed past the spot where the wooded entrance to the cabin trail was, and Jay had to get out the map before they circled back around and found it. They dragged the canoes up onto land and into the woods, tying them off to trees as Ingrid had instructed. Then they made their way up the path that led to the cabin.

“Ugh, so many bugs,” Evelyn said as they moved up the narrow trail.

“Didn’t you use bug spray?” Jay called back to her.

“Yes,” she said. “I just don’t even like them near me.”

“For someone who does triathlons, you’ve got a strange bug aversion,” Jay said.

“I know why she hates bugs,” Sassy said. “My mother told me Evelyn got a spider bite on her vagina while she was camping in Europe. One of her labia swelled to the size of a banana.”

“Sassy!” Evelyn shouted. “You ever hear of respecting someone’s privacy?”

Bodie snorted a laugh. “That is the wrong question to be asking Sassy, Evelyn.”

“I’m just trying to help the guys understand, Evelyn,” Sassy said. “That you hate camping and bugs now because you had to go a week wearing long skirts and no underwear since your hoo-ha looked like a baboon’s butt.”

“Sassy Wright, I swear to God,” Evelyn said. “I will get you back for this.”

“I see the cabin!” Jay shouted.

The woods cleared as they made their way up the front lawn of a large log home with a wrap-around porch. Leave it to Eben and Ingrid to make camping this luxurious.

“Oh wow,” Evelyn said as they approached the porch. “This is
nice
.”

“It’s not very rustic,” Jay said, sounding disappointed.

Bodie dug the key out of his bag, and pushed ahead of the others to unlock the door. Stepping inside, he looked around as the others trailed in behind him. It was large and spacious with a cathedral ceiling, but the décor did make it look rustic, plenty of deer antlers on the walls, a huge stone fireplace and roughened wood floor with simple furnishings. An ugly painting of seagulls hung on the wall.

“Oh look,” Jay said. “The birthday fairy came!”

The kitchen was large and open to the living room, and they all wandered over to examine the pile of gifts on a thick wooden table. Jay lifted the lid on a glass cake pan, and leaned over, inhaling. “Mmm!” he said. “German chocolate cake. This smells so good.”

Sassy sidled up next to him, frowning at the cake. “Did my mom send all this?”

Jay abruptly closed the lid. “Kid, I swear to God, if you throw that cake on the floor, I’m gonna tip you upside down and stick your head in it.”

“That goes for the gifts, too,” Evelyn said.

“I don’t want her gifts,” Sassy said.

“Hey,” Bodie said, tugging on one of Sassy’s curls.

She looked up at him, her cheeks slightly sunburned. “What?”

“Your parents asked all of us what we wanted to get you for your birthday, so some of those gifts are from me, Jay, and Evelyn. So if you trash them, you’ll hurt our feelings and we’ll cry for the rest of the weekend.”

She smirked. “I wasn’t gonna
trash
them,” she said. “You guys think I’m a lunatic. I’m not. Only my father sets me off that way. I like you guys.” She smiled at Bodie. “And anyway,
I’m
not the one throwing tantrums today, Toad Boy.”

Jay’s eyes flicked to Bodie.

“I’m gonna find the shower,” Bodie said, forcing himself to break the gaze. “Still feel like I’ve got toad juice on me.”

The others laughed as he grabbed his bag and trotted up a spiral staircase to the top floor. Moving down the wooden hallway, which was open and visible to the floor below, he quickly found a suitable bedroom to drop his bag in. When he stepped back out, Jay was looking up at him from below. His expression looked conflicted, but also longing.

Bodie turned and shuffled off to take a shower, after which he planned to join in the festivities and behave as normally as possible. If Jay decided he wanted to talk to Bodie about whatever was on his mind, he could decide the time, and the place. The ball was in Jay’s court.

But still, as he found the bathroom a few doors down, and stepped under the stream of water, he grinned slightly. Whatever was bugging Jay, it didn’t change the heat Bodie saw in his eyes when he’d looked up at him. For that, he was grateful.

And hopeful.

Chapter Eleven

The Wrights had left a feast in the fridge. Jay shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was anyway, still not used to the casual extravagance of this family. He found all the fixings for a lavish dinner, but noted there were no breakfast foods. Clearly, the Wrights wanted their daughter back home as soon as this shindig was over.

There was a large gas grill out back, and Jay stood before it cooking steaks and burgers while Evelyn monitored the corn on the cob she had grilling in the husks alongside him.

Behind them, in a large backyard that stretched into a vast wooded expanse, Bodie and Sassy played badminton. It had been difficult enough not to stare at Bodie in his tank top all day on the river, but when he’d removed it after the toad incident, it had been even harder. Bodie was dressed again after his shower, but Jay still couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off him.

Though he hadn’t had a chance to speak with Bodie yet, he was beginning to doubt that Eben had anything to do with the other man’s interest in him. Jay didn’t know Bodie all that well yet. But one thing was certain: Bodie was genuinely bothered by Jay’s sudden reluctance to get cozy with him, his irritation palpable. Whether or not that was a sure sign that Bodie’s interest in Jay was genuine, he couldn’t be certain. But he was starting to feel bad about brushing him off earlier. Especially since his body wanted Bodie more than ever.

Sassy, on the other hand, seemed extremely happy. Jay pondered the situation with her parents, wondering if her anger and hurt would subside eventually. He agreed with Evelyn’s assessment that the couple loved their daughter, but at the same time, he could see why Sassy felt as she did. It was a pretty damn big secret they’d kept from their child for fifteen years. It was all very convoluted and bizarre, especially Eben’s role in it, which Jay still couldn’t quite get a handle on.

“Hey,” Jay said softly to Evelyn, checking to make sure Sassy was still engrossed in her badminton game with Bodie. He leaned in to her. “What do you think of Eben? On a personal level?”

Evelyn turned the corn over with a pair of tongs. “Eben is a really nice guy, with some really big flaws,” she said.

“Is he an alcoholic?” Jay asked.

Evelyn shrugged, and moved to the picnic table near the grill, sitting. She placed her hands on her lap and looked up at Jay. “I don’t know. Sometimes he is. Sometimes he isn’t. Meaning he goes long stretches without a drink when he’s working. But he has pretty severe binges at times when he’s not.”

Jay turned the heat down on the grill and joined her at the picnic table. “Do you think he’s a bad influence on Sassy?”

Evelyn chuckled. “I think Eben’s secret makes him a very stressed out guy, and it impacts his job as well as his family life. But Sassy is away at school a lot. Ingrid wanted her daughter to have a broad range of education and experience, which is why she sent her to the best schools all her life. That they happened to be boarding schools however, away from home, has now only added to Sassy’s conviction that her parents never really wanted her in their lives.”

Jay looked out at the badminton game. “Well, she seems happy right now.”

“I know,” Evelyn said. “But what are we to her right now? People hired to care for her, or some type of substitute parents?”

Jay winced. “Eek. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“She’s let her guard down since you arrived, with all of us. But none of us are going to be around forever. Bodie is family, but I doubt even he’s going to stay in Eben’s employ long term.” She glanced at Jay. “What’s the deal with you and Bodie, anyway?”

Jay got up and tended the steak. It was nearly done. He looked back at Evelyn. “Not sure,” he said.

“Well, be careful,” Evelyn said. “I’ve only gotten to know Bodie since he came to work for Eben a couple months ago. But he reeks of damaged goods.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t think life’s been very kind to Bodie. So just try not to add to the damage.”

Jay shut the grill off and sat down beside Evelyn. “Me try not to add to the damage? You mean it’s
him
you’re worried about?” Jay laughed. “Bodie’s by far the tougher of the two of us.”