13. Wyla

Chapter 13

I watch as Jett carries Stevie out into the water and it's very bad for my mind set. Just a glance at those muscular arms spurs some pretty dirty thoughts. I pull my eyes away and take off my button up and shorts.

I grab the bottle of lotion Jett had earlier and rub it everywhere I can then take the bottle to Winry, tossing it in her lap. "Can you get my back?"

She picks up the bottle and laughs. "I thought you liked the spray better?" she asks with a smirk.

Damn it, I was hoping Georgia had woken up during that and Win missed it, but she's still drooling all over Graham's chest. "You know I don't, but there was no way I was about to rub sunscreen on Jett. Have you seen his back?" I huff.

Winry shakes her head. "Yes, and I don't think it would have been exactly a chore for you, Wyla." Graham clears his throat for attention and Win pats his thigh. "You have a great back too, babe."

"Mm-hmm, so you say." Graham rolls his eyes but reaches over to put a hand on Winry's thigh to show he's not being serious.

Win shakes her head, then squirts some of the lotion on her hand. "Squat down, sis. I'm not getting up."

"Fine." Beats me asking Jett to do it. Well… not beat but saves me from climbing him like a tree in front of my family after he finishes.

"There ya go, chicken, all done." Winry snaps the lid on the sunscreen and hands it back to me.

"I'm not a chicken, I just know my limits."

"Chick-en." Win snarks, breaking down the syllables.

"I'm going to sit with Wav," I reply. "I hope that baby squeezes your bladder so you have to waddle to the bathrooms."

"You bitch… you know I have to pee now that I've thought about it."

I stick my tongue out at her, and she returns it with her middle finger before trying to get out of her chair to make the walk to the bathrooms back out by the parking lot.

I grab my chair and set it down next to Waverley with Anna on the other side of her. "Hey there, mama. Come to enjoy the view with us?" Knowing Waverley, she's not talking about the ocean.

I glance back out at the water. Stevie is swimming around with Annabelle. I've always been so thankful for Annabelle, she's sort of taken on the fun, older sister role with Stevie. And now that she's sixteen she's been dying for some cash of her own. I think a nice brunch with my sisters might be something I need soon. I'll have to remember that.

Then, my eyes wander over to the three men standing together talking while watching the girls swim. This is definitely the view Wav is talking about. Fucking hell. It should be illegal for more than two hot guys to congregate together.

"It's wrong to stare, right?" I turn to Wav and Anna.

"Nuh-uh," Waverley mumbles.

"Absolutely not," Anna says while taking a sip of her drink looking out at the water. I follow her gaze and I can only assume she's looking at Levi.

Levi stands on the far end. I do have to admit… Levi is attractive. His blonde hair is more a cool blonde than Jett's honey tone, and while Jett's and Owen's hair has that kind of messy, curly look, Levi's is short and clean cut.

I've noticed him and Anna seem to have gotten closer over the years. Granted, Anna is Wav's best friend, and Levi and Graham are Owen's so it isn't really surprising they've become friends too, but maybe there's more there?

Waverley and Levi went out one time before her and Owen got together, but that all ended on great terms. Surely, that's not holding them back. But who knows, maybe I'm projecting… I've clearly got my own problems to worry about.

"So, Mama"—Waverley nudges me—"tell us how it's going with hunky baby daddy."

"Feel free to leave out any sexual details," Anna adds.

Waverley scoffs, "No way, I didn't say that. You can plug your ears for that part."

I roll my eyes. "Well, no worries. There are no sexual details to report. We're focusing on being co-parents. Nothing more."

"Oh, come on, that's so boring," Waverley whines. "You're telling me nothing has happened? Not even a quickie?"

Anna plugs her ears. "La, la, la."

Waverley pulls down one of her arms. "Grow up. I said, quickie, not ‘has he given you that orgasm you were wanting,' like I wanted to."

"Ugh, Wav, eww. It's different with brothers. I don't want to hear that." Anna shudders .

"How do you think Stevie got here?" Waverley continues to push.

"I realize how." Anna reaches over to shove her. "But in my deluluville, I've blocked that part out. Stop trying to pop my bubble."

"Don't worry, Anna, there's nothing more to tell. Jett and I will be co-parents, that's all. No quickies or orgasms for us."

"Boo, if you were one of my students I'd give you an F." Waverley reaches for her water and takes a sip. "I don't get it, Wyla. You two clearly have chemistry, why not try?"

"How about, he lives forty-two hours away from here and plays professional baseball so his schedule is a nightmare?" I answer with the most obvious answer but it's not enough to fool my sister.

"Oh, you mean he has tons of money so he could not only pay to have y'all come with him from time to time, he could also buy a house here and in Seattle for y'all to live in. Seems like a real fucking problem."

"She's not wrong." Anna laughs. "He could totally afford it."

"See!" Waverley throws her hands up. "What is up your ass about this?"

I can't sit with either of my sisters today, apparently. "Ugh, nothing! "

Wav leans back in her chair and shrugs. "Welp, maybe that's your fucking problem."

"Waverley!" Anna smacks her arm then covers her ears. "Gross."

I hold back the laugh that wants to escape because it was kind of funny. Not having Jett inside me could be my problem but it can't be my solution either. "Wav, let it go. It's not happening."

"Okay, fine, fine . I'll drop it for now," Waverley grumbles.

"You'll drop it for good, Wav."

"Nah, you get the day. That's all I'm giving you."

Two hours later, I'm sitting under our umbrella with Jett and Stevie, putting the final touches on our sandcastle.

I watch Stevie on her third attempt of getting one of the tower molds to stay. From all the swimming and being out in the sun, she's starting to get sleepy which means she's grouchy.

"Mommy, this tower is being mean," she cries. "It won't stay up."

I sit up and look at what she's trying to do. Her sand is too dry so it won't hold when she pulls up the bucket. "Baby, it's not being mean. We just need to get some more water—"

"No! It's being mean! We can't fix it." Oh, great, we're about to have a tantrum. Lovely.

She tries to start again, but since the sand is too dry, it crumbles. I take a deep breath and put on my best calming voice to try to soothe the situation. "Stevie—"

But it's too late, she screams and pushes away the bucket angrily knocking over a part of the sandcastle that we fixed earlier. This sends her into a full meltdown. Despite how great Stevie is most of the time, she's still only four years old. I have to remind myself of this from time to time.

Calm breaths, Wyla. I take a moment to cool down before reacting to her because I know when I get frustrated it only makes things worse. But sometimes it's so fucking hard not to.

Stevie screams again before the crocodile tears start down her cheeks. Okay, deep breath.

The best tactic I have with these tantrums goes in stages. The first one, distraction. "Hey, Stevie, do you see that seagull over there?" I ask her calmly, and point in its direction .

Her lip quivers as she cries, she's tempted to look but more determined to be mad. "No, I don't see it." She shakes her head, intent on not looking. "I can't see anything."

"Hmm, can't see anything… Well, mommy sees a seagull. You know what else mommy sees?" Jett looks at me as Stevie continues her meltdown. His face is a mixture of wanting to help and having not an absolute clue how.

I feel a little bad for a moment that Stevie's acting this way in front of him, but it's reality. She's not going to be perfect all the time.

My approach also probably seems odd to him, but I got the idea from Winry. When she gets panic attacks she counts down her senses, naming things around her she can see, touch, hear, smell, and taste.

Considering Stevie doesn't completely understand the emotions she's feeling now and me simply telling her to list things won't work, so I've had to modify it a bit.

"Mommy sees the ocean." Step one: get her to see something and focus on it. "The ocean water is so beautiful. I love pink ocean water." If there's one thing I know about my daughter, she loves to correct me.

"The… the water isn't pink, Mommy," Stevie sputters, trying to talk while hysterically crying .

"How would you know? You won't even look at the water." I nudge Jett, trying to get him to play along. "Ask your dad, he thinks it's pink too."

"Yup, the water's pink, Little Bee, don't you remember?" Jett says, and scoops her in his lap so her back isn't to the water anymore.

"Look!" She wipes her eyes with one little hand and points with the other. "The water is blue." Her voice is calmer but we can very easily slip back into the tantrum at this point.

"Oh, you're right. How silly of us. Can you show Mommy and Daddy something else that's blue? Something you could touch, maybe?"

Stevie looks around in front of her. Her lips still quivering, trying to maintain her tears. "That bucket is blue." She reaches for it and holds it out to show us.

"Are you sure it's blue?" Jett teases her.

"Yes, I'm sure." She nods with a sniffle. She looks back at the sandcastle that crumbled and I can see this starting to turn.

"That's so good, baby. So, the ocean's blue, right?" I ask, pulling her back to me. She nods. "Does the ocean make any noises?"

"I don't know," she mumbles .

"Let's listen." Jett puts his finger up to his mouth, like he needs quiet to hear the waves.

Stevie giggles at him and does the same to me. "I think it does make a noise," Stevie says more excited now. "Like a whoosh, crash sound."

Jett and I smile at each other. "You're so smart, kid. Do you think it smells salty?" We're almost there.

A light bulb goes off in her little brain. "Let's smell it together!" she squeals. "Ready, one, two, three." We all take a big inhale, Jett and I exaggerating a little bit for the full effect. "Yeah, definitely salty."

Taste is the one sense that sometimes I leave out. It's the hardest one to get Stevie to do, but thankfully I have my water next to me. "Hey, Stevie, do you want a sip of Mommy's water?" I hold out my bottle for her to take. She takes a nice big gulp. "Does it taste good?"

"Yeah, not like ocean water." She sticks out her tongue.

"Yeah, not like ocean water." I chuckle. "I'm going to go talk to Mamaw and Papaw for a minute, okay? Can you stay with your dad and maybe he can help you fix the tower?"

"Yeah, Little Bee, come on let's go get some water." Jett stands her up, and she grabs the blue bucket before heading to the shore .

As I watch her walk down, Jett comes up beside me and places his hand on my lower back as he passes, he says, "Like I said, superhero."

I know, in reality, he only touched my back for a brief second, but I feel like every single one of his touches is branding. I want more of them even though I know it's a bad idea. I need more.

I pull myself away from watching the duo together and force myself over to my parent's umbrella.

I squat under it. "Hey, guys. Stevie is on her last leg… she needs a nap. If you guys want to stay longer, we can take—"

"We?" Dad clips.

"Dad, please don't start." Dad's animosity for Jett is really starting to get on my nerves. I understood his hesitation in the beginning, and I still do—to an extent. I don't know what we will decide moving past these two weeks. I've really tried to block the idea of that conversation out of my mind. That's future Wyla's problem for now. "Can't you be a little nice? He's here now. He wants to be a part of Stevie's life."

Dad rolls his eyes. "I think he wants a lot of things, Wyla."

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I don't want to talk about this, Dad. I just want you to be civil. Can we agree on civil? No grunting when he speaks and actually shake his hand."

My stubborn father says nothing. I sigh all about to give up when Mom steps in. "I think that's fair, sweetie. Griffin, don't you?" Her tone is serious, hinting that she's not actually asking… she's telling.

My father is beyond hard-headed but something Mom does cracks it every time. "Fine. I'll be civil."

"You promise?"

Dad mocks a cross on his chest and rolls his eyes. Well, I'll take it.

Mom reaches over to take Dad's hand. "We'll get loaded up and take the kids back to our house for a nap and some dinner. I think Georgie is about over it too. Wyla, why don't you help me get the bags ready. Griffin, you can go get the kids." She smiles as Dad stands up to do as she asks. "Maybe even say hi to Jett when you get Stevie."

My mother, I think she could rule the world if she wanted to.