Chapter 4

4

Piper

I've been on edge since I made the dumb decision to look up Cutter Buckley.

Yes, I, Piper Maple, not only looked up who Cutter was, but from the second I saw his steel-cut jaw, narrow, dark eyes, messy hair, and insanely built figure (yes, he wore a shirt in all the pictures I saw) I knew this would be a problem.

Something about rugged, handsome guys made me want to punch them.

Maybe that's my attempt at flirting or something?

No, it's not that.

It's… this is my town. Okay? This is my pool. Well, not my actual pool. I don't own a pool. Saxon keeps bugging me to put in a pool, but that doesn't matter right now.

Oh, I'm scrambling, aren't I?

Of course I'm scrambling.

Cutter is staring right at me.

Standing there with his gym bag thrown over his left shoulder, watching as I egg on the elderly women who are in the water for some morning aerobics.

Yeah, I have the music turned up a little louder than normal. Yeah, I may have told the normal instructor (a sweetheart in her twenties named Bailey, who is in nursing school and wants to work with the elderly) to take a long morning coffee break.

My entire existence has been around this moment.

Cutter standing there, looking at me.

Thinking he could just show up and command the pool?

Uh… no…

I don't care if he's a star second baseman. I don't care how many home runs he hits. I don't care about his contract or anything about him.

I clap my hands and point to Margie. "Look at you go today!"

"You've got us all worked up today, Piper!" Margie calls back to me.

She giggles and right next to her is Marie.

Marie is trouble.

I watch her nudge at Margie and they both look to my left, which is where Cutter is approaching.

I'm totally going to play the ignore him and he'll go away card.

"Excuse me, miss?" Cutter asks.

His voice is deep and rough.

He damn near shakes the lifeguard booth.

I beg my cheeks not to turn bright red.

I turn my head. "I think you know my name."

"We haven't been introduced," he says. "Should I call you Piper or Mrs.…?"

"There is no Mrs. here," I snap back at him.

Or maybe my desperate subconscious wants Cutter to know that I am not married. And for that matter, I don't need a man. I'm quite happy living on my own, with my son, showing him just how strong a woman can be.

All that from the word Mrs.…?

"I'm Cutter," he says.

"So I've been told. If you don't mind, I'm busy right now."

"Things are certainly heating up now!" Marie calls out. "I haven't been this wet in a decade!"

There's a collective woo from the elderly ladies.

Now they're getting all splashy and flirty because of Cutter.

Years old libido is now being dusted off like an old vinyl collection.

"That Brian guy said the first four lanes are open," Cutter says.

I turn my head and look at him.

He's tall enough to be eye level with me as I sit up on my lifeguard seat.

That's… tall…

"They're not supposed to be empty," I say. "It's supposed to be four for lap swimming and four for aerobics. Brian wanted to shut it all down. I refused."

"Appreciate your support."

"Why would I support you?"

Cutter's head falls back a little. "Okay then."

"Look, I'm not sure what you want me to say right now. I have to keep an eye on these ladies. If you're here to swim or rehab or bring in fancy doctors and trainers, go for it. Just keep it to the first four lanes."

"I'm not here with anyone, Piper," he says.

Piper…

The way he says my name. His lips smacking together to make the P sound.

"They wanted to send people but I refused. There was even someone waiting in the parking lot. I made him leave."

"My hero," I mumble.

"Are you going to take your shirt off or what?" Marie calls out from the pool.

I blow my whistle and point at her. "That's a warning!"

She claps and soon has the rest of the ladies in the pool cheering for Cutter to take his shirt off.

Great. A bunch of elderly women who remember what it feels like to be horny.

"I've got some aquatic aerobics for him to try!"

I gasp when I realize it's Miss Dailey who called that out.

She's married. She's part of the Christmas committee in town.

"If I fake drowning, can I get some mouth to mouth?"

I gasp again.

That comment came from Lorraine.

Sure, she's a widow and all… but…

"I feel like I'm causing a bit of a scene," Cutter says.

"Well, this is what you get," I say and look at him again. "I'm just the lifeguard. I can't control these women when they get going. Plus, what kind of schedule are you planning on having? Do I really have to close half my pool every day? Or the entire pool like Brian wanted?"

"I guess I'll have to make other arrangements," Cutter says.

His jaw is tight. Sculpted. I can tell he's annoyed. Maybe with me. Oh well.

I look forward again. Down at the water.

I point to Marie as she playfully splashes water on her chest.

No fear. No shame. No worries of what gravity has done to her very ample chest or the age spots that spread across her chest.

I only hope to have half her confidence at her age.

"I should ask him to sign a baseball for Junior," Gladys whispers to Margie.

"You should!" Margie says. "Let me ask him."

"No, no, he's busy."

"Baseball fans?" Cutter asks everyone in the water.

They all stare at him and bunch up. Like bugs on a summer night to the flame of a tiki torch.

"Tell you what I can do," Cutter says. "I'll sign a handful of baseballs and leave them for you to take home. Sound good?"

"What a sweetheart!" Lorraine calls out.

"I've never watched a second of a baseball game in my life, but I'm a big fan now!" Miss Dailey adds and then laughs.

"Nice to meet you, Piper," Cutter says to me.

I give a nod and act like he's not even there.

Because you know what? He can go and make other arrangements. I don't need some fancy, good-looking baseball player showing up and messing up my life. Or, I mean, my pool. My schedule. The pool schedule. Okay?

A few seconds later, Cutter is gone.

I lean back in my chair and smile.

I still enjoy a good victory.

"You're lucky I don't fire you," Brian chirps as he follows me to my car.

"Blow it out your ass," I chirp back.

"That's it! You're fired, Piper."

I stop and spin around. My eyes go a mile wide. "You want to fire me, Brian? Huh? Really? I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't tell him to leave. He left on his own. What do you want out of this? A picture of you and him shaking hands to hang up in your office? Or to post online and brag to your friends?"

Brian seethes.

"Tonight is my small break in life, Brian. My ex is picking our son up from school. He does it once a week. Such a big help. Yes, that was sarcasm. Do you think I want to stand here and talk to you right now?"

"This isn't over, Piper. I'm really irritated."

"Goodbye, Brian."

A few seconds later he calls out, "You're coming to work tomorrow, right?"

I roll my eyes and wave. Don't worry, I use all my fingers when I wave, even though I really feel like giving him a one finger wave.

And of course I'll be at work tomorrow.

In fact, I'm not exactly done with work tonight yet…

It's a miracle that Hunter was reliable enough to get Saxon from school.

Maybe that's mean because he usually gets Saxon once a week, but it's still stressful. Knowing all it takes is one phone call or a text or some cheap excuse and I'm right back at it, handling the front row seat of single parenthood.

And it's not that Hunter is a bad father or anything. He's just not… how do I put it… he's just not meant to be a father. He's not very good at the challenges of parenthood.

Sit and play video games for hours? He's in on that.

Sit and work on social studies and study for a spelling test? That doesn't interest Hunter.

But, hey, it's my night off, right?

Well, not exactly.

I still have to pick Saxon up.

That's right. Hunter won't drive over to my house to drop off our son. I have to pick up Saxon.

The reason?

Well, you know, since I'm the one picking him up from school and driving him back to my place, you can at least come get him.

That's supposed to be in Hunter's voice.

What does his voice sound like?

Imagine some doofus football hunk that's been hit too many times in the head.

Look, it was a college thing with Hunter.

I was the star swimmer. He was the star tight end.

It was fun. It was hot.

But then it got real with two lines on a pregnancy test and he needed time to himself to figure out who he was.

Fast forward more than a decade and Hunter is still trying to figure out who he is.

Which isn't my issue.

So, what does a single mom do with a few hours to herself?

I went home and cleaned. Then I did a load of laundry.

I treated myself to a cup of coffee on the front porch.

Whoa, don't spoil yourself too hard!

Then came the actual spoiling of myself a little.

My favorite thing to do when I get the time?

Swim.

I put on my athletic bathing suit (and I avoid any chance of having myself reflected back in a mirror because College Swimmer Piper is a little different from Approaching Middle Age Single Mom Piper), clothes over it and I drive back to work.

Halfway there I get a weird feeling about the car behind me. I carefully open my middle console and reach in, finding the can of bear spray.

What is the car doing behind me?

Just following me.

Are my senses heightened and my paranoia out of control?

Maybe a little.

But you never know.

This would be a great moment to have someone willing to help me out if I need it.

The follower stays right behind me… matching me move for move…

I skip the main turn so I don't get trapped by the obvious serial killer behind me and I take a back way, that has multiple places to try and ditch the killer.

As soon as I turn left, the car behind me just keeps going.

Right by me.

Just some person driving around at night, just like me.

I sigh and release my grip on the bear spray.

"Nicely done, Piper," I whisper out loud.

I park on the other side of the building and walk with speed, just in case the serial killer parked their car and is now chasing me down.

I end up driving myself into a mild panic by the time I reach the exit door for the pool.

I have a key to get in. There's no alarm that will sound on this door.

I quickly jam the key into the lock and twist.

The door opens with ease and a little squeak.

I step in and pull the door shut behind me. It automatically locks when closed.

Now I'm safe.

For a little while.

I shut my eyes and take a deep breath.

Not even a second later I hear the sound of water splashing.

I can't gasp because my mouth goes bone dry.

My brain somehow tries to tell me that the serial killer has been following me for weeks, stole my work key and made a copy and somehow got into the pool before me.

Because there is definitely someone in the pool…

The water splashes again and I watch as a human figure lifts up out of the water.

Before my crazy mind makes up another wild story, I see the hair, the face, and the bare upper body.

My jaw slowly drops.

Looks like Cutter Buckley is here for a little night swim too.