“Oh, shit,” she said again.

“Listen, if we don’t stop saying that, we are both going to be in trouble,” I whispered to her.

“I’m in trouble for going into the pool,” she whispered, sucking in a breath between each word like that was going to keep the words quieter. “So more trouble is fine.”

I lifted her onto the edge, sitting her down so her feet were still in the water. My body shook with quiet laughter before I doubled over. My forehead rested on the cold concrete next to her as I tried to hide it, not able to stop as Bailey patted the back of my head as she laughed.

“Kye, what’s wrong?” Daisy said. My back was to her, so she couldn’t see the tears forming from laughing so hard. 

I finally turned, calming myself. “I hate to tell you this, but at four years old, your child has the same plan for getting out of trouble that I did when I was a teenager.”

“Which is?” she asked, arms crossed and clear worry across her face.

“If you’re already in trouble, just do all the fun things at once, so you’re only in trouble once. She said you’re already mad at her for getting in the pool, why not cuss, too? Ahh, damn, Daze, good luck raising her because you’re going to need it.”

At my words, Daisy’s mouth dropped open, and Bailey jumped over my head and back into the pool. I grabbed for her, but I was surprised when she resurfaced, her nose plugged as she blinked water from her eyes.

“Do all four-year-olds swim like this or is she just a daredevil?”

“No, not at all. She just thinks she’s invincible.”

“Me too, Bailey. Me, too.”

I grabbed her, playing in the water for another few minutes before we really had to get out and change.

By the time I dried off, changed, and headed back inside, everyone was waiting for me, including Daisy and Bailey.

“How did you beat me getting ready when you have this unruly child?” I asked.

“Because she takes punishment well enough when she knows what she did and she hustled getting cleaned up. At least I have something under control.”

“I think you are doing just fine. She’s clean, healthy, obviously happy. Not much else you have to worry about.”

“There’s a thousand things to worry about.”

I shrugged, knocking against Bailey, who was trying to get Liam’s attention.

“Want to go eat?” I asked them.

“Yes,” they both said together.

“Me, too. I had to eat dry crackers on the plane.”

Daisy almost looked upset that I was helping, and I wondered if it was her old habit of appearances. If she was worried, she didn’t look like a good enough parent with so many people around. I grabbed Bailey, picking her up and heading over to the table.

Everyone sat and ate, Liam next to me, with Bailey next to him, and Daisy on her right. Everything went fine enough, the crew catching me up on some things I missed, and Chase catching all of us up on the wedding plans for the week.

It was another hour later before I needed air. The room feeling crowded, and my eyes kept wandering to Daisy.

“I’ll be back,” I said to the table before getting up, and walking out to the back porch. The place had little fires going in two of the pits and I sat by one.

Daisy was here. Back in my life without any notice, and she had a kid.

I had never slowed down enough to think about her life. Sometimes, I wanted to believe she was married and happy. Sometimes, I wanted to think that she thought about me as much as I thought about her.

Most days, I wanted to not think about her at all.

It happened. I made it through days and weeks without her on my mind, but the moment I felt lonely, she flooded my memories until I couldn’t think of anything but her.

The door opened, and the girl that took over my dreams and nightmares stepped out. Her dress blew in the wind, but she didn’t seem to care as her head tipped back and eyes closed. A moment of peace, before her eyes opened and met mine.

She froze like she might go back inside, and I laughed.

“I already saw you, Daze. Might as well come sit down.”

“I didn’t know if you wanted to be alone,” she said, heading my way.

“Is that why you are out here? To be alone?”

“I just get a little overwhelmed sometimes.”

“I get it. I’m good with company. I won’t be long out here if you need to be alone, though.”

“No,” she said, sitting down and smoothing her dress again. Another sign that she was still the girl I knew, not wanting anything out of place. The green of the dress brought out the greens and brown hues in her eyes, and showed off plenty of her long legs. “It’s fine.”

We sat in silence for a minute. For everything I ever thought about asking Daisy, I couldn’t bring myself to ask one fucking question.

“So why are you still single?” she asked, and I could see how hard she was focusing on the fire, not daring to look at me.

I smiled because I only wanted to ask her why she wasn’t. “Well, between traveling a lot and having this small issue that I still don’t like people getting all touchy with me, dating isn’t easy. I’m still the same. I never needed to date or worry about it. You did, though. What about you?”

“Aside from the dating pool going down to what feels like zero, I have been kind of seeing someone.”

“Oh, yeah? Would I know him?”

She looked at me and bit at her lip. For a second, I thought she wasn’t going to tell me, and my stomach sank.

“Fuck, I know him, don’t I?” I asked with a scowl. “If you say Dean, I might have to leave. Even years of therapy can’t erase the hatred I have for that man.”

“No!” she said fast. “Not Dean, but you do know him.”

“Thank fuck all my friends are with someone. Who is it?”

She chewed on her lip more, and I could only think of all the times that lip was between my teeth.

“Mark,” she finally said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

The words took a minute to process, trying to think through all the people I knew in town, before I remembered how I knew the name.