Take Three

“Flanigans!” John Baxter raised his hand and motioned to a table adjacent to the trees and not far from the water. “We saved that one for you. So glad you could join us!”

  They were setting up their table, she and Connor spreading out the checkered plastic tablecloth when she felt someone behind her. Before she could turn around, Ricky and Justin came running up from the water. “Cody!” They shouted his name at the same time.

  Bailey turned and saw that he was only a few feet from her, his eyes on hers. He didn’t make the moment awkward, or let his eyes linger on hers. Nothing that could be construed as anything out of the ordinary for a couple of old friends. He hugged her quickly and turned to the boys. “Hey, guys! I brought a football!”

  He and the boys helped get the rest of the things down the hill from the Flanigans’ SUV, and then, with a quick look back at her, Cody followed the boys to the water. They played football for a long time, splashing through the water and knocking each other into the gentle waves lapping at the water’s edge.

  Bailey met up with Katy and the two of them talked about the progress with Jeremiah Productions—how the guys felt good about Luke Baxter’s contract. “Brandon Paul can’t change the movie,” Katy seemed satisfied. “Now we’re all praying the movie changes him.”

  With everything in her, Bailey tried to stay focused. She believed in Jeremiah Productions, and she most certainly would pray for Dayne and Keith. But she was grateful for her dark sunglasses, because she kept being distracted by Cody. At times, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was tan from being outdoors every day with football, and his white tank top only emphasized the fact. He was tall and muscled and supremely athletic. His hair was cut short, the way Bailey loved it—accenting the handsome ruggedness of his face.

  She had to remind herself again and again not to stare.

  Finally, when she’d been social enough and helped all she could help, Bailey kicked off her Jack Purcells and joined the boys near the water.

  “She’s on your team!” The announcement came from Ricky.

  Bailey put her hands on her hips and made a face at him. “You’ll be sorry.”

  “You will.” Connor grinned at her. “She can throw the ball, little brother.”

  “So whose team am I on?”

  Cody ran close for a pass and caught it inches from her. He stopped, his chest heaving, his breath minty against her face. “Mine.” He took a few steps and flung the ball back to BJ, then he glanced back at her. “Okay? Just follow my lead.”

  Her knees felt weak, and she silently yelled at herself. Get a grip, Bailey Flanigan. This is Cody who you’ve known forever. Cody who only wants to be your friend. Even so she wanted to tell him that wouldn’t be a problem. She’d follow him anywhere.

  He was going on about the rules. “It’s a passing game. Sort of football and volleyball mixed. Main thing is don’t drop the ball.”

  “Okay.” She was ready. She really could throw the ball and she wouldn’t mind getting splashed a little. It was easily the hottest day so far that summer.

  “Better take off the hat.” Connor backed up, his feet in the sand, body in position.

  “It’s fine. I won’t be getting that crazy.”

  But just at that moment Ricky winged the ball in their direction. Bailey ran forward to catch it just as Cody shuffled sideways, neither of them more than a little aware of the other. In a rush the two of them collided and fell together into the knee-deep water.

  As hot as the day was, the cool lake water made Bailey catch her breath. She was soaked as she wiped sand from her eyes and propped herself up on her knees. Her cute hat was still somewhere in the water. “It’s freezing.”

  “Yep.” Cody was drenched too. He started laughing, and the sound of it was contagious. He held up his hand for Bailey to help him up. “I’m stuck in the sand. Seriously.”

  She was laughing too, now, and she helped him to his knees. Side by side, he put his arm around her waist and the two of them struggled to their feet. Cody snatched her hat from just beneath the surface and handed it to her—drenched and covered with slimy pieces of lake grass. “I forgot to tell you…the most important part.”

  “What’s that?” Gradually they tried to trudge toward the shore, but Bailey tripped on something. She fell against Cody and knocked them both back into the water. Now Bailey was laughing so hard she wasn’t sure she could do anything but sit back and let the moment have its way with her.

  “The most important part is…” Cody was barely able to catch his breath, laughing at least as hard as she was, “you have to call it.”

  “Call it?” Bailey was sitting in waist deep water, alongside Cody, and as soon as she could talk through her laughter she looked at him, at a piece of lake grass strung across his face. She picked it off, falling into another wave of laughter too strong to fight. When she could finally talk, she put her sorry-looking hat back on her head and looked right at him, her eyes bleary. “Call it?”

  “Yes.” He splashed her a little. “You have to call it.”

  “Okay, fine.” She laughed again. “Call it what? It’s a football.”

  That was all Cody needed to hear. Now he let himself fall completely back into the water. As he did, he intentionally pulled her with him, splashing her and teasing her. “You told me you could play!”

  A crowd of Baxters and Flanigans had gathered along the near shore, laughing and enjoying the moment. “Way to go, honey,” her dad called out. “Way to use everything I taught you.”

  They were on their feet now, more careful to watch their steps so they would actually make it to shore. Somehow, Bailey still had her hat, though she could only imagine how they looked together. The moment they reached the shore, Connor stepped up and snapped their picture, arms around each other’s waists, lake grass hanging from their clothes and hair. And smiles wider than the lake behind them.

  Bailey had a feeling it was a picture they’d remember forever.

  Once the commotion died down, she found her sunglasses, and she and Cody took their towels down the beach a stretch and spread them out next to each other. Bailey was glad she’d worn her hair in braids. Once she’d brushed herself off, and after she dried, she’d be good as new. A little rumpled, but that didn’t matter. Rumpled worked for a Fourth of July picnic.

  “I thought you were one of the boys trying to tackle me,” Cody said as he settled onto his towel. He sat up and leaned back on his hands. “It was a pretty good bit of contact.”

  “I know.” Bailey rubbed her shoulder. She, too, leaned back on her hands. Their shoulders were close, though nowhere near touching, but still Bailey felt like she was dreaming. She and Cody so close together, laughing and sharing a day like this. Bailey reminded herself to breathe. She laughed lightly, and turned her face to the sun. “I remember thinking, ‘Wait…you’re supposed to be on my team.’”

  He chuckled a few times and shook his head. “See what I mean…I’m always laughing around you.”

  She made a funny face and peered at him warily. “I don’t give you much choice.”

  “Ah, that’s okay.” He nudged his elbow against hers. “I love laughing, Bailey. You should know that.”

  Neither of them needed to talk, and still Bailey felt close to him. It was that way now as they let the sun dry them, their faces turned upward. Cody broke the silence first. “Tim had something with his family? That why he didn’t come?”

  Funny how long she’d waited to tell him her news. When she first broke up with Tim, she’d thought about calling Cody constantly. But the timing had never seemed right.

  Until now.

  She turned slightly, studying him, still unable to believe that he was here beside her and that she was free to enjoy the fact. She drew a steady breath. “I wanted to tell you in person.”

  He looked at her, and she could see his eyes through his sunglasses, the way they locked on hers. “Tell me what?” Cody knew her so well, he must’ve sensed the subtle change in her tone.

>   “Tim and I…we broke up.”

  Slowly Cody turned to face her, searching her eyes and her face. He wasn’t smiling or rejoicing, just wanting to hear every detail. “Like…a serious breakup?”

  “Yes.” It would be inappropriate for her to smile, so she bit her lip and looked down at the sand between them. “Ten days ago. But I told you, Cody…” she lifted her eyes to his. “It was coming for a long time.”

  “So you’re…” he looked like he wasn’t sure if he should hug her or offer words of comfort. “You’re okay?”

  This time she couldn’t help but smile just a little. “It was my idea.” She winced, sensing the laughter in her voice again. “The whole breakup scene didn’t go that well.”

  “It didn’t?” He was still maintaining his respect toward Bailey’s two years with Tim, but even then she watched the corners of his lips lift a little. “What happened? You didn’t push him in a lake, did you?”

  She covered her mouth, trying to stop from losing herself to a laughing attack when she was supposed to be upset over her break-up. “No.” She returned the elbow nudge and shook her head. “I didn’t push him in a lake.” Again she made a nervous face. “Worse than that.”

  “Worse?” Cody raised his brow, as he fanned his still soaking wet tank top. “What could be worse?”

  “I called him the wrong name.”

  “What?” Cody sat up straight, his eyes wide. “You did not.”

  “I did.” She had a feeling Cody was trying not to laugh, same as her. “I felt terrible. Seriously.”

  Cody started to laugh, and he quickly lost control. He let himself fall back on his towel and Bailey did the same on hers. They lay there on the sand, their bodies a foot apart, laughing until they had to stop to catch their breath. “Sorry…it’s really not funny.”

  “I know.” Bailey dabbed at her eyes. “I guess it’s just…I keep seeing Tim the way he talked to you that day.”

  “I wasn’t going to say so.” Cody chuckled again, little bursts that threatened to consume him once more. “But the wrong name? During a breakup?”

  They fell silent then, needing a moment to regroup from the laughter and the lake water and this new reality between them. The reality that Bailey no longer had a boyfriend. Every minute or so one of them would start to laugh again, and for the next hour and even after they were dry and back with the group eating dinner, Bailey caught Cody’s shoulders shaking a few times, silent laughter racking his body. He sat across from her, and when she had taken a full drink of iced tea, he mouthed the words, “The wrong name?”

  Her tea came spewing out on her plate, soaking her burger. But she didn’t care. A hamburger had never tasted better. Not until after the picnic, after Landon and John Baxter had staged their annual fishing derby and again John had won, did Cody find her and pull her aside. This time his eyes lingered, and she loved the feeling. “Wanna take a walk?”

  “Sure.” She checked in with her mom and the two of them set off for the path that led through the woods and around the perimeter of the lake. It was already dusk, so Bailey was sure the walk wouldn’t take long. There would be fireworks over the lake tonight, and all of them wanted to get lined up on blankets, shoulder-to-shoulder, so they could take in the display.

  They walked slowly, closer together than they’d been since their lake fiasco. Bailey’s clothes were dry, but the air had cooled considerably. That or Bailey couldn’t fight the constant chill she felt in his presence. Either way, she was grateful for Cody’s warmth beside her.

  “Seriously,” he grinned at her, but he was in control now. No bursts of laughter threatening his composure. “You’re doing okay? About Tim?”

  “I should’ve done it sooner.” Her eyes locked on his, and gradually they slowed to a stop. “He never had my heart.” She leaned against a tree at the edge of the path, and he faced her.

  “No?” He looked mesmerized, lost in the moment. The same way she felt.

  “No.” Bailey wanted to capture this, slow it down and freeze it. But already everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. What was happening to them? The feeling consuming her was too great to fight.

  “I have a question.” He ran his finger along the side of her face, his voice deep with emotions neither of them were ready to admit. Not yet, anyway. In the distance they could hear the laughter and voices from the picnic, but they had walked far enough that they were alone.

  They were definitely alone.

  “Ask it.” She lowered her chin, a new shyness coming over her. Could he finally see how she felt about him? How long she’d wanted to be lost in a moment like this? “Go ahead,” her tone fell to a whisper. “You can ask me anything.”

  Cody came a step closer. They wore no sunglasses, so the raw emotion in their eyes was there for both of them, capturing them, intoxicating them. He searched her face, and for a brief second fear tried to edge in on the moment. Like he was afraid of asking the question, even if he couldn’t help himself. “When you and Tim broke up…when you called him the wrong name…”

  She knew where he was going, knew exactly what he wanted to know, but she waited for him to say it anyway.

  Cody took her hand, eased his fingers between hers, his eyes never once looking away. “What name did you call him?”

  As long as she lived, Bailey would remember this moment with Cody, the anticipation of her answer, the answer she knew he wanted to hear. He didn’t want to be her friend; he was in love with her. Finally she knew for sure. His eyes told her that without saying a single word. Their faces were only a breath apart now, and Bailey knew…she just knew what was about to happen. Night was falling, and the waning moon shone light off the water and onto the pathway.

  “Tell me.” He was still waiting, motionless, the rest of the world lost to the incredible beauty of all they were feeling. “What name?”

  As naturally as the beat of her heart, she reached up and put her hand alongside his face. “Yours, Cody. Who else?”

  In a dance as old as time, he came to her and took her face tenderly in his hands. “Bailey…” Then, like she’d wanted him to do for so very long, he touched his lips to hers and kissed her—slow and with years of love that had never been expressed until now. The sort of kiss a princess would wait a lifetime for. The way Bailey had waited.

  Cody was careful—the kiss was over before it had time to become something more. And that was a very real possibility. Bailey had never felt this way in all her life. She didn’t know feelings this intense even existed. A ripple of laughter tugged at her, and this time she kissed him. Slowly and with so much love and meaning she thought her heart would burst. “Why,” she said as she eased back, “Why did we wait so long for this?”

  His expression grew more serious, his smile fading. “Because you deserve better than—”

  “Shhh.” She put her finger to his lips. “Not today. Don’t talk like that. Please, Cody.”

  He hesitated, then he kissed her one last time, and he grinned at her. That slow, lazy grin that had turned her head so many years ago. He stepped back, the private moment over for now. “If I’m not mistaken…someone has a footrace to finish.”

  “What?” She was still dizzy from his kiss, from the newness of feelings she’d never felt with anyone but Cody Coleman. “That was years ago.”

  “We never finished it.” He put his hands in his pockets and let his eyes melt into hers again.

  “You’re crazy.” Bailey laughed again, and the sensation felt wonderful.

  “Come on.” He pretended to strike a racing pose. “And…set, go!”

  “Fine.” Bailey set off, light on her feet, careful of the path ahead of her as she ran. “Try and catch me.”

  He let her have the lead, and she could feel him just behind her, hear him laughing like she was laughing. Just before they reached the open beach, he gently caught her hand and pulled her into another hug, one that felt more desperate than before. “You win,” he whispered into her hair. Then he dr
ew back far enough to look to the places in her heart that had long been reserved only for him. “This is really happening.” His voice was still a whisper, his breath warm against her face. “Tell me it’s really happening.”

  They wouldn’t have the freedom later, so she allowed herself one more kiss, savoring the sensation. “It’s really happening!” She stepped back and then impulsively hugged him again.

  His hands found hers, his fingers melting between hers. His eyes sparkled, teasing her. “Can I say something?”

  “Go ahead.” She was already giggling.

  “Finally!” They both laughed and headed down the last section of the path toward the others. Bailey had never felt anything as wonderful as his fingers wrapped around hers. They were almost to the clearing when they heard a whistling sound and through the trees they saw a distant explosion of light.

  “Fireworks.” She smiled up at him.

  Again he held her eyes. “Not like the ones back there.”

  Bailey was glad he couldn’t see the heat in her cheeks. She wasn’t sure anyone would notice they were holding hands as they joined the group, but she didn’t care. They found an open spot and Cody wrapped his blanket around their shoulders as they took a spot near her parents. The display across the sky over Lake Monroe was beautiful, each firework more stunning than the last. Bailey rested her head on Cody’s shoulder, and tried to believe this was really happening. She and Cody, together the way she’d dreamed about practically forever. She smiled, dizzy from the feel of him beside her, from the way she felt protected with his arm around her.

  She wasn’t sure what would come next. There remained a hundred unanswered questions, and neither of them could possibly have those answers. Not yet. One thing was sure. After tonight they could no longer lie to themselves about how they felt, about the crazy intensity of their feelings for each other. But Bailey was confident of one thing—they would take this slowly, because they had to. God would come first, or they would have nothing. Because she could see in Cody’s eyes that neither of them would do anything to risk what they’d found here tonight. On Lake Monroe, in each other’s arms…on a Fourth of July they would remember as long as they lived. She thought about what Cody had said about all this. The one word that truly summed it all up: