The Boyfriend Project (6 page)

As I stood at the copier, duplicating some documents my dad needed for a meeting, I could see a faint reflection of myself in the window. Combing my fingers through my hair, I admitted that I liked it being a little bit longer. The office had a small gym that I'd used that morning before I reported for work. I'd never been the popular guy in school, not like Fletcher. I hadn't realized it bothered me until this competition came up. Kendall's faith in me made me want to win—for her. And maybe a little for myself.

The copier shut off. I straightened my tie, made sure my shirt was tucked tightly into my Dockers, and gathered up the documents. Then I headed to my dad's office.

He was sitting behind his desk, his glasses perched on the end of his nose. As I walked in, he looked up, waved a hand to the side like a king greeting his minion. We'd
agreed that at the office I wasn't to be treated like his son, that work was separate from home. “Just set them on the credenza,” he said.

After doing that, I came to stand in front of his desk. He'd gone back to studying whatever needed to be scrutinized. “Sir?”

This time when he looked up, his brow was furrowed. “Check with my secretary. She'll tell you what else needs to be done.”

“Actually, I already know my next task, but I needed to ask for some time off.”

“Time off?” he asked as though it was a foreign concept. Considering he put in about seventy hours a week, it probably was. I admired his work ethic, but we had very little time together for father-son things.

“Yes, sir. I need Friday off.”

“Why?”

Obviously Mom hadn't told him about my going to the beach for a few nights. Not surprising since that would have involved actually talking to him.

“I'm going to the beach for a few days with some friends.”

“That girl you're seeing?”

The anger shot through me, but I just ground my back teeth together to keep my tone even. “Kendall. Yes. And Avery and Fletcher.
We're house-sitting for—”

“No.” He went back to studying the documents on his desk.

Blinking, I shook my head. “What?”

He leaned back. “You can't have time off. Work needs to be done around here.”

“Other interns get time off.”

“Other interns aren't my son.”

“Thought we agreed we wouldn't play the father-son card at the office,” I reminded him.

“Fine. When we get home, ask me if you can go to the beach and I'll tell you no. So you won't need the time off.”

“Mom's okay with it. Besides, you can't stop me from going. I'm eighteen.”

Taking off his glasses, he tossed them onto the pile of papers. “Which is exactly why I'm saying no. Staying at the beach with a girl is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“How do you figure that?”

“I was young once. I know about temptation, and I know how your life can be thrown off track by one mistake. No more parties, no more thinking just about yourself. You have to grow up and take responsibility. I'm doing this for you, so you don't have regrets.”

All the words that followed
mistake
seemed to come at me from the end of a long tunnel. I was the mistake, the reason he had regrets.

“As far as this office is concerned,” he continued, “you
may not have time off to go play house with this girl. As for the rest of it, we'll discuss it at home.” He picked up his glasses, settled them on the bridge of his nose. “And get a haircut during your lunch hour.”

I stared in disbelief as he returned his attention to some case.

“I quit.” The words were out before I'd considered all the ramifications, but I knew they were the only ones I could say.

Dad looked up, gave me a condescending grin. “This is precisely what I'm talking about. You're acting without thought, which is exactly what you're going to do with this girl at the beach—”

“Kendall,” I interrupted. “Her name is Kendall. I love her. And while it is none of your freaking business, we haven't had sex. But when we do, again it's none of your freaking business. But I'm not quitting because of her.” Not entirely true. I hated that he failed to recognize how important she was to me. “I'm quitting because you're not treating me like every other intern here. Anyone else could have a day off. And I don't hear you telling anyone else to get a haircut. I'll notify HR about my resignation on my way out of here.”

I spun on my heel.

“Jeremy.” My dad punctuated my name like it was a command. I turned back to find him standing behind his
desk. “If you want to throw away this opportunity, this stepping-stone to a respectable career, I won't try to stop you. It could prove to be a good life lesson, so I won't kick you out of the house or take away your college fund, but that's the extent of my generosity. If you want spending money, you'll need to get another job elsewhere.”

“Don't worry. I've got it covered.” Another lie, because I had no idea where I could get another job this late in the summer.

“You do realize we're only going to be gone for three nights,” Jeremy said as he studied my collection of luggage in the front entryway.

I had a small suitcase for my clothes and personal items; a ginormous tote bag stuffed with beach accessories; a cooler with our favorite drinks; a large, handled sack of snacks; and a box of miscellaneous items that didn't easily fit into one of the other categories. “I know, but I just wanted to make sure we had everything we needed.”

“Because they don't have stores at the beach?”

“Because they're able to hold people hostage with their prices. It's better to take everything rather than have to buy it there.”

Jeremy picked up the cooler. “Good thing we're not
traveling on a motorcycle or you wouldn't be able to bring all this stuff.”

I swatted playfully at his arm before reaching for my suitcase and rolling it to his car. “I would have changed my organizing strategy.”

He opened the trunk. Inside was one large backpack.

“That's all you brought?” I asked.

“Yep. Pretty much all I need at the beach is shorts and swim trunks.” Placing his hand on my neck, leaning in, he gave me a lingering kiss. “I knew you'd take care of everything else.”

I knew everything else didn't include condoms. He and I had talked about birth control early on in our relationship, and he always carried some just in case. It was just another indication of how considerate he was, although I was really hoping we'd put them to use this weekend.

“Wait until you see everything I have planned for our little vacation,” I said. “You are going to be amazed.”

“You always amaze me.”

I gave him another quick kiss, as whatever restlessness I'd been feeling drifted away. He always managed to make me feel special and appreciated.

“I was afraid your dad wouldn't let you have any time off,” I told him as we walked back to the house for the last of the items.

“It's only one day.”

When we finished loading up everything, he slammed the trunk lid closed.

We drove down to Avery's house. She and Fletcher were waiting in the driveway, with a couple of tote bags and a cooler. Jeremy and I got out of the car and greeted them.

“I picked up some munchies,” Avery began as Jeremy popped the trunk. When she saw everything inside it, she laughed and looked at me. “I should have known you would, too.”

“Just a few things,” I said.

“Can never have too much food or too many drinks,” Fletcher said.

“That's true,” Avery said. “Dot said we were welcome to eat whatever was in her pantry and fridge, but I didn't want to take advantage. Although she has some steaks that are in danger of spoiling, so we need to eat those.”

Fletcher slammed the trunk. “Think we're ready.”

We all climbed into the car, and Jeremy took off.

I couldn't help but think how nice it was going to be to sleep in the same bed with him, to have him hold me all night. To snuggle beneath the blankets. I could hardly wait.

The house was set on stilts and was, literally, right on the beach. Nothing blocked our view of the ocean. We walked up the stairs, and Avery unlocked the door. The
dogs immediately greeted us. The cat, lounging on an ottoman near a window, couldn't be bothered.

Laughing, I knelt and rubbed the fur of a golden retriever, and a chow that was mixed with something small and sweet. I knew it was a chow only because of its blue tongue. “Hey, ladies,” I said, letting them sniff and lick me.

“You are so much better with dogs than I am,” Avery said as she stood off to the side and watched. “The golden is Pooh Bear, the chow, Duchess.”

“They're sweethearts,” I said.

“Let's check out the place, decide on our rooms, and the guys can haul our stuff in. We're not allowed to use the master bedroom, but Dot said there were two guest rooms.”

The house was fairly simple. The front door opened into a large living room, a long counter separating it from the kitchen. We walked down a short hallway with a master bedroom and a guest bathroom on one side. Across from them were the two guest rooms. One with a queen-sized bed. One with two singles.

“Which room do you want?” Avery asked, as disheartened as I was by the sleeping choices. She was letting me determine the arrangements because she was the hostess, and I needed to decide if I was going to be gracious and take the one with—

“We'll take the two beds,” Jeremy said as he edged past us with my suitcase and tote in tow.

It was typical of nice, considerate Jeremy to make the unselfish offer. Still I was disappointed and just a little hurt that he hadn't jumped at the chance to share a bed with me. I walked into the room and wondered if it would be inappropriate to do a little rearranging: maybe move the nightstand that stood between the beds so we could shove them together. Maybe it wasn't worth the effort, though. It was only three nights.

But at least we'd be sleeping in the same room. That could be romantic. Listening to him breathing through the night. I didn't even know if he snored.

While the guys brought everything inside, I helped Avery put some things away and set aside what we would have for dinner. While she started arranging all the makings for sandwiches, I fed the dogs, attached their leashes, and took them out to do their business. The yard around the house wasn't fenced in. It was mostly sand with a few sprigs of grass, but the dogs were used to the shifting turf. Jeremy followed me out.

“Are you okay that I said we'd take the two beds?” Jeremy asked.

I forced myself to smile. “Sure.”

He put his arm around me and I leaned against him. “Besides,” I continued, “they're both taller than us, so
they'll be more comfortable in the bigger bed.”

“You looked disappointed, like you thought we were missing an opportunity.”

Turning, I gazed up into his eyes. “I thought something more might happen, but I also thought the house would be bigger.” I twisted my face in a way that made him grin. “Not gonna be a lot of privacy here.”

He cupped my face between his hands. “No, there won't be.” He stroked my cheeks. “I want it to be really special when things between us go further.”

“I'll be with you. How can it not be special?”

“How did I get so lucky?” he asked before he lowered his mouth to mine.

I moved until I was pressed against him. The chow jumped up on me, flopped down, jumped up again. The golden was nudging my other hip.

“Okay, okay,” I said with a laugh as Jeremy and I broke apart. “I get it. You want more attention.”

I handed the golden off to Jeremy and he began lavishly petting the dog. Watching him while I stroked the chow, I felt this tightness in my chest. He was such a good guy. I didn't know why I was feeling so dissatisfied. Maybe I just wanted him to sweep me up into his arms, give in to our passion.

We took the dogs inside, washed our hands, then grabbed a plate and made a sandwich from everything
Avery had set out for dinner.

“It's not fancy,” she said as she was preparing her own plate, “but it just seems like if we're going to be beach bums, we should be lazy.”

“Works for me,” Fletcher said.

We sat in Adirondack chairs on the front balcony. We had a clear view of the rolling surf. The beach before us was public, but since it was late in the day, not many people were still out. A few were playing volleyball. The ocean roared, salty brine scented the breeze. The setting sun was painting the sky in a wash of oranges, purples, blues.

“I could get used to this,” I said.

“I know. Isn't it great?” Avery asked. “I really don't have any plans for us to do much while we're here. I figure tomorrow we'll spend some time down there sunning.”

“That's definitely on the schedule,” I told her.

“The schedule?” she asked. “What schedule?”

“I prepared an itinerary for the weekend. Tonight's Monopoly. Tomorrow night is cards. I brought everything. We'll sun in the morning before it gets too hot. In the afternoon we'll read. I'll post the schedule on the refrigerator.”

“Kendall, I think we should just chill,” she said.

“But we're on vacation.”

“Exactly. I want days without scheduling.”

“Taking care of dogs, you're going to need a schedule. You should probably take them for a walk later this
evening,” I said, trying not to take offense that she wasn't thankful for all the planning I'd put into the next three days.

“Works for me,” Avery said.

We waited until the sun had set and the beach was completely vacated. I walked Pooh Bear while Avery led Duchess. The guys had stayed behind with the excuse of cleaning up after supper. Not that there was anything really to clean up. I figured they just knew that Avery and I wanted some time together.

Wearing flip-flops, we walked along the water's edge. The dogs trotted along beside us, stopping every now and then to sniff at something.

“Guess you figured out that I invited you because you have way more patience with dogs than I do,” Avery said.

“Hey, whatever gets me to the beach.”

“Sorry about the two beds,” Avery said.

“Not a problem. I'm pretty sure nothing was going to happen, anyway.” Especially since Jeremy didn't seem to hesitate to take the twin beds.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just—” Pooh Bear pulled on the leash. I let her lead us over to the dunes. We stood there while the dogs explored.

“You just?” Avery prodded.

“I want something a little different from what I have.”
There. I'd spilled it, had actually said it out loud and it kind of scared me that the words were now being carried on the breeze. I looked back to make sure that Jeremy wasn't behind me, that he hadn't heard me.

“Are you thinking of breaking up with Jeremy?” Avery asked. “You seem so perfect together.”

“No, not thinking of breaking up. I adore him. But he's so cautious.
We're
so cautious. You and Fletcher can't seem to keep your hands off each other. Jeremy and I never embrace the passion. It's like we're afraid, worried about consequences.”

“That's good, though. You don't want to make rash decisions.”

How could I explain what was missing? “I want more romance. Running instead of walking into each other's arms. Doing something spur-of-the-moment before I've had time to analyze it, to put it on a schedule.”

She touched my arm. “I hurt your feelings about the schedule.”

“No. Maybe a little. But that has nothing to do with Jeremy and me. I'm more upset that he was totally okay with two beds. I thought this weekend would be a chance for us to go a little further than we have.”

“We'll take the two beds.”

“No, it's not even that anymore. It's just what it signified. He's too nice.”

She gave me an indulgent smile. “Kendall, that's not really something to complain about.”

“I know. It's totally messed up. I'm hoping that being part of the gun show will cause him to break out of this shell of politeness, will unleash this tough competitiveness that will make him strut his stuff more.”

“His stuff?”

“There's a new guy at the shelter. Chase. Jade was all over him. And she said that Jeremy wasn't hot. It bothers me that she doesn't realize what a catch Jeremy is.”

“I don't think you should worry about what Jade thinks.”

“I know, but it's more than that. It's like at the B. S. when he and Fletcher were standing in line to place our order—girls talked to Fletcher. They don't talk to Jeremy.”

She groaned. “Fletcher knows so many girls. He's hung out with so many girls.”

“Jeremy just hung out with us,” I said, even though I didn't think it mattered how many girls either of them hung out with. Hands down, Fletcher was a chick magnet.

“Which is good, right? It's nice that he isn't a player.”

“It is, but I guess I wouldn't mind if people
thought
he was a player.”

“You want people to be jealous of what you have?” she asked.

“Sorta. Is that wrong of me? I just think we could be a little more exciting.”

“I think you need to be careful what you wish for.”

“That sounds like something my mom would say.”

“Probably because it's true.”