“I do,” I said. I looked at Chloe. “How does that sound?”
She seemed either nervous or unwilling to look at me; I wasn’t sure which it was. Probably it had something to do with the way I had left things with her yesterday, and I didn’t totally blame her. I sure as hell wasn’t trying to be one of those guys who fucked with people’s heads just for the fun of it. I’d make it up to her today; I’d be friendly but not overly so, and neither of us would have to feel weird about any of this.
“How’s your arm?” I asked.
“You did a great job,” Tara said before Chloe could answer. “I will definitely be coming down there.”
They grabbed their towels and beach chairs and threw them into the back of the truck. I put the cooler in there as well and then they climbed in, both of them getting in the front, despite the truck actually having a back seat. Tara, of course, was in the middle.
I aired down the tires to the recommended eleven psi, and we drove to the back end of the parking lot where the entrance to the outer beach was.
“So,” Tara said as I slowly navigated the truck through the soft sand. “I’m really glad that you were able to join us today. I actually had somewhat of an ulterior motive in asking you.”
“Tara.” Chloe said it under hear breath but I still heard her.
“This sounds interesting.” I shot her a sideways glance. “And what exactly might this ulterior motive be?”
“I realize it’s going to sound a little ... I don’t know, strange ... but I was thinking that since it’s such a beautiful day out, and since we’re actually going to be going to the outer beach, maybe you’d pose for a picture or two with me.”
“Are you an aspiring model?”
She laughed. “Oh, you’re too kind. No. I’m nowhere near tall enough. Like I said, I know this is going to sound a little juvenile, and you can totally say no if you want, but it would just be to post one or two of them on a few of my social media accounts. I wouldn’t even use your name, if you didn’t want.”
I nodded, waiting for her to continue, but she didn’t. “I feel as though there’s something else you can add to this that will suddenly make it make sense,” I finally said.
Chloe leaned forward and turned her head to look at me. “It’s to make her ex-boyfriend jealous.”
“I know it sounds silly,” Tara said quickly. “But, you’d really be doing me a favor, because my ex is an asshole and he left me for someone else, despite telling me that he planned on us getting married.”
“Eh ... I’m not that big on social media,” I said.
“Maybe it could just be the two of us standing there, and your back could be to the camera or something. We wouldn’t have to see your face.”
“I find it a little hard to believe that I’m the only prospect you have to make this ex-boyfriend of yours jealous.”
“This is just something that I want to do, like, yesterday.” Tara started digging through her purse. She pulled out her phone and started tapping at the screen. “He’s been posting pictures practically every fucking minute of his trip, and I just feel like he’s doing it to try to get a reaction out of me.”
“Which he totally is,” Chloe said. “Don’t feel like you have to do this,” she added. “Michael is a total weirdo anyway, and everyone was glad when they broke up!”
“What about you?” Tara asked. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Nope.” I slowed the truck down. “How does this spot look?”
We’d driven past most of the other vehicles and had a nice stretch of beach all to ourselves.
“Perfect,” they both said at the same time.
I parked and then helped them unload their stuff. Tara promptly spread her beach blanket out and lay down. Chloe took some time setting her stuff up and then took her coverall off, revealing a much more modest two-piece than the one Tara was wearing. Still, she looked great. She caught me looking and I tried to cover it up by asking if anyone wanted to go swimming.
“In that water?” Tara asked. “Hell no; it’s going to be freezing.”
“I’ll at least stick my feet in,” Chloe said.
Tara grinned. “You two have fun. Be good.”
Chloe put her sun hat back on and we walked through the soft sand down toward the water. I stopped before we got to the surf, though, and she looked back at me.
“The best way to go about something like this is to just run right in,” I said. And before she could reply, I did exactly that.