Page 60 of The Hook Up
“Um, sure.” Ty gulped back a wave of panic, then realized he should probably try to sound more confident. “No problem.” He glanced around, a little frantic at the idea of being left in charge. Okay, so there were at least a million lifeguards patrolling the place, and Henry wasn’t anywhere near any of the pools.
You can do this.
“I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Thanks.” Ellie got up and headed for the locker room.
Ty admired the sway of her hips.
Stop ogling the mom and keep your eyes on the kid, jackass.
He turned and looked back at the play structure, momentarily alarmed not to see Henry. As his heart began to race, he scanned the walkways and stairs for a sign of the familiar blond head.
A female shriek snapped his attention to a spot just below one of the bridges. A woman stood clutching her top, staring up at the buckets of water pouring down on her. She was laughing, but another set of giggles echoed from above.
Henry.Ty stood up and headed toward the bridge.
As he mounted the skid-proof stairs, three older boys scurried away, leaving Henry alone on the bridge with his hands clutching one of the yellow buckets.
“Hey, little man,” Ty said. “Whatcha doing?”
Henry looked up and grinned. “My new friends showed me a good trick,” he said.
“What’s that?” Ty ambled up beside him and leaned against the railing. He had a pretty good idea what the trick was. Maybe his childhood hadn’t included waterparks, but he’d been a six-year-old boy once.
“If you get the buckets all full of water and then wait, you can pour them on the ladies underneath,” Henry explained.
“I see,” Ty said slowly, admiring the thought process even though the moment called for something other than a high-five. “And why would you want to do that?”
“Because sometimes I get to see their boobies.”
Well. Couldn’t fault that logic.
Ty cleared his throat. Ellie wouldn’t be a fan of the boy using slang instead of real words, but that wasn’t Ty’s chief concern.
“How do you think the ladies feel about that?” he asked. He kept his voice casual, not wanting to be the asshole scolding a kid who wasn’t his, but still. Something had to be said, and he was the grownup who happened to be standing here.
Henry frowned, looking mystified. He glanced down as though expecting a bikini-clad lady to appear and provide the answer.
“I don’t know,” Henry said. “Most of them laugh.”
“Right.” Ty repositioned himself against the railing beside Henry, edging sideways to let a family move past them on the bridge. “Sometimes people laugh when they’re uncomfortable, though. Have you ever done that?”
“Maybe,” Henry said, sounding uncertain. His lashes were flecked with water droplets, and Ty wondered how much booby action the boy actually saw without his glasses.
“I’m going to tell you a secret,” Ty said. “Are you ready?”
The boy’s eyes lit up, and he nodded like Ty had just offered him a case of Butterfingers. “Yeah!”
“Okay, but this secret is just for gentlemen. Are you a gentleman?”
“Like Gentleman Ghost from Batman?”
Ty frowned, not sure what the hell the kid was talking about. “Maybe. Is Gentleman Ghost a good guy or a bad guy?”
“A bad guy.”
“Oh. Then no. Not like him.” Ty rubbed a hand over his chin, pretty sure he was messing this up. “A good guy gentleman is someone who’s kind to ladies,” he said. “To all people, really, but especially to ladies.”
