Pool Boys Read Online Free PDF Page B

thought I’d beat the lunch rush.” Jimmy winked and went back to polishing the glasses. “I didn’t make a mistake, did I?”
    “Are you kidding?” Caleb shoved a fry into his mouth. “Thanks a lot.”
    “Don’t thank me. You’re the best tipper here. Nobody else ever tips. They just sign for everything. You’re gonna send my kids to college.”
    “Aren’t your kids, like, thirty years old? Your son’s a newspaper man.”
    “Okay, my grandkids.” Jimmy poured a glass of Coke and placed it beside Caleb’s plate. “Bon appétit.”
    A hand clapped down on Caleb’s shoulder.
    “Just the man I wanted to see,” Ethan said, slouching beside him. He was flushed and his tennis whites were nearly soaked through. He nodded to Jimmy. “A glass of water, please, when you have a second? Thanks. I’m totally wiped.”
    Jimmy shook his head. “Look at you,” he joked. “Some tennis pro.”
    “Seriously, bro,” Caleb agreed. “You really should keep in shape over the winter. Self-improvement. That’s the ticket.”
    Ethan glared at him. “Thanks. I appreciate the advice.”
    Jimmy placed a glass of water in front of Ethan, and then headed back to the kitchen. “Enjoy, ladies!” he called over his shoulder. The doors swung shut behind him.
    Ethan laughed.
    “I’m going to have that man fired for insubordination,” Caleb pronounced, in an uncanny imitation of his own father. “So what’s up, Brennan? How’s the first day of the new season? You think Georgia and that new chick are ever gonna stop hogging the courts?”
    “Why the sudden interest in Georgia?” Ethan asked, frowning.
    “You mean, aside from the fact that I’ve known her since she was born?” Caleb replied dryly. “Don’t worry. I’m the one guy here who poses absolutely no threatto you in terms of the opposite sex. Actually, I was more interested in Valerie. Not that I’d have a chance. Want a fry?”
    Ethan rolled his eyes. “No, thanks. But do me a favor? Drop the insecure act. It gets annoying after a while.”
    Caleb grinned. “I was just telling Charlotte the same thing.”
    “You were?” Ethan scooped up his glass of water, draining most of it in one long gulp and then wiping his mouth with his arm. “Why? Did you ask her to the Midsummer Ball?”
    Caleb laughed, surprised. “The Midsummer Ball? I keep forgetting that you’ve only worked here two summers. Nobody thinks about the ball, you know, until after July Fourth, at least—”
    “Oh, God, no,” Ethan muttered, his eyes widening. “It’s her. Gotta run.”
    All at once, Ethan was a blur of motion, gobbling up a handful of Caleb’s fries, draining his glass of water, and snatching up his tennis racket. Caleb had never seen the guy move so fast, not even out on the courts. Ethan made a swift beeline toward the glass doors that opened onto the pool patio, and was gone.
    Caleb turned toward the main dining hall entrance. Ah …there she was, Mrs. Eliza von Klaus (she’d kept her last name after the divorce)—in all her nipped, tucked, floral-Gucci-sundress glory. And she’d brought Stella, the family’s stinky Labrador. No wonder Ethan had bolted.Why wasn’t the “No Pets” policy ever enforced? That dog wasn’t just a menace. That dog was evil. It was like something out of a Stephen King novel. It drooled, it stank…and, well, here it came.
    “Well, if it isn’t Caleb Ramsey!” shrieked Mrs. von Klaus. She sauntered forward and pecked Caleb on the cheek. “How are you, dear? It’s been eons.”
    Caleb mustered a pained smile. “Actually, I saw you last weekend.”
    “Oh, right!” She laughed and clamped a bony, manicured hand over her mouth. “Sorry, dear. I’ve been a little out of sorts lately.”
    “It’s okay. I think we all have.”
    “You say the funniest things!” she murmured. She grasped his shoulder. “Listen, sweetie, I’m trying to find my daughter. I want a quick word with her before I change for tennis. I’ve got a one