"I'm sorry Miss, but we can't allow you pool access unless you are a guest staying with us. Or a timeshare owner."

Kit squinted her eyes as she studied the woman behind the front desk. Her name tag read Laura, and everything about her looked friendly except her eyes.

"What about a day pass?" Kit asked. 

"Unfortunately, we don't have day passes," Laura said, without a hint of regret in her voice. "We can't allow you pool access unless you are a guest staying with us, or a timeshare owner." Kit nodded, but didn't move, not ready to give up. "Miss, if there is nothing else I can help you with, would you kindly mind moving so I can help our guests." 

Kit gave her a big fake smile and moved aside. The Highland Resort lobby was a different place in the day time. It bustled with guests. Clattering dishes sounded from the restaurant, and splashes floated in from the pool. Kit moved to get a better view of the pool area and she could see Laura watching her. She turned back towards the front door, pulled out her phone and dialed Edison's phone for the tenth time. 

His deep, smooth voice welcomed her to his voicemail and she hung up. She scanned the lobby one more time. She was ready to find out what Jaxon was doing, when she spotted a familiar face exiting the door behind the front desk. Ollie paused to say something to Laura before rounding the desk. Kit smiled as he began to walk in her direction and casually leaned against the wall. 

"They really should fire you," she said, as he neared.

He was stunned by her statement, before he smiled in recognition. 

"You came back," he said with a flirty smile. His last few steps towards her held an extra dose of swagger.

"It took you long enough to notice," she joked, standing up straight. "I've been conversing with the lovely woman at the front desk for the last fifteen minutes. Were you taking a nap in that security room of yours?" 

He grinned. "First off, no one calls Laura lovely," he said.

They both looked to Laura behind the front desk, her smile as fake as the potted plant next to her. 

"She's a pleasant as a French waiter," Kit countered. 

He chuckled. "Secondly, maybe I did see you." 

She nodded in understanding. "You just didn't want to seem eager," she guessed. He smiled coyly. "What game were you playing on your phone?" she asked.

He laughed. "If you must know, I just scored my personal best on Angry Birds. But don't let my boss know," he added in a whisper. 

"My silence will cost you."

"What's the price?" He winked at her. "I remember a date mentioned when we met. I'm free tonight." 

"That's definitely not too eager," she teased. He gave a casual shrug. "My price isn't that high. I just want access to the pool." 

Ollie nodded in understanding. "You and every other teenage girl in Lighthouse Point," he said.

She smirked. They were thinking about the same lifeguard.

"He already has plenty of girls. Are you sure I can't persuade you to go in a different direction?"

Ollie pointed at himself. She laughed, and gave him a regretfully sweet smile. He let out a frustrated sigh.

"I knew I should have gotten you to agree to that date the first time we met. Eddie and his damn charm." 

"He really is the worst!" she agreed. 

He smiled. "Are you sure you want to waste this opportunity? You could hold this Angry Birds thing over my head, and get something better out of the bargain."

"I'm getting a great bargain. I've heard the outside bar has legendary smoothies." 

He let out a defeated breath and turned back towards the front desk. He watched Laura talk to a resort guest for a moment. "Fine. Once I get Laura to turn around, slip out onto the patio. The code to the gate is one-zero-two-three." 

Kit grinned and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Ollie," she said. 

"Sure sure," he grumbled. "My date offer is still available if you change your mind."

He looked at her for a moment, then headed back towards the front desk. He waited off to the side until Laura was done helping the guest, then caught her attention. 

They spoke for a moment before Laura started to laugh and smile. A flirty look slipped onto Ollie's face and Kit didn't feel so bad for turning him down. When Laura turned around and leaned against the desk, Kit moved swiftly across the lobby. She turned back as she slipped out onto the patio and gave Ollie a quick smile. 

It was late in the afternoon, but still hot. People were lazily lounging on the patio, half-filled plates and cups littering the tables. Kit made sure to stay along the edge and out of view of the front desk as she made her way towards the pool. 

The pool area was far more luxurious looking in the day time. The pool circled a group of large rocks with a water slide carved out of the side, and a large waterfall splashed over rocks into a small lagoon. 

Kit saw that the female guests were enjoying all the extravagances the pool offered, but none more than the one atop the lifeguard tower.

The luxurious atmosphere was no competition for Edison. He was casually lounging in his seat, embodying the very definition of charm as he smiled and flirted with the women around him. His hair was messy, he wore dark glasses and his red swim trunks off-set his tanned, bare chest. He played with the red whistle around his neck as he spoke with the girls gathered at the base of his chair.  

Kit watched for a few minutes, but it wasn't anything she hadn't seen. His charismatic smile, low chuckle, playfully comments. He timed them perfectly, impressively garnering the attention from a wide range of ages. But it was only the young females who were bold enough to gather around him like groupies. The older women enjoyed the view from the comfort of their lounge chairs and cabanas. 

She switched her attention from Edison to his admirers and was amused to find Amanda and several other cheerleaders at the center of the group. She recalled Edison saying a lot of the local families were timeshare owners at the resort. And it wasn't hard to piece together the resort's main attraction for the local girls. 

She watched a moment longer until the girl's high squealing laugh made her shudder. She found an empty lounge chair just past the lifeguard chair and headed that way, accentuating her saunter as she passed Edison. She didn't have to look to know her presence had been noticed. The high-pitched voices of the girls quickly died away. 

When she reached the empty chair, she looked around expectantly until a pool attendant rushed over with a towel and set it out on her chair for her. She didn't look towards the lifeguard tower until she was settled on her lounge chair. When she did look, she was barely able to hold back her gratified smile.

Edison was sitting up straight, his sunglasses resting low on his nose as he looked over them at her. Amanda was leading the cheerleaders with her death glares. 

Kit rested her head back, slipped on her sunglasses and closed her eyes. The girl's voices picked up again, with a more urgent tone as they tried to regain Edison's attention. But their attempts proved unsuccessful when a shadow fell over Kit a moment later. 

"Excuse me, miss," Edison said in a playful tone. She smiled as she looked up at him. "On behalf of Highland Resorts, I want to welcome you to the pool. I'm making it my personal responsibility to make sure you have a wonderful time today."

She gave him an impressed smile. "Do all guests receive such personal attention?"

"Only the special ones."

"And what qualities make a certain guest special?"

He grinned and sat on the edge of her chair. "Well, most importantly they have to be named Kit."

"Hey! My name is Kit," she said. 

"And they have to be excellent at dressing for golf."

"My golfing attire is world renowned."

"And finally, and most importantly, they must put peanut butter cups in their waffles."

She gave him an amazed look. "It's like this special treatment was tailored just for me!" 

"Actually, we get a lot of Kit's who wear outstanding golf attire and eat peanut butter cup waffles here," he said flatly. 

She let her expression fall. "I guess I'm not that special after all."

He tilted her chin up towards him and leaned closer.

"Now, that's something I don't believe anyone has ever said about you before," he said. 

She grinned until he added, "but we have an extremely high population of golfing and waffle eating Kit's here at Lighthouse Point, so...you'll have to go somewhere else if you want to be special." 

She shrugged. "Being special is overrated," she said. She scrunched up her nose. "I'll stay for the personal attention from the hot lifeguard." She sat up straighter and looked around. "Speaking of hot lifeguard, when is he going to show up?"

Edison let out a dry laugh and stood. "Probably when you start appreciating him," he said. He crossed his arms and glowered at her. 

"Come on," she laughed. "If I appreciated you, I'd get lost in your gaggle of admirers. Plus, I forgot my official groupie badge." 

He laughed and took a few slow steps away. "I don't think you have to worry about getting lost in a crowd." 

"You're just saying that because you want me to join the group."

"I said it, because it's true," he corrected her. He flashed her one of his hundred-watt smiles. "I have to get back to work, but I'll be keeping an eye on you St. James."

"I would hope so," she called after him. "I'm a horrible swimmer."

He laughed loudly as he climbed back up to his chair. 

The group of girls kept Edison from making another visit to her lounge chair, but they couldn't keep him away completely. He whistled when she passed on her way to the bar, and joined her while she waited for her smoothie, under the guise that he was checking the perimeter of the pool area. He stole a sip of her smoothie before returning to his chair. 

When she went in the water to cool off, he sat on the edge of the pool and flicked water at her. But it was only a few minutes before some of the girls were in the water and swimming towards him. Kit smiled at the helpless look he gave her as she left the pool.  

After an hour of being at the pool and overhearing the conversations of the rich and pampered, Kit was tired of her surroundings, so she blocked it out with her headphones. The sun and the pool were relaxing and it wasn't long before she fell asleep. 

When she woke, evening had set in, the pool area was almost empty, and Edison was standing over her. He had put on his lifeguard tank top and flip-flops, and had a backpack slung over one shoulder. She pulled her headphones out and sat up. He dumped the backpack on the ground and sat down next to her. He had hidden his messy hair underneath a backwards hat. 

"Hey sleeping beauty," he said. "I was worried you were dead for a moment. I was worried I'd have to kiss you to wake you up."

She gave him a lazy smile for his joke. "And that would be such a sacrifice on your part," she said. She yawned and stretched. "The conversations around me were so engaging they sent me right to sleep." 

"No surprise there," he said. "But I hope that didn't get in the way of Highland Resort achieving one-hundred percent customer satisfaction."

She thought it over, then smiled. "Fellow guests experience, C minus, but I won't hold the resort responsible for that." He gave her a grateful smile. "Smoothie, A. Towel service, A."

"And what about the most important part?" he asked. She gave him a questioning look. "The lifeguard?" 

She scrutinized him and he sat up straighter. "Workmanship, A," she said. He gave her an appreciative nod. "Alertness, A. Attire A+. The red swim trunks really complimented your abs."

His eyes went up in surprise. "And here I thought you were holding back your appreciation. What was that about getting lost in my, what did you call them? Gaggle of admirers?" He cupped his ear as if to be able to hear her more clearly. 

She laughed and jokingly pushed him. "Someone told me I didn't need to worry about that happening."

"Well, that person was right. Sounds like a very intelligent human."

"Don't push it," she warned him, "or I might take back what I said."

He laughed but didn't say anything more on the subject. 

His eyes jumped down and a small frown formed between his eyes. Kit glanced down and saw that her bathing suit had shifted slightly, revealing the edge of dark ink on the left side of her chest. 

"Do you have a tattoo?" he asked. His eyes darted back up to hers. 

"Just a small one," she said. 

His eyes went up in surprise. "Your parents let you get one?"

"Yeah."

"My mom would never let me get one," he said. "I told her I was thinking about it last year and I had to sit through a thirty-minute lecture of why tattoos are just regrets in the making." She laughed. "Can I see it?" he asked. 

She pulled the top of her bathing suit to the side a bit to reveal a small hourglass on the left side of her chest. It was barely bigger than a quarter. It was black and simple outline of an hourglass, with most of the lower half shaded in. He studied it silently. 

"I like it," he said. "What made you choose that?"

She shrugged. "Life, time, living, dying. I'm really deep," she said sarcastically. "Actually, I thought the design was pretty." She spoke in a high, ditsy voice that made him grimace. 

"It looks like the top is almost empty." 

"Or maybe, the bottom half is almost full," she countered. "Don't be a pessimist." He chuckled. "Besides, the only empty glass I'm concerned with," she added, "is this one." She held up her empty smoothie glass. 

He took it. "Do you want another one?"

"No. I only came for the hot lifeguard, but he seems to be off duty. There's really no reason to stick around."

"Wanna get out of here?" he asked. 

"What do you have in mind?" She pulled her shorts and shirt over her bathing suit.

"I'm hungry. Wanna grab some food?" 

She began to pack up her things. "I could go for some food. What time is it?"

"Almost eight. Al's?"

"I'm not sure I feel like a burger or a hot dog."

"How about spaghetti?" 

"Does Al's serve spaghetti?" she asked. 

"No. But my mom hasn't switched up the weekly menu for years," he said. "She always makes spaghetti on Saturdays."

She stopped packing up her things and looked at Edison. He looked relaxed, his hands in the pockets of his swim trunks, but there was a hesitant and questioning look in his eyes. 

She smiled. "Spaghetti sounds great." 

**********************************************************************

Oh no my Oreo!

Okay, I don't know if you have this, but my family has a weird thing about a specific number. It's actually a specific time.  For some reason we keep seeing it over and over again. It's now become this thing with us. When ever we see the time 10:23 we call it out because randomly we always see it. It even showed up in a magazine on a clock! Freaky!

Because of this we now use it. As you can see it was the code to the pool gate. It's the password to Sebastian's phone (main character from Every Second). It's the radio channel in Someday, Maybe (Take 2) my sister's mariajenkins143 book. It's just one of those things that will now live in the GPG universe (Girl Power Galaxy).

What's your opinion on tattoos?

Would you ever get one? If so, what?

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan. There are some I like but in general I don't care for them. Also I wouldn't get one myself because I'm constantly changing my mind and wouldn't be able to commit to something like that. I would probably get it and hate it a month later.

Real quick: tell me how to spell Peace, Love, Ice cream in your language and what language it is. I really don't want to make another mistake. ☺️

Aloha, ʻaikalima (Apparently Aloha stands for peace and love in Hawaiian. Who knew? Besides Hawaiian people of course)

Awwwww 🙈