You and Me | ✅

t w e n t y s e v e n

River packed a quick bag for Rosie before she put on a bathing suit that actually covered her body and then she put a short sundress on over it.

"River, you ready!?" Hayze called from downstairs.

"Yeah!" she shouted as she scrambled to grab the bag and get down stairs.

When she got outside, Rosie was sitting in her little yellow dress on the dock with a star fish in her hands while Hayze dived to the bottom searching for something.

He must have gotten the starfish for her to look at.

"Baby," she called as she stooped down next to her. "What's that?"

"Muh ma ma," she babbled as she held the starfish gingerly in her little hands.

She smiled at how gentle Rosie was with it.

"Say star fish. Star fish," River sounded out for her.

"S-sta is."

River giggled and kissed her baby's head just as a little sail boat came into view.

"Mama!" Rosie squealed as she pointed to the incoming boat.

"Yeah baby. A boat," she smiled, just as excited to see it.

 She had to keep her jaw from dropping when Hayze pulled himself up onto the dock, beads of water rolling down his strong chest and sliding down to meet the happy trail that led from his belly button to the hem of his swim trunks as he stood up straight. She'd never seen him look so tanned, strong and sexy at one time and it was a little overwhelming.

"Careful bella rosa, you're drooling," he chuckled

She glared and quickly thought of something to take attention off of her. "Why did you leave her here by herself?" She scolded as she picked Rosie up.

"I told her to stay and she did. She's fine," he said just as the boat drifted into the dock. "Lets go say hi."

Hayze picked up her bags while River tried to coax Rosie to place the starfish back in the water.

"Come on Rosie. Put it back please baby," she said softly as she shook her hand over the water.

When she didn't let go, she took the starfish out of her hand and placed it gently back in the water which made Rosie start to cry.

"I know baby. Don't cry. We're going on the pretty sail boat," she said as she bounced Rosie in her arms and pointed to a boat where a young couple and a little boy were standing around.

She walked over and continued cooing at her baby until a little boy with peircing gray eyes and dirty blond hair ran over barefooted on the sail boat and made eye contact with her.

As soon as the two's eyes met, Rosie stopped crying and the little boy froze. Like they had seen eachother before. But that was impossible.

"Hi," River smiled gently though the boy never shared her a glance.

The couple walked up to them and waved. The man had caramel skin and brown hair while the woman had dirty blond and decently tanned skin. The both of them were quite tall, the husband being around 6"2 and the wife maybe.. 5"11. "Hello, its good to see you."

Hayze shared a handshake with the man. "Its good to see you too. You guys never told me you had a child. I would have added a child friendly area in the beach house."

"Oh no," the woman laughed. "Its perfectly fine. Cyrus here spends most of his time in the water anyway. Only comes back to sleep and eat basically," she said as he ruffled the boys hair.

"Hi," River smiled shyly as she hiked Rosie up higher in her arms.

"Hey," the woman grinned. "I'm Margot and this is my husband Kaui."

(Pronounced: Koo-wai)

"Hi, its nice to meet you," she said as she shifted Rosie over to her hip and shook their hands.

"Who is this little cutie?" Margot asked as she reached over and tickled Rosie's little toes. Rosie shied away slightly, tucking her face into River's neck.

River rubbed her back and nudged her slightly so she looked up. "Say hi Rosie. Be nice baby."

Rosie did a little wave and the two couples laughed and awed at her. "She's so smart."

"Say hi Cyrus," Kaui said as he nudged the little boy forward. 

He waved and then his gaze fell to Rosie's little feet. "Baby?" he asked as he cocked his head and reached out to gently grab Rosie's foot. Rosie squealed as he ran his little fingers across her foot.

Margot laughed and ruffled her little boys hair. "Yes darling. She's a little baby."

Cyrus looked at Rosie for a few more seconds before running back to the helm of the boat.

"Sorry, he's actually never seen a baby before. She's so pretty," Margot said as she tickled Rosie's tummy. "Well come on so we can get to sailing."