Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 145823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
The boy tucked his head into his mom’s neck, but once I waved, he did, too, opening and shutting a tiny fist. Had Finley really ever been that small?
“So you’re the next-door neighbor,” Ember remarked with a slow smirk, glancing at Sam, who nodded.
“That would be me.” I smiled.
Pretty sure this was exactly how animals felt at the zoo, because they were all staring at me. The women wore curious expressions, and the guys were flat-out skeptical.
Morgan’s hand tightened at my waist as the quiet in the room became stifling. The island felt like a no-man’s land, with Sam, Morgan, and I on one side and her friends on the other.
“You were right,” I told Sam. “Awkward is a good word.”
She scoffed and smacked my arm with the back of her hand. “So did you four want me to get the swinging lightbulb so you can sweat him out in an interrogation right here, or did you want to do it by the bonfire?”
Paisley rolled her eyes, then elbowed her husband when he looked like he was considering it.
“I’d prefer the bonfire, since my friends are down there,” I said with a small shrug.
Morgan and I had set this up a few days ago, thinking it might be a little easier on everyone involved if we had a barbecue to kick off the weekend and break the tension, rather than waiting for Monday, when we’d have another one, of course.
“I second the bonfire,” Sam added.
“Is that okay for Peyton?” Morgan asked, her eyes drifting to the baby. “There are still a couple of hours before sunset.”
“Oh, sure!” Paisley answered. “We’ll just grab his sunshade. Baby?”
“On it,” Jagger answered, heading up the stairs. Guess that answered the question of where everyone was staying.
Once Jagger had the shade, we took the back deck stairs to the path that wound over the dune, and Morgan laced her fingers through mine.
“You doing okay?” I asked.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” She gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
I paused halfway up the dune and told Sam we’d meet them in a bit as she passed us.
“What’s wrong?” Morgan asked.
Once the others were out of sight, I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her.
She melted against me, and that simple kiss transformed into something far more intense than I had planned. When I lifted my head, her eyes were slightly glazed and her posture was infinitely more relaxed.
“That’s better,” I said, tucking her hair behind her ear so I could see her face.
“What was that for?”
“To remind you that you don’t have to put on a front for me. I know you’re struggling with them here.”
She looked away, and I tilted her head so she’d bring those eyes back to mine.
“What if I can’t do this?”
“You can,” I assured her. “And if it gets to be too much, then you can head to my house and regroup. I’ll say you have to feed the guinea pig.”
“Even if it takes me an hour to regroup?” she questioned, lifting an eyebrow.
“She has a fish and a turtle, too. Trust me, we can find an excuse.”
She laughed, and I kissed her nose.
When we started back up the dune, I saw Paisley at the top, staring down at us with a mixture of confusion and happiness. Then her face fell slightly as she turned to walk back to the beach.
“She misses you.” I took Morgan’s hand as we started climbing.
“She misses who I used to be,” she said softly as we crested the dune.
“I’m not going to tell you how to feel or how to handle this. You tell me what you need me to be, and I’ll be that, okay?”
“I just need you.” She squeezed my hand and surveyed the small gathering. “You know they’re going to grill you, right?”
“They wouldn’t be good friends if they didn’t.”
Knowing that fact didn’t make the next hour any less painful. While Morgan sat with her friends, sneaking glances at me every few minutes, Josh and Jagger fired questions at me from both sides. She was close enough to hear my answers but trusted me to hold my own and didn’t interfere.
I’m twenty-eight. My daughter is five. No, her mother and I aren’t together. Yes, I like Morgan. We met when I pulled her out of her staircase. Yes, I know her contractor. Yes, he gave her fair estimates. On and on the questions came, until I was pretty sure they were about to ask for my social security number so they could run a credit check.
The only thing they hadn’t asked—
“And what do you do for a living?” Josh asked.
Ah, there it is. “I’m a coast guard search and rescue pilot,” I answered.
Morgan’s eyes locked with mine.
“Are you shitting me?” Jagger leaned forward in his chair.
“Nope.” I winked at Morgan, hoping she’d relax enough to breathe. Her gaze flickered between the guys. “Been stationed here five years.”