Page 23 of Moonlit Harbor Nights

He turned around and stuck his tongue out at her, and she laughed.

“You can sit in that chair there,” he told her. “I don’t want you to have to stand the whole time.” He gestured to a lawn chair that was placed next to a pillar behind her.

“Sure. Thanks.” She plopped down in the lawn chair—after first checking to make sure it wasn’t too dirty. She was wearing dark jeans paired with a magenta blazer, and she didn’t want the blazer getting stained.

Dean started to tell her a story about the car of a local couple while he worked. She listened attentively at first, but after a couple of minutes, the dream haze she was in seemed to take over her brain. She found herself staring into space, thinking about what Cooper had said about her planting a garden at his house. She kept imagining the garden, and getting to work in it with Cooper, while Macey played nearby. She imagined her hands, digging in the dirt with a trowel, and she imagined that on her hand was a diamond engagement ring…

“Julia?”

She looked up, startled. Dean was blinking at her in confusion.

“What?” she stammered.

“I asked you a question,” he said. “Does the air conditioning ever work at all, or is it totally gone?”

“Uh, sorry, Dean. It never works at all. Or, we never could get it to work at least.”

“Sounds like a hot summer.” He shook his head, chuckling.

“Yeah, it was toasty.”

“So how come you’re so distracted?” he asked her as he continued to work. “Where’s your mind at?”

“Oh, it’s just…” Her voice trailed off. She didn’t want to come right out and tell Dean that she thought Cooper was thinking of proposing to her, but she decided that she could tell himabout all of the things that Cooper had said. Maybe Dean would read between the lines and realize why she felt so excited and distracted. “Well, I made a birthday dinner for Cooper. We didn’t have an actual party with other guests there, it was just me and Macey and Cooper, but he loved it. I decorated the dining room and made him a cake and alfredo lasagna.”

“Sounds nice.” Dean smiled.

“Thanks. It definitely made him really happy, and he said that he couldn’t imagine a day without me.” She inhaled excitedly and kept going. “He even went so far as to say that I should start a garden in his backyard. As in, a whole vegetable garden. We wrote up a plan for one and everything.”

“Wow, really?” Dean looked interested as he continued to work. “That sounds really nice, Julia.”

She squirmed a little, wondering if he thought it meant that Cooper was going to propose. Dean was a man, after all. Maybe he would have a better idea of what might be going on in Cooper’s head than she did.

“Hey, Dean!”

Both Julia and Dean turned in surprise to see Alexis walking toward them across the garage. Julia jumped up to give her a hug as Dean climbed out of Julia’s car.

“Hey, you!” Julia grinned at her sister. “What’s the occasion?”

Alexis lifted up a plastic bag containing a to-go box. “I brought lunch for Dean. I had Allison make it, and now that I’m on my lunch break I decided to stop by to drop it off.”

Dean frowned a little as he took the bag from Alexis. “Why are you doing this?”

Alexis shook her head. “You’ve really seemed tired the last couple of days. I want to make sure that you’re keeping your strength up. You’ve got to take care of yourself, Dean.”

Julia noticed that Dean’s frown deepened, but Alexis didn’t seem to notice it. She continued to talk about the lunch she’d made for Dean, patting her belly as she spoke.

“I have to confess, I ate half the Fritos that are in there with your burrito on the way here. I suddenly was craving them like crazy, and then I realized they’re not actually what I’m craving.” She shook her head and sighed.

“Sounds like you need some peanut butter,” Julia teased.

Alexis made a face at Julia.

“I wish you hadn’t done this, Alexis,” Dean said. He looked upset.

“Are you mad about the Fritos?” Alexis asked, looking dismayed.

“No!” Dean ran his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated. His tone was short, and Julia hadn’t heard him speak that way in a long time. “I’m doing fine, Alexis. I don’t need you to bring me lunch. There’s no need to give me special treatment here.”

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