Page 48 of Summer Love

"That's where you come in. If you publish that article, saying we're the most eligible bachelors on the island, we'll be flooded with offers from women," Shep said.

"That's not the point of the article," I reminded him.

He held his hands up. "We won't be hurting for attention. That's all I'm saying."

"Is there a shortage of dateable women on the island?" Elena asked.

"There're plenty of tourists." Shep said, and Cooper punched him in the arm.

"You know you sound like a jerk when you talk," Dalton said to him.

Shep grinned at Elena. "It's been ingrained in me for so long; it's too hard to change."

Elena gave him a dubious look. If she was looking for something deeper in Shep, I wasn't sure she'd find it. He did his job and had an active social life.

Finally, Mom said, "I'm heading inside. It's getting late."

We all packed up, extinguished the torches, and headed to the front of the house. We said our goodbyes and got into our trucks.

Inside the cab, Elena said, "Your family is interesting."

"Did you learn everything you needed to know?" I asked as I backed out.

"I think it raised more questions than it answered. An angle for the story is coming to me."

I didn't want to influence her story, so I didn't ask what that could be. "I hope it's not Shep's cavalier attitude about women. I honestly think he's all bluster."

"Shep's a good guy."

"That's what you got from tonight?" I thought he was goading her, deliberately acting like a bad boy so she'd write that into her story. I didn't understand him.

"It's what I could see beneath the surface."

I whistled. "I always thought Shep was more surface level."

Her face scrunched. "That's definitely not true. You're probably too close to the situation to see him clearly. Your family's great. I'm really impressed with how close you are, being such a big family. With the exception of Luna, you all live on the island."

"I enjoy living here, but I'm not sure all my brothers do. I keep waiting for one of them to say they want to try something else and move to the mainland."

"Do you need all your brothers working the business?"

"Probably not. But I'd hate not to work with them.”

"What about Marshall?"

I scrubbed over the piercing pain in my chest. "We're hoping he comes back at some point. But for now, he's happy."

"You don't like that he left though."

"We're the oldest. I thought I'd always have him by my side. When he decided to go into the military after college, I was surprised. Everything I thought about our future was suddenly different."

"That would be tough."

"Growing up, we kept our siblings in line. I wasn't sure I could do it alone. But I have with varying degrees of success."

"You miss him."

"Of course." I parked in her driveway and turned off the headlights. I didn't want to wake Grams if she was sleeping.

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