Page 14 of Summer on Sunshine Bay

Willow frowned. “Yeah, so was I.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Willow. Luke Hollingsworth didn’t have a thing for me,” Lila said, instead of asking her cousin why she’d never told her.

“He totally did, but it doesn’t matter if Luke saw you,” Sage said. “His grandmother will make sure no one in her family says anything. The last thing Ruth wants is for Nonna to find out she was at Windemere.”

“You’re right.” The tension in Lila’s shoulders eased for the first time since she and David had landed in Boston the week before. Her cousins might not agree with her decision to marry him, but they’d have her back. She’d loved living in London and working for her father, but she’d missed her family.

“I am. At least about the Hollingsworths, but Lila, you have to get out of there without anyone else seeing you. Can you do that?”

Lila nodded. “There’s an emergency exit just down the hall from me.”

Escaping unseen would be the easy part; figuring out what to text David and her father would be more difficult. Her dad was already worried about her, and her hasty getaway would worry him further. Then again, he’d completely understand why she didn’t want to be seen at Windemere. It was only David who didn’t seem to get it.

She said goodbye to her cousins and ended the call. It would take Sage a couple of hours to drive from Boston to Sunshine Bay, which was probably a good thing. Lila could work on one cousin at a time. Of the two, Willow would be easier to deal with. She might believe in the Rosetti curse, but she was also a romantic at heart. Sage was a cynical hard-ass.

Lila glanced at a text from Willow, relieved that her cousin’s house was in easy walking distance. There was a key under the front mat and wine in the refrigerator. Lila grimaced. The Rosetti women loved their wine. Lila would have to pretend she was drinking. She wasn’t a superstitious person, but she didn’t want to jinx her pregnancy by sharing the news with her cousins.

Lila shut off the light, texting David as she walked into the empty hallway. As she closed the door behind her, her phone rang. She sighed at the name on the screen and connected the call.

“You can’t leave, Lila,” David said, his voice muffled. She wondered if he’d ducked under the table again.

“David, I’m not arguing about this. I’m meeting my cousins at Willow’s. I can’t put off telling my fam—”

“You can’t leave. Your father’s made a mess of everything. My mother was close to tears! It took me five minutes to calm my parents down, and my brother sat there with a smug grin on his face the entire time.”

“I don’t understand. Everything was fine when—”

“You ran from the table looking like you were going to throw up?”

“I did throw up!” She blew out a breath. This wasn’t helping matters, and the longer she stood in the hall, the more likely it was that someone she knew would see her.

“You sound fine,” he said, as if he didn’t believe she’d been sick.

“Okay, I’m hanging up now,” she said, heading for the emergency exit.

“No, wait. All I’m asking for is five minutes. I just need you to convince your father that you’re on board with holding the wedding and reception at Windemere. You’re the only one who can get through to James when he’s in his lord-of-the-manor mood.”

Lila stiffened, offended by the slight to her father. His parents might’ve been titled members of the British peerage, but there wasn’t a high-and-mighty bone in James Sinclair’s body. Lila’s father treated everyone with kindness and respect. If anyone could be accused of acting high and mighty, it was David’s father.

David continued. “My dad was trying to explain why La Dolce Vita wasn’t suited to host the wedding festivities. To be honest, I can’t believe your father would even suggest it. Anyway, James, in that bloody plummy voice of his, said that as you were the bride and he was paying for the wedding, it would be up to you to decide. And then he tossed his napkin on the table like it was a challenge and strode off.”

She didn’t like the sound of this at all. She was worried about her father’s blood pressure. He’d been diagnosed with high blood pressure the year before. “Where is he?”

“He’s on the patio, staring broodingly out to sea.”

“Does he look okay? His coloring isn’t off, is it?”

“No, he seemed…” He trailed off.

“David, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. A bunch of people are crowding around him on the patio.”

Lila gasped and disconnected from David, her heart racing as she ran from the hall into the restaurant. She recognized several people on the patio, including Luke and his grandmother. Ruth was wringing her hands, and Luke appeared to be comforting her. Lila searched the throng of people, her heartbeat slowing when she spotted her father. “Excuse me,” she said as she made her way to him. She wouldn’t be satisfied he was all right until she’d seen it with her own eyes.

She touched his arm, searching his profile. His color seemed a little high. “Dad, what’s going on?”

He turned to her and lifted an eyebrow, pointing to the rolling surf. And there they were, the Heartbreakers of Sunshine Bay, her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother, frolicking in the waves, their gorgeous faces lit up with laughter.

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