Page 15 of Summer on Sunshine Bay

“They didn’t see you, did they?” Lila asked as she ducked behind him, peeking over his shoulder.

“Afraid so, sweetheart. Your mother was climbing the retaining wall.”

Lila heard a hint of disconcerted amusement in his voice. “Why on earth would she… Oh.” They’d wanted to check out the competition without being seen.

Several of the other locals in the crowd shook their heads with indulgent smiles on their faces as they shared previous antics of the Heartbreakers. Everyone in town had a story.

“What’s going on?” David asked, cupping his hand over his eyes. They widened. “Is that your mother, aunt, and grandmother?”

Lila was too upset with him to respond. This was his fault. Not her mother climbing the wall, of course. But he’d put Lila in this position. There was movement to her left, and she glanced that way. It was Luke. He’d left his grandmother’s side to stand at the wall, focusing on the dark, calm strip of water Lila’s grandmother was headed toward. Then he yelled the word every swimmer in Sunshine Bay dreaded. “Rip!”

Lila stepped from behind her father, yelling at her mother, aunt, and grandmother with the rest of the crowd, but it was too late. Her grandmother was caught in the strong, narrow current and being pulled out to sea.

Luke kicked off his shoes and removed his white shirt and his chinos. Lila’s cheeks warmed, and she averted her gaze from his muscled and golden-tanned physique. Luke Hollingsworth in black boxers was a sight to behold. Several women gasped as he vaulted over the wall. Lila thought she might’ve been one of them and avoided meeting David’s gaze.

Which is when she noticed that her father, along with a thirtysomething man who looked vaguely familiar, were stripping off their jackets.

Lila stopped her father with a tug on his sleeve. He was an excellent swimmer, but he wasn’t used to the waters off the cape, and she worried about his blood pressure. “Look,” she said, pointing to her mother and her aunt, who were swimming to her grandmother’s rescue with strong, expert strokes.

“Ryan!” someone called to the other man, who was about to jump off the wall. “No need to get wet, lad. Eva and Gia have her.”

Now Lila knew why he looked familiar. Ryan had been four years ahead of her and played on the high school football team with Luke.

She returned her attention to the drama in the bay, releasing a relieved sigh. Her mother and aunt—with Lila’s grandmother between them—were swimming parallel to the shore and out of the rip. The Heartbreakers didn’t need anyone to come to their rescue, especially a man. They took care of their own.

As the three women got closer to shore, they smiled and chatted with Luke, no doubt thanking him for his valiant rescue attempt. Then Lila’s mother rose from the surf, her black wraparound dress clinging to her voluptuous curves, her long, dark hair framing a face that belonged on a movie screen. Appreciative gasps came from the men in the crowd, including Lila’s father, who caught her raised-eyebrow glance and shrugged. Her mother smiled, well aware of her seductive power, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes when her gaze met Lila’s.

Her father put his arm around her. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll go with you. Your mother will understand.”

She glanced at her father’s face. He didn’t believe that any more than she did. She nodded, feeling sick to her stomach.

“Eva!” Lila looked to see Ryan galloping through the surf after her mother, high-fiving Luke as he passed him. Her mother turned, shaking her head with a laugh when Ryan lifted her into the air. He swung her around and kissed her full on the lips.

Lila cringed. Her mother would never change.

Beside her, David made a face. “That guy has to be a decade younger than her.”

“And your point is?” she asked David.

“Just that…” He gave her a strained smile. “Nothing.” He was about to put his arm around her when he noticed her father’s was already there. He let it drop to his side. “It’s probably best if I let you talk to your family alone.”

“Probably,” Lila agreed.

Chapter Six

Handsome boy,” Eva’s mother murmured as they watched Ryan head back to Windemere.

Eva nodded, unable to come up with a bawdy remark that would make her mother laugh. Her mind was busy replaying the moment she’d seen Lila standing on Windemere’s patio at her father’s side.

They looked alike with their honey-blond hair shining bright in the setting sun. A golden man and a golden girl. Lila had been more James’s daughter than hers since she’d moved away. She imagined their reaction to Ryan twirling her around and kissing her. Lila had never approved of her unconventional lifestyle, and neither had James.

“Are we going to talk about it?” Gia asked, taking Eva’s hand in hers. On Eva’s other side, Carmen did the same.

Eva glanced at her mother, wondering if they should be doing this now. She’d seen the panic on her mother’s face when she realized she was caught in the rip. Fear, an emotion Eva was unfamiliar with when it came to Carmen, had closed a tight fist around her heart. Not because she was afraid her mother would drown—Eva and her sister were accomplished swimmers, well equipped to deal with the currents in Sunshine Bay—but because it was the first time her mother had looked her age, and Eva had realized Carmen wasn’t invincible.

Her fingers tightened around her mother’s hand. Carmen glanced at her and gave Eva’s hand a reassuring squeeze as if she sensed her fears. Gia mustn’t have noticed, her voice cutting through a silence as heavy as the humidity. “I know we’re all thinking it.”

Their mother nodded. “It’s James. He owns Windemere, and our Lila works for him.”

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