Page 42 of Summer on Sunshine Bay

“We need some seashells, Captain Luke,” one of the boys said, stirring half the contents of the pepper shaker into the glass.

“Good idea. Let’s go look for some.” Luke stood with the boys in his arms and moved away from the table. “Order me a steak, Gran, and if Heather comes by, let her know I’ve taken the boys to the beach.”

“Oh, we will, dear boy,” his grandmother said before sharing with the other women in an overloud whisper that she thought Heather and Luke would make a lovely couple.

Lila didn’t know what was wrong with her, but she had the oddest reaction to the thought of Luke with Heather.

Before she could think too long and too hard on the sudden spike in her heart rate and the heavy weight in her stomach, she heard raised voices coming from her family’s table. Lila groaned and lifted her eyes to Luke’s. “How bad is it?”

“You know how sharks act in a feeding frenzy? It looks a little like that.” He smiled, the dimple deepening in his cheek. “You’re welcome to join us.”

He had no idea how much she wanted to, but after her confusing reaction to his grandmother’s comment about him and Heather, Lila knew it would be a very bad idea. She could almost hear her mother’s voice telling her to go for it, to take the risk, to play with fire. You don’t always get burned. Sometimes it was the only way to find out who you truly are and what you really want.

But Lila wasn’t her mother. “Trust me, I’d love to, but I think I’d better go rescue my father.” She looped the quilted bag over Luke’s neck. “Have fun,” Lila said, turning to wade into the shark-fest.

Chapter Thirteen

You’re quiet. Are you thinking about Camilla?” Eva asked her sister as she turned the car onto Main Street.

She hadn’t had five minutes alone with Gia since Sunday’s dinner with the Westfields. After closing that night, Willow had stuck around to dissect the family dinner, and Sage had joined via Facetime. They’d all agreed that the odds of the wedding taking place were about the same as those of snow falling in Sunshine Bay in July.

But in case they were wrong, Willow and Sage had decided to throw Lila a bridal shower the following weekend, and for the past four days, they’d been preoccupied with getting everything organized. Now that Eva finally had her sister alone, she wasn’t about to let it go. Gia hadn’t been acting like herself, and Eva was worried about her.

Gia shook her head. “No, and I’d rather not talk about her, if you don’t mind. It just makes me mad and nervous and scared when I do, so I don’t. Besides, we haven’t heard from her in years. It’s a waste of energy to worry about something that probably won’t happen. As long as Ma is good with it, so am I. Although you might want to talk to Lila and make sure David and his father don’t try and take advantage of our connection to her. We have enough to worry about. Did you see Ma’s face when she found out Bruno was going to Puerto Rico for Ana’s mother’s funeral?”

Carmen had gotten the call from Bruno at closing the night before.

“I didn’t have to see her face. She broke three glasses in the kitchen.”

“She was taking her anger out on the bread dough this morning. It’s too bad she didn’t want to come with us today. It might’ve been the distraction she needed.”

They were on their way to Wedding Bells to shop for Lila’s dress.

Eva didn’t completely buy that her sister wasn’t thinking about Camilla or worrying about the fallout that would ensue if she returned to Sunshine Bay. She had a feeling Gia was using their mother’s reaction to Bruno’s trip as a distraction.

“We’ll talk to Ma when we get back to the restaurant. Between us, we can usually tease her out of her mood. But for now, put it out of your head.” Eva glanced at her sister as she started to turn down the narrow alley between Wedding Bells and Sunshine Flowers. Noting the way Gia’s mouth pulled down at the corners, Eva chanted, “Om,” the word vibrating in the back of her throat.

At the very least, she thought it might draw a smile from her sister, but instead Gia’s eyes widened. “Eva, the car won’t—”

At the screech of brick scraping against metal, Eva’s shoulders went up around her ears. “Madonna santo!This car is like myculo. I always think it’s smaller than it is.”

Gia looked at her and started to laugh.

“It’s not funny, G. Ma is going to kill me,” Eva said, looking over her shoulder as she put the car in reverse—only it didn’t move. She revved the engine and tried again.

“It’s stuck,” Gia said, her voice gurgling with laughter.

“I know!” Eva said, and tried opening her door. She’d be lucky to get her foot out. “We’re stuck too, G. What are we going to do?”

Her sister was laughing so hard she couldn’t talk, and that set Eva off. She was howling with laughter when her cell phone rang. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at the screen. “It’s Lila.”

She shushed her sister before answering and cleared the laughter from her throat. “Hi, darling. Yes, I know. No, we’re not trying to get out of it. There’s nothing I want more than to help you pick out your wedding dress. Yes, five minutes. I promise,” she said, making big eyes at her sister while trying to figure a way out of the car. She couldn’t disappoint Lila.

“Grab your purse and roll down your window,” Eva told her sister after disconnecting, and followed her own directions.

“Eva, we’re not going to fit. The walls are too close to the windows.”

“You’re right. We can get out through the back doors,” she said, sliding over the seat and into the back, her legs still in the front seat from her knees down.

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