Page 84 of Summer on Sunshine Bay

“Your dad has you covered.”

“Of course he does.” Lila sighed. Eva was never far from his sight. It had been a week since her sonogram, and her parents had been attached at the hip ever since. They didn’t have sleepovers at the beach house, but there’d been several nights when her father hadn’t come home. She was also pretty sure her mother showed up at the beach house the moment Lila left.

Meanwhile she’d been spending a lot of time with Luke, working on his business plans. They had fun together, so it never really felt like work. They talked over the plans for his businesses while walking to the sand dunes with Admiral, kayaking in the pond near his house, or biking the trails. Luke had lent her a bike and a helmet that Lila was almost positive had belonged to someone important to him, maybe his friend with the baby. She hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask about her. He’d gotten distant when he’d offered Lila the bike and the pink helmet.

“So I take it your plan to break up your parents isn’t going that well.” His lips twitched as if he was fighting back a laugh.

“Ha-ha, easy for you to laugh. You don’t have to be around them.”

“At least they get along.”

“Are you kidding me? They fight all the time. Okay, maybe ‘fight’ is a little strong. My dad will do stuff to tick my mother off, and I swear he does it just to wind her up. He actually seems to think she’s hilarious when she loses it on him, which of course just encourages her, because she likes nothing better than to make him laugh. Yesterday she was making a marinade for the steaks, and he kept tasting it and saying it needed more garlic or more salt. She believed him, and then she tasted it and started swearing at him in Italian, which he speaks fluently, by the way, and he threw her in the pool.”

He winced. “How did that go over?”

“With her laughing and my dad jumping in the pool and the two of them making out.”

“Sounds like they have fun together.”

“They do, and it sucks because they’re happy, especially my dad. I haven’t seen him this way in… To be honest, I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Maybe this time they’ll get it right.”

“I wish I believed that, but my mom is just like my grandmother. Carmen’s been in love with Bruno for years, and it’s obvious to anyone who sees him with my grandmother he’s in love with her too. But he’s marrying Ana and moving away. You’d think that would be the wake-up call my grandmother needed, but it wasn’t. Bruno’s agreed to stay on until the fall or until they find someone to replace him. My mother’s furious with Carmen. All they do is fight, and my poor aunt’s stuck in the middle trying to play peacemaker.”

“Life has a way of working out the way it’s meant to. In the end, Carmen might surprise all of you.”

“Do you really believe that, about life working out the way it’s supposed to?” she asked, putting her hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“Yeah, I do, don’t you?” Before she could answer, he leaned forward and reached for his binoculars, swearing under his breath at whatever it was he saw. He blasted the horn several times and then told the passengers to take a seat and brace. Hooking an arm around Lila’s waist, he pulled her onto his lap.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, struggling to free her hands from the jacket’s pockets, but it was like she was in a straitjacket. The jacket had pulled tight at the back, sealing the pockets shut.

“Fishing boat headed directly into our path. It’s too far away to see if there’s anyone on board.” He gritted his teeth. “Lila, stop moving.” Then he blasted his horn again and began turning the boat.

“Sorry, it’s just that my hands are stuck, and I feel like I’m going to roll off your lap.”

With his gaze focused straight ahead, he brought one hand off the wheel and curved it around her waist as he slowed the boat. He radioed their coordinates to the Coast Guard and explained the situation. “Yeah, well, it would’ve been nice if they let someone know. Thanks,” he said, then contacted the other charters.

Apparently a couple of kids had taken the fishing boat for a joyride, and the rudder had gotten stuck. They’d jumped off and swum to shore but failed to alert anyone to the runaway boat.

Once Luke had made sure that the passengers on board theCaptain Joewere fine and the fishing boat had passed without incident, he increased speed, but he hadn’t relaxed. Lila could feel the tension in his body.

“What’s wrong?”

“You could’ve fallen and lost the baby. I shouldn’t have let you come out on the boat. I shouldn’t have let you up here.”

His reaction didn’t make sense to her. She sat up, freeing the back of the jacket from under herself, and removed her hands from the pockets. She placed one on his chest. She could feel his heart pounding beneath her palm. “Luke, I’m fine, but you’re not. What is it?”

“Nothing.” A muscle flexed in his jaw.

She reached up to smooth it away. “Please tell me. You listen to me talk about my family and David ad nauseam. You’ve always been there for me. Let me be there for you.”

He blew out a breath and glanced at her. “Three years ago, my fiancée came out with me on theCaptain Joe. She didn’t like being on the water, but I thought if she was with me, I could ease her fears and change her mind. She slipped and fell. She was six months pregnant and lost the baby.”

“Oh, Luke, I’m so sorry.” Without thinking, only wanting to comfort him, she pressed a kiss to his hard, firm mouth. She froze, looking into his eyes. They’d darkened, the gray iris barely visible.

He made a sound low in his throat, and his arm went around her. Bringing her tight against his hard body, he kissed her back. She placed her hands on his chest, but instead of pushing him away, as she knew she should, her fingers curled into his T-shirt, and her lips softened under his, deepening the kiss with a man she shouldn’t be kissing.

---