Page 67 of Patio Lanterns

“Touch me?” Robin repeated, buying a few seconds as her brain unscrambled. “Oh, that? Geez, it was nothing. I had a knot in my neck, and he massaged it for like, all of three seconds.”

Lark’s stone-faced scowl said she remained unconvinced. “Seemed awfully chummy to me. I mean, considering you barely know the man.”

Robin shifted her weight, planting a hand on her hip. “I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, but I don’t appreciate your tone.”

“Flirting with Aidan’s father? Really?” Lark charged, coming at her with both horns.

“I was not!” Robin deflected with the wave of her red cape. “Maybe it’s time you got your eyes tested, doc.”

Lark scanned her face, her eyes bouncing like a polygraph’s needles. “You have the same guilty look as when I caught you doing the walk of shame this morning. Remember?”

“How could I forget?” Robin scoffed. “You practically waterboarded me over the kitchen sink.”

“You never did say where you went last night. Were you out with Rick Hunter?”

Fuck. Robin’s heart seized. Never had she wished for anything more than for a sinkhole to open up under the cottage and swallow her that instant. “Oh my God, Lark, you’ve lost your ever-loving mind.”

“I swear Robin, if I find out you shamelessly threw yourself at that man, you’ll be the one getting your head examined.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Robin sneered.

“For someone who’s trying to make a case for being more mature and responsible, you sure don’t act like it.”

“And for someone who’s supposed to be my sister, you sure act like a prison warden.”

“All right you two, break it up.” Aidan came inside and marched into the kitchen. “Geez, I can hear your bickering over the power sander.”

Robin and Lark glared intensely at one another, like two duelling gunslingers waiting to see who would draw first.

“Hey, Aidan,” Robin called to him, without breaking the stare down with her sister. “You still wanna grab that drink with me later?”

“Uh, yeah,” he said. “Sure thing, Robbie. How about tonight, say around seven?”

“Perfect. I’ll be ready for you to pick me up at seven,” she answered.

Then, as Robin lifted her beer can to her lips, she slowly raised her middle finger and flipped Lark the bird.

* * *

Capsized was a dockside tavern on Mirror Bay that had been serving local cottagers for years. Although their service was slow and the food was mid, their views were pretty much unbeatable, and as advertised, the beer on tap was “as cold as your ex’s heart.”

Aidan raised his beer mug to Robin, and a bit of foam sloshed over the side as they clinked. “I’m glad we’re finally doing this, Robbie.”

“Me too,” she said, taking a sip. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in like, a million years.”

“It’s definitely been a minute,” he said, smiling back. “You really look great.”

“Thanks,” she said, feeling cute in a pink tank top and denim short overalls. Aidan had on khaki shorts and a breezy white cotton shirt, unbuttoned distractingly low. He’d blown away her first impression of him, with those sunglasses and cocky Glen Powell swagger. Now he looked more like Glen Powell on a yacht vacation. “You too. You haven’t changed much.”

“Well, you definitely have, but in a good way,” he said with a sparkle in his blue eyes. Just like Rick.

Oh God. Rick. This is so fucking messed up.

“So, Lark tells me you’ve managed to escape the marriage noose so far.”

“Yeah, I’m still single, but looking. I mean, you never know, right?” he said. “How ‘bout you? Seeing anyone at the moment?”

“At this moment? No,” she answered, which wasn’t a lie if she interpreted the question down to the precise minute and geographical location. Not at that moment, no.

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