Page 7 of Give & Take

My stomach twists from worry into anger. Several nearby heads turn and happy conversations turn to murmuring.

“Hey,” I call, still too far away to be noticed.

“You,” the guy says, picking up the ball. He hasn’t heard me.

I open my mouth to yell, but he keeps going.

“Have awakened the BAD-THROWING TROLL!!”

I freeze.

Then the guy…roars.

It’s not a scary roar. It’s more like the sound someonewould make if they were aggressively gargling mouthwash.

Aurora giggles next to me. It would be funny if I weren’t so stunned.

Through the crowd, I see Nova’s mouth fall open.

Several people are laughing.

The guy is a ham. He’s slightly obscured by the people now standing to watch in front of me. But over their heads I see him rear his arms back as if aiming the ball toward the crowd. But his arms go noodly, and he throws it hard in the complete opposite direction he was aiming. It loops through the air in a wobbly arc, landing with a bop on a sleeping man’s belly before rolling into the sand.

The man snores loudly and rubs a finger across his nose, but doesn’t wake up.

Aurora shrieks with laughter, wriggling out of my arms. Even Nova laughs.

I let out a breath. Thank God they hit a nice guy. A dad, probably.

“Do it again!” Aurora shouts, running up to him.

I follow with the intention of apologizing for Nova—with Nova, actually—and thanking him for understanding.

“Nova!” I call, turning to get her first.

“What?” she asks.

“You know what.” I reach for her hand.

“DO YOU DARE LAUGH AT THE BAD-THROWING TROLL?” The man yells at Aurora.

“YES!” Aurora shrieks.

Over my shoulder, I catch the man sprinting awayfrom us with the agility of a linebacker, then throwing the ball directly into his own face.

Even I laugh at that.

That is, until I’ve got Nova’s hand and am heading his way.

He turns, jogging back to us.

And my stomach falls to my feet, my smile along with it. I take in the impossibly handsome face of the ogler from the concession stand. His gold-brown eyes are shaded by the brim of a ballcap he wasn’t wearing before, tanned chest and long legs no longer sporting a faded t-shirt and jean combo.

The guy has the audacity to grin. The even bigger audacity to reveal twin divots in his cheeks.

He has fuckingdimples.

“Well hell,” the guy says, walking my way. “If this isn’t the best beach day ever!”

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