Page 11 of Kiss Me, Darling

Lucy touched the back of my hand, sending electricity over my skin. So little contact with her for so long. That was a very bad decision on my part. “Your parents knew.”

“Naw,” Chris said. “Scott got lectured for days. We got nothing.”

Olivia patted his head. “You’re cute. But your parents knew. That’sexactlyhow you wound up with a summer of food none of you liked eating.”

Chris looked at Ben, Ben looked to me, I looked to Chris. “Itwasa really weird summer.”

Ben nodded. “And Grandma Kaine was unusually strict.”

Chris shrugged. “I really don’t appreciate their parenting skills enough.”

Olivia patted Linc’s head. “Poor Linc. He has no idea what’s about to hit him.”

Chris grinned mischievously. “I do have a wild streak like Grandma.”

Ben tilted his head toward me. “How is Grandma? You’ve been to see her more than any of us.”

Ah, yes. My nearly weekly trips down to Naples had become a bit of a ritual. Sure it was great to spend time with Grandma, but it was more than that. There was something calming about it all. Maybe she reminded me of who I was when I was a kid. Allowed me to reset. Or maybe I just felt like I didn’t have to pretend with her. I could be whoever I was and that was that.

“She’s into pickleball now. She yells at the other ladies like a tyrant and for reasons that I cannot fathom, they seem to love it.” Grandma told me to meet her at the tennis courts one day and let me tell you, I was shocked beyond belief to realize the shouting I heard as I walked up was my grandma. I stood there for a full five minutes watching with my mouth hanging open as she barked out orders and chastised the other women for not hitting the ball the way she demanded.

“Oh, I’ve heard about this,” Lucy nodded. “It’s sweeping the retirement communities. They are apparently very competitive.”

“I can attest to that. I always thought I’d relax in my old age, but Grandma is more active and more competitive than ever.”

“She still dating Raymond?” Chris asked.

Grandma didn’t date for years after Grandpa’s death, but once she did start dating, it was a revolving door. Mostly, I think, for the fun of it all. Raymond stuck around longer than most. Probably because he did whatever Grandma wanted and was as much of a character as she was. The last time I visited he was wearing a dark red smoking jacket with black velvet lapels, had grown a pencil-thin mustache, and slicked his grey hair back. He looked like he stepped right out of a black and white movie.

“Yep. They’re going on a cruise in January. Alaska.”

Chris whistled low. “Well then. I guess we better get down there and visit soon.”

The party broke up after that. Chris carried Linc across the lawn back to their house, Ben and London stacked dishes in the dishwasher and then said their goodbyes.

Leaving me alone in that big old house with Lucy. Aside from the fact that the house was so new it stillsmellednew, it was spacious and largely undecorated. So when everyone left it became freakishly quiet and seemed to expand even more, making me feel like a tiny speck that didn’t belong.

“Chris needs to decorate.” Lucy turned in the living room. There was a wrap around couch, a coffee table, and a television. Nothing else.

“I keep telling him that, but he’s been distracted.”

Lucy stopped and smiled. “I like Olivia. And Linc. If I hadn’t known Chris for years I would have assumed they’d been together forever. They just...fit.”

“They’ve been two peas in a pod since day one.” I wanted to point out how wellwefit. From the day we met we were friends. Oh sure, she was my agent and all that, but we laughed and joked, traded texts and emails. I enjoyed making her laugh because her work seemed to stress her out so much.

“If Chris is living next door he’s never going to decorate this house. He’s really keeping it?”

“Yep. Wants this to be the family vacation home.” I could see Lucy’s mind working overtime. Her need to plan and execute sparked by the complete lack of execution in the house design.

Which gave me an idea.

“Why don’t we do it?”

She cocked her head to the side in question.

“You and me. Let’s decorate the house. It will be a good way for you to see the new me in action. And it’s something we can do to fill the time without bodyguards looming over us.”

Her eyes wandered over the plain white walls. “I do love a good project.”

---