Page 6 of Kiss Me, Darling

“You want a turn?”

Her eyes moved over the hammock and then she climbed in beside me.

Beside. Me.

As in, she didn’t wait for me to get out first so she could have it all to herself. Now we were touching. Her side against mine. Her head on my chest. I moved my arm around her and held her lightly. “Is this okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I wondered how this would feel.”

“And?” She had to hear—tofeel—my heart thudding under her cheek.

“Different but the same. You smell like the ocean.”

She smelled different too. Like cotton candy or something equally sweet. She loved trying new perfumes but never stuck to one for more than a few months. She called in sensory ADHD.

“I’m sorry I left,” I blurted out.

She sighed wearily. “I really don’t want to hear your apologies, Scott.” She craned her neck until our gazes collided. My heart squeezed. “I just want to move forward. Together or apart, I need to be free of this anchor to the past.”

“Forward,” I agreed. “It’s all I want, too. I mean it.”

“Good. Now how do I get out of this thing?”

It didn’t feel like she was running away from touching me. More like she realized the error of her ways and needed a course correction. Unfortunately each move sent the hammock teetering in a new direction.

“Stop. Don’t move. Let me—”

“Ahhh!” Lucy’s elbow hit me in the eye. I jerked away and thenbam!The whole contraption flipped over. We landed face down on the dirt and grass. The force of the impact pushed the air out of my lungs and it took me a moment before I was able to take a full breath.

“Are you okay?” she laughed.

And laughed and laughed and laughed.

I wiped dirt off my face and rolled to my back. “I’m alive.” Her laughter infected me and I started to laugh, too. Maybe she was in shock? “Areyouokay?”

“Oh yeah.” She rolled over beside me. “I’m just covered in grass after attacking my,” she waved her hand over me, “whatever you are to me now. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I couldn’t stop watching her laugh. Even though I hurt a little and was definitely dirtier than a moment ago, it was amazing to see the woman I loved happy again. Maybe I’d fall out of a hammock every day just to make her laugh. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

Her laughter slowed, her eyes moving over the clouds above. “I’m glad I’m here too, Scott. Show me around?”

2

Good anchors and bad anchors

Lucy

Prove it. Show me how much you love me. I’m going to hate you and not going to be nice while we fix the problems with the company.

You have one week.

Ifelt ridiculous. This morning when Scott found me wandering the deck I gave him an ultimatum.You have one week.Who did I think I was? A heroine in one of our movies? That by dramatically laying out some high stakes and a deadline we’d have a magical week and find our happily ever after? All of our movies were hopeful and ended happy. That was a group agreement on the kind of content we produced.

Butthatwasn’t real life.

Thiswas very real and, unfortunately, I couldn’t make this week in semi-lockdown follow the beats of a well laid-out plot. I was probably half asleep when I said what I said on the deck, but it didn’t make me feel any less foolish.

In my mind, Calusa Key was a small island surrounded by miles of sandy beaches and some houses in the middle. I blame my trips to the Keys. The drive from Key Largo to Key West takes you over island after island that is nothing more than a spit of land surrounded by water. It was easy to forget the larger islands had trees, and nature, and roads. I had totally forgotten about those cute little Key deer. So many years in California had my mind locked on the west coast and memories of Florida long forgotten.

---