Page 61 of Barefoot Dreams
“Love you too, asshole,” I bite out, turning my board around toward the beach.
“Where are you going? We just got started!”
“And my feathers are soaked enough.”
“Luke,” I grit out.
“Yeah?” He doesn’t even look up from his desk, pretending to be hard at work when I know for a fact there’s nothing to do because I did it all this morning when I came in earlier than I was supposed to from the beach.
“Are you going to go get it?”
“Are you going to admit it?” he challenges.
I run my tongue over my teeth. Hell no, I won’t, but also, I really want my fix. Need it and the asshole knows it and now dangles it over my face like a carrot.
“Luke!”
“Nope! Not before you admit it!”
“I hate you. There, happy now?” I pull a sarcastic smile on my face.
“Nope. Try again.”
“I seriously hate you,” I mutter under my breath. “Whatever, I’ll go ask someone else.” I turn and head for the door.
“Sure, you can try that,” he says casually. Too casually, and I stop, slowly turning on my heels.
“What did you do?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at him.
Luke finally looks up, leaning back in his chair with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. “Finally used my authority for something good, like forbidding everyone from going to Sip of Love for your drink.”
“Why, God?” I tip my head up, throwing my arms up for good measure too. “What have I done to deserve this asshole for a friend?”
“Psh, it’s called a blessing, idiot.”
“More like a fucking curse. Undo it!” I demand. “How am I supposed to get my coffee every day?”
“Um, how about the way we all do?By going to the damn shop yourself.” He enunciates. “Or at least admit it you are a chickenshit and I’ll go for you. Today,” he adds.
I’m just about to curse him ten ways to Sunday when a familiar voice sounds from behind me.
“There are my boys.” Lily Lovinski is standing there with a warm, motherly smile on her face, one that is painfully similar to her daughter’s.
I might’ve barely seen her since I came back but growing up the way we did, all three of us constantly hanging out at each other’s houses, Lily and Nina became like my second and third set of mother figures. As mine was for my friends.
Both Luke and I greet her with smiles, and she wraps us into smothering hugs, planting kisses on our foreheads.
Nope, in Lily Lovinski’s eyes we will never be a day over ten. That’s when we started refusing her forehead kisses because we thought we were too cool for it.
The joke’s on us.
“Hey, Lily,” Luke and I say in unison and her smile grows as does a glassy sheen in her eyes. It’s there for her son. Because we found our way back home, but Cal might never do the same.
“Thank goodness I’ve found you!” She quickly sobers up, pushing the sadness away. I always admired her for it. About Julie too.
“What happened?” Luke jumps in, worry creasing his features, mirroring my own.
“Wipe those looks off your faces. I’m not dying but I do need one of you to come help me move some old boxes around.”
