Page 35 of Murder in Calusa Cove
Not of the grief. Not of the guilt. Not of Max.
Maybe he’d built a life he was proud of. Maybe he wasn’t lonely. But somewhere deep down, he was still holding on too tightly to a moment frozen in time—a moment that had shaped every choice he’d made since then.
And he had no idea how to loosen the grip.
“Hey.” Chloe curled her fingers around his biceps. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. He lifted the bottle of wine. “I take it Fletcher and Baily are coming out with wine glasses? And does anyone know when Dawson and Audra are getting here?”
“We’re here,” Audra’s voice echoed over the crackle of the fire as she practically skipped around the side of the house with her arms stretched wide, pulling Trinity in for a big hug. “Two days, sister, and we’ll both be married wenches.”
“Don’t ever call me that again.” Trinity kissed Audra’s cheek.
“Right, because you have virgin ears.” Audra patted her belly before moving on to Chloe. “So, how is Hayes treating you? I hear he talks in his sleep.”
“I do not.” Hayes found the wine opener and began to uncork the bottle just as Fletcher, Baily, Foster, and a new girl joined them, bringing more food and a cooler. “Hey, Foster. How’s Oregon?”
“Better than damn Florida,” Foster said with a dramatic sigh. “Even in freaking November, it’s hot—flat as hell, no mountains, just palm trees and gators in the great swamp you all call home.” He pulled Hayes in for a quick bro hug, then turned to the group. “For those of you who haven’t met her yet, this is Mackenzie.” He smiled at the woman beside him. “Mac, meet the chaos. There will be a test later to match names to faces, so...good luck.”
“I already know Keaton, Trinity, Baily, and Fletcher. The rest is easy.” Mackenzie took a glass of wine from Hayes and smiled, waving at everyone. “Okay, the redhead over there is Audra, and she belongs to Dawson.”
“Oh, sweetheart, bad choice of words.” Foster sighed.
“I’ll give you a pass.” Audra lowered her gaze. “But only this one time. Do it again, and this Stigini will turn you into a frog.”
“What’s a Stigini?” Mackenzie narrowed her stare and glanced to Foster for help.
“Beats me, sweetheart.” Foster shrugged.
“It’s a swamp monster,” Hayes offered. “And Audra turns into one every night after midnight.”
“You’re Hayes.” Mackenzie smiled. “The clean-cut boy next door, and that means you must be Chloe.”
“Guilty as charged.” Chloe smiled. “Audra, care to elaborate on how you heard about Hayes’s sleep talking?”
“Oh, are we jealous?” Audra teased.
“Oh, good grief.” Hayes loaded up a small plate of food. He didn’t want to have this conversation again. “Everyone mumbles, groans, and makes weird noises in their sleep.”
“Yeah, but not everyone gives lectures in them.” Dawson snagged a beer from the cooler and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the fire. He pulled Audra onto is lap. “About a year before we all did SEAL training, we were living in this run-down old house where the walls were paper thin.”
“And the toilet never stopped running.” Fletcher laughed. “No matter how many times I tried to fix the damn thing, the water just ran and ran and ran. It was annoying as hell.”
“Kind of like the toilet you have in the guest room by the stairs in this place.” Baily pursed her lips, taking the glass of wine Hayes offered. “I can’t stand it. It wakes me up in the middle of the night.”
Silence filled the night air as everyone paused, staring at Baily with their mouths gaping open.
“You’re living with Fletcher?” Hayes finally asked after five painfully awkward minutes.
“No. Not really.” Baily shook her head. “The air handler in the apartment over the marina busted. I’m only staying there for a couple of days until a new one comes in.” She took a hearty sip of her wine. “Dawson, finish your story.”
“Sure thing.” Dawson nodded. “My bedroom was right next to Hayes’s, and one night I heard him chatting. At first, I thought he brought a girl home, which we had rules about, and he was breaking them, so I thought I’d go harass him. I figured it would be fine because I didn’t hear…you know…noises.”
“Oh, my God. You’re a pig.” Trinity sat between Keaton’s legs and laughed. “I’m used to that from my future husband, but Dawson, I thought you were a gentleman.”
Dawson bust out laughing. “I could’ve said what Audra was thinking.”
“Oh, no. Please don’t.” Trinity covered her belly with both hands. “We’re going to have a swear jar in our house, and every time Audra—or any of you—says a bad word, it goes in our baby’s college fund.”
