Page 51 of The Beach Hut on Plum Island
Finn stopped at the front door after he’d grabbed his car keys and pulled the door open for you. “You always look like you just stepped off the cover of a glossy magazine.” He complimented her. “Even when you’re not trying to or are glistening from a long run.”
Harriet gazed at him, stunned by his words, and had to quell the urge to wrap her arms around his neck to feel his lips on her again.What the…Her eyes widened at her thoughts.
“Are you okay?” Finn frowned at the expression on her face and glanced back toward the kitchen. “Did you forget something in the kitchen?”
“Uh… um…” Harriet cleared her throat and made a concerted effort to close her mouth as she realized she must look like she was trying to catch flies in her trap. “I…” She patted her pocket to stop herself from looking like a star-struck idiot. “I thought I’d left my phone in the kitchen, but it’s in my pocket.”
“Okay,” Finn said, smiling, and her knees nearly buckled from the impact it had on her system. “Then let’s not keep the king waiting.” He grinned as they stepped out the door, pulled it closed, and locked it. “I never thought I’d get to say those words and mean them in regards to an actual king.”
“Oh, I’ve had them used on me a zillion times,” Harriet told him. Putting on a prissy voice, she mimicked, “Princess Harriet, don’t keep the king waiting. Hurry along now.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything less from the Rebel Princess of Joyce,” Finn teased, pulling the pickup truck door open for her. “But it gives us mere mortals a little thrill to say it.”
“I got to say a line I thought I’d never get to say too last year,” Harriet told Finn as he slid into the driver’s seat.
“Oh, yeah?” Finn started the engine and swung the vehicle around to head out the gate. “And what line was that?”
Harriet grinned and glanced at Finn. “Do you feel lucky, punk?” She snorted, remembering holding a gun on someone who was trying to hurt Jennifer. “Only I didn’t use punk.”
“But you still got to say the line.” Finn looked at her with a smile as they drove toward the Summer Inn Hotel. “I tried to say cowabunga once.” He sighed and shook his head. “It was at Finn’s sixteenth birthday party where he wanted me to give hisparty guests a surfing lesson. I thought it would be cool as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were cool.”
“Oh?” Harriet looked at him questioningly. “And how did that go?”
“Not as well as you’d expect.” Finn laughed. “Turns out, sixteen-year-olds are no longer into the crime fighting ninja turtles.”
Harriet laughed along with Finn as she could picture him trying to be cool around a bunch of hormonal and socially awkward teenagers. “Thank you for the tip,” she told him. “Now, at least I know whatnotto say around my nephew, Matt’s, friends.”
“That’s right, Gray has a seventeen-year-old son who’s already at Oxford University,” Finn remembered.
“Matt turns eighteen in two months,” Harriet told Finn. “I wish he’d have come with Gray to Plum Island. I don’t get to spend as much time with Matt as I used to.”
“It’s important to get as much time with them as possible,” Finn said. “Especially between the ages of eighteen and twenty. They’re starting to form their own lives, and soon families will follow.”
“I know.” Harriet sighed. “That’s why I’m not sure if I’m glad or sad that I never had kids.”
The moment the words were out of her mouth, she regretted saying them.
“Did you not want them?” Finn asked and quickly said, “Sorry, that was really personal.”
“No, it’s fine,” Harriet said and was surprised to realize she wanted to tell Finn. “Truthfully, I would’ve loved to have kids, and I think that the fact that I couldn’t have them is one of the reasons I never got married.” She glanced out the window but could feel Finn’s eyes on her. She turned to look at him,but he was staring at the road. “I can’t have kids because of a complication that happened to me when I got meningitis.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Finn’s voice was low and filled with compassion.
Harriet went on to tell Finn about her and Alex’s brief marriage when they thought they were in love, but they were really just trying to spite their parents. Also, they didn’t work as a married couple, and this almost completely destroyed their lifelong friendship. But their brief marriage had resulted in Harriet falling pregnant. She miscarried when she contracted meningitis, and it had caused complications that ensured she could never have children.
“And that’s the story,” Harriet finished, blinking in surprise to realize they were stopped in the Summer Inn Hotel’s parking lot. “Oh. We’re here already.”
“I’m sorry, Harriet.” Finn’s voice was low, and his eyes were filled with sadness. “Because you would’ve been the world’s best mother.”
“Thank you.” Harriet’s voice was hoarse as their eyes met and locked.
They stared at each other and were slowly moving closer when a knock on her window nearly made her jump out of her skin.
“Princess Harriet.” A sturdy man dressed in a black suit and starched white shirt with shades and earpiece bent down and looked through the window. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
“I’m sorry, but you’ve got the wrong person,” Harriet told the guard whom she recognized. He’d been with her uncle for years. She hit the lock on the door as the bodyguard reached out to open the door. “I’m Princess Harriet’s body double.”
The man sighed and shook his head, speaking into the cuff of his shirt. “The Rebel is rebelling.”
