Page 19 of The Lighthouse at the Cove
“Um... well, my older sisters moved away. One went to Ohio and the other is in California. My youngest sister is out in Arizona. She lives near our dad.” She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. “I’m close to my one sister. She’s only fourteen months younger than me. We talk just about every day.”
“What’s her name?”
“Kamryn.”
Reid grinned. “Kaiah and Kamryn?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard all of the names.”
He shifted toward her. “I’m listening.”
“My parents, Kristin and Kenneth, had... Are you ready for this?” she asked, and he nodded. Then she counted the names off on her fingers. “Kendra, Krystal, Kaiah, Kamryn, and Kimberly—all names beginning withK.” She giggled, and a thousand butterflies fluttered in his stomach. He relished the sound of her laugh and wanted to hear it more often.
He rubbed his chin. “AllK’s, huh?” he asked.
“Yup.”
“Like that famous family that’s always in the gossip magazines Mom and Becca read.”
“Right, but without the money, California mansions, or drama.”
They both laughed, and he enjoyed the easy banter between them.
As she tossed her hair, he caught the scent of her flowery shampoo and his heartbeat began ratcheting up. “You mentionedthat you have nieces and a nephew. Do their names also begin withK?”
“No, thank goodness,” she exclaimed with another giggle. “Kendra has Emilia and Jason, and then Krystal has Alyssa and Erin.” She paused, and when her smile faded, he realized he’d been staring at her, lost in her ocean-blue eyes. She gave him a shy smile and tucked a lock of her thick blonde hair behind her ear. “I got the feeling you’re close to Becca.” She made a face. “Wait, should I call her Becca or Becks?”
“I call her Becks, but everyone else calls her Becca. I’ve been calling her Becks since we were kids.” He rested his arm on the back of the bench. When his fingers accidentally brushed the back of her arm, he noticed she didn’t pull away. “We’re close. Always have been.”
“That’s cool.”
He recalled how Kaiah’s expression had darkened for a fraction of a second the night before when she talked about her stepsiblings, and curiosity nipped at him. “You mentioned that your father remarried.” He hesitated, but her expression remained serene. “Are you close to your stepbrothers?”
“No.”
She turned her body away, giving her attention to the waves again.
He immediately regretted the question, and a knot of guilt formed in his gut. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“It’s okay.” She turned to face him, and when her smile returned, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “My mom passed away when I was eleven, and my dad remarried two years later. Her death was completely unexpected. She’d been living with A-fib and none of us knew it—sometimes it goes undetected. She was fine one day andthen... she was just gone. Sudden heart attack. I felt like I’d woken up in a nightmare where my world had been completely detonated.”
She moved her fingers along the edge of the bench. “Then my dad met someone, and within a year, they were married. I was still grieving my mom, but I had no one to turn to. My older sisters were busy with high school and college. My stepbrothers were strangers. I mean, my stepmom was okay, but...” She shrugged and wrapped her arms around her middle before she continued. “She tried, but I was thirteen and I didn’t want another mom. I pushed her away while my youngest sister clung to her. So Kam and I only had each other. We like to joke that we raised each other. I worked hard in school and managed to snag a journalism scholarship. I went away to college and never looked back. My dad moved out to Arizona, and I guess he never looked back either. I haven’t visited him in a couple of years.”
Reid swallowed back his frown. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dredge all of that up for you.”
“It’s okay.” She turned toward him, and her expression softened as her hand brushed his, sending warmth racing up his arm. “Honestly, I don’t talk about my family much, but it feels good to get that off my chest.”
He was honored that she trusted him with something so personal.
“Are you close to your folks?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “They live in the house where I grew up, and I see them often.”
“That’s great.”
They sat in comfortable silence and looked out toward the waves again.
After several moments, he examined his watch. “I didn’t realize how late it was. If it’s okay, I need to stop at the grocery store.”
