“That one was for me!” he shouted.
“Fair’s fair!” She whipped out her phone and took a picture of him.
Damn, he liked her style. “Ready?”
She nodded, and he jogged forward, watching over his shoulder as the kite left her fingers and sailed into the air. She squealed, jumping up and down, and ran toward him, yelling, “Keep going!” Just as she reached him, the kite nose-dived. “Nooo!”
They both laughed, and then they tried again and again, until finally the kite sailed high into the sky, swooping and flapping with the wind. Abby cheered. “Yay! We did it!” She whipped out her phone and took pictures of him flying the kite. “Wave to Remi!”
Her enthusiasm was contagious. He couldn’t remember when he’d had so much fun. “We’re a team! Get over here and get in the picture, Abs.”
She ran over, her thick mane lifting off her shoulders. He pulled her in front of him, wrapping his free hand around her waist, holding the spool with his other hand as he peered over her shoulder at her phone. Their smiling faces filled the screen.
“Gorgeous,” he said, drinking in her summery scent. “Take the picture.”
“We need to get the kite in the picture.”
“Take this one first. I like it.” As she took the picture, the screen reflected her widening smile, showing him how much she liked it, too.
“Are you always such a picture hoarder?” she asked.
He squeezed her tighter, loving the feel of her curves against him, and said, “Only with my nieces.”
“Then I consider myself lucky.”
“Did you say you want to get lucky? I’ll add that to our list.”
“Aiden,” she said breathily. She angled the phone so their faces fit on the screen with the kite high in the sky behind them and took the picture. “I got it!”
She turned, and her hand landed on his chest, her eyes twinkling up at him. Heat flared beneath her touch. Could she feel it, too? Her eyes held his, and he knew he should step back, take things slow, but for the first time in forever he felt joyful and lustful at once, and he wanted to hold on to that feeling, to etch it into his memory bank. Her lips parted, her breathing shallowed, and everything else faded away. Without thinking, he put his other arm around her, the kite string sliced between them as the kite spiraled into the waves.
Abby gasped, her fingers pressing into his chest as she spun out of his grip and ran toward the water. “No! Your kite! It’s soaking wet.”
The hell with the kite. He wanted to get her wet.
“It’s okay. We already flew it.” He wound the string around the spool as a crashing wave carried the kite up the shore.
“But we were doing so well,” she said as he pulled the drenched kite from the water. “I still have some time before I have to meet my sisters. We could do something else that’s on your list.”
He pulled out his phone and couldn’t resist saying, “Give me a sec to add get lucky to it first.”
A pretty flush raced up her cheeks, and she swatted his side, reaching for the phone. But he threw his arm up over his head and said, “First you want to get your hot little hands on my kite. Now you want to get them on my list? What’s next? My book? My chair?”
“Your ass if you’re not careful,” she said.
“That’s even better.”
She tried to give him a disbelieving look, but while her pursed lips valiantly attempted to stifle her unstoppable smile, the heat in her eyes gave the truth away. She planted her hand on her hip, a mannerism he was beginning to anticipate, and definitely enjoyed, and said, “I was thinking we could tackle the sundae.”
“Good idea. You need to cool off before you get all gropy with me.” He hooked an arm around her neck, chuckling as he tugged her against his side, and they made their way up the beach.
They left the kite by his chair and walked the few blocks to the ice cream store, passing beautiful pristine cottages with manicured gardens and picket fences.
“What was it like growing up here? Beach parties all summer long?”
“For some people. My memories are split into before and after my father died. I was too young for beach parties when he passed away and our lives were upended. But before that, my parents were usually at the restaurant, and Deirdra and I were free to ride our bikes all over Silver Haven, which is this part of the island. But even as a kid I loved cooking, and from the time I could reach the stove, my father taught me to cook in the restaurant. So most of the time I’d play with friends after school for a while, then go to the restaurant and do my homework at breakneck speed so I could spend the rest of the time cooking with my dad.”
“That sounds like a great childhood.”
“It was. But after my father died, my mom got lost.” When they reached the corner, she pointed to the left and they walked that way. “I think my father was like the blood that fed her heart. We found out yesterday that she’d had Cait as a teenager and left home after her parents forced her to give her up for adoption. My mom was only eighteen when she came to the island and started working as a waitress in my dad’s restaurant. He was twenty-nine, and the way they told it, it was love at first sight, with fireworks and full-body tingles. But they waited a year before they finally acted on their feelings, and they were married a year later. He adored her, and he became her entire world. He was her true love, her friend, and to some extent her father figure, because he was always watching out for her.”
“That’s quite an age difference.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “But who’s to say what’s right or wrong when it comes to love?”
“Certainly not me. But at eighteen or nineteen there’s no way I could have known what I wanted for the rest of my life. How old are you, Abs?”
“Twenty-eight. You?” she asked as they crossed the street.
“I’m thirty-eight. Our age difference isn’t much different from your parents’. But somehow it feels different when you’re older.”
“I understand what you’re saying. We learn and change so much between our teens and midtwenties. I can’t believe I’m nearing thirty.”
“And I’m closing in on forty. I have no idea how it happened so fast. I look in the mirror and see my father’s face. Aging doesn’t bother me, and it feels good seeing some of my father in me. But I’ve sidetracked your story. I’m sorry. You said your mother got lost after your father died. What did you mean by that?”
They came to a main drag, which was lined with cute shops with colorful awnings.
“The ice cream shop is at the end of this street with the red-and-white-striped awning.” As they headed in that direction, she said, “What I meant about my mother getting lost was that she started drinking and never stopped. She could function well enough most of the time, but nights were hard. I think she must have missed my father so much she needed to escape the pain of it. Needless to say, mine and Deirdra’s lives changed dramatically. By the time we were teenagers, while our friends were at those beach parties you asked about, or surfing, or out buying fancy prom dresses, doing all the normal teenager things, Deirdra and I were helping at the restaurant, making sure the bills were paid, and putting our mother to bed at night.”