Grabbing a can of seltzer from the fridge, I headed out back and planted myself in one of the Adirondack chairs. After a few minutes, I noticed something moving toward me in the distance. It was a boat, and with every second, it came closer to my side of the bay. I walked over to the edge of the water.
The boat was now close enough that I could see the driver. He waved. Oh my God. My heart accelerated. It was Leo driving this boat toward me.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he docked.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” He laughed.
“Did you buy this thing?”
“It’s a summer rental.”
“It’s really nice.”
“Well, I’m happy you think so, because I was hoping you’d want to take a ride with me, show me that place where you get those clams… What are they called again?”
“Quahogs.”
“That’s right.” He scratched his chin. “I’ve convinced Sigmund that we should have something like a clam bake tonight. I was going to buy some lobsters from the food shop, but I thought fresh-caught clams would be a nice addition. What do you say?”
I rubbed my chin.
He seemed to sense my hesitation. “I don’t have an ulterior motive here, Felicity, in case that’s worrying you. You made it very clear that you weren’t interested. I’m just looking to explore Narragansett a little. I think you’d make a fantastic companion, but I understand if you’re busy.”
He looked so adorable with that hopeful smile and the sun shining on his gorgeous, light brown hair that looked almost dark blond in the sun. My walls began to break down. He’d rented a gosh darn boat—an expensive one—to go “exploring” with me. There was no way I could say no.
“You know you can’t go clamming without rakes and stuff, right?”
“This is the part where I show how clueless I am despite my attempt at seeming nautical. I’ve never driven a boat before this. I got a temporary certificate to operate it. I’ve also never fished for anything other than information in my life. You’re gonna have to help me out.”
I pointed behind me. “Well, I just so happen to have rakes and shovels in the garage.”
“Shovels? Are we burying a dead body, too?” He winked.
“No. But you’re about to learn how to dig for clams from an expert. I sometimes use my feet, but I think I should teach you with equipment.”
“It’s my lucky day.” Leo smiled.
“I’ll be right back.”
Chills ran down my spine as I entered the house on my way to the garage on the opposite side.
Mrs. Angelini stopped me in the kitchen. “Is that the Brit in the boat?”
“Yeah. He wants to go clamming.”
She smiled knowingly. “Sure, he does.”
I shrugged. “It’s just clamming.”
“Sure, it is.”
My face felt hot as I kept walking. “Gonna go grab the rakes and shovels.”
She called after me. “Have fun, sweetheart.”
After I brought out the supplies, Leo helped me board before he started up the boat and began to drive. I’d expected him to go a lot faster.
“Is there a reason you’re going so slow?” I asked.
“I guess I figured boating was somewhat…leisurely.”
“No.” I shook my head. “We have work to do. Let me at the wheel.”
Seeming amused, Leo grinned as he stepped aside.
I moved the throttle and we took off at warp speed, our hair blowing in the wind as mists of water sprayed us.
He shouted over the sound of the motor. “Apparently I’m only equipped to operate paddle boats.”
“It’s okay, newbie,” I yelled.
His teeth gleamed in the sunlight as he smiled wide. He was almost painfully handsome.
It had been a long time since I’d driven on the water. Boating was a popular pastime here, but neither Mrs. Angelini nor I owned a boat. So the only time I went out on the water was when a friend invited me or when Mrs. Angelini’s brother drove his boat from Newport to visit us and go clamming. He sometimes let me drive it. The rakes and other tools were technically his.
When we arrived at the part of the bay where I normally dug for clams, Leo and I docked the boat and got out.
“You’re going to need to roll up your pants,” I said.
“But we just met,” he teased.
That made me think how odd it was that I’d already seen him in the buff. That felt wrong. But maybe that’s why I never stopped blushing around him. The memory of his glorious physique was never far from my mind. And right now, in his dark jeans, his ass looked just as good as it had the day I saw him naked. Leo’s T-shirt was drenched from the spray of water that continually hit us on the ride here. The wet, white fabric clung to him, allowing me a clear outline of the sculpted chest underneath.
We started out in the water, digging for quahogs with the larger rakes.
“What is that thing?” he asked, looking down at the green plastic tool I held. It had a hole in the center.
“This is what we use to measure the size.”
“Interesting.” He smirked.
It looked kind of like a mini glory hole. But I wasn’t going to point that out.
“We have to hold our quahogs up to it, and if one of them slips through, it’s too small to keep. It’s actually illegal to take those.”
“Really. Well, you learn something new every day. I would’ve grabbed them all,” he said.
“No. That would be like kidnapping babies. And there’s a hefty fine if someone catches you.”
We weren’t having much luck in the water, so we moved over to the sand.
“You don’t want to dig too deep,” I said. “Five to eight inches…anything beyond that we won’t find anything. And only lightly move the sand around, otherwise you can murder the clam if you break the shell.”
“And they said this was fun and stress free.”
“You’ll get the hang of it. Just watch me.”
“Got it,” he said, though he kept unknowingly doing what I’d told him not to.
“These over here are too small,” I said. “Let’s move to a different spot. But we have to put the sand back first to help them survive.”
After moving to a different location, we finally ran into some luck.
“We hit the motherlode here!” I announced. “It’s a honey hole.”
He scrunched his nose. “A…honey hole?”
“Yeah. A sweet spot. A honey hole. That’s what Mrs. Angelini’s brother, Paul, calls it when you find a bunch of clams all convening together. Pretty sure he made up that name.”
“I love it.” Leo grinned.
About an hour into our adventure, Leo was finally getting the hang of things. Before I knew it, we’d filled an entire bucket with clams.
After our work was done, we took some time to relax on the sand.
Leo rested his arm on the top of the bucket. “That was a lot of work, but it was worth it.”
“Yeah, I like that it takes my mind off stuff when I get into it.”
“What’s on your mind? Something stressing you out?”
Should I be honest? I laughed. “You.”