“Good morning.” I shoot a quick glance toward Maggie. Words aren’t necessary.
Kaden smiles in understanding. “Good morning, Maggie.”
“Kaden,” Maggie acknowledges with a curt nod. Then she meets my eyes and waggles her tongue behind Kaden’s back, making me laugh.
“You’re ridiculous,” I scold her.
She winks at me, then scrapes the eggs into a bowl. “Get the bacon for me?” she asks Kaden, carrying the bowl to the dining room table at Olivia’s request.
“We’re spending the entire day together, right?” he confirms, setting the strips of bacon onto folded paper towels to absorb the grease, then adds quickly, “With the boys.”
I nod, my insides melting as he plants a quick kiss on my neck before taking the bacon to the table.
Soon, the entire house is awake, Niall being the last to arrive after Nick has returned from his coffee escape. I’m stationed at the waffle iron until everyone’s fed. By then, Parker is done playing with his trucks and is antsy, wanting to go outside.
“I’ll take him,” Niall tells me. “Thank you for the waffles. Now be sure you get something to eat.”
“I can make you an omelet,” Kaden offers, resting a hand on my lower back. It feels like a warm stone, even through his sweatshirt, heating me to my core.
“Thank you,” I say, smiling appreciatively.
“We’ll clean up,” Olivia says, bringing empty plates from the dining room table. “Cassandra, will you bring over the boys’ plates?”
“Uh, no,” Cassandra says, her nose scrunched in disgust. “I need to get ready to go out on the boat with JoJo and Karolena.”
“I’ve got it,” Nick declares, leaning over to kiss Cassandra on the cheek, just as she abruptly turns away. His neck reddens.
I lower my head to save him the embarrassment of an audience.
“I’ve got to get going. Mom needs me at the store,” Maggie announces, setting her plate in the dishwasher. “See you guys later?”
“We’ll expect you this afternoon for the picnic, Maggie. We’re setting up badminton and croquet,” Olivia calls out before disappearing down the hall toward the master bedroom.
Maggie is not one for either game, but she smiles mischievously and murmurs out of the side of her mouth, “Only if I get to drink their wine.” She plants a loud kiss on my cheek as I laugh at her antics.
We couldn’t be any more different, but I’ve been drawn to her since the second we met. Maybe it’s her brazenness that I admire. Maggie’s fierce and opinionated. While I’m reserved and polite.
She hollers her goodbyes as she departs.
Kaden carries my plate to the patio. I follow with a glass of orange juice, sitting next to him at the table under the wooden slats of the pergola. Niall is with the boys, out near the lawn’s edge, just before the steep slope transitions into sea grass and sand dunes. He’s pretending to be a monster, chasing after the boys, who laugh and run away. I smile at the image.
“Do you find Maggie attractive?” I ask, my eyes still following Parker as he rolls on the ground, his father tickling him. When Kaden is quiet too long, I realize how the question sounded and redirect my focus to him. “Sorry, I mean … she’s bold and unapologetic. She seems so comfortable, being her, not caring what anyone thinks. I didn’t know if that was an attractive quality to most guys.”
Kaden scoots his chair closer and lifts my legs onto his lap. Caressing my ankle with his thumb, he says, “Maggie is … a lot. And she’s fun to have around. But she’s nothing like you. And you’re the girl I’m in love with. So that’s not a question I can answer.”
I smile, feeling foolish for asking Kaden’s opinion about my friend.
“Did she really stay at the cottage?” I ask, knowing how late it was when I snuck back into the house. I can’t imagine what time she appeared at his door.
“She’s crashed on the roof on and off throughout the summer. Says her mother will kill her if she shows up drunk and begs me to let her lie under the stars. Other times, I think she stows away on unoccupied sailboats down at the harbor.” Kaden shakes his head, laughing at the thought. “She’s definitely daring. I would never have the nerve to do that.”
When Olivia steps outside, I quickly pull my legs off Kaden’s lap. My shyness just adds to the list of differences between me and Maggie.
Maggie graduated this year and has plans to travel. She has a collection of maps for countries around the world, with routes already plotted out. She’s been accumulating travel guides and backpacking gear for years.
I know exactly where I’m going when I graduate. Kaden and I have our entire lives planned out. Together. And that’s what’s going to get me through our time apart. To hell with Damon’s conjecture. Kaden and I are in this life together. My heart skips a beat, just thinking about it. What an amazing life it’ll be.
After two days of building sand castles on the beach, bike rides across the island and laughing ’til my stomach ached, it was our last day together on the island, and I was holding on to it with both hands, afraid of letting go. But that’s the fault with fear—if you hold on too tightly, something is bound to crack.
Niall takes Nick, Damon and Isaac out on the boat for one last sail while Olivia, Julia and I stay behind to prepare the food for the picnic. Kaden sets up the lawn games with “help” from Parker, who mostly points at where everything should go while eating his snacks.
“I wanted to take advantage of the lawn one last time before they break ground for the pool next week,” Olivia says, lining up sliced watermelon on a white porcelain platter painted with green ivy along its edges.
“You don’t want the pool?” Julia inquires, rinsing a colander filled with strawberries.
I remain quiet on the far side of the kitchen island, creating a charcuterie board inspired by a picture I found in a magazine. It’s intricately involved with rolled meats and sprinklings of nuts to resemble an artistic culinary display. I’m dedicated to the task, wanting to impress Olivia. I don’t know why exactly, but her approval and acceptance mean more to me than anyone’s.
“Oh, I do. It’ll be better for the kids when the ocean’s too rough. Closer and less messy too. But I love having the lawn. I know; I’m acting spoiled.” Olivia places the marinating steak in the refrigerator and removes the parchment package of fresh scallops to prepare ceviche.
Julia laughs. “Don’t apologize. My father-in-law had an entire building torn down because it was obstructing his view of Lake Michigan. That is spoiled.”
And forced his son to marry you, so he could acquire your father’s business, I say to myself, having spoken more to Damon over the weekend about the forces that brought him and Julia together despite his misgivings.
“Where are you from?” I ask, having assumed she lived in New York like everyone else the family knows since that’s where the Harrisons originated.
“Chicago,” she answers, focusing on slicing strawberries without glancing my way.
“Damon as well?” I ask, trying to engage.
But she’s not having it. I wonder if I’ve offended her in some way. Or maybe she’s seen Damon and me speaking on occasion and made reprehensible assumptions.