Page 26 of Passing Ships

“Yep, just like Mommy,” Sebastian says as he scoops her up into his arms and pokes her tummy. “Think you have room in there for some chicken nuggets?” he asks.

She rubs her belly. “Maybe a little bit.”

“Tell you what. If you eat at least three nuggets and a couple of bites of salad, we won’t tell Mommy you cheated and had ice cream before lunch. Deal?”

“Deal!” she agrees.

Once they have the boat secured, the four of us head to the snack shack for lunch. We order three club sandwiches with fries and chicken nuggets with a side salad for Leia.

Anson and I grab one of the tables on the patio while Sebastian and Leia take our paper cups to the fountain station.

“Sebastian tells me you’re rooming with Amiya at the cabana,” Anson says as we take a seat.

I nod. “Yep.”

“Four weeks of cohabitation with a tornado should be fun for you,” he quips.

“Tornado?”

“Yeah, Amiya can be a wild one,” he notes.

“And that’s a bad thing?”

He shrugs. “Not necessarily, but knowing you and how particular you are, I can see her driving you mad,” he says.

“Did she drive you mad?” I ask.

His brow furrows at the question. “Frequently. But I can handle crazy women better than most men.”

“Who are we talking about?” Sebastian asks from over my shoulder.

He sets a paper cup in front of each of us before helping Leia up into one of the wrought iron chairs.

“Amiya,” Anson replies.

“Auntie Miya isn’t crazy,” Leia says as her eyes narrow at Anson.

“I didn’t mean bad crazy, kiddo. I meant fun crazy,” Anson clarifies.

“She’s the mostest fun,” Leia agrees.

“And a little bad crazy too,” Sebastian says under his breath.

Our number is called, and Sebastian goes to collect our order from the window.

“You two are close, huh?” I ask Anson.

“Who, me and Amiya?” he asks as he adds more sugar to his sweet tea.

“Yeah.”

He nods. “We’re pretty good friends, I guess.”

Pretty good friends.

“Ah, I got the impression from Seb that you guys were more.”

He laughs, but before he can elaborate, Sebastian returns with our meals, and the conversation turns to my and Leia’s afternoon plans.

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