Page 125 of Reel Love

Me:Congratulations.

Kai:Can I meet you back at my place to get Shaka? He needs to eat and I’m going to leave Bodhi and Kala alone for a bit and then come back tonight to take a shift. Plus, I have to clean my house. My parents are flying into LAX tomorrow. They’ll be staying with me.

Me:Sure. I’ll leave Alana’s in a minute and meet you there.

I stare at the photo again. What are the odds? It was strange enough that Alana is my SaturdayIslandGirl on the game? She’s liable to think I stalked her if I tell her about this uncanny overlap. After all we went through in LA, our relationship doesn’t need another wallop.

Maybe I should tell her, though. She might be as pleasantly blown away as I am. I stare at the photo one more time. Then I take out my cell and snap a shot of it—two children, side by side on the sand, digging a ditch together, laughing. The brown haired boy is wearing blue swim trunks with a shark motif. The girl has impossibly curly blond hair and an orange one piece on with a sunflower adorning the top.

I follow the sound of Alana’s voice into the kitchen. She’s still on the phone.

“It’s Brigitte now,” she tells me.

“I have to get going. Kai needs me to bring Shaka back. Kalaine had her baby. A boy.”

“Awww.” She turns her attention back to Brigitte. “Hey, Bridge, let me call you right back. Stevens is leaving and I need to say goodbye.”

She smiles and rolls her eyes. “No I will not. And I’m not saying that to him either.” She chuckles. “I’ll call you right back.”

She clicks the phone off and sets it on the counter.

“What did she tell you to do?”

“That’s confidential and irrelevant.”

“Oh, really?”

I round the counter and gently poke that spot beneath her ribs, wiggling my fingertips just the slightest. She collapses into me in a fit of giggles.

“No fair!” she shouts. “Okay! Okay! She told me to give you a kiss you won’t forget, and to tell you you’re ten times hotter than Rex Fordham.”

I can’t help but grin. I’m not insecure, but the past forty-eight hours have been a blow to my usual confidence.

“And you refused her?” I ask.

“You got it out of me anyway.”

“The confession, yes. That Brigitte thinks I’m attractive.”

“I do. I think you’re attractive. She doesn’t matter.” Alana loops her arms around my neck. “She’s only encouraging me to tell you what I think.”

“Well, then?” I’m taunting her. She knows it.

Alana looks directly into my eyes. “You, my merman, are ten times hotter than Rex Fordham. And that’s a fact.”

I can feel the prickle of self-consciousness climb up my neck and color my cheeks.

“Are you blushing?” Alana asks.

“Maybe.”

She smiles and leans in to kiss me.

Then she walks me to the door. “Are you doing anything tomorrow?”

“I’ve got an early morning snorkel. Otherwise, I’m free. I’ve got a few tours here and there over the next few days. Then I have a job in Marin coming up.”

“Let’s get together after your snorkel.”

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