Page 23 of Stars & Sparks Forever

“Lana! Lana!” A small blonde boy waved at me from a distance. I waved back, then he started running towards me.

Hudson.

“Hi, Hudson. How are you?” I asked as he dove towards me, wrapping his wet, sandy arms around me in a tight hug.

“Good. Will you build a sandcastle with me? Mine keeps getting knocked over.” He nodded towards a sad pile of smashed sand.

“Well, goose, that’s because you’re building it too close to the water’s edge. Move up the beach a bit and you’ll have better luck.” I took him by his little hand, leading him away from the water. My mother followed behind, not saying a word.

“Huddy?” A breathless (and shirtless) Grant jogged up, his tan, muscular chest on full display.

“Hey, Daddy. Look who I ran into!” Hudson cried, grinning.

“Huddy, don’t run off like that, I got scared.” He patted Hudson’s small shoulder, as if to check that he was real. “Hi, Lana.” His eyes skimmed my body and I could see his appreciation of my curves in my swimsuit.

“Hi, Grant. Uh, Grant, this is my mother.” I tilted my head at her and Grant thrust his hand out.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Jones.”

“Oh, please! Call me Violet.” She gave him a full-wattage smile, batting her eyelashes at Grant.

My stomach churned, going into overdrive. I needed to separate these two before she said something crazy and Grant decided to run away as fast as he could.

“Now that your dad’s here, Huddy, I’m sure he’ll want to build a sandcastle with you. I need to get back to my sister, otherwise I’d stay and help,” I said, squeezing his sandy hand.

“That’s okay, Lana. I understand. Are you going to come over again soon?” he asked, his eyes wide and innocent.

“Sure. I definitely will. And I’ll see you tomorrow at lessons.”

“Oh, right, I forgot.” Hudson ran off to fetch his bucket and Grant, Violet, and I stood in an awkward circle while my mind tossed around for the right words.

“Okay, well, we need to get back. Bye, Grant,” I said, throwing him a tiny wave.

Facepalm. Really, Lana?Weird transition from sleeping with the guy this morning to a casual wave two hours later, but I didn’t want to get into it with Violet.

“Bye.” He tipped his head at us, then trotted away, back towards Hudson.

“That’s your boyfriend, right?” Violet asked, ogling Grant’s muscular body as he ran away.

I blushed, hot and hard.How did this woman know that?

“Uh, no,” I stammered, my heart hammering so hard in my chest I was certain she could hear it, even over the shrieks and screams of the kids in the ocean and the pop music blaring from a nearby radio.

“Sure, Lana. You really need to work on your lie face. I bet he’s fantastic in bed.”

Ohmygod. Did she really just say that?

My face blazing, I shook my head, then turned and stalked back to our spot on the beach.

Grant

What were the chances of running into Lana and her mother on the beach this afternoon? This whole small-town vibe was going to take some getting used to. I took a sip of bourbon, kicked my feet up on the coffee table. Hudson was asleep in his bed and I was just relaxing on the couch after a full day at the beach.

How old was Lana’s mom? God, what if I was closer to her age than Lana’s?

That thought sent a cold shiver trickling down my spine. Maybe this was the curse of midlife—constantly wondering whose age you were closer to, the mother or the daughter.

I took another sip of bourbon to drown that depressing thought.

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