Page 77 of Big Island Summer
She’d had her share of first kisses, butthis… this was something else entirely.
She forgot everything outside that moment, anything beyond the smell of sunshine in his hair and the salt that still clung to his skin.
Then reality came crashing back in.
“Dad,” Juniper called out, closing the front door behind her. “You home?”
Ethan cursed under his breath and then smiled apologetically as he pulled away. Fern gave him a dopey smile of her own as she took a step back.
“Sorry,” he murmured.
“It’s okay. We have time.”
He closed the distance between them with one last, fierce kiss that made her head spin.
“There’s my Teddy Bear!” Juniper said inside.
By the time Fern opened her eyes again, she was alone on the balcony.
“What are you doing in here all alone?” Jun cooed.
“Hewastaking a nap,” Ethan said, but there was no reprimand in his tone.
“Well, he’s wide awake now. Look how happy he is to see me!”
“We’re always happy to see you, Jun.”
“Yeah right,” she said playfully.
“Where are you going?”
“I want to get his favorite book, that one with the birds. Is it still in your room?”
Fern moved to the far corner of the balcony, but there was nowhere to hide. Ethan had taken down the heavy curtains that used to hang in the master bedroom, and there was nothing between her and his daughter but wide planes of glass.
“Hey Jun.” She waved awkwardly.
Juniper’s expression went blank. She looked between Fern’s guilty expression and the apprehension on her dad’s face.
“Seriously?” Her tone was scathing as she shoved Theo into Ethan’s arms. “Mom’s been dead for, like, two minutes.”
“Jun.” He started after her, but the whole house shook when she slammed the front door.
She ran inside and held her arms out for Theo.
“I have to talk to her,” Ethan said.
“I know. Go. I’ve got Theodore.”
Theo went to her happily, and Ethan kissed them both before running out the door and down the stairs after his daughter.
Fern sank onto the couch, too overwhelmed to put her thoughts into words.
In spite of everything – and everything was a bit of a mess – she felt a warm, unshakable happiness growing in her chest.
She wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t young or naive.
This – whatever this was – would take work. His family might be slow to adjust, and they both had plenty of baggage to unpack. But she wanted to do that work with him.
