Page 144 of Fire Island
“You did!?” Her face lights up instantly.
I chuckle and nod.
“That’s amazing... Almost as amazing as this gorgeous bike.” She leans back on the handlebars, her hands sliding along them as she tosses her head back with a giggle.
“Keep doing that and you’ll be getting more than just a joyride, Evie baby.”
Her brown eyes rise, and I swear they’re a hell of a lot darker than they were a moment ago when she says, “Good.”
Leaning over her as she lies along the chrome-finished Indian, I pluck a nipple into my teeth through her shirt. “Hold on, mo ghràdh.”
Thirty-Nine
CALLUM
Apparently, the chat Reese and I had last week about focusing on keeping his head down and finding honest work didn’t take. Before Reese moved back to the Bay to start the job hunt, we hashed out what was okay in this tiny little seaside town and what was not.
But now, I stand outside Iris’s café with an irate Errol. Iris stands behind the counter, pretending to dry up shake glasses as she peers at us.
“Keep your good-for-nothing kid away from my granddaughter, you hear?” Errol spits.
I lean back on my heels, trying my best to avoid his spray.Say it, don’t spray it, old man.His finger points at my chest.
“This is history fucking repeating itself. That’s what this is. You nip this shit in the bud, McCreary.”
“Calm down. The boy lives here, Errol. He’s not stalking your granddaughter.”
Doesn’t that phrase take a whole new meaning now.
He scoffs. “Lives here? Now that isn’t going to end well, and you know it.”
“I don’t know, maybe he’s a generous tipper...” I chuckle. I can’t resist stirring the old prick up. I swear, a smile tries its damn hardest to tug that shriveled mouth of his upward.
He glares at me.
Nope. Must have imagined it.
“You about done? I’ve got somewhere to be,” I say with a sigh.
I don’t think our families will ever get on, despite Ava’s reappearance and Paige working—happily, I might add—for Iris.
“You watch that boy like a hawk, or I swear to god.” Errol stalks off in the direction of the watchhouse.
Some things never change.
Em bursts through the café door. “Geez, Cal. We got to get going, or Iris is going to serve my balls to the next paying customer.”
“Right, I’m ready when you are.”
Time to head up to Rockland and pick up our suits. Not that I had any intention of wearing a full suit to a beach wedding. But what makes my girl happy, I do. Em fires up his truck, and I climb in. “Oh, I have to run an errand up there after we grab the suits.”
“What you got going on?” he asks.
“Ordered in Evie’s wedding present.”
“Let me guess, a cargo shipment of books?”
“Nah, something a little lighter.” I smile at him, and he frowns over the grin stretching his face, confusion lining his eyes.
