Page 9 of Summer Ever After
Beau will have to put his arms around me to save me. Thehigh-stress moment will bond us together, and he’ll be my knight in shining armor. I can totally see that being the first step to falling in love.
I’ll have to do my best not to sayI told you soto Cat and Holland every timeBeau and I tell the story of how we fell in love for the next fifty years.
I just have to find the right moment to pretend to choke.
So small talk it is until the opportunity presents itself.
Walker
It’sthe same old Beach Break Bar.
Same greasy food.
Same band playing beachy songs.
Same pastel sky reflecting off the water.
Heck, it’s the same people eating dinner.
But that’s exactly why I’m back in Sunset Harbor after being gone from this place for the last ten years. I’m counting on my old golf coach, Pete Luca, to work his magic and get me back to the player I once was.
I take a bite of my short-rib taquitos and pull out my phone as I chew.
You don’t look stupid eating alone if you’re looking at your phone. Instead, you look busy.
Four new voice messages.
Not surprising, since lately I’ve been sending every call to voicemail.
I tap the little triangle on the first one and listen as my phone plays it over the speaker. It’s loud in here, but I turn the volume on my phone down just in case.
“Walker, honey!” My mom singsongshoneylike she doesn’t have a care in the world. “Stan and I left the keys under the doormat on the front porch.”
It was the first place I looked when I got here an hour ago.
“I’m just so sad that you’re finally coming home to visit when I’m leaving town. I would cancel this Europe trip if I could.” She lowers her voice like she doesn’t want her husband to hear. “But I think Stan would be broken-hearted if we canceled. He’s put so much effort into planning things. Anyway”—her voice returns to normal—“there are new sheets on the guest bed and fresh towels. The golf cart is in the garage for you to get around the island. You’re going to need some groceries. Sorry. If I had had more time, I could’ve made some meals for you and put them in the freezer.”
“Faye, he doesn’t want your freezer meals,” Stan says in the background.
“Oh, and I wanted to tell you about the ice machine. It randomly makes this weird grinding noise. Sometimes, it does it in the middle of the night and scares me to death. So I just turn it off every night before bed, and then I turn it back on every morning to have pebbled ice. You like pebbled ice, don’t you?”
“Walker’s a grown man. He can figure it out,” Stan chirps.
“Oh, but Walker, can you do us a favor? Stan’s boat is in the shop in town getting the propeller fixed. Can you pick it up from Dax tomorrow? He owns the mechanic shop now. And once the boat is fixed, you can use it.”
“What’s mine is yours,” Stan says into the phone.
“And we’re still planning on being in Scotland for the British Open next month.”
“Faye, we don’t need to discuss everything with him in this one phone call. You’ll talk to him again.”
“Right. I better put my phone in airplane mode before we take off. But I’ll call you tomorrow and make sure you got in the house okay.”
“Faye, he’ll get in the house just fine.”
“Yeah, you’ll be alright.” Despite her words, there’s worryin her voice. I don’t blame her. I’m worried about myself too. “Just make yourself at home. Love you, honey.”
Make myself at home? Sunset Harbor has never felt like home. But when my mom mentioned that she and Stan were traveling through Europe for the next two months, their house seemed like the perfect place to hang low while I get my head on straight and fix my swing.
