Page 18 of A Summer Mismatch
“Ha! Nope. Who needs a dating profile when you’ve got The Palms?”
All three looked at one another and snickered. Logan felt like he was missing out on some sort of inside joke, but he loved the warmth and easy camaraderie between all of them as they continued to tease one another all the way to the purple bungalow. He needed his grandparents to forget the Reeses and make friends like this.
They brought the clock into the house and set it down against an empty wall. Logan wiped his hands off on his pants and turned to head out the door, but Don blocked his way, his muscles flexing like hardened stone.
“So, Logan,” Don said. Logan didn’t recall ever telling Don his name, but perhaps The Palms was like a small town, and word got around. “Do you plan on living in the area for a while?”
“Yes.” Logan wouldn’t leave his family, especially now, and he loved the conservation center and working with Kai.
“Good.” Don nodded his head definitively.
Polly stepped closer. “And do you have a good job?”
He turned to her. “Yes. I’m a vet at the Southern Florida Wildlife Conservation Center.”
“Are you close to your grandparents?” Harry asked this time, and Logan couldn’t help but feel like he was in an interrogation. All he needed was the metal table and glaring light shining in his face. Yet this was his chance to help these three see why they should befriend Grandpa and Nonna.
“I am. My grandparents are wonderful people. Nonna—Lydia is her name—is the best cards partner you’ll ever get. If she’s on your team, you’ll win every time. And Grandpa Smitty loves to golf and can talk for hours about any college sports team in the country.”
Don kept looking at his phone as it lit up with texts.
“Where do you live?” Harry asked.
“About thirty minutes from here in—” He stopped talking abruptly as Harry placed a hand on his back and nearly pushed him out the back door, toward the beach.
“Sorry to rush you out, but my wife is calling. Thank you for your help.”
Logan hadn’t heard a phone ring, but Don and Polly stepped aside and let Logan pass, both looking as though this were the most normal thing in the world.
“Okay, it was nice to meet“—the door closed—”you.” He turned toward the ocean, shaking his head at the strange interaction, and saw a young woman walking along the beach, her sandals dangling from her fingertips.
The sun was almost down, but her silky brown hair, blowing in the wind, was strikingly familiar. The stars on her dress glinted silver in the moonlight, and she looked like a walking piece of the sky.
“Julia?” Perhaps he was just seeing her everywhere he went, since thoughts of her had filled his mind all week.
The woman turned and her eyes widened before she gave him a surprised wave. Itwasher. He jogged to her, his smile stretching across his face, unable to contain his happiness.
“What are you doing here?” they both asked at the same time, and then laughed. He fell into a steady, slow walk beside her.
“My grandparents live here,” she replied.
“Mine too,” he said. What luck! If he could get his grandparents enmeshed in the community with friends and activities, they’d be more likely to stay—regardless of Horace Rees. “They just moved here. Maybe we could introduce them.”
“Definitely. They’d love that. Grandma Winnie is always up for new friends.” The breeze caught her coconut-scented hair, and some strands blew across his neck and arm. She grabbed it in her hands and twisted it around, but the wind tugged those same strands loose again.
“So is my nonna, Lydia. I’ve told her about Cameron, and I know she’d love to meet him too.”
“You’ve talked about him to your family? That’s really cool.”
Logan shrugged. “Seeing him is the highlight of my week.”
She glanced at him, her head tilted and her teeth biting down on her smiling lips. The sight sent his heart racing far faster than that simple action should.
“How’s Raza doing?”
“He’s not doing as well as I’d like, but he’s making some incremental improvements. I’m impressed you remember his name.” Most people only remembered Lulu’s, because she was the baby.
“I have a knack for remembering names… and I have to admit that I’ve been reading through the wildlife center’s website this week for research.”
