Page 30 of When You Kiss Me

“Vi!” Grandma Dotty rushed out to the patio and sat in a chair next to Violet. She wore bright pink leggings and a gray swing blouse. “Do you have a second?”

“Sure.” Violet’s fingers had been drumming the keys for several minutes without typing any words. It was almost a relief to remove them from the vicinity of her laptop.

“Watch me dance.” And without turning on any music, her grandmother stood and began a frenetic set of movements that Vi was hard-pressed to identify.

“Wow,” Violet said dutifully. “Nice.” In truth, it was better than anything she could do.

Grandma Dotty stopped, panting and red-cheeked. “It’s good, right?”

“It’s something.” Vi nodded. “Did Kelcie teach you that today?”

“No.” Smiling, her grandmother pulled the hem of her swing blouse side-to-side. She looked blissful. “I was watching one of those morning talk shows, and they had a performance by a hip hop singer.”

“Did they? What was his name?”

“It was aher.” Grandma Dotty pinched her features in concentration. “Kitty Cat? Bitty Cat? No. Lola Cat?”

“Doja Cat?” It was a good guess, even though the artist considered herself a rapper.

“That’s her!” Grandma Dotty threw a couple more dance moves with age-defying velocity. “I stole her steps. And she gave me an idea for my Xuri audition costume.”

“Okay. That sounds great.” And it was. Truly, it was. When Grandma Dotty was happy, it was as if the world was a more beautiful and exciting place. If only some of that transferred to Violet’s book. She was about ready to skip the chapter on fate altogether and move on to the chapter on familial relationships in Shakespeare’s works.

Violet’s laptop screen went black, entering sleep mode.

And maybe that’s what Violet needed, too. Sleep. A nice nap instead of sitting out here waiting for a words to come or a man to show.

Chapter Eight

“We’re seriously going to race horses on the beach?” Dotty didn’t wait for Coop to confirm. She clapped her hands and then threw herself into his arms beneath the trees separating the Summer property from the beach.

“I see where you get your enthusiasm from,” Coop said to Vivi over Dotty’s head, holding onto a trio of reins. “Throwing yourself at men must be a Summer female trait.”

Vivi crossed her arms over her chest and gave Coop a look that denied his theory. “And thus ends the streak you’ve experienced of me making the first move.”

Coop didn’t believe for a minute that she wouldn’t lip-bomb him again.

“Are you two dating?” Dotty stared up at Coop, squinting.

“Not yet.” He set Dotty aside. “Ladies, let’s mount up and have this beachy horse race.”

Coop had taken the trio of horses without permission as soon as Rafi had left Beeswax Farm. He wanted to be back long before his boss returned.

“Dotty, you’ll be riding I Dunno.” He handed her the reins to a dun gelding. “Vivi, you’re riding Papi.” He handed her the reins to a palomino mare and kept the reins to Tally for himself.

“Give me a boost, Chuck.” Dotty lifted her left foot mere inches off the ground.

He bent, grabbed her by the waist, and lifted her in the air. She weighed next to nothing.

Dotty slipped her foot in the stirrup and flung herself into the saddle like a pro. “On your marks. Get set. Go!” And off she went, galloping toward the beach.

“You snooze, you lose, cowboy.” Vivi shot off on Papi.

Coop hopped on Tally and made after them, crying, “Cheaters!”

Down on the beach, Dotty led the pack, bouncing in the saddle like she was on a pogo stick. She rode the way she did everything else—with one hundred and ten percent effort and two hundred percent glee. She whooped it up, guiding the dun to the wet sand and showing no fear.

Vivi rode at a controlled gallop in her grandmother’s wake. She had a graceful seat and a light hand on the reins. Papi tossed her head as the last vestiges of a gentle wave churned at her feet. Vivi slowed the pace to an easy lope.

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