Page 76 of Love on Deck

She lifted her eyebrows. “Not even your full legal name?”

“Nope. Levi just says it to get under my skin.”

“Good to know.”

“All right, you,” I said, pushing the blanket into her hand. “Hold this.”

“Why?”

I leaned down and picked her up, one arm under her knees and the other around her back. She yelped, which only made my smile grow. “So I can do this.” I stepped down the porch onto the stone pathway that curved around the house.

“Is this necessary?”

“You’re the one who chose not to wear shoes.”

Despite the grandma attire, she still looked lovely. Her hair fell over her shoulders, and her eyes glinted in the moonlight. The way she smiled up at me like she was trying to pretend to be annoyed but loved being in my arms nearly undid me. I didn’t want to ruin that smile and wreck her mood.

The moment I told her about the conference, she was going to hate me.

The hammock was just behind the house. “Hold on to the sides when I lower you, or you could spin out.”

“Okay.” She gripped the fabric, and I set her in so her feet could hang over the side before I climbed in next to her.

We sat up, our feet hanging over the side, while I shook out the blanket and laid it over our laps.

“This is... fun.”

“Just wait,” I said, twisting my torso to spread the fabric of the hammock further behind our heads. “Now lie back slowly so we make sure our weight is distributed evenly.”

“Lie back?”

“Just your head.”

We both leaned back until I was sure we weren’t going to topple out of the hammock. I kept both of my feet on the ground to rock us gently.

Lauren gave a soft gasp. “The stars!”

“They’re beautiful, right?” I felt a surge of happiness that she seemed to appreciate the brilliance of the sky out here as much as I’d hoped she would. “Watch for a shooting star. I’m sure we’ll see a few.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before,” she said.

“Light pollution makes it hard until you’ve left the city far, far behind.”

“Speaking of leaving the city, why would you ever want to be anywhere but here?”

She wasn’t holding back the tough questions. “I was kind of asking myself that same question tonight.”

Lauren was quiet for a moment. “Your family is really incredible, Jack. And enormous.”

“You haven’t met them all. There’s more.”

“Good grief. Do Fletchers fill Arcadia Creek?”

“No. But I’m related to an embarrassing percentage of it one way or another.” I laughed.

We swung in the silence, listening to the grass moving in the breeze. “Your parents made me feel welcome,” she said gently.

“It’s kind of their specialty. We always had a lot of people in our house growing up. My mom likes being one of the town mommas. Everyone’s welcome, there’s always enough supper prepared to add a plate to the table, that sort of thing.”

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