Yep, she’d heard every word.
“I’d love to,” Meredith said, mustering her best casual tone.
Kate glanced toward the deck again, then back to Meredith. They held each other’s gaze for a minute, a challenge and a question in the air.
A question that Meredith was ready to ask, but she wasn’t sure she was going to like the answer.
The sun casta shimmer that made the Gulf look like a brushed sheet of light. The tide was low, leaving a wide stretch of white sand between the boardwalk and the surf.
They left their shoes near the house and strolled barefoot to the waterline. The conversation—if she could give the small talk they exchanged so weighty a name—floated between Meredith and Kate, light and inconsequential. Surely they were both waiting for the perfect moment to get into something more serious.
“This sand is ridiculous,” Meredith murmured as her toes curled and disappeared with each step. “The color of powdered sugar.”
Kate chuckled. “I once broke your father’s heart by explaining the color is the result of finely eroded quartz from the Appalachian Mountains.” She gave an apologetic smile. “Blinding him with science.”
“You people ruin everything,” Meredith teased, jabbing her gently with an elbow. “Don’t ever try to explain how rainbows work, or I’ll cry.”
Kate grinned, her hair tousled by the wind as they reached the calm surf and stood for a moment, letting it froth around their ankles. “Deal. I’ll leave the famous Destin magic intact.”
The laughter faded, and Meredith felt the real reason for this stroll settle on her shoulders as they started to walk. She inhaled slowly, tasting salt and tension on the breeze. The silence stretched just long enough to feel awkward, and finally, she just…went for it.
“So,” she said, eyes fixed on the horizon. “You and my dad. Is it serious?”
Kate didn’t miss a beat. “Don’t start picking out what color you want to wear to the wedding quite yet, Meredith.”
The joke landed wrong—Meredith’s smile twitched, then faltered. Even thementionof a wedding made something inside her tighten.
She cleared her throat. “Have you two talked about that kind of thing? Marriage? The distance? I mean, your job at Cornell is…pretty solid. Impressive, actually. Are you expecting him to move there?”
Kate turned to look at her, one brow arched. “Wow. You don’t play, as your brother likes to say.”
Meredith shrugged, not about to apologize for directness. “Sorry. I care about him. A lot. And I know he’s my dad and I’m his daughter, but we’ve got a special bond forged by a shared love of architecture.”
“And grief,” Kate added. “He’s your only parent and he’s a magnificent one. I understand, respect, and absolutely love your closeness. When he talks about you, well…” Kate laughed. “I was pretty sure you hung the moon even before I met you.”
The compliment warmed, and relaxed, her. And reminded her just how far the mighty were about to fall.
“Trust me, I didn’t hang anything. But I guess you understand that I want to be certain you’re both, you know, on the same page. With…life.”
“Life?” Kate glanced out at the water. “We haven’t talked about long-term logistics. No one’s booking U-Hauls or applying for out-of-state driver’s licenses. We’re just taking the summer to see if this is real. If what we’ve felt from the minute I walked up to this house is, well, more than just my childhood crush.”
“On him?” she asked, surprised.
“I kept it on the DL,” Kate joked. “I threatened your Aunt Vivien with her very life if she told anyone or even mentioned it in her infamous diaries. And he had Tessa fever, so it was amoot point. But this time, thirty years later…well, it’s good. It’s special. And we both want to know if the long-distance thing we’ve kept alive for a few months actually holds up in the bright light of daily life. That’s all.”
“Is it holding up?”
“We’re discovering things,” Kate said with hesitation. “About each other, and ourselves.”
“That’s nice and vague.”
Kate let out a short breath of laughter. “It’s also true.”
Meredith slowed her step. “Like what are you discovering, exactly?”
Kate paused, too, then tilted her head. “He’s kind. Grounded. And deeply generous in ways that sneak up on you. Obviously, handsome and delightful and good-hearted.”
“Check, check, and triple check,” Meredith replied. “I hear a ‘but’ on the end of that list of attributes.”
