“There’s no doubt about that. My brother and husband are cheesing at her like teenage boys meeting Jennifer Lopez for the first time. It has to be her eyes, and I hope when you Reese have babies, they’ll inherit their grandmama’s eyes.”
“Whoa, Kayana. You’re getting ahead of yourself. Reese and I aren’t even engaged, and you have us married with children.”
“You don’t have to be married to have kids, Cherie.”
“Well, I’d like to be married,” she said firmly.
“Have you talked about marriage?” Kayana questioned.
“Not yet. But I told him we will talk about our future once my mother leaves.”
“Are you really thinking about marrying him?”
“Why the twenty questions, Kayana?”
“I’m just asking what everyone has been talking about,” she said, lowering her voice to just above a whisper. “The looks you gave each other at the Super Bowl party said y’all wanted us gone so you could be alone together.”
Cherie blushed. “Were we that obvious?”
“Yeah! His eyes were eating you up.”
“That’s because we don’t get to see that much of each other because of his crazy work schedule. It changes every two weeks.”
“You can solve that problem if you live together.”
Cherie shook her head. “I don’t think that will solve our problem. I have my house, and he has his.”
“You’ll have to decide where you want to live. It’s going to come down to that once you’re married.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Meanwhile, he’s been spending more time at my place than I am at his. Besides, I’d rather live on the island than the mainland.”
“Me, too,” Kayana agreed. “I grew up here. Fortunately, Graeme had bought property here, so it was a win-win for us.”
Cherie knew she would have to bring up the issue of their living arrangements before agreeing to an engagement and or marriage. Having to give up her home was certain to be a deal breaker for her. Living on the island was the reason she’d moved to Coates Island.
“Derrick turned on the heat in the she-shed and set up the TV so we can watchLive by Nightanytime you want.”
“I’m ready.” Cherie didn’t know why she liked the movie so much when it had been panned by most critics. She motioned for her mother to come with her as they followed Kayana and Leah out to the rear of the house and a converted garden shed.
Kayana tapped a keypad on the shingled garden shed and opened French doors to the structure, which had been converted into a bedroom, with painted cornflower-blue shutters matching the door frame. The tiny cottage was filled with homey touches and garden accents, plus a hutch displaying items usually found at flea markets or lawn sales. Two Depression-glass vases were filled with green-and-white dried hydrangeas. Wrought-iron chairs, an antique desk, a twin bed with a pale-green wicker headboard, and framed prints of Audubon birds and flowers made it the perfect space to nap and while away the hours doing absolutely nothing.
Derrick had explained that he set up the space as a go-to guest bedroom whenever his teenage daughter, Deandra, had friends and family over. He also had a plumber install a commode, vanity, and shower stall behind the door in the corner next to the wardrobe. But that was before his teenage daughter moved to Gainesville, Florida, to live with his mother and sister. Deandra was now in her first year at the University of Florida.
“It took a while,” Leah said as she flopped down on a cushioned chair, “but I was finally able to convince Derrick to buy a club chair that seats two, because we needed more seating.”
Kayana shook her head. “It appears as if you do a lot of negotiating with my brother when you want something, Leah.”
Leah blushed. “When negotiating doesn’t do it, I have to resort to my feminine wiles.”
“Yeah, right,” Cherie drawled. “I’m willing to bet it was Eve’s feminine wiles that got Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, and look where it got him and the entire human race.”
Leah scrunched up her nose. “Adam had free will, and if he didn’t want to eat the fruit, he should’ve rejected it. It’s the same with me and Derrick. There are times when he does say no, and that’s when I don’t push the issue.”
“Like when you wanted him to install a bar in here,” Kayana reminded her.
“I didn’t want anything monstrous, just an itty bitty thing with enough room for a few bottles and a shelf for bar accessories.”
Cherie noticed a smile tilting the corners of the redhead’s mouth. “You went and did it, anyway, didn’t you?”
