He laughs. “What’s that like? I can’t imagine not having my brothers and sisters pestering me all the time.”
“Lonely, mostly.” I grab the spatula and flip the steaks. “I had friends, but when it was time for them to go home, I didn’t have anyone.”
“I don’t envy you.”
“You shouldn’t.”
We watch the steaks a little longer. They should be just about done. The wind picks up and the salt on the breeze is heavy. As much as I’m enjoying the beach, I don’t think I could live here full time.
“Do you want a beer?”
“Sure.”
He reaches into a small cooler and pulls out a bottle before handing to me. Maybe Paula’s family is a tad out of touch with who she is, but they do pay attention. I think she’d like to know that. But, it should come from them. Not me. It’ll make more of an impact on her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
paula
“How doyou feel about a walk on the beach?” Tristan asks as we’re watching a movie in the living room. Half of my siblings are on one sofa and, and the others are out. I don’t know if they are with Mom and Dad, but there are only five of us here.
“Isn’t it still cold outside?” Honestly, I want to hang out on the sofa all day. This weekend has been so busy. We’ve done something each day, and being lazy sounds like the perfect way to end this trip. Though I am wondering where my parents ran off to.
“I don’t mean right now.” He pulls me closer to him. This is the moment I don’t want to break. The comfort of being in his arms is more than I ever imagined this could feel like. “It’s supposed to get warmer. I was thinking in a couple of hours.”
“Okay. It’ll give us time to finish this movie.” I have no clue what’s going on in the movie. It’s weird and doesn’t make any sense. We should never let Phillip pick themovie. You’d think we’d learn that by now. I’m sure he loves the movies he decides on, but they aren’t exactly what everyone else likes. Sci-fi movies just aren’t my thing.
“This battle scene is epic,” Phillip whispers. His eyes are wide and laser focused on the TV.
Piper busts out laughing. “This entire movie is corny as hell. The graphics aren’t even that great.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” Parker argues. “This is his happy place, don’t ruin it.”
“I guess,” she mutters as she crosses her arms over her chest. I’m with her. I don’t understand what’s so fantastic about this movie. But, he got to the TV first.
One of these days my parents will pick a rental that has TV’s in the bedrooms. I get why they don’t because we’d all ditch each other to do our own thing. But it’d be nice to be able to zone out to our favorite shows when being around everyone gets to be too much. The forced bonding time can be a bit too much.
“Sometimes it’s about the storytelling.” Phillip pleads his case. “I’ve seen some of the stuff you watch, and it doesn’t appeal to me, but it has you hooked. It’s not a bad thing to expand your horizons.”
“Can we all just watch the movie?” I groan. If I don’t put an end to this conversation, it’ll turn into a debate and ruin the lazy mood.
“Thank you, Paula,” Phillip says. I didn’t do it so he could enjoy it, but so this doesn’t turn into a whole thing. It’s not something I feel like dealing with this morning, and I won’t allow bickering to overtake the morning.
“Hey,” Tristan whispers in my ear. “The movie is over.”
“Huh?” I open my eyes and see him leaning over me. I guess I feel asleep. The last thing I remember is watching a fight on screen, apparently the movie is full of those. It was like I blinked and it was over.
“The movie is over, and you’ll be happy to know there wasn’t any more fighting.”
“That’s good.” I sit up and rub my eyes. “We can go on that walk now. I need to move my body.”
“I’ll grab our jackets in case we need them.” He moves out from beside me and heads toward the room.
My body feels stiff and I stand, stretching my arms over my head. This is why I stopped falling asleep on the sofa. My body always feels like it’s been in a ten round fight. I refuse to believe it’s because I’m getting older. Maybe this is the argument I’ll give Mom for the next vacation spot to have a TV in the room.
Tristan comes back into the room, with jackets in hand. “Are you ready to head out?”
“Yep.” I move toward him and he helps me into the jacket. It doesn’t matter if it’s warmed up outside, I’m always cold so I’ll need it.
