Jade is easily half of Chip’s size, but it doesn’t keep her from jumping into his arms and knocking him to the sand as she pummels him with kisses. My chest fills with relief, knowing my best friend doesn’t have to torture herself anymore. Things are falling into place, and it’s a nice feeling for achange.
The rest of us—Sam, Daniel, Dad and his Miss Eloise—are seated on lounge chairs, sprawled out in a curved row as we watch Liam and Dylan build a massive sandcastle in the middle of our half circle. The mood shifts as everyone is most likely trying to block out the dog-licking-privates sounds from Jade and Chip, while tensely waiting for Liam to give Dylan a truth he deservestoknow.
Liam and Dylan are talking about making a sand tower, and I’m wondering how much longer Liam is going to drag this out because we’re all waiting and watching like they’re on a moviescreen.
Sam, of course, looks like she’s watching a sappy romance as she gazes at them with glossy heart-shapedeyes.
“So buddy, I have something to tell you,” Liam says. Everyone becomes silent, listening intently. “It turns out, we have the same dad, so do you know what thatmeans?”
Dylan looks taken aback, or more like shocked beyond belief. “Really?” he asks. “It means . . . like, you’re my brother?” His voice grows loud with excitement, and for a child who doesn’t want much to do with affection or human touch, he jumps on top of Liam and squeezes his little arms around his neck so tightly, the sight of it makes mychestache.
Liam squeezes his eyes shut, and tears roll down his cheeks. “I love you, little buddy. Ialwayshave.”
“I love you too,” Dylan tells him. I can’t see Dylan’s face, but his voice is rattling and I can hear him crying. “This is the best day of mywholelife.”
“Mine too,” Liam says. “Dylan, I’ll never ever leave you. I may not be able to live with you forever, but I’ll never be far and we’ll always be close,buddy,okay?”
“I believe you,” Dylan tells him. “Thank you for being my brother.” Liam scruffs up Dylan’s hair and wraps his arm around his neck as he kisses the top of his head. “Wait, I have aquestion.”
“Sure, what’s up?” Liamanswers.
“So, if you’re my brother, does that mean Julia will be my sister when you two getmarried?”
As I was leaning back in my flimsy lounge chair, my feet fly up and I fall backwards into the sand.Did I just hear himcorrectly?
“Oh boy,” Liam responds. “Why don’t we save that conversation for another day? I think finding out we’re brothers is enough for tonight, okay? But I got to hand it to you, you just knocked Julia off her feet . . .again.”
Dylan looks over at me trying to fix my chair and laughs. With a wink and a wiggle of his brows, he says, “It’s totally happening, Liam.” All I can do is smack my hands against my face, but two small hands peel them away a moment later. “Julia. . .”
“I release my hands, finding Dylan standing in front of me. “I only said that because . . .” He sighs and looks everywhere but at my face. “You’ve—ugh, this is hard.” He pauses for a few seconds, looking for the words he’s trying to say. “You’ve been like, the coolest nanny I’ve ever had, and you act more like a sister than some stuck-up, boring adult. I kind of like having you around, a little. Plus, it’s been more than ten days and it’s sort of a record around here, so that must mean something,right?”
My emotions are on overdrive because hearing those words makes everything I’ve gone through this summer, even with it only being half over, completelyworthit.
“I didn’t want to let you down, Dylan. I’ve been having so much fun with you.” I grab him and pull him in for a hug I know he’ll squirm right out of, but he lets me hold him for just a second before he runs over to Sam, and it means the worldtome.
The first fireworks shoot into the air, filling the sky with what looks like diamonds, and it’s officially the best Fourth ofJulyever.
Liam stands up from the mound of sand he’s been sitting on and makes his way over to me, taking a seat in the empty chair next to mine. “He’s pretty fucking happy,”Liamsays.
“So are you,” I say, looking at him with contentment, only because I told him to do this amonthago.
“Yeah I am, but not just because of Dylan,”hesays.
“Because of Sam?”Iask.
“Because of you, Jules.” My heart is beating hard for him. I was so afraid he’d hurt me, but he’s restored my faith in his pretty-mankind.
“Well, I feel the same way, except for getting a Ben Wa ball stuck—” He places his finger on my lips, preventing any morewords.
“Julia,” he whispers while leaning in toward me. “As hard as this is to believe, I’ve never said what I’m about to say . . . to anyone beforetonight.”
“Liam,” I mutter with a hitch to my breath.Where is he going with this?I don’t know if I can take another surprisetoday.
“Shh,” he hushes me with a gentle smile. “Julia, I’m falling in love with you. You’ve woken my soul up, made it feel alive, and I’ve never wanted to spend so much time with someone in my entire life. I’ve never looked forward to seeing a person after going just hours without seeing them. I love everything about you and now that I know you’re hanging around the area for a while, I can’t wait to see what happens between us.” He lets out a lungful of air as if everything he said had been pent up and exploding inside of him. “I know I told you I’d make you fall in love with me, but I guess I was the one who fell into my own trap.” He grins at his joke, and I don’t know what emotion my face has written on it because I’ve never felt this way about anyone before either. It’s new and I wondered if it was love or just lust, but it’s everything,except for the balls thing . . . that’s not partofthis.
“As much as I hate to admit you were right, Liam, you were.” It is hard to admit I might have been wrong about all hot men being assholes, so it’s a good thing I don’t have to admit to it. Liam can be an ass, but it turns out, I’m attracted to assholes . . . err . . . wait, no. I’m attracted to men with a domineering side equal to the one I have—we’ll go with that. Men shouldn’t be assholes, but they can be rough and sexually aggressive, while also showing an unexpected sweet side.That’shot.
“What was I right about?”Liamasks.
