I nodded and stepped back from him, my emotions swirling, skin trembling from the cold and the weight of our conversation. This was it. We were finally going to open up and discuss this connection. A few minutes later, I stepped into the warm current of the guest room shower, and I let all the details of our incredible day together flow through my mind like a movie.
It had been perfect. We laughed and ate, shooing away the persistent seagulls Sofia had also warned me about. MJ shared her thoughts on starting a new school, both of us offering her advice. We felt like family.
Stop it, Vicky. You’re not ready for that yet.
But I could see it so clearly, and I knew whatever Miles wanted to say, I’d have to be honest with him too about this. If the way he looked at me, the way we both reacted to the few times he’d touched me, was any indication of his mutual affection, then my next fear would be if he’d be willing to wait for me.
As I dried off and pulled his hoodie to my nose to inhale, I closed my eyes. I could see it all someday. Me in his hoodie, MJ and me reading on the wide chair I’d picked for them, holidays, birthdays, beach days.
I could see it all.
Quickly dismissing the old feelings of embarrassment that Miles’ clothesdidmostly fit, I stepped out of the bathroom in a steam cloud. I rubbed my arms in his warm hoodie and untangled my hair with my fingers. Grateful for my dry "unmentionables" that I’d thankfully placed in a plastic bag in my beach bag along with waterproof mascara, I left the guestroom giggling about the term I’d heard in a regency novel.
I didn’t see either of them, so I walked into the kitchen to find my bag to put my swimsuit in. It had gotten wet during our water fight on the shore. My ego had been boosted when Miles ignored a woman who asked for his name and number, even with me standing right next to him. I felt like throwing my arms around his neck and reenacting a scene from my latest romance novel about two friends who fake-dated, but I didn’t want to upset MJ.
Newsflash: He didn’t give it to her. Takethat, blondie.
I was looking around for a broom to help clean up our sandy mess when I heard the doorbell ring.
I waited to see if Miles would come out to answer it.
When it rang again, I walked to the door, chuckling at my bare feet that stuck out at the bottom of his too-long pants. I was still smiling when I opened the door.
In that moment, I saw two things in quick succession.
The first was a gorgeous woman with tight jeans and a bright yellow eyelet blouse, surprise evident on her face. The second was a large suitcase at her side.
Her long, wavy blonde hair hung past her shoulders. She wore a brown hat that gave her a model-like appearance, along with the cutest pair of cowboy boots I’d ever seen.
She examined me from my bare toes to my wet head with a frown and a look of confusion
“Sorry. Um, can I help you?” I asked, nervously holding the door in front of me to hide behind.
“Is thisMiles’house?” she asked, a prominent Southern accent making her words lilt like a song. She shifted her leather purse higher on her shoulder as she continued to peruse me like I was a chemistry problem to solve. By the growing scowl on her face, she hated chemistry.
“Ah, yeah, it is. Can I ask…?”
My words were interrupted when I heard MJ gasp behind me.
“Mom?”
sixteen
. . .
Miles
I was still toweling off my hair when I stepped out of my bedroom. I heard Vicky speaking and assumed it was her and MJ until a familiar voice tinged with a Southern drawl set off alarm bells. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in person for over a year.
My bare feet hustled quickly toward them, regretting not having put on my flip-flops as the sand MJ had dragged in stuck to the bottom of my feet.
It can’t be her.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” MJ asked excitedly.
Running the last few feet, I came to a skidding stop in the kitchen as I took in Katy standing there with a wide smile as she looked down at my daughter.
“Katy?” I asked, my voice sounding far away, her name elongated in my utter shock.
