“Beside herself with joy,” Dad says, grinning. “Hey, Tully mentioned you were talking about an indoor surf area around here. Was that something you were serious about?”
Tully glances at me apologetically. “Sorry. I should’ve waited for you to say something. I was just so excited by the idea. I think we’ve reversed roles. You’ve become way too good at keeping secrets, and I can’t seem to hold them in.”
We laugh.
“It’s okay,” I tell Tully. “Maybe I learned my lesson by blowing too many birthday surprises.”
I glance at Dad. “I started thinking about this in California. I wouldn’t want to take away from all we’re doing outside, but it’d be nice to have backup activities for those subzero temps here in the winter. We can surf on the lake in the summer, but in the winter, or even those summer days when the waves aren’t very high, we could have it going inside too. It wouldn’t have to be very big.”
“How does it work?” Dad asks.
“There are different ways to go about it. It just depends on how large we want to go with it. We could do a small rideable wave in a controlled, landlocked pool. Or we could dothe legit surf lagoon that would take anywhere from two to fifteen acres.”
Dad whistles. “I wonder how that would go over with the town.”
“My guess is that they’d prefer the pool or something around the two-acre mark,” Tully says.
“We could do a lot with two or three acres,” I say, getting excited at the thought. “And I’d want to do a retractable roof, so it’d feel like we were outdoors during the warm weather.”
“That’s a great idea,” Noah says.
“Draw up a proposal,” Dad says. “Let’s see if it’s feasible.”
“Okay, I will. Thanks, Dad.”
Tully lifts his eyebrows at me, and I grin at him.
“Thanks, Tully,” I say, giving him a slight shove.
Toward the end of the party, while everyone’s eating cupcakes and the pig is rolling in the kiddie pool, I look over at Dahlia. She’s holding Chloe, who’s sticky with frosting, and laughing with Ava, Erin, Camden, and Juju. She glances over and sees me, and her lips lift. She blows me a kiss, and I catch it.
“Did I just see you catch a kiss?” Tully snorts.
“Yeah, and I’d do it again, motherfucker.”
He sighs. “I don’t blame you. Love looks good on you, man.”
It hits me full force for the millionth time since I met Dahlia how damn lucky I am.
“Fuck.” Tully’s face is thunderous, and I turn to see what he’s looking at.
Bruce Granger is stalking toward Dahlia. He reaches her before I can. I see her look around and relax when she sees that Chloe is by Grandma Nancy and Grandma Donna.
“We need to talk,” he says.
“Dad, I told you not to contact me. You need to leave immediately,” Dahlia says.
Ava steps next to Dahlia and reaches for her hand. I grip Dahlia’s waist, and Erin moves next to Ava, looping her arm through hers.
“Well, isn’t this quaint,” he says.
“Bruce, you need to leave,” Maren says, walking up behind him. He knocks her hand away.
“Stay out of this, Maren.” He steps closer to Dahlia, and I step closer to him.
“Back off,” I tell him.
“Or you’ll do what?” He laughs. “I have every right to talk to my daughter. Both of my daughters. You’ve fully immersed yourselves in the Whitman family, haven’t you?” He swings his arm between Dahlia and Ava. “Guess you didn’t want all those millions in your bank account after all,” he says bitterly.
