“Of course I did.” She shrugs, utterly unapologetic. “She's Ma.”
I laugh. Ma is known across town as a lover of shoes — once she donated several expensive pairs she'd worn only once to a fundraiser for the Cypress Grove library. It's a whole thing.
“She's excited about the wedding. Might be the only one here,” Nat says.
I nod slowly. Leave it to Ma, the romantic of the bunch, to be thrilled. She hasn't stopped chiding me whenever I've grumbled about how weird this all is, and she has zero patience for my skepticism.
“Think we can talk some sense into Damien?” I sip my beer and look into my sister's blue eyes. Of the five of us, Natalia and I look the most alike — fair hair, blue eyes, runners' builds. Like Dad and his Scottish heritage. Damien and Remy are somewhat identical twins, and Tate is a slightly older-looking carbon copy of them — dark hair, dark eyes, taking after Ma's Italian-Puerto Rican side.
Nat shrugs. “Talk him out of the wedding? Nope. You've seen him. He's shockingly head over heels.”
I grimace. “That’s so odd. He’s never brought a woman home.”
“Yeah, always kept to himself. Unlike Remy, who never keeps to himself.” She shudders theatrically.
“But this Kate woman...”
We sigh in tandem.
“Shifting gears.” Nat fixes a hard stare on me, and I know we're off the subject of Damien. “Ma's ecstatic you're home. She can't stop talking about it. She thinks you're testing the waters to move back for good.”
I snort. “Yeah, right.”
“I keep telling her you won't leave the city. You love the hustle too much.”
“It's not just that, Nat.” Though there's some truth to it.
Natalia presses her shoulder gently into mine. “I know. It's that you like the challenge of New York. But maybe you'd find the challenge you're looking for right here. Have you thought about buying the resort yourself? I'd help you run it. We'd be an incredible team.”
I groan. “You know I have a complicated relationship with this place. And you know I'd have you on my team any day — been trying to get you to come to New York for years.”
She shrugs impatiently, and for the first time I notice how my sister looks older. She's thirty-two but I always imagine her as a kid.
“Why do you even put up with the city? It stinks like garbage in the summer, it's a long way from a decent beach, and you can't get a good grouper sandwich anywhere.”
“I know. But my consulting business...” I let my voice trail off.
“You could sell that business for a crapton of money. I don't see what you're trying to prove. I've seen you here and in New York. And if I’m being honest, you look a whole lot happier in Cypress Grove.”
I take a long sip. I can't argue with her because it's true. So I change the subject. “Hey, did you train the new front desk staff? The ones we hired the other day?”
“Yeah. Why?” She stares at me, confused.
“They completely mixed up the key cards this afternoon. Some woman got programmed into my room and walked in on me.”
Natalia holds up a hand. “Who was at the desk? James? Skinny guy? Black-rimmed glasses?”
“Yeah. Hawaiian shirt?”
“That's our staff uniform. Didn't you notice?”
“I've been busy with contractors.” I scratch my chin, still unconvinced about dressing the staff like extras in a surfing movie. Sometimes my family is brilliant, other times they're something else entirely.
“I'll talk to James.”
“Please do, because the woman walked in on me in a rather compromising position.”
Natalia pokes me in the chest. Her face is screwed up into a grimace. “You pig. You couldn’t even wait until after the wedding? Who did you —”
