Page 36 of Trust Fund Baby

He laughed, the sound cutting through the quiet stretch of coastline. “Come on, admit it. You’ve missed our morning runs that we used to do back at Princeton.”

“I miss sleeping. And my dignity.”

James just grinned. “You haven’t had dignity for a long time.”

We kept walking, the sun behind us, warming the back of my neck. The wind was salty and soft, the kind of breeze that used to get me excited to take the sailboat out on the water.

James glanced sideways at me. “You know what we should do today?”

“If it involves food or going back to bed, I’m listening.”

“No,” he said, nudging me again with his shoulder. “We should take the girls out on the boat this afternoon. It’s supposed to be a perfect day. Calm water, no clouds. Sailing on Memorial Day weekend at the Hamptons? Not sure you could get any better than that. Hallie will love it. I think Roxie might like it too.”

Back on the water. With her.

It felt as though the universe had thrown me a lifeline made of nostalgia and salt air. The sailboat had always been our place. Maybe not James’s sailboat, but it was practically the same thing. A sailboat was where everything started between us. And maybe, if I played this right, it could be where things started again.

“A fresh start,” I muttered, almost to myself.

“What was that?” James asked, glancing back at me as we climbed onto the dock that stretched across the beach and out into the ocean.

I shook my head, still smiling. “Nothing, just thinking it’s a good idea.”

James lifted an eyebrow. “So that’s a yes?”

“That’s a definite yes,” I said. “Besides, I look great in a pair of swim trunks.”

“You are ridiculous,” James laughed as we crested the hill, and the pool came into view. We crossed toward the back door just as the sun crowned over the dunes, light flooding the sky in warm golds and pale blues. The porch creaked under our shoes, and I glanced toward the primary bedroom window that looked over the yard, wondering if Roxie was awake.

James pushed open the door just as I spotted her through the kitchen window. She stood by the sink, her hair shimmering in the sunlight.

As soon as we stepped inside, I felt a shift in the air before anyone said a word.

Roxie looked up at us, eyes narrowing just slightly in that way she always did when she was pretending not to be amused. Hallie stood beside her, mid-pour with a pitcher of iced coffee, but it was Roxie who held my focus.

Pigs could have been soaring through the air, but I wouldn’t have noticed as long as she was in the room.

“I thought we’d take the sailboat out. Have either of you sailed before?” James asked, still slightly out of breath.

The two girls exchanged a look, then Hallie grinned and handed him a glass.

I caught Roxie’s eye from where I was still standing by the back door. It was about to be her, me, and the ocean. Once again, after all this time.

The sun was high in the sky by the time we got the boat out on the water, warming the teak deck beneath my bare feet. James had taken over the wheel after letting Hallie take it for a spin—who was now perched in the seat next to him. The two were lost in a conversation that was just for them, the kind where you didn’t actually have to talk that much because the other already knew what you were thinking.

It used to be like that for Roxie and me.

She was sitting near the stern, legs stretched out, one foot lazily skimming over the polished wood rail. She wore an oversized linen shirt over her swimsuit, sleeves rolled up to her elbows, sunglasses perched on the end of her nose, and a large-brimmed hat covering most of her face from the sun. She hadn’t said much since we set sail.

With every minute that I let pass, I knew I was missing out on an opportunity to try to continue this flimsy truce that we called last night. I waited until James and Hallie were distracted, then grabbed two bottles of sparkling water from the cooler and walked over to her, letting the boat rock beneath my feet. The old familiar sway provided me with a bit of confidence as I tried to figure out a way to spark up a conversation.

“Peace offering,” I said, holding one of the bottles out to her.

She eyed it, then me. “What am I being bribed into?”

“Talking to me,” I said, standing next to her. “Just for a minute.”

She took the bottle and twisted the cap.