Page 48

So I needed to get past the block. Or, to put it in baseball terms, I needed to start tipping my pitches. No more laying back, no more playing her game. I was going to remind her I wanted her, that my feelings were physical and intense, and that I would accept nothing less than everything.

I spentmy next off day helping Ben track down supplies. I wound up at the hardware store, the grocery store, and finally, the outdoor rec shop to pick up a fake alligator. No, I didn’t know why and also no, I didn’twantto know why. It was Ben. There was a one hundred and seventy five percent chance it was a prank. My big brother loved pranks. It was how the whole sunflower seed war began.

And on that note, I grabbed a few bags of sunflower seeds at checkout. I wasn’t sure what my next prank would be, but I needed supplies to pull it off.

“Chris,” Paris Anderson hissed from the sunglasses rack twenty feet away.

I dropped the seeds into my basket and moved her way. “What’s up?”

She waved her hands to indicate I needed to keep my voice down. “Shhh! There are ears everywhere.”

So this was about Ben and London. “As far as I know Ben is head over heels. I think we’re in good shape.”

Paris beamed. “London is so completely frazzled. I know I shouldn’t enjoy this so much but...well I am. It’s nice to see her foundation shaken.”

“I’m just glad Ben’s smiling again. He can be a grumpy bastard.” Says the man who was a grumpy bastard. Maybe it ran in our blood because Scott was full blown grumpy bastard at levels that put Ben and I to shame.

“So do you think we need to do anything else? Trap them in a room together? Accidentally make them reservations at Moonlight Tides?”

“I don’t think we need to send in reinforcements just yet. Let Ben work his magic first.”

“Okay.” Paris frowned, finally standing upright again and returning her voice to normal. “How are you, by the way?”

“I’m good.”

Then she arched her eyebrow and zeroed her gaze in on me in a way that made me feel like someone had just turned on a spotlight. “Do I need to lock you and Olivia Saldana in a room together?”

“Shhh!” I glared at her. “There are ears everywhere!”

She giggled. “Like the whole island doesn’t know.”

Great. Just...great. “Again, no meddling needed. Let me work my magic.”

She pursed her lips. “There’s no magic happening, Christopher Robin.”

I glared at her. “There will be very soon.”

“I’ll get the popcorn ready.”

“Smart ass.”

She grinned, clearly proud of her meddling ways. “Oh hey Mr. and Mrs. Rossi. Getting a new kayak?”

A man and a woman about my parents age, maybe a little younger, had an orange tandem kayak in their hands. “The old one finally cracked,” the woman said. “Hopefully this one lasts ten years as well.”

“Wow! My kids destroyed one in under a year. I’m impressed. How’s Sam? I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Oh she’s well. She was just here for the weekend. You know how she likes to lay low. I’m Jean, by the way. And this is my husband Cal.”

I shook each of their hands. “Chris.”

The husband grinned. “I’m a huge fan, Chris. Will you sign our kayak?”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I signed my first and only kayak with a Sharpie from aisle four at the Calusa Key rec shop. “Now it has to last ten years,” I said as I added the marker to my basket.

Jean shook her head, pushing her husband toward the end of the registers. “It was nice of you to indulge him, Chris. See you around!”

“Don’t blame me if they charge you double for the kayak now that it’s a collector’s item,” I joked.