it was my mother’s paranoia channeling to my brain, and returned my gaze to Luke’s eyes. Now I was the one staring.
“Te—,” I didn’t have enough air to say my one syllable name. “Tess,” I said after taking a breath. Breathe normally, my head told my lungs…you’re acting like an idiot.
He said nothing.
I said nothing.
The silence lasted too long.
“Tess. Change your mind about the walk?” he asked and took a step closer, holding out my towel like a peace offering.
“No,” I answered and backed away slowly, my legs not functioning the way they should. I tried to recover with a smile.
He put his sunglasses back on. “You prefer family time?” He nodded over to my weird family. Jon, Gabe and Max were on their hands and knees with their heads stuck in a giant hole they dug.
“They’re a fun group,” I said as we both watched them fling sand out of the hole. “Hard to pass up family time.” We both laughed. Mine was more out of nervousness.
“If you change your mind about the walk or need a break from fun,” he started.
“I know where to find you,” I finished.
I could hear a hearty chuckle from him as I wrapped my chocolate-spotted towel around my body and walked away. I mentally kicked myself for choosing escape over a few more moments—even awkward moments—talking with Luke. He walked back to his friends. I slowed my pace and concentrated on what they were saying like my father had taught me.
“Hey, Cole. Need some help.”
“What did you do this time?” I had my back to them, but I knew which one was Cole.
“Wild Ginger doesn’t want to be my friend.”
Did he just call me Wild Ginger? Not terribly creative, but for some reason I was pleased he had a nickname for me. I never had a nickname, except from my dad.
“You were only talking to her for five minutes.”
“She didn’t think I was funny.”
“Did you play the hero card? You did help save her brother, after I did all the heavy lifting, that is.”
“I don’t think that would have worked. Talk her into coming to the bonfire tonight. I like her.”
Chapter 4
My brothers lost interest in digging and left me. Jon had taken a long enough break from being annoying and was outdoing himself now.
“Who’s the boy, Tess?”
“Someone named Luke.”
“Where does he go to school?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is he your age?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does he live around here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, Tess, what do you know? You stood there talking to him long enough.”
I hadn’t noticed Jon look over while I was talking to Luke. He must have paid more attention to what was going on than I thought. “Actually, I wasn’t really talking to him. I accidentally spilled my ice cream on him.”
“I hope you apologized.” Just what I needed, lessons on manners from Jon.
“Of course I did.”
“Good manners seem to be a thing of the past. Especially with you teens…”
He was gearing up for a lecture. I was looking for an escape. I glanced into the water and didn’t see my brothers anywhere. “Where are the boys?” Would my question stop him?
Jon scanned the beach. “They’re at the volleyball court.” I glanced at the court. It was too close to Luke and his friends.
“Then I think I’ll take a walk before we leave.” I didn’t wait for him to respond; I broke away in a light jog.
“Don’t go far, honey. We are leaving in about an hour!” I acknowledged him with a simple wave hoping it looked like he was yelling to someone else. I’m surprised he didn’t send my little brothers along to make sure I didn’t get lost. Was he trying to embarrass me?
I had barely reached the beach when the guy named Cole walked up to me. This should be interesting. Was Cole here to do as Luke asked or just to slow me down so Luke could ambush me again?
“Hi. Remember me? I’m Cole. You’re Tess, right?” He said smoothly, stopping a good three feet away. Cole looked like an Abercrombie model, messy sandy brown hair, low body fat, athletic. He looked closer to my age than Luke. “How’s your little brother?”
“Ornery as ever; no worse than before.”
“Does your dad know what happened?”
I wanted to say he wasn’t my dad but didn’t really feel like getting into that discussion. “He hasn’t said anything, but Max can’t keep a secret.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“Not yet, but I’ll hear about it when I get home. Max is usually fearless, today being the exception. Jon is used to being horrified by his stunts but still holds me responsible for his safety.”
“So he isn’t limited to trying to drown?”
“Not at all. He’s devious too.”
“Fearless and devious. I like the kid.”
“He could entertain you for hours with his stunts and Gabe too, for that matter. They will climb anything. Being athletic just adds to the danger quotient. I think my brothers are part monkey.”
“Must run in the family.”
I raised my eyebrow. “And you were doing so well until just now.”
“Not the monkey part,” he laughed. “The athletic part. I saw you playing volleyball earlier.”
“The kids were all younger. It wasn’t difficult to appear athletic among a bunch of ten-year-olds.”
“Do you play on a school team?”
“No, we move too much.”
“Where did you move from?” Cole had a smooth, easy going demeanor. It made me feel comfortable and better about my social skills.
“Savannah.”
“How long were you there?”
“One month.”
