Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Fifteen minutes later, we’d come ashore and returned to the dive shop with our rented equipment, then walked in the humid evening air toward my car. The air-conditioning in her Jeep had been on the fritz, so we’d taken my rental.
As I opened the passenger door for her, she met my gaze and said, “Thank you for taking me on a dive. It was perfection.”
“You’re welcome, but I’m pretty sure you were the one taking me. You’re the pro,” I corrected. “I will, however, finally take you to dinner. Seemed like you were making googly eyes at the panini shop earlier today.”
She swatted my leg. “Was not. At least, no more than you were,” she said, lowering her voice to a tease. “Which means—I was absolutely, positively lusting over a sandwich.”
A laugh shuddered through me. “That’s what I thought.”
“Sounds like a perfect dinner spot.”
I was delighted to hear that. I’d happily take her to a fancier joint, but I loved Ruby’s casual vibe, with her sundresses and beach hair. And, of course, the fact that she liked rugged guys. I wasn’t a swirl-wine-at-the-country-club guy. I preferred baseball, boats, and sandwiches.
At the panini shop, we placed our order—Caribbean chicken for her, a spicy grouper sandwich for me, and beers for the both of us.
Island music, full of the cheery plink of the kettledrum, drifted from the eatery and onto the patio where we enjoyed a view of the deep indigo sea in the distance. After a few relaxing minutes, Ruby spread her napkin on her lap, and said, “I’ve been thinking of something we talked about earlier on your balcony. When you asked me earlier if I knew you.”
I nodded. “Go on.”
“And I want to know more, Jake. Seems only fair. You’ve been to my happy place with me,” she said, gesturing to the ocean that hugged the island. “Tell me about yours.”
“My happy place?” I arched an eyebrow. “You mean seats along the first baseline for the Miami Aces?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “Your family. They’re your happy place, aren’t they?”
The thought of them brought a grin to my face. “Yeah. They absolutely are.”
She placed her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Tell me about them.”
Easiest conversation in the world. Even though Kylie was a handful, and Brandt had been a wild child, they were mine. And I loved that she recognized that my siblings were to me what the water was to her—my magic.
“There’s my older sister, Kate. It was her idea to start the retrieval business when I got out of the Army. She’s very nosy about my love life and gives me a hard time about everything.”
“I think that’s in the Sibling Code,” Ruby said with a smile that wrinkled her nose.
“Must be. I give her a hard time about her tabby cat, which she named Inspector Cat because he has to paw everything—mugs, flowers, pens, papers, earrings—until he knocks it to the floor.”
“My mom has a cat like that. A tuxedo. Gets into everything. Rips the toilet paper to shreds and eats the plants.”
“Kind of an asshole?” I asked dryly.
“Well, she is a cat, so…”
I chuckled at that fundamental truth. “My nephew, though, loves that cat. Mason is pretty much the only person the cat is actually sweet to.”
“What’s Mason like?”
“He’s a pistol, just like my brother, Brandt, the athlete of the bunch. Wild and playful. We used to say when Mason woke up, it was like a bomb going off. Brandt was like that too when he was younger, so it’s kind of funny to see that in Mason now.”
She took a pull of her beer, then set it down on the red-checked tablecloth. “And what about Kylie? Why is she a handful, as you say?”
I scratched my jaw. “She’s sweet but super scattered. She’s the youngest, so the parents’ passing affected her differently. Her anxiety issues make school a bit of a struggle for her. She pulls through but needs extra help, like on this science test she has on Monday.”
Ruby frowned. “That’s too bad.”
I nodded. “I wish I could make it easier for her. It’s hard to watch her struggle and get frustrated with herself. My goal is just to get her through it and be as supportive as I can.”
“And it sounds like you’re doing that,” she said, reaching across the table to put her hand over mine. I smiled my appreciation, and the moment lingered. “What about Brandt? Is he still the wild child?”
I shook my head, thinking of my kid brother and how much Brandt had changed over the years. “Nope. School settled him. He’s intense and focused. He spent a year as a paralegal to make absolutely certain he wanted to be a lawyer. And he does, so he’s applying to law school now.” I winced briefly as I pictured more tuition bills piling up.