Summer on Sunshine Bay, page 15
“You’re right, we do. We also need to talk about the prenup. It has to be signed this weekend.”
“I don’t understand why this is suddenly an issue. Your mother’s making a big deal about it, isn’t she?”
“No, she’s not. I told you I was the one who had my father’s lawyer draw it up, and now—”
“I have to go. Drop off the paperwork tomorrow, and my dad and I will take a look at it.”
She stared at the phone. He’d disconnected without saying goodbye. Lila lost her appetite and walked into the house. She wrapped the steaks and put them back in the fridge, then transferred the mushrooms into a bowl. She snapped on the lid and shoved them beside the steaks, deciding to walk to La Dolce Vita and hang out with her parents and Jennifer. She shelved the idea almost as quickly as it had come to her.
As supportive as her mother had been, it wasn’t a good idea for Lila to be around her tonight. She was too perceptive, and Lila had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to hide that she was royally ticked at David. Instead she turned off the music, shut the patio door, and took the stairs down to the beach.
Her bare feet sank in the cool sand, and she wiggled her toes, looking up at the house. She still couldn’t believe it was hers. If David wasn’t happy about the prenup, she imagined her father’s wedding present to her wasn’t going to improve his mood. It should, though. They’d be living in a gorgeous house on the beach that they never would’ve been able to afford on their own.
She walked down to the shoreline, lifting her maxi sundress to her knees to let the foam-capped waves roll over her feet. The water was chilly, but she enjoyed the feel of it lapping at her calves. Her anger at David dissipated with the rhythmic shushing of the waves and the warm salt-scented breeze lifting her hair.
“Admiral, no!” a familiar deep voice called out.
Lila turned in time to see what looked like a black bear hurtling across the sand toward her. She lifted her hands to ward him off, but he jumped up, placing his gigantic paws on her shoulders. His weight pushed her backward and into the water, and she fell on her butt. The animal licked her face and then galloped through the waves with its tongue hanging out as if it was off on a great adventure.
Somewhat dazed, she watched as it swam out to sea.
“Lila, are you okay?” Luke helped her to her feet with a worried expression on his face.
“What was that?” she asked.
“My dog.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
Luke’s reaction to her falling on her butt seemed a little over the top until she remembered that he knew about the baby. “I’m fine, honestly. But is he okay? He’s pretty far out.”
“He’s in his glory. He’s a Newfie. They love the water.” He put his fingers between his lips and whistled. “Admiral, get back here!”
Lila laughed. “He looks like he just flipped you off.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” he said with a smile. Then he glanced at his watch. “Hey, doofus,” he called to the dog again, “if you don’t get in here in the next fifteen minutes, you’ll be shark bait, and I’m not swimming out there to save you.”
The locals knew not to swim at dawn or dusk. The sharks were more active then. “You would totally swim out to save him.”
“I totally would, but he doesn’t know that.” He glanced at a couple of laughing boys running down the beach with their brightly colored kites flying behind them. “He’ll come in now. The only thing he likes better than the water is kids.”
Sure enough, Admiral was swimming back to shore. “You might want to warn them.”
“I plan on grabbing him before he gets his paws in the sand. You might want to stand back,” Luke advised as he waded into the water up to his muscular calves. He wore board shorts and a T-shirt and had a beach towel around his neck.
As if he knew what his owner was up to, Admiral made a beeline for the shore several yards from where Luke was standing. But Luke was faster, probably because the dog’s waterlogged coat slowed him down. He clipped the leash to the dog’s collar before Admiral got his paws out of the water and onto the sand.
“I’m impressed,” Lila said, walking toward them, which she instantly regretted when Admiral did a full-body shake, spraying water everywhere.
Luke looked up from rubbing down the dog with the towel. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“It’s fine. I was already wet.” She reached out to pet the dog. “Is it okay?”
“He’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”
“He’s a gorgeous dog. At first I thought he was a bear.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Ruth let him out when she saw me coming up the walkway to pick him up, and he decided he wanted to go to the beach without me.”
“He stays with your grandmother?”
“When I’m working at the shop, he does. He either stays with Grams or one of the aunts. They fight over who gets to look after him.”
“He goes out on the boat with you?”
He nodded as he dried Admiral’s webbed feet. “Newfies were bred as a fisherman’s working dog. He’s trained in water rescue. He’s much better behaved at sea than he is on land. Aren’t you, doofus?” he said, rubbing the dog’s head.
Her stomach gurgled nosily, and she placed a hand over it.
Luke smiled. “Someone’s hungry.”
“David canceled our dinner date.” Now why had she said that? “He’s busy with potential clients.” Oh my gosh, she just couldn’t seem to help herself. “Have you eaten?” Her blood sugar must’ve bottomed out—either that or being around Luke was causing her to act like a flustered teenager.
“Is that an invitation?”
“If you want it to be, it is. Admiral’s welcome too.”
“You sure about that?” Luke asked, looking up at the beach house. “From what I can see, that place looks like a show home.”
“It is, but it’s my show home, and I want you both to come.”
“Seriously? You own the beach house? I thought your dad was renting it.”
“He bought it for me. I just found out today.”
“You’re one lucky lady. And you’ve got yourself a dinner date with a dog who promises to be on his best behavior. Don’t you, boy?”
Woof.
As soon as Lila opened the patio doors, the dog barreled through them like a tenpin bowling ball, heading straight for the white love seat.
“Admiral, get back here,” Luke yelled as he gently moved Lila out of the way and headed for the couch. The dog took off and led Luke on a merry chase. He got a tour of the entire house whether he wanted one or not. Lila tried to help corral Admiral at the bottom of the stairs, but he was surprisingly agile and fast for a giant dog. Luke managed to snag his collar as Admiral tried to scoot past Lila.
“You’re making a liar out of me, doofus,” Luke said, half dragging, half lifting Admiral out of the house.
“Do you have a carrot?” Luke asked as he wrangled Admiral to the far end of the upper deck.
“He’s a vegetarian?”
Luke laughed. “No, but he does like carrots.”
“I have carrots and an extra steak.” Lila walked back into the house, smiling as Luke cajoled the dog into doing what he wanted with the promise of a juicy steak.
He had him settled and tied to one of the posts when Lila returned, balancing a plate of raw cut-up steak and a carrot on top of a bowl of water. She handed them to Luke. “Will he be okay if we eat out here?”
He glanced from Admiral to the BBQ and table at the other end of the deck and nodded. “It’s far enough away, and he’ll probably zone out once he’s eaten.”
“Great. I’ll go get the food.” She was reheating the mushrooms when Luke joined her in the kitchen.
“Smells good,” he said as he placed the empty plate in the sink, turning on the tap to rinse it. Then he washed his hands.
Lila smiled. “It won’t be up to La Dolce Vita standards, but it will be edible.”
He reached over her shoulder and filched a mushroom. “Don’t sell yourself short. These are awesome. I fired up the grill.” He nodded at the platter of steaks and foil-wrapped potatoes on the counter. “I can get these started if you want.”
“That’d be great, thanks.”
“Medium well for you, right?” he asked as he picked up the platter.
“Yeah, how did you know?” Because she was pregnant, any meat she ate had to be well cooked, but she didn’t think that was common knowledge for most single guys.
He shrugged and said, “A friend,” but she didn’t miss the shadow that darkened his eyes.
The sweet, woodsy aroma of hickory-flavored wood chips greeted her as she carried out another platter loaded down with plates, cutlery, tomato salad, mushrooms, and the semmel rolls her mother had sent home with her the other day.
“Do you want something to drink? I’ve got sparkling water, wine, beer, or soda,” Lila said as she unloaded the contents of her tray onto the glass-topped table.
“Do you mind if I have a beer?”
“Not at all. I’ll drink vicariously through you.” She glanced at Admiral as she opened the patio doors. His head rested on his paws, and he appeared to be sleeping. “Should I bring more water for Admiral?”
“He’s good, thanks. With any luck, he’ll stay that way while we eat.”
Lila glanced at the speaker as she carried Luke’s beer and her water back to the patio, wondering if it would feel too much like a date if she put on music. She decided she was overthinking it and resynced her playlist to the speakers, turning down the volume so as not to wake Admiral.
Luke shook his head as he plated their steaks and potatoes and took the seat opposite her. “We could’ve had a hell of a party here when we were kids.”
“I have a feeling, once Willow knows I own this place, she’ll start planning one.”
Luke smiled. “She hasn’t changed much.” He gestured at the house with his fork. “Your fiancé must be thrilled.”
“He doesn’t know,” Lila admitted. “I was going to surprise him at dinner tonight.”
“That’s some surprise. He’s a lucky guy,” Luke murmured, lowering his gaze from her to his steak.
“I’m not sure he’ll feel that way when I tell him the house is in my name only.” She told Luke about the prenup. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal, but David was offended. He’s putting the blame on my mother, acting like she’s somehow the bad guy in this.”
“Prenups are pretty commonplace, aren’t they?”
“They are, but he seems to think that the only reason someone wants one is because they believe their marriage is going to fail.”
“Not that my opinion matters, but I agree with your mom and dad, and obviously you. You need to protect yourself, Lila, and not to be crass, but your father is a wealthy man.”
“So are David’s parents.”
“There you go. They probably feel the same way as yours do, and it won’t be an issue.”
“I hope so. We don’t need to add another issue to the ever-growing pile.”
“Weddings don’t always bring out the best in people, do they?”
Poor Luke, he’d had no idea that his simple—and most likely rhetorical—question would result in her sharing how unreasonable David was being and what a disaster the past week had been.
“You want my advice?” he asked after she’d spilled her guts for ten minutes.
She didn’t know why she found him so easy to talk to, and it threw her a little to realize she’d shared more with him than with anyone else. Maybe it was because he’d seen her at her most vulnerable and had kept her secrets to himself. She trusted him.
“Please.”
He shook his head with a laugh. “You sound like you think I have the answers to your and David’s problems.”
“You don’t?” she asked, only half teasing.
He smiled. “My advice, for what it’s worth, is to kick back and relax. We’ve just enjoyed a great meal, we’ve got amazing music playing in the background and a truly spectacular sunset to enjoy.” He lifted his beer bottle. “To the good life.”
She smiled and lifted her water bottle. “La Dolce Vita.” And to her handsome dinner date, she thought as the tension seeped from her body. Companion, Lila corrected herself in her head, and then she corrected herself again: friend.
Chapter Fifteen
Eva stood in her bare feet on La Dolce Vita’s deck, wearing a man’s white T-shirt and a pair of black leggings, wondering how much wine she’d actually consumed the night before. She was positive it had been only two glasses, and small ones at that because her sister was monitoring her wine consumption in an effort to eradicate Eva’s hot flashes. But she must’ve sneaked a few when Gia wasn’t looking. It was the only explanation for how her sister and Jennifer had talked her into joining Gia’s early-morning yoga class.
Eva glanced at the cluster of people standing in the sand several yards from the restaurant. There were at least twenty of them in varying states of undress. The majority of them were women who wore brightly colored yoga pants with sports bras or tank tops, along with a couple of men who wore spandex shorts with T-shirts. One brave soul wore a Speedo.
Her sister and Jennifer stood at the front of the class. Apparently they had coordinated their outfits. They were wearing neon-green yoga shorts and matching sports bras, which showed off their firm and lean bodies. They clearly spent a lot of time with their yoga mats.
Eva turned to head back to her apartment. With the number of people in the class, she doubted her sister and Jennifer would even notice she wasn’t there. She’d tell them she’d sneaked in late for the class and left early.
“Eva!” Jennifer called, waving a blue mat. “I found an extra one for you.”
The woman was annoyingly chipper this morning considering she’d nearly polished off an entire bottle of wine on her own the night before. She’d been vivacious and funny, open and at ease, while they discussed how to update La Dolce Vita and how to take the pressure off Lila.
Eva didn’t believe the full-bodied cabernet sauvignon she’d paired with bacon-wrapped Gorgonzola-stuffed dates and a savory mushroom tart was responsible for Jennifer letting her hair down. It was more likely due to her getting out from under her husband’s thumb. Eva had told her she should do it more often while ignoring James’s warning glance. She’d also tucked Sage’s business card into Jennifer’s purse when he wasn’t looking, before loading her into a cab.
At Jennifer’s greeting, Gia looked up, seemingly surprised that Eva had honored her promise. Eva didn’t know why. She’d never broken a promise to her sister before. Still, she was considering offering an excuse—Carmen needed her in the kitchen—until Gia’s gorgeous face split into a wide grin that held a hint of a challenge.
Eva sighed as she stomped down the stairs to the beach. She never backed down from a challenge, something her sister knew only too well.
It was a gorgeous morning with cotton candy clouds sailing across the cerulean sky on a light breeze, ensuring that the sand was cool between Eva’s toes. She smelled coconut sunscreen as she made her way around the other participants, who were getting situated on their mats.
“Thanks,” she said to the smiling Jennifer, and took the proffered mat.
Jennifer patted the sand. “I saved you a place.”
“I think I’ll pass. I’m about as flexible as a fork. I’ll be more comfortable at the back of the class. You can join me if you want to.”
“Do you mind if I stay here?”
“Not at all,” she said, secretly relieved. Unlike her, she imagined Jennifer was as flexible as a wet noodle. She also seemed like the type of woman who’d sat at the front of the class in school, waving her hand for the teacher to call on her. The last thing Eva wanted was Jennifer drawing attention her way.
Gia, who’d been talking to Speedo Guy, smiled and pointed to the spot Eva was scoping out for herself. Instead he plopped his mat at her sister’s feet. She gave Eva big eyes, nodding at the place beside him—no doubt thinking Eva would keep him in line.
Instead Eva said, “Have fun,” and walked to the very back of the class, adding a couple of extra feet for good measure.
A shadow fell over her, and a mat landed two feet on her right. She turned her head to warn the person away with the Rosetti stare. It had no effect on this particular man. James had grown immune to it over the years.
He smiled. “Good morning to you too.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked him while half listening to her sister, who was telling the class to inhale the joy and light and to welcome the day into their bodies.
“I was invited, remember?” he said as he sat on his mat. He wore shorts and a T-shirt that hugged his broad shoulders and impressive pecs. Of course he worked out.
“You forgot to shave,” she said with a tinge of annoyance. He looked altogether too handsome with that sexy scruff on his face.
He stroked his chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I’m thinking of growing a beard.”
“You really are bored, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea,” he said.
She was pretty sure that she did. Lila was the same way. The two of them didn’t know how to relax. They always had to have a project on the go. Their fingers in fifteen pies at a time.
“What’s your excuse?” he asked.
“I’m being a supportive sister.”
“Try again,” he said, glancing at the people in front of them.
“I may have had one glass of wine too many.”
“Admit it, you’re hoping the exercise helps with your hot flashes.”
“Among other things,” she said, trying to copy what he was doing. His large hands were flat on the mat, supported by arms with impressive biceps, his exceptionally fine butt in the air, and his long, muscular legs stretched out with his feet flat on the mat.
“Like what?”
Instead of mentioning the night sweats, mood swings, and weight gain, she said, “According to my mother, I could grow a beard faster than you. She gave me a gift card for electrolysis on my birthday.”
