5
Jude
Half an hour later, Jude hit the beach. Cope snapped several pics of father and son together in their matching bathing suits. Jude didn’t think Wolf would want to twin with him but had been pleasantly surprised when Wolf wanted to look just like his father.
After Cope had taken his fill of pictures, Jude was ready to hop in the water. “Who’s ready to go in the ocean?” he asked.
“Me!” Wolf shouted.
“Me too, if Daddy would ever finish slathering me.” Everly rolled her eyes at Ten, who still had to do his daughter’s back. “Sheesh.”
“Hey! Attitude,” Ten shot back. “You’re only six. You don’t get to talk to me like that until you’re a bratty teenager.”
“If you don’t hurry up, I won’t live to be a teenager. I’ll starve to death first.” Everly wrinkled her nose at Ten before she giggled.
“If you keep talking to your father like that, you’ll be grounded until you graduate from high school.”
Everly looked like she had a saucy comeback for Ronan, but at the last minute, simply smiled at her father. She knew Ronan was wrapped around her finger; there was no need to poke the bear, at least that’s what Jude assumed his niece had been thinking.
“Okay, you’re done,” Ten said when he finished Everly’s legs. “You know, when I was a kid, my mother made me wait an hour after lunch before I could go swimming.”
“Let it go, Daddy.” Everly patted Ten’s shoulder and headed for Jude, who was bouncing around on the balls of his feet.
“Are we ready to go?” Jude asked. Wolf and Everly nodded emphatically, but Aurora hung back with Jace, who was sitting in a lounger reading a book. Jude had never seen the man looking so relaxed. Ronan and Fitz were to Jude’s left.
“Ready? Set? Go!” Jude charged forward. Wolf was at his side. Ronan and Fitz were a step ahead.
Jude’s feet skidded a bit on the dry sand. When he reached the sand the waves had been crashing against, he felt the coolness of the sand sink into his feet but didn’t pay much attention, until he crashed into the ocean, diving into a wave. It felt like a thousand razor-sharp daggers were piercing his skin. He came up for air and couldn’t catch his breath right away. He’d never felt water so cold in his entire life. “Why the hell is it so cold?”
“Uh, this is Maine, boomer!” a teenager smirked as he ran past Jude.
Ronan and Fitz yelped with the cold as they quickly high-stepped it back to the sand.
Wolf plunged into the water in front of Jude, with Everly behind him. Both kids shrieked. Everly stomped out of the water with a mutinous look on her face. “Why didn’t you tell me the water was going to be cold as balls?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Jude snorted, which only darkened the look on Everly’s face. “I didn’t know. The last time we went to the beach at home, the water wasn’t cold like this.” He noticed his niece shivering, and her lips were a light shade of blue. “Go get your towel and warm up with Daddy. Make sure you put your ice-cold hands on his legs.” Jude watched as Wolf ran out of the water and right backin again. The little boy didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the temperature.
“Asshole,” Ronan muttered. “I’m just glad it was you and not me who gave her that directive. Both men burst out laughing seconds later when Everly grabbed Ten’s feet, making her father shout.
“We need to talk about this penniless playboy thing,” Ronan said, changing the subject when Everly was wrapped in her towel with her face turned up at the sun. “Did you know anything about this before you booked this motel for us?”
Jude shook his head. “I wasn’t even in New England in 2010. I was in Chicago back then. With the strange email about booking this hotel and Cope and me ending up in the murder room, this doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”
“It doesn’t to me either,” Fitz said, “especially when I think about what the guy at the desk said when we checked. He didn’t ask for a credit card to put on file or for us to pay for our rooms. I’ve never stayed at any hotel or motel that didn’t require a card to be on file for incidentals, especially since we’ve got kids.”
“They didn’t charge you for the rooms?” Ronan asked, sounding stunned. “I didn’t even give it a second thought when Jude didn’t mention how much I owed him for mine and Ten’s room. I kinda thought Jude picked up the tab because this place is less than four stars.”
“Do you still have the email?” Fitzgibbon asked.
“I’m not sure.” Jude tried to remember if he’d sent the message to his trash folder or if he filed it somewhere else. “I’ll go check it out.” Jude turned to Wolf, whose lips were so blue they were purple. “How about a snack, buddy?” He knew Wolfie couldn’t resist food.
“Okay!” Wolf raced up the beach toward Cope, who startled awake when Wolf jumped on him.
Grabbing his towel, Jude dried his hands and wrapped it around his shoulders. Reaching into Cope’s beach bag, he pulled out his phone and his mirrored sunglasses. He dragged his lounge chair closer to Fitzgibbon and Ronan, who was still shivering. “You okay?”
“I’ve never been so cold in my life.” Ronan rubbed his arms and shivered again.
“At least the sun is shining. You should thaw out soon.” At least, Jude hoped he did. The last thing he wanted was to rush Ronan to the hospital with frostbite.
