The music stopped and Everly walked out of her room dressed in her pink bathing suit and matching cover up. “What’s wrong with you two?” she asked.
“We were talking about friendship bracelets,” Ten managed between giggles.
“Okay, well, I’m gonna go to the beach with Aurora and Uncle Fitz. Later, weirdos!” Everly called as she opened the door to the hotel suite.
“Sunblock!” Ten called after her. He turned his attention back to Ronan, who’d stopped laughing.
“She’s growing up too fast, Ten.”
“You said the same thing when she learned to sit up by herself, and when she learned to crawl, then walk, then ride a big girl bike.” Ten knew exactly where Ronan was coming from. He’d felt the same way, but always loved each new milestone his kids reached. “As much as you want to slow time down, it keeps marching forward.”
“Not with a doofus named Jerry!” Ronan grimaced, as if the boy’s name tasted bad in his mouth.
“Yeah, well, I’m guessing my mother didn’t think I’d end up with a doofus named Ronan, but here we are!” Ten squealed when Ronan reached out and grabbed him. He slung Ten over his shoulders and carried him into the bedroom like a caveman.
The beach was going to have to wait. Ten was gonna bone a doofus named Ronan.
3
Ronan
An hour later, Ronan and Ten headed down to the beach. The ocean was dead calm. Jude and Fitz were sleeping in their lounge chairs. Copies ofMurder on the Orient Expresslay open on their chests. It didn’t look like either of them had gotten very far into the story. Everly and Aurora were lying on their own lounges soaking up the sun, while Cope and Jace sat on the sand at the water’s edge watching Wolf, Lizbet, and Ezra play in the gentle waves of low tide. Further down the beach were two younger couples. The husbands slept while the wives chatted and drank wine.
“Hey, little miss,” Ronan said, nudging Everly’s right foot with his big toe.
One of his daughter’s eyes cracked open. “You’re in my sun, Daddy.”
Ronan snorted and took a step back. “Do you need anything?”
“How about some juice?” Everly suggested.
“Me too,” Aurora chimed in. “And a snack. Something salty.”
“Coming right up, princesses.” Ronan walked to the cooler, which was sitting in the shade made by Jude and Fitzgibbon’s chairs.
“Is the coast clear?” Jude whispered, his lips barely moving.
“Clear from what?” Ronan asked.
“The mobbed up beach master,” Fitz said.
“The what?” Ronan looked around. No one he could see matched Fitz’s bizarre description.
“Big guy, tall and wide, built like a bulldog with a deep tan, cigar chomped in his teeth, and a fedora,” Fitz said. “He tried to round us up for a midnight poker tournament.”
“All I see are two young couples down the beach.” He turned back toward the hotel. “There are a couple of people sitting on the verandah in the rocking chairs, but no one who looks like what you described.” He grabbed snacks for the girls. “Let me hand these out, then we’ll talk.”
Jude and Fitz sat up and looked behind them, as if they were making sure Ronan was telling the truth.
“Here we are, ladies.” Ronan set juice pouches and little bags of pretzels beside each of them.
“Thanks, Daddy!” Everly reached for the straw and stabbed it into the pouch. “How does my tan look so far?”
Ronan bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. His daughter was so pale, she was nearly transparent. Ditto for Aurora. He’d noticed a tube of sun block on the table beside Jude and knew he made sure all the kids were slathered in it. “Looks good, honey. You too, Aurora!”
“Thanks, Uncle Ronan.”
Ronan wanted to ask Aurora about her new boyfriend in the worst way, but didn’t want her to know that Everly had spilled the beans. It would be much more fun to ask Fitz what he’d been shouting about. He took the lounge chair beside Jude and leaned over his friend. “Hey, Fitz, I heard you shouting at Aurora earlier. Is everything okay?”
