“Really?” Everly and Aurora asked together.
“Yeah, you’re just going to the butterfly place, not running off to Paris to get married, right?”
Aurora laughed. “No! I want to go to college and have a ton of friends and a job,thenI can think about getting married, right, Everly?”
“Right. I agree with Aurora.” Everly beamed at Ronan. “I’ve got a lot of living to do. I want to travel and see the world with my best friends. No boys allowed, well, maybe Woofie.”
Ronan felt like his heart was going to explode with joy. “Is it okay if I tell Fitz what we just talked about?”
Everly and Aurora exchanged a look. Both girls nodded.
“Aurora, Can I offer a piece of advice before I go spill the tea with Fitz?”
“Sure!” She slipped off her sunglasses and gave Ronan her full attention.
“Maybe next time share what’s going on with your Dad? Adults have a way of flying off the handle, especially when we have daughters.”
“Tell me about it.” Everly rolled her eyes.
“Just for that, you’re grounded until you’re sixteen!” Ronan shot back. He turned back to Aurora. “You can always come to me or Ten if you need to talk and we can let Fitz know what’s going on, but knowing your father the way I do, it’s best if things come from you.”
“What do I do when Daddy blows his top?” Aurora asked.
“Oh, that’s easy! You just-” Everly slapped both hands over her mouth, as if she’d just realized her father shouldn’t hear what she was going to say.
“You just, what?” Ronan asked, sounding curious. He knew exactly what Everly was going to say. He interrogated suspects for a living and knew when he was being played. The key right now was that Everly didn’t know he knew she was playing him.
“Give hugs.Lotsof hugs.” Everly hugged Ronan, as if to demonstrate her point.
Ronan got up from the chair. “I’m gonna go talk to Fitz. If he kills me, make sure you say nice things at my funeral, okay?”
“Detective Ronan O’Mara was a dumbass, but we loved him anyway.” Everly screeched when Ronan turned back to tickle her. Both she and Aurora ran toward the ocean.
“Is everything okay?” Ten asked, holding his hands up to Ronan, who hauled his husband back to his feet.
“You mean aside from Everly calling me a dumbass in my future obit, Aurora dating an older man, and Fitz being scared of a mobbed up, poker playing, beach master in a fedora?” Ronan shook his head. They’d only been at the resort for two hours and things were already wildly out of control.
“I’m gonna want details about all of those things later, but for now, I’ve got some good news.” Ten grimaced.
“That doesn’t look like good news.” Christ, the last thing Ronan needed right now was backhanded good news.
“I don’t want to jinx anything, but do you notice there’s something missing on this trip?” Ten nibbled his bottom lip.
“Missing?” Ronan had no idea what Ten was talking about. If they’d forgotten to pack something, it was only a five minute ride to the closest convenience store.
“Me, Cope, and Everly haven’t been approached by any…” Ten left his sentence hanging.
Ronan instantly knew what Ten was talking about and why he didn’t want to jinx things. “Casper’s not in the house, huh?”
Ten shook his head and held up his crossed fingers.
“Let’s enjoy every second then.” Ronan took Ten’s hands and dragged him into the water.
“Oh, no, you don’t! You know I don’t go past my ankles!” Ten shouted, sounding slightly panicked. “I don’t want to be shark bait!”
Ronan stopped pulling Ten into the ocean. “Why do you think you’d be shark bait and not me?”
Ten snorted. “Uh, well, let’s see. I’m sweet and tender. You’re old and leathery. Eating you would be like chewing on an old shoe.”
