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“Yeah, Dec. Good talk,” I agree because what the hell am I supposed to say?
“Might want to get out there though. Looks like those guys who were talking to Callen earlier are hitting on the girls.”
I look back to the ocean and groan.
Dumb fucks.
When I turn back to Declan, he’s laughing.
“For future argument’s sake, I never said anything today,” I grunt.
“Not a word, Wilder.” Declan laughs at me as I jog out to where Maddox, Nixon, and Callen are standing near the girls.
“Who are the douchebags?” I growl.
Maddox laughs at me. “Way to be strangely overprotective of your sister, man.”
“Yeah well, haveyoursister spend half her life in a hospital and see what it does to you,” I answer honestly. Even if that’s not at all why I’m pissed. Cross and I are protective of Bellamy, but if we tried to tell her who she could and couldn’t date, she’d skin us alive.
“Listen, just because Cait would slice anyone who fucks with her into tiny little pieces doesn’t mean all the girls are like that.” Callen grabs the ball out of Nixon’s hands and nods at me. “Go long, Wilder.”
I go long for the pass.
The one that’s going right at the girls.
Then I laugh out fucking loud when Callen, the tight end for the Philadelphia Kings,accidentallyhits the dude closest to Grace in the head.
Fuck. I knew I liked him.
The girls jump back, and the douchebag whines like a bitch when I pick up the ball.
“Oopsie. Sorry, man,” Callen tells the group of them once he’s moved in front of the girls. “Guess that’s why I’m not the quarterback.”
Oopsie?
I fucking die.
Oopsie. I couldn’t make this shit up.
And when Grace looks at me with a small smile as she giggles, I want to high-five Callen and tell him I owe him one.
GRACE
“How are you doing, sweetheart?” Mom sits down on the blanket next to me and digs her toes in the sand. Anabelle Sinclair is the woman I’ve always strived to be. She was a professional ballerina at the height of her career when her parents died and designated her as guardian of our Uncle Tommy. Mom gave it all up—everything—the career she loved, the life she’d worked so hard for—to come back to Kroydon Hills and keep what was left of her family together. And according to her, she has no regrets.
Uncle Tommy still lives with Mom and Dad. He has autism and needs a little extra help with some things, but he’s basically my favorite person in the world. According to Dad, he was also clutch in convincing Mom to date Dad.
Thanks, Uncle Tommy.
Mom gave me my first pair of ballet shoes.
She helped me sew on the laces of my first pointe shoes years later.
She introduced Everly and me to every form of dance there was to learn and let us join every single one of the dance classes she offered at Hart & Soul, the studio she owns in Kroydon Hills. She was also the first person to tell me I’d outgrown whatshe could teach me when I was a sophomore in high school and encourage me to spread my wings. She’s the person I’ve never wanted to let down, and she’s looking at me right now with pity in her eyes that’s making my stomach roll.
“You spent a lot of time on your feet on uneven sand today. You doing okay?”
She’s also the biggest momma bear ever, and she worries about everything.
