“Can I?”
“Yes,” I said softly. He placed it on my head, carefully pushing alock of my light brown hair behind my ear so he could secure the strap under my chin. The sensitive skin tingled.
He let go once it clicked but didn’t step back, his face close enough to mine that I noticed some hints of golden brown in his chocolate eyes for the first time.
“How do I look?” I asked, biting my lip. It was a joke. Bicycle helmets were so not sexy.
It took him a moment to answer. He held my gaze, then the side of his mouth ticked up. “Like you’re putting safety first.”
A laugh sputtered out of me. “Thank you. That isexactlywhat I was going for.” I flicked a lock of my hair over my shoulder with a flourish.
He chuckled before removing the helmet from my head and hanging it back on the hook. He turned back to me, not saying anything for a moment. That awareness of how alone we were descended again, making my breaths shallow and short.
“Should we go back in?” I asked finally.
“Yeah,” he rasped. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.
I inhaled only when my feet hit the grass outside.
I said goodnight to Luna and Luke walked me to the door. “Thanks for dinner. That was fun.”
“Anytime. Actually, do you like salmon? I was thinking of making it on Friday, and Luna won’t eat it.”
“Love it.” I bit the inside of my cheek, not wanting the excitement filling me to be so obvious on my face.
I tried not to think about what it meant that I was happy Max wasn’t getting back to the island until Saturday.
18
“Alright lady, time for sunscreen.”
Luna’s trademark dramatic sigh heaved from her little lips, but she ambled over to where I was waiting by the kitchen island, bottle of sunblock in hand. I held it out to her and said, “You do your legs and arms, and I’ll do your back, shoulders, and face, deal?”
“Deal.” Her tone was resigned.
“It prevents wrinkles, Luna. And skin cancer. Repeat after me, wrinkles and skin cancer.”
Luke guffawed from where he was standing on the other side of the kitchen, packing his lunch.
I whirled on him. “It’s true!”
“It is absolutely true.” His brown eyes sparkled. “I just wouldn’t have thought to incentivize an eight-year-old that way.”
I shook my head, my lips pursed, amusement dancing on my face. I returned my attention to Luna. When I finished spreading the white lotion over her shoulders, back, and face, making the whole kitchen smell like coconut-flavored summer, she asked, “Do you have time to braid my hair today?”
I checked the time on my phone. “Sure do!”
Luna zipped past me and plopped down on the floor in frontof the couch. I climbed behind her and started finger-combing her hair. Fortunately, it wasn’t too tangled today.
This ritual started last week when I picked her up from sailing with braids in my own hair. I was always playing with it and changing the style while I sat in front of my laptop. That day was more of a brainstorming day than a typing day, hence the braids. She asked if I did them myself, and if I could do them on her, too. I said, “Yes, of course.” Her eyes widened with excitement. I’d done them for her almost every day since, except if we were running late and she had to do“a boring ponytail”instead. Luke was usually gone by the time we did the braids and sunscreen routine.
“One or two?” I asked.
“Two!” She was so enthusiastic about such a simple thing: getting her hair done in braids.
“You got it!”
Hanging with Luna the last few weeks, seeing things through her eyes, had helped me appreciate the little things too: like when you pick up enough speed on your bike that you don’t have to pedal for a while, or an afternoon snack with a cold lemonade when you’ve been in the sun all day.
