“What’s this weekend?”
She sighed and stopped, looking up at him, oddly nervous—not that she thought there was any chance he’d say no. “I kind of made plans for a big…date.”
Inching back, his smile returned full force. “Tell me more.”
“Well, I was thinking of this…” She pulled out her phone, found the photo she’d saved, and held it out to him.
The image showed the historic lodge at Wakulla Springs, the Mediterranean-style hotel surrounded by towering cypress trees, with arched windows overlooking the signature waters.
Eli took the phone and studied the picture. Then he looked up at her with recognition dawning in his eyes.
“Wakulla Springs?”
“I thought we might leave early Saturday morning for a day—and night—there. Picnic, glass-bottom boat, some swimming. In fact, I made all the reservations. So, life and daughter permitting, would you like to go on this date with me?”
He laughed softly. “As if you need to ask. Kate! What a sweet thing to do.”
Wrapping her arms around his waist, she angled her head to look up into his eyes. “I want to get back to, you know, us.”
“Are you worried about us?” he asked, his tone deeply serious.
“Not worried, exactly. But I got a talking to from my sister and your sister.” She lifted a shoulder. “They reminded me thatthis isn’t a one-issue relationship. This is a romance and…I want to get back to that.”
He shook his head, obviously a little speechless. “I wish I’d thought of it. Wakulla? Why?”
“Remember, we went once during one of the summers here. Second to last, I think. You were in college and I was…” She closed her eyes and dropped her head back. “I was so crazy about you I couldn’t see straight.”
He kissed her exposed neck, making her shiver despite the warm air.
“I love this idea.” Another kiss. “I love this reason.” A longer one. “And I love…” He made his way to her lips. “This woman.”
She darn near melted on the sand. Then common sense returned. “But Emma…”
He backed up and nodded. “Let’s check on her. That’s most important.”
And once again, her heart swelled with love for Eli and his priorities.
“If we can’t go this weekend, maybe next. Or the one after that.”
“Tessa’s wedding,” she reminded him. “But let’s see how she’s doing. By now she must have read her phone. And she really wants us to go, so…”
“So we hope for the best.” He pulled her closer, his arm sliding around her waist. “Tell me what you’ve planned.”
“Everything.” She leaned into him, giddy in a way that felt seventeen and fifty at the same time. “We drive up Saturday morning—it’s about two and a half hours. I’ve booked us on the riverboat tour. You know, that beautiful cruise through cypress trees where you see alligators and manatees and every kind of bird. Then swimming in the springs—the water’s sixty-eight degrees year-round and the clarity is unreal. A scientist could lose her mind in water that clear.”
“What about this scientist?”
“This scientist has already lost her heart,” she admitted. “What’s a mind at this point?”
He laughed so hard, she had to hug him and get another kiss.
“Oh, and dinner in the Edward Ball Dining Room,” she continued as they made their way back up to the boardwalk. “I snagged a great table overlooking the water. Southern cuisine, candlelight, the works. And we stay the night. I got separate rooms, too.”
He gave her an appreciative smile. “Thought of everything.”
“Vivien and Tessa were right,” she added as they walked to the house. “We’ve been so tangled up in the hard stuff that we forgot the simple stuff. And the simple stuff is that I love you and I want to spend a weekend with no distractions. Just you and me and a spring where I once fell off a diving platform and you swam over to save me.”
He threw a look at her. “I saved you?”
