Sabrina nodded gratefully and got to work making sandwiches.
A few minutes later Marie and Sabrina left Society with said sandwiches in hand, on their way to Kittery Point.
Sabrina breathed in deeply as the salty air opened her lungs and the sun’s warmth happily seeped into her skin.
“Okay. Spill.” Marie grinned mischievously after they’d eaten most of their sandwiches. “Last we talked, you’d just gotten back to the rescue with your runaway seal and Travis. And the date went, and I quote, ‘sooo well’ and you said you’d tell me everything as soon as you were able.”
“We kissed.” Sabrina couldn’t keep the twinkle out of her eye as she bit her lip. “It was really good.”
“Last night?” Marie’s face brightened. “About time!”
“Uh, no this morning.”
Marie stopped in place, raising a pointed brow at Sabrina.
“It wasn’t like that. He came back later.” Sabrina shook her head, her cheeks going rosy.
Sabrina proceeded to fill Marie in on the events of the last twenty-four hours and watched as her eyes grew wider and wider.
“Sweet. Mercy.” Marie eventually muttered. “Does this man have a brother?”
“I’m afraid it’s love bombing.” Sabrina wrinkled her nose.
“It’s love bombing if it’s manipulative and makes your world smaller to revolve around him.” Marie answered, her brows furrowing. “If your world gets bigger and better, and you like the sides of you that he brings out, well, that sounds healthy to me. But there hasn’t been enough time to tell the difference. So we’ll see.”
“What about replacing the door and the windows?” Sabrina arched a copper red brow.
“It’s like a cup of coffee.” Marie answered, sounding far away in her thoughts suddenly.
Sabrina tilted her head curiously.
“I have a certain income level.” Marie continued. “If I want to do something nice, I buy you a cup of coffee and drop it off. It’s easy, it’s thoughtful, and it’s something I can easily afford. Cesare is in a different tax bracket.” She shrugged. “His cup of coffee may be calling a repairman to fix shit. Be honest, if it was the morning after and he was a blue-collar guy doing it himself without a shirt on, you’d have jumped his bones.”
Sabrina snorted. “Yeah.” She admitted.
“If his version of ‘handling it’ looks like paying someone to fix it, it’s no less thoughtful, just different.” Marie concluded. “If I need to push him into the harbor, I push him into the harbor.” She shrugged her shoulders indifferently. “So either way it’ll be just fine.” Her southern accent drawled out.
Sabrina shook her head in rueful amusement.
They ate the last of the sandwiches as sunlight filtered through the bright green foliage of the trees above. The familiar repetitive sound of ocean waves crashing against cliff side rocks was calming.
“How areyou?” Sabrina asked Marie. “What are you looking forward to this weekend?”
Marie shrugged with a slight smile. “Nothing exciting, which Ilike. I’ve been selling more ocean and moon water through my online store, which is good. This weekend is a full moon, so I’ll be making lots of moon water.”
Sabrina nodded thoughtfully. “What do people use that for?”
Marie huffed. “If we ever need to wash this man out of your life I’ll show you.” She answered, her mischievous smile returning once again.
They walked in companionable silence for some time. “He has four.” Sabrina spoke out of the blue.
“What’s that?” Marie asked.
“Cesare has four brothers.” Sabrina grinned, giving Marie an amused side glance.
“Hmmm.” She shook her head. “I don’t suppose any of them have plans to visit Maine, do they?” She asked with a coquettish smile.
Sabrina shrugged her shoulders in amusement. “Who knows?”
