Page 41 of Playing It Forward

“I’ll do the bottles. You do the kitchen.”

I hurry away before she can object. And, also, the smell of shrimp is getting to me again.

I settle at the table for the anniversary display. I nearly groan at the mess. Half of the bottles still need to be filled with sand.

I sigh and get to work.

“Here you are!”

I glance up at Nolan. “I haven’t been avoiding you.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You haven’t?”

I admit I may have avoided him before. Sneaking out the back door of the resort was not my finest moment. Especially when it set off an alarm and the security guard showed up.

Lucky for me, Hudson understands the need to hide from people. He didn’t ask any questions. But he did give me the code to sneak out the next time.

“I haven’t avoided you since I told you I’m pregnant.”

He grunts. Which I interpret to mean ‘you’re right, Terri’.

“It’s dinner time. I thought you’d be finished working by now.”

I motion to the bottles. “Not yet.”

He sits in a chair across from me. “What are we doing?”

I freeze. “You’re seriously going to help?”

He scowls. “Why do you question me every time I try to care for you?”

Because I’m the caretaker, not him. I’m the one who stayed on the island to care for Dad. Not my siblings.

Because I know better than to believe he’ll stay. No one stays.

“You don’t have to take care of me.”

He growls. “Don’t you dare say you can take care of yourself. I know you can. I’m not questioning whether you can. I’m saying let me help. Let me take a bit of the load off.”

I scowl. “Do you have to be so reasonable?”

He shrugs. “Pressuring you doesn’t work. I learned my lesson there.”

“A man who can learn a lesson. Let me call the Guinness Book of World Records.”

He chuckles. “I’d be a crappy quarterback if I didn’t learn from my mistakes.”

Time for a change of topic. “How was practice today?”

He winces.

“Sorry, you don’t have to tell me about it.”

He waves a hand in dismissal. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.” He nods to the bottles. “After you explain what this is and how I can help.”

I could continue to fight him, but I’m not an idiot. I need the help.

“This is a message in a bottle anniversary display. The couple met on Smuggler’s Hideaway decades ago. Guests are supposed to write marriage advice or memories on these little notes and roll them up before stuffing them in the bottles.”