Page 47 of The Summer Plans

My phone buzzes in my pocket, alerting me that the delivery is here. “The supplies for crab hunting just arrived. Can you grab them off the porch, Soph?”

“On it.”

Once Sophie leaves, Summer swings her head in my direction. “What juss happen?”

Fighting back the chuckle, I take a seat next to her. “Sophie’s gonna take the kids crab hunting. We can sit out here and watch them or go to bed if you’re not feeling great.”

“I feels great. Juss fine. Bet I’d feel great in bed wiff you too. But I don’t want crabs. Do you half crabs?”

God, I hope she doesn’t remember this. She’d be mortified. “I don’t have crabs.”

“Dats good because crabs taste gross. And apparently their creepy wittle feets taste you. Didja know Todd had crabs? Dats how I knew he was a cheetah.”

My blood boils at her admission, and my jaw ticks with how hard I’m clenching it. “A cheater?”

“Dats what I said. A cheetah. He gave me crabs. And not the kind you eat.” She leans in close, attempting to whisper though her volume never changes. “He gave me the private crabs. On my lady parts. And I thought. Das weerd. Why does my hoo-ha itchy? Do you know what I mean, Arj?”

I squeeze my fist at my side. “Got it.” It’s an effort to stay calm when I’m consumed with thoughts of punching Todd.

“’S’okay doh. Don’t be mad and have them no more. I mean, I don’t have dem. I’s not crabby. Used a speshh-ul sham-POO.” She attempts to wink but ends up blinking both eyes in rapid succession.

It’s going to be a long night, but oddly there’s nowhere I’d rather be. Is it sad that I’m looking forward to this? She’s pushed me away all week, done her best to keep me at arm’s length. If it weren’t for her watching me in the shower and her sleepy admission this morning about my cock, I’d think she wasn’t into me. But maybe she’s fighting this as much as I am? Tonight would’ve been the perfect night to tell her how I feel, and I’m kicking myself for my part in this mess. And while I’m dying to know what she wanted to talk about, I know that conversation isn’t happening tonight.

Lucas bursts out of the house, broom in hand as he does the quickest sweeping job ever, knocking all the food down the porch steps and onto the sand below.

Sophie rounds everyone up, and I pull her aside. “You’ll need to check Logan in about an hour, but if he’s showing any signs of high or low blood sugar, test him immediately.”

“Got it. I got CPR certified back in New York when I was babysitting, so I do know the signs. Besides, Logan’s been good about telling one of us when he needs something. We’ll be fine. And we won’t be far.”

“Text me or come get me if you need anything.” I pull her into a hug.

And then they’re off, racing down the stairs and toward the waves, the lights from their flashlights bouncing as they run.

I sit next to Summer, taking in every inch of her profile as she stares down the beach.

Once I realized I’d have a week with this woman in my bed every night, I had all these plans to show her how good we could be together. And each time I came close to a confession, those plans were ruined. It’s starting to feel like the universe doesn’t want us together, but that’s crazy when the only thing in my life that feels good, that feels right—aside from my kid—is this woman in front of me. And the fact that they get along feels like kismet.

Summer leans on the arm of her plastic deck chair, and the sudden shift in weight causes it to tip. I catch the chair before it can topple and pull it flush with mine. Her warm floral scent fills my nostrils, making my racing heart level out. She’s always had this calming presence over me, I just need to work up the nerve to tell her.

Her head flops onto my shoulder, and I look down at her right as she blinks up at me. Fuck, her eyes are beautiful. All I want to do is stare at her and count each individual freckle on her face. “Your face dimple makes me say things my brain wants to keep secret.”

A dopey grin lights up my face at her words, and even though I shouldn’t, given the state she’s in, I can’t help myself. “What kind of things?”

“That I wanna do the book stuff to you. Alls of it. The sitting face. The spankings. And throat bracelets⁠—”

“What’s a throat bracelet?”

“’S’when you grab my necklace.” She hiccups and then breaks into a fit of giggles.

“Do you mean a hand necklace? When someone grabs you by the throat during sex?”

“’S’what I said. You get it. How come we didn’t do that in high school?”

“I was just lucky you wanted to kiss me in high school.” I tug on the back of my neck, unsure of how much more to admit.

“I wanted to do more than kissing you in school. But then you broke my heart with Jessica. Jessica.” Her tone is mocking.

Leaning back, I search her face. Shit. Breaking her heart was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I need to tell her the truth about what happened back then. But not like this. “We should talk about this later. When you’re feeling better.”