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The man behind the counter called out, “Brodie? You good?”
“Sure thing, Roger. I’m too strong to be taken down by two rogue coffees.” The man named Brodie plastered an adorable smile across his face, flashing bright teeth.
Handsome. So terribly handsome, with thick dark hair that had sun-tinged streaks, large hands, and a broad chest. Massive feet in big brown boots.Late twenties, maybe?Although it was difficult to tell. Such a contrast to Lucas, whose face always broke out in pimples every two weeks from his obsession with greasy fast food.
“You don’t have a spare shirt back there, do you?” Brodie asked Roger.
“Let’s see.” Roger dropped behind the counter and scuffled through boxes. He finally emerged with a ferry worker collared shirt with a hand-stitched back that read: VINEYARD LINER. Beneath the words, someone had stitched an adorable anchor.
“Wow. It’s just my style,” Brodie joked before he flung it over his shoulders, making his perfect body disappear. He then rapped his knuckles on the counter and said, “Let’s get some coffees, Roger. Two plus one makes three.”
Mallory leafed through her wallet. “You have to let me pay for your coffee.”
“Neither of your money’s good here anymore,” Roger told them. “Just promise me you won’t throw more coffee on unsuspecting passengers.”
“I’ll watch her, Roger,” Brodie affirmed. “She won’t act so violently under my watch.”
Mallory followed Brodie into the whipping winds, clutching both coffees with stiff fingers. She stared at his muscular back like a hungry wolf. Alexie turned back to catch sight of them, waving a hand as her face played out her confusion.
“Hi, there. What happened inside?” Alexie asked.
Mallory’s cheeks burned with embarrassment.
“I know that look,” Alexie chimed in, taking her coffee. “What did you do, Mall?”
Brodie laughed flirtatiously. Mallory burned for a different reason: jealousy.Of course, Brodie would take an interest in Alexie, the more beautiful and more interesting sister. The one with the pink hair and the wild NYC life.
“You sister,” Brodie began, doing a double-take. “I mean, I think you’re sisters?”
“We are,” Alexie affirmed.
“Your sister here decided to throw two coffees over my only clean flannel,” Brodie explained. “Roger behind the counter gave me this beautiful ferry worker shirt.”
“It really is gorgeous,” Alexie stated, giving him a once over.
Brodie turned his gaze from Alexie back to Mallory. Mallory sipped her coffee, again feeling foolish. His blue eyes upon her were intense and impossibly deep.
“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” Brodie finally asked. “Did you go to Edgartown High?”
Mallory tilted her head with surprise. Brodie. The name rang a bell.
“We all did,” Alexie chimed in.
“What’s your name?” Brodie asked, ignoring Alexie.
“Mallory Steel.”
Brodie’s lips formed an O. “You were, what, two years younger than me? Three?” Brodie stretched his palm over his chest. “I’m Brodie Thomkins. Don’t worry if you don’t remember me.”
The Thomkins Family. Of course. Mallory’s eyes widened the slightest bit in recognition. The Thomkins family was one of the poorest on the island, with somewhere between seven and nine children— nobody ever could remember. Brodie himself had been a perpetual figure in the principal’s office after getting into altercations with other students. Mallory laced a strand of hair around her ear.
“I remember you,” Mallory began.
“Nothing too bad, I hope.” Brodie winked. “I wasn’t exactly class president.”
“I was,” Alexie began.
Mallory shot Alexie a funny look. She then lifted her chin and said, “High school was a long time ago. Half a decade ago. If I wasn’t different than my eighteen-year-old self, then I’d know I’d done something wrong.”
