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“Right.” She turned back toward the water, her hands dangling over the side of the rails. “It doesn’t matter how loud and hectic it gets here, there’s always a sense of peace,” she mused, her eyes focused on something in the distance.
“I like it out here.” I leaned into her and bumped her shoulder playfully. “Like it better with you.”
“I’m sure you say that to all the girls,” Grace joked and for the first time since my plane landing, I felt like what she and I had was salvageable.
That I hadn’t completely ruined our friendship.
“Just the pretty ones,” I answered in return, mirroring her lean and not afraid to close some of the distance between us. With just a slight sway to her left, her arm would brush mine.
“Did you guys make plans for the weekend, you and Syd?” Grace asked, looking over at me. Wisps of her hair had fallen out of her long braid, more than could be contained behind her ears. I refrained from brushing her hair back again, as badly as I wanted my hands on her.
“No. Caleb just told me if I wasn’t on call, it would be a good weekend to keep Syd company.”
“I think he’s afraid of leaving her with all three kiddos for longer than a night,” Grace said with a smile. “But I think that’s only because he’s afraid to be with all three by himself for longer than a night.”
“Three’s a lot.” I hadn’t really ever thought about kids, but I did know that after any family event my nephews were at, I was exhausted. And that was only the two boys, and for less than six hours.
How my sister did it day in and out, with a newborn in the mix too, was beyond me. I’d be afraid to be alone with them for a night, too.
Grace shrugged, her smile small again, and looked back toward the water. “I think it’s a good number.”
I was about to ask Grace about her shop when someone plowed into my knees. “Uncle Soy! Mama says it’s lunchtime!”
I looked down at Brandon, chuckling and lifting him in my arms. “That so?”
Brandon nodded his head and pointed to where his mama was, packing up the rest of the sand toys.
“Alright, I guess you’re right,” I told the boy. “You hungry, Gracelyn Dewey?” I itched to reach out and offer her my hand. Instead, I shifted my nephew on my hip a little higher and put my other hand in my pocket.
“I guess I could do lunch. For you,” she said, tickling my nephew in his belly.
She may be going for Brandon, but she was making me extremely happy.
