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Dug until the train station was suitably constructed, until he was covered in a smattering of sand practically from head to toe—or rather from scalp to feet, clinging to his skin and hair and beard, ears and lips and nose, due to a mix of sea breeze and the mist coming from the waves hitting the shore…
And, of course, as a result of the sand overflow from Cole’s vigorous digging.
Connor loved his nephew—loads—but the kid wasn’t a reliable digger. Case in point, him overshooting his bucket more than a few times, coating Connor in his sand shower.
Cute.
Justwhat he wanted.
“At least it’s a good exfoliate?” Soph teased as he tried to clean out his beard for the dozenth time. It was easy for her to tease when she was currently sand-free.
“Funny,” he muttered.
“Yup.” A grin.
However, then she made the mistake of offering him a bite of her brownie.
He took it, took more than his fair share—and got a mouthful of sand for his trouble.
“Hey!”
Still worth it, though, because she wasn’t angry, because her bright smile, her soft giggle hit him like a baseball bat to the temple. His sister—hisbabysister—was happy, truly happy down to her bones in a way that wasn’t an act, wasn’t something that had earned her golden statues and millions of dollars.
She washappy.
Unlike someone else at this impromptu barbecue.
A tall, thin woman with unusual topaz eyes and shining brown hair and apology in her expression every single time she looked at him.
Guilt.
Pain.
Acceptance.
Peace.
Those feelings shouldn’t all be cohabitating, but somehow, they were.
All as she dug on Rylie’s other side, sand covering her own skin, dusting through her deep red hair.
He tossed Soph his shovel. “You’re on train station duty—”
“The train station is done, Uncle Connor,” Cole announced.
“Oh?” Soph asked, her brows lifting. “Well then, what are we working on next?”
“The moat!” Rylie yelled, raising her shovel like it was a sword, and she was ready to rush into battle.
“It’s gonna have alligators,” Cole told them seriously.
“And radioactive sharks,” Rylie added, clearly a sage master sandcastle builder.
Soph’s eyes went wide, mirth dancing in their blue gray depths. “Radioactive…sharks?”
“Yup.” Rylie nodded then went right back to digging. “And spiders.”
Soph shuddered.
