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“Your mother has told me so much about you two girls, I feel as if I already know you, Daisy,” he says with amusement in his tone.
I examine his face closely, noting how blue his eyes are, standing out from his tan skin and his dark blond hair streaked with gray around the temples. He is good-looking, I’ll give him that, but it's his earnest features, like he’s actually happy to meet the two of us, that catches me off guard. So when Curt turns his attention on me, holding out his hand for me to shake, it takes me a minute to register it.
“Hi, Skylar,” he murmurs, a small smile playing on his lips. Words are stuck in my throat as I shake his hand on autopilot, the size of it enveloping mine completely.
“Hello,” I finally squeak out, eliciting a snort from Daisy who has never been awkward a day in her life, of course. My mother stares at the three of us with a goofy smile on her face, like we have just succeeded in making all of her dreams come true.
“I hope you ladies like seafood,” Curt announces once he’s let go of my hand.
I hold in an eye roll, mostly because I’m not sure that you are allowed to hate seafood in a fishermen’s town like this. And Mom has already told us he’s a fisherman, so it definitely wouldn’t be a great start for me to admit I’d like to eat literally anything other than seafood.
“Sounds wonderful,” Mom coos, giggling when he pushes a piece of hair away from her face.
They walk off down the cobblestone road that leads into the quaint island village, lost in their own rainbow-color world, while my sister and I trail behind them.
Daisy slings her arm across my shoulder, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
“Well, at least he’s hot for an old guy.”
“Daisy!” I reprimand, thankful she didn’t just say that loud enough for them to hear.
“What?” she retorts, unabashedly.
“You can’t say stuff like that!”
“Can’t say Mom’s boyfriend is a DILF? What about Zaddy? Can I say that?”
I blush at my sister’s creative vulgar vocabulary.
“Daisy, that could be our new…stepdad.”
“Well aware, squirt. Still hot though. Way to go, Mom. I knew I got a good eye from someplace.” She smirks, then starts ogling our surroundings. “Hmm. I wonder if this place has anything fun to do,” she thinks out loud, glancing around the storefront windows we pass by.
“Um, I don’t think Mom is going to be happy if you sneak off during lunch,” I answer, reading her thoughts.
“Obviously. But if we’re going to be living here…”
“Living here?” I ask, my insides growing cold.
I’m not sure why the idea of living here chills me to the bone, but it does. I mean, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to me. Mom has told us repeatedly what Curt does for a living, making sure we understood her underlying meaning. Mom can do her nursing job anywhere. Curt’s job, however, isn't as flexible.
“You think they’re that serious?” I ask quietly, even though I’d been so positive about that yesterday. It’s just a different thing for the reality of it to be in my face.
Daisy nods her head at Mom and Curt. Their arms are locked so tightly around each other, I’m not sure how they’re even capable of walking…or breathing, for that matter, without one another. Daisy and I have ceased to exist at the moment, and the only people alive in their bubble are the pair of them.
My shoulders slump and I stare at the town around me, trying to imagine living here.
It…doesn’t look that different from our town. Just older. A little more rundown. Passersby call out to Curt as they walk by, staring at us curiously. That’s different. Would I like that about living on a small island, everyone knowing everyone and everything about their lives?
Definitely not.
Daisy chatters while I watch our surroundings carefully. Five minutes later, we’re at a small diner called The Scarlet Letter Cafe. I frown, thinking it’s a strange name for a restaurant, but when we walk in, I immediately see that the owner of the place is obsessed with Nathanial Hawthorne. There’s scarlet letter wallpaper, and pearls, and scaffolds here and there, decorating most of the walls and tables.
Really, really odd, actually.
“Mmh. Always did hate that book,” Daisy mutters, glancing around in amusement.
Meanwhile, our mother is gushing about what a quaint place it is.
