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We sip our gimlets until they’re gone. She takes my coupe and hops down to wash the glasses in the sink. “Was there any special reason you wanted me to stay after the brawl?”
I have to gather my courage to ask the next question. “How long are you here?”
She shakes the glasses and sets them on a towel next to the sink. “Eleven more days.”
Almost two weeks. “That’s a hefty vacation.”
“My brother-in-law, Drew, got a deal on the condo if he took it longer. Lila and I decided we wouldn’t get somewhere like this again, so we took all our time off at once.”
Tillie dries her hands and turns to lean against the counter. “I know that’s not long. If you’re rethinking whatever made you want me to stay tonight, I get your hesitation. I’m hesitating, too. But it will be fun, right? I don’t like to overthink something like this.”
I’m not overthinking anything. If someone were to run up with a stop sign, I’d pitch it into the surf.
“How about breakfast tomorrow?” I glance at the clock over the highball glasses. “Or, I guess, later today.”
“Sure,” she says. “Where should I meet you? I have a car, although driving on the wrong side of the road is pretty unnerving.”
“Maybe Americans drive on the wrong side.”
“Probably. It’s hard to get used to!”
“I’ll come for you, then. Eleven?”
She laughs. “That’s practically afternoon for the baby. But sure. We’ll call it an early lunch. Is the bar open tomorrow?”
“Yes, but not until two on Sundays. And the hut is closed Monday and Tuesday.”
“So it’ll be your weekend!”
“Exactly.”
Her smile tells me this will be all right. I only need to adopt her attitude. My usual attitude. That can’t be hard.
Whatever happened earlier was some weird trick of the light, a mirage in a desert. I’m rational. She’s realistic.
We’re not embarking on some long-term love affair. I’m not sure I even have that in me. As long as I keep my head on straight, this will work just fine.
She heads for the back counter and opens the hinged section to duck below the shutters. “See you in the morning, Gabriel Adam Landers, loser of the booze brawl, maker of rainbows.”
Her words pitch me sideways again. Maybe I’m destined to feel off-kilter with her. “See you tomorrow.”
She bends low to blow me a kiss, and I almost reach out to catch it, a strange, sentimental urge.
That would be too much. We barely know each other, and I’m way out of my depth here as it is. I simply wave until Tillie’s legs have disappeared, and the sand outside the door is empty.
But then I reach into the air and snap the invisible kiss into my palm.
Got it.
Chapter 13
TILLIE
I try to stay focused during my turtle expedition with Lila and Rosie. The morning is sublime, warm and breezy. The sun hazes through light cloud cover, making the water turquoise.
The turtle center focuses on experiences for children. Kids can get in the water in small concrete pools to play.
I sit on the ledge as Lila holds Rosie in the water. Rosie glances up at her mom, her face shadowed by her flowered hat, as if to ask if it’s okay to be there.
