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“Would you be mad if I looked at schools with you?” Ciara asked.
Skyla shook her head. “Hell no. Let’s do it together. Let’s make a list of every school we want to visit.”
“Deal.”
Kiel loved his sisters but at the same time he was jealous of their connection. They’d always have each other, in ways he'd never experience. Sure, he’d be there as their big brother, and they would be there for him. But as twins, they always had someone in their corner, no matter what. With no destination in mind, he drove. For an island that was five miles wide, it took forever to get anywhere during the day.
“Can we get Dunks? I’ll buy,” Skyla asked. Ciara seconded the request. Kiel chose not to drive to the nearest one because it was tiny, there wasn’t any place to park, and it didn’t have a drive-thru. He found the next one and got behind the last car.
“This island is tiny,” Ciara said. “And it has seven Dunkin’s on it.”
“I figured there’d be more,” Skyla said.
“Seven seems like a lot, but with the amount of traffic here, I get it.”
After they waited in the line of the drive-thru, ordered, and got their drinks, Kiel drove to the park on Ocean Side, parked, and grabbed his drink from the console, and they headed toward the cliff.
They sat in the grass and let their legs drop over the edge of the seawall. Even if they were to fall, it wouldn’t be very far, but it could hurt. There was some wet sand, but the rest of the area was jagged rock.
“Spill,” Ciara said. “We know something’s up.”
“How?” Kiel asked.
“We can sense shit,” Skyla added.
“It’s Eloise,” Ciara said. “What happened?” She bumped her shoulder into Kiel’s.
Kiel picked at the lid of his coffee. “Nothing, really. She needs to work, and I was in the way.”
“Really? She said that?” Skyla asked.
Kiel shrugged. “Not in so many words.” He grabbed a handful of grass and threw it into the air. “She explained what it’s like for her sometimes, so I get it. It still sucks though because when I mentioned seeing her tomorrow, she didn’t answer me.”
“What did she say exactly?” Skyla asked.
As if word for word would change anything. “Just that she’s behind on her work and she needs to work at the gallery for her aunt. That the showcase at the end of the summer is really important.”
“And you’re torn up inside . . . why?” Ciara asked.
“It’s not that I’m torn up,” he said. “I knew she was busy, and she put things aside for me. I’m mad at myself. When she told me she couldn’t see me for a few days and why, I felt selfish. I didn’t put her first. I’m the one on vacation. Not her.” He threw more grass over the cliff, only with the wind it didn’t go anywhere. “She was a nice escape from reality.”
“I’m confused,” Skyla said. “You’ve spent a lot of the daytime with us. Wasn’t she working then?”
Kiel nodded. “Yep, she was. But for someone like her, she works non-stop until her pieces are done. Eloise told me her grandfather used to shut himself in for days until he finished his project and she said she’s like that sometimes too.”
“Painting sounds like a sickness,” Ciara said.
“It may be, but she’s fucking talented. I never appreciated art until I met her.” The night she painted his body flashed into his mind and he smiled. He had never done anything like that with anyone and it was the most sensual and erotic moment of his life.
“What’s so funny?” Skyla asked. Of course, she had noticed.
“Nothing,” he said as he sighed.
The three of them sat there for a bit, listening to the rough waves crash into the rocks. No one surfed or even swam where they were. Most people came out there to sit or fish. The water on Ocean Side Drive was treacherous.
Dangerous.
But the view was breathtaking.
