AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’d never even imagined it was possible to feel so connected to another person, so totally in sync as I held his gaze and we moved together. It was equal parts tender and wild, and we finished within a few seconds of each other before he collapsed beside me with a goofy, satisfied grin.
As he laced his fingers with mine and we caught our breath, I marveled at how much had changed over the past few weeks. We were evolving as a couple, and I was learning to let go of my past. For the first time in my life, I felt so positive about the future.
Chapter 16
After two glorious days at Wakulla Springs and a long drive, we pulled up in front of the home I’d grown up in, and I turned to look at Lorenzo. He was studying the eccentric-looking structure with a frown line between his brows, and after a pause he asked, “What exactly am I looking at here?”
“Well, at the back is a single-wide trailer. That thing attached to it on the right is a shed we got for free and moved here from someone else’s property. To the left is my dad’s attempt at building an addition, which is now the living room and master bedroom. It slopes like crazy and I know it looks pretty funky, but it doubled our square footage, so we consider it a win. And right here, front and center, is the family business, Smith’s Bait and Tackle Shop. The ‘and tackle’ was my idea. You just don’t earn much money if all you’re doing is selling worms.”
“Your parents make a living by selling worms?”
“And, as of three years ago, fishing supplies.”
He seemed to be having a hard time with this entire concept. After staring at the building for a few more seconds, he asked, “Do they have a distributor that sells them the worms?”
“Nope. They have a shovel.” He turned to me with a confused expression, and I explained, “They get the worms by digging them up on the mud flats.”
“Couldn’t the fishermen just do that themselves for free?”
“Sure, and plenty of them do. But sometimes they want to skip that step and go straight to the fishing. When they want to treat themselves, they stop off at Smith’s.”
“And your family sells them worms.” I nodded and smiled at him, and he asked, “Are you teasing me? I don’t know if I should believe any of this.”
“You’re probably going to see and hear all kinds of things you never imagined over the next two weeks. My advice to you: just go with it.”
He murmured, “Good advice,” and started to get out of the car.
But I put a hand out to stop him and said, “Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re about to be attacked by Frick and Frack.”
Before he could ask what I was talking about, the door to the trailer flew open and two huge, slobbering bloodhounds tumbled out. They rushed to the car and surrounded us in a frenzy of barking, drooling, and jumping. “They’re actually really nice,” I yelled over the noise, “but they have no manners.”
My parents ran out of the trailer a moment later and started yelling at the dogs. My mom was wearing a red floral sundress with a bulky yellow cardigan and house slippers, and her hair was barely contained in a messy bun. My dad, meanwhile, was in what I considered his uniform—a T-shirt with a ‘funny’ saying that was four sizes too big for him, and a pair of gray sweatpants. Today’s shirt was bright green and featured a picture of a four-leaf clover with the slogan ‘Let’s get Shamrocked’. His beat-up slippers matched my mom’s.
Eventually, my dad managed to grab both dogs by the collar and hold onto them so we could get out of the car. I didn’t even get my door closed before my mom crushed me in a hug and exclaimed, “I’m so happy you’re home, my sweet Willie boy! Let me look at you.”
She grasped my shoulders and held me at arm’s length, and we both studied each other. We had the same dark hair, blue eyes, and thin frame, and at five-foot-eight she was only two inches shorter than I was. She gushed, “My beautiful, beautiful baby boy. You look like a movie star! But then of course you do, because that’s exactly what you are!” She pulled me into another embrace and said, “Your daddy and I are so proud of you, baby,” before planting a big kiss on my cheek.
When she finally let go of me, I said, “Mama, I’d like to officially introduce you to my boyfriend, Lorenzo Costa.”
They’d seen each other on some of my video calls, but it seemed my mom hadn’t been prepared for just how stunning he was in person. She grabbed him in a hug, then did the arm’s length thing again and looked him up and down as she exclaimed, “Well damn, I can see why my boy’s so smitten! You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why you aren’t an actor too, like my boy Willie.”
