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But here’s the moment my sister eyeballs the stereo readout and decides she can’t live another second without singing along to the new Lizzo song.
I’m ready to throw my hands up but catch myself before wasting time on the futility, especially as she accelerates onto the 101 through the center of town. Rather than attempting another protest that’s clearly not going to wash with her, I decide to focus on the dilemma I stand a chance of winning—deciphering why my little sibling, who refuses to acknowledge anysentimentalbone in her body, is suddenly in the mood to kick off her thousand-dollar strappies and tromp through the sand at Hendry’s.
No Mexican food on the planet should be worth that to her.
But half an hour later, as we pull into the parking lot tucked in a small canyon in Arroyo Burro State Park, my sister’s grin occupies even more of her face. If possible, it’s giddier than how she looked when Madame Verocity zipped me up earlier.
But that’s the core of my dilemma. Her dorky smirk shouldn’tbepossible.What’s going on?Is she just putting on a weird show for paparazzi I’m not yet aware of? Or—an argument making more sense by the minute—has an alien transport touched down from space, taken my sister, and left this mutant in her place?
I glance around with a feigned air of casual perusal. The gentle cliffs and swaying palms are as beautiful and brilliant as I remember, but I’m not enjoying them fully for concern about any surreptitiously lurking lenses in places we still might not know about. Kell and I are evenly matched when it comes to spotting intrepid telephoto glass, but she’s still looking off her game in that regard—and others. Why is she still sticking to the Wonderland-worthy smile?
“So.” I barely refrain from sardonically stretching it out. “Are we just stopping for a few snaps, or do you want to get out and—”
My breath snags so sharp and hard, my interruption becomes a comical gurgle. I’m not sure Kell’s spurt of a laugh makes it easier or harder to recover.
“Sorry,” I finally manage to mumble. “There’s a truck over there…it looks exactly like Maximus’s.”
“That so?” She grabs the steering wheel and the middle console to push herself up by a few inches and gaze across the sparsely filled parking lot. “Huh. You’re right. But you know how the Santa Barbarans love their outdoor stuff. There have to be a lot of those big boys around here.”
During the explanation, I swing my focus back around on her.Solelyher. Though she’d never openly admit it, my urbane sister has her own ways of giving up important details about where she’s going with a conversation. When not one of them surfaces right now, that’s also a significant sign. Something in the realm of a glaring neon one that I don’t dare ignore.
Or want to.
The admission is like a signed permission slip for everything from my hair follicles to my toe tips. Suddenly, I’m zinging with new awareness. The sun is warmer. The breeze is cleaner. Even the scents on the air, bracing and balmy and sandy, feel like they’re hitting me harder than the sister who can probably smell her way up to the botanic garden up in the foothills.
None of it mellows as I get out of Kell’s car without a word.
As I leave her behind, letting her indulge an impishly knowing laugh.
As I scribble a mental note to curseandthank her for the complicity in this elaborate plot.
I certainlyhopeit’s a plot…
Otherwise, I’m going to look like a lovestruck loon in my urgent run out to the sand. At this point, maybe even a miserable maid seeking out her returning sailor from the shore. A stretch of sand that’s interrupted only by some people with books on the big rocks and a few more tossing sticks for their dogs in the shallows. The sunshine, golden and persistent, makes everything seem like a dazzling dream.
Especially the figure up on the lifeguard tower platform.
I’m relieved the station isn’t staffed on this off-season day, because Maximus is worthy of occupying the elevated spot on his own. I swear, even if he gets on a real throne in Olympus one day, the moment won’t suck out my every breath like this incredible moment. The California rays playing over his shirtless, flawless torso. The ocean wind turning his unbound hair into a multilayered banner. Best of all, the mysteries of his mind carving his features into a thoughtful, beautiful silhouette.
The face that will never cease to bind me. Mesmerize me. Draw me closer, step by step, across the sand, until surely my pounding heart is the thing that makes him turn and look.
And smile.
And magnetize me that much closer.
He jumps down from the tower in one lithe move. Hits the sand with magnificent grace.
Then he’s there for me. Bold and broad. Tall and focused. Quiet and waiting.
Like he’ll always be.
As the conviction dominates my soul, my body is pushed by perfect instinct. I move into his embrace with a sigh that threatens to expel tears along with my breath. Until now, I didn’t realize how exhausting it was getting to keep my brave face on for everyone. Now, with the warmth of his pectoral against my cheek and the smell of his sunblock in my senses, life really does feel like a gold-kissed dream.
But it’s not the best kiss of the day.
That one belongs to the demigod who tucks his head in and down, finding my lips with the magnificent command of his own. Who, thank God, doesn’t stop there. As my tongue responds to the call of his, frantically melting and rolling with his, I sigh once more. No tears this time. Only sundrenched happiness and abiding adoration.
After a glorious few minutes of our well-needed reunion, words finally rise to my brain again.
