Crystal turned her attention to the strip of sculpted, white sand. An enthusiastic Rufus trotted down the narrow staircase in front of them.
The tide was high, and a few fluffy clouds made their way across the open blue sky. Crystal pulled off her sandals and dropped them on the bottom stair. She fluffed her hair and took a deep breath of the fresh air, while Rufus trundled, nose down, toward the pulsing foam.
“Should we keep him on the leash?” Larry asked as the dog investigated a bulb of yellow seaweed.
“I don’t think he’ll go far.”
There was no one else in sight. The couple with the white dog were long gone. Rufus trotted ahead on the wet sand, in the general direction of the town site. He found another scent trail, followed it for a few yards, then took off on a new tangent.
Larry stretched out his hand, capturing Crystal’s and twining their fingers together. She let herself sink into the silence of the sky and the gentle whoosh of the waves as they gradually relinquished their hold on the mushy sand.
“Ever been sailing?” Larry asked, his gaze going to the white flashes of sail far out in the bay and the bare masts rocking closer in at anchor.
“Recreational pursuits were never high on my parents’ list of priorities.”
“Yeah?”
She shook her head. “No picnics, no camping, no amusement parks.”
“What did you do on vacation?”
She listed off on her fingers. “Marketing trips, tool trade shows…”
“I hear you. I spent my formative years in NASCAR garages or at midget tracks.”
“Midget tracks?”
“That’s where Dean got started.” Larry smiled, but there was something other than joy in his eyes. “All racing, all the time.”
“Did you race?”
“Nope. I spent a lot of time in the pits with my nose in a textbook.”
Crystal paused, trying to picture Larry as a young boy, next to the toolboxes, fuel tanks and spare parts. “Was it hard?” she asked.
“I liked textbooks.”
“No. I mean, was it hard having your family focus exclusively on Dean’s dreams and not on yours?” At least Crystal had an ally in Amber. Amber had hated business trips, too.
“I didn’t need a pit crew, and I didn’t need to drive from town to town. I could do what I loved anywhere.”
“You know what I mean.”
Larry shrugged. “When you live in a NASCAR family, you live in a NASCAR family. And we love each other. We’re an extremely close family.”
Crystal felt her heart softening. “Still-”
“It was a long time ago,” he said.
“It wasn’t fair.”
He stopped, turned to face her, and cocked his head to one side. “Hey.”
“It wasn’t fair,” she repeated.
A grin grew on his face. “If life was fair, sweetheart, we’d be living in a whole different world.”
The endearment spurred the butterflies in her stomach.
Then a wet Rufus bounded up, shaking his fur and dropping a piece of driftwood at Larry’s feet.
Larry gamely reached down and tossed the stick into the waves. “See that? Rufus’s got his priorities straight.”
“Did you even feel pressured?” she asked as Rufus plunged into the surf.
“About what?”
“To go into racing.”
“You bet. Milo is practically a force of nature, and Juliana only wanted Milo to be happy. Together, they wanted me to race. It was hard to stick to my guns.” His expression turned thoughtful. “So, I was always careful to put as many choices as I could in front of Steve. And he decided he liked racing. Go figure.”
“I was a disappointment to my parents,” Crystal admitted.
“They wanted a boy to carry on the family business?”
She shook her head. “There are plenty of female machinists in the world. And they’d have settled for an accountant or a marketing manager.”
“But they got a creative writer.”
Crystal flicked her windblown hair away from her face, while Rufus made a neat turn in the waves, the stick clasped in his mouth. “Who moonlights delivering car parts.”
“What about Amber?”
“Amber got married and gave them grandchildren.”
“Another acceptable life pursuit?”
“Jennifer and David give them a whole new chance at an heir apparent. Though they wouldn’t complain if I produced a few more.”
Something changed in the timbre of Larry’s voice. “You going to?”
“Maybe,” said Crystal. She liked kids. And she could handle being both a mom and a writer. If she happened to find a man with a house and a good job, she could even move out of the apartment. “Know any guys who own real estate?”
“There are other options,” he pointed out, watching Rufus drop the stick at his feet.
“Such as?”
“You could set aside a little each month, find a nice starter, a good mortgage broker.”
“Is this going to be a math lecture, Professor Grosso?”
“More of a life lecture.”
She pushed away from him, wading into the cool water until she was ankle deep. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re not ruining my weekend with practicality. Let’s talk some more about sailing.”
“You want to take a spin around the bay?”
“I’m talking about a fantasy. I see a thatched hut, palm trees, a bright cotton dress and two very large blender drinks.”
“So, that’s your fantasy?”
“That’s my fantasy.” She sidled back up to him, grinning playfully. “What’s yours?”
His eyebrows went up. “You’re joking, right?”
His gaze burned hers. Gold flecks appeared deep in his hazel eyes, burning bright and molten in the afternoon sun. He tilted his chin and cocked his head, leaning slightly in to engulf her in a wave of desire so strong her knees almost buckled.
“Yeah,” he answered her silent question.
She waggled her index finger back and forth between them just to be sure.
He nodded.
She swallowed.
He hesitated for a split second. “You okay with that?”
In answer, she came up on her toes and planted a heartfelt kiss on his mouth. She was completely okay with that, and overwhelmed that he’d been formal enough to ask.
He responded in under a second, his mouth opening, his arms going around her, while he dragged her flush against his body.
It was Rufus’s bark that drove them apart. The dog deposited the wet stick at Larry’s feet.
Larry quickly bent down and threw the driftwood stick in the direction of the beach house. Then he gazed at Crystal, eyes smoldering. “Race you back?”
She grinned and took off across the soft sand.
They made it to the staircase, breathing hard. Without stopping, Larry scooped her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing at all.
