It wasn’t as if they hadn’t known it was coming. Her mom had valiantly fought heart disease for most of her adult life, staying active and following her doctors’ orders to the letter. But it hadn’t been enough. She’d become weaker and weaker over these last few years, and eventually succumbed to her disease.
Indina sucked in a deep breath. The last thing her mother would want is for her to ruin this wonderful day with such melancholy thoughts.
Toby came over to the umbrella-covered beach loungers where Indina and the rest of the Holmes women had staked their claim—except for her sister-in-law, Willow, who’d taken Liliana and Jasmine to get their hair braided and buy souvenirs.
“Hey, we need a few players. Any of you want to play some volleyball?” Toby asked. He pointed to Sienna. “Not you.”
Sienna dipped her head and looked at him over the rim of her sunglasses. “As if there was anything you could do to tempt me to leave this spot.”
“I know one way I could tempt you,” Toby said, leaning over and kissing her rounded belly. He moved to her mouth.
“Could you two wait until you have this baby before you start working on the next one,” Indina said.
“Oh, honey, this is the last one,” Sienna said.
Toby shook his head. “No, it isn’t. I want a basketball team.”
His wife kicked at his leg. “Get away from me.”
Toby laughed as he spun the volleyball on his fingertip. “Come on, we need a couple more players. Indina? Renee? It’s just until Eli and the rest of them come back from the glass-bottom boat ride.”
Indina looked over at Renee. “You in?”
Renee closed the flap on her eReader cover and shoved it into her bag. “Okay. Let’s do this,” she said.
“Alright, alright, alright,” Toby sang. “We got us some players,” he called over to where Griffin, Jonathan and Reid were standing around the volleyball net.
Indina eyed Griffin as she approached. She still wasn’t sure how to read him after what happened between them last night. Everything had been fine once they returned to the room and got naked. It was after the sex was over that things grew awkward.
Indina hadn’t even come down from her orgasmic high when the panic hit her. She realized they would have to sleep in the same bed, something they had never done before. Normally, once the sex was over, she was out the door within a matter of minutes.
Remaining in bed with Griffin had felt…weird.
But, after a while, it had also felt right. And that’s what had scared her the most. She didn’t want it to feel right.
The panicky feeling returned this morning when she awoke to Griffin’s solid body flush against hers and his arm wrapped around her waist. She’d done her best to hide her dismay, but apprehension over how comfortable it felt to lay in his arms continued to churn in her gut.
Earlier, when they first arrived at the beach, Griffin had invited her for a walk. They’d held hands like a normal couple, and Indina had started to remember all the good parts of being in a relationship. It reminded her of how beautiful it could feel when it actually worked.
But she was still so damn gun-shy after experiencing what happened when it didn’t work. Her heart was still too tender after being broken so badly. Not once, but twice.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Indina’s chest tightened with a combination of hope and anxiety. She was mentally exhausted after fighting that voice in her head that just would not let up. For every feeble defense she attempted to erect to shield her heart, her brain countered with examples of relationships that had stood the test of time. She didn’t have to look any farther than her own family. Her own parents. Her father was as committed to her mother now, even in death, as he’d been to her on their wedding day.
Was that kind of relationship still possible for her? Could she find it with Griffin?
Indina had never felt so conflicted in her life.
She stuffed those thoughts away, determined to keep her internal battle hidden from her meddling family, especially the women in her family. The one thing she did not need was her well-meaning cousins-in-law shoving her toward a relationship.
As she approached the volleyball net, Indina pasted on her brightest smile. “Ready to get schooled, boys?”
“Wait. You’re playing?” Griffin asked.
“You sound surprised.”
He hunched a shoulder. “I didn’t peg you for the beach volleyball type. You seemed more at home on that lounge chair over there.”
“Is that so?” Indina said. “Well, I hope you’re ready to get your butt spanked.”
“Keep that spanking shit to the bedroom,” Reid said. “Nobody wants to hear about that.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Indina said.
“He can’t,” Toby said. “His mind is in the gutter so often that he’s got a second mailing address there. 123 Gutter Street, USA.”
“Now we see why you could never cut it as a comedian,” Reid told him.
“Are we going to play volleyball?” Indina asked. “Because I didn’t leave my very nice lounge chair to listen to you two trade insults.”
“Bossy ass,” she heard her brother say under his breath.
Indina kicked sand at him, then took up her position on her side of the net.
“Nuh uh,” Griffin said. He pointed next to him. “That teammates thing doesn’t apply only to work. Get over here.”
“You don’t even know if I can play,” Indina said.
“I don’t care. I want you on my team.”
Her heart executed a disturbing little hop. Indina chose to ignore it as she dipped under the volleyball net and joined Griffin and Jonathan. Reid, Toby and Renee made up the other team. Jonathan’s newest girlfriend, Kristy, decided at the last minute that she wanted to play.
Reid complained about his team being outnumbered, but it was soon apparent that Kristy was more of a liability than an asset. She screamed and ran from the
