Dustin palmed his forehead. “That’s why you gave her everything and ran. Not because you cared about who she was with or the breakup.”
“No, man, but it took me being here for a few days for the fog to clear enough to see why I’d left so abruptly. Now I like it here, and I don’t want to leave.”
“Then wait to tell her. Find out more.” Dustin slapped him on the back. “I won’t say a word to Wind either. They’re all doing cleanup work together over at that beach anyway. You headed that way, too?”
“Yeah. You sure you don’t want to come?”
“Let me think.” He tapped his temple like he was truly considering his options. In a weighing motion, he held his right hand up. “Go over water with sharks to get eaten by mosquitoes and a gator?” That hand lowered and his left one went up. “Stay here in the air conditioning, getting caught up on work and then catching a nap.” He raised his left hand higher. “Ding. We have a winner.”
“Coward,” Trevor called back to him as he headed to the dinghy.
“Father,” Dustin said, halting Trevor in his place.
Dear Lord in heaven, what if he really was going to be a dad? His hands trembled.
“What, too soon?” Dustin called out.
“Eighteen years from now, when the kid is grown, it’ll still be too soon.” Trevor hopped into the dinghy and took off for the river, far from any talk about his ex and her lies. It had to be a lie. He’d always thought he couldn’t have children after his twenties, when he had a serious girlfriend and they’d been together for years without using birth control. Yep, he’d been young and reckless back then, believing nothing could happen unless they planned it. And when they graduated college and planned to marry, they decided they’d try to have kids leading up to their wedding. When they didn’t, things fell apart. He’d planned on going to a specialist, but his college sweetheart moved on before he could, and he spent the next two decades avoiding serious commitments. Until Marsha. But when their relationship started falling apart, he should’ve been more careful. As an older, wiser man, how could he have been this careless, this stupid? If he could have kids, did it have to happen with Marsha after all this time?
He spotted several boats near the canal entrance and realized he was zipping through too fast, so he slowed to avoid creating a wake.
A short blonde who appeared to be leading the show waved him through, so he eased into the canal, thankful to be in the dinghy instead of on a paddleboard. There were several other small boats with outboard engines up appearing to search the canal. He steered around and rafted up to another dinghy on the shore.
His heart double-timed at the sight of Julie. It wasn’t because she was dressed in a bathing suit that accentuated all her curves or that her smile radiated from the top of a sand mound all the way to the water’s edge. It was that feeling, the indescribable excitement that sparked when he saw her. It’s what they spoke about in movies and wrote about in books, what he’d thought was a myth. Had he finally found the right woman, the woman who made him want to live every waking moment with the sole purpose to make her happy? No, he barely knew the woman. But wasn’t that the point of the legend? That with one glance, a man was lost forever?
And in that next second, when she raced to the shoreline, he knew for certain he felt something he hadn’t felt since he had a schoolboy crush. Open to anything, excited about everything, frightened of something—no, someone—ruining this promise of a brighter time in his life.
“Hey, you. Glad you could join us.” She offered a hand to help him from the front of the boat, and he took it and her into his arms.
“Nothing would keep me away.” And he meant it. Yes, things would be complicated even if Marsha was pregnant with his child, but he would figure out how to make Julie happy and care for the child at the same time. She already knew how to be an excellent parent.
She kissed him—in front of everyone—with such passion, he thought the sand beneath his feet would melt. When she pulled away, she blushed and eyed nearby ladies clearing the beach of trash.
One woman, with a sophisticated yet alluring green bathing suit, sauntered up. “I’m assuming you are the Trevor Ashford we’ve heard so much about?”
He reluctantly released Julie and offered his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Kathryn Stein, but you can call me Kat. I need to inform you that this beach is not meant for the likes of you.”
“Kat,” Julie scolded.
“Likes of me?” he asked, worried that somehow they’d already discovered his predicament with Marsha.
“Male. You’re the wrong species to inhabit our Friendship Beach,” she said, as if a judge in a courtroom. “But we’ll allow it for now. You know, to help.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
Kat held up one pointed-nail finger. “But there is one condition.”
He looked to Julie, who appeared uncomfortable but didn’t say anything to make Kat change her tone. “What’s that?”
“You swear, never, under any circumstances, to ever bring another person here. That includes for your business, or a friend, or another girl here. Clear?”
“As the water in the Bahamas.” He tried to use humor, but based on her body language, she wasn’t amused. “I swear.”
As if he’d capsized her anger and let it float to the bottom, she reappeared as if excited to meet him. “Great. Now that we have that settled, come meet the gang.” She ushered them to follow her to the edge of the trees. “You already know Bri, I assume.”
“Yes, I’ve had the pleasure.”
“Told you he was a gentleman,” Wind said with a theatrical giggle.
“And apparently you’ve met Wind.”
“Yes.”
“That only leaves Trace. She’s the one out there
