why do you keep showering me with ice cream; seems like flirting to me.”
“I'm not doing it on purpose. Keep the towel,” I said taking a step to move past him. He took another step toward me.
“Don't get me wrong, you can flirt with me as much as you want,” he said and moved closer.
I glanced over to see if Jon was watching. By now my mother would have been. No, by now my mother would have been standing two feet from me with her arms crossed. She’d stare this guy away with her maternal evil eye and then give me the lecture she always did on talking with strangers, especially guys. I could hear her in my head.
“You were something to watch out on that volleyball court. You're pretty athletic, aren't you?”
I opened my mouth to respond but couldn’t process an answer. What should I say? No, I'm not athletic? Thank you, yes, I am athletic? Hey, why don't you go intrude on someone else’s personal space for awhile? Of course, I didn't need to answer because he went on.
“I’m sure I wasn’t the only one on the beach watching you jump around.”
My mouth dropped open. “Are you trying to offend me?”
He let out a roar of laughter then smiled so widely it reached his eyebrows. “I never need to try to offend anyone. It's my gift, part of my charm.”
“Yes...it clearly is your gift.” And, finally, he got the reaction he was looking for. I was laughing.
“Ahh, she does have a sense of humor. You had me worried.”
“I have a great sense of humor. I’m just…” wondering why you want to keep talking to me; clueless on what to say; nervous and not used to talking to guys; a complete social misfit instead of a quick-witted witch like Alex Russo. Yes, that sums it up.
“Come walk with me on the beach? I promise to try not to offend you.” He sounded sincere, but I doubted he’d be successful. He had a flicker of a hopeful smile and reached for my hand.
I stood awkwardly with my hands clasped behind my back, rubbing the top of my right foot on the back of my left calf. I looked like a flamingo. I fumbled for something to say. What would Alex say? Something funny. Say something funny.
“I can only take so much charm in one day.” Not bad. “I think I'm full for today, maybe even tomorrow.” I couldn’t help but giggle at my own joke. I heard him laugh as I walked away.
I headed back toward Jon and my brothers still smiling, feeling a bit more confident. Halfway back, a shadow jumped in front of me, followed by a body. The most unattractive noise escaped my mouth. “Aggghhh-uh.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” It was him again. “Hey, I’m Luke. What’s your name? I forgot to ask.”
I was no longer smiling or confident, and I believe for a moment I wasn’t sure of my name. I couldn’t believe the noise that came out of my mouth. Burping the alphabet would have been more ladylike.
“You’re not going to tell me your name?” He said softly, taking off his sunglasses and exposing his enchanting gray eyes.
The reflection of the sand and the sun made his eyes look like silver magnets, and they drew me in. Inside my head something screamed danger. I glanced at his friends. Yes, the voice confirmed, danger or trouble or both. It made my skin prickle with excitement. I ignored the voice, convinced it was my mother’s paranoia channeling to my brain, and returned my gaze to Luke’s eyes. Now I was the one staring.
“Te—,” I didn’t have enough air to say my one syllable name. “Tess,” I said after taking a breath. Breathe normally, my head told my lungs…you’re acting like an idiot.
He said nothing.
I said nothing.
The silence lasted too long.
“Tess. Change your mind about the walk?” he asked and took a step closer, holding out my towel like a peace offering.
“No,” I answered and backed away slowly, my legs not functioning the way they should. I tried to recover with a smile.
He put his sunglasses back on. “You prefer family time?” He nodded over to my weird family. Jon, Gabe and Max were on their hands and knees with their heads stuck in a giant hole they dug.
“They’re a fun group,” I said as we both watched them fling sand out of the hole. “Hard to pass up family time.” We both laughed. Mine was more out of nervousness.
“If you change your mind about the walk or need a break from fun,” he started.
“I know where to find you,” I finished.
I could hear a hearty chuckle from him as I wrapped my chocolate-spotted towel around my body and walked away. I mentally kicked myself for choosing escape over a few more moments—even awkward moments—talking with Luke. He walked back to his friends. I slowed my pace and concentrated on what they were saying like my father had taught me.
“Hey, Cole. Need some help.”
“What did you do this time?” I had my back to them, but I knew which one was Cole.
“Wild Ginger doesn’t want to be my friend.”
Did he just call me Wild Ginger? Not terribly creative, but for some reason I was pleased he had a nickname for me. I never had a nickname, except from my dad.
“You were only talking to her for five minutes.”
“She didn’t think I was funny.”
“Did you play the hero card? You did help save her brother, after I did all the heavy lifting, that is.”
“I don’t think that would have worked. Talk her into coming to the bonfire tonight. I like her.”
Chapter 4
My brothers lost interest in digging and left me. Jon had taken a long enough break from being annoying and was outdoing himself now.
“Who’s the boy, Tess?”
“Someone named Luke.”
“Where does he go to school?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is he your age?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does he live around here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, Tess, what do you know? You stood there talking to him long enough.”
I hadn’t noticed Jon look over while I was talking to Luke. He must have paid more attention to what was going on than I thought. “Actually, I wasn’t really talking to him. I accidentally spilled my ice cream on him.”
“I hope you apologized.” Just what I needed, lessons on manners from Jon.
“Of course I did.”
“Good manners seem to be a thing of the past. Especially with you teens…”
He was gearing up for a lecture. I was looking for an escape. I glanced into the water and didn’t see my brothers anywhere. “Where are the boys?” Would my question stop him?
Jon scanned the beach. “They’re at the volleyball court.” I glanced at the court. It was too close to Luke and his friends.
“Then I think I’ll take a walk before we leave.” I didn’t wait for him to respond; I broke away in a light jog.
“Don’t go far, honey. We are leaving in about an hour!” I acknowledged him with a simple wave hoping it looked like he was yelling to someone else. I’m surprised he didn’t send my little brothers along to make sure I didn’t get lost. Was he trying to embarrass me?
I