Cindy Miles - About That Kiss

Much like himself.

Yet his thoughts landed on her over and over, and at the most annoying of times. Like after midnight, when he’d been about to drift off to sleep, bam. Sean would appear behind his eyelids. That little pixie face and dark, shorn hair and too-wide hazel eyes awakened him. Once awakened, other thoughts drifted in, like her reaction to him the night he’d jogged by the cemetery while she and Willa were catching fireflies. What was she so afraid of? He’d barely spoken to them, just a polite greeting. Then again, they were in a strange place, and he was a bearded jogger. Jep had said he looked like a crazed killer. Maybe Sean had thought the same?

Then there was Willa. Oozing more confidence than any five-year-old should have, she was quite the opposite of her mom. She seemed to claim the world as her own, unafraid. He liked the kid. He liked them both.

He didn’t like that he liked them, but there it was. Unavoidable.

Yet Sean Jacobs had made it somewhat clear that she didn’t want to be bothered. Not by him. Not by anyone.

The thought left him confused, torn between reality and his urges. So he pushed the dilemma behind the locked door where he kept those emotions and went back to living his uncomplicated days as best as he could.

* * *

FOR THE NEXT few days, Sean and Willa were at the end of their rickety dock, waiting for the Tiger Lily to pass.

Clearly Owen had told Jep about Sean and Willa regularly being on the dock to greet them because Jep took matters into his own nosy, busybody hands.

“Here,” Jep said, thrusting his old truck keys into Nathan’s hands.

Nathan looked at his grandfather. “What’re these for?”

Jep’s eyebrows clashed together into a formidable scowl. “Take my truck and drive over to those gals’ house and invite them over for supper.”

Nathan blinked. “When?”

“Tonight. I want to meet them.”

Nathan glanced at the clock on the wall—2:00 p.m. “Kind of a late notice, don’t you think?”

Jep’s frown deepened. “Of course it’s not. Now hurry up, will ya?” Jep turned and started shuffling pots and pans onto the stovetop. He threw one last glare over his shoulder. “Don’t come home without them, boy.”

“Jep, quit playing matchmaker, will ya?”

Jep scowled at Nathan. “Now, what makes you think I’m matchmakin’? I want to meet them, is all. Neighborly thing to do, so go get ’em.”

Nathan searched his father’s and his brother Matt’s faces, both sitting at the kitchen table. Both wore similar smirks. With a long sigh, Nathan headed out. “Yes, sir.”

Having just showered after finishing their shrimping for the day, Nathan went upstairs, pulled on a clean black T-shirt, a pair of well-worn khaki shorts and the cleaner of two pairs of Chucks then headed downstairs, out the door and straight to Jep’s truck.

During the drive, Nathan imagined every scenario that could possibly play out with his appearance at Sean’s. She wouldn’t want to come. She’d politely refuse. Willa might well beg to go. Sean would give her daughter what she probably thought would be a discreet stink-eye, but he’d see it. Of course, she might even refuse to answer his knock.

By the time Nathan pulled up in front of Sean’s house, he felt like a complete horse’s ass. How could he force her and Willa over to the Malones’ for food? Jep and his damned busybody self! With a deep breath, Nathan climbed out of the truck, the creaking metal and iron of the door echoing through the trees. Before he made it to the porch steps, the screen door flung open and Willa came running out.

“Hey, Captain Nathan, whatcha doin’ over here?” Willa asked. She wrapped her arm around the pillar of the porch, swinging her body on a pivoted foot. She wore a silver tiara with big purple gems embedded in it.

Sean joined her on the porch, her guarded expression holding surprise. She waited for Nathan to answer Willa.

“Well, my grandfather is kind of the king of our castle over there.” Nathan indicated upriver with a jerk of his thumb. “And what he says goes.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted his gaze to meet Sean’s. “You ladies are cordially invited to come over to our house for supper. Tonight.” He waited for Sean’s refusal.

“Mama, can we please?” Willa crooned.

“Well, I mean...” Sean’s hesitantly nervous smile and shy demeanor caught Nathan off guard. She gave her daughter a quick look. “What about our nightly walk?” she asked Willa. “Our search for the ultimate, superior pinecone to kick?”

Willa gave an exaggerated sigh, with her narrow shoulders rising then falling. “Mama. We can do that any ole time. There are one hundred pinecones in the yard. I wanna go see Captain Nathan’s grandpa king! Please?” She jumped up and down in place, making her wings flap as though she were trying to take off.

Sean’s gaze returned to Nathan’s, and he could plainly see she didn’t want to accept the invitation. He halfway thought of giving her an out, but he didn’t. He instead kept his mouth shut, waiting.

Then Sean sighed. “Okay, sure. Thank you. We, uh...cordially accept. Since your grandfather is king and all.”

“Yay!” Willa hollered.

Nathan blinked. He hadn’t expected Sean to agree, and now that she had...what was he going to do? It was bad enough how often he found her in his thoughts. Constantly. And that was with very little contact. But now? She would be in the cab of the truck. With him. And then at the house.

“What’s cordially mean anyway?” Willa asked Sean. Then she looked at him. “Is your grandpa really a king?”

Nathan chuckled, relieved that Willa’s chatter eased his apprehension. He wondered briefly if Sean could sense his unease. “You’ll have to see for yourself.” He looked at Sean. “I’ll drive you over. If that’s okay?”

“Oh.” Sean looked at her bare feet and cutoff jean shorts. “Uh, okay. Do you...want to come in and wait while we change?”

Willa didn’t give Nathan one solid second to decide. She bounded down the steps and grabbed his hand. “Come on inside, Captain Nathan,” she said, tugging his arm.

The little girl pulled him to a love seat and pushed him into it. “You can wait in here.” She threw him a grin then disappeared up the hallway. Sean hesitated.

“We’ll, uh...” she started to say. “We’ll only be a second.”

Then she, too, disappeared, but mother and daughter’s muffled conversation continued in another room.

Nathan rested his hands on his knees and looked around. Who are you, Sean Jacobs? Sparsely furnished, the old house reeked of spick-and-span clean. He should know; living in a house filled with present and past USCGs, where cleanliness and order ruled the roost, he recognized the tinge of lemon in the air. He wouldn’t say too clean, but...something along those lines.

A few unpacked boxes still remained, pushed against the walls. Through the archway, a kitchen faced the marsh and the dock beyond. Nothing hung on the walls. No pictures of family set on the one end table between the couch and love seat. The small, box-shaped wooden coffee table held a stack of hardback books, and Nathan leaned forward and lifted the first one. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The next, Treasure Island. Classics, and well used given the worn-out and dog-eared pages. On the inside flap, a neat cursive hand had written For my baby Willa with the wild imagination. Love, Mama.

It was, Nathan noted, the only personable item in the entire room.

He suddenly felt like an intruder. Someone...unwanted. A threat, maybe? Despite her acceptance of Jep’s dinner invitation, Sean’s hesitancy etched lines around her eyes, and those eyes flashed concern. Maybe after being around his loud, friendly family a time or two, she’d relax. Hell, maybe I will, too.