With This Fling (Summersweet Island 5)

“How have I never told you this before?”

“What happened if you didn’t sign it?” Bodhi asks.

“Oh, they still let you take your baby.” I shrug. “Ed Walton’s wife, Karen, refused to sign it when Ed Junior was born. She would never in a million years shake her baby, but she didn’t take too kindly to someone telling her what she could or could not do with her own child. So, yeah. It was a wild time back then.”

Birdie just blinks at me, and I listen to Bodhi put a voice note into his phone.

“Ask hospital if they still have the shaken form, and if not, can we sign one that says we won’t stir the baby either?” Bodhi finishes the recording and looks at me with a smile that quickly falls when he sees my face. “Tess probably won’t think it’s funny if I say that to our doctor, will she?”

Birdie and I just silently shake our heads at him, and he quickly deletes the voice note before sliding his phone back inside one of the many pockets of his khaki cargo shorts.

“Stop distracting Mom,” Birdie orders him before turning back to me. “Tell me more about the hot older man who called you sugar and got your juices flowing at the Dip and Twist last night.”

She nudges me with her elbow, and now it’s my turn to look at her in horror. “I think it’s time we start establishing some boundaries. Let’s begin with never saying the words ‘juices flowing’ in my presence ever again.”

Bodhi snorts, quickly clearing his throat and dropping his smile when I flick my irritated eyes in his direction.

“Have you met yourself?” Birdie laughs. “You come in like a fucking wrecking ball. It’s in our DNA; we don’t do boundaries. Now, tell me everything Wren left out and—”

“Everyone is having a great time. I think you can relax a little bit now,” Palmer interrupts her, coming up behind Birdie and resting his hands on her shoulders.

“You’re my favorite future son-in-law.” I smile at Palmer, thankful for his interruption.

I’ve already spent enough time replaying the words that stranger I’ll never see again said to me last night. I don’t need to keep talking about it or thinking about it.

“Hell yeah I’m the favorite.” Palmer nods.

“We’re not finished discussing this,” my daughter informs me before craning her neck to look back and up at Palmer. “And I am perfectly calm and relaxed.”

There’s a few seconds of silence before we all laugh. Birdie won’t be calm or relaxed until she’s walking down that aisle and it’s too late to worry if anything is going to be screwed up.

“You really did a great job with everything,” I tell her as we look around the deck at all of the out of town guests with drinks in their hands and smiles on their faces as they chat during the cocktail hour before the welcome dinner begins.

There’s a reason why my youngest is the director of social media and marketing for the Summersweet Island Golf Course and handles all of Palmer’s PR. She’s smart, organized, and creative, and she always gets shit done no matter how stressed out she is. I’m so proud of her every single day, even if she was just annoying the hell out of me.

The guests who came in today all arrived safely on the ferry at different times throughout the day, got their rented golf carts with ease, and checked into their hotel rooms without any problems thanks to Birdie’s expert planning. They all raved about the welcome baskets in their rooms she left for them, which included beer koozies printed with the words All Fore Love, Palmer & Birdie, a map of the island, a box of salt water taffy from Chew on This, a bunch of free tokens for Hang Five Arcade, a coupon for one free ice cream treat at the Dip and Twist, their schedule of events for their time here, and a few Summersweet Island souvenirs. As other guests arrive throughout the next few days, Birdie will be there to greet them and get them settled in as well.

Now, everyone is enjoying drinks and hors d’oeuvres and having a relaxed time before dinner. The deck off the back of the hotel is right on the beach with a beautiful view of the ocean as the sun sets. The wood-beam ceiling of the patio has been strung with Edison lights, as well as all around the deck railing, and Birdie decorated the center of each round table with the most adorable centerpieces—short, square planters with real grass in them, with yellow tulips jutting out, along with a golf ball on a tee nestled down in the grass.

“God, I love it here.” Birdie sighs.

Both of us lean our hands on the railing and stare out at the ocean as the sun sets, while Palmer and Bodhi chat a little ways behind us, and Shepherd, Tess, and Emily’s boyfriend Quinn make their way over.

I will never get tired of being able to look out wherever I am and see the ocean. I love the place I grew up. I could never imagine living anywhere else. And there’s no better feeling than knowing the girls love it here as well, and I get to have them close while they build their own families. I’ve always wanted to do some traveling though when Wren officially takes over the Dip and Twist. I imagined myself being all Eat, Pray, Love, going to new places, seeing new sights, and learning new things, perfectly happy to discover the world all on my own.

The only thing I’ve learned lately is that the idea of going anywhere without someone to experience it with and talk about it with in the moment sounds completely dull, and boring, and exactly like my childhood.

Zero stars. Would not recommend.

With a sigh, glancing over to the bathroom when I hear Shepherd say Wren is in there with Emily and I can relax about that at least, I turn my eyes back to the ocean and try to let the beautiful view take away the rest of my annoyances.

“You got room for one more at this party?”

What the hell?

That voice…. It’s the same one from the stand last night I haven’t been able to get out of my head. And now, like my damn daughter magically summoned it by not shutting up about what her sister gossiped to her, that deep, sexy thing is clear as a bell right behind me.

“Sugar, I was a teenager the last time a woman made my dick hard just by watching her bend over to get ice cream out of a freezer.”