Once Upon an Island

I kick at the sand and Kate laughs.

“The drink,” she says. “I’ll make us the drink, sex on the beach, or piña coladas, or mojitos. Get your mind out of the gutter. Didn’t you know? You can’t catch a husband by giving him the keys to the pantry on your first date.”

“Oh. Right,” I say, and I shake out of the sand-covered, sandfly-biting fever dream.

“Are we agreed then? You keep Declan away from Arya and Percy for an hour or two, while I prepare nibbles and drinks?”

I frown across the beach. Arya looks lost and alone now that Declan has pulled Percy away. He’s such a meddling jerkoid.

Well, that settles it.

Arya deserves a nice guy like Percy.

And Declan deserves to marry Kate so she can reunite with her family, and then he deserves losing half his fortune when she divorces him for being a jerk.

And it all begins with me keeping him away from Percy and Arya for an hour. No problem.

“Alright, I’ll take care of it,” I say. I lift my chin and put on a determined air.

“That’s my girl,” Kate says. She gives me a quick squeeze and then hurries off toward our little wooden rental cottage.

I let out a long breath, and my bangs blow high before settling back down to my forehead.

Well, here goes nothing.