Turn Over

She grinned and suddenly I realized she hadn’t been jealous. “I like it when you say things like that.”

“You do, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I like words.”

“I’ll try to remember that.”

I looked up at the condo windows as we crossed over the Palm boardwalk and passed Eden and Grey’s blue beach shack.

“Do you think our mooncation trend is going to catch on?” She turned slightly as she pressed on the latch, unlocking the gate to our boardwalk.

The wooden slats were chipped and the decking needed a coat of stain, but Sydney wouldn’t let me touch it.

“It’s perfect like this.” She eyed me the day we moved into the house when she caught me making a list of improvements.

She grabbed the pad from my hand. “Old and dated is ok. This place has character. I thought that’s why you bought it.”

I shoved the pen in my pocket. “I bought it because the final condo sold at the Palm, leaving us homeless.” I saw the look in her eye. “And because you fell in love with it the instant the realtor unlocked the door.”

I had given in to the beach house, its crooked shutters, and the steps that creaked every time I climbed them. I chuckled to myself following Sydney up the stairs now.

“Let’s see. We are taking a honeymoon without getting married, but vacation is way too understated for what we’re going to be doing. I think more people will be mooncationing all over the place.” My hands immediately cupped her bottom as she bounded to the last step on the deck.

“I think I hear the doorbell.” She ran into the house before I could I could get my hands around her waist.

I walked inside, surprised when I saw we had guests.

“Mason,” Lindy squealed before tackling my knees.

“Hey, tiger.” I wrestled her free then tossed her in the air.

“We’re going to sit on your house.”

I looked at her quizzically and laughed.

Shawna walked toward us. “Lindy, it’s called house-sitting.”

“Oh.” The little girl giggled.

Sydney handed Shawna a pair of keys. “Thanks for looking after the house for us.”

“Not a problem. We’ll come by every day after school and collect the mail.”

I listened while Sydney doled out the instructions for the alarm and told Shawna the watering rotation for the tropical plants on the deck.

I crouched to the floor. “Lindy, what do you want us to bring you from France?”

She scrunched her face together. “A purple kite. A big one.” Her hands spread wide, demonstrating she didn’t want anything small.

“Ok. I’ll see what I can do.”

Shawna pointed to the glass door. “I think I see the car service in the driveway.”

“Time to go.” I rolled the suitcases to the porch.

“I want to see those wedding pictures when you get back.” Shawna followed behind us.

“I’ll text some to you.” Sydney gave her a hug.