Only One Regret (Only One 5)

I look over to the side and see Alex shaking her head while she looks at them. "I’m right here," she announces from beside us, and I have to say she’s blossomed this year. She was stunning before, but she’s breathtaking now. "I play the winner." She also is super tall and fit.

"You are not playing anything," Parker warns from her chair, looking over at her. "If you get out there, your father is going to drag you back to the house." She rolls her lips. "Especially when he sees the back of your suit.”

I turn to look at her, seeing that she’s wearing a towel around her waist, obviously hiding the bottom. "It’s called a cheeky, Grandma," she informs us.

"It’s called locked up until you’re thirty," Zara threatens.

"If she goes to Europe," Vivienne, Karrie’s best friend and Cooper’s godmother, adds with her French accent, "they wear thongs and go topless."

"Shut up," Alex says. "You are lying."

"It’s not a big deal," Vivienne states. "It’s just breasts. Everyone has them."

"Vivienne," Karrie says, "can we not?"

Alex gasps. "Mom!" she yells for Allison. "If I go to Europe, I get to go topless and wear a thong."

"For the love of Christ." I hear Max groan as he looks over at Alex, and I have to roll my lips as Dylan and Michael both come to the shore. "You aren’t going to Europe."

"I’m going to go backpacking in Europe the summer before college," she informs him.

"You can do that if I become Liam Neeson from Taken," Max informs her. "And the chances of me becoming him are very, very slim."

"Buzzkill," Alex pouts and drops the towel and walks over to them. "Who won?"

"No one won," Allison tells her. "There is no knockdown surfing."

"Should we get horses?" Matthew comes over and stands beside us. "The girls said they wanted to ride ponies, and the teenagers showed me a video."

"Jesus," Zara says. "Can we be more extra?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" I finally say, smiling up at Matthew. "If we say no, will you listen to us?"

"No," he answers honestly. "It can be an activity."

"What is?" Max asks, coming to us.

"Getting horses," I reply, and he groans.

"No," he says. "Allison and I did that in Mexico, and the beach was full of shit for two days."

"Pfft," Matthew retorts, grabbing his phone. "Going to add must scoop poop."

Everyone laughs at him when I hear my name being called. "Auntie Erika," Emma says, running to me. "Can you make a castle with us?"

"Of course," I say. Getting up, I look toward the house and see Cooper coming out. I hold out my hand and walk over to the sand, where there are pails and shovels.

Mia runs over to us. "Okay, let’s fill the pail," I suggest, getting on my knees in the sand with them. The girls fill one pail, and we walk over and start dumping it.

"What are you guys doing?" Cooper asks, and I look up at him. He’s wearing the same shorts he was before, and his chest is bronzed from being in the sun for the past three days.

"We are building a sandcastle," Emma tells him, and he squats next to me.

"You changed your suit," he notes, and I smile, looking down at my white bikini with pink stripes.

"Someone has a goal to make sure I wash every single bikini twice," I tease, walking over to get more wet sand in the pail. The four of us walk back and forth, and after I don’t even know how many trips, I say, "Doesn’t look that bad." I tilt my head to the side as the girls look at it.

"You look hot," he says, and I laugh. "Girls, doesn’t Auntie Erika look hot?" he asks, and I can see his blue eyes sparkling.

The pail of water in his hand is half full. "Cooper Grant." I point at him. "Don’t you dare." I can see him grab the pail, and I run away from him with Emma following me. The sound of laughter fills the beach as he chases us with Mia trailing him, laughing and yelling.

"Get her, Daddy!” she screams, and I run toward the water as the waves crash over my feet and I turn and kick water at him. He laughs, bending down and throwing water in my direction, and I turn to escape it.

"Cooper!" I yell at him, and he finally grabs me around my waist and spins me. I can’t help the laughter that comes out of me.

"You got her, Daddy," Mia cheers.

"What shall I do with her?" he asks Mia, who smiles.

"Go dunk her in the water," she says, and I gasp.

"Don’t you dare." I look over my shoulder at him. "I just washed my hair."

"Mom!" Cooper yells for Karrie. "Watch the girls."

She gets up off her chair, and the girls clap for their dad as he walks into the water. "Cooper," I warn when the warm water hits my knees. "If you get my hair wet." He turns me in his arms.