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Halfway down the beach a rain storm came up out of nowhere. The rain was hot as it landed with a surprising amount of force but I just kept walking. I watched as families and couples grabbed their things and made a run for their cars or houses and thought about Ada on the lake with all the kids. Despite not being a nanny, she’d been the best thing that ever happened to the kids. Alex calling her to talk about a girl was proof that Ada was a better guardian than I ever was.
I hadn’t even realized my shoes had filled up with sand I’d been so busy feeling sorry for myself. I bent over to take them off and found a piece of sea glass in the shape of a heart. Picking it up, I turned it over in my hand a few times and then slipped it into my pocket. I didn’t know if Ada collected little trinkets like that. I didn’t know a lot of the base stuff like that. I wanted to, though. I turned around and made my way back to Maxine’s yard.
Joe had fixed his chair and he was sitting in it, letting the rain soak him. He looked up at me and sighed. “That was fast.”
“Do you know if Ada collects sea glass?”
“What? No.”
I looked up and saw movement in the front window. A second later the door cracked open again. I hurried up to it and searched Ada’s face. Her eyes were red like she’d been crying. “What’s wrong?”
She bit her lip and shook her head before handing me my phone. “You guys need to go home.”
“Do you collect sea glass, Ada?”
She frowned. “What?”
“Do you collect sea glass? I realized I don’t know.”
“I don’t know, Collin. I guess it just depends.” She sighed before closing the door again.
I knocked on it again and held my treasure out to her when she opened it. “I found this. I want to know what it depends on if you keep it. Not just for this piece, but for every piece, Ada.”
She opened her mouth but no words came out. I watched her hand close over the sea glass and felt her fingertips brush against my palm before she disappeared again.
I sat back down next to Joe and swore as the back of my chair flopped all the way back and took me with it. I noticed Joe looking everywhere but at me and swore again. “Asshole. You switched chairs.”
66
***Joe***
Ijerkedawakeandsucked in a sharp breath as something in my back spasmed. Sleeping in a lawn chair wasn’t great for a forty-year-old’s back, apparently. The sun was beating down on me already, cooking me, even though it couldn’t be later than seven in the morning. A shadow fell over me and I realized something had woken me up and it was Ada’s Aunt Maxine splashing droplets of orange juice on my face.
“Wake up, idiots.” She splashed more on me and grinned. It was clear she was enjoying herself. “I got you breakfast. If you’re going to sit out here all night and all day, you need food.”
My stomach growled in answer to her offering and I eagerly took the sack from her. I opened it and found my go to breakfast inside. Looking up again, I frowned as I took the cup of orange juice from her. “This is what I eat at home. Ada told you?”
“Ada made it herself.” She took a few steps back and waited. “Go ahead. Eat up.”
Collin groaned as he sat up. “Is there a chance this isn’t poisoned?”
Maxine shrugged. “You won’t know until you eat it, will you?”
I shrugged. “I’m starving so I don’t care.”
I ate a giant bite of eggs and instantly gagged. Salt. She’d salted us again. Grabbing the orange juice, I drank half of it before I realized it wasn’t orange juice but some strange orange flavored drink. I dropped both things to the ground next to me and dropped my head back on the chair. I was already hot, sweaty, miserable, and she was trying to kill me with salt. Great.
“Will you tell your wonderful niece that I said thank you for breakfast?” I dragged my tongue over the inside of my shirt and sighed. “Tell her I can’t understand why she ever got fired as a waitress.”
Collin spit his own orange drink out and swore. “Where can I get a breakfast around here that isn’t poisoned?”
“Two blocks down, take a right. Just down the street a bit there’s a place called Two Early Birds. If you bring me back something I’ll let you use my bathroom.”
“You’re on.” Collin nodded to me before hurrying off down the street.
“Did I forget to mention that it doesn’t open until eight? Oops.” Maxine had waited until Collin was too far to hear her. She smirked at me and crossed her arms. “I’m trying to make sense of you two. You fly across the country to sleep in my yard? Shouldn’t just just grab Ada up and haul her back to your house? You have that caveman energy going on. Just grab her. And do it fast. I’m used to having a bachelorette pad. She’s cramping my style.”
I stood up and tried to stretch out my back. “You want me to kidnap your niece?”
