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But her expression made him want to say it again. Her cheeks turned an exquisite shade of pink, and one corner of her lip turned upward.
“That’s sweet.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “You’re really good at this fake-boyfriend thing.”
He pressed his lips together at the reminder. “It’s what I’m here for.”
“I’ll be sure to return the favor once we’re back at the office,” she said. “But for now, maybe we could hunt for seashells?”
There was a part of him that wanted to beg her to go back in that hot tub and never leave. He knew he’d never be able to get the feeling of her sitting on his lap out of his mind. But she’d been gracious enough about it already, and she was making it clear that they weren’t going to go any further.
“Sure,” he said, smiling. “I’ll let you know if I see any good ones.”
They separated, eyes on the sand. He tried to look for shells, but his mind was distracted.
“Got one!” Amelia called minutes later. She picked it up and showed it to him. “Amazing. All these waves and it still made it here safely. It was resilient.”
“Some things truly are,” he said.
Her lips pressed together, and he couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking as she stared at the shell in her hands. She took a shaky breath and looked up at him.
“Ready to go swimming?” she asked.
“Don’t you want to keep the shell?”
“Nah.” She bent and set it on the ground. “I’ll leave it for someone else. I just like to look for the fun of it.”
It took him a moment to follow her to the water. He tried to figure out what had been going through her head as she’d gazed at the shell, but nothing came to him. Eventually, he followed, wondering what could possibly haunt her as it had.
***
Their swimming was cut short by a pop-up storm. They’d gotten out of the water once the waves became too choppy to be enjoyable, and soon after, rain poured from the sky.
The walk to the condo was cold, and Daniel was grateful to peel off his wet layers. Amelia took solace in the bathroom, and he made quick work of changing before she came back out. He’d had enough embarrassing moments in one day. They didn’t need any more.
She came out just as the front door opened. “I brought food!” Randy called as he took off a rain jacket.
That got everyone into the kitchen, even Mandy, who had still been in her room when Daniel and Amelia got back. Daniel didn’t miss the way Amelia’s eyes lingered on her mother, and he wondered, not for the first time, if everything was as okay as she’d said it was.
“What did you get?” John asked.
“Mostly pizza,” Randy replied. “But I got a burger for you, dear.” He gave Mandy a kiss on the cheek, which earned him a lukewarm smile.
Those were the things he missed doing for someone. The little things. Lucinda had grown bored of those quickly.
“How about we have dinner and ride out this storm with a movie night?” Randy offered. The condo didn’t have room for a table, so they all sat on the sectional couch and ate. They put on an easy-to-watch Disney movie in the background.
“I remember when this came out,” Randy said as it played. “This was the only movie Amelia and John could watch together. Everything else, you two fought over.”
“I can’t help it that he has no idea what’s good,” Amelia said, shrugging.
“Says the woman who had a Barney phase.”
“When I was a toddler,” she muttered, her cheeks turning pink.
“It lasted until you were eight,” Mandy added. It was the first Daniel had heard her speak in a while.
“Mom! Whose side are you on?”
Mandy laughed. “The truth’s. You really loved that purple dinosaur.”
