AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He sniffed away the tears that hadn’t fallen. “Thank you.”
When they were done eating their halves and Mrs. Garrick reapplied their sunscreen, they went back to the castle. Once they finished, they grabbed their pails and ran to the water’s edge, scooping up water and bringing it to fill the moat. Mrs. Garrick followed them and told them every time they went too far in the water to step closer to shore.
Isla dumped the last bucket in, and she threw her hands in the air. “It’s done!”
“Let me get a picture,” Mrs. Garrick said.
Nolan usually hated his picture being taken, but Isla threw her arm around him and that made him smile. They played princess and prince for a little while, but then they had to go. Nolan didn’t want to go. He was having so much fun.
In the car, Isla kept talking. He had no idea how she always had so much to talk about. When they got home, Mom met them in the driveway.
“Did you have a good time?” she asked.
“We had a great time!” Nolan exclaimed, then Isla told Mom all about their castle and how Nolan dropped his sandwich.
“Wow,” Mom said. “Sounds like you’ve had quite a day. Let’s get you home and ready for dinner.” Mom thanked Mrs. Garrick, then rested her hand on his shoulder. “Say bye to Isla.”
“Bye, Isla. I’ll see you next time.”
She smiled and nodded. He gave her a wave and walked home with Mom, peering over his shoulder every now and again to get another glimpse at the toothless girl.
“I see you and Isla got along just fine,” Mom said.
Nolan nodded and with a sheepish grin said, “I’m going to marry her.”
Chapter 3
Another knock came at the door, and Nolan wondered if Isla finally had come back to speak with him. He hadn’t been prepared to see her. If he had been, he might have gone after her. With a deep breath, he pulled the door open. The tension in his neck eased at Milo’s smiling face.
He’d been meaning to call his friend, but he figured he’d take a day to settle in first. He took Milo’s extended hand and yanked him into a hug. He smacked his back and laughed. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I dropped Harper and Olivia off next door, and considering Harper was wielding a bottle of vodka like she wanted to throw it at your house as we passed… I figured I’d check on you.”
“Does Harper know you’re here? I wouldn’t want to cause a riff in your blossoming relationship.”
Milo smacked him in the chest and shoved him out of the way. “I don’t have to tell her everything I do.”
“You didn’t tell her you were stopping by?”
“No,” he said, and Nolan laughed. “It’s bad enough I didn’t tell her I knew you were coming back. I got an earful on the way over here.”
“You could have told her.”
“And listened to the three of them rant for over a week? Nah. It’s better this way. They’ll drink their vodka, curse the day you were born, and then we can all move on.”
Nolan shook his head and patted Milo on the back. “Come to the kitchen. I have some brownies I managed to salvage.”
Milo’s eyebrow quirked. “Do I want to know?”
“No.”
“Okay then.” It was one of the things Nolan appreciated about Milo. He didn’t press him for more information. Isla always said it was a guy thing, but either way, it was a quality Nolan appreciated in his friend.
In the kitchen, Nolan grabbed the plate of brownies. He managed to get all the pieces of the broken ceramic together and examine the brownies to make sure there were no rogue pieces in the chocolate. He didn’t throw the dish out in case Isla wanted to glue it back together, which seemed silly, but she always had weird attachments to objects. For all he knew, this dish was the one her grandma baked the brownies for Isla’s ninth birthday in. How could he throw out such a momentous piece of history? So, the pieces sat in a Ziploc for when he had the balls to go over there and return it.
Milo took a bite of brownie and lounged in his chair. “Want to tell me why you’re back now?”
Nolan didn’t really want to talk about it. Talking about it made him angry, and he was sick of that emotion, but he also didn’t want to worry Milo if he had no reason to.
