Page 149 of Enticing Her Love

“You Steeles really know how to put on a show,” Flynn’s grandfather said.

“We’ve had a lot of practice,” her mother said. “The first summer Steve came to the island with Alexander and Roddy, the three of them turned this quiet town into one where everyone was watching their backs.”

“I haven’t heard that story,” Jock said.

“Steve, you’re not from here?” Flynn’s mother asked.

“No. I’m from Trusty, Colorado, where ranchers are plentiful and gossip is as ripe as cow patties on a hot summer day.” He chuckled at his own joke.

“I’m familiar with that area. I have distant relatives there. What brought you here?” Flynn’s father asked.

“My buddies. I met Alexander and Roddy in college. They’d spent all year talking about how great the island was, so when they asked me to join them for the summer, I jumped at the chance. I got a job at the winery, and one day I was talking to Shelley’s father, a man who did not appreciate interruptions, and this feisty sixteen-year-old beauty came barging into his office and called me college boy. Then she spews venom about how she’s just decked a seventeen-year-old kid working on the vines. Let me tell you, I was hooked from that moment on. Alexander and Roddy warned me away from her. They said she was stubborn as the day was long and wouldn’t give the boys around there a second glance.”

“He didn’t listen,” her mother said. “He took it as a challenge.”

“Darlin’, you stole my heart that day. I wasn’t about to walk away.” He looked at Flynn’s parents and said, “I had to prank this woman ten times before she’d agree to a single date.”

“You pranked Mom?” Sutton asked.

“I sure did. I rigged her bicycle so when she pedaled, the chain would come off, and I’d happen to be there to fix it.”

“So chivalrous,” her grandmother said.

“Hey, I had to pull all the stops to win her over,” her father said. “I found out that every morning she’d leave the house at six thirty to sit outside and read, so every day I set up a bucket above the door. When she opened it, flowers tumbled down, or confetti, or love notes.”

“Aw, Dad. That’s so sweet,” Jules said. “No wonder Mom fell for you.”

“That didn’t do the trick. She drove me batty for weeks. I didn’t think she’d ever give in,” he said.

“In my defense,” her mother said. “He was going to college in New York City, and I was a small-town girl. I didn’t want to be his summer fling. I wanted to be his forever girl.”

“Darlin’, you’ve been that since I first laid eyes on you.” He leaned in and kissed her. “She kept me on my toes back then, and still does.”

“Sounds like someone else I know.” Flynn hugged Sutton, whispering, “You’re my forever girl.”

She loved hearing that but had to tease him. “We’ll see how you feel a year from now.”

“Now that we’ve experienced your family tradition, would you like to see a little of ours?” Seth asked.

“Yes, please,” her mother said. “We’d love to.”

“We tell stories around the bonfire,” Seth explained. “We go around in a circle, and everyone gets to add to the story. Do you want to try?”

“I do!” Joey said.

“Me too,” Hadley said sleepily.

“Okay.” Flynn nudged Jock, sitting next to him, and said, “You’re the storyteller. Why don’t you start, and we’ll go around the circle.”

“I start!” Hadley exclaimed.

“Sounds good, Had,” Flynn said.

Jock whispered in Hadley’s ear, and she said, “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Everyone chuckled.

Jock said, “The caregiver looked out the lighthouse window at the turbulent waves and spotted a rowboat heading to shore.”