Shit.
Nate grinned at us both, completely unaware that he’d been caught. He sauntered out of the kitchen without a care in the world, leaving me and Cole in a staring match.
I suddenly felt like the teenager in the situation.
Exhausted, I lowered my gaze and sighed heavily. ‘I’m going to bed.’
Lying in bed that night I stared at the ceiling, listening to the laughter filtering up from downstairs. The noise, plus my stressing, was a kind of hindrance, and it took me a long time to fall asleep. Eventually, I assured myself that Cole wouldn’t tell anyone what he saw. The caress wasn’t evidence of anything but Nate’s inability to not flirt with an available woman.
Right?
19
The sun was shining brightly the next day, a lure for Cam, Jo, and Cole, who had decided to meet up with Cam’s parents and their dog for a picnic on the beach. That sounded like heaven to me. However, while Peetie and Lyn were spending the day with Peetie’s aunt and uncle, Nate wanted me to spend the day with him, Nathan, and Sylvie.
It was a tough choice. Spend the day frolicking on a beach or learn more about Nate.
Okay, so it wasn’t really a tough choice, but for the sake of pride I’m going to pretend I mused over it for more than ten seconds.
I also really wanted to get away from Cole’s eagle eyes. The whole morning, while we all ate breakfast together, he watched me and Nate closely for, I imagine, any signs that we were up to no good.
It was to my relief that I soon found myself out on the back deck of Nate’s parents’ home. The day started well. Nate complimented me on my body-skimming maxi dress, something I would never have felt comfortable wearing before our lessons, and when we were stopped at traffic lights he kissed me softly for the first time in what felt like forever. In actuality it had been only a few days since our last mouth-to-mouth. We’d taken the car, since Nate’s parents lived on the other side of the village, and Sylvie and Nathan had come out to greet us as we pulled up to their beautiful cottage. Nate had certainly grown up in a lovely place.
Sipping lemonade, I laughed as Nate and his father teased each other. I shared smiles with Sylvie and felt very at home there.
‘I saw a picture of you with a dog,’ I said to Nate, smiling quizzically. I’d passed the photo of him as a child with a Lab puppy as we walked through their entrance hall. ‘You didn’t tell me you had a dog.’
Nathan immediately snorted as Nate groaned.
I grinned. ‘What am I missing?’
‘The dog’ – Nathan laughed and then composed himself so he could continue – ‘was called Duke and we only had him for about fourteen months, until my son decided that Duke had more value in trade than as a family pet.’
‘Oh, God.’ Nate groaned again and shot me a dirty look. ‘You had to ask about the dog.’
Sylvie was almost crying with tears of laughter.
My intrigue grew. I giggled. ‘What did you do?’
‘Do?’ Nathan leaned back, shaking his head at his son. ‘Well, he’d been bugging his mum and me for a surfboard for months, and we kept saying no because we both weren’t comfortable with him being out in the water without someone experienced with him. So when he went with Cam and his parents to the beach, we let him take Duke. He was out of Lena and Andy’s sight for a few minutes and he decided to make things happen for himself.’
Nate’s expression was pained.
‘He came across some surfers and started chatting to them. Eventually he asked them if they’d consider trading one of their boards.’
My eyes widened in horror. ‘Nate, you didn’t.’
He grimaced. ‘I was eleven years old.’
‘Aye, meaning you knew exactly what you were doing.’ Sylvie wiped her eyes.
‘As you’ve surmised,’ Nathan continued, ‘the guy said he’d trade his surfboard for Duke.’
‘You gave them Duke? Did you get him back?’
‘Nope.’ Nathan shook his head. ‘Once Andy realized what had happened, he went back to find them but they were gone. I went looking every weekend for a while, but I never found the group of surfers again.’
I tutted. ‘That’s cold, Nate.’
‘Hey –’ He pointed his finger at me. ‘I’m not a complete shit. I realized later that night that it was a stupid bloody idea and I felt awful.’
‘Felt awful?’ Nathan harrumphed. ‘You cried your eyes out.’
I pinched my lips together to keep from laughing.
Nate scowled. ‘Manly tears. Manly tears of regret.’
‘I take it getting another dog was out of the question?’ I teased.
Sylvie chuckled. ‘We were afraid what he’d trade it in for.’