“You’ll see,” he replies.
He pulls into a driveway behind Harrison’s Range Rover, and as I climb from the car, I get why he referred to that place we stayed over the Fourth of July as a ‘cottage.’
“This is where you vacationed as a kid? I was expecting a surf shack. It’s a mansion.”
Caleb pops the trunk and reaches for the wetsuits he insisted on buying the twins, wetsuits they’ll never be willing to wear. “It set the bar pretty high.”
“It must be hard for you now, vacationing now without a butler to serve you caviar,” I reply, taking the wetsuits. “No wonder you were so worried about my snacks.”
He walks under the carport and hoists two surfboards overhead as if they’re light as air. “It’s not that fancy.”
We follow him onto the wooden walkway. “Just because there’s not currently a butler here doesn’t make it any less fancy. I bet it had a staff.”
He laughs. “Okay, yeah, there was a staff.”
“And did they bring you snacks on the beach?”
He grins over his shoulder. “Not caviar.”
“Finally,” Harrison says as we walk up, tugging Sophie’s ponytail before he gives me a hug. “The fun has arrived.”
In the weeks since Caleb dropped plans for the merger, we’ve seen a lot more of Harrison, but nothing of Audrey. It’s pretty clear he’s ready to be a dad. It’s also pretty clear there’s some tension with his wife over it.
Caleb looks around. “Where’s Beck? This was his idea.”
“Something came up,” Liam replies, not quite meeting Caleb’s eye before he glances at the twins. “You guys ready for this?”
Henry doesn’t answer. “We want to build sandcastles,” Sophie says, and Henry nods. They reach into my bag for buckets and walk to the shore.
“Why don’t you guys surf a bit?” I ask Caleb. “Let the twins see how fun it is.”
He hesitates before giving me a reluctant nod. Harrison and Liam head to the water, while Caleb tugs his t-shirt overhead. I’ve seen him naked more times than I can count, but I don’t see him undressing in public that much. I have a renewed appreciation for the long, lean lines of him, for the broad shoulders tapering to narrow hips, for that tattoo on his shoulder, which I recently learned is some surf thing and not an homage to Kate.
He grins, tiny smile lines forming around his eyes. “Keep looking at me like that, Lucie, and I won’t make it into the water at all.”
My gaze drifts from the kids down near the water’s edge and back to Harrison’s dad’s house. “I’d be okay with that. I bet he’s got Frette linens on every bed.”
He swoops down and throws me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. “Let’s go see.”
I laugh. “Sure. Should I put Henry in charge of Sophie, or vice versa?”
He allows me to slide back to the sand, continuing to hold me close, pressing a kiss to the tip of my nose. “Henry would blow it off and giving Sophie that much power would be dangerous. I guess it’ll have to wait.”
He finishes pulling on his wetsuit and dives into the water while I venture down to help the twins make a castle, which we garnish with shells and plants. My attention, however, is only partly on the job, because Caleb surfing is a particularly distracting sight—he carves into a wave with as much ease as he complains about work expenditures. It’s even hotter than I suspected it might be. And I already expected it would be really, really hot.
In my only real relationship prior to this, things went dramatically downhill the moment they were official. With Caleb, it’s been the opposite. He’s wonderful with the twins, but also wonderful with me. He provides things I didn’t even know I needed until they’re presented to me. He knows Jeremy’s cheating left a mark, so when he’s traveling, he sends me his itinerary. After he met with Kate to discuss everything, he called me and reported back every word. The part of me that is still fragile and shaken gets a little less so every day, entirely because of him.
The twins and I make a series of sand birthday cakes, but their interest is waning. They both watch Harrison pop up on his board and ride a moderate wave. Like Caleb, he makes it look effortless.
“What happens if they fall?” Henry asks quietly, just as Harrison dives off and reemerges, laughing.
“You’re the science guy,” I reply. “What happens when you fall into water?”
Henry doesn’t answer, but continues to watch, as does Sophie, though her glances are less curious than they are irritated. “I don’t want to wear a wetsuit,” she announces, rising.
“The water’s pretty cold, Sophie. You wouldn’t be able to stay out long without it.”
“Fine,” she says angrily, stomping back up the beach, where she proceeds to put on the wetsuit alone, howling in frustration with how tight it is around the legs. Caleb comes out of the water to get her and within minutes she’s balancing on one of the big foam boards. “Mommy!” she screams, “look! Henry! Henry! Look at me. You’re not look—”
She goes over the side and Caleb is next to her in seconds, lifting her back onto the board.
“Henry!” she yells. “Did you see me?”
He turns away and I laugh. “Henry, throw her a bone. Tell her you saw her.”
He glances at me and, wordlessly, marches up the beach for his wetsuit and brings it back so I can help him put it on. I bite my tongue as I tug it over his legs, holding in the desperate way I want to encourage him: You’re going to love this, Henry; I’m so proud of you; You’re going to do great.
I don’t say a fucking word, because Henry’s like a timid animal at times like this—even the smallest errant movement can set him off. If he’s going out there solely to keep Sophie from bragging about it for the rest of the day, so be it.
Caleb seems to sense that he needs to tread lightly. He puts Sophie in the care of Liam and Harrison, gets the second board and approaches without too much fanfare, catching my eye and raising a brow. I give him the tiniest nod and he reaches for Henry’s hand.
“Hop on and I’ll push you out,” he says.
Henry swallows, staring at the board, not moving. And then, in the distance, Sophie shouts his name again and he moves forward, lying down just the way she did, his jaw set with grim resignation.
“Here goes nothing,” I say to myself, watching Caleb paddle him out to the break.
Sophie goes whizzing past them, sure-footed and proud of herself, yet another thing that’s come naturally to her. It could easily set Henry off, but Caleb simply pulls the board away from Liam and Harrison so that Henry won’t be discouraged by his sister’s success.
Once they’re in position, Caleb waits for a small wave and pushes the board, but Henry lies flat, making no effort whatsoever to stand. Through the next few waves, he progresses to his forearms, then his knees and my breath holds, waiting for the moment he’ll get discouraged and quit, waiting for Caleb to grow impatient—because even I’d be growing impatient by now.
On his fifth wave, Henry stands. It lasts only a second, but Caleb is thrilled.
“Hell yeah!” he cheers, as ecstatic as the father of an Olympic medal winner.
On his sixth wave, Henry gets up and stays up. His balance is shaky—he doesn’t make it look easy, the way Sophie does. And it doesn’t matter in the least.
“Mommy! Caleb!” he shouts. “Look at me!”
He’s smiling as he goes over the side.
My eyes cloud with happy tears, and even from this distance, I can tell Caleb’s have too.
EPILOGUE
CALEB