Page 55 of Just One More Thing
“Looking for me?”
He turns fast, and the smile that spreads across his face does something warm and deeply unhelpful to my insides. He jogs toward me. “I was.”
“Just got back,” I say. “I took Granny into Summerlin for a follow-up appointment.”
He spins around, scanning the empty space around me, making a dramatic production of looking for her. “Did you leave her there?”
I laugh. “I did not, but believe me, I was tempted. Since we already had the scooter out, she wanted to go visiting.”
He smiles the big smile. The one that always makes me smile too. “Does this mean you’re free the rest of the day?”
“I just need to check on Frank and make sure he didn’t eat the inventory while we were gone,” I say. “But yeah. I’m free.”
“Wanna go out on the boat?” he asks. “I’ve got pots to check.”
I fold my arms pretending to consider it, which is a lie because I already said yes the second he said wanna.
“So you need a first mate.”
He snickers. Then the snicker breaks loose into actual laughter and makes me immediately suspicious.
“What?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing.”
“Jake.”
“We never really grow out of puberty,” he says, dragging a hand over his mouth. “A man hears the word mate and suddenly he’s thirteen again.”
“Apparently.”
He laughs again, softer this time, and it settles over me in a way that feels… familiar. I hate how quickly I can fall back into this with him. My body just goes, oh. Right. This is where we live now.
I glance toward the dock. “What time?”
“As soon as you’re ready. I can grab sandwiches from Larry’s first. Which one do you want?”
“The usual.”
As if right on cue—“HOW LAZY IS HE?”
Jake lifts one eyebrow. “Is that a test to see if I remember?”
“Maybe.”
His smile deepens just enough to tell me he does.
“I’ll change and check on Frank,” I say. “Meet you at the dock as soon as I do?”
“Deal.”
He starts to turn, then looks back at me. “And Mo?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really glad you’re coming.”
I give him a small, careful smile. “Yeah. Me too.”
