Page 28 of Against The Tide

“Eww, you can’t eat Marvin. You’d have to kill him and cut his head off…that’s gross.” Scarlett sits in one of the chairs, sharing it with Iris as they continue flicking through the other photos of the baby chick.

“Don’t be such a chicken about it!”

“Ha-ha.” Scarlett glares at her. “I see what you did there.”

Jo sticks her tongue out at her before focusing on Iris. “What about you, pretty girl? Do you wanna come see the chicks and horses?”

Iris nods.

“Don’t be shy. You’re too precious to hide away.” Patting my hand, Jo adds, “Just like your mommy. Too pretty.”

Her openness reminds me of my mother. The way she could talk you into a smile. There’s an upbeat, friendly tone to her voice to go with her appearance. Jo is all milky skin and faint age freckles. Her eyes are the brightest blue. She’s got that Martha Stewart look with some rustic chic thrown in. Her jaw-length, dark ginger hair lightens from the middle of the strands to the pale golden roots.

“What’s your favorite animal?”

“I like starfish,” Iris tells her with a grin I haven’t seen a while. “They’re colorful and pretty. Mommy says they’re inva…inva…”

“Invertebrates,” I help her out before she gets crabby with herself.

“Yeah, in-ver-te-brates.” She sounds it out carefully, pride broadening her grin when she says it right. “They’re my mommy’s favorite too.”

“Invertebrates, huh?” Rhett chuckles behind us.

All the air leaves my lungs at the sound of his voice. I don’t know how to feel around him. The way he looks at me as though he knows me or can see some part of me that I don’t even know exists is confusing.

I can’t control what comes out of my mouth around him, and it’s so damn infuriating because all I want is to suffocate all the crap. Smother it all so it’s silent forever and no one will ever know the reality of my life. But he has a way of drawing it all out of me like poison, and when he touches me, I feel it deep inside. Like hope unfurling and blossoming in my core.

“It means they don’t have bones,” Iris tells him. “My mommy did a special exi…exi—” She stops to look at me for help again.

“Exhibition.”

“Yeah, an ex-hi-bi-tion, at home. She’s a marine bio-lo-gist, so she knows everything about fishes and the sea.”

“Not really.”

“Please,” Callie scoffs, “you’re the biggest nerd.”

“Wait.” Rhett stands between me and Jo. His closeness makes my heart beat faster as I wonder if he’s still thinking about the last time we saw each other. All the bruises and my god-awful tears. All the things I said.

He starts to laugh the longer he looks at Callie. “You’re friends with a marine biologist and you’re scared of the sea…that’s fantastic. Classic bad-A Callie.”

“Correction, A-hole, I don’t want to be eaten by sharks. Shark bait isn’t my calling unlike you and Rowan…on your cool dude boards, flapping around like defenseless prey.”

“You should teach her the reality of the water.” Rhett winks down at me.

For a moment he holds me with his assessing gaze before he fusses over Scarlett and manages to get Iris laughing along with them. It’s such a beautiful sound, lightening some of the heaviness that’s bearing down on me. I can’t help but watch them and smile.

“I think it’s time we did a cookout at the ranch, Callie girl.”

“I think you’re right, Josie.”

“Well, that settles it, then. The guys are cooking dinner tonight.”

My eyes widen at the sprawling estate. A federal-style farmhouse sits in the middle, surrounded by white outbuildings accented in torched timber. Verdant trees line the long drive, the dirt road kicking up clouds of dust as we approach the beautifully manicured in-and-out drive at the front of the house.

Callie parks her SUV behind Rhett’s. His Jaguar is sleek, and something about him tells me that it’s pristine on the inside. He’s just so well put together in his shirt and slacks, but at the same time his hair is always mussed back from his face and his sleeves rolled up.

“Listen up, monster.” Callie adjusts her rearview mirror so she can look at Scarlett. “No hiding chicks in your pockets or in my purse. This is their home. Got it?”