Page 29 of One More Kiss

She smacks her lips, annoyed. “Bluster all you want, but I’m not sorry for pushing you toward a little bit of happiness.”

Brandi snags her mimosa off the chair before standing and bringing it poolside.

A group of kids plays Marco Polo in the shallow end, giggling and crashing into one another, and their cheerful laughter brings a smile to my face.

Susan never wanted kids, and in hindsight, I’m not sure why I thought she would change her mind. It’s not that I would have forced them on her, but a small part of me was secretly holding out for that movie-like moment when she’d pad into my office with a little white stick and a plus sign.

“They’re making me miss the boys,” Brandi says thoughtfully.

“Me too,” I say, and even though I do miss the kids I consider my nephews, I mostly miss the opportunity to be a father. Thirty-five isn’t old by any stretch, but it’s older than I ever wanted to be to start a family. And with every year that closes, so does the window of possibility.

“Chuck still feeling like shit?” I ask to clear my thoughts.

She jumps into the pool, hissing when the water settles around her midsection. “Yes! I told him Vedant wouldn’t be very happy if he missed the game, but he can’t even get out of bed.”

Wiping flecks of water off my shirt, I laugh. “That asshole.”

Brandi lowers her upper body beneath the water and pinches her hands like claws on the surface. “I figured you’d be a little morecrabbyabout going to the game partnerless.”

With a shrug, I take a couple steps back from the edge. “Maybe I found a solution.”

Her bright eyes blink before she’s hollering, “You rotten bastard, giving me hell like that!”

I hop sideways as she splashes a wave of pool water at my feet.

“Catch you later,bestie.”

Her laughter turns boisterous as I retreat.

“Good luck!”

* * *

By the time I step off the city bus at Butterfly Cove, it’s three fifty-five, and Vedant and the guys from my team are waiting beside the sand volleyball court by a cooler.

“Hey, man!” Walter greets me.

The two teams before us are finishing their last set while I glance around for a pair of big brown eyes and chocolate-colored hair. If Kate doesn’t show, we may be forced to forfeit.

I scour the area in search of a potential sixth body.

Vedant’s girlfriend is lying out on a beach towel beneath an umbrella, snoring, so I confidently count her out.

“Where the hell is Chuck?” Aakesh asks, stretching his arms above his head and showing off his suntan-oiled body. Where my entire upper half is caked in thick sunscreen, Aakesh’s dark brown skin gives him the glow of a Sun God.

“He couldn’t make it,” I say as Vedant reaches into the cooler and hands me a beer.

We study the opposing team warming up over on the public part of the beach.

Old guys, my ass. Those fuckers are shredded.

“I did invite someone, but I guess she couldn’t make it.”

The first sip of beer tastes a little something like disappointment.

Our boss’s brows climb toward his hairline. “She?”

I open my mouth, but Bryce slaps the back of his hand across my chest. “We’ve been here for two days, and you’re already getting some strange?”