12. Kate
F rom where she sat at the bonfire, Kate could see there was a PS at the end of that entry, but Vivien didn’t read it out loud. She’d been selectively reading passages, probably saving herself—and all of them—from a little embarrassment.
But mostly, the diary entries brought back lovely, warm memories and non-stop laughter.
When she finished, Kate noticed that Eli was quiet, closing his eyes and not laughing with the others. No doubt because of the mention of their father, which seemed to make him withdrawn.
“Read more,” Tessa insisted, maybe a little blind to that dynamic.
“I need a break from my exclamation points and capital letters.” Vivien snapped the diary closed. “And I’m not sure I can bear another word written in pink glitter gel pen.”
“Oh, to be able to write in pink glitter again.” Tessa sighed and added a wink to Lacey. “Some things a girl shouldn’t have to give up, you know?”
“Plus, Never Have I Ever?” Vivien rolled her eyes. “Embarrassing.”
Eli leaned closer to the fire and used a long twig to stoke the flames. “As I recall, Never Have I Ever didn’t get truly embarrassing until the later years.”
From her lounging position on the sand, Kate regarded him, remembering one of those later-year games all too well—the one where, with the simple lowering of one finger, Eli outed himself for having a crush on someone in the circle.
And that someone she—and everyone else—knew, was Tessa, who hadn’t even noticed Eli’s admission. But Kate had noticed. She saw that index finger drop and, with it, her heart.
Silly game, but a tough memory.
Eli certainly didn’t seem to be under her sister’s spell at all now. He was cordial to her, of course, and laughed when she was around because her sister was surrounded by a cloud of fun that all mortals breathed in her space.
Kate shifted her glance from Eli to Tessa, who was in a high mood tonight. Fresh off a day of creating a website for an endeavor that didn’t even exist when she woke up that morning, Tessa was humming with happiness.
And that, Kate decided, was a good thing. Her sister hadn’t been happy, not truly happy, since Dad died. Mostly, she’d had that defeatist undercurrent that Kate always hated. Her mother could have that, too, and, in fact, sounded that way when Kate had talked to her earlier today.
“So now we know why we didn’t get in trouble that night,” Tessa mused, nursing the dregs of a gin and tonic. “They’d been slamming down chianti with the Cavallaris.”
“And we should have gotten in trouble,” Eli said. “As I recall, we didn’t have a permit for a bonfire and Artie Wylie was a rule-follower who did not take well to unpermitted bonfires.” He grinned. “I always liked that about your dad,” he added, glancing at Kate.
“Tessa’s right,” Kate said. “Every time they got together with those people—which was frequently—they came home tipsy. Mom and Aunt Maggie channeled their inner ‘Tri-Delts at a Dawgs game’ and that Betty Cavallari was an enabler.”
Lacey choked. “Grandma Maggie got drunk? Not possible, nope. I won’t believe it. She’d die of Southern lady shame.”
“ Puh-lease .” Tessa rolled her eyes. “I remember that night we got caught playing Never Have I Ever at the bonfire. They were so many sheets to the wind, they could have sailed out to sea. Who cares? They were young married couples who had a few pops with their closest friends. No harm in that.”
“You remember that night?” Vivien asked. “I don’t and I wrote the diary entry.”
“Hey, no one forgets their first Never Have I Ever. In fact…” Tessa clapped her hands and looked around. “Who’s up for a good round right now? But no fingers at our age—if you’ve done something, you take a drink like an adult.”
“I don’t hate that idea,” Vivien said. “After all, we’ve missed thirty years of details in each other’s lives. What better way to fill us all in?”
Lacey made a face. “Not actually sure I want to play Never Have I Ever with my mother.”
“She could say the same about playing with you,” Tessa fired back. “Everyone remembers the rules, right?”
Eli, Vivien, and Kate laughed. “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” they all said way too loudly.
Tessa pushed up. “Then I’m going to need a refill. A light one, of course. I have a new business to run.”
“I got you.” Eli stood faster, taking her cup. “Never have I ever trusted you with a bottle of gin and a bonfire.”
“I’ll help you,” Kate said, standing. “I need to go in for a sec anyway.”
She let the others think she had to go to the bathroom, but she really wanted a minute alone with Eli.
“Do you remember the Cavallaris?” she asked as they climbed the dune to the house.
“Sure,” he said. “Betty and…Frank, right?”
“Yes! Frank Cavallari ran an Italian market—I remember I loved going into it and Mrs. Cavallari would give me green olives. She said I was the only little girl she knew who liked green olives. Tessa used to just stick them on the tips of her fingers and call them ‘beauty shop rings’ for reasons I will never know.”
Laughing, he let her go ahead of him up the stairs to the main level. “Funny the things we remember from back then, right? The Cavallaris. I wonder if they still live around here—or still live at all.”
“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. We should talk to them.” She paused at the top of the stairs, turning toward him. “They might know something.”
He frowned but almost instantly, his eyes widened. “About what happened with our parents? Great thinking, Kate.” His expression softened as he looked down at her. “Still the smartest girl in the room, as always.”
She felt a soft blush rise to her cheeks at the compliment. “You’d have thought of it eventually,” she said. “But you’re right. They could be moved or…gone.”
He opened the slider to the softly lit kitchen. “They were a little older than our parents, if I recall, so that puts them deep into their eighties.”
“Still, it’s worth a try to look them up,” she said. “Although I know the Italian deli is gone because I searched for it already—longing for olives. That strip center is all different now, and there’s a Starbucks where Cavallari’s used to be. Sad, huh?”
“Ah, Destin, how you’ve changed.” At the sink, he poured out the cups and refilled them with ice, thinking intently for a moment. “You know, I just remembered something.”
“What’s that?” she asked, lining up the cups that she’d neatly initialed with Sharpie when they first started cocktails.
“My parents saw Frank and Betty after you all left that last summer.”
“They did?”
He nodded. “I remember those last few days pretty clearly,” he said. “Your family left and…there was a lot of tension. A lot of conversation behind closed doors that I’m certain they didn’t want us kids to hear. But I distinctly recall they went out again with the Cavallaris, so you are absolutely right. They could know what caused the fight.”
“Yes, Maggie might have, you know, spilled some tea with Betty.”
Eli laughed at the expression. “Which would be totally out of character,” he said. “My mother doesn’t ‘spill tea’—literally or metaphorically.”
“Well, we won’t know until we try. Let’s dig through the internet and get an address or phone number.”
“Or obit,” he deadpanned.
“If that’s the case, so be it. But if either or both are alive and nearby, I’ll go with you to see them.”
He looked up from the drink he was pouring, his blue eyes as warm as his smile. “That would be awesome, Kate. I would really love to know what caused that falling out. Now more than ever.”
She searched his face, wondering exactly what he meant. “Because you’re still worried something might happen…legally? With this property?”
“Not really, but…” He sighed and held her gaze, looking right into her eyes. “I don’t like that it hangs over us.”
“Over…us?” Why did her throat catch at that?
“Over these two families’ friendships,” he said quickly. Maybe too quickly. “I mean, this time we’ve spent together is…great. Don’t you think?”
She felt a smile pull. “Yes, I do. Beyond.”
“Well, how sad to think that we can’t hang out and share memories and…well, be friends just because our mothers are mad at each other. Like, how dumb is that?”
Not quite as dumb as how easily she was falling back into fifteen-year-old Kate Wylie with a crush the size of the Gulf on Eli Lawson. Not as dumb as the unwelcome and uncomfortable sensations that still tortured her when she was alone with him.
And really not as dumb as hoping he might feel the same.
Kate Wylie wasn’t dumb. So she just nodded in agreement and took the last cup from his hand, careful that their fingers didn’t touch.
“Speaking of dumb…” She lifted the drink. “G&Ts and Never Have I Ever, grown-up style. There’s a recipe for disaster, huh?”
He just laughed. “And fun, Lady Katie. Plenty of fun.”
She melted when he called her that, a nickname no one but Tessa still used.
On the way to the beach, she thought about the rules of the game—the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And Kate, like her father, was a rule-follower.
She stared at Eli’s back. Oh, boy. What had she gotten into?
She lifted her drink to her lips and took a generous gulp.
The first round started off fairly harmless—never have I ever been to Greece, seen a World Series Game, forgotten a sibling’s birthday, broken a bone. They laughed, shared a few tales of their lives, and took plenty of sips.
Then it got slightly more personal and deep—never have I ever lied to a boss, caused a car accident, smoked a joint. That one caused a stir when Kate was the only one who didn’t take a drink.
At the friendly teasing about her provincial lifestyle and how she’d hardly had to take a drink in the game so far, Kate shrugged.
“What can I say? As you all love to point out, I’ve lived an unexciting existence in the science lab.”
“Unlike you, Tessa,” Lacey said, giving her a friendly jab. “Your life is wild.”
“Just…interesting. But we’ll get her to take a drink, you’ll see.” Tessa lifted a brow, a challenge in her expression. “We just have to get more specific and personal in the next round.”
Kate gave a nervous laugh and Vivien leaned in, clapping her hands lightly.
“Okay, okay, it’s my turn.” She looked around, zeroing in on Tessa. “Never have I ever let a random group of guys drive me to McDonald’s at three in the morning.”
Tessa hooted and lifted her glass. “They were harmless young gentlemen from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and I was already out of high school that summer. And, whoa, the French fries were good.”
No one else drank for the three a.m. drive to McDonald’s, only Tessa.
“My turn,” Kate said. “Never have I ever…” She looked around the group, settling on Vivien and a very distinct memory that would make her laugh. “Set my hair on fire on the Fourth of July.”
Vivien shrieked. “I forgot about that!”
“The wayward sparkler!” all three women shouted at the same time, then howled with laughter, making Eli and Lacey exchange looks at not being in on the joke.
“I literally had to wear a hat until the end of August.” Vivien sighed and sent a toast to Kate before taking a sip. “Good times, Kate. Good times.”
“And still Kate is clean,” Eli noted, smiling at her. “We must have something on you.”
“Well, it’s your turn, Eli,” Tessa said. “Give it all you got to get her to take a drink.”
He frowned, looking at Kate with just enough intention that her whole body betrayed her and made her feel like she’d had a drink even if she hadn’t.
“Well, I never did know which one of you did this,” he said. “Never have I ever broken a boogie board in half.”
For a moment, no one moved. Then Vivien slowly lifted her cup and winced. “Sorry about that. I was trying to do a front flip, and I was still mad that clown you hung around with named Dustin broke mine the summer before.”
“ You did it?” he choked. “My own sister?”
She looked at him over the rim of her cup, her eyes dancing. “It’s your turn, Tess.”
She situated herself on the blanket, pinning her gaze on Kate, her eyes glowing gold in the firelight. Completely unrelated to the game, Kate was struck for the zillionth time in her life how gorgeous her sister was.
“Never have I ever had a crush on someone around this bonfire.”
Tessa’s statement was like a gauntlet thrown into those very flames, and a bit of a shock, especially when Kate had just been thinking about how beautiful her sister was. That wasn’t…beautiful.
But it was Eli who lifted his Solo cup, a look of wry resignation on his face. Kate knew she didn’t have to take a drink—neither of these two women would out her. Would they? For a long moment, she didn’t move, just held her sister’s gaze.
And after a lifetime of knowing each other’s every expression, she could see what Tessa was doing.
Let him know , Tessa’s gaze said . It’s your turn, Kate.
For some reason, that sisterly encouragement touched her. She knew exactly what Tessa was doing and she loved her sister for that sweet nudge.
Tessa was right. Kate should let him know.
She glanced at Eli, who looked a little sheepish at his crush admission, which wasn’t a surprise to anyone except maybe Lacey, who was quiet during the whole thing.
Silently, she lifted her cup and took a drink.
“Finally!” Tessa whispered under her breath.
“She drinks!” Vivien clapped.
Lacey laughed, probably having no idea of the tiny little drama unfolding.
But Eli looked at her with a sense of surprise and wonder in his eyes, confirming that before this very moment, he really had no idea how she’d felt all those years ago.
The game wound down not long after that, and they cleaned up from the fire. The four women took all the blankets and cups and bonfire paraphernalia back to the house to store it in the garage. While they did, Eli stayed on the beach to put out the fire and shovel the sand back into the pit, because that’s what responsible firepit makers did, Kate thought with a smile.
“We’re going to bed,” Tessa said as Vivien turned out all the lights but the kitchen. Then she leaned over the counter. “You can stay here, though.” She glanced toward the beach and flicked a brow. “I’m sure Eli wouldn’t mind.”
Kate gave a fake dirty look. “Go to bed, you little troublemaker.”
“Hah! That’s the thanks I get.”
Kate blew her a kiss and continued to slowly wipe down the counter that was already well and truly clean, waiting until Eli came up the stairs.
“I appreciate all you do to keep this kitchen looking brand new,” Eli said as he walked in and closed the sliding door behind him.
“As the resident cook while I vacation here, I feel like it’s my responsibility.”
He didn’t respond, but walked around the island and pulled out the trash container, dropping in some paper towels and used matches. The whole time, he had his eyes on her, and she just looked right back at him, the undercurrent of unspoken words humming between them.
“So,” he finally said, taking a clean plastic cup from the stack they all used, filling it with water from the fridge. “You had a crush, huh?”
He wasn’t wasting any time, was he . She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms, smiling at him.
“Little one, yeah.” She exhaled the confession, weirdly nervous and inexplicably excited to finally have this conversation. No surprise there—Eli Lawson had always defied logic for her. Nothing about her feelings for him then—or now—made sense.
A slow smile pulled on his face, instantly reaching his eyes and somehow making them even bluer in the dim kitchen light. “I’m flattered.”
“Well, we were kids.”
“Not at the end,” he said. “I was twenty-one and you were eighteen.”
“When it started, we were kids,” she clarified.
“When did it start?”
She gave a soft laugh. “Are we still playing the game of truth-telling? If yes, it started…day one.”
He chuckled as he regarded her. “And when it ended?”
She considered saying it hadn’t, but there had to be a limit to these admissions.
“When Destin ended,” she told him instead.
“Really? The whole time?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Don’t embarrass me.”
“I’m the one who’s embarrassed,” he said. “Cluelessness will do that to you. I’m just…wow. Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t someone?”
“Because you couldn’t take your eyes off my sister,” she said flatly.
His smile faded and he exhaled, putting the cup on the counter. “Kate, I’m sorry.” The apology was simple, direct, and stunningly sincere.
“Why? For what?” She gave a soft laugh. “You’re a human male and she was— is —Tessa. No need to apologize for anything. She’s captivating. Always has been and always will be.”
“She was a distraction,” he said. “And that was my mistake.” He crossed his arms and looked hard at her. “Fact is, I had my eye on the wrong Wylie girl.”
Heat crawled up her chest, prickling her skin. “Well, this is ancient history, Eli,” she said, trying to sound as light as they all did down at the bonfire. “There are no hard feelings.”
“But are there…feelings of any kind?”
The question made her feel like swaying a little. Was he asking her if she had feelings now ? For a moment, she couldn’t think straight. But wasn’t it always that way around Eli? The woman who did nothing but think straight simply…couldn’t.
No one else had ever made her feel that way, she realized on a sharp breath. No one, not her whole life. Certainly not Jeffrey, who’d been a rational, safe, practical choice for a husband. No passion, no swaying—just good old-fashioned friendship and that hadn’t been enough to sustain a marriage.
With Eli? All feelings, and not a nanoparticle of common sense.
“I will say…” she whispered, choosing every word with the same care she’d use when mixing two volatile substances. Except in the lab, she’d have protection on her eyes and hands. She needed something for her heart right now as she powered through this particular experiment.
“What’s that?” he urged.
She finally looked him right in the eyes. “That I have thought about you a lot over the years.”
“You have?” He took a step closer. “That’s?—”
A loud knock on the door made them both startle.
“What the heck? It’s almost midnight.” He glanced over his shoulder toward the door, then held up a finger. “Don’t move, okay? We need to…finish this.”
Or start it, she thought, realizing just how hard her heart was slamming against her ribs.
He left the kitchen and walked around the wall that blocked the entryway just as someone banged on the door again.
“Dad? Dad? Are you home?”
Dad? She heard the latch unlock, not sure she’d heard right. Whose Dad?—
“Good heavens, Jonah! What are you doing here?”
Jonah? Eli’s son ? Kate took a few steps around the corner, catching sight of a tall young man with long hair and handsome features.
“I can’t believe you’re here!” Eli’s arms were already outstretched toward the other man. “I’m speechless.”
His son gave a wistful smile and hugged him, closing his eyes in a way that made Kate think the embrace meant more than Jonah wanted to admit. “Hey, you invited me, remember? Pinned the location and everything.”
He tried to sound cavalier, but the hug had given him away. This visit meant something. She didn’t know enough about him to understand, but her maternal sense told her this was very, very important.
Far more important than that playful conversation in the kitchen. So Jonah had either saved her from a tender admission of feelings…or wrecked the moment she’d been dreaming about most of her life.
Oh, well. They’d pick up that conversation again. She hoped.