Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
AUSTIN
The bonfire on the beach in front of Mom’s house—now Harper and Chase’s—roared, spitting sparks into the darkening sky.
It was a familiar scene, one I’d been a part of my entire life, but tonight was different.
Sharper. Brighter. The scent of burning driftwood and salt was cleaner, the sound of my family’s overlapping laughter a warm, welcome hum instead of noise.
I leaned back in my beach chair, the sand cool beneath my bare feet, and took a long swallow of beer.
Beside me, Iris shifted, adjusting the bulky walking boot on her propped-up leg.
Without thinking, I reached over and draped my arm around her, pulling her closer to my side.
She leaned her head against my shoulder with a contented sigh, her hair smelling of the orange-scented shampoo she used.
It had been a month since she’d fallen, a month since my personal true north had recalibrated itself to her in that hospital room.
In that time, something had settled in me.
A calm I hadn’t known in thirteen years.
Iris had recently graduated from crutches to the walking boot.
After bringing her home from the hospital, we’d negotiated that she would spend the first three weeks at my place.
I flat-out refused to let her negotiate stairs.
Frustration at her immobility and the fact that wounds healed at their own pace had caused some of her tame curses to venture into more adult territory.
I understood her need to prove herself. Once she could hobble on two relatively solid feet, I relented. She needed to be a part of Heron House.
My gaze drifted across the firelight. Harper and Chase were huddled together with tightly swaddled bundles in their arms. They looked exhausted, overwhelmed, and totally besotted with the two tiny humans sleeping within.
Cameron and Claire. My new nephew and niece.
They’d arrived via a C-section three weeks ago, both small but healthy, and had already turned the entire Coleridge clan into a puddle of cooing, sentimental fools.
Even me, a little.
Mom had returned home temporarily to meet her new grandchildren, and every line in her brow had gone slack when I introduced her to Iris.
After a long conversation where I assured her I was overcoming my past at last, she fussed about missing the important parts of our lives.
My siblings and I tried to convince her she had been there when it counted and that she’d earned some time to kick up her heels.
She went back to Italy a few days ago, but I wasn’t sure she’d stay away now.
Big brother Finn was proudly demonstrating the proper technique for toasting a marshmallow to the two sleeping infants, his voice a serious, instructional whisper.
On a log by the coolers, Eli and Jules were engaged in what looked like a heated, playful debate about the correct ratio of lime to tequila in a margarita.
This was the chaotic, noisy mess of my family.
For the first time in ages, I didn’t feel like a stranger at the feast. I felt part of it.
With Iris tucked securely against my side, the feeling of being a solitary stone in a rushing river was gone.
I wasn’t just watching the current anymore. I was in it.
Braden sauntered over, a fresh beer in each hand, and handed one to me with a shit-eating grin that was all too familiar.
“Look at you.” He plopped down in the sand at my feet. “Arms around each other. Looking all content. It’s deeply unsettling, Austin. Pretty soon you’ll be asking for a wine spritzer and talking about your feelings.”
“Shut up, Braden,” I said mildly, taking a sip of the beer. A few months ago, the comment would have sent a spike of irritation through me. Tonight, it just felt like… Braden.
“Leave your brother alone,” Iris said, her voice full of laughter as she playfully swatted at Braden’s shoulder. “He’s allowed to be content. And for the record, he has excellent taste in wine.”
Braden’s eyebrows shot up. “He does? Since when?”
“Since I introduced him to it,” she said with a wink in my direction that made my stomach do a slow, lazy flip.
I smiled as she and Braden fell into an easy, teasing banter.
She fit with my unruly family. She wasn’t intimidated by them, and they, in turn, had accepted her completely.
Brenna, sitting on the other side of the fire with Hunter, caught my eye and gave me a warm, knowing smile that said, See? I told you so.
I placed a soft kiss on Iris’s temple. The gesture was simple, public, and more natural than anything I’d done in years.
“So, this is interesting,” Eli announced to the group at large, gesturing with his beer bottle. “My lovely wife sent me on an emergency run to Island Market today for a very specific type of key lime. Apparently, my margarita-making skills are under intense scrutiny.”
Jules swatted his arm. “Your skills are fine. However, your ingredient procurement needs work.”
Eli laughed, then his attention focused on Braden. “Whatever. But I was over by the produce section, trying to tell the difference between a key lime and a regular one, and I swear I saw Tessa Donovan. Is she back on the island?”
The easy laughter died on Braden’s lips.
The s’more he was about to take a bite of stopped halfway to his mouth.
For a split second, the charming, unflappable bartender vanished, replaced by a younger, more vulnerable man caught off guard.
He recovered quickly, but not before a brief, sharp flicker of pain flashed in his eyes.
“Tessa?” Braden’s voice was a little too casual, a little too tight. He lowered the s’more and tossed it in the fire. “Couldn’t have been. She left Dove Key behind after high school and never looked back. Doubt that’s changed in twelve years. You probably saw a tourist who looked like her.”
He stood up abruptly, brushing sticky marshmallow from his fingers onto his shorts. “I’ve slacked off enough. Time to get back to work.”
He offered a tight, unconvincing smile to the group at large, his gaze pointedly avoiding Eli’s. Then he was gone, his back rigid as he marched into the darkness toward Tidal Hops, leaving a heavy, awkward silence in his wake.
Harper and Brenna exchanged a worried look across the fire. Eli winced, clearly regretting his casual comment.
Iris panned her gaze around the circle. “What was that all about?”
I sighed and pulled her a little closer. Beside us, Harper fielded the question, her voice low and full of a quiet, sisterly sympathy.
“Tessa was Braden’s first girlfriend. High school sweethearts.” She poked a stick into the fire, watching the embers glow. “Her parents had bigger plans for her than Dove Key. She got a scholarship to a fancy university and left.”
Brenna nodded from her spot on the other side of the fire. “Braden always insisted they were too different, and it was for the best. But he’s good at hiding what he really feels.”
Iris elbowed me. “Sounds like he learned from this one.”
“Well,” Eli said, his usual levity gone, “looks like I just stomped all over a landmine I didn’t know was still active. Didn’t think it would be that big of a deal.”
The conversation shifted after that, getting back to safer subjects. Soon we were back amidst the happy chaos of Finn recounting a dramatic story about a sand crab and Eli trying to convince Jules that salt on the rim made all the difference.
I brushed my lips close to Iris’s ear. “I’ve had about as much of this wholesome family fun as I can stomach for one night. Let me get you out of here.”
An answering spark ignited in her blue eyes, a flash of heat and promise just for me. “Is that so, Captain? And where exactly are you planning on taking me and my boot?”
“Home,” I said, the word simple but holding a world of meaning.
She smiled, a slow, sultry curve of her lips. “Lead the way.”
Getting away from a Coleridge family bonfire was a strategic operation, one that required careful timing and firm resolve. I stood and pulled Iris gently to her feet, my hand going instinctively to her waist to steady her as she found her balance with the walking boot in the soft sand.
“We’re heading out,” I announced to the group, my tone leaving no room for argument.
Of course, that didn’t stop Chase.
“Leaving so soon?” he called out, his grin illuminated by the firelight. “The night is young! We haven’t even gotten to the part where Eli breaks out his terrible guitar playing yet.”
“I’m pretty much dead on my feet, and don’t tell me you’re not,” Harper added as she shifted Cameron in her arms to elbow her husband. “We need to get home too.”
I steadied Iris as she turned back with a wave. “Good night.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Eli and Jules shouted in perfect unison, and they both burst into laughter.
“That leaves the field wide open,” I muttered, shaking my head. I leaned down to give Harper a light pat on the shoulder. “Get some rest.”
“I will.” Her eyes were soft and full of happy understanding. “It’s good to see you like this, Austin.”
I didn’t have a response for that. I just gave her shoulder a squeeze, then focused on navigating Iris back toward the path.
The short drive home was quiet, the windows of my truck down, the cool night air a welcome relief after the heat of the fire.
When I pulled into her driveway, the house was a welcoming sight.
Gus’s crew had finished the exterior last week, and the fresh coat of paint—a soft, warm white with trim the color of a stormy sea—looked beautiful under the glow of the new porch lights Iris had picked out.
The place no longer looked like a haunted shipwreck. It looked like a home.
I helped her out of the truck, my hands lingering at her waist. “You okay? Leg not hurting too much?”