CHAPTER ELEVEN
Naomi
So. Much. Kissing.
I loved it.
I never got to experience teenage make out sessions when I was a teenager and did everything I possibly could to avoid kissing Ephram.
The man didn’t believe in dentists. Yes, Killian and I kissed when we would meet at his place once a week for our standing friends-with-benefits itch scratch, but this felt different.
Killian had been an eleventh-grade science teacher at the high school.
We met a few years ago when he brought his parents to the winery for a tasting.
We hit it off and casually started hooking up.
Neither of us wanted anything serious and were upfront that we didn’t have romantic feelings for the other person.
But he was a good guy. He was kind, handsome, smart, and funny.
There was just never that spark. The sex was good though.
He helped exorcise Ephram from my body and showed me what it was like to orgasm from something besides my hand or a toy.
Kissing Lennox was so different though. In all the best possible ways. There was feeling behind our kisses. Attraction, and hope for more. Hope for the future.
It was closing in on dinner when we finally made our way back to the house. Luckily, Mabel still wasn’t there, so we snuck in a few more kisses before he took me home.
Danica brought Honor home since she and Sam planned to stay the night at the vineyard rather than Tom’s.
“Mabel’s really smart,” my daughter said as we worked together in the kitchen prepping dinner.
It was a tight space, so she left me at the counter while she sliced cucumbers at the table.
“Like freaky smart. She knows the Latin names for birds.” If her tone hadn’t been upbeat or conveying how impressed she was, I would have advised her to use a different adjective rather than “freaky,” but I knew Honor held nothing but admiration for Mabel’s intelligence.
“She said she’s thirteen, but in grade eleven. How is that even possible?”
“She skipped some grades. Probably because she’s so smart.”
“I would hate to be the youngest in class like that.” She shuddered. “No thanks.”
“Yeah, but she’s homeschooled. Her lessons are online, and I think the school she goes to is made up of students like her. Gifted.”
“I guess. So, if she graduates high school at fourteen, what’s she going to do after that? College? I’d have a freak-out if I was fourteen and in college with grown-ups.”
I smiled softly to myself at her words, but didn’t add any more commentary.
The front door opened and my rosy-cheeked feral child came in. His light-brown hair was all tousled and damp at the temples with sweat. “Do I have time to shower before dinner?”
I nodded. “Haven’t even put the pasta water on to boil yet. You have time.”
“Cool.” He ducked into our small bathroom beneath my loft bedroom.
“I think Damon has a crush on Mabel,” Honor said.
I glanced at her as I stirred the Alfredo sauce on the stove. “How do you figure?”
“Laurel said so. She said he had been acting weird all last night when we were playing games. Kept looking at Mabel and playing with his hair. She also said he put deodorant on like three times.”
I smirked as I filled the soup pot with water. “Well, she is very cute. And so is Damon. But it’s probably best if we don’t gossip.”
“Are you dating my principal?”
Thank goodness I wasn’t using a knife because I surely would have chopped off the tip of my crooked pinky finger. Instead, I just spilled a bunch of water on the floor as I carried the filled pot to the stove. “What made you ask that?”
“Because you invited him and his daughter over for dinner and games last night. You’ve never done anything like that before.”
“Well, Lennox and Mabel are new to the island. They don’t know anyone. And with Mabel being homeschooled, she needs opportunities to meet children her own age. And there happen to be several of them right here on the property.”
“It’s fine if you are.”
I turned on the gas stove until a blue flame ignited beneath my soup pot. “It’s fine if I’m what?”
“Dating Mr. Paul. I mean, he’s nice. Better than Principal Pickford. He was gross and mean.”
“Has Mabel said anything about her dad and me?”
“No. Why?”
“Just curious.”
“But Laurel and Sam think you’re dating him. Especially since their moms did the same thing. Started spending extra time with a guy. Laurel described it as ‘curiously out of character.’”
Of course Laurel would say something like that. While she wasn’t considered gifted the way Mabel was, Gabrielle’s daughter was incredibly smart. The child read nonstop and had an unmatchable love for the English language.
“They think you two like each other.” She lifted her head and stopped her knife. “Do you?”
Grabbing a tea towel, I crouched down to mop up the water I had spilled.
This was not at all how I wanted to have this conversation with my kids.
Firstly, I thought Austin would be here too.
So now I was going to have to have the conversation twice.
Secondly, I thought that I would be the one to bring it up.
But my nine-year-old, curly-haired angel decided to ambush me instead.
“I’m going to take your silence as a yes. That you do like him and that you are dating. You’ve said enough times before that when we’re guilty, we go quiet, because we know not to lie. And you’ve gone quiet, so that means you’re guilty.”
Now whose child was gifted?
Fuck my life.
I stood up and leaned against the counter. “We are, and yes, I do. It’s very new. Very early. But I like your principal, and we have decided that we’d like to try dating each other.”
Honor nodded, but I could tell she had something else on her mind.
“You have questions?”
More nodding. “If you break up, what happens?”
“What do you mean ‘what happens’?”
“Like how awkward would it be for you to be at the school around your ex-boyfriend?”
“We’re adults, honey. We’d deal with it.”
“As long as he doesn’t turn mean toward us if you do break up. Try not to break his heart, okay?”
“I’ll do my very best, angel.”
We went back to dinner prep and eventually the shower shut off. Austin joined us a few minutes later, wearing his flannel pajama pants and a long-sleeve, black Henley. He was gently bumping the Hacky Sack around on his knees in the living room as Honor and I finished making dinner.
“Not in the house,” I told him. “You know better. This space is too small for that.”
He shoved the Hacky Sack into his pocket and grabbed three clean plates from the dishwasher to set the table.
“Mom says they are,” Honor spoke up, stirring the fettuccini in the pot as it boiled.
Austin looked up at me. “You’re dating our principal?”
I choked on air. “Uh …”
“She said it won’t be weird if they break up.
That she won’t break his heart, and they’re taking it slow,” Honor went on, her tone a little bored.
Then she glanced at her brother. “I mean, look at how well it’s worked out for Aunt Gabrielle and Maverick, and Aunt Raina and Jagger, and Aunt Danica and Tom.
Maybe this is Mom’s chance at finding love and happiness. ”
My heart swelled at how much I loved my daughter and the level of maturity and understanding she was demonstrating at this moment. My son, however, still held an expression of reservation and concern.
The timer for the pasta went, so I shut off the burner and strained the water over the sink. Honor set the chicken, raw veg, and Alfredo sauce on the table after Austin finished setting it.
We sat down and dug in.
My son’s eyes burned on me like two green lasers. I glanced up at him. “Say it.”
“Say what?” he murmured, reaching for a carrot stick and snapping it in half between his teeth.
“Whatever is on your mind. You keep looking at me like you want to pop my head off, or carve answers out of my brain with a melon baller. So ask. I was planning to bring this up with you tonight anyway. Your sister just beat me to the punch.”
“Fine,” my son exhaled. “He’s young.”
“So?” Honor and I said at the same time.
“Maverick is younger than Aunt Gabrielle, and they make it work. They’re both adults.” Honor gave her brother a dirty look. “Don’t be a jerk.”
“I’m not being a jerk,” he protested. “All I’m saying is, Principal Paul is young. Do you know how old he is?”
I nodded. “I do.”
“And how old is he?”
“That’s up to him to disclose.”
Austin scoffed and shook his head. “Something weird happened, didn’t it? He’s either not Mabel’s real dad, or he had her super young. Like younger than Damon. And that’s messed up.”
Shit.
I wasn’t expecting this conversation to take place.
My kids both sat across from me with patient, slightly uneasy expressions in their identical green eyes.
I exhaled slowly through my nose, set my utensils down, and bunched my napkin in my lap. “Fine. Mabel is his biological daughter. She is thirteen. He is twenty-six.”
My kids immediately did the math, and their mouths dropped open.
“He had a kid at thirteen!” Honor exclaimed. “Is that even possible?”
“It happened, didn’t it?” Austin grumbled to his sister.
She shot him a dirty look.
“Lennox was sexually abused by his stepmother when he was a child. She got pregnant with Mabel. Mabel was born in prison, since his stepmother went to prison for abusing Lennox. Lennox got custody of Mabel and raised her with the foster family that took him in.”
“Does Mabel know this?” Honor asked, her eyes still nearly as wide as her dinner plate.
“Of course she does,” I replied. “But you two should not be letting on that you know. That is their story to tell. Not ours. You both know our family has its own secrets and stories, and while we didn’t really have much of a choice when some of them came out, we don’t have to let the gossips of the island do the same thing to Lennox and Mabel. They don’t deserve that.”
“How old was his stepmom?” Honor asked, having pushed her plate away a little and sat back in her seat. I could tell my child was visibly repulsed by what she’d just heard. Fair enough. I’d vomited after Lennox told me.