17 Cora
Cora was on her fourth trip to the sandpile in thirty minutes. It wasn’t necessarily because they needed more sand. The real
reason she was scooping up two more bucketfuls was because she needed a break from her sisters.
For starters, something was up with Savannah. Everything about her from her attitude to her energy level seemed off, and if
Cora was being honest, it was concerning. To make things worse, Savannah seemed to be compensating for whatever was going
on by being extra bossy. She had zero acceptance of anything other than complete adherence to her plan, even if what wasn’t
adhering to the plan was the actual sand. They were one more landslide away from the entire beach getting a lecture.
And Bianca was being, well, Bianca. She was the queen of leaping without ever looking, and she seemed to be in overdrive today.
The words oops and well, that didn’t work out had been uttered so many times, Cora was starting to think they were the natural beginning to every one of Bianca’s sentences.
Cora was running out of patience, and they still had ninety minutes of competition time left.
She figured if they sped up production, they could be finished with this “fun” family tradition early. She just hadn’t figured
out a way to do it yet. At least not one that interfered with Savannah’s personal, undisclosed timeline.
It was times like these when Cora remembered why she lived eight hundred miles away from either of them.
She finished filling the second bucket and turned to trudge back to their sand sculpture when she saw something that instantly lifted her mood.
Or maybe she should say some one .
“Hey. I’ve been looking for you.” Jax, dressed in a turquoise swimsuit and fitted T-shirt, strode her direction with his casual
lopsided grin that had a hint of familiarity to it. This particular smile was different from his normal charming smolder or
the hypnotic flirty grin he regularly used. It seemed more authentic, more personal. It was almost like it was just for her,
maybe even caused by her.
It made her feel all melty inside.
“Hi, yourself. How’s the spectating going?” During one of their many text-chats, Jax had told her he’d be there today. Since
Padua Resorts was one of the main sponsors, he was there to shake hands and be the face of the company.
“Great. There are a lot of impressive sand sculptures.” He pointed to her bucket. “What did you decide on?”
“A dolphin. Along with seventy-five percent of the other families here.” She didn’t bother hiding the annoyance in her voice.
“Naw, the dolphin market isn’t that saturated. There are easily as many sea turtles out there. And I’ve seen a fair amount
of manatees this year.”
“I’m pretty sure most of those are dolphins that went awry.”
“Huh.” He twisted his mouth to consider that. “Well, in that case...”
His reaction made her laugh, which she seemed to do a lot around him. “Whatever happened to building a good ole sandcastle
at a sandcastle contest?”
“They’re sadly lacking,” he agreed. And his gaze met hers in a look that seemed to sizzle.
What was wrong with her? Ever since their almost-kiss, she seemed to have caught a case of the feels, which was unfortunate.
And she was having the hardest time shaking it.
The way his T-shirt stretched across his toned chest and the sleeves wrapped around his chiseled biceps wasn’t exactly helping, either.
But it was just a phase. It would pass. There was no way she was falling for him for real.
Get him to dump her. That was the mission. She’d just have to get over the feels, which was kind of like getting over a cold.
In due time it would run its course.
“Are you going to invite me over to see your dolphin? Or am I going to have to invite myself?”
Again with the familiar smile.
“I don’t know. It’s kind of a friends-and-family-only thing. I’m not sure you qualify.”
“But I get to cook your family food while avoiding taboo topics as soon as your brother-in-law gets here?”
She shrugged. “Who we invite to eat with us and who we show our dolphin to are completely different levels.”
“Naturally. But there’s a third level, too. It’s an all-access pass for the special people who made such a deep impact on
our lives, we’ll never be the same.” He paused dramatically. “Like introducing you to the Wagyu Chicago Style.”
She laughed. She didn’t mean to, but she did.
Apparently this cold was going to be hard to kick.
“Come on, then. But I gotta warn you, temperatures are a little warm over there. And it has nothing to do with the heat from
the sun.” She passed him one of the buckets of sand and started toward their designated spot.
“Everyone knows it’s not good family fun unless you question at least once if it’s actually fun.”
“You mean my family isn’t the only one who does this?”
“Are you really bonding if someone doesn’t cry at some point?”
“Hopefully it won’t be you, but all bets are off today.”
It was his turn to chuckle.
“Look who I found wandering around,” Cora announced as she walked up to their space. She motioned to her sisters. “You already
know Bianca, of course, and this is my other sister, Savannah.”
He extended his hand. “Savannah, it’s a pleasure.”
Savannah stood and wiped away the stray hairs stuck to her sweaty forehead, leaving a trail of sand in their place. She looked at Jax and gave what Cora could only describe as an attempt at a smile. “Nice to meet you, Jax.”
“Do you want to stay? We’d love some help.” Bianca’s eyes were wide as she looked at the mound of sand she was trying to sculpt
into a wave. “Sand sculptures aren’t as easy as one would assume.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I have some time.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to.” Cora wasn’t sure she wanted to stay, and she was required to.
Although, if he was ever going to get his taste of family drama, now would be the moment. There was all kinds of tension going
on here, and she didn’t even have to exaggerate it.
“I’d love to. Give me a job.”
“The wave,” Bianca said without hesitation. “You can try to save that wave.” She pointed at the sad pile of sand that looked
nothing like a wave.
Savannah narrowed her eyes on Cora. “You’re not planning on leaving, are you?”
Cora was caught off guard. “Of course not. Where would I go?” She threw a questioning glance at Bianca, who just shrugged.
“Good,” Savannah said. “No one is leaving before this event is over.”
Once again Cora noticed how Savannah looked worn out. Something was definitely up.
“Cool dolphin!” The voice of a little girl floated over from the walkway, and Cora turned to see Sylvie from the pickleball
courts. Luke walked up behind her.
Bianca lit up. “Hey, you two! What are you up to?”
The little girl shrugged. “Checking out all the cool sand animals.”
“You mentioned you’d be here, so we thought we’d stop by and say hi,” Luke said.
For the first time, Cora noticed that Luke’s smile seemed to go past friendly and bordered on smitten. Interesting.
Bianca didn’t seem to notice. She dusted off her hands and stepped over the mounds of sand to greet them. “Welcome to our dolphin!” She gave Sylvie a high five, then turned to Luke. “I was going to text you. I have an idea for tonight’s setup I wanted to run past you.”
She pulled her phone from the back pocket of her cutoff shorts and showed him.
“You’re not leaving, either.” Savannah’s uncharacteristically harsh voice seemed to catch all of them unawares.
Bianca stared at her, confused. “What?”
Savannah huffed and jammed her hands onto her hips. “I am not going to be left here all by myself again to finish this family project. The contest is supposed to last two hours. Everyone stays for the full two hours. We’re doing this as a family!”
The other five of them froze, everyone staring at Savannah in an awkward silence. In fact, even the families in the spots
next to them froze.
Yep, Cora couldn’t have made up this family drama if she’d tried. Her sisters were certainly doing their parts to help her
win the bet.
She would’ve glanced sideways at Jax to judge his reaction, but she was too focused on Savannah. Her sister was sweating,
and even though she was certainly flushed from the Florida sun, she looked pale. Was that a thing? And while Savannah could
be bossy, this type of reaction was completely uncharacteristic of her. What was going on?
“Hey, we’re not going anywhere. We’re all in it to win it.” Cora’s words and even her tone might have been casual and playful,
but she met Savannah’s gaze with a sincere, sympathetic expression.
It was the same combination she used to use when they were in high school and Savannah got so overwhelmed with schoolwork
or life that she was headed toward a breakdown. Being a perfectionist, sometimes Savannah had had trouble with overcommitting
and put too much pressure on herself. And she never wanted anyone else to see her struggles.
That’s where Cora came in. At least, that’s where she used to come in.
When Savannah felt like her world was spiraling out of control, Cora would step in and help her hold it together.
No one knew Savannah better than Cora did, and she knew exactly how to help Savannah keep things in perspective.
Then Cora would stand next to her sister, shoulder to shoulder, and be her support until they got through whatever it was Savannah was going through. After all, that’s what sisters do.
But they hadn’t had this kind of conversation for a long time. At least since before the funeral, and maybe even before that.
Cora had assumed that was because Savannah hadn’t needed her in that way anymore. Everything on her Instagram account looked
so perfect, and when they got together everything seemed to be fine, so she’d assumed Savannah had figured that part of her
life out.
But now she was starting to realize that maybe Savannah wasn’t as put together as she’d thought. Maybe it wasn’t that Savannah