by Crowe, Liz
“Quite the crowd, isn’t it?” Sara yelped when her husband smacked her ass on the way past. She sat, sipped and held out a hand. Suzanne took it, held on tight. Craig ran up with a little boy on his shoulders. The child had a shock of stark black hair and deep olive skin, and a smile that never seemed to fade.
Maureen, Jack’s sister, joined the women. “You need more sunscreen, mister.” She shielded her eyes up at the little boy who squealed when Craig dumped him onto the chair. Suzanne watched as he snuggled into his mother’s arms. Blake, the youngest addition to their merry group, a seven-year-old miracle child most claimed, named by Jack’s sister in honor of the one they had all lost. Everyone from adults to teenagers doted on him.
“I’m gonna jump into the match.” Craig pointed down the beach where the adults and children had formed teams and were about to start a soccer game. Suzanne smiled at him as he trotted away.
Sara patted Blake’s foot. He scrambled out of Mo’s arms and leapt over to let his godmother lather the SPF fifty on him.
“Hey!” Jack yelled up at them. “Where’s Brandis?”
Sara sighed, selectively ignoring him and his question about their handsome, charming, eighteen-year-old son. She whispered to Suzanne. “I know. But I’m not telling him. Watch, give Rob about five seconds….”
They counted to five together. Rob’s voice was next.
“Lila!” He yelled for his wife who was instructing her little team before they started playing. “Where the hell is Blair?”
Lila looked up, shrugged, then resumed her mini-coaching session, not seeming to worry about the whereabouts of her sixteen-year-old daughter relative to Brandis’ location. “Goddamn it, Gordon.” Rob kicked the ball hard. Jack took it straight to the balls.
“Ow! Jesus Freitag. What?”
Suzanne’s old friend, Sara’s husband, groaned and tried not to grab his crotch too obviously. He glared at his friend, cupping himself while the kids fell out on the sand laughing.
Rob kept his eyes on Jack but hollered for his son. “Gabe. Go find your sister and get her the hell away from….”
Gabe held up a hand to stop his father’s next words, nodded, and ran down the beach. He moved with the grace of a natural athlete as he loped past Suzanne, Mo, and Sara who were nearly out of their respective chairs giggling.
The recent discovery of Brandis and Blair in her room after his senior prom—by her father who was supposed to be out of town—had led to no small amount of tension between the two men. They were old friends, but when it came to his daughter Rob was more than a little protective and had been heard to say that "any son of Jack’s" was not going near his daughter, which of course meant one thing.
“Mommy!” Blake squirmed away from Sara and bounded over to Mo, kissing her cheek. “I wanna play.”
She held him tight a second. Suzanne looked up and saw a serious-looking teenager who could be Maureen’s daughter with her jet-black hair and bright blue eyes. Sara smiled and held out her arm for a hug. The girl obliged her then squirmed away.
“Mom, stop it. I just came to get Blakie for the game,” she protested, until Sara sighed, kissed her hair and let her go. She grabbed her cousin’s hand.
Mo let go of the boy. “Go with Bethany. But make sure your dad remembers to…” Her voice faded when the two kids ran off without letting her finish.
Suzanne put her hand over her eyes to find her daughter. She spotted the girl’s strawberry blonde hair first, smiling at the sight of her walking along behind Gabe as he hollered for his sister. A miracle herself, the only lasting issue she had being born so early was with her hearing, and she was scheduled for corrective surgery in a few weeks, now that she’d turned fifteen.
Suzanne let happiness surge through her as she watched Craig grab the girl and swing her around, making her screech with joy and terror. They both fell on the sand. Little Blake joined the girl and Bethany, helping bury Craig in the beach sand.
Suzanne knew her daughter was obsessed with Gabe, Rob and Lila’s tall, handsome blond son and Brandis’s long time “frenemy.” It worried her, but Gabe was an amazingly gentle and kind boy. He was calm, smart, athletic and best she could tell, the two of them were just friends.
For now.
It made Craig nuts, she knew, but he was coming to terms with the fact that his beloved daughter was growing up.
“I feel too blessed,” she muttered.
Sara tapped her arm, nodded in the opposite direction from where Gabe had run, thinking to find his younger sister wandering around in the water, or reading, or drawing. Suzanne put her hand over her eyes. A couple was silhouetted on the promontory, near the lighthouse. They sat close together, legs swinging over the side. Sara sighed when the boy lifted the girl’s hand to his lips. Brandis and Blair, the young couple everyone was looking for at the moment.
“Here we go,” Sara muttered. Suzanne patted her friend’s arm and returned her gaze to her family, her friends, her child, and the love of her life.
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I hope you enjoyed reading Conditional Offer. The Stewart Realty Series continues with Escalation Clause.
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About the Author
Amazon best-selling author, mom of three, Realtor, beer blogger, brewery marketing expert, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.
With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.
Website
Read Liz on Radish
Also by Liz Crowe
The Stewart Realty Series
Floor Time
Sweat Equity
Closing Costs
Dual Agency
Conditional Offer
Escalation Clause
Mutual Release
Good Faith
The Brewing Passion Series
Tapped
Lightstruck
Conditioned
Gravity
Infusion
Adjunct Lovers: A novella
The Love Brothers Series
Love Garage
Coach Love
Love Brewing
Safe Love
Family Love
The Turkish Delights Series
Turkish Delights
Blue Cruise
Tulip Princess
The Diplomat’s Daughter
Flower Passage
Stand Alone Novels
Firebrew
Sweet. Bitter. Honey.
Cheeky Blonde
Caught Offside
