"It is serious," he said, noting the table next to the stage filled with trophies and ribbons. "I hope your creative artistic side is ready to come out to play. We need to help Ashlyn make this castle better than any of the others."
She raised an eyebrow. "Are we seriously competing?"
"Of course. It's a competition. If we enter, we're going to try to win. Otherwise, why play?"
"Just for the enjoyment, the pleasure of the activity?" she suggested.
"You can have the pleasure of building a sand castle any time. This is a contest."
"Got it. We're going for the gold."
"Absolutely."
"Let's go over there." She led them down the beach another thirty feet.
They spread out a blanket and put the cooler and bag of groceries on top of it. Jeremy dumped the beach tools into the sand and tossed the towels on top of the blanket.
"I brought some sunscreen," Mia said, kicking off her flip-flops. "Did you put any on Ashlyn?"
"Not yet."
"Ash, let me put this on you," Mia said to the little girl, who had already stripped down to her two-piece pink and white bathing suit. Mia knelt down on the blanket and lathered Ashlyn up. When she was done with his daughter, she looked up at him. "Do you need some?"
"Absolutely," he said, relishing the idea of her hands on him.
She smiled at his enthusiastic response. "Maybe just your back. You can do the rest yourself."
"Fine." He pulled his T-shirt over his head and tossed it on the blanket. He liked the way Mia's gaze ran across his bare chest with a gleam of hunger in her blue eyes. The way she was looking at him now reminded him of the way she'd looked at him last night, just before they'd gotten naked and made each other crazy.
Mia cleared her throat. "Turn around."
He obediently turned, mostly because he needed to get his own reactions under control. They were on the beach surrounded by people, and one of those was his daughter. Despite the fact that he was looking away from her, Mia's hands on his back did amazing things to his body and he was almost happy when the painful but pleasurable massage was over.
"Thanks," he said, turning back to her. "What about you?"
"I'm good. I already put some on."
"Let me know if you need more. I'm here for you."
"You're in a good mood," she said with a smile.
He was in a good mood. He felt better than he had in months and that had everything to do with the beautiful blonde by his side. All of his problems, his nagging pain, disappeared under her warm gaze. A cautionary voice in his head urged him to slow down on the feelings, but it was probably too late to send that train back to the station. He already liked Mia more than he probably should. But he wasn't going to worry about anything today.
"Let's talk about our castle," he said. "I think we should go big and detailed at the same time. While the judges like the showy stuff, what they like even more are all the little things, like panes in the castle windows."
She raised an eyebrow. "How on earth would we make paned windows with sand?"
"You pack the wet sand in really tight and then use the point of your finger to make a small square. I'll show you."
"You're going to do more than show me; you're going to actually do it."
He laughed. "Okay, but you'll still need to help with the turrets and of course the moat."
"Turrets and a moat?"
"It's a castle, Mia. You've seen those, haven't you?"
"I think you're a little ambitious."
"Go big or go home."
She laughed. "All right. I'm in. Ashlyn, are you ready to build the biggest and best castle this beach has ever seen?"
Ashlyn gave a vigorous nod.
"Great," he said, happy to have his team excited and enthusiastic. He looked at his daughter. "Have you ever built a sand castle before?"
She shook her head.
He was happy that this was something he could do with her that she'd never done with her mother. "Well, you are going to love this," he promised. "We can't officially start for another ten minutes, but why don't you get your feet wet and fill up a couple of buckets and we'll figure out the best place to build our castle."
As Ashlyn moved toward the water, he saw Colin and Kara approaching with their two daughters and the two nieces they'd had at the park the day before.
"Hey," Kara said with a wave as they came over. "I didn't know you guys were going to be here. Colin, this is Mia Callaway, Carly's niece."
"Nice to finally meet you, Mia," Colin said with a cheerful grin. "I hear you've hooked my wife on coloring books. I can't say I'm unhappy about that. Now she can color with the girls. They laugh at me when I try; I have trouble staying between the lines."
"The coloring books for grown-ups are fun," Mia replied. "And who are these darling girls?"
"The redheads are mine," Kara said. "The three-year-old is Faith and the almost fifteen-month-old is Becca. The blondes are my two nieces, Jeanette and Melody, nine and seven respectively."
"Hi girls," Mia said.
"Let's set up right here," Kara told Colin. "Then the girls can all play together. Ashlyn and Melody hit it off yesterday."
"Sounds good," Mia said.
"We'll sit next to you, Kara," Jeremy interrupted. "But you guys are building your own castle."
Kara laughed. "Fine. I forgot you take castle building seriously." She looked at Mia. "Did you know Jeremy won this competition like five times when we were kids?"
"I did not know that," Mia said, giving him a pointed look. "No wonder you said you wanted to win."
"I think it was six times that I won," he said. "I grew up here. There wasn't a lot to do."
"I grew up here, too," Kara said. "But I never looked at sand castle building like it was an Olympic sport, but then Jeremy was always an overachiever."
"I think I can give Jeremy a run for his money," Colin said, stripping off his shirt. "Let's do this thing."
"You're on," he told him.
Colin laughed. "May the best man win."
"We already know who that will be," Jeremy replied.
"We'll see."
A shrill whistle ended their conversation. A man stepped up to the microphone on the stage. He announced the rules of the competition, encouraged good sportsmanship, and started the sixty-minute sprint toward the perfect sand castle.
Jeremy waved Ashlyn over, and Mia joined them at the water's edge, while Colin and his family started digging next to them.
For the next hour, he dug holes, built walls, molded sand together and encouraged Ashlyn and Mia in their efforts. While there was a part of him that still wanted to win, because he could never turn off his instinct to be the best, he did try to make sure that Ashlyn and Mia were having fun.
And clearly they were, because Mia played like a kid in the sand, splashing water on her and Ashlyn, getting mud in her hair and on her face and not caring one little bit about her appearance.
When the whistle blew at the end of an hour, they all sat down on the sand, tired and dirty, but with a pretty good-looking castle. It wasn't the best he'd ever built, and looking down the beach, he had a feeling they'd be lucky to get a ribbon, but he felt more satisfied than he ever had in the past, because he'd seen actual smiles on his daughter's face, and even the occasional word had tumbled out of her mouth when she forgot to be silent and sad. That was the best prize he could have asked for.
"Not bad," Colin said, coming over to them. "But you didn't have a 15-month-old trying to smash everything down as soon as you put it up."
"Very true," he said with a laugh as he watched Kara hold her toddler back from making another destructive pass through the castle.
Colin went over, grabbed the little girl and swung her high up in his arms. "We're going to look for some seashells," he said as they headed down the beach.
"Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom," Faith told Kara.
"Okay." She looked at Jeremy. "Can you guys watch Melody and Jea
nette for a few minutes?"
"Sure," Jeremy said. "They're having a great time with Ashlyn."
Since the contest had ended, the girls were jumping in and out of the water, squealing every time it hit their calves. Fortunately, this part of the beach was very protected, so the waves were quite far away.
"I wonder if Ashlyn knows how to swim," he murmured. "There's so much I don't know about her."
"You'll figure it out," Mia said. "And you could always ask her. She's starting to talk more."
"Mostly to you or the other kids, but I know that's a start, and I shouldn't complain."
"She'll get to you, Jeremy."
He wanted to believe that. He stood up as the judges made their way down the beach. They paused by Colin's castle, made some notes, and then moved on to their masterpiece. He thought their castle got a few approving nods, but it was difficult to say.
When they left, he sat back down next to Kara. "I don't think I'll continue my winning streak."
"Ashlyn and I held you back."
"No, you didn't do that," he said, giving her a warm smile. "You made sand castle building the most fun I've had in a long time."
"It was fun." She pushed the strands of hair escaping from her ponytail behind her ears.
He smiled at the muddy streak going across her cheek. "You do know you have mud on your face."
"I think I have mud everywhere. I'm going to rinse off in the ocean." She pulled her tank top over her head, revealing a sexy red polka-dot bikini top.
His mouth began to water at the sight of her beautiful breasts filling those cups. Mia then stood up and slid her short shorts off her hips, and his heart started pounding against his chest.
She flung him a look. "Are you coming with me?"
She didn't wait for an answer, but started walking down to the water's edge.
He quickly followed, because he had no thought whatsoever of refusing. In fact, he was probably going anywhere she wanted to go.
He caught up with her when the water hit her waist and she jumped a little at the cold. The weather might be warm, but on this part of the coast, the ocean was always chilly.
"It will get better if you just dunk," he told her as she jumped up every time the ripples raised the water higher on her chest.
"Or it will get colder."
"You're not one of those girls who can't get her hair wet, are you?"
"Do I look like one of those girls?"
He laughed. "I guess not. Let's do it together." He held out his hand. "On the count of three, we both go under."
"We're supposed to be watching the girls," she said, looking back over her shoulder.
"They're sitting on the blanket now, raiding the cooler. They'll be fine for one dunk."
She put her hand into his. "Okay, one-two—"
He pulled her under before she could get the last number out. She came back up, spluttering and wiping the water out of her eyes. "I didn't say three."
"I was afraid you'd chicken out."
"If I say I'm going to do something, I don't chicken out."
"My mistake."
"You have to trust me, Jeremy."
"I do trust you," he said, answering in a more serious tone than her playful comment required, but he wanted her to know that he meant it.
Her gaze changed as it clung to his—many mixed and turbulent emotions moving between them and around them.
Why hadn't he met her at another time, another place? Why did it have to be now when everything else was up in the air, when he was a father with a kid who needed to be his first priority, when he didn't have the job that he loved and wasn't sure what the hell he would do with the rest of his life?
"We should go back to the shore," he said. He needed to get out before he got too deep, and he wasn't talking about the ocean.
"In one second," she said, reaching for his hand again. "There's something I need to say."
"What's that?" he asked warily.
"Three," she yelled, and then jumped on him, shoving his head under the water.
She was on her way to the beach when he came back up for air. "You better run," he said, as she sent him a laughing look.
"I owed you for that."
"What happened to trust?"
"Apparently, it doesn't extend to dunking each other in the ocean."
He couldn't refute that statement. By the time he got back to the blanket, Colin and Kara were back, Mia had a towel wrapped around her hips, and the kids all wanted to eat lunch. It was time to put on his dad hat. Flirtatious games with Mia would have to wait for another time.
The next few hours were filled with family-friendly fun. After lunch, they threw around a football on the beach. He also managed to coax Ashlyn farther into the water. In fact, she got brave enough to put her hand into his, and when the water hit her hips, she actually held her arms up to him, and he'd picked her up.
She'd been happy enough to stay in his arms while he went a little deeper, and he'd found himself reluctant to leave the water, not wanting the closest connection he'd ever had to her disappear.
But eventually they'd made it back to the beach.
More people from his past came by. He was surprised at how many of the kids he'd grown up with had either stayed in Angel's Bay or had come back after college. He'd always thought anyone who stayed in Angel's Bay was an unambitious loser, but that wasn't true. It wasn't the town that defined them; it was who they were.
Maybe it was time he figured out who he was, because he sure as hell didn't feel much like a soldier anymore. He'd just never imagined leaving the Army, leaving his family.
But as he looked around the beach, a picture began to take shape in his mind.
Perhaps there was another kind of family in his future…
Thirteen
"Are you sad that our castle came in seventh place?" Mia asked, as they drove home from the beach a little after three.
Jeremy had been quiet since they'd left the beach. She didn't know what was on his mind, but he'd certainly been thinking a lot about something.
"Not at all. I'm proud of our castle." He flung a look into the backseat, and then gave Mia a smile. "Ashlyn is already asleep."
"I'm not surprised. It's been a fun and exhausting day. I had a great time, Jeremy. Thanks for inviting me."
"Thanks for coming. It was more fun than I expected."
"This town is starting to grow on you again. You have more friends here than you realized. And you're remembering the good times, not just the bad."
"That's true."
"Does your father still live in the house you grew up in?"
"No, he sold that place after I graduated from high school. He has an apartment by the harbor. I don't know what he did with all the furniture. He probably sold it. He was never much for material things."
"Take me by your old house," she said impulsively. "I want to see where you grew up."
"Really?" he asked doubtfully.
"Yes. When was the last time you went by your childhood home?"
"Ten years ago. It was on my first trip back. It felt strange, surreal. I almost couldn't remember living there. So much had changed. Or maybe I was the one who had changed."
"Have you seen your father over the years? Did you spend holidays together?"
"Not after the first two years when we shared a couple of awkward Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at Dina's Café. After that, if I came home, I spent my time with Kent or Barton and their families, but most of the time I just didn't come home."
"Where did you go then?"
"Sometimes I was deployed during the holidays. Or I'd hang with one of my buddies somewhere or just stay at whatever post I was at."
"It sounds like there might have been some lonely days."
"Not really. I was never lonelier than when I was living here with my dad. That was the worst." He paused at a stoplight and gave her a dry smile. "This can't possibly be interesting."
It was interesting because she was
interested in him. "I like learning about your life. It helps me understand you better."
"Knowing my past hasn't helped me understand myself," he said dryly. "Glad it's working out better for you."
"Perhaps I'm more intuitive."
"There's a good possibility of that."
"Or you're just too close to your own life to see it in its true light."
"Could be."
The light turned green, and he drove another half-mile, then pulled up in front of a modest one-story house at the end of a quiet block. "This is the place."
"Was the basketball hoop over the garage yours?" she asked.
He nodded. "I shot at least a million baskets while I was growing up. That was my favorite place to be at night. I'd stay out there until long after the sun had set, hoping that when I went inside my father would already be asleep. Most of the time he was. If he wasn't, he could be a mean bastard. Alcohol might have made him happy, but everyone around him was made very unhappy."
"Have you ever had it out with him? A no-holds-barred, hard-truth kind of conversation?"
"No. I haven't felt the need."
"Really? It seems like there's so much unfinished business between you. The other day when he came into the café, the air was so tense. It was like you both had things you wanted to say, but you didn't know where to start."
"I tried to talk to him when I first came here. I told you how that turned out."
"Maybe you should make another attempt."
"Why?"
"Because he's your father."
"So what?" Jeremy shook his head. "I know you're an optimist, Mia, and that's a nice trait, but I don't believe people change just because you want them to. They are who they are. And I learned what family was all about when I got into the Army. It's the people who stand by you and stand up for you that matter."
"I get that, but I do believe people can change, not because you want them to, but because they want to."
"My father doesn't want to."
"He might when he realizes he's not just missing an opportunity to be part of your life but also Ashlyn's life."
"I can't let him mess up her life the way he did mine. And she's frightened of everything. His loud voice would probably set her back."
If I Didn't Know Better Page 15
