The Sweetest Summer(102)
“Hi, doggies.” Chrissy bent at the waist to peer at them. They quivered with eagerness.
“Hold out your hand and let them smell you, okay, Pirate Jellybean?”
Christina did as Clancy asked. She stuck out her arm, palm up, and immediately fell into a fit of giggles as the dogs licked her fingers. “They’re wet!”
Clancy began with the introductions. “The black one is Tripod, but we call him Mr. T, and the brown one is Earl. Boys, these are our guests, Pirate Jellybean and Aunt Cricket.”
“Mr. T, huh?”
Clancy glanced toward Evelyn and chuckled. “Yeah, my brother came up with that. He said he didn’t think it was right to focus on his disability.”
“Gotcha. That would be Duncan, right?”
Clancy’s eyes widened. “You remembered.”
“I remember everything.”
His gaze darkened for an instant and she understood exactly what he was telling her—I can’t wait to get you alone.
Clancy stood, and the dogs stayed in place. “Would you like to go down to the beach? It’s not big, but it’s private. We could take a walk.”
Evelyn swept her gaze over the ocean, feeling the sunset warm her face. Her first instinct was to calculate the chances of being spotted on that beach—from what direction could someone see her and Christina? Was there an amphibious landing planned? A satellite orbiting over Bayberry? What could she use as an escape route if one was needed?
She hated this. She hated the paranoid calculations that constantly lived in her head, and wondered if they would stop once this ordeal ended. If it ended.
Evelyn tried to sound enthusiastic. “Sure.”
“Oh! Hey, wait. I have something for you. I left it in the Jeep. Be right back.” Clancy ran around the side of the house while the two gentle giants sat patiently, waiting for him to return, happy to let Christina coo at them and pat their heads. Clancy was back in a flash. Evelyn saw him round the corner carrying a big sun hat.
“This is for you. To replace the one you lost when you jumped off the dock.”
Evelyn blinked, completely surprised. She looked up at him and shook her head as if she didn’t understand. “You got this for me?”
“I figured you could use a new one, you know, since it’s important these days to keep your face and hair protected when you’re in the bright daylight.”
Evelyn thought she may cry and laugh at the same time. The idea that Clancy took time in the middle of all this chaos to replace her hat was probably the sweetest thing any man had ever done for her. And he’d found a perfectly innocent way to tell her she still needed to hide herself beneath it.
“You hate it.”
“No! I love it!” She grabbed it from Clancy and popped it on her head, then used a fingertip to push up the brim so she could see him again. “And it does a bang-up job of protecting me.”
A huge smile broke out on his face. “Hey, and I got this for you, Jellybean.” He held out a child-sized Red Sox cap, but Christina didn’t even notice. She was in love. Her face was between the two dogs and they licked and sniffed at her neck and arms while she giggled.
“Beach!” Clancy’s voice was no-nonsense. The dogs immediately forgot their new friend and bounded across the yard to the walking path.
“They going swimming?” Christina took off after them, Clancy and Evelyn right behind. Clancy grabbed a half-buried ball from the sandy soil on their way.