Beach Season Read Free

was the beginning.
    The beginning of Reece and me.

C HAPTER 3
    Later that night, wrapped up on my bed in my blue crocheted feather-filled comforter, eating only a small piece of apple pie with whipped cream, okay, two pieces, the waves pounding on the surf, I reentertained myself with the rest of my conversation with Reece ...
    He tucked the wet cows into the wad of clothes. I took a deep breath. “It’s a long walk; you don’t have to come back with me. I can return your jacket.”
    “No way. I’m not letting you walk back alone. I’ll see you home to get something dry on, then we’re going to the hospital.”
    “The hospital? Not a chance. I don’t enter hospitals. They make me nervous.”
    “Me, too, but you’re going. You swallowed a lot of water, and I want them to check your lungs and make sure you didn’t take a knock to the head.”
    “I can take myself to the hospital.”
    “I’ll take you.” He smiled with nice white teeth and stuck out his hand. “Reece O’Brien.”
    “Nice to meet you, Reece.” I shook his hand. My hand trembled. “I’m June MacKenzie.”
    “June? Were you born in June?”
    The light rain suddenly turned into a deluge as we headed to the stairway. I was a double-drowned rat. “No.”
    “Oh.”
    He seemed pleasantly baffled.
    “It’s a family name, then?”
    I didn’t want to explain. It was a wee bit embarrassing to talk about sex in front of him. “June is the month when my parents conceived me.”
    “Ah. I see.”
    I stared straight ahead at the pounding surf.
    “Do you have brothers and sisters?” he asked.
    “Yes, three of them.”
    “What are your sisters’ and brothers’ names?”
    I could see the hazel flecks in those green eyes, a crooked scar by his right eye, another on top of his left cheekbone. I want to kiss the scars ... . Whoa, June! Had I just thought that? I want to kiss the scars . Where the heck had that come from? I was off men, completely! Done with men!
    “Did you forget your brothers’ and sisters’ names?” He smiled at me.
    I smiled back. He had such nice... lips! “What? No. No. I know their names.”
    Yes, I did. I knew my brother’s and sisters’ names, but my, how would it feel to hug a man that size? Oh, shoot! What was I thinking? “I know their names,” I said again, with a bit of defiance, but I heard my voice come out as a whisper. “I do.”
    “Good.” His eyes dropped to my lips. It was a flicker, but I saw the drop. My mouth suddenly felt like it was on fire. What? I couldn’t be on fire for him, or any man. That was ... that was ... bad!
    “Their names are ...” Who was I talking about again? Whose names?
    “Your brothers and sisters,” he prompted, still smiling.
    I accidentally made a funny sound in my throat. “Yes! I have a brother and sisters and they have names.” I looked at the ocean for answers.
    “That’s fortunate. If they didn’t, what would they be called?” His voice was low and husky.
    “I don’t know what they would be called without names.” What was going on ? I was freezing, I was in shock. Ha! That was it! I had almost been pulled out to sea. He’d saved me. Now I was transferring my emotions to him.
    “So. My brother’s name is ...” Quick, June. Your name is June ... “His name is March. March. And I have a sister named ...” Reece was a cross between Poseidon and Zeus ... he needed only a chariot to complete the image. “August. She’s an August.” I shook my head to clear it. “Her name is August. She’s getting married soon. Her fiancé’s family is proper. Scary proper. Blue-blood proper. I have another sister ...” Chariot. Horses. A sword. Did Greek gods have swords? What would Reece’s sword be like? June, come on! “The other sister has a name. She is a September.” I bit my wet lip. “I mean, her name is September. She is not a September. It’s just September. One word.”
    “Just September. One word.”
    As an ex-trial attorney I have been in court