Holiday Tides (Wilks Beach Holiday Novella)

7. Nick

seven

Nick

“ G ive me back my daughter,” Aldon demands, reaching for Mae. “She doesn’t need to be in the middle of a dominance competition.”

“That wasn’t—”

I let the sentence drop off. My hand had fisted in my pocket, and my shoulders broadened, listening to that jerk criticize one of my favorite town traditions.

Especially in front of Summer.

Another memory shoots forward. Summer’s senior locker had been decorated with a myriad of dollar store Christmas magnets and gift bows. While I’d teased her about getting a point higher than her on our English essay, a shiny red bow had fallen off after she’d slammed it shut. I’d planned on sticking it back onto her locker door but pressed it atop her head instead. My fingers had lingered a touch too long as I said, “The girl named Summer who loves Christmas.” She’d taken it as a jab that her seasonally opposite name somehow made her less qualified to enjoy the holiday.

“Daughter. Now.” Aldon’s hard expression snaps me back to the present.

I unzip and remove my jacket but not without as many petulant sighs as I can muster. Aldon’s thick fingers collect Mae as Jane ensures the wrap doesn’t drag on the ground.

“I thought you were doing great with her,” she whispers.

“Don’t encourage him.”

I roll my eyes at my brother before scanning the crowd for Summer. Who was that guy? A mainlander for sure, but she must have invited him since they’d been texting. A friend or work colleague, maybe? When I finally catch sight of them, it’s like a punch to the kidneys. The man unbuttons her green jacket and then slides his arms inside, tugging her to him. I half expect Summer to stomp on his toe and then go for the groin, but she tilts her head up in a close-lipped smile.

Fate is a cruel, cruel mistress to drop Summer in my lap while she’s dating another man. But I’d been the idiot who’d assumed she was single. I’d seen the relief flooding her face when I corrected her misbeliefs over Mae’s parentage. Then a familiar zipping energy careened through my body as we playfully bantered. Her cheeks had flushed when I called her beautiful. Until Mr. I-Hate-Christmas showed up, I’d considered our exchange flirting.

Apparently, I’d been wrong. My head bows as I let out a long exhale.

“You like her. Don’t you?” Jane bites her lip in a Sorry, buddy kind of way.

“More like obsessed with her.” Aldon snorts, adding, “That’s Summer Owens.”

“ Oh ,” Jane says this like she knows Summer’s and my history, which come to think of it—

The one and only time I got drunk was under Aldon’s roof when I turned twenty-one. He said he didn’t want me doing anything stupid because I was predispositioned to dimwitted endeavors while sober. He hosted a party and invited most of our crew, and we drank at his bayside home until early in the morning. After everyone else left, I poured my soul out over glasses of burning scotch. But…that was years before Aldon and Jane began dating.

I shoot Aldon a look.

“A husband tells his wife everything. Everything. There are no secrets in a marriage. Something to remember if you’re ever so lucky.”

I run a flustered hand through my hair, completely forgetting that I’m wearing a Santa hat. “What about bro code? Brotherhood guidelines? Fraternal protocols?” Crouching to pick my hat off the ground, I ask, “And how did you even know that was Summer?”

“Word travels fast in a small town. Jane had heard Summer’s name from a neighbor who’d brought us a casserole this afternoon. Jane recounted the interaction and asked if I knew anything about the newcomer. I filled her in.” Aldon held his palms up. “Are you up to speed yet?”

Jane softly shoulders me. “She’s really pretty.”

Summer is so much more than pretty. She’s quick-witted, and kind, and funny, and based on how hard she worked during high school, she’s probably the best pediatrician this side of the Mason-Dixon line…

“Who’s Mae’s pediatrician? Because—”

“Mr. Nick! Mr. Nick!” Jacob runs up to me, nearly clobbering my toes as he jumps. “He’s the real Santa. He knew about your scar and everything. And he’s gonna let me flip the switch tonight. I get to be his helper!” Jacob is nearly breathless before he turns to his mother to recount the same story.

Santa’s boisterous laughter breaks through the crowd, encouraging everyone to move toward the library entrance. After a few cursory introductions, we dutifully listen to the song, giggling along as the kids mix up the choreography. Then Santa—and a beaming Jacob—each put a hand on the candy-red switch as we countdown from ten. There’s a slight pause between their action and the lights being illuminated, but the result is spectacular. Audience members oooh and ahh over the building, gazebo, and now-lit trees, but before long, everyone begins dispersing to go home and light their own displays.

“Wait, that’s it?” The sound of Summer’s boyfriend’s voice grates on my nervous system. “I drove all the way out here for someone to plug in an extension cord?”

“We can go for a walk on the beach.” Even from here, I can hear the timidity in her voice.

That’s not Summer’s voice. Summer sounds like spit and fire and always putting me in my place. Why doesn’t she do that with this bozo? I’m moving in her direction before I’ve even decided what I’ll say—something along the lines of her love of Christmas and this tradition is enough. That it was her inextinguishable joy over the holiday that made me love it after she was no longer here to shed her light. I want to tell her about the nickname the town gave me, knowing it will bring a full smile to her face.

Aldon’s hand on my shoulder stops me. He doesn’t say a word, just shakes his head slightly. A silent conversation passes between us in the blink of an eye.

It goes against every impulse surging through my body, but I turn away from Summer, allowing myself to get swept up in Aldon’s large family. Carrying sleepy six-year-old Piper lessens the squeezing in my stomach, but only slightly. Halfway to Aldon’s house, I make a decision. I may not be the man Summer wants, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be the man Summer needs.