Meet Me in Myrtle Beach (Hunt Family Book 1) (16 page)

Chapter 20

I had just finished styling Ryan's hair in a loose bun with flowers when Cody and his dad got home from their fishing trip. Everyone was excited to eat fresh fish sandwiches for lunch.

They had already cleaned the fish at the marina, but there were plenty of pictures to show off of their best catches. Everyone stood around the kitchen, waiting to hear all about it, and looking at the pictures on Cody's phone.

Ryan and I had come into the kitchen when they arrived. I stood off to the side, and she ran directly to the ice chest to take a peek at what was inside. Cody stooped and explained something to her, but I couldn't hear what it was because everyone was talking.

He stood, and leaned casually against the counter, regarding me like he was relieved to finally lay his eyes on me.

I smiled shyly at him.

He motioned to his shirt. "I'm stinky," he mouthed at me from several feet away, scrunching up his nose. Those dark eyes smiled right along with his mouth. I was so captivated that I didn't even hear all the chatter in the kitchen. Cody's mom must have asked him a direct question because he turned to her with a, "Yes ma'am," but his gaze came directly back to me.

There was at least ten feet of space between us, and he started toward me. "I smell like fish, or I'd hug you right now," he said quietly as he came to stand next to me. He paused for a second before looking over at me.

I shrugged and gave him a challenging smirk. "I have a brother," I said. "He smells like fish even when he hasn't been fishing."

Cody laughed as he slowly came to stand closer. He was crowding my space, and I loved it. I bit my lip as I stared up at him.

"Did you get my note?" he asked.

I nodded.

He put his mouth right next to my ear. "Then it won't surprise you if I do this…" he said. He placed a sweet kiss on my cheek before pulling away to look at me.

I shook my head and smiled, telling him I wasn't surprised.

A few people standing around the kitchen noticed our little encounter. They did their best to hide their curiosity as they stole glances at us.

"I just want everybody to remember that I was the one who found her and brought her here," Diane announced.

This caused everyone to laugh.

"God was involved too," she said, "but you can all take note that she rode down here in my Volvo."

Everyone sent good-natured glances in our direction like they understood what Dee-dee was implying, but they seemed to be content not to ask for an official statement.

The subject of cooking the fish became the new topic of conversation, and Cody and I were left to continue our conversation in peace.

"I should go take a shower," he said.

I nodded, which made him laugh. "That bad?" he asked.

"No, actually. I don't even really smell you."

"How about now?" he asked, nuzzling his head near my cheek and neck.

I took in a big whiff. "Nope. You smell like Cody plus a little salt, and some sun."

"What's sun smell like?" he asked.

"Sun smells," I said. "I can't explain what it smells like, but it does smell."

He smiled and cocked his head a little to one side as if he was wondering something. "Should I go ahead and tell you I love you?" he asked in a quiet voice so that I was the only one who heard.

I shifted to stare into his eyes—so dark I felt like I could dive into them and never touch bottom. "It's preferable if you do," I whispered with a deadpan expression.

The corner of his mouth turned upward in a slow grin. "Good. Then I love you."

I wanted to say it back, I really did. I loved him. I loved him more than I ever dreamed I could love anybody. I was in love with every single thing about Cody Hunt. I just couldn’t get the words to leave my mouth. They were stuck in my throat. It was like I didn't think I could say it quietly enough for only him to hear, and since I wasn't quite ready for announcing it with a megaphone in front of all his family, I could say nothing at all. I giggled nervously and sank my face into my hands.

"I'm gonna go shower," he said, pinching my arm a little. I peeked at him to see that he was smiling at me like there was no pressure. It seemed as if my inability to say it back hadn't affected him at all. He continued to smile as he lifted his chin at me. "I'll be down in a minute."

"I love you too," I said.

I was so afraid of yelling it out that my whisper was almost inaudible.

Cody leaned in, placing his ear right up to my mouth. "Come again," he said.

"I said I love you too, Cody Hunt." I whispered it directly into his ear.

He shivered, causing me to giggle again.

"I'll be down in a few," he said.

The family had already set to work sautéing fish by the time Cody headed upstairs. I sort of expected them to ask questions about what they'd just witnessed, but none of them did. They all went about their business like they didn't notice or weren't surprised to see us together.

"Tell me if I can help," I said when Christy came near me to grab a pan out of the cabinet.

"I think we've got it under control," she said. "Thank you, sweetheart." She retrieved the pan, but paused for a second to smile at me before taking it to the stove. It was a brief pause, but her expression told me she approved of what she saw, and that meant so much to me. I was nervous around the family all over again now that things had changed between Cody and me, but I did my best to remain cool. I returned her smile with a thankful one of my own.

"Wanna go to the beach before lunch?" Ryan asked, tugging on the back of my shirt.

I looked at Christy. "How long till lunch?"

"Probably fifteen or twenty minutes," she said, glancing at the clock on the microwave.

"We can go out there for a minute," I said. "We won't swim or anything."

She nodded, and held up a hand as if she was ready to start walking.

"Can you tell Cody we went to the beach?" I asked Dee-dee on the way out. She smiled and nodded as Ryan and I stepped outside.

Logan and Evan were walking up the steps toward us. Ryan and I could see them from the top, and we stood back to let them come up. "Long night?" I asked.

"We slept in the hammocks," Evan said.

Evan peered around me and into the house. "The girls must not be up yet."

"Nope, I haven't seen them. I thought maybe you guys stayed at Travis's."

"We were there pretty late."

"Coffee," Logan said in a groggy voice.

"My dad caught some fish," Ryan said.

"He did? I can't wait to eat them for breakfast, you little princess."

She smiled. "It's lunch, Uncle Evan."

"It's breakfast for me."

"Coffee," Logan moaned, causing Ryan and I to giggle.

"Go get your precious coffee," I said. "We're going to the beach."

She and I held hands on the way out there, but didn't say anything to each other. She pulled me to her sandcastle tools, which had been left outside from the last project.

"Wanna dig?" she asked.

"Yeah, but we only have a few minutes. And I'm afraid I wouldn't be as good as your dad even if we did have more time."

We found a spot and started filling our first pail, shovel by shovel.

"You love my dad?" she asked. Or maybe she said it. Her tone was an exact mix of a question and a statement, and I didn't know how to respond. Maybe I was just too nervous to respond.

"I do love your dad," I said after a few second's hesitation.

"Do you love me?" she asked without looking up at me.

Again, I hesitated, feeling the weight of her questions and knowing I couldn't say the words irresponsibly.

"I do love you, Ryan."

"Are you gonna be my mom?" she asked.

I almost choked. There was a burning sensation in the back of my mouth that made me feel like I needed to cough. I cleared my throat.

"I'd like to be," I said. "I've never tried to be a mom before, so you might have to be patient with me while I try my best."

She shrugged as she continued to shovel sand. "It's not hard," she said casually. "All you have to do is give me lunch and snacks, and brush my teeth, and read me stories and stuff." She looked at me as she reached back to grab her bun with sandy hands. "You already know how to do my hair," she added in all seriousness.

I let out a relieved giggle. "I guess that's a start," I said.

"Yep," she said as if it was gonna be a piece of cake.

I wanted to ask how she felt about it, but I didn't know how to put my question into words, at least not for a three-year-old. Besides, I knew by the way she was smiling that she was okay with it—asking would just be me trying to ease my own insecurity.

"Where are my girls?" Cody asked.

I heard his question before I saw him, and I turned to face him with a smile. He was just as handsome as I remembered. I squinted up at him from my stooped position, waving with the shovel I was holding. He held out his arms, gesturing with his hands for me to come to him. It took about point five seconds for me to spring to my feet and jog over there. When I did, he caught me, hugging me tightly.

"You do smell better," I said.

He laughed. "I told you I stank earlier."

"Not like Uncle Evan," Ryan called. "He smells like a goat."

I looked over my shoulder at her and watched as she packed the sand into the pail and turned it over. Cody turned me so I could face Ryan, but he kept his arms around me securely.

"Your hair looks super beautiful," he said as we watched Ryan scooping sand again.

She smiled and blinked. "Paige did it."

"Ms. Paige," Cody reminded.

"She said she's okay with being my mom," Ryan said.

"She did?"

"Yeah."

"Is that something you two talked about?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Yes sir," he said.

"Yes sir."

"What'd you say?"

"I said she has to tuck me in and read me a story, and she said she will."

"She did?"

"Yes sir."

I turned to the side and directed my words to his ear so Ryan couldn’t hear me. "I love her," I said.

He smiled and squeezed me. "I was thinking about something while I was fishing," he said.

"What?"

"I thought maybe you should go to beauty school. You said it would only take a year."

I shifted to stare up at him, wondering what made him come up with that. "Yeah, but I've already finished college."

"So? Lots of people have degrees they don't use. You could do beauty school for a year, and when you get done, you can decide which skill you want to use. Maybe you can use both. Maybe you can use your business degree to help you open a salon."

I had never even considered such a thing. In my mind, I'd missed my chance to try cosmetology. It was a crazy feeling to have someone looking after me like this. He really wanted to see me happy, I could see it in his eyes.

"I never even thought about that," I said. "That's really sweet of you to think about me, but I'm not sure I could pull something like that off."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, my student loans are about to start rolling in. Maybe after I get them paid off, I can consider that."

"Is that all that's stopping you?" he asked.

I laughed. "It's a big reason," I said. "I'm pretty sure you have to pay off one student loan before you can take out a new one."

He leaned to the side to look down at me. "We'll work it out if you want to go," he said.

I smiled at him, but I knew that was easier said than done. He apparently had no idea how expensive it was to be a student.

"If it's just about money, then don't worry about it," he said. "You shouldn't waste time doing something you don't love. If you want to try it, we'll make a way… we'll just get married if we need to."

I reached up and cupped my hand around his jaw. "I like you," I said dazedly.

He grinned. "You already said you love me. We can't go backwards."

"It's not going backwards," I said, cuddling into his chest. "They're two different things. I like you
and
I love you."

He squeezed me. "Then I like you and I love you too."

Epilogue

"Hello, Mrs. Hunt," Diane said, smiling from ear to ear at me as she sat down beside me at Amy's for breakfast.

"Hello Mrs. Hunt," I replied.

She leaned over to hug me once she was settled. "Where's Cody?"

"He couldn't make it today. He had to go to work. It's just us."

"Us is perfect," Diane said smiling sweetly. "When do you have to get to school?"

"Nine o'clock." I glanced at my watch. "I have plenty of time."

"How's it going?" she asked. "School, I mean."

"I love it so far," I said. "It's long hours, but I should have it done in about a year."

"Then what?"

I shrugged. "Hard to say since I'm just getting started. Maybe we'll open a salon. We haven't really gotten that far yet. I might just end up working for the business and doing hair for the family. I'll just see how I feel once I'm done."

"I heard you two took a trip to California to see Logan and Charlotte," she said. "How was that?"

"Cody wanted to take me over there, so we snuck in a trip before school started. It's hard to believe we went on the honeymoon and to California since the last time we had the chance to have breakfast together. Seems like Seth gets to see you more than I do."

"He's doing a good job on the raised beds," she said.

I smiled. "To answer your question, LA was great. We had a blast. Logan took us to all his favorite places. It was crazy, though. People were following us, trying to get pictures of him—even while doing simple stuff like riding in the car to pick up food."

"I bet they're all excited about his new girlfriend," she said.

I laughed. "That's an understatement. She was there for part of our trip, and the press went crazy trying to get a shot of them together."

"Is it that same girl form the beach house?" she asked.

I nodded as I took a sip of my coffee.

"I thought she was nice," she said.

"She is," I said. "Cody doesn't think Logan's ready to settle down, though."

"I'm sure he isn't, but sometimes love sneaks up on you."

"You can say that again."

"Sometimes love sneaks up on you," she repeated with a straight face.

I laughed.

Diane smiled as she turned to me. "Hard to believe that just a few months ago we sat right here and discussed you coming to Myrtle Beach with me."

I rested my head on her shoulder. "I'm so thankful we had that conversation."

The End

(till book 2)