Excerpt of Summer on Sunshine Bay by Debbie Mason

Clearly, someone upstairs hated Lila, or her guardian angel had gone out for a cigarette. Because standing on the other side of the stall door was the last man she expected or wanted to see.

Luke Hollingsworth. Her high school boyfriend’s older brother. The man who’d seen her half-naked when he’d saved her from giving her virginity to his brother at sixteen.

“Lila?”

She didn’t think she’d changed that much. He certainly hadn’t. He was still as gorgeous as she remembered. Actually, that wasn’t true. He was even better looking at thirty than he’d been at eighteen. She realized she was staring and lifted a hand. “Yep, it’s me.”

“Yep, it’s me?” Really? She’d possibly revealed her deepest, darkest secrets to the tall, dark and broodingly handsome man leaning against the bathroom stall, and that’s all she could come up with?

She glanced at the restroom door, wanting nothing more than to beat a hasty retreat, but she had to find out how much of her rant Luke had overheard. His grandmother and hers were best friends, which meant she had no choice but to address her embarrassing meltdown.

“So, how’s your mom and your grandmother?” she asked as she walked to the sink and turned on the tap, carrying on a conversation as if they were in line at the grocery store and not standing in the men’s restroom. 

His mouth twitched as if he were holding back a smile. He’d never been an easy smiler, but that hadn’t stopped Lila from trying to coax one out of him when she was younger. Because when Luke Hollingsworth smiled, it felt like the sun had come out. At least it had to her. She may have had a crush on him. A small crush, really, really small.

She bent over the sink and cupped her hands under the tap, then rinsed out her mouth with water.

“They’re good, thanks. You should stop by the table and say hi.”

She met his gaze in the mirror, water dribbling out the side of her mouth. She looked like she’d had a stroke. “They’re here?”

 “Yeah. It’s my mom’s birthday. She, uh, wanted to have it here.” He brought his hand to his ear, rubbing the lobe between his thumb and forefinger. “Gran’s pretty upset about it, so do me a favor and don’t mention we were here to Carmen.”

“Trust me, the last thing I want is for my family to know I’m here.” She grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and wiped her mouth and chin.

He nodded, jerking a thumb at the stall door. “Yeah, I kind of got that.”

She winced and then turned to face him, tossing the crumpled paper towel into the wastepaper basket. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough to wonder if I should congratulate you on your upcoming wedding and the baby or if I should offer you a ride out of town.”

She could feel the flush working its way up her chest to her face. “I can’t believe I did that or that you heard me. But I guess it’s better that it was you than someone else.” She raised her gaze to his. “You won’t mention it to anyone, will you, Luke?”

 “Of course not. But you sounded pretty upset. Are you sure you’re okay?”

She considered saying she was fine but ended up telling him the truth instead. “No. I’m actually a bit of wreck, hence the, you know”—she waved her hand at the stall—“meltdown you overheard. I mean, I’m happy about the baby. It just came as a shock. It wasn’t the best time to get pregnant. And then I found out, instead of getting married at the courthouse like we’d planned, David, my fiancé, and his mother have invited three hundred people to our wedding, and it’s going to be held here, at Windemere. In a month.”

He winced. “You haven’t told your family yet, have you?”

 “Have you seen my mother running down Main Street pulling out her hair and screaming bloody murder? Has my nonna called Father Patrick and made her funeral arrangements?”

Whenever her grandmother got news she didn’t like, she’d swear she was having a heart attack. Carmen was as dramatic as Lila’s mother. Although, given the news Lila had to share, she might have an actual heart attack this time. 

Luke’s lips curved in a crooked smile, a dimple appearing in his left cheek, and despite feeling like she might throw up again, Lila found herself smiling in return. She couldn’t seem to help herself. His smile was endorphin-inducing. Maybe she should bring him with her when she broke the news to her family.

Their eyes met and held, and Lila couldn’t seem to pull her gaze from his. She blamed it on his eyes. They were gray and framed with eyelashes so thick that they made her envious. But David had nice eyes too, and she didn’t get this warm, fluttery feeling in her chest when she held his gaze. 

Luke glanced over her shoulder and cleared his throat. “It might take them some time to come around, but in the end, they will. They love you, Lila.”

She raised an eyebrow and his dimple deepened. He had to stop smiling at her. “I know they do, but they also believe in the Rosetti curse.”

“I take it you don’t, since you’re getting married.”

 “No. I don’t believe in curses. I just think they’re unlucky in love.”

“Really, really unlucky,” Luke said with a rumble of amusement in his voice.