- Text Size +

“You really do have a great beach…” Kevin told me with a smile.  We were sitting on a blanket in the sand in my back yard in our pajamas eating ice cream while Vinnie worked on digging a huge hole. 

“Thanks…” I said and put my spoon into his carton of ice cream.  He’d brought two different flavors and we were sharing them.  “When I lived in my condo before I got the house my neighbors didn’t really like how Vin would dig holes in the beach…”  I laughed remembering how pissed off my neighbors got when they’d realize that after covering up all of Vinnie’s holes he’d gone and dug them all up again.  “He’s a little obsessed with digging… But now that we’ve got our own beach he can dig all he wants…”  We watched Vinnie continue to dig like a madman and I shook my head, “Silly boy.”  I spooned more ice cream out of Kevin’s carton and paused before sliding it into my mouth, “Do you have pets?”

Kevin shook his head, “No.  I used to have a cat but he died a while back.  He was old, I had him forever.”

“Bummer…”

“Yeah.  After that I thought about getting a dog or maybe another cat but it never happened.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without Vinnie… ”

“You’d just talk to yourself more…” Kevin said and laughed.  “I guess I figured that with me being on the road so much it wasn’t fair to get a pet that I’d have to leave at home with a house sitter.  I could have gotten a little dog who I could take along with me but I’m more of a big dog kind of guy I think… I can’t see myself walking a little Tea Cup Yorkie like AJ has.”

I giggled at the idea of big sexy Kevin walking a tiny little dog, “Yeah, as cute as it would be to see you with a little pup, I think you’re a hell of a lot sexier with a big brute like Vin.”

“The dog has to be big enough to knock me on my ass in the ocean to qualify as a real dog…”

I nodded, “So true…”  I looked at Kevin and was lost for a moment in the prettiness of him in the moonlight and the sexiness of him sucking ice cream off of his spoon.  I wanted to be his spoon.  “Where do you live?”

“Huh?” Kevin asked and looked at me.

“You must have a house somewhere… where is it?”

Kevin’s eyes looked out over the water and they looked serious, more serious than I’d seen them look.  “LA.  I’m selling it though.  I think I might move back to this side of the country.  Be closer to my mom and my brothers…”

“That’s cool…”

“Yeah…”  I felt bad for making him look so serious.  I started to think that my obsessing over whether or not he was still married was stupid.  I was a paranoid freak who assumed that the world was out to wrong me and no sexy talented man would ever “just” want me. 

“When I lived in New York it was torture knowing my mom was so far away.  When my brother came to New York for school my mom moved down here and I hated it.  I mean, it was nice knowing that I had somewhere warm and sunny to come and visit but I didn’t like being so far away from her.  It helped that my brother was with me, but still… When I moved down here and suddenly she was only half an hour drive away again it was great.”

Kevin smiled and played with his spoon in between his beautiful long fingers, “Have you always been so close with her?”

“Yeah… more so after my brother died, but we’ve always been close.  She’s a nut, but I love her.”

“She seems very cool…”

“She is… and she likes you.”  Kevin and I had realized a few days prior that we had the exact same cell phone.  Same color, same ringtones, same everything.  When he’d answered what he thought was his phone but was actually mine he’d spoken to my mother in confusion for a few minutes before he’d realized that she hadn’t actually called his phone.  They laughed about the mistake and then talked to each other for half an hour before finally letting me talk.   “She told me that the next time I go see her you have to come with me.”

“I would love to meet her…”  His eyes didn’t look as serious anymore and I felt better. 

“She’s going to watch Vin for me while I’m doing the book stuff.  When I take him to her you can come with me.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“About a week.  It’s not a full book tour, just press.  If the book does well then I’ll have to do an actual tour where I travel around and do signings and stuff. But for now I’m just doing talk shows.” 

I sighed and Kevin smiled, “What’s the sigh for?”

“I don’t like doing talk shows.  I mean, the Today Show is usually cool… they’re actually my favorite.  But all of the other ones just make me nervous.  I’d much rather do book signings and talk about the book to actual readers…”

“I bet you’re great at that… You’re so great at telling stories.”

I shrugged, “Better than I am at doing television…”

“So you leave in three weeks?”

“Ish… Technically I have two and a half weeks left then I go up to New York.”

“Well at least you get to go to New York, right?  Your other home.”  Kevin smiled and pushed my hair behind my ear after the wind it blew into my face.  I nodded and leaned my head toward his hand.  I loved having him touch me.  I wanted to tell him how going to New York played games with my head and often gave me horrendous nightmares reliving Sean’s death.  I wanted to tell him that I was scared of being in New York and didn’t want to go.  I wanted to curl up in his arms and never leave the cozy spot we’d made ourselves on the beach with our ice cream and Vinnie in his hole. 

When I looked at him I know he saw the tears in my eyes.  His eyes got serious again and I tried my best to smile a weak smile at him.  I reached out to touch his lips with my fingertips.  He kissed them and I swear it shot right through my body when he did it.  I leaned over to kiss him and as our tongues met I pushed away all of my fearful thoughts about my book premiere week.  I focused on kissing Kevin and only kissing Kevin.  Well, kissing him and touching him and him touching me, but that’s it.  We kissed for what seemed like forever and when Vinnie began snoring from his hold in the sand we stopped kissing to laugh. 

“I guess it’s pretty late…” Kevin said and smiled.

I nodded, “Way past his bedtime.”  I chuckled at Vinnie’s snore again, “I should dust him off and get him inside…”  I whistled and Vinnie woke up, stretched, stood up and shook the sand out of his fur.  He stood there looking at us like he was totally confused which made Kevin and I both laugh.  “Go to bed Vino…” I told him and after another shake he trotted off toward the house.  We heard him go through his dog door a moment later and I was sure that he was on his way to the bedroom to pass back out. 

I stood up and held my hands out to Kevin and pulled him to his feet.  He smiled down at me and kissed me again.  When he pulled back he had a grin on his face that made me smile, “You planning on telling me to go to bed too?”

I shook my head, “Nope… I’m taking you to bed.”