Sandover Beach Christmas: A Christian Beach Romance (Sandover Island Sweet Romance Book 3) by Emma St. Clair

Author:Emma St. Clair [St. Clair, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“No. I didn’t bring my uniform tonight,” Cash said to Nana, not for the first time. Her eyes twinkled at him and he couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped.

Ripley looked like she wanted to crawl under her chair again. Sorry, she mouthed to him, giving him pleading eyes across the dinner table.

He shook his head. He couldn’t get annoyed by Nana. Sweet wasn’t the right word for her, but it was hard for him not to be charmed. He could put up with her feistiness and the repeated questions. As a bonus, whenever Nana did something to embarrass her, Ripley’s cheeks turned pink. Cash loved that look on her. With her family constantly jibing her, it had been a constant look throughout dinner.

Nana winked at Cash, as though sharing a secret, then bent closer to him. “I’m not really senile, you know. Perk of being an old bag. I can repeat myself a million times and people just assume I don’t realize. You can get away with everything when you’re older. File that away for later.”

His chuckle became a laugh. “I guess this means you really do want to see me in my uniform?”

Her eyes lit up. “Young man, you’re a very good listener.”

Cash could see Ripley leaning forward across the table, trying to catch their conversation without even being subtle about it. He turned to whisper in Nana’s ear. “Maybe for Christmas morning? Though something tells me you aren’t on Santa’s nice list.”

“Oh, I’m most definitely on the naughty list. Eighty-seven years running.” Nana’s laugh sounded deep and throaty, like in her younger days she had spent a lot of time smoking. Patting him on the shoulder, she spoke to Ripley, who was watching the two of them nervously. “This is a good man you found yourself. Don’t let him go.”

He grinned at Ripley, who smiled back, then flashed ten fingers at him. Ten smiles. She told him after the grocery store that she had been counting each one. Cash wondered if he would get to a point soon when she’d stop counting, because smiling would be more normal. Honestly, until she mentioned it, he hadn’t realized how seldom he smiled. Ripley made it easy.

It was moments like these where the reality of what they were doing suddenly hit him square in the chest. In a normal relationship, you wouldn’t spend Christmas with the other person’s family after one date. But nothing about this was normal. Not from the start, not now. Even if it felt somehow completely right. Cash fit in with her family. He liked them. Even Ripley’s brothers, despite their drive to humiliate her as much as possible. They all seemed to wholeheartedly approve of Cash too.

Could this be real?

Cash had shoved feelings so far down inside himself for years that in these moments of clarity, he had to take a moment to get his bearings. The strange thing was, this lighter, more relaxed Cash felt more like him than the closed-off man he’d been for the past two years.

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