The Belated Billionaire by Elana Johnson

Author:Elana Johnson [Johnson, Elana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works
Published: 2018-11-19T06:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Theo enjoyed holding Katie, and he liked even more that she didn’t jump out of his embrace when her daughter came back dripping wet. “Mom, I’m starving.”

“Then eat something.”

Heather opened the cooler they’d brought and started digging around.

“What did you make?” he asked her. He hadn’t thought past a towel, his sunglasses, and the sunscreen he’d found at a convenience store on the way over.

“Ham and cheese,” Heather said, holding up a sandwich. “And tuna with lettuce and tomato.” She pulled out another sandwich and kept that one, putting the ham and cheese back. Theo smiled at her as she took the beach chair in the sun.

“See? It’s not too bad, is it?” he asked.

“The water is choppy,” she said.

“I heard they’re doing a demo on petrified lightning later,” Theo said. He hadn’t heard, but he’d already been to the visitor’s center and the worker there had told him.

“Seen it,” Heather said in a bored voice. Theo shut up after that, trying to figure out how to get her to open up to him like she had the day before. In his arms, Katie lay very still.

“Is she mad at me?” Theo asked.

Katie’s shoulders started to shake, and while she tried to muffle her giggles, he could clearly hear them.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

But it was clearly something. “Come on,” he said, keeping his voice low and one eye on Heather. He wasn’t an expert on the opposite sex by any stretch of the imagination, but he knew he’d never get Katie to be his if her daughter wasn’t on board.

“She’s not mad at you,” Katie said, her breath tickling his collarbone. “She’s ten.”

He blinked, trying to understand.

“Sometimes she feels like talking, and sometimes she doesn’t,” Katie continued. “It only gets worse, I’ve heard.” She laughed again, the sound of it light as soft rain.

Theo wanted to kiss her again, but he refrained. Instead, he said, “Well, this is my first time here, so I’m going to go to the demo.”

“This is your first time here?” Heather asked.

Theo looked back at her. “Yeah. You wanna show me around?”

“Yeah, I do.” She shoved her sandwich back in the bag and got to her feet. “Are you wearing a swimming suit?”

“Yes, ma’am.” No need to tell anyone that he’d bought it that morning, five minutes after the department store had opened. At least he’d remembered to bring a pair of scissors so he could remove the tag.

He gently removed himself from Katie’s embrace and stood up. “I guess I’m getting the tour.”

“Have fun,” Katie said, clearly not going to join them. She reached into her bag and pulled out a paperback book. Theo gaped at her, wanting to educate her on the beauty of an e-reader and how many books she could fit onto it.

“Let’s go.” Heather danced through the sand in front of him. “Okay, so there’s this swimming spot that’s great. It’s just down the beach a bit.”

Theo laughed and followed her, wondering if he should’ve brought a towel with him. But Heather didn’t have one, so he figured he was okay.

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