“Think she’ll ever speak to you again?” Derick says as he casts out his fishing line.

“Yeah,” I answer, reeling in my line. “But it will probably be to tell me exactly what angle to put my head so it goes up my ass in the most painful way.”

“She was always really good with math.” He looks over at me and starts laughing as he shakes his head.

“You tell her you were coming with me today?”

“There’s nothing that happens with you that she doesn’t know about. Even if she’s not hearing it from me. Been that way since the day I brought you home.”

I think about the first time I saw her. She was wearing a yellow dress and holding a sign that said Welcome Home, Derick! I was behind him waiting for him to hug his sister and dad before he introduced me. Her dark eyes looked up at him like he was her whole world and I’ve never been so jealous of my best friend before.

I never had any family to speak of. My mom gave me up when I was born, but I was never adopted. I bounced around different foster homes until I aged out of the system then joined the Marines. I met Derick at basic training and he told me all about the island he came from. Every time he told stories from home I found myself listening intently. He even taught me how to fish and we became best friends. I didn’t plan on falling for Sammy, but the first time I saw her I was a goner.

The worst part was that I knew damn well she was sixteen. Derick had told me endless stories about his kid sister, but all I could picture was this scrawny tomboy with braces. But she was a beauty unlike anything I imagined, and she knocked me right to my knees. Literally.

I stumbled over myself as I stepped towards her and fell to my knees in front of where she stood. I might as well have been proposing to her with the way it looked. If I’d had a ring in my pocket I would have pulled it out and made her mine. But instead I stood up and shook her hand like the Marine I was trained to be.

“Do you regret bringing me with you?” I’ve never asked the question before because I’ve always been afraid of the answer. But now that things are the way they are with Sammy, what else do I have to lose?

Derick looks over at me and gives me a look like I’m crazy. “Are you kidding? Why do you think I brought you home?”

“What are you saying?”

He shakes his head like I’m an idiot. “Damn, maybe my sister can do better if you’re this thick-headed.” He casts his reel again and then looks backs over at me. “Cyrus, I knew you would fall for her. She’s just like you, but pretty.” He laughs at his own joke and I roll my eyes. “The two of you were meant to be. I knew it when I met you. You’ve just got to figure out how to stop making her mad.”

“I thought I was being funny,” I say, shrugging. She’s been playing tricks on me since I got back here. I thought maybe I should do one on her. Might get her attention.

“Are you serious right now? You pretended to be shot. You had the whole place at Red Din in on it. You shot off blanks and lay on the ground with people giving you CPR. She thought you were dead.” He puts his head in his hands. “In what damn world did you think this would make her finally want to be with you?”

“She said she loved me,” I say, shrugging a shoulder. Might have been the wrong way to get the I love you, but I wasn't giving that shit back.

“I can’t talk to a brick wall,” he says as he gets up from his chair and walks to the edge of the dock.

“I admit it wasn’t my brightest idea,” I confess.

I’d had it all planned out with everyone there. Derick told me it was a bad idea, but I thought she’d appreciate a grand gesture. So, I pretended to be shot so she’d come running to my side and tell me she loved me. Then I could tell her I loved her and we could quit all this bullshit about not being together. But my genius plan backfired and she ended up kicking me in the nuts before she stomped off. That was a week ago and she hasn’t spoken a word to me since. At least before she was yelling at me all the time. Now I get nothing. It’s like I really did die.

“All I want to know is, do you have a plan?” Derick looks over his shoulder at me and then shakes his head. “I didn’t think so.”

“I’m working on it.”

My walkie-talkie goes off and I wait a second to hear the code. It’s a non-emergency and the officer on call is going to take it.

After that first visit home with Derick it was absolute hell every time he got a letter from her. She always sent him care packages but nothing for me. I’d hope she might have a change of heart and understand why I said what I said that day in her room. She was too damn young and my will power was paper thin. I had to stay away from her and I had hoped over time she might realize that. Every time he got something I waited nearby just to be hit with disappointment once again. But I never gave up on her. That’s why the second we got out I came straight to the island. Derick told me about the sheriff job and said it was mine whenever I wanted it. The only place I ever wanted to call home was beside Sammy.

“Nothing’s biting today,” Derick says as he reels in his hook again.

“Mosquitos are.”

My walkie-talkie goes off again. I listen and hear the dispatcher say it’s for a call over at the Mermaid. I grab it up and hit the side button.

“I’ll take it, Sue,” I say and start to pack up my stuff.

“What it is?” Derick asks as he leans against the railing of the dock.

“Don’t know. Said they had a call and wanted an officer to respond. Cameron is on duty tonight and there’s no backup. I’ll ride by since I’m close.”

Derick throws his hand up in a wave as I leave. “Tell Nikki and Liam I said hey.”

“Will do.”

“She won’t be there,” he calls out as I turn my back on him.

I clench the tackle box in my hand tight because he knows me too damn well. Of course, I’m going to take the call because Sammy and Nikki are best friends. I’m always hoping to run into her, though, so it wasn’t much of a guess as to why I’m headed that way.

“She might!” I call out and get into my sheriff SUV.

It’s only about two miles away, so it takes me no time to get to the Mermaid. The little boutique hotel is set back into the palm trees on a prime piece of real estate. When I get there, I jump out and walk towards the lobby.

“Hey Nikki, heard you called for some help,” I say when I see her on the porch.

“Um yeah, is there anyone else on duty?” she asks, looking over my shoulder and then back behind her.

“Yeah, Cameron is, but she’s caught up on a drunk and disorderly on the north shore. What’s up?”

“Nothing. It can wait. Thanks for coming by.” She waves her hand really quick and turns around.

“Hang on a second,” I say, and she stops. “Nikki, what are you up to?”

I’ve always been pretty intuitive, and it makes for a great officer of the law. And right now, I can feel in my gut she’s hiding something.

“Umm.” She looks over her shoulder again. “Maybe I should have called the fire department. Or an ambulance,” she says, biting her lip and wringing her fingers.

“If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m coming in there and I’m going to find out myself.”

“No!” she yelps, holding up her hands.

“Nicole, damn it. Just tell me.”

“She’s going to kill me,” she whispers, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up.

“Is Sammy in there? Is something wrong?” Before I know what’s happening, I’m barging past Nikki. I love her like a sister, but if Sammy’s hurt she better get out of my way.

“Cyrus Walsh, don’t you dare go in there,” she calls after me, but it’s too late.

When I walk in, I notice a door to an adjoining room is ajar. I hear a noise in there and the sight that greets me both turns me on and pisses me off at the same time.

Sammy is in the middle of the room dressed like an old-school pin up model in a black halterneck bathing suit. The only problem is she’s stuck inside what looks like a mini airplane. Something a toddler could fit in.

“What the hell is all this?” I say, looking around at the room.

The place is set up like a photo shoot, complete with a white background and a camera in front of it. She’s got this mini airplane around her waist and her hair and makeup are all done up.

“It’s none of your business,” she growls, her face red with anger.

“I’m so sorry, Sammy. I didn’t know who else to call,” Nikki says from behind me.

“So you call the one person on this whole island I don’t want to talk to.” Sammy tries to put her hands on her hips, but the airplane is in the way, so she just crosses them.

“We’ve tried everything to get it off,” Nikki says, and points to a table with cooking oil, peanut butter, shampoo, butter, and about ten other things on it. “I told you not to pull it all the way up. You were just meant to sit in it.”

“Now is not the time to tell me how I screwed this up, Nikki,” Sammy says, sounding frustrated.

“Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?” I look between the two of them with my hands held out.

Sammy rolls her eyes.

Nikki sighs. “She wanted to take some pictures for her dating profile.”

“What?” I shout, and Sammy doesn’t even bother to look ashamed. Her face is smug and she raises her chin in challenge.

“Over my dead body,” I say through clenched teeth as I lean in closer to her.

“Good thing you gave me one already,” she snaps back.

Damn, it’s good to have her talking to me. Even if she’s pissed off. I glance down at the plastic plane around her waist and back up to her.

“How about I get you out of that and you let me take you home?” I offer.

“Not just no, but hell no.” She looks away, but not before I see the panic in her eyes. She hates tight spaces and I know she wants out of there.

“Fine. Looks like I’m no help. Y’all ladies have a good night,” I say and turn to walk out, but really I have no intention of leaving at all.

“Wait,” Sammy says after I’ve taken three steps.

I stop and turn slowly back around to face her.

“Fine. Get me out of it and you can take me home. But that’s it.”

“Deal,” I say and walk over to her.

I take a second to stand close to her because I’ve missed her so damn much. I hate not being near her, even if she won’t admit she’s mine.

“Well, are you going to help me or not?” she asks, looking down shyly.

I reach under the plane and flip the little lock that holds the whole thing together. Immediately, the plastic separates and falls to the ground. Her legs are covered in a mix of oils and are a sticky mess. I have to bite my lip to keep from smiling as she looks from the ground to me in shock.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“There was a latch?” Nikki asks in shock.

“It belongs to Mason Crawford. His boy was a bit husky, got stuck in it all the time. Mason had a latch put in,” I say as I grab the towel nearby and step closer to her. “I’m guessing he forgot to tell you about that.”

I start to rub the mess off her, but she makes a growling sound of frustration and jerks the towel out of my hand. She stomps past me and out of the room, and I can feel myself smiling for the first time in a while.