It was not subtle. It was not guarded. It was this completely open, completely unfiltered look of awe and relief and, well,love.
And I realized, in that exact moment, that Kate has it bad. Like, really bad. (Full disclosure: if it had been me and Peter, I’d have done the same or maybe worse. No, definitely worse.)
And here’s the thing that made it even more interesting—Eli looked at her differently, too. Not the way he looks at Tessa, but something new. Like he was seeing Kate for the first time.
“Next time,” he said, “don’t lock your knees before you jump.”
She laughed again, softer this time, like she wasn’t entirely convinced there would be a next time but also wasn’t ruling it out, which, for Kate, is basically a personality shift.
I swear, if he had asked her to jump again right then, she might have done it just so Eli could save her one more time.
Anyway, I did not jump, and I feel very good about that decision.
But I did witness what might be the exact moment Kate Wylie fell completely, irreversibly in love with my brother.
Love,
Viv
P.S. Now that I think about it, maybe I should have jumped so Peter could have saved me.
Emma held up two swimsuits—a navy one-piece in her left hand and a coral bikini in her right—and turned to Kate with the serious expression of someone facing a life-altering decision.
“One-piece, right?” she asked Kate. “It’s…appropriate.”
“For a nun,” Kate replied with a smile. “Not a seventeen-year-old with a gorgeous figure.”
Emma made a face. “Please. What has this figure done for me but make me a social pariah and the laughingstock of Eastmont High School?”
“No one from Eastmont is within a thousand miles. You’re going down to the beach with your seven-year-old cousin, which is a huge favor to Crista, by the way.” Kate stretched out on the king-sized bed she and Emma had been sharing. “I mean,Ineed a nap after an afternoon with Atlas, but Crista’s almost five months pregnant. Thank you for taking Nolie while Atlas sleeps. I’m sure you didn’t expect your summer vacation to turn into non-stop babysitting.”
“It’s fine, but I’m still going with the one-piece.” She tossed the bikini back into her suitcase—the pile of chaos she insisted on living out of while they were here—and headed toward thebathroom. “Maybe a cover-up, too. God forbid some random guy sees my skin and slaps me all over the internet.”
“Emma.”
She turned, flashing an unexpected smile. “That was a joke, Mom. I’m okay. Better than okay. Down here, I can actually forget the hot mess that is my life.”
When she stepped into the ensuite, Kate stretched out on her side of the king bed with a contented sigh.
Emmawasokay. She was chatty again, having a blast with the “littles,” as she called Atlas and Nolie. She was not the same girl who’d arrived in Destin a few weeks ago.
Eli always said the place was magic, and he wasn’t wrong.
Something had shifted in Emma since the day she went out on the boat.
So maybe it wasn’t magic. Maybe it was… Her gaze slid to the Bible on the nightstand. Emma read it in here alone, and sometimes at night. A satin ribbon held her place toward the end, whatever Eli had recommended she read.
Kate had no idea if the Bible had helped in Emma’s transformation, but something had. Not overnight, and not in any single dramatic moment, but gradually.
She laughed at breakfast now, easily volleying with Jonah or Crista about her weakness for Pop-Tarts. She volunteered to go grocery shopping with Vivien, happily played games with Nolie, stepped in to change or feed Atlas, and loved to play Wordle with her Grandma Jo.
Best of all, in the days while Eli had been in Atlanta, Kate and Emma had been together a lot, laughing, talking, and just soaking up the sun. She’d helped Kate plan a “dream date” she was going to spring on Eli when he got back in—she peered at her phone to check the time—less than an hour.
Thank goodness. She’d missed him so much. When Eli was gone from the Summer House, it was like someone had pulledthe plug and nothing worked quite right or was nearly as bright. The break had given her perspective and a bone-deep desire to hold him in her arms again.
Emma emerged in the navy one-piece and leaned over to miraculously produce a pair of white cutoffs from the suitcase mess. “And these.” Stepping into them and pulling up the zipper, she smiled. “Perfect for my date with a seven-year-old!”
“Have fun.”