Cade shakes his head and groans. He lays his head down on the table, “No he found us asleep in their bed.”

“You never sleep at a girl’s house.” Jeremy pipes in.

“No kidding. I was so drunk I passed the hell out.” Jeremy cuts him off, “Sorry Ava, Uncle Cade’s having a bad day.” He wipes her hands and face. “Why don’t you run upstairs in my room and play with your dolls for a few minutes and then as soon as Aunt Rhea and Uncle Tanner get here we will take you down to the beach.” Ava jumps down from the chair and runs into the hallway. “So finish.”

“I was woken up with a right hook. It took me a few minutes to figure out where I was once the pain subsided. The bitch kept saying she was sorry to her boyfriend, begging him not to leave her. I got my shit and got out of there.”

I go into the freezer and look around for something for his face. I spot an ice pack. I take it and wrap it in a paper towel before I hand it to Cade.

“Thanks.” Cade puts the ice pack up to his eye and then rests his head back on the table.

“When are you ever gonna settle down?” Knox asks.

“When you do?” Cade retorts back quickly. Knox shoots me a glance. I respond with a half-smile.

Jeremy’s laugh starts out low before Rex joins in and now they are both full out laughing. “Looks like it might happen sooner rather than later.”

I shake my head and glance over at Summer who has a Cheshire Cat smile on her face.

Finally Rhea and Tanner walk in with a bag of ice in each of their hands. Jeremy runs up to get Ava while Tanner puts the ice in the cooler on the back deck. When everything and everyone is ready we all head down to the beach.

When I heard Ava’s voice, I knew that was the reason Jeremy had come looking for us. He’s a great father to that little girl but he doesn’t think he knows what to do with her. Jeremy had a one night stand with some girl he met at a bar. He swore black and blue that she was the one for him but the next morning she was gone, he said. Two months later, when we were all hanging down at the beach, she came looking for Jeremy. She told him she was eight weeks pregnant and it was his. It destroyed Jeremy. He didn’t know whether to believe her or not. He did what any of us would have done and was there for her; he went to every doctor’s appointment, every ultrasound and everything else.

When Ava was born Jeremy said he wanted a paternity test before signing her birth certificate. Weeks later Jeremy got the results, ninety-nine point nine percent Jeremy’s. He signed Ava’s birth certificate the next day. He went to April’s house, Ava’s mom, and they talked for a long time. Jeremy gave it everything he had to make it work but in the end it just didn’t.

When I see Jeremy and Ava together it makes me long for that, for something I missed out on.

16

I’ve helped Ava build sandcastles for the last two hours. She was having problems keeping her little eyes open so I took her back to our blankets and towels where she crawled up next to me and passed out. Jeremy comes over and covers her in a towel so her precious little skin doesn’t burn.

“If I move her she’ll never go back to sleep.” Jeremy explains why he doesn’t just take her back to the house.

“I was the same way. Maria, my nanny, used to find me fast asleep in the weirdest spots. She never moved me, just covered me and let me be.” My chest tightens at the thought of Maria. I miss her and feel bad that when I wrote my parents off, I wrote her off too.

“Ava is a light sleeper like her mom.” Jeremy stares out over the ocean, “Me, on the other hand, I can sleep through anything.”

“I can’t believe you have a daughter, Jeremy.” I say as I run a finger through the sand, making different shapes and watching the sand quickly fill it back in.

“I kind of can’t believe it sometimes either. I love that little girl with all my heart. I wish things could have worked out with her mom and I but,” Jeremy shakes his head. “It is what it is.”

I want to ask what happened with them but I figure if he wants me to know he’ll tell me.

Knox, Rex and Summer walk over to where we are laying out on the towels. Knox shakes his head, spraying me with water from his hair.

I shirk and then cringe when I remember Ava next to me fast asleep. “That’s cold.”

Knox sits next to me, “It is not. If your little side kick would have let you come in the water with us you would know that it really isn’t that bad.”

Jeremy chuckles, “Jealous much?”

“Shut up, Asshole.” Knox quips back while glaring at his best friend.

Rhea comes up next with Tanner following right behind. They lay down on their towels next to each other, on the other side of Jeremy. We are all sitting around talking about nothing and everything. The boys crack jokes on each other and everybody laughs in all good fun. I love just sitting back and listening to all the banter between everyone. This is what it feels like to have real, true, friends. I have a small sense of jealousy because other than having Summer I really never had anyone else. It didn’t bother me so much back then but now that I see what I missed out on, it really bothers me.

Suddenly, realizing Cade is missing from the group, I look around for him. Last I saw he was messing with a bunch of girls that were playing volley ball.

“He left with one of those girls he was talking to about an hour ago.”

I lift my sunglasses from my face, “How did you know that was who I was looking for?”

Knox runs a finger along the side of my thigh and in its wake he leaves a trail of goose bumps.

He smirks, knowing what he’s doing to me. “I just knew.”

And that shuts me up. He just knows. I position my sunglasses back on my face and lie back on my blanket. Knox reaches over and grabs for my pinky with his. After a few minutes I drift off to sleep.

“Princess Jasmine,” Ava yells at me.

I lie there with my eyes opened, knowing she can’t see them through my sunglasses.

“She’s sleeping little lady.” Knox says from the other side of me. “She’s pretty while she’s sleeping isn’t she?”

Ava giggles, “She’s butiful like a pretty, pretty, princess.”

I can’t stop the smile that breaks out on my face. “You’re the prettiest princess there is.” I reach up and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. Little Ava’s scrunches up her little nose and smiles back at me.

My stomach growls so loud it causes Ava and Knox to laugh. “Well I guess we know who’s hungry.”