more, but it wasn’t in the cards. So we let Amber fill the house with her friends.”
“That’s nice.”
“I bet you can’t wait to have children of your own.” She claps her hands together. “Oh how Margaret would have loved great grandkids.”
“No,” she says quickly. “Kids aren’t in my future.”
“Oh,” Faith says, as surprised as I am by her fast answer. She was so good with Amber, I thought for sure she would want kids of her own someday. Interesting.
“I’m an only child, too,” Kira says, glancing at the school picture of Amber on the wall, her look is wistful, and it seems like her thoughts are a million miles away. As they often are.
“Did you want siblings growing up?” Faith asks.
A long pause, and then she casts me a glance. “I did. But it looks like I have a lot of brothers and sisters now, at Gram’s B&B.” Beer bottle dangling from my fingertips, I note the smooth way she switched gears, lightening the conversation. I’m not sure why she thought she wasn’t good at small talk.
Faith laughs, and her gaze slides to me, as I take a pull from my bottle. “Is that how it is over there?” She arches a brow, skepticism all over her face when she says, “Everyone treating you like a sister?”
I nearly choke on my drink, and a bright pink flush crawls up Kira’s neck. “Ah…” she says.
“She fits right in,” I say, coming to her rescue. “The guys wouldn’t let her out of the house without a coat. They even started a coat fund, but Kira found one in the closet.”
“That’s not the only fund they’ve started,” Faith says.
“What are you talking about?” Kira asks.
“Over at the Anchor. They have a pickle jar and are collecting tips to save the place.”
“I saw that jar when I was having lunch with Ralph and Mindy.”
“They’re going to need a lot of tips,” I add.
Faith opens her mouth like she’s going to say more, but Albert pipes in. “You signed up for the pumpkin regatta tomorrow?” he asks me.
“What’s a pumpkin regatta?” Kira asks.
“Lordy, girl, you don’t know? Then you have to sign up.”
“Ah…” she says. “What does it involve?”
“We all head out to Fancy Lake Provincial Park, and Pumpkins from Howard Dill’s farm are carved out for us to race in them. Dill grows the biggest pumpkins in Nova Scotia. Some are over one-thousand pounds.”
“That’s insane,” Kira says.
“Years ago, Martha Stewart was supposed to race, but her plane got fogged in at the Maine airport.”
“Wow, and while that sounds…interesting, I don’t really like being in the water.”
“Good thing you have Nate here, then,” Albert says, as he tosses his arm over my shoulder, not an easy task with the big block of plastic cheese around my body. “He can’t get enough of the open sea. But this isn’t a very big lake, and it’s all supervised by the fire department. You can go as partners. Faith and I team up. Of course, you two don’t stand a chance at beating us. We’re the town’s champions three years running.”
“Well, that sounds like a challenge,” I say. “What do you say, Kira?”
She crinkles that cute little nose of hers, and her painted on whiskers wiggle. “Can I think about it?”
I nod, and she stifles a yawn. I glance at my watch. “Well if we do go tomorrow, we’re going to want to beat you guys, so we’d better get a good night’s sleep.”
Kira gives me an appreciative smile and stands. “Thanks so much for having us. It was really nice to meet everyone, and I liked hearing all about Gram.”
Faith hugs her, and I shake hands with Albert.
We head outside.
“Thank you, Nate.”
Jesus, fuck, could she be any more adorable? “I can’t wait to get out of this,” I say, tugging on the cheese so I can fit behind the wheel. I start the vehicle, and Kira chuckles. I glare at her