the side of her legs. ‘Don’t get me wrong, there were a couple of occasions when certain guys didn’t want to take no for an answer and got quite aggressive, but Serenity got me out of there pretty quickly. Say whatever you like about her, the one thing she always did was protect me.’
‘She sounds like a complicated woman,’ Kelley rolled the half empty beer bottle between his palms.
‘Complicated?’ Ava smiled, ‘no, not that complicated. She loved freedom, she loved rolling from one day to the next never knowing where she was going to land or what adventure the world would bring. She loved endless possibilities and not being tied down, and most importantly she loved weed.’
‘Sounds like you’ve lived an interesting life,’ Kelley replied. ‘I’ve never left Midnight, well except on vacation but my roots are here, it’s my home.’
‘You’re lucky then,’ Ava murmured as she studied his face, ‘I’ve never had a home. We settled for a while in San Francisco, when Serenity met my dad.’ Her voice trailed off as she began to pick absently at the label on her bottle. ‘We were a family for a while.’
‘What happened?’
She looked up and blinked; she’d been lost in her thoughts and for a moment had forgotten about him.
‘He died,’ she replied, ‘motorbike accident, it was a blind corner, the sun was low. The truck driver never saw him.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Kelley replied genuinely, ‘are you close to your dad’s family?’
‘They’re dead too,’ she chuckled, ‘are you sensing a theme here? My dad came over from El Salvador when he was a teenager, his whole family were killed in the civil war.’
‘Wow,’ Kelley’s brows rose, ‘I don’t’ know what to say. I can’t imagine what that’s like. I come from a huge family. We are legion, I’ve lost count of how many cousins I’ve got.’
‘So, I hear from your sister in law.’
‘She’s a sweetheart,’ Kelley grinned.
‘She warned me to stay away from you.’
‘She’s a crazy woman who doesn’t know what she’s saying due to a massive hormonal imbalance.’
Ava laughed out loud; it was the first time he’d seen her really laugh. Not a polite, slightly amused chuckle but an honest to god belly laugh. She lit up like a roman candle and he found himself staring at her like a stunned gazelle.
‘I liked her,’ Ava smiled.
‘She liked you too,’ he shook his head in amusement, ‘judging by the twenty messages she left on my phone, grilling me about the woman I met in the bar the night before.’
Ava looked up as the sky rumbled suddenly, very loud and very close.
‘Looks like it’s going to storm,’ Ava murmured as she began to pack away all of her herbs and spices and utensils before the rain hit.
‘Yeah,’ Kelley gazed at the turbulent sky.
The stars had disappeared and the black vastness above them was now a boiling swirling mass of dark gray streaks.
‘You should probably go,’ she packed everything into the back of her truck and covered it over.
There was another loud bang, setting Bailey barking madly and the sky lit up like the fourth of July, highlighting the choppy ocean in the distance, the blackness of the water punctuated by the white frothy edges of the turbulent waves.
‘You’re seriously going to make me walk back in the storm by myself?’
‘You’re not scared, are you?’ she tilted her head as she watched him.
‘Yes,’ he grinned, ‘I’m terrified. You should probably stay close and hold my hand.’
‘Nice try,’ she chuckled as the first fat drops of rain began to fall.
They stood staring at each other as the rain began to pound down, soaking them almost instantly.
‘Welcome to Maine,’ he told her with an amused smile. ‘The weather’s temperamental.’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ she rolled her eyes and peeled back the opening to the tent, ‘get in.’
‘I don’t know if I should,’ he blinked demurely, ‘I’m not that kind of boy. What if you’re using the storm as an excuse to take advantage of me?’
She found herself laughing out loud again.
‘Just get in the tent before I change my mind, I’m getting soaked here.’
Kelley threw her a grin and ducked into the tent, stumbling and falling to the ground which was covered with sleeping bags, blankets and pillows. He twisted as he hit the ground, jarring his shoulder as he rolled onto his back.
Still as suave as ever, he thought in amusement but at least this time he’d not knocked himself unconscious. Suddenly a big wet dog bounded into the tent, trampling all over him, the