Spring Break Secret by Holly Rayner
Louisa
Tom had offered to pick Louisa up for their lunch date, and since she would be at her office that day, she agreed. Louisa still wasn’t sure about having Tom come to the beach bungalow, since she wanted to have a clear conversation with Rei and with her parents before they met him, but she was happy enough to have a break from poring over water quality reports.
Tom pulled up in a sleek sports car, this time in a pearlescent blue that reflected the sky so well Louisa thought she might be able to fall into it. Even the clouds that floated by overhead were perfectly recreated in the car’s mirror-like paint job, though they shimmered with a bit of extra sparkle thanks to the iridescent paint. It was a convertible, like the last car Tom had driven her around in, and the top was folded down.
“Cool car,” Louisa said. “Is it yours?”
“Yep,” Tom replied. “Nick drove it down when he came to set up the offices, but now that I’m here, I get to use it whenever I want.”
Louisa sat down on the creamy white leather of the passenger seat. She rarely got to touch anything this luxurious, let alone ride in it. “I like the color,” she said. “It goes with your eyes.”
Tom laughed. “That’s exactly what my mom said when I bought it!”
“Moms know these things.” Louisa pulled her hair back in a ponytail, knowing how convertibles and the windy seaside air could combine to turn her red curls into a mess of tangles. “I’m always telling Rei she has the most beautiful eyes, and I’m sure she’s tired of hearing that, but it’s true.”
Tom started the car, its engine a low purr as they slid out onto the streets of La Vega. “What color eyes does she have?”
“Blue.” Louisa looked over at Tom, recognizing the same clear sky blue in his eyes. “She has your eyes.”
Tom smiled, a big, wide grin that spread across his entire face. “I’m sure she’s just perfect. I never thought I’d be lucky enough to have a little girl.”
Tom’s choice of words warmed Louisa’s heart, and it was also a bit surprising to hear. Although everyone in Louisa’s life and community doted on Rei, the fact that Louisa had become a young single mother before even graduating college was never really referred to as “lucky.” It felt good to be around someone who was just as thrilled about Rei’s presence in the world as Louisa was, no matter the circumstances.
“I’ve been very lucky to be her mom,” Louisa said. “Among…other things. She’s certainly a handful.”
“I bet.” Tom pulled the car out from the narrow surface streets of La Vega and onto the winding coastal highway. “Where do you want to go for lunch?”
Louisa leaned back against the seat, taking in the lovely view all around her. “I’m not really that hungry,” she confessed. “What are you in the mood for?”
“I was kind of hoping you’d say that,” Tom said, flashing her a smile. “Because I was thinking we might go for a little drive before lunch. It seems a shame to have a car like this in such a gorgeous area and not get to really enjoy it.”
“Sounds great!”
Tom revved the engine, letting the car pick up speed, and Louisa squealed with delight as he took a tight turn around a particularly tall hill. Outside, the ocean stretched far beyond her view, all the way out to the horizon. Ivory-colored sand dunes rose and fell as they passed, looking like one of the graphs from her reports, an endless line of sharp dips and high curves. Overhead, seagulls screamed and swooped, and the green heads of palm trees whizzed by along the road.
They made a huge loop, taking the drive up past the outskirts of La Vega before turning around and swinging back through town until they’d reached the boardwalk parking lot, which was crammed, as usual.
“There’s never parking here,” Louisa bemoaned. “It used to only get bad during spring break and things like that, but now it’s endless.”
“I’ll find us a spot,” Tom promised. “Don’t you worry.”
He slowly circled the quaint little downtown and boardwalk area as teenagers sipping on slushies ogled at the fancy sports car. Finally, they found parking a few blocks away, and Tom opened the car door for Louisa, taking her hand as she stepped out.
Despite everything, Tom was still a perfect gentleman, treating her to lunch, taking her for drives, making sure to open the door for her. Louisa reminded herself of the serious conflict between them—his refusal to change the plans for his new development, and her commitment to stopping the project by any means necessary—but that didn’t stop her from falling for him as a person regardless.
His charm was slowly but surely winning her over, Louisa had to admit, as he suggested Fins ’n’ Fishes for lunch. “For old time’s sake,” he said, and there was no way Louisa could say no to that.
In the time since Tom had visited, Joseph had expanded his little fish and chips shack to a much larger building, and he had two franchise locations elsewhere in La Vega. Louisa greeted the owner, his red apron stretched taut over his big round belly, and he welcomed Tom with a heavy handshake.
“You must be a real special one,” he said, giving Louisa a wink. “Squid here rarely brings outsiders around. She’s got a bit of a thing about recommending local gems to tourists.”
“Oh, stop,” Louisa scolded. It was true, though—when people stopped her on the boardwalk and asked for her recommendations, she rarely sent them to Fins ’n’ Fishes. It was a local haven, intended to serve the people who lived and worked in La Vega, and she hated the idea of seeing it overtaken by the fast-paced, overly kitschy tourist culture that had invaded and infected much of her beloved hometown.
“I hope to be worthy of the honor,” Tom said, returning Joseph’s handshake.
They got their baskets of fish and chips, served in compostable cardboard, and settled down on a green painted bench overlooking the water. Kids were playing, a couple was arguing about how best to get a mangled kite string untangled, and a handful of teenagers were posing for pictures with a sandcastle.
“You weren’t lying,” Tom said, biting into his golden fried fish. “People around here really do still call you Squid.”
“Would I lie to you?” Louisa dipped a French fry into her favorite sauce.
“I mean…” Tom said. “You kind of did, the day we met.”
“I’ll never live that down,” Louisa moaned. “What’s a little white lie when it comes to saving the sea turtles?”
“I bet Mr. Leatherback never told a lie in his entire life,” Tom said.
“Well, that’s just because, as we established earlier, he never went to business school.”
“Ouch!” Tom slapped a hand over his chest as if he had just been wounded. But Louisa could tell that she hadn’t gone too far with her teasing, since he was still smiling. “I guess I can’t argue with that, since I did take an entire class on negotiations and there were a lot of, er, creative representation strategies there.”
Louisa gave a satisfied smile. She may like Tom’s personality, and she may have been enjoying her time with him on the beach, but she hadn’t forgotten his role as the villain of her story, owner and CEO of the company currently trying to push through a dangerous project.
She wondered whether she should bring up the Comentex issue once again, to see if perhaps Tom’s position could be softened a bit after spending some quality time with her and munching on the best fish and chips ever made, but something stopped her. She was having such a good afternoon spending time with Tom, and she really did want him to be part of Rei’s life. There would be more opportunities to discuss the development project, she told herself.
“Hey—hey!” Tom was swinging his foot around as a particularly bold seagull tugged on his shoelace. “Stop that!”
Louisa laughed at Tom’s predicament for a minute before clapping her hands loudly and shooing the seagull away. It fluttered its wings, landing only a few feet from them and staring sullenly at Tom’s basket of French fries.
“You’ve got to watch them,” Louisa said. “They’re fiends for a French fry. If you’re not careful, they’ll snatch one right out of your hands.”
“That’s very rude,” Tom scolded the seagull.
“Seagulls aren’t exactly known for their good manners,” Louisa joked. “I remember once when I was a kid, I was walking down the boardwalk with an ice cream cone all covered in sprinkles, and a seagull just swooped down and took a huge bite out of it.”
“Gross!” Tom scrunched up his face.
“It happens all the time. Usually the ice cream man will give you a second one if yours gets wrecked by a seagull. He did give me a good talking-to, though, since I grew up around here and should have known better. I learned never to let my guard down on the boardwalk while holding food.”
“Man, that’s some origin story. Attacked as a child by seagulls, then learning to become a boardwalk vigilante.” Tom put on a deep, cheesy superhero voice. “You must never let your guard down around the thieving gulls, young one.”
“Your mission,” Louisa continued, also adopting an exaggeratedly deep voice, “is to protect all manner of treats from the dastardly advances of the seagulls. Ice cream cones, French fries, even cotton candy.”
Tom laughed, his voice returning to normal. “If La Vega had a real superhero, it would certainly be you.”
“I just do my best,” Louisa said with a shrug. “There are lots of environmental activists working in the area, and plenty of other people trying to keep La Vega a safe, healthy place.”
“You know who needs a superhero,” Tom said, pointing to the couple still fighting with a massively knotted-up kite cord, and with each other. “Those guys.”
“Sadly, I can’t untangle a mess like that. It’s beyond even my seagull-thwarting abilities.”
“A mess like what? The cord, or the couple?”
Louisa giggled. Tom was funny, and attentive, and she liked the idea of herself as a seagull-themed La Vega vigilante hero. They stayed on the bench long enough to finish their fish and chips, and Tom took both baskets to the green composting can a few yards away down the beach.
When he returned, he sat down closer to Louisa than he had been before, then stretched one arm out and draped it over her shoulders. Though it was a hot day, Louisa snuggled in close, letting Tom hold her on the bench as she leaned her head against him.
She felt his fingers toying with her hair, which was still up in the ponytail from their convertible ride, and Louisa reached up to pull out the hair tie and let him stroke her scalp, playing with each red curl. The movement had the happy bonus of turning her head toward his, and just as she had on the beach the night before, Louisa found herself kissing Tom.
It wasn’t quite as passionate an embrace as the night before, given that they were on a crowded beach in the middle of the day, but no one paid the two of them much mind. Plenty of people had romantic moments on the beach, and Louisa knew that anyone walking by would simply assume they were another couple on vacation, or a pair of short-term lovers caught up in a fling while both visiting the same place.
Louisa wasn’t sure which conclusion would be more correct.