About That Kiss. Cindy Miles

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СКАЧАТЬ dressed in a blue tank top and white shorts and sneakers, pointed toward the pier. “From that man with the cart?”

      Sean squinted as she glanced at the hot dog vendor and his pushcart with a broad, red-and-white-striped umbrella. “But you need veggies, sweetie.”

      Willa crossed her skinny little arms over her chest. “Mama, you don’t get veggies at a hot dog cart.” She clasped her hands together and jumped up and down. “Pleeeeeease?”

      “Okay, but double veggies tomorrow night.”

      Willa took off toward the vendor, and Sean followed. “Two, please,” she requested. “And a bottle of water.”

      “Put lots of ketchup and mustard on mine, please,” Willa requested.

      “No onions?” a low voice said from behind.

      Sean turned and came face-to-face with the bearded jogger from the cemetery. Well, face-to-face only after she looked way up. He was tall—at least six foot one or two. He wore a kerchief tied around his head, and dark shades covered his eyes. She couldn’t help but notice the size of his biceps, and the sun-kissed color of his skin. He was every bit as mammoth as she’d thought the night before. A force she would be unable to stop, if the situation came down to that. She pushed herself to her full height, edging herself between the stranger and her daughter. In a way, she felt silly. They were in public. Just a small coastal town. More than likely, everyone within a hundred-yard radius knew him. Yet, he unsettled her. So she took caution.

      Willa, though, peered around Sean and looked at him, too, and made a face. “Those are stinky,” she said. “Mama, why are you in my way?”

      “Willa,” Sean warned. Suddenly, she wanted to be...away. Not in this place. Not with attention drawn to them. It was the last thing she wanted.

      “Yeah, but good on a dog,” the stranger said, continuing his conversation with Willa. His voice had a slight rasp. A slightly lilted Carolina accent. “You should try it.” One corner of his mouth lifted, and Sean noticed full lips and straight white teeth. “Best dogs on the Eastern Seaboard.”

      “What is an Eastern Seaboard?” Willa asked.

      “Pah! Eastern Seaboard. Best dogs of anywhere in world!” the vendor cried out in a broken accent. He seemed like a friendly guy, and clearly was a regular on the beachfront.

      “Sorry, Hendrik. Best dogs of anywhere in the world,” the stranger agreed.

      “For the lady?” Hendrik asked Sean. She noticed he was polite, too. Respectful. She liked that.

      “Just mustard for me, thanks,” she answered the vendor, watching his dark brown eyes assess her closely.

      “Are you gonna get stinky onions all over yours?” Willa asked the stranger.

      “I am,” he replied. “You?”

      “Nah,” Willa replied.

      “Willa, what have I told you?” Sean needed to stop the exchange. Willa would talk to a goat if she’d let her. Her daughter had no fear, and that alone put terror into Sean’s heart.

      Willa sighed. “Never talk to strangers,” she answered, then looked at the stranger, squinting against the sun. “Mama says child abductors and serial killers and just plain ole weirdos lurk everywhere and that I should be extra extremely careful.”

      “Willa,” Sean growled. She glanced at the stranger, wishing she could at least see his eyes. You could tell a lot in a person’s eyes, she’d learned. That grin remained on his face.

      “It’s true,” Hendrik added. “Must be careful at all times, little one. Many weirdos.” He handed her the hot dogs, wrapped in red-and-white-checkered waxed paper, and pulled an icy-cold bottle of water from a cooler. “That’s seven American dollars,” he said.

      Sean handed him a ten-dollar bill. “Thanks, and keep the change.” She handed Willa her hot dog, and they headed out onto the pier. As they passed the stranger, her daughter, with mouth crammed full of hot dog, gave him a curious eye.

      “Bye,” Willa mumbled around the bite she’d just taken.

      He merely waved.

      Perhaps Sean had misjudged the stranger. In all sincerity, he was obviously a local and friendly with the townspeople. The exchange he’d had with Willa had been...harmless. He was just making casual conversation. Wasn’t he?

      As she and Willa wandered the pier filled with locals and tourists fishing along the sides, Sean felt the stranger’s eyes on her. She’d been so...aware of him. Of his presence looming beside her. Yet she hadn’t felt that threat of fear that usually accompanied her initial internal terror. The vendor had seemed to like him. And, for that matter, so had Willa. Still, Sean and her daughter were not locals. They were summer tourists. She had zero plans to get to know anyone on a personal level.

      But when Sean turned, the stranger wasn’t lurking and staring at her, as she’d thought. He was gone, and Hendrik had a new set of customers at his cart.

      That probably wouldn’t be the last she saw of the stranger, though. This was a small island. They couldn’t stay cooped up in their river house all summer long. And despite her repeated warnings to Willa, her opinionated daughter would undoubtedly make some sort of conversation with the stranger. Who, while somewhat reserved, would converse back. If not him, another stranger. Willa was...verbose in the most charming of ways, to say the very least. People couldn’t help but engage with her. It was nearly unavoidable. But Sean would again try to caution her daughter.

      “Willa, sweetie,” she began, as they walked. The sun’s rays warmed her bare arms and legs, and made Willa’s hair shine. “You can’t just talk to any and everybody. You never know who a person really is.”

      Willa’s tongue darted out to catch a glob of ketchup on her chin. “That’s why you talk to people, Mama. Then you know who they really are.”

      Sean sighed. Willa was too smart for her own good sometimes. “I mean,” she began again, “you never know about people. Sometimes, they could be... I don’t know. Hiding something.”

      Willa squinted as she looked at her. “You mean, like hiding candy in their pocket?”

      Sean shook her head. They reached the end of the pier. “No, honey. Like...that man you were chatting with. He could be, I don’t know. A stalker!” She knelt down to look Willa eye-to-eye. “He probably isn’t, but that’s the thing. You never know. So you have to be really, really careful about who you talk to. Understand?”

      “Yes, ma’am,” Willa said slowly. She turned to the water then, chewing on her hot dog, and by the quizzical expression on her face, Willa was turning everything Sean had said over and over in her mind.

      Sean could only hope her daughter retained some of her advice.

      * * *

      A FEW DAYS later Sean and Willa drove into the next town—over the marsh, past the Coast Guard station and over the drawbridge—to shop at the larger grocery store. Sean wanted to stock up so she wouldn’t have to make another trip in for at least a month. Since it was just her and Willa, they didn’t need a lot, but still—certain foods disappeared fast. They СКАЧАТЬ