Sister Mother

Chapter 35

Leo

We went downstairs to the buffet. We stuffed ourselves with pastries, fluffy omelets and banana bread. Gabe forgot to get under my skin until Addie stole the check from me. He made a point of telling me that he and Beatrice would be with Addie and I all day long, and I'd never get a break from them.

That should have been a threat, but I was having fun with all three McKenna's.

We walked around the beach. Addie said that we couldn't go swimming until Beatrice stopped at the pharmacy, at which point Beatrice turned bright red and didn't speak for an hour. We got ice cream and watched a live ukulele band. One of the girls even let Beatrice try out her ukulele. When we got down by the water on the beach, Beatrice went off on a seashell hunt, something that she did with her mom when they were here last.

All three of them got misty-eyed, but didn't say anything.

Gabe watched silently as I lifted Addie out of her chair and onto a beach towel. He looked at the sky and tapped his chest twice. Addie grabbed his hand. Addie reminded us about sunscreen and insisted putting mine on for me. We got a few looks from some people who kept staring at us, but I didn't mind.

Around mid-afternoon, we headed back to the hotel, covered in sand, and trying to decide what to do for dinner. The bag of seashells Beatrice was carrying weighed her down so much that she could barely lift her arm, and she chatted nonstop about her favorite shells.

"I want to find someone who can put some of them on a necklace or a bracelet. Mom wanted to do that last time."

"We'll do that," Addie promised. "Gabe, do you remember the name of that arcade Dad liked?"

"Fun Factory. I think we passed it on the way to the hotel yesterday."

"We should go there too. And we should go sailing. They both loved that. Leo, have you ever—" She stopped speaking when Beatrice stopped in her tracks.

She stared at the door that led to the tennis court. The glass door was closed and there was a couple playing outside. Beatrice dropped her seashell bag. Her bottom lip quivered, and Gabe bent down to pick up her treasured shells. Addie grabbed Beatrice's hand, but didn't say anything.

"Do you play tennis?" I asked Beatrice.

All three pairs of eyes shot at me. I shrugged, not knowing why this was a big deal.

"I used to play," Beatrice said quietly. "I haven't in a while."

"I've never played, but if you want, you could teach me." I couldn't ignore the looks Addie and Gabe were giving me.

Addie had tears in her eyes and Gabe, who had been on my back since before the plane took off, was looking at me like he wanted to build me a shrine.

"You want to play tennis? With me?" Beatrice asked, hope twinkling in her gray eyes. Only a fool would say no to that kid.

"Sure thing." I pushed the door open and held it open for the McKenna's.

None of them moved, instead they had a silent conversation that went over my head.

"Go ahead, Bea," Gabe said after a few moments. He drove his scooter to the side and made room for his younger sister. "Go play tennis."

Beatrice smiled and followed me out to the court.

Addie

Leo rented rackets for himself and Beatrice. Gabe and I sat on a bench in the corner of the court and watched Beatrice show Leo how to hold a racket.

"Does he know it was Bea's favorite thing to do with Dad?" Gabe asked after several minutes.

I shook my head. "I've never mentioned it to him."