Page 30 of Set to Love

When I pull beneath the covered entrance of his hotel, neither of us immediately moves. The engine idles between us while guests hop off a shuttle bus and wheel their suitcases through the automatic doors. Max turns toward me. “Today was brilliant.”

“So what’s the verdict? What was the highlight of your day? The manatees? Belugas? Macaws? We covered a lot of ground today.”

He considers it for several moments. “Actually, it was the company. Definitely the best I’ve had in a long time.”

My stomach flips as he grins at me and gently bumps his elbow against my shoulder. “Good answer.”

We sit in silence for another moment before he reaches for the door handle. “Wait,” I say, suddenly remembering the small paper bag tucked inside my purse. Max pauses as I dig through the black hole of receipts, lip balm, and loose hair ties. When I finally find what I’m looking for, I hold it out to him. “This is for you.”

He turns the brown bag over in his hands and slides out a four by six postcard. The front shows two manatees drifting through the clear blue water with “Florida” across the bottom in a cursive yellow script.

His expression softens. “You found one.”

“I picked it up at the gift shop yesterday,” I say, smiling. “Now you have something from the Orlando stop for your collection.”

He studies the picture, tracing one thumb along the edge. “This one is going to be one of my favorites.”

I mentally high-five myself for pulling this off. I thought he might have picked up a postcard like it at Neptune Bay, but thankfully the only thing he bought was a stuffed otter for his sister and a T-shirt for his brother.

As he flips it over, he says, “You haven’t written anything.”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to.”

“Of course you are. Otherwise, I might forget who gave it to me.”

The teasing glint in his eyes tells me he doesn’t actually believe that for a second.

I take the postcard back and find a pen in the center console. After a moment of thought, I write:

For the day we both took a few risks. —Katie

When I hand it back, Max reads the message twice. It feels like the air inside the car shifts, echoing the moment we had earlier today in the tank room. My heart does a slow, heavy thud as I wonder if he might lean across the console and finish what we started. Instead, he slips the postcard carefully back into the bag.

He lets out a slow, reluctant breath. “I should go.” He doesn’t sound particularly eager.

“Probably,” I agree, my chest tightening.

He opens the door, then glances back at me. “Thank you for today, Katie. For all of it. I had a brilliant time.”

“You’re welcome. I did too.”

“We’ll have to do it again. Soon,” he winks as my pulse skips. “Cheers Keller.”

He closes the door and gives me one last wave before disappearing through the hotel doors. I keep watching the hotel entrance for a few extra moments. The passenger seat suddenly feels a whole lot emptier than it did ten seconds ago.

Ten

Thwack. I step into the forehand, driving the neon-yellow tennis ball deep into the corner.

Thwack. Zoe lunges. Her sneakers chirp against the court’s surface as she moves forward and slices the ball back over the net.

Big mistake. She’s left the rest of the court wide open, and I intend to take full advantage of it. I pull my racquet back and send the ball into a high lob, right over her head. It bounces dead on the baseline.

“My point!” I shout, backing up for the next rally.

“Okay! Mercy!” Zoe laughs, holding up her racquet as she huffs for air. “Time for a water break before I collapse.”

We head over to the bench where our bags and bottles are sitting in the narrow strip of shade cast by the chain-link fence. The sun has cleared the horizon. Even at seven in the morning, the heat has begun to set in. I unscrew the cap and take a long swig, letting the ice-cold water run down my throat.