Free Chasing Julia (Rhode Island Romance #2) by Sophia Renny Page A

flickered
to her blouse. “It’s a little muddy.”
    “That’s okay.”
    They headed in
different directions once they stepped onto the marshy ground. She found a
long, skinny branch among the low-lying greenery and snapped it in half across
her knee. She swiped her hands on her khakis, leaving smudges. She didn’t care.
    Tony was cutting
twine into equal lengths when she returned to the pier. He handed her two
lengths, and she tied one end to each of her sticks. He slit open the pack of
chicken wings with his pocketknife. They baited their lines, set up the poles
and dropped the lines into the water.
    She flopped down on
her stomach and stretched her arms towards the water so she could rinse off her
hands. He lay down next to her and did the same. The water was cool and clear.
She scanned the rocks and tree branches on the bottom, searching for movement
in the shadows.
    Tony scooted back
onto his knees, grabbed the bucket and dunked it into the water. Then he poured
it into the empty ice chest. He repeated the motion until the chest was half
full.
    “Feeling lucky?”
she asked.
    “Always.”
    He sat on the edge
of the pier and dangled his legs over the water.
    She moved back a
little, still on her stomach, and crossed her arms on the warm, sun-bleached
wood. She rested her cheek on her arms, relishing the afternoon sunshine
kissing her face, her arms, the backs of her legs. “This is my favorite time of
year,” she confided softly. “There’s something about September that makes me
happy and a little sad at the same time. For me, it’s more of a time for new
beginnings and resolutions than January is. Maybe it goes back to that
back-to-school feeling we had when we were kids, you know what I mean? We’re
getting organized again, getting ready for the winter. And that’s the sad part,
knowing there won’t be too many more days like this before the snow arrives.”
    He smiled at her
upturned face. “I know what you mean. I like this time of year, too. The
humidity is gone. The summer crowd is gone. It’s quieter. More peaceful.”
    “Do you come here
often?”
    “Yes.”
    He didn’t expand on
that.
    There was a tug on
one of the lines. Julia pushed herself to her knees and grabbed the net. “Can I
do it this time?”
    His brows lifted in
pleased surprise. “You sure?”
    “Yep. And I don’t
want you waving the net in my face like last time.”
    His teeth flashed
in a grin. He tugged carefully on the line. They both watched the blue crab
rise to the surface, clutching onto the chicken wing for dear life. “Hold the
net out,” Tony said.
    She leaned forward
with the net. He yanked the string up and over, gave it a shake. The crab
wouldn’t let go. Tony pinched the back part of the top and bottom of its body
and tugged the crab loose from its booty. It fell into the net. “Drop it into
the ice chest.”
    Another one of the
lines began to shake. Working together, they hauled in four crabs in quick
order. Tony watched them scrabbling along the bottom of the ice chest. “Not
enough meat yet,” he observed. “Let’s try for a few more.”
    They kicked off
their shoes and sat side by side, eyes on the lines as they sipped at the
bottled water Tony had bought. Julia tipped her face towards the sun. “This was
my favorite memory of that day,” she said. “Just sitting. Enjoying a rare
moment of peace with you.”
    His brief laugh
contained a hint of self-deprecation. “They were rare.”
    She gave him a direct
look. “It wasn’t easy being around you back then, you know. I always had to be
so careful about what I said, the way I acted. After the accident, for a while,
you were very sweet with me. I wasn’t trying to be your mother. I just wanted
to be your friend.”
    His mouth twisted
in a regretful grimace. “I know. Things just got weird. I was twelve. Going
through puberty. You were—are—a pretty girl.”
    She felt her face
color. “What? Are you… Are you saying you were attracted to