Page 42 of Wrecked By You

We walked hand in hand back to the house.

He called out to the boys. “Stay around here. We are going to be cleaning up the kitchen.”

The boys both signaled they heard him.

“I was going to ask you something,” Damon said as we stepped inside.

“What’s that?”

“Dad asked if you would want to go boating tomorrow with the family. I mean, it is the Fourth of July weekend.”

I was stunned, and then memories of all of the Fourth of July weekends flooded me. “That would be nice. What time?”

Damon shrugged. “I’ll text you later and give you details. I could pick you up?” He snapped his fingers. “Or you could come go to the parade with us first, and then we’ll go out boating.”

Emotion filled me. I nodded. “I would love that.”

I could get used to this. I could get used to all of it.

Twenty

Damon

The next morning, Isla met us at my house. Trent and Jason were so excited. The Fourth of July parade was a big deal in Refuge Falls.

She parked her older Toyota Camry, and as I watched her walk up the stairs to my home, I felt so many things. It was true: I was falling for this woman really fast. Should I worry about that? The funny thing was, I didn’t.

We were waiting on the porch, and the kids were holding pillowcases for the candy. They had hats and sunscreen on. Even though it was barely nine o’clock in the morning, the sun was already beating down.

Isla gave them each a hug and then gave me a hug.

Jason turned to us. “Dad, do you love her?”

I froze, and Isla tensed up in my arms.

Trent asked, “Yeah, Isla, are you going to marry my dad?”

She pulled back and gave me a confused look.

I bent down into a crouching position and waved them toward me. “I’m so glad you guys are asking those questions. I will tell you that right now, we are dating. And I do have somefeelings for her. I don’t know if you two know this, but Isla and I were friends growing up, and I’m really glad she’s back in Refuge Falls.”

I held both boys close as they gave me curious looks. I wasn’t sure what they were thinking, but I could imagine that this might be hard for them.

Suddenly, Trent broke from my embrace, ran to Isla, and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’m glad you’re in Refuge Falls with us too. And I’m glad you’re coming to the parade with us and boating.” He looked up at her with a huge grin creasing those blue eyes.

My heart melted. I put my hands around her and hugged her too. “Me too.”

Jason played a little bit cooler, moving away from me and toward her, but not hugging her. “I think it’s cool you’re here.” He didn’t say anything else.

She smiled at him. “Should we walk down to Main Street?”

They both yelled, “Yes!”

We started walking down the sidewalk, and I took Isla’s hand in mine. The boys stayed up front in their cowboy boots and said hi to different friends as we made our way through town.

Soon we arrived at Kayla’s place. Kayla had restored a beautiful brick home on Main Street, which she also used for her real estate business. The main floor in the front was an office space. She used the upstairs floor for her living space, and she also had a downstairs area that she used for cold storage. We had all taken turns helping her with remodeling and painting. The home was painted white with black shutters, and she had a classy sign on the front that said “Armstrong Realty.”

Kayla was already in front of her house, handing out candy and talking with everyone who passed by. If any of us was going to run for politics one day, it would be her.