She pelted him again with the bag. “It’s not funny! I have to live in this town!”

He attempted to wipe the smile off his face and withdrew a wad of twenties from his pocket.

Janey snatched the money and thrust the bag at him. “It’s going to take years of therapy to recover from this.”

“You’re the best, Janey.” Mac gave her a noisy smooch on the cheek.

She pushed him away. “I hate you more than anything.”

He poked her ribs. “Do not.”

“I’m off to get a brain scrub to erase this unsavory incident from my memory.”

“Come by Maddie’s this weekend. Let’s hang out.”

“No way I’m coming near the two of you until the supply is exhausted.”

Mac grinned. “We’ll be giving thanks to Janey McCarthy every time.”

Hands over ears, she shrieked and stalked off.

Mac laughed all the way home.

Even though Maddie wore a conservative one-piece bathing suit, sure enough every guy on the beach checked her out. Mac told himself it didn’t matter, but he was lying. He wondered if he’d ever behaved so stupidly around a full-figured woman. Probably. A nearby group of young men were particularly enthralled, and Mac glared at them.

“Lucky man,” he heard one of them say with a snicker.

It took every ounce of self-control Mac possessed to keep from going over there to smack the smirk off the guy’s face.

“Told you,” Maddie said.

“What?”

“That you wouldn’t like it.”

“They’re idiots.”

“Men will be men. They can’t help themselves.” She reached for her T-shirt to cover up.

“Don’t,” Mac said, resting his hand on her arm. “Don’t let them bother us.”

“Easy for you to say. They’re not gawking at you.”

Mac’s cell phone rang, and he dug it out of his backpack. He didn’t recognize the Gansett number but took the call anyway.

“Hi, Mac,” a breathy female voice said. “I hope it’s okay that your mother gave me your number.”

“I’m sorry, who is this?” he asked, even though he had a sneaking suspicion.

She giggled. “Doro. We met the other night at McCarthy’s? Your mother said—”

“Whatever she told you, it was bad information. I’m seeing someone.”

“I heard about that. Maddie, right? I don’t know her, but then again we don’t exactly run in the same circles.”

“Lucky for her.”

“Excuse me?”

“Listen, Doro. I’m not interested. Sorry if that hurts your feelings, but please don’t call me again.” Regretting taking the call, he closed the phone before she could reply and stashed it in his bag.

“She doesn’t give up, does she?”

“Who? Doro?”

Maddie rolled her eyes at him. “Your mother.”

He shrugged, knowing he needed to act fast—again—to minimize the damage with Maddie. “That’s her problem, not ours.” He scooped up Thomas and reached out to Maddie. “Come on, let’s go swimming.”

She hesitated for only a second before she took his hand.

At the water’s edge, she eyed the waves with trepidation. “He’s never been in the water before. I don’t know if he’ll like it.”