A flurry of movement startled him, and his hands slipped. His back smacked into the ground. “Clyde.” Luke gritted his teeth. While he’d been distracted, the asshole had swooped in and snatched the popcorn bag.

“I was sharing that with you,” Luke called after the bird, who was scampering up a grassy hill, contraband clamped in his beak. “I thought we had a truce!”

Clyde’s abrupt abandonment hurt more than Luke cared to admit. He stood up, brushing sand from his palms, and hurried after the kleptomaniac seagull. “You have a problem, Clyde. You know that? I swear, you’ll steal anything that isn’t nailed down.”

Luke topped the hill and realized it was the same spot he and Julia had ended up the other afternoon, when the little thief had taken off with her bathing suit top. Clyde was dragging his loot to the rocky outcrop where his nest was hidden. The gull released the bag and flew to the nest where the other gull—Bonnie, Luke assumed—sat perched.

It was like watching a tag team in action. As soon as Clyde had settled himself in the nest, Bonnie made the short flight to the popcorn bag. Luke chuckled. “You sly devil. She really is your partner in crime.”

Careful not to startle the bird, Luke reached out and turned the bag over, dumping out the remaining popcorn. Then he crept closer to the nest, a hunch forming. At Luke’s approach, Clyde stood, wings spreading in warning. “Easy buddy. Easy,” he said soothingly.

Glancing down at the nest, his suspicions were confirmed. Secured within the cozy hodgepodge of beach debris were three speckled seagull eggs. “Congratulations,” he said, lifting his hand in a mock toast and backing away slowly. After a moment, the bird relaxed, resettling himself over his brood.

Luke realized that Clyde had brought the popcorn back to the nest for Bonnie and had taken over egg-sitting duties while his partner enjoyed her snack. “I owe you an apology.” Staying a safe distance from the nest, Luke eased down. “You are quite the gentleman,” he commended Clyde. “At least somebody around here gets to have a happy ending.”

The bird let out a low squawk.

“That sounded awfully judgy, Clyde.” Luke stared at the gull, whose beady black eyes stared right back. “But you make a good point. I should have been more of a gentleman myself. Not just with Julia, but with my sister, too.”

Another squawk.

“You’re right. I do owe them both an apology.” He sighed. “I need to fix things with Penelope first; maybe she can help me figure out what to do about Julia.” If anyone asked Luke why he was talking to a bird, he’d probably deny it. But it felt good to work through things with someone … even if that someone happened to be a seagull.