Happy let her eyes drift closed. Mercifully, a cool breeze was blowing off the water. Even more mercifully, her husband was finally leaving her be. For days now, he had tormented her with one inane comment after another, all in an (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to make her smile.


She put her hands on her hips. "We're stranded, and the best you can do is pop culture pun me to death?"

"C'mon, Happy, just lightening the mood." Toby shrugged, eyes pitiful.

"I'd rather the horizon lit up with a searchlight from a rescue craft, but okay, a bunch of lame attempts at wordplay works, too." She punched him in the arm. "Ever tried to fly a joke?"

"Ow." He grabbed the place where she'd hit him. "That'd be plane foolish." Tipping his hat to her, he'd walked up the beach, still clutching his arm.


Looking back, she realized it wasn't all bad. He'd kept her from descending into abject madness by driving her to annoyance. And it was kind of interesting to see if he could keep going.

The airplane seat next to her creaked, and she opened her eyes, glancing over to the one person in the world she simultaneously wanted to smack on the head and the lips. "Come to torment me again?"

Toby leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Maybe. Maybe not. Let's see what's on the inner tube." He smiled at her in that infuriating way. "Mmm. What have we got? Oh, look. PB-Estuary. Huh? Huh? See what I did there?"

"Lovely," she replied dryly.

"Oh, pooh. Nature, again." He let out a long sigh.

A bit of mischief stirred within her. "Too bad it isn't Death in Paradise, or would that be a little too ominous for your liking?"

Toby's eyes widened with joy. He threw one arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer. "Attagirl."

Happy edged nearer to the armrest of her seat and leaned into his embrace. If he could put up with her many idiosyncrasies, she'd be a wimp if she walked away from this moment. "Okay, so not that," she frowned, playing along. "What then?"

Toby pursed his lips together and raised his eyebrows. "Glad you asked." "Changing channels" again, he settled back into his seat. "Look, a commercial for 'Gulf' and Western."

Happy groaned, but it was less from annoyance than simply playing her part. "Why don't you try ESPN? Maybe there's a Hurricanes game on."

"Ooh." Toby shivered, fake fear crossing his features. "Talk about ominous."

"Yeah, it's what I do, Doc."

"Yeah." His eyes turned liquid. "And so much more."

She pulled away slightly. "This isn't going to be one of those sappy romance movie moments, is it?"

"Mm. I don't know. Do you want it to be?" he asked, drawing her close again, his breath on her hair.

"I don't believe we've met," she began, rolling her eyes. "In the interest of not finishing that sentence with a cliché, can we get back to the TV?"

He smiled at her. "You got it."

As he continued to pull endless jokes out of the sand and sea, Happy looked up from where she'd laid her head and studied her husband. Try as she might, she couldn't think of anywhere else she'd rather be than here. So she stopped trying.