Page 6 of Echoes at Driftwood Cottage

She sputtered with laughter. “You showed me yours, I’ll show you mine. But not tonight. Tonight, I need to send you on your way and get some sleep. I also need a hot shower. I’m a sticky mess. I’m surprised you didn’t run the other way.”

He slid his hand across the table and linked his fingers with hers. “You’re as beautiful tonight as you were last December.”

“Liar,” she muttered. “Thanks for the food.”

“I can take a hint,” Daniel acknowledged as he got to his feet. “But just remember, I’m the only man in town who’s seen you naked.”

“So far,” she cracked. With a snorting giggle, she looked up at the ceiling. “You’re not going to let me forget that, are you? Don’t think I’m that easy.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Rowan rose from her chair to stand in front of him, blocking his way to the back door.

He stared down into her hazel eyes and lifted her chin. She let him lean in and place a kiss on her mouth. It was a light, feathery meeting of lips. “Rowan Eaton, welcome back to Pelican Pointe.”

She grinned. “As welcome wagons go, yours is much appreciated. Thanks for dropping by with supplies. Now you know I won’t starve to death before morning.”

“No problem. That’s what neighbors are for. If you need anything else, you have my number.”

She stuck her hands in her jeans pockets to keep from grabbing hold of his shirt and keeping him here the rest of the night. Now that would be a welcome to remember, she decided, something to kick off her fresh start.

Instead, she rocked back on her heels, watched him gather up his jacket, and walk to the back door. She waved as he made his way down the steps to the garden gate and watched him disappear out of view.

She puffed out her cheeks and exhaled. Daniel Cardiff wasn’t why she’d decided to make this place home. But since he was easy on the eyes, she’d give the man major points for checking off the good neighbor box.

After parting ways with Rowan, Daniel wasn’t ready to go home yet. He headed to his favorite watering hole, The Shipwreck, located along the pier. Thankfully, by the time he walked through the door, the Friday night crowd still hanging around seemed subdued enough they didn’t want to socialize. At the long-scarred mahogany bar, he ordered his go-to drink—the Hemingway daiquiri—and found a table in the back where he didn’t have to mingle.

Ten minutes went by before Geniece Darrow brought over his glass. Chewing on a wad of pink Bubble Yum, she blew out a perfect bubble and set his order on the table. “I was beginning to think something bad had happened to you. It’s almost eleven, and you missed your nightly cocktail.”

He studied Geniece, a pretty girl with dark hair, dark eyes, and golden skin. “I’m not that predictable. Kiki closes up most nights. She has now for two months.”

“Could’ve fooled me. You come in here like clockwork, rain or shine, after checking up on Kiki. You’re the only guy in town who orders that one drink. You never order a beer like most of the regulars and never stay long enough to get drunk. So yeah, you’re predictable but classier than most. These days, Durke stocks Havana rum especially for you.”

“It’s nice to feel special,” Daniel returned mildly, savoring the taste of blended honey, lemon, and cinnamon. “How are your classes going?”

A student at UC Davis for three years, Geniece had struggled with her spring semester, mainly chemistry. “If I don’t nail biochemistry and pass my final exam in two days, I’ll never get into pharmacy school. And when you have a brainy sister and an arrogant brother-in-law who own the local drug store and remind you every single day how you’re an underachiever, it gets old. Not to mention embarrassing.”

“Have you tried getting a tutor?”

“Jill hired one for me last month. We’ve been studying what seems like night and day ever since. But I don’t get it. I’m beginning to think I’m not cut out to be a pharmacist.”

“So be something else.”

“You try telling my family that,” Geneice lamented, blowing another bubble before smacking it back into her mouth. “I’d rather go to nursing school. I could get a job at the hospital here. They have all kinds of openings for every shift.”

“So do it. Sit your sister down and tell her the truth. It won’t matter anyway in a couple of days if you don’t pass biochemistry. Just get it out there. You’ll feel better.”

Geneice frowned. “You went to college, right?”

“Yeah. UC Davis, in fact.”

“Are you happy running an ice cream store?”

Daniel thought back to the last couple of years when he’d made the move out of Silicon Valley. “Let’s put it this way. I’m much happier making ice cream than working at a dead-end program manager position for a high-tech firm. What turned out as a trip home to visit my sick grandmother, hunting down her recipe to churn out ice cream to cheer her up, changed my life forever.”

“But why settle in Pelican Pointe peddling ice cream?”

“Because I grew up in a small town. Coyote Wells. You’ve obviously never heard of it. Most people haven’t. But it took me years of sitting in an office every day to realize I preferred doing something else with my life. I don’t miss the backstabbing that comes with working for someone else.”

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