Page 14 of A Wedding in the Bay

He shrugged again, grinning at her. “Suit yourself. Did you check the front door yet?”

She shook her head. “No, I haven’t, but I always lock it when I leave home. I suppose it’s possible I forgot to lock it this time.” Her heart leapt up, hoping that might be the case. How wonderful it would be to simply push open a door and find herself back inside her warm house!

“Let’s go check.” He started toward the cobblestone walkway that led to the front door and she followed. Once they reached the door, he tried the handle and she held her breath.

“Nope, it’s locked.”

She sighed, feeling awash in disappointment again. “Oh, I feel like such a fool.”

“No beating yourself up for your mistakes. That’s not allowed, Ms. Taylor.”

Her eyebrows rose, and she had to chuckle at the easy, friendly way he spoke to her. “Well, if you say so,” she teased back, and he grinned.

“Let’s check for any unlocked windows,” he suggested, beginning to walk around the house. He started to tromp without hesitation through the snow, and she winced as she followed him, trying to only step in the imprints his big feet had made.

“I don’t think any windows are unlocked,” she said, a little breathlessly. “I make sure to lock my house up tightly.”

He turned around and cocked a brow at her. “You sure do.”

She let out a huff that was mostly a laugh. “I don’t mean—well, I’m used to living in New York City. You have to be careful to lock everything up there.”

“Here in Blueberry Bay, I’d suggest leaving a spare key under a door mat. Or a flowerpot. Or that cute little statue of a St. Bernard you’ve got on your doorstep.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said stiffly, pausing in her walking and shivering a little as he began to try the windows on the western side of the house. Nothing budged. They continued their trek around the house, but there were no windows that were able to be opened.

“Upstairs windows are probably unlocked,” he said, glancing up at the second story and smirking. “Too bad I don’t have my ladder.”

“I think I should just call a locksmith now,” she said, out of breath but a little warmer than she had been. Her leg, which had been recently broken, hurt a little after tramping through the snow. “Thank you for trying to help me, but I don’t think there’s anything we can do. I’ll have to make an appointment with a locksmith and see if my son can come pick me up now.”

“Oh, well as far as that goes, I’m happy to drive you over to Dane or Alissa’s, or anywhere else you need to go. But let’s not give up yet. We should try to jimmy the lock with a credit card.”

She was surprised that he still wasn’t dissuaded, and she had to admit that she admired his tenacity. “Does that old trick actually work? I thought that was just one of those life hacks. Something the internet made up.”

He chuckled. “Most life hacks are real, and very useful. Well, maybe not most, I guess it depends on the source of the life hack. But I’ve learned a lot of very useful things from the internet.”

“Like trying to break into a house using a credit card?”

He grinned. “We’ll see. You didn’t deadbolt it, so it’s just the handle lock. Let’s give it a shot.”

She shook her head, not quite knowing what to make of him. He looked dirty and he seemed to have shaved that morning and missed a couple of spots—but he was acting like a perfect gentleman. She had to admire the calm, cheerful attitude he had, even in the midst of the predicament. She still felt that he would be unsuccessful in jimmying the lock, however, and she felt impatient to call the locksmith, and start following a course of action that she knew would be successful.

“I don’t know,” she said, frowning. “Although I suppose you can make an attempt if you’d like.”

Everett smiled at Johanna. He was intrigued by this woman, who used phrases like “make an attempt if you’d like.” She didn’t look quite as formidable as she had the other night at the dinner party. Her cheeks were flushed rosy from the cold, and her green eyes looked vibrant in contrast with the smart white beret she was wearing. Privately, he thought it was silly for someone to wear a winter hat that didn’t cover their ears, but he wasn’t going to say anything—what she did was none of his business.

“Come on,” he told her, grinning. “At least let’s give it a try for a few minutes. We can use one of my credit cards, if you’re worried about one of yours getting too scratched.”

She shook her head and reached into the designer handbag that she had slung over her shoulder. “Let me get out my library card. We’ll use that. If it gets too scratched, I can ask them for another one.”

She pulled an immaculately white leather wallet out of her purse and took a library card out of it, frowning. “Hmm, I don’t know,” she said. “This feels too flimsy.” She wiggled the card back and forth a little with both hands, showing how thin it was.

“That’s a good point,” he said, impressed by her foresight. “We do want a sturdy card. Something on the thicker side.”

Nodding, she continued to rummage in her wallet. It appeared to be perfectly organized, but he did see a lot of different cards tucked into the card holders.

“Ah! Here,” she said, triumphantly pulling out a gift card. “Let’s use this. It’s a gift card for a store back in New York. It was given to me ages ago and I’ve never used it. Seems sturdy enough to me, what do you think?” She handed it to him.

“Feels right to me,” he said, pressing his fingers against the edges of the card. “Good and firm. We’ll give this one a try.”

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