Page 40 of A Future in the Bay

“Yes, I’ll see you at Little Clams again soon.”

He nodded, still smiling. “Sounds great. See you soon.”

He turned and started walking down the dock. She watched him for a brief moment, and then began to walk away in the opposite direction. The wind ruffled her hair, and she smiled to herself as she meandered down the dock. She was glad she’d run into him, and that he’d convinced her to get on the jet boat in spite of her fears. It had been an unexpected adventure, and a good experience. She felt grateful to Isaiah for showing her how much fun being on a boat could be.

She glanced over her shoulder as she walked, looking for him. He was striding along the dock, his hands in his pockets. She could hear him whistling faintly, and she chuckled.

As she made her way home, she kept thinking about him. He was a bit of a puzzle to her, but he was a nice puzzle. He made her feel comfortable and at ease in a way that no one ever had before.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Isaiah stood in the center of one of the classrooms at Little Clams, slowly turning around in a circle and gazing at the walls. It was one of the classrooms that Olivia wanted repainted and spruced up, and he was mentally going through a checklist of all the things he needed to do to the room.

Stacked around him on the floor were several cans of brightly colored paint—and that wasn’t even their whole stock. Ever since Gwen had put up her fliers around town, they’d had paint donations come flooding in. Olivia had been thrilled about all of the different colors they’d received—lots of yellows and blues and greens. She’d been organizing them into color schemes, choosing which cans would be used in each room.

“Clear everything to the side, wash the walls, do a primer,” he muttered, wishing he’d brought a notebook or something to write it all down in. It would have been nice to have a list of some kind, to help keep his head on straight.

At that moment, Gwen stepped through the doorway to the classroom, and his heart skipped a beat. For a split second, he just stared at her, and then he grinned.

“Hey! I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

“I know I’m unannounced,” she said. “Look at me, being spontaneous.” They shared a grin. “I took an early lunch and I’d thought I’d come see if any of the paint donations had arrived yet.”

“Oh, they sure have,” he said, chuckling. He gestured to the several cans of paint that were stacked in the center of the room. “And that’s just this room. We’ve got like five more piles like this one.”

Her eyes widened. “Really? That’s amazing!” She looked down at the paint cans, clearly impressed. “I’m shocked.”

“You make a mean flier, Dr. Gwen.” He winked.

She seemed to blush a little under his praise, and she waved her hand through the air, dismissing his words. “That’s not my fliers, that’s the people here. That generosity was already waiting for an opportunity to help, I just happened to nudge it. But I’m still surprised by how quickly they sent the paint cans in.”

“I’m not surprised at all in a small, friendly town like this,” he said, grinning at her. “Just like you said, the generosity is already there. People here like to help each other out, and everyone here is invested in the school. Olivia said we even got a few brand-new gallons of paint donated.”

“That’s wonderful,” she said, looking sincerely impressed. “And from the looks of this stack and what you’ve told me, we don’t need any more paint? We’ve already got enough?”

“Oh, for sure,” he said. “We’re up to our ears in paint. We’ll be able to donate some of this ourselves once the renovations are done.”

“That’s amazing,” she said. “I would have expected this whole process to take so much longer.”

“You see?” he teased. “Some things just can’t be scheduled.”

“Yes, but if we had gotten behind—oh, fine.” She laughed.

“Wow, her mindset is changing already,” he said, leaning against the wall and grinning. “That boat ride really did wonders for you, huh?”

She shook her head, laughing. “What boat ride? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You haven’t been thinking about it, huh? I bet it’s been sneaking into your dreams. I bet you even want to go out on a boat again sometime,” he teased.

He remembered what a good time she’d had. He’d loved the way she’d whooped and grinned in excitement over the boat ride.

“I don’t know. Was that an invitation?” she asked.

He lifted one shoulder, his lips curving upward. “It might be.”

“Huh. Interesting,” she said, tilting her head to one side coyly.

He realized that they were both flirting with each other, and his heart rate picked up. In that moment, it struck him that Olivia had been right—he was interested in Gwen romantically.

---