Page 83 of Until We Break

Josie’s eyes bulged. “For him?”

“Well…yes and no. I own the Blue Heron.” I felt like I needed to remind her. “He’s a big part of it.”

She exhaled, shuffling my receipt into the cash register drawer. “Oh. That does make it serious. I’m surprised.”

“Why?”

“No reason. I’m glad you’re staying. That’s great. And I love using the marina.”

Somehow, we had gotten off track and Josie was trying to get us back on the road. I’m not sure where things had gone wrong.

“Tell him I said hi.”

“Sure.” I hesitated in the doorway, but another customer came in with two huge duffle bags stuffed to the top. “Thanks, again.”

“Hi, Mr. Berman,” Josie greeted the man as I headed to my car. My phone beeped. Ethan was waiting for me at Reel Time.

When I walked inside, I spotted him in the corner booth near the offshore tackle. The inshore tackle was on the opposite side of the store. He looked slightly more casual today. He was wearing dress pants with a navy polo shirt. It wasn’t Marshoak fashion but it was a step down for Ethan. His hair was still wet from the shower. There were two Styrofoam cups of coffee on the table.

“I ordered one for you.”

“Thanks.” I slid in across from him.

“You weren’t kidding about this being a place with fishing poles and tackle.”

I laughed. “No. Not at all. But I promise the sausage biscuits are good. And so is the coffee.” I lifted the lid and stirred cream and sugar into mine.

He pressed his elbows into the table. “Thanks for seeing me.”

My chest tightened. “You caught me off guard last night.”

“I know. I should have called.”

“Why didn’t you?” I asked.

“Because I couldn’t talk about it on the phone.”

I studied his eyes. The flecks of blue seemed deeper against the navy shirt.

“Talk about what?” I brought the coffee to my lips. “Wait. Before you tell me whatever it is, let’s put our biscuit order in.”

“Okay. You want to get biscuits.”

“Absolutely.” I smiled. “They’re famous here and you can’t go home without trying one.” He hesitated but followed me to the counter where we ordered sausage biscuits with a side of tots to share. Nan promised to deliver them to our booth as soon as they were ready. I saw her eye me.

It was an unspoken awareness with most residents of Marshoak that I was with Caleb. I appreciated Nan’s loyalty to him, but it was just as irritating that I couldn’t have breakfast with someone without stirring up speculation.

We returned to our seats.

“Biscuits ordered. Okay. Now tell me why you traveled all the way to North Carolina.”

“My dad’s been diagnosed with cancer.” His voice cracked.

My insides suddenly spun into hard, tight knots. I held my breath but didn’t realize it until my lungs fought me to breathe again.

“Margot?” Ethan’s hand stretched across the Formica table toward mine.

I shook my head. “I’m so-sorry Ethan. How bad is it?”

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