Page 66 of A Beach House Beginning

She didn’t see Wes all day and tried to tell herself she was relieved, not disappointed.

Finally, an hour before the party, as she was covering the tables with linen cloths, she spotted his pickup truck pulling into its usual parking spot.

He climbed out, paused a moment as if trying to make up his mind, then approached her.

“Hi.”

“Hello.” She tried a smile, even as she felt a sharp pang of longing. “Did Brielle go back to her mom’s?”

He nodded. “Yes. I took her there this afternoon. We went to a matinee this morning of a movie she’s been wanting to see. Sort of our last hurrah together.”

“It must have been tough to say goodbye.”

“I won’t say dropping her off with her mother becomes any easier with practice. But I’m slowly beginning to accept that I can see her anytime I want and she’ll be here again in a week, not every few months when Lacey could arrange a prison visit.”

“You’re a good father, Wes.”

He made a face as if he disagreed but didn’t argue with her. “What time does your party start?”

She glanced at her watch. “Another hour. People should be arriving around seven. I’ve got a babysitter coming for Addie in about a half hour. Rosa’s niece Bella is great with her and Rosa’s stepson is coming to play, too.”

He glanced out to sea, where she could see a rim of dark clouds on the horizon. “Forecasters are saying the storm should hold off until later. Maybe ten or eleven.”

“We should be done by then.”

“Good to know. I’ll be sure to stay out of your way. I might take my bike for a drive down the coast.”

She knew that was one of his outlets when he was particularly restless. Was she the cause of his current tumult? She didn’t like thinking it.

“You don’t have to stay away. In fact, you’re welcome to join us at book group, if you’d like.”

“I don’t think I would quite fit in with your crowd.”

She thought of her group, mostly women but a few men, too. “You might. We’re open to everyone willing to read the featured book and offer insight.”

He gestured to the tables and chairs. “Can I help you set things up? It can’t be comfortable, with your injured hand.”

She didn’t want to feel beholden to him for even one more thing, especially with these currents seething between them. But she had to admit she had been struggling all day to work around her stupid bandage.

“Would you mind carrying out some of the folding chairs from the shed? That would be very helpful.”

“No problem. How many?”

“All of them. I think there are about a dozen there. That should give us enough, with the furniture you fixed last night.”

As soon as she said the words, conjuring up memories that hadn’t been far from her mind all day, her face felt hot. He gazed at her for a long moment, and she knew he was remembering their intense embrace as well.

“Sure. No problem.”

He headed toward the shed at the bottom of the garden and returned with three chairs in each hand. He set them up, then returned to the shed for the rest, finishing in about two minutes when the job would have taken her at least ten.

He set them up where she indicated, at the folding tables she had already brought out with Addie’s help.

“They’re pretty dusty. I gather they haven’t been used much lately.”

She nodded. “When Rosa still lived here, she liked to have gatherings, but I’m afraid I’m not as social as she is. The Andersons do often have friends over to grill, but a few at a time, not enough that would require them to pull out the extra chairs.”

“I can clean them off for you.”

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