Page 21 of A Beach House Beginning

He gave a short laugh. “I’m not all that brilliant. I only understand it because I’m the same way. I told you my dad died when I was ten. I missed him fiercely when I was a teenager, so I’m determined to be as present as possible in Brie’s life. To the point of being obnoxious about it.”

Wes paused, then added, “What about after you married? Why didn’t you get a dog then?”

“Multiple reasons, I suppose. We wanted one but our first apartment didn’t allow pets. We moved into our first home after we had been married two years, but I was pregnant at the time and we decided to wait a bit until adding a pet into the mix, on top of first-time home ownership and new parenthood.”

“Sounds sensible.”

“Sometimes I wish we hadn’t been so sensible. I only had six years with Ryan. We should have done all the crazy things we dreamed about. Flown to Paris. Quit our jobs and lived on the beach in Mexico for a time. Gotten a puppy. Or a half dozen puppies.”

Life’s cruelties never ceased to infuriate him. A sweet woman like Jenna deserved to have a long and happy life with the man she loved. “How did your husband die?”

“Cancer. Melanoma. He was only thirty.”

“That’s tough.”

“Yes. Addie was barely three when he was diagnosed. He died a year later. It was a very painful time.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, the words feeling painfully inadequate.

“Thank you. But I’ve learned since Ryan died that everybody has something, you know? I don’t have the monopoly on pain.”

He knew so many people who could take a lesson from her, who considered themselves permanent victims of whatever hardship that came their way and refused to accept that someone else might be struggling, too.

“What about you?” she asked, obviously eager to change the subject. “Did you have dogs when you were growing up?”

He nodded. “When I was young, we lived on the small hobby farm where my dad grew up and there were always dogs around. We didn’t really have house pets but we always had horses and dogs and chickens.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely.”

“It was a pretty good childhood, for the most part. Then my dad died and my mom couldn’t keep up with things. She sold the restaurant and the farm and we moved to the Chicago area to be closer to her family.”

How differently might his life have turned out if his father had not died? Wes probably would have stayed in the Denver area. He might even still be there.

Instead, they had moved to Chicago, where he had struggled in school and became friends with people who hadn’t always had his best interests at heart.

Wes had been involved in a few scrapes during his teen years and had even served a brief stint in youth corrections.

He might have continued on that path, except he had one teacher who had given him the straight truth about the dead-end direction he was headed. For some reason, Wes had listened.

He had determined to change his life. He had enlisted in the Army, where he had worked first as a mechanic and then as a military police officer. He had met and married Lacey while he was still in the service and taken her first to Germany and then to Japan.

Even before he got out, he and a buddy had decided to start a security business. Hard work and determination had turned their fledgling enterprise into a success beyond his wildest dreams.

And then everything had changed.

“Were you going somewhere?” Jenna asked.

It took him a moment to realize she was referring to his leathers and helmet. He suddenly didn’t feel like taking a ride anymore. He wanted to stay here with her in this moonlit garden and enjoy the sound of the waves and the scent of a lovely woman beside him.

That was a dangerous road. He would be much better off climbing on his bike and riding off into the night.

“I was going to take a ride. Nowhere special. I do that sometimes. It’s cliché, I know, but I like to feel the wind on my face.”

“I’ve seen you leave at odd hours and wondered where you go.”

He wasn’t sure how he felt to know she had watched him from her window as he sped off into the night, trying to outrace demons that always seemed to be racing right behind him.

“How long ago did you lose your husband?”

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