Page 58 of The Seascape Between Us

Grier nodded slowly. “Yeah, that could work.”

“Good, it’s decided,” Alistair said. “Where’s Sawyer?”

“Work,” Grier said. “He’ll be writing about the storm and updating the newspaper’s website.”

“Text him and let him know. Then pack for him, and he can head straight to our place when he’s finished.” Alistair glanced up the street to The Dunes. “I should talk to Jett.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I told him. He and Finn lived in a small blue house just down the street from Grey’s father’s house. It was cute and cozy, but it would be tight with Finn, Alistair, Finn’s six-year-old son, Will, their cat, Spider, Will’s new dog, Milo the FourthandGrier and Sawyer. “Brody and Jett can stay with Grey and me.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I could call them back.

If I thought Alistair looked smug when I’d told Grier Alistair was right, that was nothing compared to the wide, knowing grinstretched across his face now. “YouandGrey? Like you and Greytogether?”

I shook my head and wished my face didn’t feel so hot all of a sudden. “Give it a rest. We don’t have time for this,” I snapped.

“I think you guys are good together,” Alistair said.

I sighed and turned my attention to Grier. He shrugged. “I don’t know Grey, so I don’t have an opinion. I like seeing you happy, though. You deserved it.”

My face burned hotter. “Come on. I’ll help you pack up your inventory.”

Anythingto end this conversation. Yes, Grey and I were together—for now. When the hotel was open and Grey went back to Portland, whatever we were doing would come to an end. I hated to think about it, never mind discussing it with the guy who waited tables in my hotel’s restaurant and his friend.

We hurried across the street and followed the sidewalk to Grier’s shop. The Square bustled, but not with its usual tourist traffic wandering in and out of the stores lining both sides of the street. Instead, locals worked outside their buildings, boarding up windows and strategically placing sandbags in front of their entrances.

I should have been doing the same at the hotel—and I would, as soon as I helped Grier and Alistair and made sure anyone who couldn’t get out had everything they needed to make it through. I still had time, after all. I glanced back at the hotel, my gaze narrowing on the dark clouds gathering at the horizon's edge.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Daniel

Everything took longer than I'd expected. Hauling bins of books from Grier’s shop to the small two-bedroom apartment above the store took us nearly three hours. It would have taken us even longer if Lana and Bailey, who owned the bakery at the top of The Square, hadn’t turned up to check in on Grier. He’d worked for them while he was a student, and they were now helping him get his own business started.

Grier looked like he was off to a great start. I’d been in the shop a few times over the years, back when Harry Walters and his husband, Michael, ran the place. Their store had been around since Oliver Mackenzie first founded The Square, selling an eclectic mix of touristy crap that cluttered every available space. They retired a few months earlier and left The Square to travel. Grier had taken over their shop and apartment when he finished school and had been getting the shop ready to open for most of the spring. He’d done a great job. Without the clutter, andpainted white, the store seemed about three times larger than I remembered.

I had also vastly underestimated the amount of inventory Grier had accumulated while getting his store ready to open. I'd probably still be moving books if Bailey and Lana hadn’t pitched in to help. With five of us, we finally managed to get all the boxes and bins upstairs and covered with tarps.

Alistair had asked if Lana and Bailey needed a place to ride out the storm, but they'd planned to stay with Lana’s parents in Portland. The storm probably wouldn’t be as severe farther inland, but Lana’s parents were getting older, and she didn’t like the idea of them being alone.

While we worked, I texted Grey about Brody and Jett staying with us. Of course, he had no problem with it. Then I texted Brody, who agreed almost right away. I smirked while reading his response. Under normal circumstances, Brody would have been a stubborn jerk, insisting on staying at his bar to keep an eye on it, but there was no way in hell he would do anything that risked Jett. Brody would burn the bar to the ground before he'd ever let anything happen to Jett.

With that settled and four people working on boarding up Grier’s windows, I figured they’d be fine without me. I left them and drove to the big grocery store in downtown Saltwater Cove, then on to the hardware store before making my rounds and ensuring everyone I delivered to had everything they needed.

At each stop, I helped people prepare for what forecasters repeatedly calledthe storm of the century. Every time they did, my gut clenched, and watching the blue-gray clouds slowly consuming the blue sky did nothing to ease my anxiety.

After dropping off supplies, I trimmed back bushes near windows, climbed ladders, and cut branches that could have fallen on houses, making sure garden items were secured so the wind couldn’t pick them up and cause damage.

All the while, clouds slowly filled the sky, turning a perfect summer day overcast. I was back in my truck and headed back to the hotel when my phone buzzed with another weather alert.

Pulling into the hotel parking lot, I grabbed my phone from the dashboard and opened the weather app. My stomach dropped, cold and slick, panic crawling up my throat. The storm was moving faster than predicted, and was expected to make landfall sometime tonight rather than tomorrow.

I was out of time. There was no way in hell I would get the hotel ready to face the storm in just a few hours. I looked up at the building that Grey and I had put so much effort into renovating. We’d poured everything we had into it—our time, money, blood, sweat, and tears—and now we might lose it all.

I got out of the truck and hurried into the hotel. When I told Grey that Jett and Brody agreed to stay with us, he said he'd run to the store to pick up more groceries, so I knew he wasn’t inside.

I should have thought of that while I was picking up supplies for the people in The Square, but it honestly hadn’t occurred to me. I’d just been so focused on making sure everyoneelsewould be okay. Now, here I was, hopelessly behind schedule.

Outside, Grey had boarded up some of the rooms on the first floor, so I picked up where he’d left off. As I worked, the sky grew ominously darker. The wind kicked up, whipping through my hair and tugging at my shirt. The relentless rush of waves crashing against the beach filled my ears, but didn’t drown out the low rumble of thunder.

I kept working, hauling plywood up over the windows and nailing it into place. With just two rooms left, I thought I might actually finish—at least the ground-floor windows. On the second floor, I wasn’t as confident. I glanced at the curved floor-to-ceiling windows in the restaurant. How could I even board those up? I didn’t have a clue—and no time to come up with a solution.

---