Page 58 of One Sweet Day I Found You

* * *

The bellson the wide front door of Inlet Outfitters jingled softly as Courtney opened it and peeked inside. She breathed in the fresh scent of pine and eucalyptus and glanced around.

It was exactly 1:56 and she guessed Nick hadn’t clocked out yet. At the front counter, an employee she’d never met was busy with a group of customers, but there was no one else inside the store.

The shop had its own parking lot, but it was small and she didn’t want to leave her car there all day while they went out biking, where it would take up a spot for a customer, so she’d parked at the marina’s main lot. With no sign of Nick, she headed through the store for the garage and lot out back.

A young guy in the lot glanced up and met Courtney’s eyes. She recognized him as Marcos. He nodded to her. Nick had introduced them once when she’d stopped in to say hi.

Courtney approached him, surveying the scene. A family of six waited their turn to be fitted with rental bikes and helmets.

The youngest of the family tripped and ran into a bicycle, tipping it into a teenage girl standing nearby. The sharp edges of the pedal hit the girl’s ankle.

“Ouch!” the girl said, glaring at the child.

His mother hustled over and took him gently by the shoulder. “Come here, Jack. And say you’re sorry.”

Yikes. Courtney turned away from the group. Another employee was fitting yet another pair of riders with a tandem bicycle.

Courtney didn’t want to interrupt, but she had to ask someone. She hesitated before stepping in close enough for Marcos to hear. “Hi. Sorry to bother you, but do you know where Nick is?”

Marcos grabbed two bicycle helmets from a wall holding dozens of helmets. “I think he left about half an hour ago.”

Courtney looked at him, confused. Marcos handed the helmets to the kids, who waited patiently next to the rows of bikes, then glanced at her again. “That’s all I know. Sorry. I just got here.”

Courtney ran a hand across her cheek.That’s weird.“No problem. Thanks,” she said.

She scanned the shop’s parking lot for Nick’s jeep. It wasn’t there.

Hmm. She was sure they were meeting at two. She pulled out her phone and tapped at the screen.

Are we still on for today? I’m at your shop.

She waited for the three little dots that meant he was texting her back. But no dots appeared and no reply came. She walked back through the store and out onto the docks, where she found a bench and sat down.

What happened? This wasn’t like Nick. Although, in all fairness, she’d only known him for about a month now. Maybe it was?

She scanned the docks, considering her options. Maybe she should drive inside the park, have a look around while she waited. Maybe he’d run home for some reason? She could start researching other bicycle shops for her post in the meantime. She could even try to finish more of the Fourth of July story.

No big deal. She’d give him the benefit of the doubt. He always answered her texts.

Courtney drove inside the state park, which was only a stone’s throw away from the docks and the shop. She took the only road apparent from the entrance and followed signs until she found the beach that Nick must’ve been talking about.

There, she parked in the lot, found an empty spot a few yards back from the water, pulled out her towel and visor, and settled down on the sand. She glanced around.

A man and two little girls built a sandcastle a few yards from the water’s edge. Other children splashed about in the shallow swimming zone of the lake, designated by orange buoys in the water. A couple of teens practiced standing up on paddleboards further out. Courtney grinned as one of them lost his balance and fell, splashing into the water.

The sun was warm and the atmosphere pleasant. It didn’t take long before she’d emailed three different bicycle shops on the peninsula about the blog post. Someone was bound to want to answer a few questions if they could be featured on the Visitors Board site, right? Finally, she added a few sentences from her notes to the Independence Day post and sat back.

Satisfied, Courtney set the phone back in her bag and leaned back on her elbows. She dug her heels into the warm sand and relished the sunshine on her skin.

She’d have to return to this beach on a regular basis when she had more time to kill. Or when she had fewer questions racing around in her head.

All of this would have made for a very pleasant afternoon on her own if she hadn’t been intending to spend it with Nick. Had he stood her up? Technically, yes. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. But he probably hadn’t meant to, right?

She checked to make sure her phone had service here inside the park. Four bars. It did.

Maybe he’d been called out for a rescue. He told her he was often called out without warning. But, why hadn’t he texted or called by now? He certainly would have, if he could, right?

---