Page 3 of Race to the Beach

Unwanted memories lurked at the edges of his mind.

And yet, Owen Turner hadn’t found an acceptable excuse to skip this special family event.The truth of the matter was that he hadn’t tried very hard to get out of attending the wedding.After all, this was his aunt’s wedding, and she was his favorite aunt.

Bluestar residents were calling Harvey Coleman and Aunt Carol’s ceremony the wedding of the year.His mother was over the moon happy for her younger sister.And honestly, he was happy for his aunt too.She’d been so lost after her first husband had died.She was getting a second chance at happiness.

Thankfully, the ceremony was short and to the point.After the newlyweds exited the church, Owen and the rest of the guests got to their feet.This was his chance to make a quiet but hasty exit.

Owen stepped into the aisle and then came to a sudden halt.There was nowhere to go.The aisle was filled with two solid lines of people waiting to exit the church.When he looked around, he found so many people had attended the nuptials that the crowd obviously exceeded the fire code.In their joy for the happy couple, no one seemed to notice.

When at last he approached the exit, he noticed the way the sun’s rays made the doorway practically glow.A few more steps and then the sunshine warmed his face.He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brightness.

The navy-blue tie his mother had insisted he wear felt as though it were cutting off his breath.He ran his finger inside the collar of his white dress shirt, hoping to loosen it a bit.When he’d been about to argue with his mother about the necessity of wearing a tie, his father and brothers stepped into the room.They were all wearing neckties and frowns.He had a feeling they’d already had the argument with their mother and lost.He’d shut his mouth and just went along with it.All the while, he knew that as soon as the ceremony was over that each of the Turner men would be ditching their ties.

And that was exactly what he intended to do.He reached for his tie, when his elbow collided with someone.Without loosening his tie, he lowered his arm.He turned his head to apologize, but he became distracted by the most beautiful young woman standing next to him.He didn’t recognize her, which was surprising since he knew most everyone at the wedding.His mouth opened, but no words came out.

The young woman turned her head and raised her gaze until it met his.He was drawn by the light cyan blue color of her eyes.It reminded him of a cloudless summer day.In that moment, he suddenly imagined himself on the beach with her by his side.He could clearly see them smiling and sharing a playful moment in the sand.

She wore a short light-blue dress that brought out the color of her mesmerizing eyes.On her chest she wore a red heart pin.The little stones twinkled in sunlight.

“So sorry.”Her voice was soft but full of warmth.

It took a moment for his mind to connect with his tongue.“No problem.”But the words came out too late.She had already moved on.

A nudge from behind put him back into action.His line was moving faster than the line next to him.He was midway down the steps when he heard someone behind him call out his name.As he glanced over his shoulder, he noticed a movement in the line of people next to him.Someone stumbled.They fell into the person in front of them, who bumped into the person in front of them.It was like watching falling dominoes.

His gaze moved to the person next him.He’d caught up to the beautiful woman in the blue dress.When someone stumbled into her, he immediately reached out as she lunged forward.His hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her toward him.

She collided into his side with an “Ompf!”

His senses were immediately greeted with the delicate sense of wildflowers.He inhaled deeper, wanting to remember the scent.

Arms wrapped around him as the woman regained her balance.He slowly released her, not wanting her to fall again.

“Owen.”His mother’s worried voice threaded through the drone of voices.“Owen, are you okay?”

The mystery woman sprang out of his arms.Once their connection was broken, he came back to his senses.He had no interest in exploring a new relationship.It wasn’t going to happen.

Somehow his mother made her way through the crowd and stood by his side with a worried look on her face.“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.I was just helping...”He glanced over to where the blue-eyed beauty stood, but she was gone.He immediately turned and found her making her way through the parking lot.

“What’s that?”His mother pointed to something sparkly on the step.

He bent over and picked up some sort of fancy pin.When he straightened, he took a closer look at it.It was in the shape of a heart with white rhinestones along the border with various shaped red rubies situated within the heart.

He’d seen it before.It belonged to the blue-eyed woman.

He was tapped on the shoulder by someone behind him.“Can you move?”

“Sure.”He continued down the steps.

He moved off to the side, out of the way of the exiting wedding guests.Now was the time to tell his mother he was leaving.The only problem was that she would want to know why he wasn’t attending the reception.And he didn’t have a good answer for her.It certainly wouldn’t be the truth—that the wedding had reminded him of the woman who’d broken his trust last summer.

When he turned to speak to his mother, he found her walking away in the opposite direction.It appeared everyone was anxious to get away from him that day.It suited him just fine.He wasn’t in the mood to make small talk.

He was just about to turn toward his apartment when he recalled the pin in his hand.He looked at it for a moment.Was it just cheap costume jewelry?Or was it valuable?

He sighed.He knew what he had to do, and he didn’t like it one bit.

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