Page 1 of The House on Firefly Beach
Prologue
Sydney Flynn skipped along the beach road toward Nate’s house, her auburn curls pulled into a ponytail to combat the swell of afternoon pre-summer heat. It was their senior year in college, and they were both graduating in a week, the clear, humid days of summer quickly approaching. Having spent four glorious years together, much of their winters separated by a lengthy drive between their two universities, Sydney couldn’t help but feel the excitement of their uninterrupted future together bubbling up.
She fiddled with the purple stone of the toy ring Nate had given her as a placeholder for the real diamond he promised once they graduated—she wore the ring every day. Nate had called her this morning before she’d awakened and left a message to come see him right away. He’d sounded oddly breathless and nervous, and she wondered what the surprise could be. He wasn’t usually this mysterious.
The sun was already beaming in a gloriously blue sky, birds flying overhead, the waters of the gulf that rippled by her side shushing relentlessly onto the Florida shore as she walked the familiar path toward the one person in this world that she adored the most—it was the perfect day to start the rest of their lives. She didn’t want to jinx it, but she did wonder: Would he propose today? Could that be it?
Of course, she wanted it to happen in his time, but she was so in love with him that she was ready to start their lives together right now. Last night they’d celebrated her incredible news that she’d been invited to travel around the U.S. for three months, as a writer, documenting the work of a famous humanitarian. She didn’t even want to go if she could start planning her wedding right now, but Nate had convinced her to follow her passion to be a professional journalist, so she’d decided to take the trip. If they had a year before wedding, she could still get all the planning done if she started after she returned. Her excitement made her laugh because she knew she was getting ahead of herself.
Sydney came up the drive, bounding with the thrill of seeing Nate and hearing what he had to tell her, but she paused, the sight in front of her baffling. “What’s going on?” she asked, as Nate hurried out, locked the door behind him, and stopped cold, his arms fumbling with a pile of boxes as he picked them up off the drive. He lumped them into the back of his truck that was completely full of his things.
Were they going somewhere?
“I’m leaving,” he said, his gaze fluttering up to her, but only briefly.
“Where are you going?” Her heart was beating uncontrollably, as if her body had caught up to the situation before her mind could process it.
“I don’t know,” he nearly snapped. “New York? LA? Somewhere I can write my songs and make something of myself.” He shifted a box in the back and secured it with a bungee cord, his movement swift and focused. “I’m getting out of here. There’s more to life than Firefly Beach,” he said. “I just wanted to say goodbye.”
A cloud drifted in front of the sun, casting a gray shade on everything, but she barely noticed through the tears that were forming in her eyes.
“I’m not coming with you?” She already knew the answer, but she was pleading with the heavens above to help her by casting some kind of reconsideration onto his heart before he broke hers into pieces.
“No.”
“Why not?” she asked, her body beginning to shake all over, her world crumbling in front of her.
He swallowed, not answering or meeting her eyes. “I wanted to say goodbye, but… There’s no good way to do this.”
“Nate, what are you doing?” Why was he hurting her like this? “Explain to me what is going on,” she cried, unable to keep her emotions from coming through.
He pushed another box into his truck and lifted the tailgate, shutting his belongings into the back.
“Talk to me!” When he didn’t respond, she tried to push herself in front of him, but he darted out of her way. “I deserve an explanation! You can’t just leave like this after four years. What happened between last night and now?”
He didn’t answer, leaving her to wonder if he, too, had given thought to forever with her, and suddenly realized that it wasn’t at all what he wanted.
“Sorry,” he said quickly without even a look in her direction.
He paused in front of her and stared into her eyes, the hint of something in them, as if he wanted one last chance to make sure this was the right decision. Then before she could say anything, he got in his truck, starting the engine and shutting the door. She stepped back instinctively when he put the truck into gear, his face like stone. He pulled away, leaving her standing there, struggling to clear the tears from her vision enough to see him look back at her in his rearview mirror, but he never did. Sydney stood in the driveway of his dark, locked house, and watched his truck pull further away from her until it disappeared. Nate was gone, taking her happiness with him.
Chapter One
In her conch-shell-pink chiffon bridesmaid’s dress, Sydney stood with the rest of the wedding party, at the end of their beloved family’s pier, and locked eyes with Nate Henderson. She barely noticed the unseasonably perfect weather or the lapping of the sparkling Gulf of Mexico behind them, all of it fading away at the sight of Nate. Nate was the man whom Sydney had always considered to be the true love of her life. And now, with his Valentino suit and over-priced haircut, he was someone she barely recognized.
His cell went off. He quickly left his seat and bowed his way down the aisle, stepping off to the side to answer a call right in the middle of the service.Mr. Hollywood can’t even shut it off for a wedding?she thought, irritated already. He had seemed slightly mortified, but it hadn’t stopped him from answering. He slid back into his seat.
Knowing every rocky detail of their break-up and the scar it had left on Sydney’s heart, Sydney’s sister Hallie and Hallie’s fiancé Ben Murray had warned her that Nate would be invited to their wedding. Ben had tried to convince Sydney that she’d misunderstood Nate all these years and that she should give him a chance to explain himself, that it would help her get through the wedding at the very least. Sydney had assured the couple she’d be just fine with him there whether she spoke to him or not. She was completely over it. Not until this very moment, under strands of summer twinkle lights and festive bouquets of hydrangea, had she felt like her knees were going to buckle.
Nate smiled at her guardedly from his aisle seat, while tucked in to the row next to him were the two women in his life: the plus one that had been written on his wedding RSVP card—an international supermodel and reported girlfriend named Juliana Vargas—and his sister Malory. If Nate was expressing his happiness to celebrate Hallie and Ben’s wedding, that was one thing, but if that smile had been his feeble attempt to bury the hatchet with Sydney, given their history, he was completely delusional. She pushed herself to focus on someone else, her gaze landing on her friend Mary Alice, who gave her a tiny wave. Sydney smiled back at her before breaking eye contact. But her thoughts remained with Nate, her stomach in knots.
It had been years since she’d gotten her heart broken by Nate, and both of them had moved on with their lives. But two things had lingered, spiking her emotions when it came to him: the first was the fact that all those years ago, his leaving had made her feel like she wasn’t good enough; the second was the overwhelming loss of the person he’d been and the gaping hole it had caused in her life. The four years she’d dated him, he’d been amazing, perfect for her, actually—he’d been her best friend.
Now, no longer Nate Henderson, he was known to the world as Nathan Carr, most eligible bachelor and songwriting superstar, not even his name recognizable to Sydney anymore. And he’d had the audacity to smile at her like everything had been mended between them. Wouldn’t “I’m sorry” come first, at the very least?
“Benjamin,” the preacher said, pulling Sydney back into the present where she should be: her sister’s wedding at their gorgeous family beachside retreat, Starlight Cottage.
Sydney gripped her bouquet to steady herself and tore her eyes from Nate to focus on her sister and her soon-to-be brother-in-law. This was their moment, and it couldn’t be more perfect. Hallie gazed up at the love of her life while Sydney looked on, under the cedar-shingled roof of the enormous gazebo, the southernmost point of the dwelling. The gazebo sat at the end of a pier that reached up to the shoreline where it met the boardwalk leading to the house Sydney and Hallie had spent their entire season renovating.
