Page 2 of The Magic of Sea Glass
“You’re so stubborn!” He pawed at her while she fought him away.
“You’re going to burn the eggs!”
“I don’t care! Let them burn! You’re much more delicious!”
She dodged him just before he got a hold of her arm.
“You’ll love the beach so much that you’ll want to give everything up, and we’ll sail away somewhere amazing, have a boatload of kids, send everyone postcards that say, ‘Wish You Were Here,’ drink piña coladas, and lie in the sun until we’re as red as lobsters.” He reached for her, grabbing her shirt before she could get away, falling onto the sofa with her and burying his head in her neck, despite her wriggling and laughter. “Promise me we’ll go one day.”
“I promise,” she said, wrapping her arms around him.
Andy cut in on her memory. “At least take a few weeks off before the summer ends. It’s a perfect time to do it. Our biggest client right now is the Alexander wedding, and we’ll be in the preliminary planning stages for the next four months. I can sit with them and choose what they want just as easily as you can.”
“What about the Bakers?” Lauren asked. “They’ll need work.”
“It’s a three-hundred-person event. I can do it with my eyes shut.”
Lauren nodded, tears beginning to brim in her eyes—for what, she wasn’t sure anymore. Maybe it was her memories of Mason, or perhaps it was the loss of who she’d been, the idea that all her dreams for a big family and a house full of love had evaporated in a single day. Or the fact that the company she’d built from the ground up with her best friend now felt like a burden.
“The bride’s probably bustled and freshened up by now. I have to get into the reception to oversee the introductions,” Andy said, putting her arm around Lauren and giving her a squeeze before pacing over to the open doors. “You going to be okay?”
“Yeah,” Lauren replied. But as she gazed out the window she realized she wasn’t entirely sure.
ONE
Two weeks later
Rodanthe, North Carolina
In her attempt to escape her old life, to go incognito and blend into the landscape of sea and sand dunes for the summer, the one thing Lauren hadn’t planned on, in the middle of Nowhere, North Carolina, was to be immediately recognized.
“Hey!” an unfamiliar man’s voice called, trying to get her attention from across the busy market full of sandy, barefoot patrons. Most were stopping in to pick up last-minute items before they headed back to their cottages to get cleaned up for the evening hours of cocktails and seafood.
She peeked over at him, not having a clue as to who he was. Lauren didn’t want to make small talk. She’d just stopped in to grab a bite on her way through the little beach town. She’d been driving from New York since the wee hours of the morning, and all she wanted was to settle her rumbling stomach. Then she hoped to kick off her shoes in the sand and lie back on a hammock while the waves crashed onto the shore, drowning out everything she’d been through. She’d take in the sea air and allow the coastline to convince her that she’d done the right thing in finally agreeing to sell Andy her half of Sugar and Lace.
Her business that had spawned its own series on TV and was written about inHomes & Gardensmagazine, the business that had made her name synonymous with style and glamour, bringing in A-list clients from all over the world, was no longer hers. The glossy, pre-tragedy images of her and Andy with the television show titleTying the Knot with Sugar and Lacesplashed across them came to mind. She didn’t even want to think about what Dave Hammond, the head of production at the network, was going to say… It would only be a matter of time before he would call to find out what was going on. But Andy could handle it. She was the star of the show anyway. She’d been the one to talk Lauren into doing the six-episode stint that had become an overnight hit and had the producers chomping at the bit for another season.
Lauren rolled her shoulders forward and pulled her sunhat lower, hoping the man would give up trying to speak to her. Attempting to ignore the growing curiosity from the cashier as the guy in question caused more people to take notice of her, Lauren lumped her armful of groceries onto the checkout counter: a chicken salad sandwich, a bottle of water, and two tubes of sunscreen. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the stranger now striding down the aisle toward the checkout.
“That’ll be seventeen eighty-three,” the woman at the register said, gazing at her.
“Hey.” A hand touched Lauren’s shoulder, turning her around to face the man she’d never seen before. Towering over her, he rubbed the gold scruff on his tanned face, his blue eyes piercing against his olive skin while he squinted at her in confusion.
She stared up at him as he pulled back.
“Oh, sorry to bother you. I thought…”
Lauren braced herself, waiting for him to publicly out her.
“From over there, you looked like a friend of mine.” He flashed a gorgeous smile and ran a hand through his sun-bleached, light brown hair. The depth in his eyes made it feel like he’d known her longer than the seconds they’d spent together. “You don’t happen to be related to Stephanie Clark?”
“No,” she said, relieved that he’d gotten it wrong while also trying to stifle the frustration that even a regular conversation caused her these days. It wasn’t his fault that she had zero interest in knowing why he’d stopped her in the middle of the market. He was just going about his day happily like every other human being on the planet whose whole life hadn’t been turned upside down. She used to wonder what she’d done to make the universe punish her, turning her world into an unrecognizable mess, but she’d yet to unearth an answer.
Lauren handed over her credit card. The cashier swiped it and returned it, her attention flip-flopping between her two customers.
“I apologize for bothering you,” the guy said.
He rattled her, with his good looks and friendly approach. “No problem.” Lauren grabbed the handles of her bag and stepped out of the line.
