Page 5 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the email confirming his rental of a seaside cottage. Rosewood Beach. Kind of an overly cutesy name for a town, he thought with another grunt.
He peered at the image of the cottage that he’d rented. It was small and made of white stone, with sea blue shutters and a beautiful garden in front. The photograph had been taken in summer, of course, and it would all be cold and frozen when he arrived. Still, it was a roof over his head in a place that was far less expensive to live.
He couldn’t recall ever having been to Connecticut, but he’d heard his great grandmother talk about Rosewood Beach when he was a child. She’d called it paradise, and it had stayed inhis mind as a kind of fairytale place. He’d convinced himself it wasn’t even a real town, but then he’d seen it on the map while looking for a place to start over in.
He’d decided it was as good a place as any to try to pick up the pieces of his life, so he’d rented the cottage. He wasn’t feeling particularly enthusiastic about his new living situation, but at least he would be away from New York. Maybe then it would be easier to forget about everything that had gone wrong, and everything that he’d lost.
A fresh start,he thought as he heaved his suitcase into the trunk of his car.Fresh. Start. I don’t feel fresh, and I don’t have the energy to start anything.
He got into his car and started the ignition. He just needed a roof over his head, and a place to be left alone to lick his wounds while he decided what to do next. That wouldn’t be too hard, right?
He swallowed as he glanced over his shoulder. He could only hope it wouldn’t be.
Letting out another grunt, he pulled his car out onto the street and started his long drive to Rosewood Beach.
CHAPTER THREE
Hazel Owens stood in the center of her new house, her eyes shining with happiness. She turned slowly in a circle, looking around at the empty walls and floor and picturing all kinds of wonderful things covering them.
The walls were cracked and in some places, the plaster was so damaged that chunks had fallen out. The staircase was sagging, and some parts of the railing had been badly chewed by a dog. One of the living room’s windows had cracks in the glass, and through an open doorway she could see the kitchen, where there were tiles missing from the floor.
“It’s perfect,” she whispered, her fingertips tingling.
She and Jacob had decided to wait to move in until they were finished renovating, so the whole house was empty. Soon, however, she and Jacob would fill it with tools and drywall supplies and stacks of new tiles. They would work together over the coming weeks, turning the creaky old house into a cozy home. She squinted as she looked around the room, imagining cozy colors on the walls, bookshelves, comfy couches, and charming rugs.
She smiled. She absolutely loved decorating, and she also didn’t mind getting her hands dirty and working on home repair.She and Jacob were a perfect dream team, she thought with a sigh of happiness.
Maybe she’d always had a sense of what they could be as a couple, and that’s why she’d had such a massive crush on him in high school. Or maybe it had simply been the fact that he’d always been an attractive, hard-working guy with rich brown hair and kind gray eyes. She certainly hadn’t been the only girl who’d had a crush on him back then, but she was the only girl lucky enough to have ended up with him.
After her marriage had failed many years previously, she’d spent a long time not being interested in romantic relationships. When she’d finally admitted to herself that her friendship with Jacob was something more on her end, it had taken her a while to work up the courage to tell him how she felt. Then, just when she’d been about to confess her feelings, she’d learned that he was dating someone else.
At first, she’d been devastated, but she’d soon found a peace within herself, and she’d spent time investing in her self-confidence. She and Jacob had become better friends, and it had turned out that he’d been single for months, but she just hadn’t known. Even better than that news, she’d then learned that he’d been interested in her for a long time as well. Even though she hadn’t wanted to give up the way she’d been focusing on self-care and self-improvement and had hesitated before saying yes to dating him, her family had assured her that she could start a relationship with Jacob and continue to nurture her own self-confidence.
Ever since then, she and Jacob had been inseparable. She loved him with all her heart, and she loved the way he cared for Samantha just like a father would. The three of them had become such a happy family, and she was overjoyed over the prospect of starting a home together.
She felt incredibly grateful for her current situation in life. She had a wonderful partner who she adored, a darling and precocious pre-teen daughter, and a fantastic family who had her back at all times. The Owens family had always been close, but now that Julia and Alexis had moved back to Rosewood Beach from the cities where they’d lived before, their family was closer than ever. She loved the way they were able to support each other and spend so much time together.
When Julia and Alexis had first come back to town, it had been because of their father’s funeral. After that, things had been rocky for all of them because of their grief and because they’d learned that the family restaurant, The Lighthouse Grill, was in danger because of all of their father’s gambling debts. It had been shocking and troubling to learn that their father had kept a secret like that from his family for so many years, and even worse than that, they’d been in danger of losing the pub.
Their wonderful community had pulled together to save the day, however. The Owens children had organized a fundraiser to save The Lighthouse Grill, and Rosewood Beach had come through for them. Now the pub was doing better than ever, and Hazel felt incredibly proud both of her family and of her empathetic town.
She heard the sound of someone coming up the basement stairs, and a moment later, Jacob appeared in the kitchen.
“Hazel!” he said in surprise, grinning at her. “What are you still doing here? I thought you said you were going to go home and catch up on laundry and meal prepping.”
“I know.” She laughed as she folded into his arms for a hug. “But I started daydreaming and then I just couldn’t stop. I’ve been picturing all the lovely things we can do with this house.”
“You have, huh?” He started to dance with her a little, rocking her back and forth and moving his feet in a sloppy waltz step. “Good. You’re really good at all of that kind of thing.”
“I want to show you my ideas,” she said eagerly. “Maybe I’ll make drawings of them. That way we can decide together. But I was thinking about putting the couch there, in front of the fireplace, and maybe we could mount a TV over the mantel? And then put bookshelves here and here—and we should put that old chest your grandmother gave you over here, under the window.”
“Sounds amazing.” He looked around the room, smiling as if he could picture it. “I just know that once we’re ready to move in, you’re going to have this incredible plan to decorate our house. Once it’s all done, it’s going to be so nice and cozy in here.”
“It will.” She laughed. “It’s going to be so cute—even though this house isn’t small like my cottage, I know it’s still going to feel cozy. And a mix of open and cozy sounds wonderful. I have to admit it, sometimes my little house does start to feel a little cramped.”
He looked down into her eyes and brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “Are you happy about this, Hazel?” he asked her gently. “You don’t feel like I roped you into it and you’d rather stay in your house that you’ve already put so much time and love into?”
She threw her arms around his neck. “No, I’d so much rather move in here with you. I’m so happy, Jacob. I’m more than happy. I can’t wait to turn this house into a home with you.” She kissed his cheek. “This house is going to feel more like a home because we’re going to work on it together. And I love how much bigger and open it is. It’s so old, and it’s got so much character. I can just imagine all of the people who’ve lived here in decades past, and it makes it seem even more special. Like, now it’s our turn and we get to make it our own.”
