Page 39 of Love At The Shore
It was maddening. “I love you, but no. That’s not it.”
The corners of Maureen’s mouth turned up. “Maybe?”
“I promise you, this isnotsome middle school crush. He doesn’t even like me.” He certainly didn’t like the way she characterized sailors. And he seemed to have a special disdain for her cardigan. “He’s just…impossible.”
Maureen’s gaze narrowed. “Maybe I was talking about you.”
“What? No, I don’t…Ican’t.” She couldn’t possibly have acrushon Mr. Slack.
Just…
Absolutely not.
“I can’t be distracted.” She took a deep breath. “So,no.”
“Okay,” Maureen said, although Jenna wasn’t sure she believed her. “Then what are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know.” Honestly, she’d already built a fence. What else could she possibly do to keep Lucas McKinnon out of her life?And out of my thoughts, as well.“Check my blood pressure two times a day?”
Maureen rolled her eyes.
Jenna sighed. “Okay, maybe three.”
“I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to come up with a better plan than that.”
“Right. A plan.” Jenna took off down the beach again. She always thought better when she was moving.
Maureen trudged behind her. “That still seems fast.”
Maybe she didn’t need to think quite so hard. Jenna slowed her steps before she accidentally walked all the way back to Savannah.
Going back home didn’t sound so bad all of a sudden. She’d never do that to Nick and Ally, though. They loved being at Tybee.
But that didn’t necessarily mean they needed to continue living within inches of Lucas McKinnon, and Jenna knew precisely how to make that happen.
The second she returned to the beach house, she flipped through the welcome book the rental company had left on the picnic table on the upper deck. It was filled with instructions for things like trash pickup and recycling, along with menus for local restaurants and take-out pizza. It also listed the rental company’s phone number right on the first page.
Jenna tapped the number into her cell phone and held her breath while it rang on the other end. “Please answer, please answer. Please…”
A recorded voice picked up. “You’ve reached LM Management. Sorry we can’t take your call. Please leave a message at the tone.”
Jenna debated whether or not to hang up. Maybe she should.
It’s now or never.
She walked to the deck’s wooden railing and glanced down at the wholly ineffectual picket fence stretching from one end of the patio to the other and decided she was doing the right thing. Lucas had left her no choice.
As soon as the tone sounded, she launched into her request. “Hi. This is Jenna Turner at your Seawatch property. I hate to do this, but I was wondering if we could change rentals?”
She paused when she heard barking down below. The last thing she needed was for Lucas to overhear her message.
But when she took another peek at the patio, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Just Tank, yipping happily on his way inside the house.
“The location is perfect, and the property is really sweet, but our neighbor…” The words stuck in Jenna’s throat. Why was this so hard all of a sudden?
And why did it seem like she could hear her words echoing from Lucas’s open windows?
The phone lines must be acting up, or maybe she was only imagining things. She took a steadying inhale. “I mean, it’s one thing to live next door to a stubborn messy surfer when you’re single, but when you’re a single parent with two young kids you can’t have distractions day and night. And I’ve got a lot of work to do, so…”
