Page 5 of Love At The Shore
The trickle of water slowed to a stop.
Plop.
Plop.
Plop.
Three slow drops, and she still couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
“Um, yeah. We just checked in,” she said to a nearby hibiscus bush, then nodded at the bin in her hands. “I just wanted to find somewhere to put this.”
Wow, this was one jumpy woman. Lucas wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a person who vibrated with such nervous energy. It rolled off of her in waves.
The forecast had been wrong. A storm had most definitely come to town. From the looks of things, a Category Four. Maybe even a Five.
“I don’t think it really matters where you put it.” He shrugged.
She glanced at him—cheeks flaring pink—and then quickly looked away again.
He grinned, trying to put her at ease. If she was going to react like this every time she saw someone in a bathing suit, she was in for an awfully long summer. “I’m Lucas, by the way. Lucas McKinnon.”
“Well, Lucas. I’m going to let you finish what you’re doing and I’m going to put this away.” She held up the bin again, like it was some sort of protective barrier. “It was nice meeting you.”
“Nice meeting you. Good luck.”Good luck unwinding enough to enjoy the beach.
He watched as she strode past him, spine ramrod straight, until a ball of white fur came scampering down the stairs and leapt toward her.
“Oh, wow.” She took a giant backward step.
Clearly not a dog person. Shocker.
“That’s Tank.” Lucas’s rescue dog was probably the friendliest, most harmless creature on the island.
“Hi, Tank,” she said as the pup pawed at her shins. Admittedly, Tank’s greeting was a little exuberant, but surely she didn’t think he’d actually harm her in any way. “Um, I should probably get inside before my kids think you ate me.”
Kids? No wonder she seemed so tense.
“Get outta here, boy.” Lucas pointed toward Tank’s favorite shady spot in the sand.
The woman tiptoed a little dance and lifted her bin in the air as if Tank had a burning desire to devour her beach toys. “Down, down.”
“Go,” Lucas said, and Tank reluctantly scampered elsewhere.
Lucas cleared his throat. “So are those your kids I saw out front?”
“Last I checked, yeah.” At last, she smiled at him.
It was a grin that knocked him unexpectedly off balance, as if he’d taken a tumble off his surfboard. “And your husband, is he…?”
She shook her head. “Ex-husband. He’s in Japan for work.”
“Oh.” Now that they were face-to-face, he noticed what lovely eyes she had. They were a luminous amber, like an early morning sunrise glinting off the ocean. “You look kinda young to have kids that old.”
“They’re really not that old.” She blinked. “But thank you? I think.”
“And you don’t have that caffeinated, dazed look that most parents have. You know the one where it’s like they’re just wrecked.” Most parents he knew walked around like zombies, which was just one of the reasons Lucas had zero desire to join their ranks. “You know that kind?”
He pulled his best zombie face.
