Page 70 of Love At The Shore
It was after dark bythe time Lucas finally got home, and Tank was nowhere to be found.
The doggy door on his side of the duplex allowed Tank to dart back and forth between the inside of the house and the deck. Normally when Lucas had been gone for longer than a mere five minutes, his pup greeted him on the patio with excited barks and a wagging tail.
Luckily, before worry could fully set in, he spotted Tank through the big bay window on Jenna’s half of the beach house. The dog was sprawled across the sofa, spooning with Ally, his devoted best friend. Both pup and child were sound asleep.
As if the cozy display wasn’t already sweet enough, Jenna sat beside them, reading a book with Ally’s head nestled her lap.
Lucas paused on the threshold, taking in the homey scene. From the moment Jenna had moved in with her ancient typewriter and her organized storage bins, she’d made his house a home. And now Tank looked so much like part of the family that a dull ache formed in his chest.
He swallowed it down and knocked on the door.
Through the window he saw Jenna glance in his direction and then swivel her attention back to the hardback book in her hands. She didn’t budge from the couch, and somewhere in the back of Lucas’s mind, alarm bells began to sound.
“I’ve got it,” someone said.
Nick’s voice. Lucas would recognize it anywhere.
A second later, the boy came into view, striding toward the screen door in a hoodie and jeans. He swung the door open and greeted Lucas with a deflated expression.
“Hey, buddy.” Lucas grinned. Nick didn’t crack a smile, and that’s when he knew.
Heknewwith absolute certainty.
Nick hadn’t swum the time he needed to make the team in the fall. Lucas didn’t even have to ask. It was written all over the poor kid’s face. It was also written all over Jenna’s, who’d yet to utter a peep. She stayed right where she was, glaring down at her reading material.
Lucas stumbled over his next words, knowing they were wholly inadequate in the face of such profound disappointment. “Sorry I missed you earlier.”
“That’s fine.” Nick’s voice was uncharacteristically flat.
Itwasn’tfine. That much was obvious. Lucas had messed up in the worst possible way.
How could this have happened? Nick had 1:18 in the bag. He’d made the time days ago in practice and had been consistent every day since.
Only one thing about today had been different—Lucas hadn’t been there, cheering him on.
He had the sudden urge to turn back time and tell Bob he couldn’t go out and celebrate, but of course that wasn’t possible.
He shifted from one foot to the other. “Is your mom home?”
Of course she was. She was sitting less than twenty feet away on the sofa, studiously avoiding his gaze.
Lucas didn’t even know what he was saying. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Nick hadn’t made 1:18.
And it might have been my fault.
“Yeah.” Nick gave him a weak smile. It was only the barest twitch of his lips, but Lucas would take what he could get. “I’ll go get her.”
Lucas nodded. He didn’t dare cross the threshold and enter Jenna’s half of the house. Those days were apparently over. Tank might be welcome but he most definitely wasn’t.
Instead, he moved to the railing overlooking the ocean and took a deep breath of salty sea air while he waited for Jenna. The beach always had a way of calming him, and this time was no different.
Maybe things weren’t as bad as he feared. It had been a long day. For everyone. Maybe he’d only been imagining her cold-shoulder treatment, and she was simply sad for Nick.
Besides, Lucas wanted Nick to make his swim team just as much as everyone else did. He hadn’t intentionally done anything wrong. He’d simply attended a business meeting.
Which is exactly something my father would have said back when I was a kid.
Lucas’s jaw clenched as memories flooded his consciousness—baseball games, school open houses, spelling bees. So many times when he’d searched the crowd for his dad’s face. So many crushing disappointments.
