Page 50 of Love At The Shore
“He’s a sweet guy, for sure. But a family man he is not.” She sighed. “He likes his freedom way too much.”
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Kayla’s words confirmed everything Jenna already knew.
Still, they hurt.
“Then I guess it’s good I’m not looking for anything.” She pasted on a smile.
“You sure about that?”
Am I?
Of course she was sure. Yes, Lucas was charming. And yes, he was pretty great with her kids. He might not be Mr. Slack, but he was still a surfer who lived at the beach year-round and she was a suburban mom who packed lunches and organized carpool. What little free time she had was spent writing, and somehow she was still always behind.
Besides, she wasn’t ready for a relationship. She mightneverbe ready.
“Yeah. I’ve already been disappointed by one relationship. I’m not trying for another.” She couldn’t survive another divorce. She’d rather be single for the rest of her life than be blindsided like that again.
Jenna nodded toward the ice cream truck. “I think your sherbet is ready.”
“Thank you.” Kayla took her order and dug into it with a spoon. “Bye.”
“Bye.” Jenna waved before turning her attention to the menu, grateful to be thinking about something as simple as ice cream flavors. “How about two vanillas and one strawberry sorbet?”
The sorbet was for Ally. Nick’s favorite was mint chocolate chip, but the ice cream truck’s selection wasn’t quite that vast. Jenna always chose vanilla. She liked her ice cream simple and classic.
But as her gaze strayed back toward Lucas and the kids, she couldn’t help wondering if maybe choosing something new every now and then might not be such a bad idea.
Chapter Ten
Nick needed a break fromthe pool.
Lucas took one look at him the following day at camp and knew the poor kid had hit a wall. He’d been practicing so much that his arms hung at his sides limp as spaghetti noodles. Swimming laps in his exhausted state would be fruitless. His times were bound to be slower, which meant Lucas would have a very frustrated child on his hands at the end of the day.
But the lessons didn’t have to stop entirely.
He shot Jenna a quick text message asking if it was okay to take Nick on a quick outing away from camp. He had, after all, promised to keep her in the loop. She agreed right away and thanked him for checking with her first.
Lucas grinned to himself. Progress.
Then, when the other campers lined up poolside to swim their afternoon laps, he handed Nick a bike helmet and told him to put on a t-shirt and shoes and meet him in the parking lot. He aired up the tires in two of the camp’s cruiser bikes and had them cleaned up and ready to go by the time Nick joined him on the gravel drive.
Lucas straddled his bike, waited for Nick to fasten the strap of his helmet, and then pushed off toward the northwest end of the island.
They peddled in silence, side by side, as Lucas led them off the main road toward the bike path that ran along the island’s old historic trail. Sand crabs skittered across the dusty track, and they could hear the splish-splash of dolphins playing in the nearby river channel. Nick grinned when he spotted a pair of them cresting in the distance.
It wasn’t until the Cockspur Island lighthouse came into view just offshore that Nick got curious enough to press Lucas for some information. “I probably shouldn’t ask this, but why are we here and not at the pool?”
Lucas slowed his bike to a stop as they rolled from the path onto the loose sand of the beach.
“You see that out there?” he said, pulling off his helmet.
Nick climbed off his bicycle and squinted at the horizon. “The old lighthouse?”
“Yeah.” Lucas raked a hand through his helmet-hair. “That old lighthouse is how I got over my fear of swimming.”
Nick laughed. “Oh, please. You were never afraid.”
“You’re right.” Lucas nodded. “I was terrified.”
