Page 25 of Stepping Into Tomorrow

“Yes. You tell your mom.” He waved in farewell and headed into the marina shop. Instead of Tomas, his wife, Catherine, leaned over the counter, gossiping with Nancy Plotts. She looked up when he walked in, her eyes narrowing on him as her cohort gave him the same sneering look. The usual welcome he got from many of Shattered Cove’s residents. From those who believed he was a monster. The people who’d turned their backs on him and his family because they thought he’d murdered his fiancée. He might as well be seen as a scary motherfucker—people tended to leave him alone that way.

Nash gritted his teeth and walked to the back for a bottle of cold water, grabbing a Coke for Anthony. He had a short list of items he needed to grab and then get out of here.

“Your daughter’s pregnant?” Nancy’s voice rose in the small store.

I didn’t know the Noveas had any children. His lack of knowledge didn’t surprise him; Catherine hated him, yet Tomas was a good man. But other than talk of business and the weather, Nash kept to himself. Everyone was safer that way.

“She won’t tell us who the father is.”

“It’s not her husband?” Nancy gasped.

Nash rolled his eyes. The dramatics of these women were unmatched by Hollywood. He grabbed a few of the new lures and browsed the hook section.

“No, she’s only two months along. Robert died eight months ago.”

Eight months after she became a widow she was already knocked up by another man? Damn. Anastasia had been missing for almost five years and it had taken him three years before he could even look at another woman. But six months? Was the poor bastard even cold in the ground when she fucked someone else?

Everyone grieves differently. But don’t you think it’s time you move on?

His mother’s words echoed in his mind. Nope. He was fine as he was. He’d live his life alone. That way, no one else would be hurt—least of all him.

“Oh, shhh, here she comes. Don’t tell her I said anything. Keep this between us,” Catherine whisper-yelled.

Nash snorted. Like that was going to happen.

The bell jangled as the front door opened. “I found the supplies you wanted, Mama.”

Nash froze, his blood turning to ice. No. Nononono. He spun around. Sure enough, Bella walked behind the counter, setting a box in front of her mother.

“Oh, thank you, dear. It’s been a lifesaver having you back. You remember Nancy?” Catherine asked.

Bella gave what seemed like a forced smile to the woman. “Of course.”

The blood drained from Nash’s face. Two months. Sixty days. That meant he might be . . . oh, fuck. I used a condom. Maybe it could be someone else’s? But she’d said she wanted to talk to him about something.

He ran a hand over his face, pulling his hair out until his scalp screamed in pain. “Fuck!”

Three pairs of eyes jerked towards him. But only one mattered.

Bella’s mouth dropped open. She straightened, casting a wary gaze over her mother and the other woman before she announced loudly, “I’m gonna go get some air.” She turned towards the door, glaring at him and nodding towards the back door.

Maybe she just wanted to warn him that he might hear she was pregnant but it wasn’t his. Wishful thinking had never worked before, but perhaps his luck was about to change.

12

NASH

Nash forced one leaden foot in front of the other, following a small distance behind Bella across the marina parking lot towards the shore. Her arms hugged her body as her feet padded through the rocky sand, carefully maneuvering over the bits of driftwood, washed-up lobster traps, and rope.

His heart thundered in his ears. Waves swept over the tan sand, the tide bringing bits of seaweed in. His stomach churned as his mind raced.

It’s not mine. It can’t be.

So what else did she want to talk about, then?

His body trembled as terror crept through his veins like ice. He was thrown back in time as memories crashed over him.

“Please don’t leave me, Nash. You’re all I have in this world.” Anastasia’s tear-filled face looked up at him, regret shining in her eyes.

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