Page 80 of New Day at the Beach House

He smiled. “I have told my son how I feel. He knows the desires of my heart. But he also thought you would say no.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because we haven’t known each other very long, but when he gets to be our age, he will understand that time is not the friend it once was.”

“That’s for sure.” She got to thinking. “In fact, we should get married right away. We don’t need a lot of people there. We can do it right here on the beach, don’t you think?”

He nodded. “That would be nice.”

“It would be. I’ll have to find a dress. Maybe we can get Claire to make us a cake. Do you have something to get married in?”

He smiled. “White linen, I think. Pants and shirt. Is that all right?”

“It sounds just fine.”

There was a lot to think about and a lot to plan for, even for a small, simple wedding, but how hard could it be? She’d done it enough times to know what mattered and what didn’t. “How do you feel about a honeymoon in Puerto Rico?”

His grin widened. “That is exactly where I want to go. We could even see some of my family who are still there.”

“I better learn to speak some Spanish then.”

“I will teach you.” He held her hand a little tighter. “Thank you for not thinking I was loco.”

She laughed. “I think we’re both loco.” She winked at him. “But in the best possible way.”

After her mom turned in, Jules wasn’t ready to go to bed. And since Cash was out on his date, she decided to head upstairs and work on her music. Quietly. This wasn’t the time of night to be rocking out.

She took the steps, pausing on the rooftop deck to gaze out at the beach and the stars. Such a pretty night. She went inside, turned on one small light, and settled down on the couch with her notebook, leaving her phone on the cushion beside her.

She left her guitar where it was next to her, not really in the mood to play anything just yet. She only had four songs so far. Five, if she got permission to cover Folsom Prison Blues. But that still left four more to create.

She tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling, thinking through her own emotions for a point of inspiration. But the truth was, she was feeling a bit melancholy. Not because of her music. That was going very well.

Cash and Jesse had just about set everything up necessary for her to record her demo at the Dolphin Club. But she was missing Jesse. She would have loved to be out with him tonight. He was great company and a lot of fun.

Dinner had been great, but it had been too short.

The club was a big responsibility. His responsibility. She understood that. She wouldn’t want to take him away from his business. The thing was, if this song and this album took off like her agent thought it would, she’d be touring again.

There would be months of her on the road and nothing to connect them but video calls and text messages. That was a hard thing for a fledgling relationship to go through. And she liked Jesse enough to care what happened to them. Not just because he’d done so much for her, either. She was falling into deep like with the guy.

Enough that love might not be far behind.

The last thing she wanted was for him to think she’d used him in any way to further her career. She hadn’t, of course, but the idea that he might wonder about that made her sick. She really wanted to talk to him. Face to face would be better, but if there was a show at the club tonight, he might be too busy.

She picked up her phone and sent him a quick text. How’s it going tonight? Busy?

She could probably guess based on how long it took him to respond and how detailed his response was.

She’d written one new line down before he answered. Couldn’t have been more than two minutes. She looked at her phone.

Busy enough. I’d rather be with you.

She smiled. Same here. Is there a show tonight?

No, just live music. What are you doing?

Working on lyrics.

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