Page 38 of Sunsets at the Beach House

He laughed. “I am, too, but I’m also grateful you took her attempt to drown you and Toby in stride.”

Jules snorted. “I’m pretty easygoing.”

He nodded and moved closer to her. “Yes, you are. Remarkably so.”

She gazed up at him. “For the record, I’ve come to care about you, too. In a lot of ways. You’re an incredibly smart and capable guy. You make me laugh. And you’ve helped me out in a lot of ways.”

“Hey, you helped me, too.” He took her hands in his. “Filling in that night when my act couldn’t make it.”

“True, but I think you’ve more than paid me back for that by helping me with this demo.”

“I’m happy to do it.”

“I know you are. I wonder how you might feel about something else I’d like to ask you.”

His eyes narrowed. “What’s up your sleeve, Jules?”

She smiled. “If this song blows up like you all seem to think it will, the inevitable next step is recording the album, then after that, going on tour. It’ll mean I’m gone for two or three months on the road. Maybe more. Long days, longer nights. It’s not the glamorous life most people think it is.”

“I understand.”

“You do?” She doubted that. She hadn’t even asked him about joining her yet.

“Sure,” he said. “You want me to watch Toby?”

She laughed. “No! I was going to ask you if you’d like to join me for some of that tour.”

His eyes widened. “You’re serious?”

She shrugged coyly. “I mean, if you’d rather stay here and watch Toby…”

He picked her up and twirled her around, making her shriek. “I would love to!”

“Put me down before I get seasick.” She barely got the words out, she was laughing so hard.

Her feet touched the floor again. He held her by the shoulders. “Jules, that would be amazing. I would love to go. You’re sure about this?”

She nodded. “Yep. And you can bring Shiloh. We’ll already have one dog on the bus and since her and Toby get along, it should be fine. Plus, Cash will be there. It’ll be fun. Although I intend to put you to work a bit, too. But we’ll still have fun.”

“I can’t wait. I’ll do whatever you need me to.”

“Well, it won’t be for a while yet, so you’ve got time to find whoever’s going to replace you while you’re gone. You think that’s doable?”

“I hope so. I have three people lined up to interview so far. And I’m also hiring a new booking agent, which is something I pretty much handle now.”

“Dividing your job into two jobs? Smart. Should make it easier to handle.”

“I hope so.”

“Listen, you won’t have to be on tour with us the whole time. You can fly back periodically to check on things. Shiloh can stay with us. It won’t be a big deal.”

He shoved a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe what an opportunity this is. Thank you. This is like a dream come true for me.”

She leaned in, took his face in her hands, and kissed him. “It’ll be pretty nice for me, too.”

Kat had spread the newspapers out, arranged her paints, then gone back inside for a paper plate to use as a palette and a plastic cup of water to clean her brushes in.

When she’d come out and added those things to her crafting area, she realized she wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to paint on the surfboard. What colors, what designs, none of that.

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