Page 12 of Island Homecoming

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Nash refused to watch her drive away. Instead, he shoved his hands into his gloves and churned all his conflicting thoughts and emotions into the work at hand. Not that the conversation put them behind schedule. His crew was good enough to make up for his few minutes of slack.

All that did was give him time to wonder about what he’d done. It had been so long since he’d seen her that he’d been sure she wouldn’t affect him.

Got that wrong.

Jess was as beautiful as he remembered. More so. She carried herself with confidence, an assurance that she could handle anything life dropped in her path. Even him.

Maybe especially him.

Damn. That grated. Not that he wanted her to be rattled at the mere sight of him. His ego wasn’t that fragile. She looked good. Better than good. Key West clearly agreed with her. And thinking about that—about her thriving in some other city—just made him mad.

Unreasonable, but true.

He worked the edger, trimming overgrown grass away from the concrete borders. The vibration and drone of the equipment didn’t stop him from replaying the entire scene. Over and over.

Did that apology come too easy? It had. That bugged him. Sure she owed him a big, fat “I’m sorry” but she wasn’t the kind of person who caved so fast.

And what was he thinking, asking her to dinner? Forcing her, really.

Something about Jess left him tossing logic and caution to the wind. It had been over ten years since she implicated him in that robbery. Ten years since he’d proven his innocence. Hadn’t even been hard to do. Chief Caldwell had been skeptical of his involvement from the start.

One of the perks of being the son of Roxy and Nico. His parents had raised him and his sister to get involved and give back. They helped out at community and church events, and they supported his mother’s efforts with the less fortunate folks here on the island and in Charleston.

Of course, parents could do all the right things and their kids could still go off the rails. Like his best friend—the real robber—had done.

He hadn’t been exaggerating the gossip. Talk had been horrible and the embarrassment nearly unbearable for a while, even though very few people believed the accusations against Nash.

How was it that everyone else trusted his character except her?

Humbling. That was his relationship with Jessica Keller in a nutshell.

Being seen in public with her was going to start tongues wagging again. Only time would tell whether the grapevine spread good news or rotten rumors.

As the crew finished and loaded up the trailer, Nash’s mind wandered. Good thing she couldn’t go out tonight. Although that just made him wonder about her safety on this guard duty. He really hoped Chief Caldwell knew what he was doing, keeping the drugs on the island. Nash didn’t want to think about Jess in danger. Her training and experience didn’t change anything for him. The idea of her keeping watch through the wee hours of the night made him uneasy.

He snorted. Not a chance of changing that. Jess had proven time and again that she could forge her own path through the world.

He should use the time to figure out what to do and what tone to set on their date. He didn’t want to humiliate her. Not really.

What did he want?

He wanted to catch up. They’d been friends once and he missed her. She’d always been a great listener. Well, except for that one, final conversation. He had to let that go. They were grown-ups now.

If they’d still been friends, he might’ve chosen somewhere more casual where they could just relax and catch up. Plenty of places around the island to accomplish that goal. People would still gossip about seeing them together. But something he didn’t want to look at too closely was driving him to make a point. More shocking was this unfamiliar urge to do somethingspecial. With Jess. For her.

The Inn. Like it was their prom or something.

He climbed into the driver’s seat of his truck and headed to the next job while his crew conversed, a comforting background for his swirling thoughts.

At the next property, Nash cruised around on the mower, reluctantly accepting that he wanted to treat Jess well. He’d invited her out to make her uncomfortable, but apparently he still cared about her feelings.

Irritated with himself, he set a reminder on his phone to call and make reservations as soon as they finished for the day. With the temptation to procrastinate crushed, he shoved all thoughts of her to the back of his mind and focused on the work.

Chapter 4

Jesshadnevergivenmuch thought to the island’s industrial area, but that was exactly where she found herself. She stared at the front door of a warehouse that had seen better days. The paint had faded long ago and rust had taken hold along the corrugated metal siding. She couldn’t remember this warehouse ever being in use. Of course, she’d been a kid with interests elsewhere.

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