Linda’s cheeks flush with color.“You, sir, are a smooth talker.”She turns to Katelyn.“Will I see you at lunch?”
“Yes, if that’s okay.Garrison invited me.”
“Sweetie, it ismorethan okay.In fact, I insist.I’ll see you both there in an hour.”
“That sounds great.”Katelyn slings her purse over her shoulder as Linda waves at someone off to her right, then rushes off to greet them, too.
When I glance over to ask Katelyn if she’s ready to go, I see that she’s checking her phone.
“Anything?”
She smiles sheepishly up at me.“Not since this morning.I think he’s just having too much fun.”
“I bet he is.”
She slides her phone back into her pocket.“Well, we have almost an hour.That should give me time to get another load of laundry washed before lunch.”She starts toward the door.
“Or—” I start.
“Or?”she glances up at me as I hold the door open for her to move through it.
“We could go for a walk.Weather is good.”
Katelyn’s answering smile iseverything.“A walk would be good.”
“Great.”Relief rushes through me in a tidal wave as I change course and head for the beach steps rather than the parking lot.Katelyn stops at the bottom of the steps and removes her shoes, so I take time to do the same, then roll up my pant legs enough that the water won’t saturate them.
I may prefer the waterway where we kayaked yesterday, but the beach certainly has its charm.The moment my bare feet touch the sand, a peace washes over me.A calmness that likely also has a lot to do with the woman beside me.
“So how did you like the service today?”I ask as we start walking toward the ocean.Wind pulls at my clothes and flutters her thick curls.
“I loved it.”She takes a deep breath.“You know, I’ve lived in a lot of places, Garrison, and nowhere has ever felt as much like home as Stormwatch Landing.”
“Good.”
She glances over at me, eyebrow raised.
“I wouldn’t want you to have settled down anywhere else.”
She laughs.“You didn’t know me then.”
“I would have known something was missing,” I respond instantly.For a moment, her expression darkens like the sky right before a storm.
Did I say too much?
But before I can counter to try and lessen the weight of my words, Katelyn faces forward again.
“So that woman—Marlene, she set you up a lot?”
“I only let it happen once.”
“That bad?”She laughs.
“It was horrible.”
Katelyn laughs again.“Really?”
“Really.”