The Aussie Next Door

by Stefanie London

  You should be enjoying yourself. Not worrying about every little thing that could go wrong.

  She rubbed her thumb over the ring sitting on her left hand. Ever since Jace had slipped it onto her finger with a reverence she’d never expected, Angie couldn’t stop staring at it. The gold band was beautifully designed, the engraving giving a slight Art Deco feel. It was nothing like the OTT rocks many jewelry stores put in their windows—the whole bigger-is-better thing never resonated with Angie. But this…this was perfect. Sentimental, meaningful, honest.

  It was the real deal. Only now, as an adult who’d had her eyes opened by life, she truly understood the risk involved in such a gesture. The immense amount she had to lose.

  Jace pulled off the highway where a sign pointed to a camping ground. “This spot is good. Shouldn’t be too busy, since school starts back on Monday and most families have gone home to get prepared.”

  He was right. The small camping ground and caravan park was barely half-full—probably well less than half, in fact. There were a few clusters of people who looked to be in their twenties, mostly drinking and laughing. A group of guys played soccer in one of the grassy areas, and their friends cheered from the sidelines.

  They continued through to a quiet road on the other side that led to a small parking lot. Jace pulled into one of the remaining spots and killed the engine. As soon as they opened their doors, the sound of the ocean flooded them. There were quite a few people on the beach, but it was nothing like the height of the holiday season where finding a spot big enough to lay your towels down was like hunting for a needle in a haystack.

  Jace helped Tilly and Truffle out of the back seat. Truffle was on a leash with his harness, since he tended to be a bit skittish when first assessing a new place with other people. Tilly, however, was perfectly happy to lope beside them, unharnessed.

  “Don’t forget your SPF,” Jace said.

  “Thanks, Dad,” she teased.

  “Mock me all you want.” He slung a beach bag over one shoulder and locked up the car. Angie took Truffle’s leash from him to free up his hand. “You haven’t experienced the rite of passage where you think you’re invincible and end up turning into a lobster. Many of the cafés and shops have sunscreen dispensers to encourage more people to protect themselves.”

  “I feel like that describes Patterson’s Bluff in a nutshell,” Angie said with a smile. “Everybody looks out for one another.”

  “Almost everybody,” Jace corrected. “We’ve got our bad eggs like everywhere else.”

  “But those people are an anomaly. I’ve never felt so welcomed into a community like I did when I moved here. It’s one of the reasons I was so desperate to stay.” She felt the analytical slide of Jace’s gaze over her skin.

  “Speaking of which, we need to tell my parents about the engagement.”

  The statement cycled in her head, making her feel like she was hovering at the edge of a cliff. This was the element she hadn’t considered when concocting her grand plan to fall in love hard and fast…what other people might say.

  Who cares what other people say?

  But Angie did care what Jace’s family would say, because she liked them a lot. They were lovely people, the kind of family she’d always hoped to be a part of. And, of course, because she knew he cared, too. As someone who’d been at the mercy of other people’s opinions her whole life, it worried her.

  What if they questioned her motives? Would he want to be honest that her being able to stay in the country was a driving force for their getting married? Or would he want to hide that detail away? Keep it secret and hope that nobody ever found out?

  Oh God, what if Paul Westerly decided to tell people about her visa issues when news of the engagement got out?

  “And we should probably tell them soon.” Jace said it as though it wasn’t a big deal that Angie was currently doubt-spiraling over. “They’ll have questions, no doubt.”

  “Questions?” she squeaked.

  They were walking across the beach, looking for the perfect spot to stop and settle. But Angie’s mind couldn’t have been further from the blue skies and bluer waters. Even the enthusiastic wagging of Truffle’s skinny little pink-tinged tail didn’t make her smile like it usually did.

  “Well, yeah.” Jace looked at her strangely. “I mean, we’re springing an engagement on them when they didn’t even know we were dating.”

  “That’s because we weren’t dating.” In true Angie fashion, she’d jumped in with both feet—no thought to the consequences.

  Jace stopped and shook out the towels, laying them down carefully and then smoothing out the wrinkles with his palms. That little quirk always made her smile—he did it the same way every time. Shake, smooth. Shake, smooth. But today, the smile was not forthcoming. “Are you worried about telling them?”

  “A little,” she admitted.

  “Sit down,” he said.

  Angie crouched and pulled Truffle into her lap, as though the small dog might provide a measure of comfort. Dammit. Why did she have to be so up in her own head about this? She liked Jace; he liked her back. That was all she should be worrying about.

  “My family is probably going to be surprised,” he said. “But they’re always kind of surprised when it comes to me.”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  “It’s neither…or both. But I don’t need their approval to do this. They think you’re great already, and they’ll get over the shock because they want me to be happy.”

  She swallowed. “But what if it all falls apart?”

  “I handled it once before, and it sounds like you handled your life falling apart as well. We’re both tough. No matter what happens at the end of the month, we’ll keep swimming.” He reached over and cupped her face, the touch bringing a moment of stillness to her frantic mind. “Do you still want to do this with me?”

  “Yes.” It was the only thing she did know at the moment—that she’d fallen for Jace and that she wanted so badly to make it work. “I absolutely want this.”

  “Then nothing else matters.” He brought his lips down to hers, coaxing her mouth open and kissing her hard and deep. They pulled away a second later, and Angie reached for his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. “Because I sure as hell want it, too.”

  She would make this work. She would do her utmost to make sure his parents were happy to welcome her into the family, and she would be the perfect fiancée.

  You can do whatever you set your mind to—you’ve proven that.

  All she had to do was be a little more confident in herself. She was fiancée material. She liked Jace a hell of a lot. And she was already playing her part in this town. For once in her life, everything was on her side.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Despite an awkward start to the morning, everything seemed to be on track. After their chat about the family situation, Jace saw a change in Angie. She seemed more relaxed, more herself.

  After walking at the edge of the water with the dogs and trying to make sure Truffle didn’t get swept away by any rogue waves—or stealthy children who seemed enamored with him—Jace had gotten them both an ice cream.

  The water lapped at the sand, and Angie’s white shirt flapped in the breeze, giving him tempting flashes of her backside in a skimpy-cut black bikini bottom. Her hair was mussed and curly, given texture by the salty water and wind, and her pink lips wrapped around the ice cream in the most enticing way.

  He couldn’t stop staring at her. Couldn’t stop thinking about getting her back home and into his bed. Or maybe the shower…or the kitchen table. Heck, why even bother going inside when there was a perfectly good deck chair out back?

  “I think you’ve turned me into a horny teenage boy,” he said, leaning in and bringing his lips close to her ear.

  She turned her head, and her mouth curved upw
ard. “Have you got your mind in the gutter again?”

  “Seems to be a constant thing around you.” They walked, content and eating their ice creams. Truffle trotted alongside them, off his leash now, and Tilly loped on ahead. She was sniffing everything, overturning shells with her nose and having a ball.

  “I guess we should head back. I’m thinking movie night, fish and chips, lazy sex on the couch.”

  Jace chuckled. “Lazy sex?”

  “Yeah, you know that kind where you’re taking it slow and you’re a little sleepy and it’s delicious and…well, lazy.”

  “I’m not sure I’ve had that kind of sex before. But it sounds good to me.”

  “You’re missing out.” She bit into her ice-cream cone with a loud crunch. “Lazy sex is the best. Followed closely by shower sex, makeup sex, outdoor sex, and middle-of-the-night-am-I-dreaming sex.”

  “Are you trying to corrupt me?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  He was about to pull Angie in for a kiss when a loud yelping noise broke them apart. A child’s cry up ahead drew their eyes, and that’s when he saw Tilly retching all over the sand. She was making an awful noise, and a small child near her was waving his arms.

  “Shit.” Jace handed Angie the remainder of his ice cream and jogged over, panic mounting in the back of his throat. “What happened?”

  But the kid didn’t need to say anything, since as soon as Jace saw it he knew exactly what had happened. A translucent blob was lying still in the sand, half-buried. It was a common sight around here. Dead jellyfish littered the beaches at certain times of year, and everyone knew to keep their distance. Even dead, their stingers could do damage for several weeks afterward.

  “Tilly.” He crouched down beside the dog and placed a reassuring hand on her back. She looked up at him with those soulful amber eyes as if to say, Please help me. “You poor thing.”

  Then she vomited again, her body wracking. That wasn’t a good sign. If she’d tried to eat the jellyfish and swallowed the stinger… Panic started to coil around his bones like a vine, squeezing until his vision narrowed. If anything happened to her because he hadn’t been paying attention—hadn’t been treating his responsibility with the care it required—he’d never forgive himself.

  “Oh my God.” Angie was beside him now, with Truffle securely in her arms. “What happened?”

  “Jellyfish.” He couldn’t see where she’d been stung, which was an issue. Usually, the first thing you did was ensure the tentacles were off the skin. Then you had to wash the area in the ocean—saltwater helped.

  The offender looked like a jelly blubber, which weren’t poisonous to humans, but they stung like a bitch. But for dogs? He wasn’t so sure. Tilly was old, and he couldn’t find the stingers.

  He tried to open Tilly’s mouth, but she snarled at him in warning. “We need to get her to the vet. Now.”

  Angie looked at him with wide, unblinking eyes. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “I don’t know. I hope so.”

  He looked at the older dog and prayed she wouldn’t sink her teeth into him. But when he slid his hands under her body and scooped her up, she only whined. They’d drawn a crowd now, with the kid who’d found Tilly crying so hard his mother was holding him.

  “She’ll be okay,” he reassured the child, hoping to hell he wasn’t lying.

  He walked as quickly as he could across the beach, his bare feet sinking into the sand with each step. It was no easy feat carrying a dog her size, but he would do anything to make sure she was okay. She’d buried her face against his chest and made an awful sound.

  “Please don’t vomit on me, girl. We’ll get you to the vet.” When he got to the car, Angie was right behind him, and she pulled the keys from the beach bag. “Can you sit in the back with her?”

  “Of course.” There was no fear in her eyes—not like there had been that first day when they’d tried to rescue the dogs from the hailstorm. She even reached out and stroked Tilly’s fur, her eyes full of worry.

  Within minutes they were on the road, speeding back toward Patterson’s Bluff. There might have been a vet in a town closer to them, but Jace trusted only one person when it came to animals.

  He drove as quickly as he could without being dangerous and pulled into the parking lot in front of Happy Paws in record time. He left Angie in the dust as he grabbed Tilly and took her straight into the vet.

  “How can I…?” The vet’s receptionist, an older woman named Fran, frowned. “Oh no, what happened?”

  “Jellyfish. I think she might have swallowed the stinger.” Thankfully there was no one else waiting to be seen.

  “Mira! We’ve got an emergency.” Fran jumped up from her chair and scurried out the back, knocking on a door marked Staff Only.

  Mira Holland came rushing out, her hair in disarray. “Bring her into room three.”

  Mira grabbed her lab coat from a hook by the door and slipped it on over her black pants and the bright-yellow polo top with the Happy Paws logo embroidered at her chest.

  “Should I come in?” Angie asked. She had Truffle on his leash.

  “Might be best to keep the little guy out here,” Mira said. “We don’t want him getting distressed, and Tilly will probably be in some pain while we assess her.”

  Angie nodded. Her brows were knitted above her nose, and she was biting down hard on her lower lip. When she swiped her tongue along it, there was a streak of red.

  “I’ll be out soon,” Jace reassured her, hoping to hell he sounded calmer than he felt. Then he followed Mira into the assessment room.

  …

  Angie sat in the waiting room, feeling like her heart was about to leap out of her body. The receptionist sat behind her desk, tapping away at her computer and asking Angie every so often if she needed something—water, a cup of tea, a mint.

  But Angie couldn’t bear the thought of eating or drinking anything. She wouldn’t be able to swallow a damn thing until she knew Tilly was okay. Funny how frightened she’d been of the big beast on their first fateful meeting, but they’d come to like each other. Tilly was a little grouchy, but she was also seventy in dog years. They’d come to an understanding—Angie scratched behind her ears and Tilly would keep her feet warm.

  The thought of not having either one of the dogs around made Angie sad. They’d slotted into her life in Patterson’s Bluff, keeping her company and making her laugh and generally bringing joy into her life. She loved the four-legged critters with all her heart.

  Truffle looked up at her with his big buggy eyes as if to say, I love you, too.

  Sighing, she wrapped her arms around the small dog and held him close to her chest. “I hope your sister is okay,” she whispered.

  At that moment, the bell over the front door tinkled and Angie’s stomach dropped as Jace’s mother strode in. Melanie Walters rushed straight over to her.

  “What happened? I was driving past on my way home from the shops and I saw Jace’s car.” She clamped a hand over her mouth. “It’s not the older dog, is it?”

  Angie nodded. “We went to the beach, and there was a jellyfish on the sand…”

  “Oh no. Is she going to be okay?” She dropped down into the empty plastic seat beside Angie. “Oh God, Eugenie will be devastated if anything happens to her while she’s away.”

  “I’m still waiting to find out.”

  “I’ll wait with you.” Melanie reached out to grab Angie’s hand, and the world decelerated into slow motion.

  The engagement ring. Would she notice it? Angie wasn’t sure she could handle any more drama on top of what was already going on. But she knew from past experience that’s when the universe was most likely to strike.

  “Pretty ring,” Melanie said absently; then she looked away. Angie barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before Jace’s mother did a double-take. “F
amiliar ring.”

  Oh no. What was she supposed to say? They hadn’t worked out the exact story they were going to tell his parents, and it was still so new and so unreal and so…inexplicable.

  Melanie looked at Angie. She had the same blue eyes as her son—pale and rimmed with the most unique hint of gold. “Is this what I think it is?”

  Angie gulped. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “On your wedding finger.”

  “Well, I guess technically speaking it’s my engagement finger at the moment.”

  The older woman didn’t react. She simply stared, dumbfounded, at Angie. Then she shook her head and laughed, raking a hand through her frizzy blond curls. “That dark horse! No wonder he brought you to the long weekend family event.”

  Angie breathed out the rest of her sigh of relief. “It all happened very suddenly, and we hadn’t figured out how to tell people yet.”

  At least she could say that with her hand on her heart. It probably wasn’t a good idea to start off a relationship with her future mother-in-law by lying.

  Um, except you’re forgetting that whole thing about your past.

  “I didn’t even know you were dating.”

  “We’ve been friends since I arrived.” Kinda. Well, maybe not exactly from the moment she arrived. Jace had taken a while to warm up to her. “There was a spark there right from the beginning. I had a giant crush on him.”

  All 100 percent true.

  “I can’t believe he didn’t tell us.” She shook her head. “That’s my middle son for you—always keeping his cards close to his chest. Well, I’m thrilled, frankly.”

  Angie’s heart soared. “Really?”

  “Absolutely. He had a rough time after his last breakup, and I felt like he was retreating more and more into his shell. He needs someone to remind him why relationships are important.”

  “I can certainly do that.”

  “And I couldn’t have picked a better match myself. All the work you’ve done at the retirement home, volunteering every week and putting a smile on people’s faces—it’s wonderful. I heard all about how you were calling local businesses to get them to volunteer classes.”