The Sea Glass Cottage

by RaeAnne Thayne

  Wouldn’t it be heavenly to have someone by her side, someone willing to walk beside her and let her lean against for support when she needed it?

  Juliet swallowed a sigh. Henry was her dear friend and she cared about him too much to add another burden to his life.

  “I need to clean up my mess in the kitchen. Are you good?”

  “I have my book. I’m fine. Thanks.”

  After he walked back outside for their dishes, her older cat, Felicity, came over and rubbed against her leg. She didn’t know where Felix was. Probably under the sofa being his usual obstinate self.

  Before she could pick up Felicity, Otis trotted over and scrambled up into her lap, the little rascal. Felicity gave her a disgruntled look and wandered into the kitchen for water.

  The cats had come to tolerate the little dog and she thought perhaps they secretly enjoyed having someone new in the house. She certainly did, far more than she’d expected. Maybe she wasn’t as set in her ways as she thought.

  She petted him absently, her mind still on Henry and all the things that could never be between them.

  14

  OLIVIA

  She stood outside the faded turquoise door of The Sea Shanty with her stomach in knots and her palms sweating.

  Music thrummed into the night and she could hear the clink of glasses, the thud of billiards, the hum of conversation. It all sounded perfectly harmless, the kind of scene playing out at bars all over the world.

  The chance of anything dangerous happening inside the tavern was as remote as it would have been the other day at the hospital cafeteria or the day she had stood outside the Kozy Kitchen near her apartment in Seattle.

  She knew she would be perfectly safe. She wanted to celebrate Melody’s birthday with her. To do that, she would have to override her brain’s annoying, panicky new wiring in order to push open the door and go inside.

  She could tell herself that a thousand times but she still couldn’t bring herself to do it.

  This was getting ridiculous. In the nearly three weeks since the attack she’d witnessed, she seemed to be becoming more anxious, not less, about going into public areas.

  Was she really going to let her cowardice control the rest of her life?

  “What are you doing out here? Trying to decide whether to go in?”

  She tensed at the familiar voice and turned around to find Cooper Vance walking up to The Shanty, wearing a curious expression.

  “Something like that.”

  “We can’t offer the kind of entertainment you’re probably used to in Seattle, but the cover band is a local favorite. They’re not bad, which I think is why Melody wanted to come here for her birthday celebration instead of going to The Lookout.”

  “I’m sure they’re great.”

  “Then why are you out here instead of in there?”

  She couldn’t tell him what a coward she was. Cooper would never understand. The man risked his life on a daily basis to help others.

  “It’s been a long few days. I’m worried about my mom and not really in the greatest mood to party. I guess I was trying to gear up for it. But I’ll do my best, for Mel’s sake.”

  He gave her a long look. “You’re a good friend to my sister. I appreciate that.”

  She hadn’t been but she didn’t want to argue with him.

  “Do you need a few more minutes out here?”

  She mustered a smile. “I think I’m ready.”

  When he opened the door, the noise blasted through, a bluegrass band that wasn’t half-bad. She followed him inside, wondering if she was betraying the sisterhood by finding so much comfort and security in the presence of the big, tough fire chief. She couldn’t help thinking that any threat would have to go through Cooper first and nobody in their right mind would want to tangle with him.

  Of course, he had been right next to her that day in the hospital cafeteria and she had still panicked. But she would try to do better.

  They found Melody and a group of about six others at a table in the back. Cooper’s sister looked happier than Olivia had seen her since returning to town.

  “There you both are,” she exclaimed. “I was afraid you wouldn’t make it.”

  “Sorry, sis. We had a call just as I was walking out the door.” Cooper kissed his sister and waved to everyone at the table before taking a seat across from Melody.

  I was here ten minutes ago but was busy trying to get up my nerve to walk inside.

  Olivia didn’t want to admit that, so she smiled instead. “Happy birthday, darling. I’m so happy I can be here to celebrate with you.”

  “So am I.” Melody beamed. “Everybody, you all know Olivia Harper. Juliet’s daughter.”

  “Oh, how is your mother?” someone she didn’t know asked.

  Olivia forced a smile at the question that was becoming entirely too familiar. “She’s fine. I think she’s feeling better every day.”

  “I was so sorry to hear about her accident,” another woman said.

  “I didn’t know until yesterday and felt awful that I haven’t been by yet,” the first one said. “Is she home now? Is she up for visitors?”

  “Yes. She’s been home about a week. And she’s had a nonstop stream of them since the accident. She would love to see you, I’m sure. If you don’t have her contact info, let me know and I can put you in touch with her.”

  “Sit,” Bea Romero urged. The only empty seat at the big table was next to Cooper. After an awkward little moment of hesitation, she sat down.

  Now that they were inside The Sea Shanty, she wasn’t eager to be this close to him for the entire evening when she was fighting this ridiculous attraction. She couldn’t see a choice, though, unless she asked someone else to trade places with her.

  A server she thought she recognized as a previous neighbor came over and set down cocktail napkins in front of them. “What are we drinking?”

  She gave her order and Cooper did the same.

  “I haven’t been here in forever,” she commented after the woman walked away. “Oddly, I don’t think it’s changed at all. I think they even have some of the same posters on the walls they had when I was in college.”

  It wasn’t exactly a dive. In fact, The Sea Shanty gave off a distinctly retro vibe that would have made it a hit among Seattle hipsters. She settled in to enjoy the band and being with friends, though she kept one eye on the door the whole time.

  “How’s your social media business going?” Beatriz asked. “Your mom has nothing but good things to say about you whenever I ask. According to Juliet, you’re becoming the go-to social media marketing maven in the Pacific Northwest.”

  Her mom had said that? She blinked, not sure how to respond. “I wouldn’t go that far. But things have been good. I stay busy.”

  She actually had far more work than she could handle, though she was very selective about her client list. She was going to have to either add more consultants or start contracting out some of it.

  “You were a great help spreading the word about our Arts and Hearts on the Cape project last year,” Bea went on. “Our likes and shares went up like crazy on social media after you stepped in to handle it. Aunt Stella was thrilled!”

  Bea’s aunt ran a nonprofit aimed at helping encourage and support foster families. Each year the organization hosted an arts festival in Cape Sanctuary that drew in tens of thousands of people.

  “I was happy to help, especially for a good cause.”

  Rosemary Duncan, a friend of Juliet’s who had been mayor of Cape Sanctuary for a decade or more, was sitting across from Bea. She seemed to sit up straighter during their conversation.

  “That’s right! I had forgotten you have a social media marketing start-up. You might be just the person we need!”

  Olivia tried not to flinch. She was used to this kind of thing at social
occasions. When people found out what she did on the side, they often asked her to help them get the word out about their own start-up or their brother’s new indie record album or the lemonade stand their kid was running.

  “Do you remember Pete Gallegos?” Rosemary asked.

  Now, that was a name that dredged up memories. “Of course. He was a good friend of my father’s and worked with him in the fire department. We always used to go camping with him and Sheila and their kids.”

  She hadn’t thought about the Gallegos family in years, though she knew her mother remained close with both of them.

  Pete had been there the night her father died. He had responded quickly and had been on the scene shortly after Cooper. He had been the one to pull Cooper away from his frantic efforts to do CPR.

  He had been so very kind to her and Nat and Juliet at the funeral and after, she remembered.

  “Maybe you don’t know,” the mayor went on, “but he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a couple years ago.”

  “Oh. That’s too bad! I hadn’t heard.”

  “It is a shame. That’s why he had to step down as fire chief.”

  He had always been vigorous and healthy, she remembered, always in competition with her father to see who was stronger in fitness tests for the department.

  “We’ve been sorry to lose him but were so glad we could bring in Cooper, here, to fill his shoes and helm the department. He’s done an excellent job.”

  “Try to fill his shoes, anyway,” Cooper said with a rueful expression. “Pete is a tough act to follow.”

  “You’re doing a great job,” Rosemary assured him. “Everybody is happy. You know I just have one complaint. We’ve talked about it before.”

  That he was too gorgeous? That she wouldn’t be surprised if women were calling in fake 911 calls, just to have him come to the door in his EMT uniform?

  “Cooper Vance has a flaw?” Bea Romero asked with a teasing look. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Would you like the list in alphabetical order?” his sister asked, making everyone laugh.

  Rosemary chuckled, too. “It’s not a huge flaw, all things considered, but a problem right now nonetheless. He refuses to use social media to spread the word in the community about what his department is doing.”

  Cooper sipped at his beer. “I’m here to help people, not post Instagram pictures of what we’re having for dinner every night at the firehouse.”

  Rosemary made a face. “I don’t want you to do that, although there are plenty of people who would be all over that kind of thing.”

  A woman Olivia didn’t know raised her hand at the end of the table, earning another round of laughs.

  “As much as you might dislike it, we do have to get the word out about special activities, like the fund-raiser you’re doing for Pete and Sheila.”

  She turned to Olivia. “Unfortunately, Pete has started having to use a wheelchair recently and we were hoping we could raise enough for modifications to their house and also a van with a ramp to help Sheila get him to doctor’s appointments.”

  “Sounds like a worthwhile project.” Exactly the sort of thing the people of Cape Sanctuary tended to rally around.

  “Where do I come in?” she asked, though she thought she knew the answer. She’d been down this road before.

  “Any chance you might be able to help us out like you did the Open Hearts Foundation? Stella couldn’t stop raving about all the interactions they had as a direct result of your efforts.”

  “What kind of fund-raiser?” she asked warily.

  “A pancake breakfast at the fire station, two weeks from today. It was Cooper’s idea, actually.”

  “Pete is a great guy who dedicated his whole life to helping his community,” Cooper said, his voice gruff. “We’re just trying to give back a little.”

  “It would be great if we could give back a lot and make a real difference in their lives,” the mayor said.

  Olivia wanted to refuse. Between overseeing the garden center, taking care of her mom, corralling Caitlin and trying to work on projects for her employer and her Harper Media clients, she didn’t have a clue how she could take on one more thing.

  How could she say no, though? Pete had always been good to her family. If she could help in some small way with the trials he was facing now, she didn’t see how she could refuse.

  “Sure. I could do something.”

  Rosemary’s lined features lit up. “Excellent. That’s wonderful news. Where should we start?”

  “I’ll take a look at what you’ve already done and see where we can give a few nudges. We can talk about a budget for running carefully targeted ads to select populations, both in the area and slightly beyond, and make sure we’re smart with the timing of the posts for best coverage.”

  “All of that sounds excellent.” Rosemary beamed. “Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, already trying to figure out where in her crowded schedule she might find room.

  “I would love to engage more people in the community with what our public safety departments are doing. You would truly convince me you’re a miracle worker if you can give Chief Vance here some media training. He hardly even checks his text messages.”

  “I check my messages,” Cooper replied. “But I have a rule that any conversation requiring more than five back-and-forth texts should be handled by a phone call.”

  “Not everybody loves technology. I get that,” the mayor said with a fond smile.

  “I don’t mind technology,” he protested. “You make me seem like some kind of a Luddite. I’m not. We lose sight that sometimes the old-fashioned way can still be better. I can communicate more in a five-minute phone call than I can by having a text conversation that takes all afternoon.”

  “Agreed,” Rosemary said. “But you can’t have a phone call with everyone in town whenever there’s an incident that needs to be reported, for the public interest. Maybe Olivia could help you kick things up a notch on the social media front. That’s all I’m asking. She’s an expert, with clients around the world. We’re lucky to have her here in our little corner of it.”

  At his pained look, Olivia had to smile. “I can try to make it as painless as possible. With a few tweaks, such as post scheduling, we can make a big difference. Maybe you can designate someone else in your department to handle that.”

  She really didn’t need another excuse to spend more time with Cooper when she was already having a tough time getting him out of her head.

  “I’ll think about it,” he answered.

  To her relief and his, the band started up again, making conversation difficult.

  She sipped her drink, listening to the animated conversation at the table and wondering how early she could safely leave without offending Melody. She was just about to make some kind of excuse when Cooper turned to her. “Want to dance?”

  She gaped, completely not expecting the invitation. The music was slow and sultry now, heavy on the saxophone. She could feel it vibrate through her. A dozen other couples had taken to the small dance floor in the bar, including two couples from Melody’s birthday celebration.

  If she were smart, she would try to come up with some excuse, but she couldn’t come up with anything on the fly.

  “Um. Sure,” she answered. “This is a great song. Plus, I could spend the whole time introducing you to the joys of algorithms and analytics.”

  “Great. Can’t wait.”

  He rose and held a hand out to her. With a deep breath, she slipped her hand into his and let him lead her out to the dance floor.

  COOPER

  Why had he asked Olivia to dance?

  Halfway through the song, he still didn’t have a good answer. The invitation had rolled out of him, impulsive and ill-considered. He should be doing his best to keep her at arm’s len
gth. Instead, he was looking for any excuse to hold her.

  It was heavenly, he had to admit. He wasn’t a dancing kind of guy, usually preferring to sit on the sidelines and enjoy the music in these kinds of situations. This dance with Olivia just might change his mind about that. Holding her was as perfect as he might have imagined. She was warm and soft, and she smelled delicious, like apples and vanilla.

  When was the last time he had danced with a beautiful woman?

  Cooper scanned through recent memories and came up blank except for the wedding of some friends the summer before, when he had danced with the bride.

  Apparently it had been too long. He had forgotten the delicious lethargy that seeped through his bones, how he wanted to close his eyes and sway to the music, enjoying every moment of having her in his arms.

  Who would have guessed that the somewhat abrasive, nose-in-book Olivia would have such an effect on him, all these years later?

  She hummed to the song, seeming much more relaxed than the anxious, nervous woman he had encountered outside the bar.

  He was glad. While he wanted to take credit, he knew that would be typical male arrogance. He sensed it had more to do with being in comfortable, familiar surroundings along with friends and neighbors in an easygoing celebration.

  What had made her so jumpy? He thought of her fear the other day at the hospital cafeteria, how she had looked around the place like she expected an imminent attack. He didn’t like thinking about it, or the protectiveness that made him want to tuck her close and keep her safe all night.

  “So what happened to you?”

  She stiffened slightly, but she quickly recovered, arching an eyebrow and meeting his gaze. “That’s a blunt question. And also rather vague. Would you like to be more specific?”

  “I’m a blunt guy. And you know what I mean. The other day at the hospital cafeteria and then tonight, outside the bar. You seemed a little...nervous.”

  He didn’t think she would appreciate it if he told her she had seemed jumpier than a bag full of frogs.