“Silver linings,” Liddy added.
Meg bent down and kissed Liddy on her head of fully grown-in hair. “Love you, girl. Talk soon.”
“Please call. Love you, too.”
Liddy and Beau sat together not far from where she’d met a drifter who created elaborate castles out of sand only to watch them destroyed by the tide. She thought back to her family’s sporadic trips to the beach with friends and cousins, their tongues clamped between their teeth as they built their own castles in the sand. For the most part, whenever a rogue wave took their creations from them, they would hunker down in the sand and start again.
She watched a wave sputter onto the beach, leaving froth in its wake. There was something to be said for the magic that can happen when lives are rebuilt, especially by something stronger than sand and water.
“What’s got ahold of you?” Beau asked, interrupting her musings.
She smiled at him. “You mean, other than you?”
He leaned to the side, kissing her shoulder. “I like how you think.”
“I was just thinking about this past year, the bad and the good. I like how it’s turned out,” she said.
He gazed at her with those kaleidoscope eyes. “Me, too.”
“Well, except for the fact that my boyfriend chose to move miles away from me.”
Beau groaned. “This again.”
“Just trying to make sure you know how much I miss you.”
“Ah. I see. Well, you know, if you’re ever able to tear yourself away from the beach long enough, you could come over more.”
“I suppose.”
“Tonight, even. I can put a couple of steaks on the grill for us, open a bottle of wine … what do you say?”
She bit her lip. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Uh-oh.”
“No. Hear me out. It’s your … it’s your guest bathroom.”
He frowned.
“It needs some attention. Maybe I could run out and buy some towels and a couple of rugs. Oh, and a new shower curtain … something more … I don’t know.”
The proverbial light bulb moment lit up Beau’s face and he reached for Liddy’s hand. “Feminine?”
She laughed into the sea breeze. “Yes! It needs a feminine touch!”
Beau kissed her fingers, his smile wide as the sky is blue. “We’ll see, beautiful. We’ll see.”
Epilogue
Beau woke to a sliver of light unmasking the distinct shapes in the otherwise darkened bedroom. He lay there, blinking, as his mind took in the peaceful stillness. His eyes began to focus then, finding the framed picture on the wall, the dress sprawled across the back of the chair that sat beneath it. He sucked in a breath, and reflexively reached his arm across the empty space beside him, his hand landing on sheets of cotton, warm and rumpled.
As the white noise of dreams began to clear away from his mind, a wry smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and Beau sat up, taking in the abundance of covers pulled over to one side of the bed. Her side.
His gaze adjusted to that sliver of light coming from the deck off of his … off of their bedroom. Liddy’s and his. The memory of their wedding one month prior astounded him still. He’d asked and she’d said yes. They had married within a month. He had never moved on a decision faster.
He swung his legs off the bed, planting bare feet on the floor, and stood. Quickly, he padded across the room, retrieved his robe from the chair and slipped it around him. Her perfume reached his senses, and he realized that she must have borrowed his robe. Again. The idea filled him with something raw and welcome. Reaching for the door that stood ajar, Beau opened it wider, allowing a cascade of light to awaken him more fully. He found her sitting on the deck just outside of their bedroom, her head resting against an Adirondack chair, her features awash in moonlight’s luster.
“Liddy?”
She startled. “Oh. Did I wake you?”
He reached for her hand, pulling her up to mold against him. He nuzzled his mouth next to her ear. “You not being there woke me.”
“So sorry, love.”
“Is something bothering you?”
“Nothing to worry you about.”
He tugged her body closer to his, though that was nearly impossible. Her nearness took him to unimaginable places and he drank her in. “Well,” he whispered lazily into her ear, “I’m here to take your mind off of your worries, Mrs. Quinn.”
She smiled at him in the moonlight and gave the lapels of his robe a tug. “You do an amazing job of that, I must say …”
He touched her face. “But you’re still worried about something.”
She sighed, rocking them both. “It’s Meg. She … she seems so unhappy these days.”
He pulled back farther, taking in his wife’s face. His wife. He loved the sound of that. “She seemed great at our wedding.”
Liddy gave him a smile that said “silly man.”
“What was that look for?”
“Of course she was happy then. I mean she was so happy for us, Beau.” Her smile turned sad. “I think she’s not over Jackson, though, and that working for the inn is getting to her. She’s traveling more than ever before, but she doesn’t seem content like she used to be.”
“Have you tried talking to her?”
She gave him that look again, like he was Captain Obvious. Then she sighed and looked back toward the moon’s soothing glow. “You’re right. I’ll try again to talk to her. I just hope she’ll tell me everything … I’m not sure that she has.”
Beau had no words for her. Instead, he rubbed his hands along her shoulders and down the sides of her arms to warm away her shivers. Then he stepped behind her and with her back to him, enveloped her in his embrace. Her hair tickled his neck, even as he fought to keep her close without offending her with his morning stubble.
After a while she spoke. “You know what I’m thinking?”
“Hmm. No. What?”
“We should re-do the backyard.”
Beau shut his eyes, his eyelids cool in the night air. Wait. Weren’t we just talking about Meg?
When he didn’t answer right away, she shifted in his arms. “Did you hear me?”
“Well …”
“What do you think?”
“I think … that I’ve never met anyone like you.”
She laughed lightly at his quick save and turned herself to face him squarely. She kissed him softly then, showing no sign of offense at the brush of his stubble across her cheek. “I have never met anyone like you either, my love, my all … my husband,” she laughed again, the sound of it like rain after a drought. “I adore you.”
Her love for him had unleashed him to live with fearless passion, and by her response to his touch he knew that he’d had the same effect on her. It was as if they had each been given the gift of each other. “I adore you, too,” he whispered.
And with a possessiveness made for a moment like this, Beau led Liddy back inside.
Dear Reader
I hope you enjoyed Walking on Sea Glass, book one of the Sea Glass Inn Novels. My husband, Dan, and I met under circumstances similar to Liddy and Beau’s—and like them, we made it! We are grateful to family, friends, and God—all who cradled us during the dark and the amazingly bright times we experienced back then. While Liddy and Beau may have been loosely inspired by my husband and me when we were (lots) younger, as their story unfolded, they quickly became their own people. This story is theirs.
I’d like to give a shout out to my thoughtful and thorough editors Kim Huther and Denise Harmer. Thank you both for your fine work!
Kudos to Roseanna White for another beautiful cover. Your patience with me will be rewarded someday, I have no doubt.
Thank you, too, mi familia—Dan, Matt, Angie, Emma, and my parents, Dan and Elaine—for your constant encouragement.
And readers, I appreciate you very much—you keep me writing (and daydreaming, but that’s kinda like working, right?) As I write this note to you, the
next story is already playing out in my head. Now to get it down on paper …
If you liked this novel, and any of my other titles, please consider reviewing them at your favorite online retailer and/or Goodreads. Thank you much.
Runaway Tide (book 2) is available now … just turn the page for your sneak peek of Chapter One, Scene One!
Julie
Sneak Peek of Runaway Tide
Chapter One, Scene One
Regret slid through Meg like the cold wash of the morning tide. Still, she ran. Wet sand flying. Salt-saturated air on her skin. No matter that she wore her favorite suit, the one with the Gucci calfskin belt that made her long to stroll a piazza in Milan. Earlier this morning after she and Jackson Riley, her new boss, clashed over an agreement he’d made behind her back with one of her clients, she kicked off her ALDOs and took off for the beach. Anything to get away from … him.
Maybe she should have quit the moment her ex became her boss. Surely she would have been able to find another sales position, maybe even set down roots in some other beautiful place. She had both the education and real-world experience to find such a position. Jackson’s father, William, had seen to that—something for which she would be eternally grateful.
Jackson, a.k.a. “the enemy,” ran behind her now, gaining on her. She pictured the contours of the enemy’s face, the cleft of his chin … those rich browns that blended to form the waves in his hair—and hated herself for it. What might have been between them … could never be. He had made that clear years before. Meg accelerated, kicking up wet sand behind her, frustration and old hurts building. What a spectacle they must have made running down the beach!
Jackson closed the gap between them. Though no match for his strength, she believed she could outrun him. He had surprised her with his speed, but she doubled her efforts, pumping her arms like a triathlete racing toward the next leg of her event.
Her lungs constricted. Liddy, her best friend, chose running as a sport, something she did to stay in shape, maybe even de-stress after a long day, but Meg? Not so much. Pain jarred her right knee, which threatened to collapse, but pride kept moving her forward, the heels of her feet digging into wet sand, the bounce of labored breaths in her chest. Oh! She would give Liddy so much grief about this later.
“Meg—slow down.” The words flew from Jackson’s mouth like darts.
She did not want to talk to him. She wouldn’t! Not after what he had done …
Jackson chased after her, skirting the ocean’s edge, the enemy who would not give up. Neither would she.
What was wrong with her? Meg prided herself on being calm. She was the doer, the poker face when times called for it. An inkling in her brain said she should slow down long enough to hear him out—it was the right thing to do, the mature choice. The last place she ever thought she would find herself was on the beach butting heads with her boss. If William were alive, that would still be the case. William had always been like a patient father to her, teaching her how to navigate the hotel business, and sometimes life in general.
Though Jackson had been slow to surface after his father’s death, that all changed recently when his sister Pepper decided to bring her accounting skills to the company. Since then Jackson appeared to have something to prove—that he was no longer the restless wanderer, the man who seemed to have no regard for the family business. He looked the part, too. Now whenever he strolled through the inn’s entry doors, a ripple skittered through the staff. The women swooned. The fabric of European-cut suits hugged his body, showing off his efforts at the gym. His once-lean frame had morphed into cut edges embraced by tanned skin.
Was it her imagination or did she really feel the heat of Jackson’s breath on her neck as she ran from him? A chill traversed down her arm. She could almost sense his hot grip on her forearm, the strength of his tug, pulling her closer to his body. She was not his possession. Not now, not ever again.
She gulped muggy air, pulling it deeper into her lungs.
“Meg!”
She slowed, turned, and glared at him, a low buzz circling her head. “Leave. Me. Alone.”
“I can’t.”
His eyes were hooded, as if she had caused him some kind of pain, but she knew it was all an act. “You won’t.”
She kept her eyes trained on him. His shoulders rose and fell, his breathing matching their rhythm. His cheeks burned red and he moistened his lips. He did not, however, look away from her. “Are you willing to talk now?”
Meg crossed her arms in front of her ribcage, coaxing her body not to show any sign of stress, certainly nothing to match Jackson’s level of fatigue. As far as she was concerned, the mile-long run they had both meted out—in business wear, no less—took nothing more from her than a turn down the first-floor interior hall of Sea Glass Inn might have.
Jackson exhaled. “Adele is the mother of a college buddy. Just a chance meeting and I jumped on it. For the good of the hotel, of course.”
Inhale. Exhale. Look at him, she thought, standing there trying to sound rational, as if he had not just swooped in and caught the big fish that she had been baiting for months. If Jackson had not wrangled …
“You said yourself she had been waffling about whether to bring her company to us. The opportunity to end that indecision presented itself to me without any warning.”
She considered how he looked at her, his stare unwavering, as if imploring her to hear him out, to realize that she was being unreasonable. Maybe even selfish.
He took a step toward her, the naughty puppy that had run away. Inches from her now, the hardness of his chest pressed against his dress shirt, perspiration seeping through. “Can’t we both admit that I did you a favor?”
Meg gasped. “A favor? Who asked you to?”
He bit down on his bottom lip, as if to shut himself up. Surely he knew that his reasoning was about to implode—and that she would do nothing to stop it. “You … you gave away too much, Jackson. And right when I was about to close a great deal all around. How was that doing me—or the hotel—any favors?”
His eyes flashed as if she had dared to do the unthinkable: challenge Jackson Riley, hotel owner … her boss.
Her heart squeezed in her chest. “I think you figured out that you had a connection to my client and you made a meeting happen so you could be the hero. Did you have a copy of a contract in your back pocket too? And a pen for her to sign it right then and there?”
“You’re being ridiculous now.”
Maybe, but she didn’t care. The realization that life at the inn had forever changed brought a lump to her throat. “Your father would never have said something like that to me.”
“My father … my father did a lot of things that I question.”
“Like promote me to sales director?”
He didn’t answer. Didn’t have to. William was gone and Jackson called the shots now. Who was she to question him? She had made a promise to William that she would stay on at Sea Glass Inn and help make it, and the other inns in the chain, successful. Did anyone other than her care about that now? She dropped her arms to her sides, pursed her lips, and turned to run again. But he took hold of her upper arm and drew her back toward him. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Forget it. It’s obvious we aren’t meant to have this conversation.”
“And what conversation is that?”
She looked dead into his eyes “The one about why you have been trying to get rid of me ever since your father died and you became head of the hotel chain.”
“Nothing about that sentence is true.”
“No?”
He stepped closer, both hands on her upper arms now. His touch both warmed her and caused goosebumps to alight on her skin. A talent, for sure. A sea breeze tousled his hair, mesmerizing her. Looking away would break the spell … but did she really want to be the one to break it?
“I do not have it out for you, Meg,” he said quietly, drawing her attention back to his mouth. “My father valued you
r work ethic and so do I.”
Sweet talker.
He frowned, his eyes penetrating. “Did I say something wrong … again?”
This time, she looked away. If this were any other employer … any other situation … she could make sense of it. But there was nothing normal about this situation. Rational people did not get into sparring matches with their bosses on the beach. Not without litigation of some sort.
Jackson stepped closer, his voice so low she had to strain to hear it over the sound of coursing waves. “When we get back to the hotel, let’s pull out the contract and go over it together.”
Was he really extending a peace offering? After these many months of switching between the cold shoulder or the perfunctory comment? He gave her a fraction of a smile, reminding her, albeit briefly, of when they had spent time alone together. Before he left the state …
“Meg?”
She couldn’t take her eyes from his, except to let her gaze drop to his mouth. Why did he leave her when he did? Didn’t he realize that she had done what she thought best. He cut off her thoughts with the brush of his lips, followed by a kiss that tasted wild and unprovoked. One hand tangled with her hair as the other found the small of her back. Her knees weakened as she pressed herself into him.
Slowly, he pulled his mouth away, eliciting a gasp from her. He smiled more widely this time, his voice thick. “My father was right about you,” he whispered. “You are stubborn … but you always come around.”
Her stomach tumbled sharply. Hot tears pushed toward the corners of her eyes. The kiss … this show of affection had nothing to do with her, with their past, and everything to do with him. She looked up, ignoring the wide-eyed look of surprise on his face. That was all an act, too. “Never again, Jackson.”
She stumbled backward then recovered, vaguely aware of that same low buzz overhead. She began to run again, harder this time, her feet somehow aware of the importance of getting far away from Jackson as fast as possible.
Walking on Sea Glass Page 23
