Sandpiper Shore

by Debbie Mason

  “Don’t worry, Shay. I’ll hang around for a while. Make sure Jenna’s okay before I leave.”

  “Good. Thanks,” Shay said at about the same time Jenna said, “That’s very kind of you, but you don’t have to stay. I can handle Arianna.”

  Logan fought back a grin, wondering if Jenna knew how easy her face was to read. “Don’t play poker,” he advised as he lifted his chin at his brother, who was behind the bar mixing a drink.

  Michael’s gaze moved pointedly from Logan to Jenna and back again. “Don’t forget, brunch with Mom tomorrow at eleven.”

  “I’ll be there.” The serious nature of the brunch was clearly evident in his voice.

  Jenna glanced up at him. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m good.” Removing his arm from around her waist, he transferred the bag and the ball of fabric to the other hand before reaching for the door. He held it open, placing his hand at the small of Jenna’s back. “Let’s get you off that foot,” he said, and caught his brother’s eye. As if unsure Logan got the gist of his earlier pointed stare, Michael raised his eyebrows at Jenna and nodded.

  His baby brother hadn’t changed. He’d never been one to give up on anything. Something else Logan knew about his brother was that he was a hell of a lawyer. So if Michael was still pushing for him to get Jenna to call Lorenzo, it meant he was worried about Logan’s chances of beating the charge. The odds of keeping the news from his mother seemed about as good.

  Releasing a resigned breath, he gave his brother a clipped nod. Logan wasn’t thrilled to ask the favor of Jenna, though she’d made it easier by confessing that she was ready to give up her claim to the business anyway. To his mind, no matter what she decided to do, she should leave Charleston. It was a fair-size city but not big enough to avoid her stepmother and her ex. At least here she had family and good friends. If her sisters, namely Arianna, got their heads out of their asses, he didn’t see why Jenna couldn’t work at Tie the Knot. They were all in the wedding business, after all.

  He thought of Jenna telling him about her special talent and hoped he hadn’t offended her by laughing. Seriously though, there’s no way she could tell if someone had found their one. Then again, he didn’t believe in psychics or soul mates. If he did, Noreen probably had been his, and he’d lost her years before.

  Like it always did when he thought about his former fiancée, his chest got tight. Jenna reminded him of Noreen. They were both impossibly sweet and naive. Noreen had no business being a cop, but nothing he’d done or said had dissuaded her from her career of choice. She’d died six months after joining the force. Two weeks after he’d proposed to her. Three weeks before she was to meet his family. Weeks after he’d lost her, he made a vow to never again get involved with a woman like Noreen.

  Or like Jenna.

  He frowned, wondering where the thought had come from. He didn’t need the reminder. Beyond today, it was doubtful he’d see her again. Other than in town when he came to visit the family, he supposed. Or in court…He couldn’t put it off any longer.

  “Logan, are you sure you’re okay?” Jenna repeated as he followed her onto the sidewalk.

  “Yeah, I’m good, Jenna. It’s just that, as much as I don’t want to ask you to call Lorenzo on my behalf, I don’t have much of a choice according to my brother. If you don’t mind doing it, I’d really appreciate it.”

  “Oh, I…Of course, of course I’ll call him.” She pointed at the Tie the Knot bag. “I’ll just need my phone.”

  He didn’t miss the slight hesitation in her voice or the way her shoulders bowed like she’d lost an important battle. “Jenna.” He waited until she looked up at him. “It’s okay. I understand if you don’t want to.”

  “No. I want to do whatever I can to help. It’s just Arianna and Serena—” She leaned past him to dig in the bag, and pulled out a cell phone with a pink, jewel-encrusted case. “But I’m sure they’ll understand. Eventually.” She frowned, her head half in the bag now. “That’s weird. I can’t find my keys…or my wallet. My bra isn’t in here…” She trailed off as she removed her head and hands from the bag.

  In the light from the old-fashioned lamppost, he could see her cheeks were flushed. “They’re probably under the chair,” she murmured, focusing on her phone. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, glancing up at him from under her long lashes before quickly returning her gaze to the phone.

  “Bad news?” he asked when she swallowed hard.

  “No, everything’s good.” She glanced around. “You know, it’s so beautiful out. I think I’ll sleep on the beach tonight.”

  “All right, tell me what happened.”

  “Nothing happened. Honest.” She held up her phone. “I’m calling Lorenzo right now.”

  He covered her hand and the phone with his. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

  “Nothing new. Arianna’s just being Arianna.” She shrugged when he cocked an eyebrow, silently demanding more. “Serena saw me doing my Jellilicious routine. They weren’t impressed. I can’t say I blame them. They worked really hard on my wedding and the dress. And then there was the whole me-forgetting-to-lock-up-the-shop. Don’t worry though. They’ll get over it.” She made a face and then gestured down the street to Tie the Knot. “But the lights are off in the apartment, and there’s no way I’m waking them up on top of everything else.”

  “You’re not sleeping on the beach. You can stay at the manor. I’ll get you a room.”

  “Please don’t take this the wrong way. I know you’re just being nice, but all everyone has done today is tell me how I should feel and what to do, so I’d like to do what I want to. And what I want to do is listen to the waves roll onto shore, watch the fireflies dance in the sea grass, and maybe make a wish upon a falling star.”

  He held back a smile at the last. As much as Jenna professed to be done with happily-ever-afters, he wasn’t buying it. Not that he’d share that with her. “Sounds good to me. Let’s do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Spend the night at the beach. I haven’t done that since I was in my teens. It’s a great idea. And you’re right, it’s the perfect night. I’ll just grab us a blanket and my jacket in case it cools down.” He crouched down. “Hop on.”

  “I, ah, don’t think that’s a good idea. People might get the wrong idea, and I’m—”

  He laughed. “No, they won’t.”

  “Of course. You’re right. What was I thinking? You’re Logan Gallagher, after all. Secret Service man extraordinaire, and I’m just plain-Jane Jenna Bella.” She held up a hand at the look he gave her. “Excuse me. You’re right. I’m Jellilicious, stripper extraordinaire.” She wiggled her butt, making him smile, and then awkwardly climbed on his back. “Here’s the deal. You can sit with me for a while, but then you have to leave.”

  There wasn’t a chance in hell he was leaving Jenna on her own tonight. It wasn’t like Harmony Harbor was a hotbed of crime and corruption. It was a picturesque coastal town on the North Shore. A town where people looked out for their own. Still, bad things happened everywhere, even in peaceful small towns. Especially to cute women who didn’t have a clue how to protect themselves. Cute women with big, innocent eyes who trusted that most people were as good as they were. They couldn’t see past a man’s handsome face and charming ways to the snake that lay within, waiting to strike. Jenna hadn’t seen it, and neither had Noreen.

  Now he had to find a way to get Jenna to let him stay. “What if I told you I need a night at the beach as much as you? Would you let me stay then?” She wrapped her arms around his neck, her warm body pressed tight against him, her silky hair brushing his cheek, and he kinda hoped she’d come up with a good argument for him to leave her alone. He’d sit several yards away where she couldn’t see him watching over her.

  “I’m sorry. Of course you can stay. In the end, your day might end up being far worse than mine.” She went quiet as he walked along the nearly empty sidewalk, passed the storefronts housed
in sea-green and ocean-blue clapboards, her body tensing when he crossed to the other side of the road.

  “I parked my truck just up from Tie the Knot.”

  “Oh, okay.” She relaxed against him once more. “Michael mentioned you’re having brunch with your mother tomorrow. She’ll be upset about this, won’t she? Worried that you’ll lose your job. I mean, any mother would be upset if their son lost his job, but yours isn’t just a job job. You’re a Secret Service agent.”

  “It’s not just that. My mother hasn’t been acting like herself. She left my dad a few months back for no apparent reason. Now it seems like she’s consumed with marrying the three of us off. The quicker the better. We think she might be sick. My brother actually thinks she’s dying.”

  “Oh no. I’m so sorry, Logan. I hope he’s wrong, but don’t you worry. I’m going to take care of this right now,” she said as she sat up, clinging to his shoulder with one hand while retrieving her cell phone from her pocket. She cleared her throat. “Lorenzo, it’s Jenna. If you want your ring back before your family arrives from Italy and you have to explain why I have your priceless family heirloom, tell Officer Wilson and everyone else at the Harmony Harbor Police Department that Logan Gallagher didn’t lay so much as a finger on you. You tripped over your big…What?” she asked when Logan made a grab for the phone, holding it away from him.

  “Jenna, I laid more than a finger on him, and there were witnesses who testified to that. Officer Wilson for one.”

  She sighed, disconnected, waited a second, and then pressed a key. “It’s me again. I know I don’t have to remind you how important this ring is to your family, so if you want it back, you tell everyone at HHPD the truth. You went to punch my sister, a poor defenseless woman”—Logan snorted, and she nudged him with her knee—“and Logan stopped you the only way a man like you would listen to, with a fist to the face. And since you have an incredibly low pain threshold, you fainted and smashed your nose. And, Lorenzo, I know you’re a God-fearing man, so if you do this and withdraw your complaint against Logan, I’ll forgive you for being a lying, cheating, scum-sucking, stepmother-loving piece of—”

  Logan reached back and took the phone from her. He disconnected and shoved it in the front pocket of his jeans. “Feel better now?”

  She returned to her earlier position with her warm body plastered to his back, her arms around his neck. “No. I’m madder than a wet hen.”

  Laughter rumbled in Logan’s chest and a second later escaped out his mouth.

  “It’s not funny. Some of what Lorenzo said this afternoon is finally beginning to sink in. Can you believe he actually wanted to give Gwyneth my wedding gown? Maybe it’s a good thing he bled all over it. Too bad he bled all over his tux though. Arianna’s going to charge me for it.”

  “Doesn’t seem fair to me. He should be the one paying, not you. But seriously, that tux was so ugly he did them a favor bleeding all over it. No self-respecting man I know would be caught dead in a powder-blue suit.”

  “What are you talking about? His tux wasn’t powder blue. It was navy.”

  He stopped beside his pickup, turning his head to look at her as he opened the passenger door. “Trust me, the tux was powder blue.”

  “I can’t believe he lied to me.” She went to slide off him.

  He reached back, thought better of putting his arm under her ass to keep her there, and instead said, “Stay put. I’m just grabbing a blanket and my jean jacket. But I think I’m missing something. How exactly could Lorenzo lie to you about the color of his tux?” He stuffed the blanket and his jacket in the Tie the Knot bag and then tossed the bottom half of Jenna’s wedding dress in the back of the cab.

  “I’m color-blind. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he went ahead and ordered a baby-blue tux when I told him I wanted him to wear navy. You’d think he’d been the one planning his fairy-tale wedding since he was ten and not me. Almost from day one, it was all about him. Even my dress. Although that was a toss-up between him and Arianna. At least my sister has taste.”

  He shut and beeped the lock on the door. “I thought only men were color-blind.”

  “No. One in two hundred women are color-blind, so it’s obviously not as common as in men. For them it’s one in twelve. And if that’s not special enough, I have the most uncommon variety—tritanopia. I see the world in greenish pink tones. Do not laugh and say why am I not surprised.”

  “Why would you think I’d laugh and say something like that?”

  “You said so yourself. You’re not a man who believes in happily-ever-afters and knights in shining armor and true love. I told you that I did, and now you know I see the world in rosy pink hues. Honestly, I wouldn’t be offended if you laughed. Shay used to laugh at me all the time. Other than my mom and stepfather, she’s the only one I ever told. And now you know too.”

  “Why wouldn’t you tell anyone else? Your sisters must’ve figured it out.” As he waited for her to answer, he Googled tritanopia on his phone. He wanted to see what her world looked like, how different it was from his.

  It was very different, and to his mind, not in a good way. His heart broke a little for her when images of sunsets, rainbows, and summer gardens filled the split screen, one side with how he and most people saw the images and the other side with how Jenna did. The way she saw the world was weird, like something out of a Tim Burton movie.

  “I never fit in. I don’t know why. I just didn’t. So when I realized there was something wrong with me, that I didn’t see things the way the other kids did, I learned to hide it. I became really good at pretending I saw things the way everyone else did, pretending I was normal. And Arianna and Serena made it pretty obvious when we were first introduced that they thought I was weird, and there was nothing I wanted more than for them to like me. I wasn’t about to prove them right by telling them I wasn’t.”

  “You’re not weird, Jenna. But I imagine life is more difficult for you than me.”

  “Why? I can see, and I don’t know any different. This is how my world has always looked. It’s just as beautiful to me as yours is to you.”

  “On one hand, you have a great attitude, while on the other…You shouldn’t keep this a secret. You make it harder on yourself than it has to be.”

  “Says the man who was no doubt Mr. Popular all through school and voted Most Likely to Succeed. You have no idea what it’s like to be the kid everyone picked on.”

  “You’re not that kid anymore, Jenna. You’re a successful woman who’s made a great life for herself. You have friends who love you, and I think you gained a whole lot more after your performance tonight, Jellilicious.”

  She groaned into the nape of his neck, her lips tickling his skin, her breath warming it. And suddenly Logan was aroused and thinking about Jenna’s earlier proposal. Sex was sounding pretty good right now. Probably because for the past few months he’d been too busy settling back into the States and in his new job to meet anyone he wanted to have sex with. And the more time he spent with Jenna, the more he liked her.

  She was his type, a type he’d spent years trying to avoid. The type of woman who needed to be looked out for, a woman who was soft and sweet. Innocent. Vulnerable. The opposite of the women he purposely gravitated toward now—confident, strong, ball-busters. A woman no man could take advantage of or fool.

  “Thanks for the reminder. Although I should probably be happy I’ve gained some friends since I lost a fiancé today. And my business.”

  Way to go, Gallagher, he muttered in his head. The last thing he’d meant to do was remind her of how crappy her day had been—or the last few months from the sound of it. He wanted to give her a few hours to forget about everything. He could use the same. And as he’d discovered throughout the years, there was nothing better than some time at the beach to cure whatever ails you.

  “Hang on tight, Jellilicious,” he warned as he took off down the sidewalk at a run, cutting through yards and back alleys to get to the ocean.

 
Jenna bounced around on his back, shrieking with laughter, slapping his ass to hurry him up when he slowed to a jog.

  “Quiet. You’ll get us arrested,” he warned, relieved when he spotted the path to the beach.

  She returned to her previous position, wrapping her arms around his neck. “They can’t arrest you twice in one day. It’s called double jeopardy.”

  “No. Double jeopardy means that if you’re tried and acquitted of the charges, you can’t be tried again for the same crime.”

  “Oh, like when they find you innocent of assaulting Lorenzo, they can’t charge you again?”

  “Right. Only I’m hoping we don’t make it to court.”

  “You won’t. I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure that Lorenzo does the right thing. You’re my entire focus for the next few days. I’m going to make sure you don’t lose your job and that you stay out of jail.”

  “Appreciate it, but how about we forget everything else for now and just enjoy the rest of the night?” He tossed the bag onto the sand, reaching back to help her down. He steadied her when her feet sank into the sand. “Hang on.”

  After helping her out of her shoes, he breathed deeply of the salty sea air.

  Jenna did the same. “I’ve been home at least six times since February, and I never made it to the beach. I don’t know why. There’s nothing more peaceful than the sound of the waves rolling onto shore.” She tipped her head back. “Look at that sky. I forgot how beautiful it is here at night.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.”

  He smiled. “Evangeline. Longfellow was one of my great-grandmother’s favorites.”

  “Mrs. Gallagher introduced my mother to him. She lent her books from the library at the manor. My mother worked for your family in the dining room. I used to come for high tea. Your great-grandmother was very kind to me.”