by Teri Wilson
She passed the lifeguard stand and continued her rant. “Every time I sit down to work, bam! He’s right there. He’s like that annoying insurance commercial that’s on every time you turn on the TV.”
Somewhere behind her, Jenna heard wheezing.
“Maureen?” Jenna turned around and found her friend standing completely still with her hands on her hips, gasping for breath. “Are you okay?”
“I think I missed that last bit.” Maureen was so far behind her that her words were nearly swallowed up by the crash of the waves on the shore.
Jenna backtracked and shot her friend an I’m sorry grimace. “See, I’m out here, not even close to the house, and he’s still driving me nuts.”
It crossed her mind that maybe she couldn’t realistically blame Lucas for the fact that she’d left Maureen behind and nearly speed-walked right off the end of the island, but she didn’t care. She was ready to blame everything on her neighbor at the moment—bad weather, her aching calf muscle, all of it.
“Well, if you guys are anything like my seventh graders, you taunt the ones you like.” Maureen sounded so calm. So rational.
It was maddening. “I love you, but no. That’s not it.”
The corners of Maureen’s mouth turned up. “Maybe?”
“I promise you, this is not some middle school crush. He doesn’t even like me.” He certainly didn’t like the way she characterized sailors. And he seemed to have a special disdain for her cardigan. “He’s just…impossible.”
Maureen’s gaze narrowed. “Maybe I was talking about you.”
“What? No, I don’t…I can’t.” She couldn’t possibly have a crush on Mr. Slack.
Just…
Absolutely not.
“I can’t be distracted.” She took a deep breath. “So, no.”
“Okay,” Maureen said, although Jenna wasn’t sure she believed her. “Then what are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know.” Honestly, she’d already built a fence. What else could she possibly do to keep Lucas McKinnon out of her life? And out of my thoughts, as well. “Check my blood pressure two times a day?”
Maureen rolled her eyes.
Jenna sighed. “Okay, maybe three.”
“I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to come up with a better plan than that.”
“Right. A plan.” Jenna took off down the beach again. She always thought better when she was moving.
Maureen trudged behind her. “That still seems fast.”
Maybe she didn’t need to think quite so hard. Jenna slowed her steps before she accidentally walked all the way back to Savannah.
Going back home didn’t sound so bad all of a sudden. She’d never do that to Nick and Ally, though. They loved being at Tybee.
But that didn’t necessarily mean they needed to continue living within inches of Lucas McKinnon, and Jenna knew precisely how to make that happen.
The second she returned to the beach house, she flipped through the welcome book the rental company had left on the picnic table on the upper deck. It was filled with instructions for things like trash pickup and recycling, along with menus for local restaurants and take-out pizza. It also listed the rental company’s phone number right on the first page.
Jenna tapped the number into her cell phone and held her breath while it rang on the other end. “Please answer, please answer. Please…”
A recorded voice picked up. “You’ve reached LM Management. Sorry we can’t take your call. Please leave a message at the tone.”
Jenna debated whether or not to hang up. Maybe she should.
It’s now or never.
She walked to the deck’s wooden railing and glanced down at the wholly ineffectual picket fence stretching from one end of the patio to the other and decided she was doing the right thing. Lucas had left her no choice.
As soon as the tone sounded, she launched into her request. “Hi. This is Jenna Turner at your Seawatch property. I hate to do this, but I was wondering if we could change rentals?”
She paused when she heard barking down below. The last thing she needed was for Lucas to overhear her message.
But when she took another peek at the patio, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Just Tank, yipping happily on his way inside the house.
“The location is perfect, and the property is really sweet, but our neighbor…” The words stuck in Jenna’s throat. Why was this so hard all of a sudden?
And why did it seem like she could hear her words echoing from Lucas’s open windows?
The phone lines must be acting up, or maybe she was only imagining things. She took a steadying inhale. “I mean, it’s one thing to live next door to a stubborn messy surfer when you’re single, but when you’re a single parent with two young kids you can’t have distractions day and night. And I’ve got a lot of work to do, so…”
Words failed her again. Seeing Tank’s wagging tail and jaunty trot had thrown her off her game. The pup was her Achilles heel where Lucas was concerned. He loved that dog like a child. It was the most endearing thing about him.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think about his scruffy little face or the way Lucas talked to the dog like he was his actual best friend. “I’m sorry. I’m rambling. But if you have anything, please let me know. Please?”
Chapter Eight
Lucas showed up early for summer camp the following day. Too early. Every so often, Kayla ran the kiddos through track and field events out on the beach before swim practice. Nick was busy racing Grayson in a mad dash on the sand, and from the looks of things, he fared a good bit better on land than he did in water.
Lucas hung back at a distance and watched. Outside of the pool, Nick was like a completely different kid—brimming with confidence. So confident that he even engaged in some good-natured trash talking.
“You ready for this sandstorm?” Nick grinned at Grayson in the lane beside him as they struck starting poses.
“My feet won’t even touch the ground,” Grayson said.
Kayla let loose with her whistle, and Nick and Grayson took off barefoot down the beach alongside eight other kids. The two boys pulled easily into the lead while the other campers clapped and cheered.
Interesting.
All Lucas needed to do now was figure out how to tap into that easy self-assurance when Nick was in the water. There had to be a way.
Before he could formulate a plan, one of the kids standing and cheering on the sidelines of the footrace broke away from the group and sprinted toward him, arms waving wildly. “Lucas!”
He knew at once it was Ally. She had more intensity in her little finger than all the other children on Tybee combined.
“Hey there, you,” he said when she came to a stop in a flurry of sand.
“Here.” She dug something out of the pocket of her pink shorts. “I made this for Tank.”
Lucas stared at the thing dangling from her fingertips. It looked as if she’d scooped up every shell she could find and strung them together with bright blue nylon.
“What is it?” He wasn’t actually sure he wanted to know the answer.
“It’s a collar.”
Oh, boy.
“Well. You know, it’s very…” Lucas struggled for the right word. “…decorative.”
“It’s not decorative. It’s to help him stop pulling.” Ally gave the collar a little yank as a demonstration.
“Oh, okay. Now I see. That is…” Outrageously optimistic. “…very smart of you.”
“I know,” she said, so sure of herself. Just like her mom.
Was it crazy that Lucas found the mother-daughter resemblance kind of adorable?
“Nick helped, too.” Ally tucked her hair behind her ear with her free hand and rolled her eyes. “And he hates crafts.”
Lucas laughed. Just as he
suspected, Nick was a kid after his own heart. “Then that’s very sweet. Of the both of you.”
She shoved the collar closer toward him, dangling it mere inches from his face.
He stifled a laugh. “Oh. It’s even pretty close up.”
“Will you give it to him?”
The odds of getting Tank to actually wear the thing were miniscule.
Still, Lucas couldn’t help but feel touched. He’d never been on the receiving end of a homemade gift from a child before.
He swallowed hard and took the collar, holding it close to his chest. “You know what, he’s going to love this.”
Ally beamed at him and took off skipping back toward the other campers.
“Thank you,” he called after her.
It looked like the campers would be busy on the beach for another hour or two, so Lucas went home to present Tank with his new collar. The dog accepted the gift with a wary sniff, but once Lucas fastened it around his neck, he changed his tune. His tail wagged, and he even seemed to have a little extra spring in his step. Either that, or Lucas was losing it.
Probably the latter. The surf report called for ideal conditions today, and he hadn’t gone anywhere near his board. Even more mystifying, he wasn’t at all tempted to skip swim practice at the summer camp to catch a few waves. Nick was relying on him, and watching him race on the beach had given Lucas a few ideas.
Back at camp, he watched Nick make another half-hearted attempt to swim a lap. Just like the day before, he ran out of steam midway across the pool. When at last he popped his head out of the water and grabbed onto the concrete lip of the pool deck, Lucas knelt down to greet him.
“You can’t tell me you’re not competitive. I saw you running around out there.” He nodded toward the beach where the orange cones had been set up for the field events.
Nick brushed water from his eyes. “It’s not the same thing. We always race.”
“You should want to push yourself the same way here.” Lucas tapped a finger on the deck.
“I do,” Nick countered.
Lucas shrugged. “Then I’m going to need to see it.”
“I thought we were done.” Nick glanced toward the other campers climbing out of the pool and toweling off.
“Do you want to improve your time or what?” Lucas pointed to the other side of the pool. “Go!”
Nick took a deep breath and launched himself back into a freestyle stroke in the opposite direction.
“Go, go, go!” Lucas slapped the water for extra encouragement, then he stood so he could get a good look at Nick’s form.
He was definitely going a little faster this time. Lucas gripped his stopwatch tighter, as if he could will the kid to make 1:18. Right as he neared the halfway point, Kayla walked past Lucas.
He looked up from the stopwatch just in time to catch her smirk, paired with a meaningful glance. “What?”
“Nothing.” Her smirk intensified. “I’m just saying…”
She made little mouse ears with her hands—another Disneyland reference.
“Cute. Really cute.” It was never going to happen. “And no.”
She laughed and kept walking while Lucas turned his attention back to Nick’s stroke. He finished just shy of his goal time, but instead of climbing out of the pool, he took off again without prompting from Lucas.
Back and forth he went. Every time Nick glanced at Lucas, he would stretch his arms overhead, demonstrating long, reaching strokes.
“Come on, reach for it. One more time.” He pushed the button on the stopwatch again.
Nick’s form was getting better and better. His slender arms were now stretched to their maximum length, and he was reaching farther out, extending his stroke from his shoulders. Instead of staying flat, facing the bottom of the pool, his body pivoted slightly with each flip of his arms, weaving through the water with greater ease. Even his kick was looking more efficient.
Something in Lucas’s chest blossomed and swelled. He couldn’t stand still, so instead he began pacing up and down the length of the pool alongside Nick. “You got it. Good form. Come on.”
The moment Nick’s hand touched the pool wall, Lucas pushed the button on the stopwatch and grinned.
Not bad. At last, we’re getting somewhere.
Nick shot him a hopeful look from behind his swim goggles. “Did I get it? What’s my time?”
Lucas took a backward step, giving the kid room to climb out of the water. After all that effort, he’d earned a break. He’d just swum his best time yet, but before Lucas could give him the good news, he collided with something behind him.
Except it wasn’t a something. It was a someone.
Lucas closed his eyes.
No. It couldn’t be her…not now. Could it?
Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, Jenna stood glaring at him with her arms crossed and her brow furrowed. Lucas thought about shoving the stopwatch into his pocket and feigning innocence, but somehow he didn’t think that would fool anyone, least of all the most conscientious mother on the planet.
“You’re early,” Nick stammered.
Busted.
No matter how hard she tried, Jenna couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Lucas…child-averse Lucas McKinnon was at the summer camp pool, and it seemed as if he was acting as Nick’s personal swim coach.
Was she in an alternative universe or something? Never in a million years would she have expected Lucas to go out of his way to help her son. Yes, he’d been letting Ally walk Tank every morning lately. But this was different.
So different.
Coaching required time and effort. It required commitment, and Jenna was fairly certain Lucas didn’t know the meaning of the word.
Yet here he was with a whistle around his neck and a stopwatch in his hand. It was utterly confusing.
And kind of…sweet. Endearing, even.
At least it would have been if anyone had bothered telling her it was happening.
She narrowed her gaze at Nick as he climbed out of the pool. Really? This wasn’t like him. Jenna and her kids didn’t keep secrets from each other. She’d always been especially proud of the close relationship she had with Nick and Ally. They talked about everything. She thought they had, anyway.
Nick sloshed his way to the nearby bleachers and sat down. He couldn’t seem to look at her as he toweled off and slid his feet into his flipflops. Jenna didn’t know whether to feel angry or heartbroken.
Lucas’s continual presence wasn’t helping matters.
“I think I should probably leave you guys to it,” he finally said.
“That’s probably a good idea.” She tried to smile but it wobbled off her face.
She kept her arms crossed as he walked away. Keep it together. Hadn’t she already made enough of a spectacle of herself in front of him, what with the fence and everything?
Lucas took a seat on the bleachers on the opposite side of the pool, as if they were members of opposing swim teams. For some reason, the thought made Jenna feel even worse—as did the tender expression on Lucas’s face every time he glanced at Nick.
Lucas didn’t even like kids—at least that’s what he’d implied since the day she’d moved into the duplex. The affection in his eyes while he’d been grinning down at that stopwatch said otherwise, though.
She took a deep breath and sat down beside Nick. Trying to stand while she processed what she’d just seen simply wasn’t possible. “I don’t get it. We tell each other everything.”
Nick cast a wistful glance at Lucas. “I know you don’t like him.”
“Maybe as a neighbor, but this is different.” This wasn’t about distractions or noise or Tank jumping in the middle of her work.
This was about Lucas helping her kid…
Even after she’d built a literal barrier to keep him away.
/> But it was also about Nick lying to her. They’d both lied to her.
“He’s a good coach, Mom. I mean, he’s not my coach but he’s been helping,” Nick said.
“That’s not the point.”
“And my time is improving. Slowly.” He gave her a hopeful grin, and somewhere beneath the guilt in his expression she saw something else there.
Pride.
Warmth coursed through her. It had been a long time since Nick had felt good about his swimming. Not making the team last year had crushed him.
“I’m glad, bud. I am. It’s just…” Why hadn’t he told her Lucas was helping him?
She swallowed. She knew exactly why he’d kept it a secret. This was all her fault.
Nick gazed up at her. “I’m sorry.”
She wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. “Let’s get your sister. We can talk about this more when we’re home. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Jenna looked over the top of Nick’s head, toward Ally leaning against the snack counter and chatting with her camp friends. “Come on, Ally. Let’s go.”
Ally waved goodbye to the other kids and hurried toward the bleachers.
“Grab your stuff, okay?” Jenna said.
While Nick and Ally gathered their things, she couldn’t help noticing that Lucas was still sitting on other side of the pool—watching, waiting, although Jenna wasn’t sure what for.
All she knew was that she had the sudden feeling that maybe there was more to the surfer next door than she wanted to admit.
Lucas knew he’d screwed up.
He’d known all along that keeping the swim lessons from Jenna was a mistake, just like he’d known that he wasn’t exactly her favorite person. But he’d underestimated exactly how much she’d disliked him, apparently.
There was no denying it anymore, though. She loathed him. Why else would she want to pick up her kids and move?
He stared at his answering machine, grinding his teeth as her message played aloud.
I mean, it’s one thing to live next door to a stubborn messy surfer when you’re single, but when you’re a single parent with two young kids you can’t have distractions day and night. And I’ve got a lot of work to do, so…
