Page 26 of The Sandover Beach Billionaire

Chapter Nine

“Isn’t that your lady friend?”

Megan’s voice startled Jackson. He looked up from his laptop and over the railing of the third-floor balcony. He was doing his best to spend quality time with his daughter, which somehow ended up looking like sitting together while on different electronic devices. It was at least something. She hadn’t shut herself in her room. He’d take it.

“Lady friend?” He glanced at her, but she didn’t look up from her phone. Down on the beach he saw a man walking a dog and a few people walking. None he recognized.

“Girlfriend. Woman. Love interest? Whatever your generation calls them.”

Jackson huffed and shut his laptop. He hadn’t been getting any work done, looking over the numbers for Bohn’s. It was depressing, and he didn’t mind stopping. “I don’t have any of those things. If I did, though, I’d call her my bae.”

Megan dropped her phone. It clattered on the wooden deck. “You did not just say ‘bae.’ I thought we talked about this. Using terms that teens use doesn’t make you cool. It just makes it seem like you’re trying too hard. Where did you even hear the word ‘bae’?”

Jackson burst out laughing at her horrified expression. The one sure way he had found to connect with Megan was humor, especially the self-deprecating kind. He liked to think that he was thawing her out. “I heard it in a song. The last time I was out at the club, getting crunk.”

Now she groaned, but he could see the smile threatening to emerge. “I feel like I need to tutor you on how to talk. That term is like, way out of date. At the same time, I don’t want to encourage this behavior.”

“Thanks?”

“Anyway, isn’t that your lady friend down on the beach? Not to be confused with your bae. Since you are never using that word again.”

Jackson stood and leaned over the balcony, looking out over the beach below. The sun had emerged earlier, helping to warm up the cool weather. It was a great day. He should probably take advantage of the weather and get out his surfboard. Before this visit, he had bought Megan her own wet suit and board, but hadn’t told her yet. After his week of having Jenna shoot him down, he didn’t think he could handle one more rejection.

Speaking of Jenna … Megan was right. She and Rachel were coming back toward the beach access under his house, carrying beach towels. Rachel had on a beach coverup, while Jenna wore black athletic pants and a T-shirt. He loved the way the ocean wind blew her hair around her shoulders.

Right as he was thinking that, Rachel spotted him. She waved and said something to Jenna, whose head jerked up to look at Jackson. He lifted a hand and realized that Megan was waving them up toward the house, an invitation. Rachel gave a thumbs up and grabbed Jenna’s arm, half dragging her away from the crosswalk and down below his house. Nerves jumped in Jackson’s chest. They were coming up.

“You’re welcome.” Megan walked back into the house, buried in her phone again.

Jackson felt like he was having a minor heart attack as he ran down the three flights to the door. This couldn’t be good. Jenna had made her feelings about him abundantly clear. He had put himself out there in person and then in the note. He had taken the risk like Beau and Jimmy suggested and Jenna shot him down. It was done. So, why was his heart like a sledgehammer pounding away in his chest?

He swung open the door before they could knock, trying to take on his nerves with the direct approach. “Hey! Come on in.”

Rachel walked right in, eyes huge. “Wow. This is…just wow.”

“Thanks,” Jackson said. He felt equal parts proud and self-conscious about the house. Jenna hesitated outside the door.

“I don’t bite,” he said lightly.

When her eyes met his, Jackson felt a shudder move through him. Jenna gave him a small smile and stepped inside.

Rachel had no problem walking right in and poking around. Jenna trailed her through the first floor while Jackson hung behind them, hands in his pockets. Was it too much?

It felt like the most important project of his life, working with the builders on this house. Most of the work he did with Wells Development was focused on purchasing properties and planning future development, not design or architecture. Jackson’s real joy, though, had been in the plans for this house. Working on the layout and the design elements felt like hope, like he was writing out plans for his future. It was a commitment to being a new man, leaving the old behind.

That all felt silly now, watching Rachel and Jenna. It was just a house. Too big, too ostentatious, too new. The weathered outside he had chosen looked more like the classic Sandover beach cottages, but it was too big. Especially considering Jackson lived alone, other than the few weekends he got to see Megan.

Rachel asked a million questions about flooring and the kinds of windows and the art on the walls. Jenna kept whatever she was thinking behind her eyes. Did she love it? Did she think it was too much?

Probably. It was a five-bedroom, four-bath house and he lived alone. Only when Megan was here did a secondary bedroom see any use. And then she spent much of her weekend locked in it as she was now. They could all hear music blasting from behind a closed door.

“You’ve got a hot tub out here!” Rachel said, flinging open the doors to the first-floor balcony. “And balconies on every floor. Love it.”

“With this view, I had to. You’re welcome any time. The hot tub during winter is particularly fun.”

“Tempting,” Rachel said, dipping her hand in the water. “Jenns, feel this.”

Jenna walked past Jackson and put a hand in the water. “Nice.”

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