Page 5 of Return to Rosewood Beach

“Hey there, cowboy.” Sally Lipton, the middle-aged owner of Ocean Breeze Café, grinned at him warmly from behind the counter. “How’s your day going?”

“Hi, Sally.”

He smiled at her. She was one of the nicest people in town, and always remembered her customers. She might have been a “spinster,” but she put the best spin on her situation that he’d ever seen in anyone. She wore bright colors, crazy hair pieces, and always sported a cheerful bubble gum pink lipstick. She looked fun and she was fun, and she was always eager to make everyone’s day better. He liked her a lot—not only because of her kind, cheerful attitude, but also because she was the first person who had been able to coax a smile out of Macey when they’d first moved to town.

“How’s business?” he asked.

“Great as usual.” Her eyes were bright, and she straightened the glittery purple butterfly clip that she had tucked into her hair. “What can I get for you?”

“Just a regular coffee with a little cream. I’m a plain fellow.” He grinned, and she laughed.

“Lots of people like their coffee that same way. I like to make the fancy drinks, but my coffee is good enough to stand on its own two feet.”

She hummed cheerfully as she made him his coffee. He looked around the pleasant shop while he waited, telling himself he’d have to bring Macey there again sometime soon. She’d liked it there a lot, and she’d liked Sally.

“You look tired, if you don’t mind me saying so, Cooper.” Sally’s eyes looked sympathetic as she handed him his coffee cup.

He nodded. “I am. I was up half the night with Macey. She’s been restless a lot lately.”

“You poor thing. Tell you what: if you’re willing to stick around for another few minutes, I’ll throw in a corned beef sandwich on the house.”

“Thanks, Sally. That’s really sweet of you.” He smiled at her, and his stomach grumbled as if in agreement.

“No problem at all. You need a little extra fuel today, that’s clear.”

He paid for the coffee, and then sipped it slowly while waiting for Sally to make the sandwich. He felt himself perk up a little, and he rolled his shoulders back a few times, trying to wake himself up even more.

“There you are,” Sally said a few minutes later, handing him a white paper bag. “I make the best corned beef sandwich in town.”

“I believe it.” He grinned at her. “Thank you again.”

“Come back soon!”

“Oh, I will, don’t worry.”

He waved goodbye and made his way back outside. The moment he did, he frowned and took a few steps back, discovering that it was raining hard.

Well, that snuck up on me,he thought, glancing up at the sky in surprise.It’s really rare for it to rain like this during this time of year.

He pulled up the collar of his work shirt—which was already dirty with half-dried paint from a job he’d been on earlier that morning—and started back toward the office. He didn’t mind rain so much, since he loved the way it smelled, although he had to reconcile himself to the fact that he would be soaked by the time he got back to his desk. At least his work shirt was thick, and he could take it off once he got back inside.

He saw that the ground along the sidewalk was already getting muddy. In some places, puddles were collecting along the gaps between the grass and the sidewalk.

Just in front of him along the road, a taxi pulled up to the curb, catching his attention. He didn’t often see taxis in this small town, except for when travelers hired a cab to drive them to Rosewood Beach from the nearest airport.

He kept walking, assuming that whoever was inside the taxi was going to take a minute or two to get out, since it was raining particularly hard at the moment.

Instead of waiting, however, the person inside the taxi opened the door abruptly, almost hitting him as he walked past. He jumped to the side, surprised, as a woman whom he’d never seen before stepped out of the taxi.

“Ugh!” The woman hunched her shoulders up against the rain, looking irritated. Instead of getting back inside the taxi, she stepped forward, stumbling a little on her fancy looking heels. She missed the edge of the sidewalk—probably because it was difficult to see because of how hard it was raining—and placed one heel squarely in a patch of squelching mud. She let out a squeak and started to wobble, veering toward the muddy ground to her left.

Cooper realized she was about to fall, and he threw his coffee and sandwich bag down onto the sidewalk. He darted forward, catching the woman just before she completely lost her balance.

For a moment, she froze, looking stunned, and he thought to himself that she was extremely beautiful. She had long dark hair and sharply attractive features, which she’d accented with expertly-done makeup.

He helped her back up to her feet, and she started to frown, looking at his work shirt. As he removed his arms from her, she lifted up the sleeve of her black raincoat and winced clear in dismay.

“You got paint on me.” She held up the sleeve of her coat, revealing a smear of white paint.

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