Page 3 of Sea Glass Serenade

Grayson nodded. “She wants to help with the family business. I guess it’s tricky over there now that her father has passed away. He used to run the business side of The Lighthouse Grill.”

“Mmm.” Kay nodded as if accepting his words, but Grayson guessed that she was reading into what he’d told her.

I should have spent my Saturdays with Alexis when I had the chance, he thought.I just kept telling myself that if I worked hard for one more year, I’d have time to spare.

He hadn’t truly processed how long he’d been overworking himself until Alexis decided to stay in Rosewood Beach and he’d really stopped to think about it. What had felt like a few weeks strung together to him had been in fact months. He’d had his mind buried so deep in business details that he hadn’t paid proper attention to anything else in his life.

“What is it, Kay?” he said, unable to keep from smiling a little. Kay was frowning at him slightly, and she reminded him of a bulldog that was about to start barking.

“I know you probably don’t want advice from me, but you’re going to get it,” she told him. She crossed her arms. “You’re going to lose that wife of yours if you’re not careful.”

Grayson’s lips parted. Kay was known for being blunt, but he hadn’t expected her to be that blunt. He felt as though she’d just knocked him upside the head with her words.

“I—she’s just staying in her hometown for a while?—”

“Sure, and why would she ever come back? Out there she’s got a life with people she loves, getting to do fun things and keep her hands busy. She has people to look out for her and take care of her, to talk to and have experiences with. Out here she’s got a huge empty house that probably makes her crazy with loneliness, and a husband who’s always muttering to himself about finances even when he is home, which he hardly ever is.”

“I don’t mutter to myself about finances.”

“Yes, you do, I’ve heard you do it.”

For a moment, they looked at each other, and Grayson knew that there was no trying to deny what Kay was saying to him. His stomach tightened.

“Well, what’s your advice?”

“Fight for her. All any woman wants is a man who shows effort—one who demonstrates that he cares about her and the relationship and will give up anything in order to make it work.”

Grayson blinked at her. Wasn’t he fighting for Alexis? Working hard to give her good things, give her a house and money and any luxury she could dream of?

But Alexis didn’t want those things. He realized with a jolt that he wasn’t even sure what it was that Alexis did want, although he knew that she didn’t like just sitting at homewithout any work to do. She’d told him as much, and he’d completely dismissed her words.

“How should I fight for her?” he asked after a moment. He felt uncomfortable, as if Kay was staring into his soul somehow.

“You’ll figure it out,” she said, and she smiled at him as she left the room.

He leaned back in his desk chair, staring out the window. Could he figure it out? He didn’t know where to begin to “fight” for Alexis. What did that mean in his situation? How could he show Alexis that he wanted their relationship to work?

What he knew for sure was that he didn’t want to lose her. He rubbed his temples with his fingertips, feeling as though he was completely out of his element. Whatever happened, he needed to figure out how to not lose her.

CHAPTER THREE

Julia Owens hummed a little along to the radio as she pulled a large bowl out of the cupboard at her mother Vivian’s house. She’d just made a large salad and a tuna casserole to bring to her boyfriend Cooper Harris’s house, so that the two of them and Cooper’s darling two-year-old daughter Macey could eat dinner together.

The salad had strawberries and walnuts in it, and she’d made a raspberry vinaigrette to go with it. She carefully transferred the salad into the Tupperware, leaving some in the bowl she’d mixed it in so that her mother could eat it with her dinner.

This kitchen smells amazing,she thought cheerfully.

Cooking hadn’t been one of her specialties when she’d lived in New York, since she’d been too busy trying to advance in her marketing job. But since she’d come back to Rosewood Beach, she’d had more time to practice the culinary arts. She’d been pleasantly surprised by how fun it could be to cook, especially if she was making an effort for people she loved.

She reflected with a chuckle that her life seemed to revolve around food now. When she wasn’t managing the financial side of The Lighthouse Grill, she was bussing tables or acting as a hostess. She found the work fun and varied, and it never stressedher out the way her job in the city had. She found it pleasant and comforting to be back home, working with her family again.

She closed the lid on the Tupperware with a sense of satisfaction, and then placed the cover on the casserole dish. She took a deep breath of the delicious smells that were still filling the kitchen and looked down with pride at the meal she’d created. It was simple, but she’d tasted it as she’d cooked and she knew that both the salad and the casserole were scrumptiously packed with flavor.

This is much better than takeout,she thought, chuckling as she thought about all the nights she’d come home from work in the city and simply ordered food, feeling too tired to prepare anything herself.

She’d never felt like putting in an effort to cook just for herself—but now that she was dating Cooper, she was enjoying creating homemade dishes and sharing them with him and Macey. Being back in Rosewood Beach had brought her back to the simpler things in life and had shown her a lot about herself that she hadn’t known before. She found herself having more fun, and acting more carefree, than she had in a long time. She’d never expected herself to be happy dating a single father, since she’d never considered herself to be good with kids, but she’d been loving getting to spend time with Macey and was getting better and better at helping care for her all the time.

She paused in her work, thinking about when she’d first met Cooper. She laughed quietly to herself as she remembered how he’d caught her in his arms as she tripped in her heels in the rain.

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