Page 30 of Sea Glass Serenade

“Okay.” Alexis sighed. “I guess we’ll just walk you as far as the street corner for now.”

Dean said goodbye to his employees for the day, giving them instructions on what to prioritize in terms of repair, and then he and his family stepped out into the sunlight.

“Text us, Dean, you promise?” Julia said, giving him a hug on the street corner.

“I will.” He smiled as if nothing was wrong, even though his hand was throbbing and his head was starting to buzz with dizziness again. “And I’ll see you all soon.”

He started off along the sidewalk, listening to the sound of his sisters and his mother talking as they made their way back to The Lighthouse Grill. They sounded worried, but not as worried as he knew they would be if he told them what was really going on with him.

He glanced back over his shoulder and saw them disappear around the corner at the end of the street. He sighed, hoping that the incident of him hurting his hand would be soon forgotten. He didn’t want his family to keep asking him questions about his health, because he didn’t feel ready to tell them about his medical diagnosis yet.

He kicked at a pebble as he walked, smiling a little to himself as he thought about the way they’d rushed over to the auto repair shop to be there for him. Even though he didn’t want to tell his family what was going on with him, he felt lucky that he was surrounded by people that cared about him so much.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Alexis heaved a long sigh as she set down a tray of dirty dishes in the kitchen of The Lighthouse Grill. Despite her fatigue, there was a lightness to her steps. She always loved the adrenaline that accompanied the dinner rush at her family’s pub, and it had been another successful and fast-paced evening.

She brushed damp strands of hair back from her face, and laughed to herself over how much she was sweating.

I’m a working girl now,she thought.Just look at my hands! I’m getting calluses. It’s been weeks since I got a manicure.

She smiled, feeling pleased. She wondered what Grayson would say if he could see her, and then she remembered in the next instant that he was still in town. She’d been so actively pushing the thought of him from her mind that for a moment, she’d forgotten he was there in Rosewood Beach, waiting to talk with her.

She bit her lip as she stepped back out into the dining room. She felt her heart fluttering at the thought of Grayson being there in town, wanting to repair things with her. It felt too good to be true, and she was afraid that something was going to go wrong and all of her hopes were going to be dashed. She hadn’t meant to be unkind to him, but she’d kept herself exceptionallybusy as a means of avoiding talking with him. Everything she’d been keeping busy with was important and it needed to get done at some point, but she knew she was fooling herself whenever she tried to tell herself that none of it could have waited.

She swallowed, feeling a twinge of guilt. She always pictured Grayson as independent, someone who enjoyed solitude. He’d spent so much of their marriage acting as though he didn’t need her at all that it felt strange to picture him wanting to talk with her now. The idea of a vulnerable Grayson who needed her was a foreign concept, but one that stirred her heart when she thought of it.

She told herself firmly that she needed to be brave and talk with him soon. After all, he was still her husband, and she owed him that at least.

As she was making her way over to one of her tables, intending to clear the dirty dishes off it, she froze. Someone was standing in the doorway to the pub, watching her. He had his hands in his pockets, which seemed uncharacteristic of him, but she would have known those broad shoulders and those green eyes anywhere.

She nodded at him, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. He still made her heart beat faster like a schoolgirl, and she felt flushed and nervous. She decided to clean up her table and then go talk to him. After all, she told herself foolishly, it was possible that he was just there for a meal and had no intention of trying to talk to her at all.

She hurriedly stacked the dirty dishes onto a tray and carried them back into the kitchen. As she worked, she was acutely conscious of Grayson staring at her. As soon as she was behind the swinging doors of the kitchen, she peered through the small window, and saw that he was staring at the doors that she’d just disappeared through.

Before stepping back out into the dining room, she popped inside the employee bathroom and smoothed back her hair and pinched a little color into her cheeks.

When she reentered the dining room, Grayson was still standing by the front door with a blank expression. Since he hadn’t been seated by the hostess, Alexis had to assume that he wasn’t there to eat, he was there to see her.

She cleared her throat nervously and approached him. He watched her intently as she walked up to him, and she found herself blushing a little.

“Why are you staring at me?” she asked quietly.

“It’s interesting seeing you in a place like this. You really seem like you’re in your element.” Grayson spoke softly, and despite the deep, masculine quality of his voice, he sounded a little shy.

She shook her head even though she agreed with his words. She did feel as though she was in her element there at the pub. “You haven’t paid me much mind in the past year. How would you know when I’m in my element?”

“Alexis, please.” He took a step toward her. “We need to talk.”

“I—I know we do.” Even though she’d just told herself that she needed to have a conversation with him, now that she had him right there in front of her, her jitters returned in full force. She felt as though she needed more time to think about everything and decide if she would be willing to trust him with her heart again or not. “I’m just so busy right now—we just got done with the dinner rush, and I still have a couple of tables open.”

At that moment, the door opened behind Grayson and Vivian stepped inside The Lighthouse Grill. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise when she saw Grayson and she immediately gave him a warm hug.

“Grayson! How lovely to see you.” Vivian’s voice was friendly as she greeted her son-in-law, although Alexis could see that the wheels of her mother’s mind were turning as she looked at him. “I’d heard you were in town. Welcome back to Rosewood Beach.”

“Thank you.” Grayson spoke stiffly, as though he was a little uncomfortable, but he smiled at Vivian. “I’m glad to see that your restaurant is still doing well.”

“Oh, it’s a whirlwind, but it’s a fun whirlwind.” Vivian gestured at the busy dining room, waving her hand.

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