Page 61 of A Beach House Beginning

“In the dark, at one in the morning?”

“Is it that late? I hadn’t noticed. What about you? What brings you out? I thought everybody was settled for the night. The house seemed quiet.”

“I couldn’t sleep so I got up to read for a bit. And as soon as I walked out into the living room, I realized Theo would see me and decide he needed to go out.”

“It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?”

She lifted her face up to the glitter of stars overhead, endless and lovely.

“It really is.”

“Everybody told me to be prepared for gray skies and rain when I moved to Oregon. We’ve had a few of those, but it seems like we have far more sunny days than not.”

“You came at a great time of year. Our winters can be cold and stormy.”

“I’m looking forward to watching the storms roll in.”

Jenna loved the drama of sitting in front of her bay window as the sea turned dark and frothy. “You might get your wish earlier than later,” she told him. “A summer storm is supposed to hit tomorrow night. Tonight, I guess. Around ten or so. I just hope it holds off until later than that as I’m having my book club out here tomorrow evening.”

“That sounds fun.”

“What’s not to love about it? Good friends talking about books, eating food and enjoying adult beverages.”

He nodded to the overturned furniture in front of him. “Good thing I had a wild hare to fix the chairs, then. I would hate for one of your book club friends to sit down, only to have the whole thing fall apart.”

“Yes. Great timing. Can I help you with anything here?”

“I’m nearly done. You could hold the flashlight for me, if you’d like. I’ve got the headlamp, but every time I turn my head, I can’t see what I’m doing.”

She picked up the flashlight he indicated, perched on one of the chairs he had apparently already tightened, and aimed it at the chair in front of him. Theo spent a moment sniffing around the pergola, then found a spot to curl up on atop one of the chair cushions.

A subtle intimacy seemed to curl around them, here in the quiet of the garden. Was this the reason she had been drawn outside? Had some part of her suspected he might be out here, the part of her that couldn’t seem to stay away from this man?

She didn’t want to think so.

“What time are you expecting Brielle’s mom to return?”

“Their plane lands in Portland around noon, so a few hours after that.”

“I’m sure Brie has missed her.”

“They’ve talked on the phone nearly every day, but yeah. They’re very close. Lacey is a great mom.”

“That’s good of you to say. I’ve heard other divorced parents who aren’t nearly as complimentary of their exes.”

He made a sound that was somewhere between a grunt and a sigh. “We’re much better friends now than we ever were when we were married.”

“Has it been hard for you, seeing Lacey go on with her life?” He must have loved her once, dreamed of a future with her.

This time the sound he made definitely sounded like a laugh. “Not one tiny bit. She deserves to be happy. Lacey had to carry a lot after I went to prison. She really stepped up. I can never repay her for that.”

“How did you meet her?”

She wasn’t only making conversation. She genuinely wanted to know, Jenna thought, as he turned that chair over and moved to work on another one. She followed with the flashlight, taking a seat on the chair he had just fixed.

“Friend of a friend. I was stationed in North Carolina and she came down from Michigan to visit a friend in the area, who happened to be dating one of my buddies. We went on a couple of double dates and then just sort of...fell into a relationship.”

He was quiet, his muscles flexing as he tightened the screws on the underside of the chair. “She was desperate to escape a tough family life, and I was getting ready to head overseas after a transfer to Germany. We decided to tie the knot before I left so she could come with me. Not an uncommon story in the military.”

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