Page 39 of Third Time's the Charm

She opened the chocolate and snapped off a piece. “I’m making soup tonight. This is for sure soup weather.”

“It’s my turn to cook tonight and I’m thinking seafood boil.” It was the exact opposite of everything we ate for the last few days. Shrimp, sausage, corn, garlic.

So much garlic.

“That’ll feed an army. Didn’t Paris leave yesterday?”

“Sure did. We’ll eat the leftovers for days. It’s fine.” The house was crazy quiet last night without them there. It made it hard to sleep.

And it was weird because it wasn’t like I wanted them to stay. I can only take so much of my family at once. I still had no desire to live closer to them. But there was something that happened after they were gone and I’d almost call it longing.

But I didn’t know what for.

“What’s that look on your face?” She waved her finger at me.

“What look?”

She studied me for a minute. “Wistful. You look wistful.”

I cocked my eyebrow. “I take it your date went well.”

She grabbed another plastic bag and started logging it. “Why do you say that?”

“You only pull out words likewistfulwhen you’re in a good mood.” Then I bounced my eyebrows. “So is this guy a fuck, a marry, or a kill?”

“Well the first one went very well.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “And the second?” She couldn’t possibly be thinking what I thought she was thinking.

Cynthia shrugged. “I got the zings. And he’s really nice. And he actually lives here.”

“Is he going to meet the Pirate King?”

She nodded slowly. “Ned is joining us for lunch tomorrow.”

“No way!” Cynthia hadn’t let a guy meet her father in at least two years. Maybe more.

“Way. Heaskedto meet my family. After three dates. He’s either too weird or too good to be true. Not sure which yet.”

“It’s a small island. Maybe he thinks it’s best to rip off the bandaid and get it over with.” Wow, oh wow. I was really happy for her.

“I’ll just be glad to know pretty quickly whether he’s worth my time. I hate wasting my time.”

I rubbed my chest because it began to ache again. Sometimes I felt like my entire relationship with Jack was a waste of my time. All those years I could have been with someone who wanted to build a future together. Instead I was starting over.

I stopped at the seafood market on my way home, then jumped right into arranging everything for the boil. The rain was still coming down steady so I didn’t turn on the television or any music, cooking instead to the sound of water falling outside. In the summer it would rain almost every day, but in the winter rain only came with the cold fronts, and only if they made it this far south. So I soaked up the rainy days like a dry sponge.

I knew the moment it stopped raining because everything became incredibly quiet.

I hated the quiet.

So I turned on music and blasted it loud enough to make the ache in my chest stop. I danced and husked corn. I sang and peeled fresh shrimp.

“What is going on in here?” Ryker yelled, hands over his ears, briefcase dangling from his fingertips.

“Cooking party!” I yelled back.

“A party of one?”

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