Page 37 of The One With the Mountain Man

"Is Travis in here?"

She started. "Uh, yes?"

"AndMarley?"

"Yes..." Her eyebrows hit her hairline. "Whoa."

But I didn't have time to take in her surprise or soothe her. There would be no soothing of anyone until I was sure that Marley and Travis were nowhere near each other.

This possessive, jealous fear was something I'd never felt before. It was like someone else had taken over my body.

"You might want to get down here," I heard Willow hiss into the phone.

My gaze swung around the next part of the store, then my eyes landed on the room at the back. Gus blew more wet raspberries and squealed with glee because he thought my fast, jerky movements were playtime. He had no idea.

I ducked into the dimly lit room and my chest tightened. There was Travis, sitting on a table, head leaned towards my Marley with his playboy grin.

I didn't have time to take in the fact that she was sitting back with her arms crossed over her chest. Or the fact that she had a blank, cold stare as she listened to Travis drone. Or that she was clearly working because she had her laptop open and papers and books strewn across the surface.

All I saw was a player making moves on the only woman I had ever truly wanted.

"Afternoon," I said too loudly.

Marley jumped. I thought for a second she might run but then she saw Gus and frowned.

"Huk!" Travis grinned. "I saw that truck parked outside with Florida plates and I thought no way. Couldn't be. Had to see for myself. Then I met Marley here, and she's just too damn pretty to be the woman you met the other day. No way could your ugly ass land this."

I didn't stop. Didn't think how badly this was about to go. I just set Gus down, rounded the table, and laid my best friend out on the floor with a single punch.

Thirteen

Marley

This is the medicine I need

I spentthe morning immersing myself in the world of Sammy. I wandered around the trees near my cabin, learning how to walk on the sloping terrain. I studied the angle of the sunlight, listened to the breeze through the leaves. Then I took the truck down to the creek and walked along it, dipping my feet into the ice-cold water just like Sammy did.

I found berries, but since I didn't know anything about how to tell a good one from a bad one, I didn't eat them.

But now I understood how Sammy could spend a day doing nothing but wandering. Back home I would wander the beaches, picking up shells and letting my feet sink deep into the sand. I would sit and listen to the waves, watch the dolphins play, and swim for hours. I got the same kind of peace from those days as I did now, the environment was just completely different.

I decided that when my summer was over, I was selling my house and moving back to Calusa Key. I needed nature. I needed a smaller, tight-knit community like Lost Creek. When I was a teenager, I hated the island gossips and busybodies because it felt like no part of my life was just mine. Now I craved having a Sharon or a Liam to fiercely care about my wellbeing. Calusa Key was no Lost Creek, but it was a close second.

A pang of longing to stay right here hit me but I erased it as soon as it hit. This wasn't my home. I was just a tourist, a Sammy fan that came to play.

When I got hungry, I went into town for lunch at the Green Door, then spent the afternoon in the back room of the TBR Pile. I had to stay busy otherwise I fixated on that incredible kiss and what tonight might bring. Jackson was...well he was perfect. Gentlemanly and funny and mischievous and wounded and kind. So very kind.

I didn't know what it said about me or my life thatkindnessupended my whole world, but I didn't want to think about that too much. I had work that needed my focus.

Everything from the quiet morning to being in the bookstore to the small moments when my lips tingled, was jumpstarting my imagination.

It was like the old days. My trusty laptop, my notes, my favorite pen, and a bookstore full of possibilities just a few feet away. I didn't try to force anything. Whatever ideas came to me I put down. I drew. I hummed along to the music I put in my ears. Moses would love to be a space warrior. Maybe my next series needed to stray closer to science-fiction. And Adam definitely still needed a pirate adventure.

The Rebels Revenge series was all for Georgie. I could never top it. She would have loved the story I gave her, living in that white dress with her custom inscribed sword. Which was why I needed to give it the perfect ending.

Perfect ending.Those two little words had been the bane of my existence for far too long. Anything less than perfection was an insult to Georgie's memory. I knew deep down inside that I'd conflated my grief with feeling like I owed all of this to my friend and if I fell short, I was unworthy. And yet, I still couldn't untangle my feelings and finish the book.

As I scanned the gorgeous bookstore my gaze caught on one of my favorite books. Maybe what I needed was a good old-fashioned communion with the stories that captured my own imagination. I started gathering. I found copies of all my favorite books, regardless of genre, and began piling them up on my table.

---