Page 66 of Dreaming at Seaside
Bella sighed and shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but I noticed it, too.” Leanna kicked her feet up on the chair beside her. “And you’d better spill soon. I have to be at the flea market early today.”
“By early you can only mean nine thirty instead of ten, right?” Jenna snuck a piece of a muffin. “Likelateearly?” Leanna would be late to her own wedding for sure. She arrived everywhere late, no matter how much she tried to be on time.
Leanna pointed to the muffins and glared at Jenna, but her smile told of her softening resolve. “Ha-ha. I want to get there by eight. Remember Carey?” Carey sold records at the flea market, and the previous summer he’d had the booth next to Leanna. Booth placement changed often at the flea market, and Leanna was glad when he’d texted and said he was going to be beside her again for the next few weeks.
“He’s that hot young guy, right?” Jenna asked.
“He’s not that young. He’s twenty-five,” Leanna said. “He has the booth next to mine this week, and we were going to try to catch up this morning before the crowds come in.”
“How does Kurt feel about you and Carey?” Bella picked at the muffin she’d snuck when Leanna was inside.
Leanna rolled her eyes. “You’re kidding, right? Remember last year when Carey kissed me? I told Kurt, remember? He trusts me. Besides, Kurt’s coming, too.”
“That’s another thing I don’t get.” Jenna kicked her feet up on a chair and leaned back. “How come you get a guy who changes his whole life to be with you, and Bella gets a cop who finally, after a million years, takes her up in the fire tower—which, by the way, I’m totally jealous of—and I can’t get Pete to look at me like a woman?”
“I thought he was coming fishing with us next weekend,” Bella said.
“He is. But you know what he said?” She lowered her voice. “’Fishing? That sounds great. It’s been a while since I hooked a big one.’”
Leanna and Bella exchanged an eye roll.
“You’re the queen of innuendos, Jen. How can you be so blind to Pete’s?” Bella shrugged.
Jenna drew her brows together. “You think…” Her eyes widened. “No.” Her face grew serious again. “Maybe you’re right.Oh my goodness. You see? Now not only can I not speak around the man, but my brain goes all wonky, too. Maybe I should just forget him altogether.”
That incited another eye roll from Leanna and Bella. Jenna would never forget Pete.
Bella turned at the sound of Caden’s voice. He and Kurt were jogging up the road from the entrance. His bare chest glistened with sweat, and when their eyes met, his easy smile sent her to her feet.
“Caden.” She hurried off the deck.
“I found him on the access road to the beach and we got to talking,” Kurt explained. Kurt joined the others on the deck, leaving Bella and Caden alone.
Caden went to Bella, and when she opened her arms, he held his hands up.
“Sweaty,” he warned.
“Don’t care.” She hugged him close, and when he leaned down and kissed her, her world righted once again. He was dripping with perspiration, but he still smelled like Caden, and that was a smell that she couldn’t get enough of.
“How’s Evan?”
He wiped his forehead with his arm. “He’s good. He didn’t tell me much, just that he played a game with a group of jerks and it pissed him off. I’m sorry about last night, babe. I didn’t want you to leave, but he needed me.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
Caden lowered his voice. “Were you upset?”
“No.” It was a gut reaction, and she realized, not a completely honest one at that. “I wasn’t upset, but a little disappointed. I know that’s stupid and childish of me. I don’t begrudge Evan for needing you, or you for being with him, but I did miss you.”
He touched her arm, and his eyes warmed. “Me too. I missed you like crazy, and when you didn’t return my call, I thought…”
“Oh no. I’m sorry.” She shot a look at her car, where her phone, and her purse, were probably still on the passenger seat. “I’m still not used to carrying my phone. I got home and everyone was by the fire. Amy was hammered, and the girls and I slept here last night.”
“Here?” He glanced up at the others on the deck.
“Yeah. Like a litter of puppies on Amy’s bed.” She stepped closer and touched the waistband of his running shorts. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
