Page 48 of Love At The Shore
Was it, though?
“Actually, I think Lucas is meeting his girlfriend. So we should let him…”
Lucas plopped onto the quilt as if he belonged there. “My what?”
Seriously? He was going to make her spell it out for him when he’d just been hugging Kayla mere feet away?
“Um.” Why was the back of her neck suddenly so warm? “Your girlfriend.”
Lucas’s response was a blank stare. “Who’s that?”
Jenna glanced at Kayla walking Tank beneath the shade of a row of Southern live oaks. Mercifully, he followed her gaze so she wouldn’t have to say any more.
“Kayla? Oh, no. I’ve known her for years.” Lucas shook his head. “She’s like a little sister to me.”
“So, she’s not your girlfriend?” Maureen’s eyebrows rose.
Real subtle, Maureen.Jenna’s neck was on the verge of bursting into flames.
Beside her, Lucas was as cool as a cucumber. As per usual. “Nope. She’sdefinitelynot my girlfriend. Just a good friend that I happen to employ.”
Jenna’s embarrassment over her friend’s overt attempt at matchmaking took an immediate backseat to her astonishment.
“What do you meanemploy?” She blinked. “At the summer camp?”
Lucas shrugged. “I guess technically you could call itmysummer camp, but I’ve never been one for job titles.”
Then he winked at her, and Jenna longed for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. All this time she’d been thinking of him as Mr. Slack when in reality he owned the summer camp where her kids had been going every day for weeks. Why hadn’t he told her?
Probably because you didn’t give him a chance.
“You are definitely joining us.” Maureen dug a frosted bottle of water from the nearby ice chest and handed it to Lucas, her business-owner neighbor.
“Absolutely,” Ian said.
“Thank you.” Lucas opened the water and took a sip. Jenna noticed that Ian’s expression had turned wistful. Could he be thinking, like she was, about how much he’d enjoyed camp as a kid?
Lucas nodded. “Yeah, I feel pretty lucky. I mean, to be able to make a living doing this.”
“So you actuallyownthe summer camp. And that’s why you’re always there?” Maureen’s gaze flitted toward Jenna. The wordstwo-week rulewere written all over her face.
“I also like the free food at the snack bar, so there’s that.” Lucas laughed.
He was being such a good sport about the interrogation. Even so, Jenna was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of Lucas as an entrepreneur. The summer camp had a definite beach vibe, so it sort of made sense. But his next bit of news was too much to comprehend.
“Before I moved here and opened up the summer camp, I worked at an investment banking firm. A normal work week included fifty-plus hours behind a desk and zero time outdoors, much less surfing. Two years in, I realized it was always going to be that way, so I decided to throw my corporate plan out the window and build the sort of life I wanted. I came up with a plan to give the new generation a real appreciation for the shore and keep them busy during the summer, both things I find a lot more meaningful than crunching numbers.” He grinned. “Plus now I have plenty of time to surf.”
It had to be the most drastic professional transformation story Jenna had ever heard. She narrowed her gaze, trying to imagine him screaming into a cell phone and running around in a suit—both of which her ex-husband did on a regular basis. “You really did the whole corporate thing?” Lucas McKinnon didn’t belong in a coat and tie. Maybe he was joking.
But he wasn’t. He was completely and utterly serious. “For a while. To save up some money for the camp. Luckily, I made some good investments.”
“No.” Jenna couldn’t stop shaking her head. “I can’t believe it. I’m shocked.”
“Which part?” He leaned closer. “That I own the place, or that I actually have a ‘schedule?’”
She could practically see the air quotes hanging around his last word. “Nick mentioned that?”
The corner of Lucas’s mouth tugged into a half grin. “He sure did.”
