Page 22 of Love At The Shore
“Wait.” Jenna tossed the plastic bag into the big, shared trash can on the corner of the deck, kicked off her flip-flops and joined him on the dune. “Seriously?”
Lucas shrugged. “It’s kind of our thing.”
He gave the hole he’d just filled in another pat with his shovel, fully expecting her to turn around and head back upstairs. When she stayed put instead, he felt himself smile.
“It’s for the turtles,” he said by way of explanation.
She tilted her head, and her hair fell over her shoulder in a dark curtain of beachy waves.
For one nonsensical second, Lucas wondered what it would be like to reach out and wind a loose curl around his fingertips. A completely irrational notion that he blamed on the full moon shining bright over the ocean’s salty waves.
“The turtles?” She gave him a slow smile that built with each passing second.
It happened to be Lucas’s favorite kind of smile. He nodded. “You’ve probably heard the island is a nesting ground for endangered sea turtles. We’re still early in the season, but the eggs will start to hatch soon and when they do, the turtle hatchlings have to crawl from the dune to the ocean. It can be a treacherous journey for a turtle no bigger than a silver dollar.”
Jenna blinked. “So you and Tank go around filling in holes in the sand every night, so the baby turtles can make it safely to the ocean?”
Was that really so hard to believe? The island was his home. He loved it with his whole heart. “We might miss a night here and there.”
She shook her head. “I just…”
“What?” He speared the shovel into the sand and leaned against it, studying her. She was gaping at him as if he’d just surfed straight into her living room on a loggerhead turtle’s back.
“Just wow.” Jenna took a deep breath. “That’s so…sweet.”
“I’m not all bad,” he said.
He had no clue why he was trying to convince her that he was a decent guy despite his lack of houseplants.
“I didn’t say you were.”
Their gazes locked, and for a long moment neither of them said a word. Lucas was so focused on the charged silence that he didn’t notice Tank bounding toward them until the dog planted himself at Jenna’s feet. Before Lucas could stop what was about to happen, Tank gave his coat a hard shake, spraying Jenna with sand.
She jumped backward, squealing and wiping bits of sand from her white shorts.
So much for their almost-truce.
“Sorry about that,” Lucas said, but his apology was drowned out by Nick and Ally calling down from the balcony above them.
“Mom,” they said in unison.
“Are you okay?” Ally asked. She sounded like she might be talking around a mouthful of chocolate.
Jenna glared at Lucas, even though, technically, Tank had been the troublemaker.
This time.
“I’m fine,” she said sharply. Then she squared her shoulders, spun on her heel and marched back toward enemy territory.
After a full week of summer camp, the kids were exhausted. They both slept in the following morning, allowing Jenna to get a few pages written before breakfast. The house seemed too quiet without Ally’s usual morning chatter, so at around eight o’clock Jenna finally tiptoed between their bunk beds and pulled open the curtains.
“Rise and shine, monkeys! It’s the weekend.” Sunlight streamed into the brightly decorated bedroom.
It was an awfully cute space, but Jenna was no longer such a fan of the surfboard-themed bunks. She was having very confusing feelings about surfers.
Nick sat up, rubbing his eyes. “What time is it?”
Ally groaned. “I’m hungry.”
