Page 30 of Love At The Shore
She wished a wave would crash onto the shore and sweep her away.
“How about this?” Lucas turned toward Ally. Jenna dreaded whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “How about you take Tank for a walk tomorrow morning. Would you like that?”
Jenna nearly fell off her log. Had he just offered to do something nice for one of her kids?
“Awesome!” Ally’s face split into a wide grin.
“Wow. Thatispretty nice.” Jenna stared at Lucas. Was it her imagination, or did the firelight make his eyes dance?
He arched a brow. “You sound surprised.”
“I’m not surprised. I’m just…” She struggled for something to say because the word on the tip of her tongue wascharmed.It was such an unexpectedly sweet offer, and Lucas was anything but sweet. Maybe the marshmallows were going to her head.
While she sat there, speechless, his gaze flicked over her shoulder. Jenna turned to see what had caught his attention and sure enough, three gorgeous, slender women were approaching the campfire. Was that Kayla, the camp counselor in the middle?
Of course it was, and she wasn’t wearing anything resembling a mom-cardigan.
Nowthisisn’t a bit surprising.Mr. Bachelor strikes again.
“Actually, I think we should get going,” Jenna said.
Lucas didn’t seem to hear.
“We should?” Nick inspected the marshmallow on the end of his skewer, still only half-melted.
“Yeah.” Jenna nodded.Help me out here, kid.
“Right. We should. ‘Cause I’m pretty wiped, and I’ve been working on a new swim technique. It’s pretty cool actually.” Nick grinned at Lucas.
Jenna didn’t know what he was talking about, and right that second, she didn’t care. She just wanted to get back to the beach house before she had to watch Lucas and Kayla engage in another adorable, carefree frolic.
“Oh, yeah?” Lucas said.
“Yeah.” Nick nodded. “And my mom likes to watchReal Housewivesbefore…”
“Okay, we’re going.” Jenna flew to her feet. “Let’s go, please.Now.”
Nick thought she was suddenly eager to get home so she could watch bad reality television? Great. Now she sounded even more pathetic than she felt.
“What? You do.” Nick shrugged as she did her best to usher the kids back toward the beach house.
“Good night,” Lucas said, and the smile in his voice made her mortification all the more complete.
“Good night,” she muttered without meeting his gaze.
Ally saved her goodbyes for the dog. “Good night, Tank. See you in the morning.”
Tank’s eye opened and he peered after her. She practically floated as she headed toward the dune.
Jenna, on the other hand, felt like she was slinking away in humiliation.
Real Housewives?Really, Nick?
She pulled her sweater tighter around her frame, snuggling into it she snuck one last look at the scene around the bonfire. Big mistake.
“I’m glad you could make it,” Lucas said as Kayla sat beside him, right where Ally had been just moments before. He glanced up at one of Kayla’s pretty friends and patted the space recently vacated by Nick. “There’s room on this side.”
Jenna hastened her steps.
