Page 74 of Love At The Shore
“Youwhat?” Jenna gaped at him as if he were a stranger. As if they’d never played volleyball together on the beach or shared cracked crab beneath a sweeping beach sunset.
I’m still me, he wanted to say.We’re stillus.
He inhaled a ragged breath. The cove was less than a quarter mile away. “This spot was really important to me when I was a kid. I thought maybe it would help.”
“How could this possibly help?” Her tone was incredulous.
Message received: Lucas didn’t know the first thing about kids or what they might need.
“I just wanted to give him some encouragement.” He gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles went white.
“I can’t believe you.” Jenna shook her head. “I can’t believe that you would do this.”
What was he supposed to say?
You’re right. I made a mistake. I wanted to be there for Nick, but I didn’t know how. I’m not his dad, but I care about him.
I care about all of you.
Now wasn’t the time. The last thing Jenna wanted to hear right now was that he thought he might be falling in love with her. Time was running out, though. Would he ever have the opportunity to tell her how he felt? Not only were Jenna and the kids going to be on their way back to Savannah, tomorrow he’d be leaving as well. But she wouldn’t want to hear about that right now either. All she could think about was Nick, and Lucas couldn’t blame her.
So instead, he said the only thing that mattered.
“I’m sorry.”
Jenna couldn’t look at Lucas anymore. It was too confusing. She was so angry with him, but at the same time, she wanted to cling to him. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and hold her like he’d done after their dinner on the pier.
She was tired of trying to keep everything under control. So very tired. Just once she wished she could lean on someone for help. Not just anyone, though.
Him.
Lucas.
It didn’t make any sense. He should have been the absolute last person in the world she’d want to turn to for comfort.
She was being irrational, that was all. Her heart was simply having a difficult time catching up with her head. Because she knew falling for Lucas had been a mistake.Clearly.
Why was it so hard to remember that fact, even when she was half out of her mind with worry about Nick?
She bit down hard on her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. She refused to cry in front of Ally. Jenna’s daughter was sitting in the very middle of the backseat, eyes wide and searching.
Everything will be fine,she wanted to tell her. But every time she tried to say the words, they stuck in her throat.
Time was going by so slowly. Minutes had passed since she’d first spotted Nick’s empty bunk bed, but they felt like hours. After what felt like a century, Lucas steered the Jeep to the end of a sandy clearing marked by palm trees and southern red cedars swaying in the breezy sea air.
Jenna barely waited for the car to stop. The moment it came to a halt, she unfastened her seatbelt and jumped out. A shiver coursed through her, and she pulled her cardigan tighter around her torso realizing she was still wearing the pajamas she’d slept in the night before. There hadn’t been time to change.
Nick is okay.
We’ll find him, and he’s going to be just fine.
She blinked against the wind and ran a few steps. Lucas materialized beside her, and she wasn’t sure how. She hadn’t even registered the fact that he’d exited the driver’s side of the car.
“I see his bike.” She pointed at it, leaning against a tree with Nick’s familiar blue helmet dangling from the handlebars. A similar pink, child-sized bike was parked beside it.
At least he wasn’t here alone, although at this point, Jenna wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad news.
“Then he’s got to be down there,” Lucas said.
