Page 109 of The Lighthouse at the Cove
Unlocking her phone, Kaiah opened the email from Anita Williams. She still hadn’t responded to her and wondered if the job was still available. She could move to Washington, DC, and start a new life there.
Kaiah’s eyes stung, and she squeezed them shut. How could the idea of leaving this place, somewhere she’d only been for three weeks, hurt her so deeply?
Opening her eyes, she turned toward the lighthouse and felt it beckoning her. She drove the two blocks over, parked, walked out on the boardwalk, and dropped down onto the sand. She breathed in the familiar scent of salt water as the calming cadence of the waves crashing into the shore washed over her.
Memories rained down on her—seeing the striped tower when she first limped Daisy into town and then walking to it after running into Reid at the coffee shop. She remembered touring it with Reid the day she came up with the idea for the festival, holding on to Reid and kissing him for the first time after he surprised her with the white lights, and watching the fireworks with him and Piper the night the festival began. The lighthouse had become important toher—just like this town and its wonderful people. It had felt like a beacon that was calling her home, filling her with hope.
Right then she felt her mother’s presence as she stared at the light that had led people safely to shore for more than two hundred years.
“I could use your advice right now, Mom,” she whispered. “I wish you were here to tell me which path to choose.” She sniffed as her throat thickened. “I miss you, Mom. I miss you so, so much.”
Her tears spilled from her eyes and flowed hot down her cheeks while she weighed each option—taking the job in California, taking the job in DC, staying in Coral Cove with Reid and Piper and their wonderful family.
And then, a knowing clicked into place.
She needed to stay in Coral Cove.
She didn’t need a fancy job to be happy. She could write stories that mattered as a freelancer and make Coral Cove her home base. And she could do it while coming home to two people who meant the world to her.
She belonged there. With Piper. With Reid.
She just had to convince him that she wanted to be part of his world.
Excitement pulsed within her chest as she stood, brushed the sand off her jeans, and faced the lighthouse. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then she dialed Hayes’s number.
“Yeah?” Hayes said when he answered.
“I can’t go to California with you,” she told him while walking to her car.
“What do you mean?”
She climbed into the driver’s seat. “I said, I’m not going with you.”
“What? Why not?”
“I don’t want your job,” she said. “Go back to California and forget about me.”
“Kaiah, I’ve told you I’m sorry multiple times.” Irritation vibrated in his voice. “Justtake the job. Don’t let your stubbornness cloud your judgment. This offer is better than any other job you’re ever going to find.”
“That’s your opinion, Hayes,” she said. “Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. So goodbye forever. Don’t contact me again. And by the way, I’m blocking your number.”
Kaiah hung up as she started the car, turned off her phone, and slapped on her blinker to exit the highway. As she merged over into the right lane, the opening chords of Shenandoah’s “Next to You, Next to Me” started to play, and her heart swelled.
She glanced down at the bracelet Reid had given her with the beads that spelled outCoralCove. She knew it to the bottom of her heart—she belonged in Coral Cove. Now she just had to tell Reid.
A plan came together in her mind, and she couldn’t wait to put it into action.
Chapter 27
Nearly thirty minutes later, Kaiah parked in Reid’s driveway next to his Suburban. She picked at her fingernail while she mulled over what to say. Then she pushed open her door, slipped the package she’d purchased into her backpack purse, and hurried up to the apartment to retrieve her dog.
“Hey, sweetie.” She hugged George and then led him down the stairs. “Let’s do this.”
George gave her a happy bark and wagged his tail before following her to the front porch.
Her pulse skittered as she knocked on the door. Then she jammed her hands into her pockets.
The door swung open, and Piper threw her arms around Kaiah.
