Page 110 of The Lighthouse at the Cove
“Miss Kaiah!” Then she dropped to her knees and hugged George. “Daddy! Miss Kaiah and George are here,” she called over her shoulder before returning her attention to Kaiah and petting George. “I missed you. I was sad when I got home from school and you weren’t here.”
“I missed you too,” Kaiah admitted.
Reid walked slowly to the doorway and leaned against it, and when his bottomless brown eyes met hers, her stomach dipped.
They stared at each other for a moment, and the speech she’d mentally prepared dissolved in her mind.
“Can we talk?” she finally asked.
Reid touched Piper’s head. “How about you take George out to the backyard to play so I can talk to Miss Kaiah alone?”
“Okay!” She took George’s leash. “Come on. Want to meet my cat?”
“No, no, no,” Reid said. “Take himoutside. Don’t introduce him to the cat.”
Piper did as she was told and led George toward the back door.
Reid opened the door wide. “Come on in.”
She followed him into the den.
He scrubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin and sat on the arm of the sofa. “I didn’t expect to see you again. I thought you left with Hayes.” His expression looked as if he’d eaten something sour.
“I have something for you.” She pulled the package out of her purse and handed it to him.
He studied the bag and then looked up at her. “What’s this?”
“Open it, Reid. Please.”
He pulled out the lighthouse suncatcher Kaiah had seen when she first came into town, and confusion clouded his features. “Why are you giving me this?”
She stood across from him. “When I drove into Coral Cove, the first thing I noticed was the lighthouse. And when I walked into town, I saw this hanging in the window at a gift shop, and it reminded me of my mother.” She paused and pulled in a deep, trembling breath. “She loved lighthouses. And the summer beforeshe died, she bought a suncatcher in New England that looked just like this one.”
He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “You told me that.” He moved his fingers over the suncatcher and then held it out to her. “You should keep this as a memento from your time here.”
“I don’t need a memento, because I don’t want to leave.”
His eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean?”
“I came here to tell you that I don’t want to go.”
“But you got that job offer in DC. Your dream job.”
She shook her head. “That’s not my dream anymore.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it. The only sound they could hear were Piper’s giggles and George’s happy barks from beyond the sliding glass door.
His expression clouded with a frown. “What happened when you had breakfast with Hayes?” His question held a thread of caution.
She sighed. “He tried sweet-talking me, and I told him to cut it out. Then he offered me a job.” She explained how he had been promoted to managing editor, and he offered her a high-paying job that would allow her to travel and write. “I asked him to give me time to think about it. When I left there, I drove around, and I wound up at the lighthouse. That was when I figured it all out.”
He leaned toward her. “Figured out what, Ky?”
“That I don’t need some fancy job or to travel the world to be happy.” Her hands trembled. “What I need is right here”—she pointed to the floor—“in Coral Cove.”
“What are you saying?” His words were measured.
“What I’m saying is that I believe that the lighthouse was calling me home.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “My mom passed away when I was eleven. Ever since then, I’ve been searching for a place where I felt like I belonged and also for a family of my own. I thinkI finally found it here, Reid. This is my home.” Her voice broke, and she sniffed.
