Page 62 of The Summer that Changed Everything
“Now that I see how closed-minded and self-interested he is, I don’t want him for a friend, either.”
She sighed. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but—” she bit her bottom lip “—I think we might be getting in over our heads.”
“Does that mean you want to give up?”
“No, it means I wantyouto give up,” she replied.
He frowned as he guessed at what she was really saying. “Because if I’m going to fail you, it’d be easier if I did it now?”
“Because I don’t want you to be hurt!”
He reached for her hand and, reluctantly, she let him take it. As he stared down at their entwined fingers, he felt such adeep satisfaction he wasn’t even tempted to walk away from her again—and that was a little unsettling, considering what he had on the horizon. “We’ll have a better chance if we continue to work together,” he said. “Tell me you’re willing to hang in there with me—at least until the end of summer. We’ll do our damnedest while we’re here. Then we’ll reassess before we leave this place. Deal?”
Her chest lifted as she drew a deep breath, and once again, she shifted her gaze to meet his.
“Are you with me?” he said. “BecauseI’mcommitted to seeing this through. I won’t leave you floundering again.”
“Okay,” she said at length, but he couldn’t settle for grudging acceptance. They had to forget their personal history, be unified and determined, or those who didn’t want the past disturbed would get whattheywanted in the end. “You’ll stay here at Coastal Comfort so I won’t have to worry about you over at the cottage? Quit fighting me along with everyone else? Because if we’re going to get anywhere, especially in such a short time, we need to pull together.”
When she finally nodded, he let go of her hand, because if he didn’t, he was afraid he’d pull her into his arms. “Great. Then let’s go over and get your things.”
She waved him off. “There’s no reason for us both to go. I can do it while you finish cooking. It’s still light out, and I was just there a little bit ago. Everything’s fine.”
“Okay, but don’t take long. Dinner’s nearly ready.”
18
What had she just agreed to? Lucy cursed as she walked over to the Smoot cottage. She had no business spending so much time with Ford—especially going so far as tostaywith him. Just having him take her hand had caused her to feel such longing!
But how could she shove him away and continue on her own?
She couldn’t, not when he was here in North Hampton Beach, so close to where she was currently living. Besides, they’d had only four weeks together when they were teenagers. If he was the love of her life, why not allow herself to simply enjoy being with him this summer? That way, she could put her energy to better use—like working with him to accomplish what she’d come for.
With a sigh for the constant push-pull in her head and her heart, she entered the backyard via the path leading to and from the beach. She’d tried—for years—to obliterate her feelings for Ford, to forget him and relegate him to the past. But having him here, in the present, made that impossible. Apparently, she was going to risk getting hurt again, was afraid it was almostinevitable—unless she could somehow maintain some emotional distance.
Her phone buzzed with a text. Ford was telling her to let him know if she needed help hauling her luggage over. But she didn’t plan on packing her entire suitcase. She was going to bring her makeup, toiletries and a few clothes and see how the next few days went. If she was lucky, she’d find something she didn’t like about him now that he was an adult—something that would give her a way to climb out of the quicksand of old feelings that threatened to pull her under.
Fortunately, because the Smoot cottage was so close, she could go back and forth at will and no one had to know she was staying with Ford. Before she’d left Coastal Comfort a few minutes ago, she’d told him she didn’t want anyone to know, and he’d agreed they’d keep it on the down-low. That was why she’d approached the Smoot Cottage from the beach. Walking down the street would’ve created more opportunity for people to see her coming and going.
Because she entered the house through the closed-in porch, however, she didn’t at first realize that something was amiss. She was halfway to the bedroom before she saw that the front door was standing open and some of her panties, bras, socks and other clothes were strewn down the hall.
Coming to an abrupt halt, she covered her mouth and listened—above the pounding of her heart—to make sure whoever had done this was no longer in the house.
She couldn’t hear anything, was fairly certain she was alone. Chances were, she was. Otherwise, whoever had broken in would likely have run out of the house as soon as they heard her coming—or confronted her, if that was what they’d planned.
Moving as quietly as possibly, she crept forward, just in case she was wrong, and craned her neck to peer into the bedroom.
The window of the master had been broken. Glass glittered on the floor, and all the drawers had been tossed.
Had she been robbed?
She hadn’t brought anything of particular value to North Hampton Beach, except her purse, and she’d had that with her—thank God. It was safe at Ford’s. It didn’t look as though any of the household furnishings had been taken, either. So what was the point of this intrusion?
Lucy thought she could easily guess. Someone wasn’t happy she was back in town, and they were letting her know it. But she couldn’t rule out all other possibilities until she reached the bathroom, where she found some of her makeup dumped in the toilet and six words, written in lipstick, on the mirror.
Yourthe reason he did it.
Whoever had left that message hadn’t bothered with the appropriate contraction and had created a hard emphasis onyourby going over it several times, making it much thicker than the rest.
