“I don’t know how you juggle all this, but you’re doing a great job. I’m impressed.”
Her heart swelled at the compliment. Gary walked over and kissed her forehead, just a simple gesture between a married couple, but one that meant the world to her. Her heart fluttered again. How did I get so lucky? She hoped he always made her feel this way.
Gary turned to leave. “I’m going to get back to work. Let me know if you need me for anything.”
“Thank you, again, for delaying the honeymoon so I could stay and get the inn ready.”
“Don’t you know by now that I’d do anything for you?” He gave her a quick smile and disappeared out the door.
Her heart did that little flip yet again. She’d married a very good man.
Zoe Birch headed to the community center to help her uncle, Noah. He ran the center and was busy getting it ready for the storm. If the storm got stronger or was predicted to come closer, the community center would be used as a place where people could go to ride things out.
The center had been built to strict standards to—technically—sustain the high winds of strong hurricanes. Though luckily it hadn’t ever been fully tested. But people in older homes on the island would often come and wait out the storm at the center, whether in an effort to remain safer or for the companionship, Zoe was never sure.
She hurried down the sidewalk, waving at a few people putting up shutters. The grocery store was packed with people stocking up. She remembered the drill from growing up on the island. Bottled water, batteries, candles, food that didn’t need to be cooked in case the electricity went out.
They’d had a few fairly big storms come through in the years she’d lived here, but luckily none had done much damage to the town or their home. Though one time a storm had taken out the electricity to the whole island. It was out eight long days in the suffocating heat of late August. She remembered every detail of that storm. Noah had taken her to the beach to swim each day in an effort to beat the heat, but by the time they walked back to their house, they’d be sweltering again. She hoped the electricity stayed on this time. She wasn’t anxious to repeat the eight-day outage.
It was strange to think that just yesterday she’d been celebrating Lillian and Gary’s wedding. And it had been wonderful. A beautiful ceremony and a fun reception in spite of the threat of the storm this week.
She’d been sorry to see Gary’s son, Mason, leave to head back to his home in Seattle this morning, but it was the sensible decision to get out of town before the storm hit. She’d thoroughly enjoyed her outings with Mason this past week and their time together at the wedding. She smiled, recalling how they’d danced the night away with Mason holding her close. She also vividly remembered the kiss he’d given her before he’d left town this morning.
She pushed the thoughts away as she hurried down the sidewalk to the center. She’d keep busy helping Noah get the center ready. That was better than feeling sorry for herself that Mason was gone. She didn’t even know if she’d ever see him again unless they both just happened to be back on the island at the same time.
Just her luck. Fall for a man who lived a six-hour flight away from her.
She pushed into the center and went to find Noah. She found him in the back storage room, dragging out the hurricane shutters.
“I’ve come to help.” She walked over to him.
“Don’t you think you should head back home?” Noah’s forehead creased in a frown.
“The roads are already jammed with people leaving the area. I thought I’d stay here. Especially since the storm is predicted to hit north of here. It’s probably safer here than up north.”
Noah nodded. “You’re probably right. I hate to think of you spending half the day stuck in traffic on a trip that usually takes a couple hours at most.”
“Well, I’ve come to help. The shutters are numbered, right? Start at the front corner?”
“You act like you’ve done this a time or two.” He grinned. “You get started on those, and I’m going to drag more tables and chairs out to the main room. Need to check on the bottled water supply here, too. Though, people are pretty good about bringing water and food with them when they come.”
“Hand me the drill with the wing nut screwer-on-thingie attachment. I’m not screwing those suckers on by hand.”
He smiled at her description and handed her the drill. She grabbed the next shutter and went outside. The clear blue sky and white clouds mocked all the townspeople scurrying around with preparations.
She put up the first shutter, then another. The heat of the day weighed down on her as she struggled to put each shutter on. She shoved damp wisps of hair back from her face, still fighting with a particularly obstinate shutter.
“Hey, you.”
She whirled around at the sound of the familiar voice.
Mason. Her pulse raced and delight bubbled through her.
“Mason. What are you doing here? You just left.”
He helped her adjust a shutter into place and held it up for her. “About that. I decided I should really stay here and help Lillian and Dad with the inn. They’ll be short-handed and there’s so much work to be done to close it up. I think I’m needed here more than back home in the boardroom.” He tossed her that half-smile of his and his one dimple deepened.
“I’m sure they can use your help.” And yet, he was here with her, not at the inn.
“When
