“Yes… I… well…” She sounded like a fool. Pull it together. “Noah will be glad for the help.”
“Good.”
He’d changed from his usual attire of dress slacks and collared shirt into shorts and a t-shirt. The shirt stretched across his chest and tapered down to his waist. He’d finished his outfit with sturdy looking sandals. She realized she’d been staring at him, and he tossed her yet another lazy grin.
That grin was her downfall.
She tried to still her pounding heart as he held the shutter and she used the drill to screw on a wing nut holding the shutter in place, then another one.
They fell into a routine and worked side by side for hours putting up the shutters until she swore she couldn’t raise her arms again.
Noah came around to the far side of the community center. She and Mason had gotten shutters up on all but the front.
“Mason, what are you doing here?” Noah reached out a hand.
Mason wiped his hand on his shorts, then reached out and shook Noah’s hand. “Decided to come back and help. It seemed silly and selfish to just dodge out of town with the storm coming and work needing to be done. I knew Lillian could use help, but she sent me over here. Said you might have a lot of people here if the storm got bad and she wanted to make sure it was ready.”
“Typical Lil, always worrying about others.” Noah looked down the side of the building. “I was wondering how Zoe had gotten so many shutters up. Appreciate your help, Mason.” Noah turned to her. “You look tired. And I was thinking. You should move out of the inn and back to our house.”
Since Noah and Lillian’s niece, Sara, were newlyweds, she’d been staying at Charming Inn this week instead of with her uncle. She’d wanted to give them their privacy.
Okay, and she’d enjoyed staying at the inn where Mason was staying. That, too.
“You know, Uncle Noah, I think I’ll just stay at my room in the inn. I can help out Lillian that way. But I’ll come back to the center to help you too.” And Mason would be staying at the inn again…
Noah frowned. “I’d feel better if you came back home.”
“Uncle Noah, I’ll be fine. And I can help at the inn.”
“I suppose so.” Noah looked from her to Mason and back to her, then a brief smile crossed his lips. “Okay, but why don’t you two call it a day? We can finish up the shutters tomorrow. Go get cleaned up and something to eat. I’m going to track down Sara.”
“She was at the inn helping Lillian earlier,” Mason chimed in as he handed the drill to Noah and turned to her. “Come on. Let’s go back to the inn.”
And suddenly she was walking down the sidewalk with Mason… something she’d never imagined would be happening when he’d said goodbye to her this morning.
And when he had kissed her this morning.
A kiss she swore she could still feel on her lips.
Chapter 2
Robin appreciated the help of her best friends, Sara and Charlotte, as they dragged beach chairs and umbrellas in from the beach at the inn and put them into storage. The three friends talked and laughed as they helped each other. Everyone pitched in when a storm was coming.
They finally finished and went to the deck at The Nest, exhausted, and sat and sipped some sweet tea.
Robin kicked off her sandals and propped her feet up on a lower railing. “That was a long day.” This was the first big storm to head their direction—or kind of their direction—since she’d agreed to become a manager of the inn with Lillian. She really should keep chipping away at the to-do list, but she just needed a quick five-minute break.
Charlotte leaned back and propped up her feet, too. “I don’t care if I ever see another beach chair.”
Sara laughed. “But after the storm, all those chairs and umbrellas will need to go back out.”
“I guess so, won’t they? We must have made a million trips across the beach.” Charlotte took a sip of her tea. “And I will come back and help then. But for now, I’m just going to rest for a few minutes, then I’ll head to the marina and check on Ben. Last I heard he was busy securing boats as best they could. And people were dropping off their boats for storage there on the lot, too.”
“How does one secure one of those huge boats?” Robin asked.
“I have no clue. But Ben does.”
“I hope the whole thing just goes around us. Or weakens.” Sara shook her head. “I love being back in Florida, but I’d forgotten how much work storm prep was.”
Robin frowned as she looked up the hurricane forecast on her phone. “Well, that’s not good news.”
“What?” Sara’s eyebrow rose.
“The storm has gotten a bit stronger. Still a tropical storm, though, not a hurricane. Yet.”
“Still predicted to hit north of here?” Charlotte frowned.
“So far.”
Robin took a last sip of her tea and let out a long sigh. “I should get back to work.”
Charlotte stood. “And I should go to the marina. And we still need to finish getting the shutters up on the bungalow.”
“Jay helped me get some of them up earlier today. Let me check on things here, then I’ll meet you back at the bungalow and we’ll finish those,” Robin said. Just another thing on the long list of things to do.
“I’m going to find Noah and see where he needs me. Shuttering the house, or prepping the community center.” Sara stood. “Here, hand me your glasses. I’ll get these washed up.”
Robin hurried off through the inn. She found Jay in the kitchen wearing one of his ever-present t-shirts. This one proclaimed—Dinner provided with a side of
