Forever Love on Fireweed Island (Island County Book 4) (26 page)

It was the day after the Fourth of July, and we were wandering through the small shopping area on Hound Island. Neither of us wanted this trip to end, and once we got back on the helicopter, we’d be back to real life and all the complications it brought.

Tourists sprinkled the sidewalks, enjoying the last day of their holiday vacation, and I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend mine.

For the first time in my life, it felt like things were as perfect as they could be. A weightlessness followed me and pushed me to be the most open with Jake than I’d been with anyone without even saying a word.

“Want an ice cream?” He combed his fingers through his hair.

“I will never turn down ice cream.”

“My kind of woman.” He opened the door to the pie and ice cream shop, and sweetness filled the air.

“If I could roll around in sugar, I think I would.”

“And I’d like to see it.”

“I bet you would.”

“Welcome to
Chilly Tarts
,” a gal from behind the counter called out.

A glittery pink menu lined the back wall, and several varieties of waffle cones were stacked neatly next to the toppings. A large group of customers waited for the orders to be scooped, and I beelined toward the glass counter with Jake barely able to keep up. My eyes landed on the colorful display of ice cream, and I took in a deep breath of absolute contentment. This had to be the best Fourth of July weekend ever.

“I know what I want,” I told Jake.

“That fast?”

I nodded. “Huckleberry sorbet. Everything else will pale in comparison.”

“That does sound good. I’ll do that too.”

We placed our order and paid. While waiting for our ice cream, I glanced at some knickknacks for sale like a waffle cone magnet and a
Chilly Tarts
mug.

When our order was called, Jake walked over and snatched each cone while I grabbed a whole bunch of napkins.

“Outside?” I asked.

He nodded, and I opened the door for him. We found a table in the shade, and before I took a seat, I grabbed my cone from him and took a lick. The mix of sweet and tart coated my mouth, and I knew I’d made the right decision.

“How is it?” he asked, reaching for a napkin.

“Like heaven.”

I took another lick and looked out toward the marina, where several kayakers paddled out to sea. There was this shift in the universe, where suddenly my hopes and dreams involved a sprinkle of Jake. I wasn’t only thinking of me. I was thinking in terms of us.

“This is good. I think I’ll follow your lead on all ice cream selections going forward.”

“It’s a big part of my life.” I smiled, taking another spiral lick of the huckleberry sorbet. “I can pick out good books and ice cream.”

“Seeing you lick that cone makes it extremely difficult to concentrate,” he whispered, and I giggled.

“Good thing you don’t have much concentrating to do.” I took another lick for good measure and relaxed in the chair right when a text came over from Nick, and I groaned.

“That doesn’t sound promising.” Jake smiled.

“BlznBookie is going to be on Fireweed,” I informed Jake.

A dash of confusion spread over his features. “Why’s that?”

“Nick set up a meeting at Norma’s.” My stomach tensed at the thought. Chatting with Blzn came at a time in my life when I needed to get my feet wet. He gave me sound advice and planted a seed of adventure, but now that I had Jake, I wasn’t sure it was right to continue the communication.

“Wow, Nick is persistent.” Jake laughed.

“I should’ve told him I’m in a relationship. We are in one, right?” I grinned.

“As far as I know.”

“Well, it’s a group thing, so—” My brows rose.

“I kind of think I’d be interfering,” he said in all sincerity.

“Maybe that’s what I need.”

He took another lick and let out a deep breath.

“Don’t think I’m judging you. I’m not, but I’m curious.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think you might have feelings for this BlznNerd?”

I thought about his question. If I were being honest, the answer was yes. At some point, I’d developed feelings for him. The feelings were a bit detached, and I knew they could never be trusted. I didn’t know the man, and as Nick liked to point out, who even knew if he was who he said he was?

“So when’s the date?” he asked, his expression unsettled.

“Tonight,” I mumbled.

“Excuse me?” he asked, smiling.

“Tonight.”

“Wow. Okay then. I’ll finally get to meet my competition. The storyteller from another land,” he teased.

“A month ago, maybe some. Now there’s no competition. His stories had put me at ease and helped me through some rough patches. He kind of popped into my life when I needed him to. Not to mention, his writing is lyrical.”

“Sounds like you’re completely disinterested.” He laughed, and so did I.

“What can I say? I’m a sucker for a man who knows how to use words, but I promise . . . I’m all yours.”

“We’ll see.” His brows furrowed.

“It’s true.”

“What about tonight?” he asked. My entire body stirred with the thought of getting to be with him again. The way he worked my body and made me forget my inhibitions drove me to another time and place. I’d actually hoped for another session, but with so much family swimming around, it just didn’t seem like the right moment. Now, tonight? Totally in.

 “We both know where things are headed.” Jake sat back in the chair. The umbrella shaded him from the sun.

“And where’s that?”

“Years of passionate sex, friendship, and plenty of adventure.”

“That’s presumptuous,” I teased.

“Which part?”

“All of it.” I giggled, hoping he’d continue the list.

“We can’t build our relationship on only the physical.”

“That’s a shame.” I smiled.

“Don’t you have a long list of books to read?”

“You mean my infamous to-be-read pile? Yeah, it’s a few miles long.”

“That’ll give you plenty to read while we’re awaiting our next adventure.”

“What do you have in mind?” I asked, my brow arching.

“How about we challenge ourselves with a two-mile hike to see Watson Lake in the Cascades?”

“I doubt that would be much of a challenge for you.”

“With you, everything is a challenge. Trust me. There won’t be a moment where I can let my guard down.”

I laughed and nodded in agreement. “There was a reason why I dropped out of gymnastics in second grade and switched to tap dance.”

“And I fully support that switch, or you might not be here in front of me.”

“And Coco could have died . . . twice,” I added.

“I think the first death would have killed her.” His eyes glimmered with an amazing amount of kindness.

“Very funny.”

Just as I went to lick my last bit of sorbet, a blood-curdling scream came from the water. People began running toward the dock and Jake shot up and tossed the rest of his sorbet in the trash before taking off.

He was over to the dock before I’d even made it out of my seat. My heart raced with worry as I ran over to see the last of Jake, kicking off his shoes and diving into the water. I scanned the water and didn’t see the problem.

It wasn’t until someone pointed that I realized what the crisis was. Two sea kayaks were floating upside down in the middle of the harbor, but there was only person bobbing up and down.

“That’s Jenny. Her son was in the other one,” I heard one of the onlookers telling someone.

“How old is he?”

“Maybe ten. I don’t know,” a man said.

With every stroke of Jake’s arms, my worry turned to fear as he pulled himself farther away from shore. Several people were on the phone with emergency services, and their cries for help blurred into the background as I watched Jake’s head turn to a small dot.

He righted the first kayak, but Jenny was too hysterical to follow any protocol. Jake turned the other empty kayak over and held up an empty life preserver.

I watched his head go under water, and it was like my entire world slipped into slow motion as Jake attempted a rescue without any help in sight.

I slowly walked to the end of the dock, praying for any sign of Jake’s head to pop up, but seconds turned to a minute. What was he thinking? If they had life vests and still had this problem, why would he even attempt this without one?

My fear began to turn to anger as I waited impatiently for any sign of Jake. I swore another ten seconds went by before Jake’s head popped up. In less than a second, he was down again.

Cries from Jenny as she clung onto the kayak shattered me, and I prayed for the safe return of her son.

And Jake.

Everything around me drifted away as I kept tunnel vision in Jake’s direction, praying he would appear periodically. Each time, he was gone for a little longer and tears began to fill my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away right as a wave of cheers erupted behind me. Jake had shot out of the water with the boy just as a rescue boat arrived from the other marina.

Biting wind nipped at my cheeks as the rescue team took the boy from Jake and began life-saving measures. I let out a slow release of air and let myself come back to life, but as Jake readied to get in the rescue boat, his arms shot up into the air and he slipped into the water.

The crowd gasped, and I fell to my knees, begging for Jake to be okay. There was no reason for him to disappear.

Of course, he would be okay. He was always okay—never the one needing to be rescued.

“Damn currents. They can just pull a person under without warning,” a man grumbled behind me. “Remember that poor college student last summer? Never did find his body.”

“Makes sense with the kayaks tipped,” another said.

My world tilted into another realm where all I could see and hear had to do with Jake’s rescue. I watched Fire and Rescue work on the boy as two divers jumped into the water feet first. I’d grown up hearing about sneaker waves and deadly riptides. I respected nature, but I never expected her to steal from me. I stayed hyperaware, watching the men in the boat and the lines to the men in the water.

Jake’s words surged through me from last night with a painful force, and my body began shaking uncontrollably.

Sometimes, we’ll never know why certain people show up in our lives at a particular moment.

Jake would be back. Jake would be okay.

I bit my tongue to stop from crying as I counted the seconds since the divers went under. Hildie’s voice screamed behind me as she ran down the dock toward me, collapsing next to me. I whispered calming sentiments, more for her comfort than mine. I knew how long he’d been under. Hildie’s body shook as we held one another and waited for Jake to suddenly emerge, but he didn’t.

A holler echoed through the air, and we all turned our attention to about a hundred feet from where the boat and divers had been searching.

Jake had already begun swimming back to us when Chance spotted him and hollered at the rescue team that he’d been found. Within seconds, Hildie was on her toes, yelling at Jake to get to the shore right this instant, and the nervous crowd behind us chuckled softly.

The next thing I knew, Chance dove into the water as I wiped away the tears, but I was too afraid to let myself believe he was really above the water. It wasn’t until Chance got to his brother that I finally let out the air I’d been holding inside.

I wished I never had to experience this to realize how much I’d fallen for Jake Harlen. Every cell of my body hurt with the thought of losing Jake. I could barely move as I watched Chance pull his brother with him toward our dock. Hildie wrapped her arms around me and hugged. The world was a better place because of him. I never wanted to let him go, and I never would.

“Maybe you can get him to quit thinking he’s always got to save everyone,” she whispered, her body still shaking.

“I don’t know that I can. He’s got a mind of his own. That’s for sure.”

“Just like his father.”

Medics pushed people away and readied for Jake as the brothers hauled themselves onto the dock in front of us. I thought Hildie was going to go for Jake, but she went for Chance instead, landing a slap on the side of his soggy shirt.

“I could have lost you both. Don’t you ever go trying to be the hero again.” Chance smiled and gave his mom a hug while the medics began taking Jake’s vitals, but he stood up, leaving them with empty hands.

His eyes bored into mine, and I literally felt the same urge as Hildie, but I restrained myself and hugged him instead.

“Oxygen level’s low,” the medic said.

“Well, that would help to explain a lot of things over the years.” Chance chuckled, and Jake smiled as I pressed my cheeks into his cold, dripping shirt.

“You should get out of the wet clothes,” I whispered, giving my best unsolicited advice.

The boat carrying Jenny and her boy had pulled into the other dock.

One of the medics patted Jake on the back. “You saved that kid’s life. Another few seconds underwater, and—”

Jake nodded in understanding, but the act of saving someone’s life didn’t seem to resonate. It was like Jake figured it was just expected, part of why he was put on this planet, and I loved him for it—especially with my history.