Seaside Hearts (Love in Bloom: Seaside Summers, Book 2) Contemporary Romance (14 page)

JENNA HUNG UP the phone from talking with her mother and banged her forehead on the table for the millionth time. That seemed to be a theme for the summer.

“I’m the worst daughter in the world. Seriously.” It was Monday morning, and Jenna, Amy, and Bella were lying in the sun in the quad behind Jenna’s cottage, debating walking the hundred or so steps to the pool or driving to the beach, each too lazy to make a decision, much less get up and go.

“No, you’re not. You’re dealing with a lot right now. Your mom knows that.” Amy shaded her eyes from the sun and reached for Jenna’s hand.

 “No, she doesn’t. I didn’t tell her about Pete.” Sadness welled in her chest as she thought about her mother, which always brought her mind to her father. Although she wasn’t in close contact with him, they talked every few weeks. A brief catch-up phone call, like he was checking off a to-do list, and though she didn’t hate him for everything that was going on in his life and he hadn’t left her mother for his young bride-to-be, every time she heard the pain in her mother’s voice, or saw her mother’s emotional turmoil masked by a forced smile and her ridiculous new costumes, it drove an arrow of anger through her, aimed directly at her father.

“Why not?” Amy wore a light pink bikini, and she’d painted her toenails pink to match. She wiggled them now as she waited for Jenna to answer.

“Because. I don’t know. She’s so in my face these days. She’d ask a lot of questions and want to talk about sex—and there’s no way I’m talking about that with my mother.”

“Especially sex with Pete,” Bella added as she twisted her hair into a pile on top of her head and secured it with a clip.

“I still can’t get over our mild-mannered Pete coming out of his shell. How the hell did we not see that side of him?
Ever
?”

“Seriously,” Amy agreed.

“If I had seen it, I probably would have been even worse off around him.” Jenna sighed, thinking of being in his arms, the sheer strength of him, and the way he looked at her like she was the most delectable creature on earth. “What do you make of the sudden end to our date? I mean, we know he’s not married or anything, so what would send him running off like that when I was ready to spend the night? Do you think it was just an excuse? Like he’s second-guessing this whole thing?”

Bella slid her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and looked at Jenna over the enormous brown frames. “You established boyfriend, girlfriend. There’s no way he reconsidered.”

“He could have. Maybe he thought about it while he was on the phone and realized I am a pain in the ass. Oh God! Bella! What if that call was
his
emergency call?”

Amy gasped and swung her legs over the side of her lounge chair, staring at Bella with worry in her eyes. Bella sat up, and Jenna followed, trying for the millionth time to ignore the worry over her parents.
Is there really such thing as forever for a relationship?
 

“You guys?” Jenna’s heart raced. “Maybe the connection we felt was momentary for him. Oh my God. I have to know.” She needed to talk to Pete, not wallow in her parents’ messy lives or let it screw up her hopes and dreams.  Jenna jumped to her feet and gathered her towel in her arms.

“Where are you going?” Bella asked as she gathered her suntan lotion and slipped into her flip-flops.

“I’m going to Pete’s to see if he’s working on his boat. I have to talk to him.”

“Jenna, wait.” Bella was on her feet in seconds, holding on to Jenna’s arm. “If that was his emergency call, you don’t want to get upset in front of him. Are you sure you don’t want to call first? Maybe find out over the phone so you’re not alone? Just in case?”

She looked at her friends, both ready to stand beside her in her pain. She knew they’d both say horrible things about Pete if that was his emergency call. They’d slay him forever in all their minds—and after she got over the devastation of losing Pete, she’d probably thank them for it.

“No, but thank you. I couldn’t have misinterpreted our connection. I’ve never felt so much for a man in my entire life, and I swear, if you could have seen his eyes, you would have thought he felt the same thing, too. I can handle this.”

She headed for her house to grab a sundress to throw over her bikini. She turned back and said, “Besides, if I fall apart, I know you guys will be here waiting to put me back together.”

“With two full bottles of Middle Sister wine, which Amy and I will go buy right now.” Bella dragged Amy toward her cottage. “Come on, Ames. I need to grab my keys and purse.”

Twenty minutes later, Jenna drove down the private road leading to Pete’s house. The sun streaked through the tips of the tall trees that bordered the narrow road, striping the shaded areas with bright sunlight. It was a strange feeling to know that this time yesterday morning she didn’t know exactly where he lived, and just a day later, she not only knew, but had an intimate look inside who Pete really was. It wasn’t just the way they’d come together, or the power of his sexuality. She’d seen who he really was, marked by the family photographs all over his house, the masculine style of his furniture—substantial pieces of wood and warm, dark colors—the puppy beds in each room. The thing that lingered in her mind the strongest was that despite so many homey touches and Joey, when she’d first walked in, his house had felt a little lonely.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted his truck parked in the driveway. She parked behind it, and Joey bounded toward her from the barn, a good sign that Pete was in there, too. She crouched to pet Joey, who flopped right onto her back.

“Is your daddy home?” Jenna glanced toward the bay. The tide was on its way out, and the view of the wet sand was calming. She drew in a deep breath and then pushed to her feet.

“Come on, let’s find Pete.” She followed Joey as she sprinted into the barn. Country music filtered out the oversized doors. Jenna stopped at the entrance, mesmerized by the enormous boat looming above her, propped up by several metal stands that were also much taller than her.

Joey barked and ran around to the far side of the boat.

“Hey there, girl.” Pete’s voice sent a shiver through her. He was talking to Joey, and obviously hadn’t seen her yet. She spied his booted feet and followed them up to his muscular calves. Her view of him was blocked by one of the metal stands and the swell of the boat.

Jenna didn’t rush to his side, though she wanted to more than anything. Instead she took in the barn and bided her time, trying to figure out how to handle asking about the way their date had ended. She had much more confidence when she was with Bella and Amy, which was silly, given that she’d been so intimate with Pete.

She looked up at the ceiling.
I can do this. He loves me. I know he does.

There were windows along the top of the exterior walls of the barn, and a built-in workbench ran along the wall to her left. The barn smelled of freshly sanded wood, paint, and the distinct scent of Pete. She heard a giant fan whirring but didn’t see it until she walked around the boat to where Pete stood in a pair of low-slung cargo shorts. His body glistened with sweat, and as he reached above his head, applying something in a long line across the lower section of the boat, his biceps flexed and his abs tightened. Jenna shivered with the memory of wrapping her hands around those muscles. Pete wiped his brow with the crook of his arm and looked down at Joey, wagging her tail at his feet. Pete flashed an easy smile—then his eyes followed Joey as she came to Jenna’s side.

Pete’s smile widened.

“Jenna.” He set down the tools he’d been holding, and in a few determined steps, he folded her into his arms, lifted her up, and pressed his lips to hers, obliterating the worry that the phone call had been a means for escape.

When their lips parted, he still held her against him. Jenna didn’t care about the perspiration soaking her sundress, or the fact that Joey was circling them and barking. She was overcome with the love in Pete’s embrace.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I was going to call you later, but I didn’t want to smother you.” He kissed her again and then lowered her feet to the ground.

She hooked her finger in his shorts, not wanting to break the connection.

“Okay, that’s a lie,” he admitted. “I want to consume every second of your time, but I don’t want to scare you off.”

“You did scare me, but you didn’t scare me off.” Jenna followed Pete’s eyes down to her chest, where two enormous wet spots circled her breasts from being pressed against his chest. “You’ve marked me.”

He pulled her close. “Not well enough, I haven’t.” He kissed her again, a long, deep kiss, as he had last night.

Heavenly
.

He took her hand and walked out of the barn with Joey on their heels. “Come on. We’ll talk.” They walked to the edge of the bluff, where Pete pulled her down by his side on the large rocks. “I’m so sorry about last night. It was a struggle not to show up at your cottage when I was done.”

Done?
She didn’t want to sound like a jealous girlfriend, but…she was. She couldn’t help it. “Was everything okay?”

He ran his hand through his hair, and his eyes became hooded. “Yeah, I guess.”

“I was worried that the phone call was a setup. You know, from a friend, so you had a way out of our date.”

Joey flopped down behind them with a loud sigh.

He laughed. “Do people really do that?” 

She wasn’t about to admit that yes, she and her friends did do that. Things were so different for guys, she assumed. They must not worry about escaping. She thought of all of the dates she’d had in recent years, and the ones that went poorly were easily ended without the emergency call. It was a silly idea, but it had been carried forward from their teenage years, and knowing the girls were at the ready had bolstered her confidence.

He slung his warm arm over her shoulder and pressed his lips to her temple. “I thought our date was anything but bad, and I want more time with you, Jenna. The last thing I wanted to do was escape.”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hey.” He lifted her chin so they were gazing into each other’s eyes. “Don’t worry about that stuff. You’re not a fling. I told you that. I should have kissed you years ago, picked you up and held you tight and made you realize that you didn’t have to be nervous around me. Hell, Jenna, I should have forced myself to stop questioning if we’d work or not and push away all the outside influences.”

Pete’s eyes grew serious, and worry lines appeared on his forehead. He rubbed his hands on his shorts, then settled his hand over hers.

“But in all honesty, Jenna, there are some things that can’t be pushed aside completely. I think we need to talk about last night.”

Jenna swallowed hard. After everything he just said, she should feel calm and secure, but the tension in his hand indicated how heavy his thoughts were and made her nervous all over again.

He trained his eyes on their hands. “You know my dad.”

“Sure. I mean, I’ve met him a few times at the hardware store. He seems really nice. How’s he doing since your mom passed away?”

Pete turned away and drew in a deep breath. When he turned back, he tightened his grip on her hand.

“This is really hard for me to share, Jenna. He’s not doing very well, and no one knows about this but my family.” He paused, and the muscle in the side of his jaw repeatedly bulged.

“Pete, you don’t have to tell me—”

“I want to tell you, Jenna. I don’t want any secrets between us, and if we keep seeing each other, this will definitely have an impact.”

“If?” The word slipped out like a whisper. She closed her mouth tightly against the insecurity.

He took her cheeks in his hands and searched her eyes. “I want to be with you. Don’t ever think otherwise. I spent years second-guessing, Jenna, and I realize we’ve spent only one night together. I get how crazy that seems. But we’ve known each other for years, and last night felt like we’d somehow put a label on us, and all those previous years, when we liked each other and were too blind to come together, were building a foundation of friendship and trust that we never realized we were building.”

“I thought it was just me. I feel all those things, too. That’s why I came over. I didn’t want to believe that you didn’t feel the same.”

“I definitely feel the same, but you might change your mind when you hear what I have to say.” He let out a loud breath. “After my mom died, Pop’s drinking spiraled out of control. He’s a functioning alcoholic, Jenna, and it’s not an easy situation for any of us.”

“Oh, Pete. I’m sorry.” Here she was worrying about her mother being too clingy and he had
real
issues he was dealing with. “Have you tried to get him help? What about your brothers and sister? I guess they’re too far away to help?”

Pete nodded. “My brothers staged an unsuccessful intervention a few months after we realized what was going on, but all that did was piss him off. Sky doesn’t know, or at least I’ve tried to protect her from all of this. She and our mom were really close, and Sky had such a hard time when our mom died that I worry what seeing our father like this would do to her. She’s just starting to find herself again.” Pete ran his hand though his hair, and pain flashed in his eyes.

“So she has no idea?”

Pete shook his head.

“Pete, I don’t know what Sky is like, but if I had siblings and they kept something like this from me, I would probably be pissed. I mean, he is her father, too.”

When he spoke again, his voice was deep and serious. “Sky was twenty-two when our mom died and Pop started drinking. She bounced from job to job; she was barely keeping her head above water. We were all very worried about her. I went and stayed with her for a couple weeks, dragged her out of bed each day, made her face her feelings and life without our mom. I tried to get her into therapy. I thought talking would help, but she refused to go. But she opened up to me. She’s still open with me.” He shook his head again. “I did the right thing, Jenna. I did the only reasonable thing. I’ll tell her, eventually.”

“And what about your dad? Does he admit he has a problem?” She had no idea Pete was dealing with such a tremendously difficult family problem, or had been for two years. Now, as she looked back, she wondered if his being quiet or more reserved was driven by his being sidetracked. Who wouldn’t be?