“Hello, Lancelot. Handsome boy, aren’t you?” Sienna set her small, expensive-looking purse down and offered her hand to the dog, then a pet. “Monty’s due back any minute so I thought I’d meet him at the marina for lunch. He’s got a small group out for a sightseeing tour to Abbot Point. You meeting Ozzy?”
“I am. Later at the diner.” Again, she wasn’t surprised her agenda had shown up on the town’s social calendar. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“I love questions. Shoot.”
“Just how vested are folks in Ozzy’s social life?”
Sienna flipped her hair over her shoulder and shifted her gaze to the water. “On a scale of one to ten, I’d put it at about a thirty-five. Granted, I haven’t known him for very long, I’m a relative newcomer myself, but he and Monty are pretty good friends. Monty’s made mention of the fact Ozzy’s never really been a social butterfly.”
“Still coming out of his shell, so to speak?” Jo pressed.
“It’s a change. I provided some entertainment for the town for a little while. I was a bride on the run in San Diego until I spotted Monty’s boat and a means of escape, so to speak, and the rest is history. I guess I have you to thank for the shift of topic of conversation. Congratulations on the baby.”
“Oh, thanks.” Jo touched her stomach. “Sometimes I almost forget. Then I try to move.”
“Monty and I are talking about how many we would like to have.” There was something wistful in Sienna’s voice. “We’re stuck somewhere between a baseball team and a quartet.”
“Four?” Jo’s eyes went wide. “Wow. That’s... I have enough trouble wrapping my brain around having the one.”
“I’ll be happy with one.” Sienna’s voice was so soft, Jo shifted to face her. “Sometimes I’m scared of having too many kids, other times I’m terrified of not having any at all. Sorry,” Sienna said quickly. “My mother passed after having me, so the whole thing makes me a bit nervous. You aren’t my therapist. Boundaries. I have this habit of saying things I shouldn’t to perfect strangers.”
“Sometimes it’s easier to talk to strangers than it is to those we love.” Provided you had those people in your life. After her grandfather’s death, Jo had pretty much been alone. She’d had friends, Leah being the closest, but beyond that, Jo had gotten quite used to being on her own. Until Greg. And that had turned out so well—not. “You know what this baby’s taught me?”
“What?”
“That sometimes what you need most finds a way to show up in your life.” She had no doubt that what was happening with her and Ozzy would burn itself out. It was inevitable, and that certainty was as much a part of Jo’s life as the air she breathed. What she needed most was the child she carried. Building a family of her own was all she’d ever wanted, but never believed possible. “Maybe don’t worry until you have to? And maybe it isn’t as difficult as you think it might be to talk to Monty about it.”
“We all seem to have baby fever in this town,” Sienna said. “We’ve got kids and babies and pregnancies all over the place.”
“And each one feels like your heart breaking when you don’t think that’ll be you.” Jo nodded at Sienna’s shocked expression. “Told you. I’ve been there. Have faith, Sienna. And when you run out of that, don’t close down. Turn to the person you love. He’ll help you through.”
Tears glistened in Sienna’s brown eyes. “Wow. A few minutes on this bench with you has paid off more than years of therapy. Next time maybe we can talk about my father’s social life? He’s started dating again, after more than twenty years! Can you believe that? And with Ezzie Salazar no less.”
“In this town?” Jo asked, laughing. “I’ll believe anything.”
* * *
“WHEN YOU SAID we’d be taking a walk at dawn, I assumed we’d be going down to the beach for you to swim.” Jo dropped out of Ozzy’s SUV, and after a warning look at Lancelot telling him to stay put, she followed Ozzy around to the back of the vehicle.
“We’ll head there next. Just have to drop this off first.” He popped the trunk.
Glossy orange and black paint glimmered against the rising sun. “You finished it!”
“Last night.” He pulled the bike out and lowered it to the ground. He ran his hand over the handlebars accented with sparkling streams of glittery black plastic. “I was waiting for the baskets to arrive. Custom order from Etsy.”
One of the precisely woven faux wicker baskets was displayed perfectly on the front, the other situated at the back. Both were accented with tiny hand-painted monarch butterflies, and on the front basket, “Butterfly Girl” was spelled out in beautifully painted letters.
Tears burned Jo’s throat. “It’s beautiful, Ozzy. Charlie’s a lucky little girl.” She touched his arm. He’d spent hours restoring this bike simply because he saw a need that he could fill and while Charlie’s original bike had been pink, he was pretty sure she’d be okay with the changes. “But why are you delivering it so early? The sun’s barely up.”
“You need to brush up on your magic, Jo. Don’t you know fairies only deliver at night?” He winked and headed across the street to a yellow cottage with a white picket fence. Jo remained by the car, admiring the beautiful butterfly stained glass window above the front door. The monarch on display in the glass spread its wings against the cresting sun and bathed the garden below and around the house like a winged guardian angel.
Ozzy lifted the bike over the fence and situated it out of the way. When he returned to the car, he motioned for her to jump back in. No sooner had they closed the doors and lowered the windows than the front door of the house swung open and a very pregnant woman emerged. Bright blond hair knotted on top of her head, she had the same gapping-robe issue Jo had been dealing with as of late.
“That’s Paige Bradley, right?” Jo asked. “She’s an ER nurse at the hospital?”
“Yep,” Ozzy confirmed. “She’s married to one of the town deputies, Fletcher.”
Paige gripped the doorframe, started to bend down, then looked at the ground. Even from a distance, Jo could imagine the woman’s sigh.
“Fletch?” Paige’s voice carried along the silence of the morning. “The newspaper’s all yours today.” She started to turn back into the house, then stopped. She stared, blinked, took a step out, then stopped, her hands covering her mouth. “Fletch!”
“Yeah, yeah, I can only move so fast myself.” A man hopped into view, his khaki shirt still unbuttoned and hanging open over his matching pants. He grabbed hold of Paige’s arm. “What is it? The baby? It’s coming now?”
“No, look.” Paige pointed to the bike. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“Me?” Fletcher shook his head. “No, honey, this wasn’t me. I’ve been looking for one similar, but just haven’t found...” Fletcher’s gaze shifted to the street as if casing it.
“Uh-oh. Duck.” Ozzy dropped behind the wheel, but peered over the edge of his window.
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Jo muttered, unable to take her eyes off the family. “It’s okay. He’s too preoccupied to notice.”
“Charlie!” Paige disappeared inside the cottage and Fletcher came farther out to take a closer look at the bike. He stood there, shaking his head, as a springer spaniel bounded outside, yipping and yapping as if being let out of jail.
A few minutes later, a young girl with a sleepy expression wandered out the front door. Scrubbing her hands over her eyes, she frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Someone left you a present—” Fletcher stepped back “—butterfly girl.”
Jo felt Charlie’s gasp of joy all the way down to her toes. Squeals of happiness swam through the air as Charlie leaped off the porch and grabbed the bike, swung it around and back.
“Oh, wow, Dad, it’s perfect! I love it! You found it! You promised me you’d find one and you did! Thank you thank yo
u thank you!” She set down the bike and jumped onto the porch. She practically dived at him to give him a giant hug.
“This wasn’t me, baby girl.” Fletcher kissed the top of her head. “I wish it had been, but someone else did this. And you know why they did it?”
“No.” She looked thoroughly confused that her father had not left the bike.
“Because you have such a big heart. People love you, Charlie. Because you’re kind and you’re funny and you’re you. Don’t ever take that for granted, okay?”
“Okay. Can I go for a ride now? And can I ride it to Holly’s for the barbecue?”
Fletcher glanced at his watch, then back at Paige. “You can. Just go get dressed first, okay? No bike riding in your pajamas.” He ushered his daughter and wife back inside, shooting another glance up and down the street before he closed the door.
Ozzy resurfaced. “Is it safe now?”
Jo leaned across the console and caught his face in her hands. She drew him toward her and kissed him. Not just a quick “you’re amazing” kiss, but one filled with all the emotions and gratitude she felt for having met this man. When she released him, she stroked her thumb across his lips. “She’s never going to forget this morning for as long as she lives.”
“She’s happy. That’s all that matters.”
“You are a wonderful man, Oswald Lakeman.” She kissed him again. “Don’t you ever let anyone convince you otherwise. Now—” she sat back and readjusted her shirt before she lost all composure “—how about breakfast at the diner after our walk? My treat.”
* * *
“YOU TWO HAVING your usual?” Brooke set a tea service in front of Jo and filled Ozzy’s waiting coffee mug. “Pretty soon I’ll be setting my clock to you guys.”
“We had a great morning,” Jo said before Ozzy could. “Poor Lancelot’s feeling left out, though, I think.”
Ozzy looked out the plate glass window to his car, where a forlorn-looking Lancelot had his head sticking out the window. He’d gotten that pathetic “poor me” expression down pat.
“He had his morning bath in the ocean,” Ozzy reminded her. “He’s fine. Besides, he’s going to be well fed this afternoon at Holly’s. They usually grill up a couple of special treats for the dogs.”
“We’ll see you guys there, then,” Brooke said and moved off to greet the early morning customers coming through the doors.
Ozzy watched Jo, who seemed a bit fidgety all of a sudden. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nerves, I guess.” She wrinkled her nose. “Feels a bit strange, going to a party when I’m here to work.”
“Hey, you’ve gone above and beyond in the work department the last few weeks.” He reached out his hand palm up and waited for her to take it. “Last time I had lunch with Gil he was almost giddy with praise. Having a full, solid frame in place and the electrical going in next week has him thinking you all might meet that deadline after all.”
“It’s still odd, though, don’t you think? About the excavator?”
He did think so, which was one reason he spent as much time as he did at the site when he wasn’t working. “You still believe Jed was right and that the brake line was cut?”
She nodded, poured her brewed decaf lemon tea. “I’ve come to trust Jed implicitly. The inspector’s report was inconclusive. The truth must be somewhere in between. I mean, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been spooked a few times right when I first got here. There were a couple of nights I could have sworn I heard weird noises. And that guy the morning after I got here.”
“Guy?” Ozzy frowned. “What guy? You didn’t mention him before.”
She shrugged. “Didn’t seem important. He was walking around the site, near the tree line and cliffs. He moved off right away. Didn’t give me any trouble.” She eyed him as if expecting him to argue. “Don’t go overreacting, Ozzy. I haven’t seen him since so I’m sure he’s long gone.”
“And the noises?”
“I wasn’t sure if I’d been dreaming. My sleep pattern’s a bit off these days and my canine alarm system hasn’t gone off.” She sighed. “Maybe it was kids playing pranks.”
Or maybe, Ozzy thought, whoever it was had gotten scared off by a combination of the security cameras and the presence of a former police dog. The entire incident with Kenny should be well in Ozzy’s rearview mirror, but now that Kenny was out of the hospital—and temporarily on disability—he’d been regaling anyone who would listen with the story. A story Ozzy had been tempted to point out that Kenny had been unconscious for during the last part.
“So am I supposed to bring anything today? Is it a potluck kind of thing?”
Ozzy thought it was cute how nervous Jo seemed to be about being around his family and their friends this afternoon. “Can if you want to, but it’s not required. Believe me, there will be plenty of food.”
“Sounds like Charlie’s going to be showing off her brand-new bike, too.” She reached her hand out, something she didn’t often do in such a public setting, and touched his arm affectionately. “Charlie must have really struck a chord with you at some point.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” He sipped his coffee as he found the words. “She saved my life.”
Jo’s eyes went wide. “What? When? What happened?”
“Not in a dramatic cliff-dangling way.”
It wasn’t something he’d ever talked about before. Not with anyone. But now, sitting across from Jo, seeing the combination of concern and curiosity on her pretty face, he realized it was probably time he told someone the real trigger behind the changes he’d made in his life.
“Shortly after Paige and Charlie moved here, Charlie heard the town legend about the magic wish box hidden in the cliff caves. As the determined kid that she is, she took it upon herself to find that box so she could make her wish come true.”
“Must have been some wish.”
“She wanted a dad.” Ozzy found himself smiling at the memory. “And she had her sights set firmly on Fletcher. She just thought her mom needed an extra nudge. So she and Simon, that’s Holly’s oldest boy, teamed up and went into the caves to find the box. Long story short, the tide came in and Charlie got trapped.”
“Oh, no.” She gripped Ozzy’s arm. “Paige must have been frantic.”
“To say the least. We had dozens of people turning up, helping with the rescue. Filling sandbags, keeping Paige together. I wanted to help. It was my job, after all, as a deputy. But one look at that cave opening and I knew I couldn’t.” He turned his hand over, grabbed hold of Jo’s. “I couldn’t do my job because I couldn’t fit into the cave.”
“Ozzy.” There it was. The sympathy he loathed. The sympathy he didn’t deserve. “I’m sure you did what you could.”
“Sure. I stood out there with Paige, directing people with sandbags while my team was in those caves risking their lives.”
“But it all turned out okay. Charlie’s fine. Fletcher and Luke are fine. If there was something you could have done—”
“There wasn’t. Not at the time. So once Charlie was safe, once everything was okay, I made the decision that nothing like that was ever going to happen again. I didn’t want to ever feel helpless anymore. That night I went online and I made myself a plan. You name it, I changed it. It took me a few years, and more than a few mistakes, but I got there. And when the opportunity to join the BHFD came up, I jumped at it. All because of Charlie and her magical wish box.”
“You want to know what I think?”
“I don’t know,” he joked. “Do I?”
She slid her fingers through his and held on. “I think that while Charlie’s situation was a wake-up call, you’re the one who answered it. You didn’t have to pay attention, Ozzy. You could have kept going and you’d have been okay. Your heart is the same, Ozzy. I can see that even though I didn’t know you back then. Your desire to h
elp her then, the way you fixed that bike for her now, the way you literally jumped over the edge to help Kenny, that’s who you’ve always been no matter what the packaging on the outside shows.”
“You can say that now, after seeing those pictures of me?”
“Yes.” She reached her free hand up to his face. “I can. The wrapping is great, Ozzy. But it really is who you are inside that I—” She broke off, yanked her hands free and sat back. Whatever she was going to say vanished as Brooke arrived with their plates.
Ozzy bit back the frustration. He wanted to hear the rest, wanted to know what she’d been about to say. But it was obvious that not only had she surprised herself with the next words that were to come out of her mouth, she was scared. Somehow, some way, he needed to show her that it was okay to feel whatever she felt.
Because chances were, he was feeling exactly the same way.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JO SCRAPED THE melon rind into the garbage and dumped the last of the fruit into the oversize bowl on the counter. When a knock sounded on the door, she called to Ozzy to come in, but it was Leah who entered.
“Expecting someone else, obviously,” Leah teased and set her bag down on the table. “You going to Holly’s later?”
“That’s the plan. My first barbecue in Butterfly Harbor.” Never mind that she was as nervous as a kid on their first day of school. Socializing, at least in the Butterfly Harbor way, was a new experience for her. Usually she was all about work 24/7, but she’d definitely cut that back a few hours in the past few weeks. Not that she’d had much choice. Cheyenne had pretty much put her on restricted hours and insisted she get at least a good eight hours in bed, whether asleep or not.
Too bad she spent a lot of that time shooing Lancelot off the sheets. Speaking of her dog—and he was her dog now—the oversize pooch came bounding over to Leah for one of her obligatory pets.
“You’re so domesticated,” Leah joked and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. Today’s ensemble consisted of casual slacks and a tank the color of a tangerine along with that familiar thin chain of gold shimmering against her skin. “What’s happened to the Jo I welcomed to town last month?”
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