Diving into Love

by Kat Bellemore

  His last statement made even less sense than the previous one, but Isaac just shrugged. “Cool. I guess I’ll catch ya later, then. I should probably be getting back to my post, anyway. Those fish aren’t going to give CPR to themselves.” Bree cocked an eyebrow, prompting Isaac to explain. “It was a joke. Because no one else is here. Except the fish.” He scowled. “And I’m bored out of my mind.”

  Caleb gave Isaac a quick pat on the back before he lifted the baskets. “Cheer up. Jessie will be here for her daily stroll in a bit.”

  “Yes, as will Erwin, and they’ll get mad at each other for daring to show up on the same part of the beach at the same time. And then Jessie will tell Erwin to go back to Seaside Bay. And then they’ll both leave, and it will be quiet again.”

  Bree laughed as she picked up the picnic blanket and shook the sand out. “It sounds delightful.”

  Isaac looked at her like she was crazy. “Maybe you should take over my shift, then.”

  “She already offered,” Caleb said, grinning as Bree spun to face him. She gave him a look that said don’t you dare, but now that Caleb had been reassured that she wasn’t looking for a relationship, which meant there was zero chemistry between them, all bets were off. She would get the same treatment as her dear friend Adeline. “Bree said she’d also love to be paid to be a beach bum.”

  To Caleb’s surprise, Isaac’s perpetual smile disappeared, and it seemed like Caleb’s words had actually hurt the guy. “Really? That’s all you guys think I am?”

  At the same time, Bree glared at Caleb and threw the picnic blanket back into the sand.

  Uh-oh.

  That wasn’t the reaction he’d been expecting.

  6

  Adeline chose that moment to show up. “Sorry, guys, I should have remembered to use the bathroom before leaving the shop. I always forget that it feels like a much longer walk when you have to pee.” She stopped talking and took in the packed baskets and the blanket in the sand. “You’re already done eating?” she asked. “Did you at least save some pie?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Bree said, still glaring at Caleb. She couldn’t believe he’d told Isaac what she’d said. It was totally taken out of context, and now she was the one who looked like a complete jerk. “But I’m suddenly not feeling well. I’ll see you back at the house.” And then she turned and made her way down the beach. Away from Caleb, and away from Isaac, who currently looked like someone had kicked his dog.

  Despite Bree’s first impressions of Isaac lounging on the beach, not seeming like he could save a goldfish, let alone a person, she now realized she’d judged him too harshly.

  “Wait, hold up,” Caleb called from behind her. “What about lunch?”

  Yeah, she was still hungry. But she didn’t feel like talking to Caleb at the moment, so she kept walking. After a minute, she paused long enough to glance over her shoulder. Caleb and Adeline were talking, probably about her, but Isaac was no longer there.

  Bree scanned the shoreline until she spotted him, hunched forward and sulking as he walked back to his post. She changed direction and moved toward him. “I didn’t mean what I said,” she said as she drew closer. “I didn’t even know who you were.”

  Isaac barely glanced in her direction before he climbed the rungs to his seat that towered over her. “It’s not a big deal,” he said, though his tone conveyed otherwise. “No one else around here takes me seriously. It’s not just you.”

  Bree was unsure what she could say to make it better. She’d been able to apologize, but it didn’t seem like enough. “Is there a way I can make it up to you?”

  Isaac looked down on her from his seat, studying her. “What did you have in mind?” he finally asked, one eyebrow raised in obvious skepticism.

  She hadn’t thought that far ahead, and she didn’t know a thing about him or what he might like. Before she could come up with something, Isaac answered for her. “How about if you buy me dinner?”

  That didn’t sound so bad. She could buy the guy food.

  “All right.”

  Any trace of Isaac’s hurt feelings vanished, and his boyish face practically glowed. “At any restaurant I choose.”

  Okay, now they were getting into dangerous territory. “Do I have the right to veto your choice?” Bree really didn’t want to get stuck at Seafood Paradise, or whatever Erwin’s restaurant was called.

  “You won’t want to veto this one,” Isaac promised. “They have the best burgers you’ve ever eaten.” And then, as if on cue, she mouthed along as he said, “They’re famous for them.”

  “Sounds perfect,” she said, returning his smile. Then, as an afterthought, “Now, don’t think there will be any funny business. This isn’t a date. It’s a friendly outing.”

  Isaac waved her off. “I already knew that. I’m just excited someone else is going to buy me dinner.” He was practically salivating at the thought of eating out at this burger joint, and Bree wondered how often the guy was able to go out.

  “There aren’t any jealous girlfriends I have to worry about, right?” Bree asked, just to be on the safe side.

  Isaac leaned back in his chair, his grin slipping for a brief second. “Naw, I’m not one for steady relationships.” He said it casually enough, but Bree could tell there was something else lurking beneath the surface.

  She stood there for another couple of awkward seconds, trying to think of a tactful way to respond, when a light breeze rushed past, reminding Bree that her bottom half was wet and freezing. “I better get home to change, but how about if we plan on Friday night, say, six thirty?”

  “I’ll come by Adeline’s place to pick you up,” Isaac said. He must have noticed that Bree was about to protest because he held up a hand. “You might be paying, but I’m still a gentleman.”

  Bree smiled. “All right, you win. So…we’re cool?”

  Isaac grinned and settled back into his chair, his hands resting on his bare chest. “Yeah, we’re cool.”

  Bree turned and started to make her way back to the boardwalk, anxious to get out of her wet clothes. As she neared it, she saw Caleb hadn’t disappeared like she had thought he would have by now. Instead, he had lugged all their picnic supplies across the beach and was currently placing them in the back of a car that was parked to the side of his dive shop. He’d also managed to change into some dry clothes, a fact she was envious of.

  Against her better judgment, she approached him. “I thought you live above your shop,” she said.

  Caleb started and hit his head on the trunk lid. “And I thought you weren’t talking to me,” he said, not bothering to face her as he rubbed the spot that he’d hurt.

  “I’m not.”

  He turned and sat on the edge of his trunk. “Then I’m confused.”

  Bree didn’t know how to explain why she was so mad that Caleb had thrown her under the bus with that Isaac comment. Maybe because the whole day had had a pretty sucky start. She apparently had no talent for making chocolates, or engineering, for that matter, considering her current employment status, and then the whole Isaac thing… It had just been too much. But if she was so annoyed, why was she standing there at Caleb’s car?

  She finally settled on, “Where are you taking all of this food?”

  Caleb pushed himself to his feet, watching his head this time, and loaded the last basket before slamming the trunk lid closed. “I know some people who appreciate fish sandwiches more than you or I. No sense in the food going to waste.”

  She knew Caleb probably hadn’t meant anything by it, but his comment had managed to make Bree feel worse about things, especially when she thought about how she had spit the one bite she’d taken into the ocean.

  “I appreciated the sandwich—” she started, but Caleb stopped her.

  “You shouldn’t feel guilty about not liking fish. I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to throw the food into the trash.”

  Bree’s mind struggled to catch up. “You don’t…like fish?”


  Caleb walked around to the driver’s door and opened it, resting one foot inside as he threw a glance her way. “Nope. I had a BLT.” He then slid into his seat and closed the door.

  Bree walked into Adeline’s chocolate shop after having exchanged her wet jeans for a skirt and feasting on half a basket of tarts. A little bell over the door announced her arrival, and Adeline walked in from the back. She froze when she saw Bree.

  “That was some exit,” Adeline said, approaching slowly, as if Bree would storm out on her too.

  Bree felt her cheeks warm and averted her gaze. “I’m sorry. I know I acted like a two-year-old back there.” She’d been in town less than twenty-four hours and had already overstayed her welcome.

  Adeline moved forward, and her gaze met Bree’s. “I’ve never seen you so angry before. What happened? Caleb wouldn’t tell me.”

  Tears swam into Bree’s vision, forcing her to sit on a stool at the counter. She sucked in a long breath. “Caleb told Isaac about the comment I’d made, you know, about wishing I could be paid to be a beach bum too. I didn’t mean it when I said it, which was why I was mad at Caleb for saying anything at all, but you should have seen how sad it made Isaac.” Bree wiped at the drops now making paths down her cheeks. “I know I overreacted.” A pause. “I don’t know what to do. Ever since I found out I lost my job, I feel like I’m about to lose it all and go crazy on everyone. And it’s been less than an hour.”

  Adeline held up a hand, her expression stunned. “I’m sorry, what?”

  Oh yeah, she had missed that part of the lovely picnic. Bree lifted a shoulder. “I lost my job because of cutbacks. I only have money coming in for another two weeks.” Her voice now came out choppy, her tears choking her. “I threw my phone into the ocean. And I was a jerk to Caleb. And I’m taking Isaac out to dinner on Friday.” She was full-on sobbing now. “A-and I took a bite of a fish sandwich. It was super gross.”

  Adeline’s eyes widened in surprise, and she rushed forward, wrapping her arms around Bree. “Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. I’m the worst friend in the whole world.”

  “You didn’t cause any of that stuff,” Bree said, squirming against her friend’s embrace so she could search her purse for a tissue.

  Adeline didn’t loosen her arms but instead pulled Bree in tighter. “You’ve only been here a day, and I wasn’t there when you needed me most.” But then Adeline paused and stepped back.

  Thankful for the reprieve, Bree tried for a deep breath to calm her nerves, but her nose was too snotty. Time for those tissues.

  “Did you say you threw your phone into the ocean?” Adeline asked. Bree nodded. “And you’re going out with Isaac?”

  “It’s just dinner. I felt bad for him,” she said as she wiped at her nose. “My comment really hurt his feelings, and I was trying to make it up to him.”

  This time, Adeline laughed and shook her head in a way that said, what am I going to do with you? She leaned an elbow on the counter and gave Bree a long look, making her feel self-conscious as she dabbed at her smeared mascara. “Why didn’t you just offer to bring him a box of chocolates from my store or something?” Adeline asked. “That’s all it would have taken for him to forgive you. The guy doesn’t know how to hold a grudge.”

  Well, when her friend put it that way, it did make more sense. “It’s been a traumatic day. I haven’t exactly been thinking things through.”

  “Clearly.” Adeline sat on a stool next to Bree and looked at her straight on. Uh-oh. Things were about to get real. “I’m sure Isaac would understand if you canceled your date.”

  “It’s not a date, it’s a friendly outing. I made that clear,” Bree interjected.

  “Maybe, but it sure feels like a date. You could compromise and drop dinner off at his place instead.”

  “He did seem overly excited about the prospect of free food,” Bree mused. He might not care. But the idea still didn’t sit well with her. “I can’t cancel,” she said. “And I don’t want to. He seems like a really nice guy, and he deserves better than that.”

  Adeline didn’t seem surprised. “I figured.” Then her eyes lit up. That was never a good sign. “What if we made a group outing out of it, so it won’t be so awkward.”

  “I don’t know…” All Bree wanted to do for the next two weeks was sit on the beach, alone, and pretend her world wasn’t crashing around her. Was that too much to ask?

  “Come on, it’ll make it so it doesn’t feel so much like a date. We can even meet him at the restaurant so there’s no awful door scene.”

  That did sound nice.

  “All right, but will it be weird if it’s just the three of us?”

  Adeline grinned. “It won’t be just us. I have someone else in mind.”

  And Bree had a feeling she knew exactly who that someone was.

  7

  Caleb stood just outside the high-class burger joint that he was supposed to meet friends at. Well, as high class as burgers could get. Adeline had invited him to hang out with her and Isaac that evening, and he assumed Bree would be with her. His hands grew moist at the thought, and he wiped them on his shorts.

  Isaac was the first to arrive. His friend had actually combed his hair and wore khaki pants with a collared shirt.

  “Wow,” Caleb said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you with a shirt on.”

  Isaac gave Caleb a toothy grin. “I’ve never felt the need to.”

  Whatever that was supposed to mean. The only thing Caleb could think of was that maybe Isaac was trying to impress Bree, but Isaac never tried to impress anyone, at least since his long-time girlfriend had left Starlight Ridge a couple of years earlier. As far as Caleb knew, no one had heard from her since. Including Isaac.

  But if Caleb was right that Isaac was going out of his way for Bree, then this felt much more like a date than a group hangout. And if Adeline was the one who had invited Caleb, that meant that—

  “Here’s my lovely lady now,” Isaac said.

  Caleb’s gaze swept across the palm-tree-lined road until it rested on Bree. She wore a simple sundress with sandals, her hair cascading over her shoulders. She walked a couple of steps behind Adeline, still seeming in awe of her surroundings. Her gaze eventually met his, and he held his breath, wondering what he’d see. Was she still angry with him for teasing her the other day at the beach? They hadn’t seen each other since then, and he’d wondered if it was on purpose.

  “Hi,” she said, her features seeming to light up as she approached him.

  Caleb ran a hand through his hair, suddenly nervous. “Hi.”

  Bree held his gaze, not looking flustered in the slightest.

  “You chose well,” he said, nodding toward the restaurant when she didn’t say anything right away. “It doesn’t serve seafood, in case you were worried.” He felt severely under-dressed next to her. He still wore his board shorts and T-shirt, his usual attire for work or hanging out with his friends or…okay, he lived in this outfit. Every day was the same ensemble, just different colors. Like the days of the week underwear he’d had as a kid. Thankfully, he could now get his days straight, but his color-coded system prevented him from wearing the same clothes too often. He should have put more effort into his appearance tonight, though. It had been a long time since he had even cared.

  “Isaac actually chose it, but I agree, he chose well.” Bree broke away from his gaze and stared out past the restaurant. “I hadn’t been this far down the beach yet. It’s even more beautiful than where we had our picnic.”

  “If you think it’s beautiful now, just wait another hour. The town gathers on the other end of the beach out of convenience, but this is where the real magic happens.” As soon as the words were past Caleb’s lips, he realized how sappy that had sounded. What was it about this woman that had turned him into an awkward teenager? He was caring about things he’d never thought he needed to, and he was saying things that he’d always silently mocked others for.

  It didn’t seem to faze Bree, however
, and she rewarded him with a small smile.

  Isaac moved between them, his back to Caleb, almost like he wasn’t aware his friend had even been standing there. “Just you wait, it’s even better inside,” he said to Bree. “And if we eat out on the deck, we can watch the sunset while we eat.”

  Hadn’t Bree said that Isaac had chosen the restaurant? Plus the surfer was all dressed up.

  Oh, no. This was a date.

  And it was painfully obvious now that he was the only one who hadn’t known it. Why had Adeline even invited him in the first place?

  “Can I talk to you for a moment?” he asked, taking Adeline by the elbow and not giving her a chance to respond as he steered her away from Bree. “You said this was going to be a group of friends hanging out. That is not what this is.”

  Adeline didn’t seem at all flustered by his accusation. She never was, just doing what she wanted as she barreled her way through the world. “It basically is,” she said, pulling her elbow from his grip. “Bree felt bad about hurting Isaac’s feelings, so she offered to take him to dinner to make up for it. It’s not like she’s actually into the guy, and so I told her we’d come along to make it less awkward for her.”

  That helped Caleb feel a little better. But only slightly. “You should have told me.” He pointed to his clothes. “I look like the idiot that was too good to dress up for the evening.”

  Adeline laughed. “I’ve known you your whole life, and I’ve never seen you wear anything other than shorts and flip flops. The fact that you knew we were eating at a nice restaurant and you still wore that says everything.”

  He hated when Adeline was right, but he couldn’t help but smile. “You think you know a lot.”

  “Yeah, I do,” she readily agreed. “You wish you would have known because Bree’s here. Otherwise, you wouldn’t care.”