Love At The Shore

by Teri Wilson

  He answered her with a smile. “Only if I can come over with him.”

  Good answer, Jenna thought. Perfect answer, actually. She just wished she would’ve had the courage to tear down the fence weeks ago, when they’d only been halfway through their chocolate supply and the summer wasn’t nearly over.

  Better late than never and all that, but she wasn’t ready to go. Not even close.

  She glanced to her left—toward the place where Lucas had just been walking alongside her—but his steps had slowed so that he was now walking in step with Nick. Their conversation instantly made her throat thick with emotion.

  “Hey, I’m sorry I let you down, bud. It was my bad,” Lucas said.

  “That’s okay.” Nick’s voice was upbeat. In light of his tone, Jenna expected Lucas to drop the subject.

  He didn’t. “No, it isn’t. But I promise to make it up to you.”

  Jenna snuck a glance at them just as Nick stopped walking to grin up at Lucas. “I’d like that.”

  Lucas’s brows rose “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  Then for what felt like the millionth time, Jenna’s eyes stung with tears as Lucas shifted the wood he was carrying to one arm so he could wrap the other around Nick’s shoulders. She really needed to get a grip on the crying situation, but maybe she’d let it go just this once.

  She was finally allowing herself to feel again. To be. She just hadn’t realized it would be such a weepy process.

  “You realize we’re hugging, right?” Nick said.

  “Yup. And we’re good.” Lucas gave him one last squeeze before releasing his hold on Nick’s shoulders.

  Jenna waited for them to catch up, pausing at the edge of the fire pit to admire the waves, tipped pink by the blazing sunset.

  She’d miss this place.

  She’d miss feeling the sand between her toes and the salty taste of the ocean on her lips. She’d miss the sound of gulls crying overhead and moonlit waves as the background music to her late-night writing sessions. She’d miss Tank’s scruffy face and his jaunty little trot.

  But she’d miss her neighbor most of all.

  “All right, throw it in,” she said.

  In unison, they tossed the wood into the fire and stepped back to watch the flames lick higher.

  Good riddance.

  Ally challenged Nick to a race back to the house, and in a flash they were gone, leaving Jenna and Lucas alone with everything that had once stood between them now lying in a pile at their feet. In the distance, she could hear the laughter of her children and Tank’s happy yips, and joy blossomed inside her.

  Lucas slipped his arm around her waist. She leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder.

  “I don’t want this summer to end.” She whispered so quietly that the ocean should have swallowed her words, but Lucas still heard them.

  “It doesn’t have to.”

  Jenna sighed. “Yeah, it kind of does. We have to head back tomorrow.”

  “What if your rental agent said you could stay longer?” There was a smile in his voice, and it made her laugh.

  “That’s sweet, but logistically…” She started to rattle off a list of reasons why their relationship was doomed to fail, but then she stopped herself.

  Because what if it wasn’t? What if the fence was truly gone for good?

  “We’ll make a plan,” he said with a nod.

  She did have a certain fondness for plans. She liked them almost as much as she liked neatly organized bins, cozy cardigans, and beating Lucas at beach volleyball.

  She peered up at him. “You think we can make this work?”

  “We made the last five weeks work. We can make this work.” He spun her around to face him and brushed her hair from her eyes with gentle fingers. “Now, I have one more question for you.”

  “Okay.” She searched his gaze, looking for a hint of what was to come.

  “Can we go back to rule number one?”

  The kissing rule.

  Her knees turned to water, and she smiled wide. “Yes, please.”

  And as the surfer-next-door kissed Jenna Turner again, with her feet in the sand and her heart on her sleeve, she thought about new beginnings instead of endings and how sometimes a story’s sequel could be even better than its opening act. Most of all, she thought about the dog days of summer and these past few cherished weeks on the island, her favorite summer at the shore.

  Epilogue

  Lucas married Jenna on a crisp autumn day—the time of year when the sea turtle nests on Tybee Island hatch, spilling tiny baby turtles onto the shore to make their way home.

  The wedding took place exactly a year and one month from the date they’d torn down the fence, in a modest church overlooking the sea. Ally made the groom’s cake—triple chocolate, of course—and Nick walked his mother down the aisle. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, except maybe Tank’s. His tail wagged throughout the entire ceremony, leaving him so exhausted that he napped his way through the reception. Which was really a shame, because Ally had been training him for weeks to catch the bouquet.

  Maureen and Ian offered to keep the kids so Lucas could whisk Jenna away on a private honeymoon, but it didn’t feel right. There would be time for that later when Nick and Ally went to visit their dad. Lucas hadn’t only married Jenna—he’d chosen them all, and starting a new life together seemed important.

  So the night after he said “I do,” Lucas stood alongside his three favorite people, licking ice cream cones while they waited for a fireworks show to start.

  “Are you cold?” he asked when he spied Jenna performing a one-handed buttoning maneuver on her cardigan. The woman had some serious mom skills, but he’d known that since day one.

  “I’m perfect.” She grinned at him, then frowned down at her cherry vanilla. “But remind me whose idea it was to get ice cream on a cool night like this.”

  “Ally’s,” Lucas said in unison with Nick.

  She really needed to ask?

  “Ice cream is a year-round treat.” Ally bounced on her toes.

  “If you say so,” Nick countered. Lucas couldn’t help but notice he’d ordered a double-scoop though, so it wasn’t as if he objected.

  “It’s really good ice cream, I have to admit.” Jenna took a bite and came away with a dollop of pink cream on the tip of her nose.

  Lucas laughed and motioned toward her face with his cone. “You’ve got a little something there.”

  “Oh yeah?” Her brows lifted, and he had a feeling he knew what was coming.

  He was right, because before he could find an escape route in the crowded park, she reached over and dabbed his nose with her ice cream.

  Ally and Nick collapsed into giggles. There was only one way to win a battle like this one, so Lucas pulled his wife close and gave her a big, smacking kiss. Both of them were sticky messes now, but neither cared.

  Ally said, “Only one thing could make this night better.”

  Jenna and Lucas exchanged a glance.

  “What’s that?” Lucas asked. He genuinely wanted to know because, as moments went, this one was pretty perfect.

  “If Tank was here.” Ally straightened the mouse ears on her head and took a generous lick of her ice cream cone. “Obviously.”

  Lucas laughed.

  Obviously!

  The kid had a point. It wasn’t truly a vacation without his dog, which was precisely why Tank was cozied up at their Florida beach condo rental just a short tram ride away from Cinderella’s castle.

  “Ally, honey. I don’t think they allow dogs at Disney World,” Jenna said as she slipped her hand into Lucas’s.

  Behind her, Lucas could see flying elephants and a haunted castle high up on a hill. Somewhere nearby, a roller coaster whirled past and Nick’s eyes lit up. Lucas was Nick’s ride-budd
y. If it rocked, rolled, dropped you from an immense height, spun you around or spit you back out, they’d been on it. In most instances, twice. Lucas thanked his lucky stars that a lifetime of being on the water had prepared him for the motion-sickness challenge that came with being a dad.

  Meanwhile, he wouldn’t be surprised if Ally was silently planning a petition to allow dogs into the park. He wouldn’t be surprised if she succeeded.

  He shot her a smile. “It’s okay because Tank isn’t really a theme park dog.”

  Jenna’s gaze met his, then she glanced at his head and her lips twitched into a smile. Yes, much to everyone’s amusement, Lucas was wearing mouse ears. If he was going to Disney World on his honeymoon, he was going all in. Kayla had demanded a selfie, and Lucas playfully refused. But he was pretty sure Jenna had already snuck a photo behind his back and sent it along. Lucas fully expected it to be blown up and hanging in a frame at the summer camp next season.

  The camp on Tybee Island was now known as the flagship summer camp. Three others had been opened along the Georgia coast, and Lucas and his partners were thinking about expanding into the Outer Banks area of the Carolinas next.

  “I know Tank isn’t a theme park dog,” Ally said as if it were a well-documented fact.

  Nick looked down at his sister. He’d grown like a weed over the past year and spent most of his time at the pool with Grayson, where Nick had successfully made the school swim team. This year, he’d be swimming for the junior high on Tybee Island, where Lucas was converting the duplex into one large beach house with room for the whole family. “What kind of dog is he, then?”

  Ally shrugged. “Tank is a family dog.”

  Jenna squeezed Lucas’s hand tight and a feeling so good, so pure filled his chest that he imagined this is what it must feel like to catch the biggest monster wave the ocean had to offer.

  A family dog.

  He smiled to himself in the cool moonlight.

  Then the first firework of the night boomed overhead, illuminating the sky in glittering violets, aquas and blues—dazzling beach colors that reminded Lucas of the sea and the shore, and of the summer he lost his heart to the beautiful woman standing beside him and the two best kids in the entire world.

  But he really hadn’t lost his heart, had he? He’d found it, and then just like Tank, everything about his life had changed.

  If Tank was a family dog, then that made Lucas a family man. And he was perfectly fine with that.

  Shrimp Scampi

  “We’ll take a whole crab, some of your garlic shrimp, two rolls and a whole stack of napkins!” That’s how Lucas places the order at the little beachside shrimp shack when he takes Jenna out for the first time. You can create that same vacation atmosphere at home with our Shrimp Scampi recipe. Dress it up with a little thin spaghetti, as we did, or dress it down with a red checkered tablecloth and a bottle of wine on your back porch. Either way, plan your own romantic escape with this easy one-pan recipe.

  Yield: 4 servings

  Prep Time: 40 minutes

  Cook Time: 20 minutes

  Total Time: 60 minutes

  INGREDIENTS

  - 1-pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, (21-25 pieces per pound), thawed if frozen

  - 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

  - 2 garlic cloves, minced

  - 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  - ½ pound thin spaghetti, uncooked

  - 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

  - 3 garlic cloves, thin-sliced

  - ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

  - ½ cup dry white wine

  - 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

  - 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

  - 2 cups fresh spinach leaves, trimmed, lightly packed

  - ½ teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper

  - As needed, fresh lemon wedges

  - 2 tablespoons shaved Parmesan

  DIRECTIONS

  Drain shrimp, pat dry and remove tails, if desired.

  Combine shrimp, 1 tablespoon olive oil, minced garlic and salt in a bowl and toss to evenly coat. Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes.

  While shrimp is marinating, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook for 6 to 7 minutes or until cooked al dente. Drain; keep warm.

  Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add marinated shrimp and cook just until shrimp turn pink (about 2 minutes), stirring frequently. Using a slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to a bowl and reserve.

  Add sliced garlic and crushed red pepper flakes to skillet and sauté over medium-low heat for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add white wine and lemon juice; simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Add butter and whisk over medium-low heat until butter is melted and sauce is fully blended.

  Add spinach, black pepper and reserved shrimp to skillet; sauté briefly to fully cook shrimp and wilt spinach, stirring frequently.

  Add spaghetti to skillet and lightly toss to blend. Divide shrimp scampi evenly between 4 bowls. Garnish with fresh lemon slices and shaved Parmesan.

  Thanks so much for reading Love at the Shore!

  You might also enjoy these other ebooks from Hallmark Publishing:

  The Secret Ingredient

  Love on Location

  A Dash of Love

  Love Locks

  Moonlight in Vermont

  The Perfect Catch

  Like Cats and Dogs

  Dater’s Handbook

  A Country Wedding

  Sunrise Cabin

  October Kiss

  Beach Wedding Weekend

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  About the Author

  Teri Wilson is the author of many novels, including UNLEASHING MR. DARCY, THE ART OF US, and SLEIGH BELL SWEETHEARTS, which have all been adapted for Hallmark Christmas movies. A double finalist for the prestigious RITA award, she has a major weakness for cute animals, pretty dresses and Audrey Hepburn films, and she loves following the British royal family.