“Welcome to our busy little clinic,” Perry said.
“It’s run very efficiently. Thank you for taking the time to see me. I’ll make this quick so you can get back to work. I’ve been hired by the school board to put together a work-study program for high school seniors.”
Perry smacked her thigh, and her eyes widened with excitement. “Great idea.”
“Yes, that’s what we thought, too. The goal of the program is to provide hands-on training for kids who are looking to better themselves, to encourage self-confidence and independence and help them learn skills they can use toward a productive future.”
Perry waved her hand to silence Bella. “Responsibility, self-worth, it’s all wrapped up in helping others. Like I said, great idea. What do you need from me?”
Bella swallowed the urge to say, Really? “I’d like you to consider making the clinic part of the program and committing to hiring two seniors through the work-study program. They’re limited to no more than fifteen hours each week and paid minimum wage.”
“We drug test.”
“Fine. We don’t want kids using drugs any more than you do.” Hope swelled in Bella’s chest.
“They’d have no access to medications, obviously, and until we can gauge their abilities and trustworthiness, they would be confined to working in the admin area.” Perry leaned forward with excitement in her voice. “But if we find a stellar student who shows promise, I’m not opposed to keeping them on after graduation to learn the ropes of becoming a certified medical assistant or a lab tech.”
“Thank you. That’s all we can hope for.” Bella’s feet lifted up onto their toes in a silent happy moment. “We’re finalizing the documents, and I’ll be happy to—”
Perry’s office door opened and Bones poked his head in. “Perry, Doc Winston is on line four. He said it’s urgent.”
“Oh good. Tell him I need one minute. Oh, Bones, this is Bella Abbascia. She’s coordinating a work-study program for the high school.”
He thrust a hand toward Bella. “Barry Goodman, but everyone calls me Bones. Nice to meet you.”
“Bella, would you mind wrapping up the details with Bones? I need to take this call.”
“Not at all.” Bella rose to her feet.
“I wish there was a work-study program when I was in high school. Having something to do with my time might have saved me from a pregnancy at eighteen. Not that I begrudge my daughter. She’s amazing.” Perry’s voice filled with pride. “Thankfully, she graduated last year without a baby in her belly. Let’s hope this catches on.”
When Bella left the clinic half an hour later, for the second time that week, she felt like she was walking on air. This one definitely came in second to making love with Caden, but it was a damn good feeling. She climbed into her car and headed toward Orleans for her next appointment.
CADEN PULLED INTO the parking lot of Nauset Beach to take another report on a vehicle break-in. Evan was at Nauset with his friends today, and Caden had texted him when he left the station to let him know he’d be there shortly and would like to touch base. He knew Evan would only get the text if he was by the snack area or parking lot, but at some point he’d see it. He’d texted Bella hours ago, and he assumed either her meetings were going well or she’d forgotten to take her phone into the cottage, because she still hadn’t responded. When his cell vibrated, he hoped it might be her. He was surprised to receive a return text from Evan so quickly, since cell phones didn’t work on the beaches. He read the text.
Still here. Leaving soon to go to Bobby’s.
Caden texted him back. I’m here. Meet by snack bar in twenty mins?
He stepped from the patrol car and scanned his surroundings. A woman wearing shorts and a blue bathing suit stretched tight over her muffin top waved at him as he crossed the parking lot.
“Officer, they took my wallet and cell phone,” the woman said frantically. Her wet, dark hair stuck to her flailing arms. “I can’t believe it. All my contacts, my calendar, my life is on that phone.”
“Ma’am, slow down. I’m Officer Grant, and I’ll be happy to take the report.”
“Thank you. I just can’t believe my stuff is gone. I mean, really? I’m at the beach, for God’s sake. Who steals from people at the beach?”
Caden peered into the car. “Was the car locked at the time?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I didn’t want to lose my keys on the beach.”
Of course you didn’t. Caden had long ago stopped being surprised by the naïveté of people. “Tourist towns are prime targets for thefts. I’d suggest that you keep your vehicle locked from now on.”
He jotted down the license plate number and the make of the vehicle.
“I’ve been coming to the Cape forever, and there has never been any crime.”
Caden scanned the parking lot as she blew off steam, ranting about how little respect people had for others. He spotted Evan and a group of kids unlocking their bikes from the bike rack by the snack bar. He took the report as quickly as he could and wondered how many more would roll in before the end of the evening. Then he went to talk to Evan.
Evan and a handful of friends sat on their bikes, front tires angled toward one another in a circle. Two of the boys carried towels around their necks, and three wore backpacks strapped to their backs. They were all laughing as he approached.
“Evan.” The laughter silenced, and Caden sized up the group. They looked to be between fourteen and sixteen—hard to tell at that age. Mike and another boy shifted their eyes away again.
“Hey,” Evan said.
Hey? Not, Hey, Dad? That rubbed Caden the wrong way, but he cut Evan slack again and chalked it up to the whole cool image thing boys went through at his age.
“What’s your plan?” Caden asked with a tone that was more serious than he’d have used if Evan were by himself.
Evan shrugged. “We’re going to hang out at Bobby’s.”
Bobby looked over at the sound of his name and nodded. “Hey, Mr. Grant.”
“How’s it going, Bobby?”
“It’s cool,” he answered with another nod.
Caden sensed the boys watching him. Thinking of what Kristie had said, he slid the other boys a serious stare followed by a smile.
“I’m Caden’s father,” he said to two boys he hadn’t met.
“I’m Brett,” the blond boy said.
“David,” the darker-haired boy said.
He picked up on their bouncing legs and glanced at Evan again. Caden was used to kids being nervous around him when he was in uniform, but it had been a very long time since he’d had to evaluate kids he didn’t know as friends for his son, and he found himself scrutinizing every twitch.
“Hey, Ev, come talk to me for a minute.” He lifted his chin and indicated for Evan to walk with him.
Evan climbed off his bike with a tortured sigh.
Caden waited until they were far enough away from the others to talk to him. He set a narrow-eyed stare on his son to let him know he was serious, but spoke with his normal fatherly tenderness.
“How’s it going?”
Evan shrugged. “Fine.”
“Did you have fun at the beach?”
“Yeah.” Evan watched a girl walk by.
“Ev, I’m in a weird position here. I don’t know these guys, but I’m getting a funny vibe. Should I be worried?”
Evan’s eyes tracked another bikini-clad girl. “No.”
Caden touched his shoulder to draw his eyes to his. “Look me in the eye.”
Evan met his gaze; the muscle in his jaw clenched.
“If you tell me these guys are good kids, I’ll trust your word, but if they’re trouble, you know our deal.”
Evan rolled his eyes.
“I want to hear it.” He’d drilled a very simple—and in his eyes, freeing—rule into Evan’s head since he was a little boy. Through the years, Evan had always lived up to his side of the deal, and Caden had lived up to his side, too.
“Come on, Dad.” Evan shifted from one foot to the other.
“Don’t come on, Dad me. You’re going through a big transition with a new town, new school, new friends.”
“Exactly. That’s why I don’t need this shi—stuff.”
Caden’s gut clenched. He shot a look over his shoulder and didn’t like the way the other boys were watching them like hawks. He hated to do it, but he drew upon the deep, fatherly voice he rarely needed to rely on with Evan.
“That’s exactly why you need this shit. You tell me the deal and that you still respect it, or you can get on that bike and head home. And before you say anything, know that your word is about the only thing that matters. I’m on your side, Ev.”
“Yeah, right.” Evan kicked at the ground.
He crossed his arms and set an icy stare on his all-too-adolescent son. “Yeah, right? I’ve never been anything but on your side.” Caden knew things had been brewing between them for a while, but this was not the time or the place he wanted them to come to a head.
Evan flashed his own icy stare. “If you were on my side, we would have stayed in Boston.”
Caden held his stare. He hated this push-pull, and he’d fooled himself into thinking that maybe they’d avoided it altogether. That maybe if he was a good enough dad, they’d make it through Evan’s teenage years unscathed. George had warned him enough times that he was living in a dream world with that notion, and he’d brushed off George’s comments because George wasn’t Caden, and Caden believed that his dedication to Evan would make their relationship different from any other parent-teenager relationship.
Boy, had he been wrong.
“Fine,” Evan relented. “The deal is, if I tell you the truth, no matter what it is, you won’t punish me, but if I lie or hide the truth, I’ll get nailed. Satisfied?”
He hated having to tighten the reins, but the challenge in Evan’s eyes told him it was time.
“New rule. Home by ten.”
“But—”
“Evan, this isn’t a negotiation. Home by ten o’clock. Off the streets and inside someone’s home by nine. I want to know where you are at nine, and I want to receive a phone call at ten telling me you’re at home, not a text. Got it?”
Evan turned away with his teeth clenched tight. “Yeah, you really trust me.”
He took a step away, and Caden grabbed him by the arm. “I do trust you, but I don’t know them, and this new you, the one who challenges his father? The judgment is still out on him.” He took him by the shoulders and leaned down so they were eye to eye. He knew the intimate hold would be a little embarrassing for Evan, but he did it as much to drive home the fact that he loved him no matter what happened between them as he did to let the other boys know that Evan had a father who cared about him. His gut ached at the way Evan’s entire body went stiff, and the fire in his son’s eyes drove that pain deeper.
“This uncomfortable part of our relationship is new to us both, and I know there are parts of it that you can’t control, and there will be parts that I can’t control either.” He’d sworn he’d never make Evan feel bad about pushing the envelope, and he was finding it a difficult tightrope to walk. “Ev, you don’t need to like me, but you do need to know that I love you.” He felt the tension in Evan’s shoulders ease just a hair and continued with the hope that Evan was really listening. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to ignore what my gut’s telling me about these kids. My job is to protect you, so no matter how hard it is for either of us, we’d both better get used to it.”
Evan shrugged out of his grasp. “They’re my friends, Dad.”
“I know. I get it. Let’s just make sure they’re the right friends.”
He watched Evan walk away and felt as though he was losing him a little more with each step. He questioned again if he’d done the right thing by moving. He’d made it for almost thirteen years on the force without getting killed. Should he have pushed his luck by staying and hoped for the best? It was a question he’d asked himself a million times, and he knew he’d ask it of himself a million more times before Evan came out on the other side of his transition into manhood.
Inside the patrol car, he checked his cell, but still there was nothing from Bella. He called her, and the call went to voice mail. He needed a Bella fix. Forty-eight hours was too damn long to go without seeing her.
He played the conversation with Evan over and over in his mind on the way to Seaside. He was certain he’d done the right thing by flexing a little parental muscle, but it still made the muscles in the back of his neck pinch tight. A thread of guilt tightened inside him. In Boston, time off had meant Caden would have more time to spend with Evan, watching him show off at the skate park or hanging out at the house while he and his friends bopped in and out during the day as they went from one of their houses to the next, doing whatever kids did. Lately, Evan preferred to spend time with his friends instead of his father, and Caden allowed Evan extra time with them because he craved time alone with Bella. That guilt had been nagging at him over the last forty-eight hours while he’d been working nights and wishing he could be with her.
He drove up the sloped gravel road into Seaside and parked beside Bella’s car in her driveway. He waved to Amy as she came out of the laundry room.
“Aw, no tool belt today?” Amy held a laundry basket against her hip and pulled the laundry room door closed with her free hand.
“I think my chief might have a heart attack if I wore that to work.”
She crossed the gravel road. “You obviously have a male boss.”
“Very male.” Caden looked at her basket. “Do you need help?”
“You’re such a gentleman. No, thanks. I’ve got it. Bella’s still at the beach with Jenna. Want me to tell her you came by?” Amy tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Sure. I’ll try to come by later while I’m on patrol, but it may not be for a few hours, if I’m able to at all.” He noticed that Amy had her bathing suit on beneath her dress. “Why aren’t you at the beach?”
“Hey, Caden. How’s it going?” Tony waved from the deck of his cottage. His hair was tousled, which seemed a perpetual state for Tony, and it gave him the look of always having just come from the beach, which, by his board shorts and lack of a shirt, Caden imagined he had.
Just had a run-in with my son, can’t find my girlfriend, and I’m sure I’ll have three more thefts to deal with tonight. Life is grand.
“Great. Just stopped by to see if I could catch Bella.” Damn, he missed her.
“I was with them at Cahoon, but the sun’s really warm today, so I came back to get some things done.” Amy shifted the laundry basket to her other hip. “She’ll be bummed she missed you, but she had a great day and I know she’ll be excited to tell you about it.”
“Yeah. I’ve been texting her, but if she’s at Cahoon, she won’t get them until she leaves.” He ran his hand through his hair and debated driving over to the beach, but the chance of catching her in the parking lot was nearly zero. “Can you just ask her to check her phone?”
“Sure.” Amy shifted her eyes to Tony and her cheeks flushed.
The dispatcher’s voice came across the radio in his patrol car. “Thanks, Amy. I’ve got to take this. She can text me, and if I get a break, I’ll swing by again.” He waved to Tony, took the call, and headed back to Nauset to handle another vehicle break-in report. He had a feeling it was going to be a very long night.
BELLA AND JENNA stayed on the beach long after the sun went down. Her hair whipped across her cheeks, reminding her of the night Caden tied her hair back with fishing line. He was always doing thoughtful things like that—taking care of her in ways that no man had done before. He was different in so many ways from the other men she’d dated, and she realized that she was different when she was around him, too, and even though she wasn’t her snarky self, she liked the softer woman she became when she was with him.
Jenna pulled her chair closer to Bella and draped a bla
nket over their legs. “You look like you’re deep in thought.”
“Thinking about Caden.” She inhaled the cool, salty air, and her mind drifted to Caden’s fantasy. Bella had always been adventurous, and she’d never been especially modest. Having sex in places other than the bedroom wasn’t new to her—tents, cars…been there done that. Outside, though? That had always carried a trace of danger, but the thought of doing that with Caden didn’t feel dangerous at all. Caden wouldn’t let them do anything dangerous. Maybe they could find an adventurous, private spot to satisfy his fantasy...
“Aren’t you always thinking about Caden?” Jenna wore a sarong draped around her shoulders and it blew behind her like a colorful mane.
“Am I a total loser for tossing away my convictions so quickly and agreeing to date, aka commit to, Caden?” She had tried to get herself to believe that she might be making a mistake or setting herself up to get hurt, but being with Caden didn’t feel anything but right.
Jenna reached for Bella’s hand and cupped it between her own. “Bella, Bella, Bella. Haven’t you learned anything from me? Convictions are meant to be broken.” She reached into her bathing suit top and pulled out three small rocks.
“Jenna.” Bella laughed. Ever since they were little girls, Jenna had found creative ways to carry rocks home from the beach. She would put the tiniest of rocks between her gums and her cheek and then forget they were there. Her cleavage was another favorite hiding place, and Jenna’s cleavage could hide a boulder.
“I can’t help it. I love them.” She ran her index finger over a gray-white rock. “They’re not perfectly heart shaped, and they’re not perfectly gray or white, but look at them.” She petted the rocks in her palm. “Can’t you just see them on my coffee table beside the big one that looks like an ostrich egg?” Her eyes widened, and she flashed that killer smile of hers and blinked her eyes in rapid succession, the same way she had when she was fifteen and had scored a date with the hottest surfer at the beach.
“Yes. I can totally see it there.” Bella leaned her head on Jenna’s shoulder. “I needed this time with you. I wish Amy had stayed longer. I’ve missed spending our days at the beach this summer.”
Seaside Dreams (Love in Bloom: Seaside Summers, Book One) Contemporary Romance Page 14