New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Sherryl Woods takes readers to the North Carolina coast with a new family and her trademark heartfelt emotions

In a trade-off she’s lived to regret, Emily Castle left home years ago to become an interior designer. The youngest of three sisters, Emily desperately wanted to prove herself. Success, though, came at the cost of leaving behind the man she loved.

For Boone Dorsett, losing Emily left his heart shattered, but another woman was waiting in the wings. Now a widower with a young son, Boone has a second chance with Emily when a storm brings her home. But with his former in-laws threatening a custody suit, the stakes of loving her are higher than ever.

Will fate once again separate them—or is the time finally right for these two star-crossed lovers?

Praise for the novels of

New York Times and USA TODAY

bestselling author Sherryl Woods

“Woods always thrills with her wonderful characters, witty dialogue and warm and loving family interactions.”

—RT Book Reviews

“Sherryl Woods always delights her readers—including me!”

—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

“Woods really knows what readers have come to expect from her stories, and she always gives them what they want. Here, she pens another great love story populated with funny, witty and charming characters, written with great care.”

—RT Book Reviews on Where Azaleas Bloom

“Woods knows how to paint a vivid picture that sencourages the reader to feel the emotions of her characters…everyone will be able to relate to this book.”

—RT Book Reviews on Catching Fireflies

“A whimsical, sweet scenario…the digressions have their own charm, and Woods never fails to come back to the romantic point.”

—Publishers Weekly on Sweet Tea at Sunrise

“Woods’s readers will eagerly anticipate her trademark small-town setting, loyal friendships and honorable mentors as they meet new characters and reconnect with familiar ones in this heartwarming tale.”

—Booklist on Home in Carolina

“Redolent with Southern small-town atmosphere, this emotionally rich story deals with some serious issues and delivers on a number of levels.”

—Library Journal on A Slice of Heaven

Sand Castle Bay

Sherryl Woods

www.mirabooks.co.uk

For all of those who’ve discovered the magic

of North Carolina’s Outer Banks

and made happy memories there, including

my own special extended family. Thanks for the good times.

Dear friends,

My affection for living by water—be it the shores of the Potomac River in Virginia or the beaches of Key Biscayne in Florida—is well known to most of you. There’s another spot that’s become dear to me in more recent years: the coastal towns in North Carolina.

For the next three months I’m inviting you to share my fictional version of that special region in the new trilogy of Ocean Breeze novels that begins with Sand Castle Bay. You’ll get to know the three Castle sisters and their wise and wonderful grandmother, to say nothing of the strong, sexy men in their lives, as they face the kind of changes and challenges many of you may have faced at one time or another.

I hope you’ll embrace this new family as well as this new setting and spend the next few months imagining the sand beneath your feet and the ocean breezes on your cheeks.

All best,

Sherryl

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Excerpt

1

The television in Emily Castle’s Aspen, Colorado, hotel room was tuned to the Weather Channel, where there was minute-by-minute coverage of the hurricane aiming directly at North Carolina’s coast, the place that had been like a second home to her. Childhood summers there had been slow and lazy and sweet. The beach town her grandmother called home was where she’d ultimately experienced her first heartache, yet despite those painful memories and despite everything she had on her plate at the moment, it was where she needed to be.

Even before her cell phone rang, she was checking flight schedules on her laptop. She clicked on a connecting flight between Atlanta and Raleigh, North Carolina, just as she answered the incoming call.

“Already on it,” she told her sister Gabriella. “I should be able to get to Raleigh by sometime late tomorrow.”

“Not a chance,” Gabi argued. “Flights are going to be canceled up and down the East Coast for at least a day or two. You’re better off waiting until next week and booking for Monday, maybe even Tuesday. Avoid the craziness.”

“What’s Samantha doing?” Emily asked, referring to their older sister.

“She’s rented a car and is already on her way down from New York. She’ll be here later tonight, hopefully ahead of the storm. They’re predicting landfall overnight. We’re already getting some of the wind and rain bands clear over here.”

Of course Samantha would beat the storm! Emily couldn’t seem to stop herself from frowning. Though she’d never totally understood it, the odd competitiveness she’d always felt with her oldest sister kicked in with a vengeance. She supposed with three sisters, there were bound to be rivalries, but why with Samantha and not Gabi? Gabi was the driven, successful businesswoman, the one most like her in terms of ambition.

“I’m getting on a flight out of here tonight,” Emily said determinedly, motivated by Samantha’s plans. “If I have to drive from Atlanta, then that’s what I’ll do.”

Rather than admonishing her, Gabi chuckled. “Samantha said you were going to say that. From the time you understood the difference between winning and losing, you hated it when she beat you at anything. Okay, fine. Get here when you can. Just do it safely. This storm isn’t looking pretty. If it wobbles even the slightest bit to the west, Sand Castle Bay will take a direct hit. You can bet the road down to Hatteras will wash out again unless they were a lot smarter when they did the repairs after the last storm.”

“How’s Grandmother?” Cora Jane Castle was in her mid-seventies but still going strong and determined to continue operating the beachfront restaurant opened by her late husband even though no one in the family had demonstrated any interest in running it. In Emily’s view, she ought to sell it and enjoy her golden years, but the mere mention of such an idea was considered blasphemy.

“Stoic about the storm, but mad as a wet hen that Dad drove over and picked her up to bring her to Raleigh to ride out the hurricane,” Gabi assessed. “She’s in my kitchen cooking and muttering a few very bad words I had no idea she knew. I think that’s why Dad dropped her here, then took off. He didn’t want to be around when she got her hands on my knives.”

“Or it could be he had no idea what to say to her. That’s his way, isn’t it?” Emily said with a hint of bitterness. Under the best of conditions, her father, Sam, wasn’t communicative. Under the worst, he simply wasn’t around. Most of the time she’d made her peace with that, but on occasion simmering resentments rose to the surface.

“He has work to do,” Gabi said, immediately defensive, as always. “Important work. Do you know the kind of impact these biomedical studies at his company could have on people’s lives?”

“I wonder how many times he said exactly that to Mother when he went off and left her to cope with raising us.”

For once Gabi didn’t overreact. “It was a constant refrain, wasn’t it? Well, we’re all grown-up. We should be over all those missed school plays and recitals and soccer games by now.”

“Says the not-so-well-adjusted woman who’s doing her best to follow in his footsteps,” Emily taunted with good humor. “You know you’re no better than he is, Gabriella. You may not be a scientist, but you are a workaholic. That’s why you get so uptight when I criticize him.”

The silence that greeted her comment was deafening. “Gabi, I was only teasing,” Emily apologized, aware that she’d crossed a line. “Seriously. You know how proud we all are of your accomplishments. You’re a top executive at one of the hottest biomed companies in North Carolina, if not the entire country.”

“I know. You just struck a nerve, that’s all,” Gabi said, then added briskly, “Let me know when you’re getting in and I’ll pick you up at the airport, okay?”

Before Emily could offer another apology for what she had recognized as an insensitive, ill-timed remark, Gabriella had hung up. Not with the sort of clatter that would mirror Emily’s own quick flares of temper, but quietly. Somehow that was much, much worse.

* * *

Boone Dorsett had been through his share of hurricane warnings and actual hits on the coast. He had the boarding-up routine down pat. But when it came right down to it, Mother Nature was always in control of the outcome.

As a kid he’d been awed by the ferocious storms, but he’d had little real understanding of the havoc they could wreak on people’s lives. These days, with a son, a home and a busy restaurant, he had a far better grasp of what could be lost to high winds, devastating storm surges and flood waters. He’d seen roads washed out, houses toppled, lives uprooted.

Thankfully, this latest storm had taken a last-minute turn east and delivered only a glancing blow. There was damage, plenty of it in fact, but so far he hadn’t seen the kind of destruction he’d witnessed in the past. In fact, it had been relatively kind to him. There’d been some flooding at his waterfront restaurant, a few shingles ripped off the roof at his home, but his biggest concern after checking out his own property had been for Cora Jane’s family restaurant.

Castle’s by the Sea had been a constant in his life, as had Cora Jane. Both had inspired him to go into the restaurant business, not to mimic Castle’s success, but to create his own welcoming ambiance. He owed Cora Jane, too, for helping him to believe in himself when no one in his own dysfunctional family had.

The biggest reason for Castle’s success, other than its proximity to the ocean, good food and friendly service, was Cora Jane’s devotion to it. She’d called him half a dozen times since the storm had passed to see if he’d been allowed back into Sand Castle Bay. The minute the evacuation order had been lifted, he’d crossed the bridge from the mainland to check his property and hers.

Now, standing in the middle of the damp, debris-littered dining room at Castle’s by the Sea, he called her with the damage assessment she’d been anxiously awaiting.

“How bad is it?” she asked, foregoing so much as a hello. “Tell me the truth, Boone. Don’t you dare sugarcoat it.”

“Could have been worse,” he told her. “There was some flooding, but no worse than over at my place.”

“Shame on me,” Cora Jane interrupted. “I never even asked how you fared in the storm. Just some flooding?”

“That was the worst of it,” he confirmed. “My crew’s already cleaning up. They know the drill. As for the house, it’s fine. So is yours. A lot of tree limbs in the yard, a few roof shingles ripped off, but otherwise it’s all good.”

“Thank heavens. Now finish telling me about Castle’s.”

Boone complied. “A couple of storm shutters stripped away and the windows blew in. You’ll have to replace a few of these waterlogged tables and chairs, treat everything for mold, and paint, but all in all, it’s not as bad as it could have been.”

“The deck?”

“Still standing. Looks solid enough to me, but I’ll have it checked.”

“And the roof?”

Boone sucked in a breath. He hated delivering bad news and had deliberately put this off till last. “Now, I won’t lie to you, Cora Jane, but the roof’s looking pretty bad. Once the wind gets a hold on a few shingles, you know how it goes.”

“Oh, I know well enough,” she said, sounding stoic. “So, is it bad, as in a goner, or bad as in a few stray shingles came loose?”

He smiled. “I’d want to get Tommy Cahill over here to check it, but I’m thinking you’d be better off just getting the whole thing done. Shall I go ahead and call him? He owes me a favor. I think I can get him here before the day’s out. I can call your insurance company and see about getting a cleaning crew in here, too.”

“I’d be obliged if you could get Tommy over there, but I’ll call the insurance people and there’s no need for a cleaning crew,” Cora Jane insisted. “I’ll be back first thing tomorrow with the girls. With them pitching in, we can clean the place up in no time.”

Boone’s heart seemed to still at her words. The girls could only be her granddaughters, including the one who’d dumped him ten years ago and taken off to start a better life than she thought he’d be able to give her.

“Emily, too?” he asked, holding out a faint hope that she wouldn’t be back here, in his face, testing his belief that he’d long ago gotten her out of his system.

“Of course,” Cora Jane said, then added a little too gently, “Is that going to be a problem, Boone?”

“Of course not. Emily and me, that’s in the past. The distant past,” he added emphatically.

“Are you so sure about that?” she pressed.

“I moved on, married someone else, didn’t I?” he said defensively.

“And lost Jenny way too soon,” Cora Jane said, as if he needed reminding of his wife’s death just over a year ago.

“But not our son,” Boone said. “I still have B.J. to think about. He’s my life these days.”

“I know you’re devoted to that boy, but you need more,” she lectured. “You deserve to have a full and happy life.”

“Someday maybe I’ll find the kind of happiness you’re talking about,” Boone said, “but I’m not looking for it, and it sure as heck isn’t going to be with a woman who didn’t think I’d amount to much.”

Cora Jane drew in a shocked breath. “Boone, that is not what happened. Emily never judged you and found you lacking. She just had all these pie-in-the-sky dreams for herself. She needed to leave here and test herself, see what she could accomplish.”

“That’s your spin. I saw it a little differently,” Boone said. “Maybe we’d better not talk about Emily. We’ve stayed friends, you and me, by keeping her off-limits. She’s family and you love her. Of course you’d defend her.”

“You’re family, too,” Cora Jane insisted fiercely. “Or as good as.”

Boone smiled. “You’ve always made me feel that way. Now let me make those calls and see what I can do to get this place back in working order before you get here. I know you’re going to want to plug in the coffeepot and open the doors as soon as the power’s back on. I should warn you that could be another couple of days. You maybe ought to consider staying with Gabi until it’s fixed.”

“I need to be there,” Cora Jane replied determinedly. “Sitting around here and worrying isn’t getting anything accomplished. I imagine we can get by on that generator you had installed after the last storm.”

“I’ll make sure it’s working and check the refrigerators and freezer to make sure things stayed cold. Anything else you need me to do before you come home?”

“If Tommy gives you a fair estimate on the roof, tell him to get started, okay?”

“You have my word, he’ll be fair,” Boone assured her. “And you’ll be first on his list. Like I said, he owes me.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” Cora Jane said. “Thanks for checking on things for me.”

“It’s what family does,” he replied, knowing it was a lesson he’d learned from Cora Jane, not from either of his own parents. Being supportive simply wasn’t part of their makeup.

As he hung up, he couldn’t help wondering if there would ever come a day when he’d not regret that his ties to Cora Jane and her family weren’t of a far more permanent variety.

* * *

It took Emily two frustrating days to make all the right connections from Colorado to North Carolina. More annoying than the time wasted in airports was imagining Gabi’s I-told-you-so when she finally landed in Raleigh on a clear day that bore no lingering evidence of the nasty weather that had blown through the state two days before.

But when she emerged from the airport with her carry-on luggage, it was Samantha who awaited her. Her big sister enveloped her in a fierce hug.

Though huge, fashionable sunglasses hid most of her face, and her artfully streaked hair was swept up in a careless ponytail, there was no disguising that she was somebody famous. It had always amazed Emily how Samantha could wear faded jeans and a T-shirt and wind up looking like a cover model. She just had that celebrity look about her, even if her acting career had never taken off quite the way she’d envisioned.

“Where’s Gabi?” Emily asked, glancing around.

“Three guesses.”

“Gram insisted on going home,” Emily said readily.

“Got it in one,” Samantha confirmed. “The minute they allowed residents back out there, Gram packed her bag. Gabi stalled her for a day, then told her if she was going to be stubborn as an old mule, at least she wasn’t going alone. They left this morning at dawn, so I stuck around to be your designated driver.”

“Do you actually remember how to drive?” Emily inquired skeptically. “You’ve been living in New York a long time.”

Samantha merely lifted a brow, which told Emily what her sister thought about her sense of humor. That was the thing about having an actress in the family. Samantha could convey more with a look than most people could with an entire diatribe. Emily had been on the receiving end of a lot of those looks over the years.

“Do not start with me,” Samantha warned. “I made it here, didn’t I?”

Emily nodded toward the waiting car. “Is that the same car you drove from New York? Or did you have to trade in a wreck?”

“You are not amusing,” Samantha retorted. She glanced at the compact carry-on Emily had brought. “That’s it? That’s all your luggage?”

Emily shrugged. “I’m used to traveling light. I was in Aspen on a job when I heard about the storm. I didn’t have time to go back to Los Angeles to pick up more things.”

“Anything in there suitable for mopping and scrubbing?” Samantha asked doubtfully. “I just don’t see you mucking out the family restaurant in your designer heels. Those are Louboutins, right? You always did have expensive taste.”

Heat climbed in Emily’s cheeks. “I work with people who are obsessed with designer labels, but you can bet I do my share of hard labor when I’m renovating a house,” she retorted defensively, then sighed. “But you’re right about my wardrobe not being suitable for cleaning. This trip to Colorado was a quick meet-and-greet with a new client, so I probably need to pick up some shorts and T-shirts someplace. What about you? You usually look like a fashion plate yourself. What’s with the faded jeans and...” Her eyes widened. “Is that Ethan Cole’s old football jersey?”

Samantha blushed furiously. “It was in a box of stuff in Gabi’s attic. I grabbed whatever still fit.”

“That shirt doesn’t fit,” Emily scoffed. “It’s at least six sizes too big. It makes you look like a fourteen-year-old girl with a crush on the captain of the football team.” She allowed a slow grin to spread. “Oh, wait, that was you, wasn’t it? Sitting in the bleachers all wide-eyed and hopeful?”

“Do you realize if you keep this up, you might not live long enough to get to Sand Castle Bay?” Samantha asked tartly. “I imagine I can find some deserted section of highway where I can toss your body.”

“Nice talk to your baby sister,” Emily retorted. “You always swore you loved me, even when I was being a total pain.”

“Back then I did,” Samantha confirmed with a grin of her own. “Who could resist a cute, chubby-cheeked little thing?” She shrugged. “Now, not so much.”

Once they were on the road heading east, Emily’s mood sobered. “Has anyone heard how bad things are over there? What’s Grandmother going to find when she walks into the restaurant?”

“Apparently Boone told her it was still standing, just badly flooded and in need of a lot of tender, loving care and, more than likely, a new roof.”

Emily froze, her heart doing an unexpected stutter step. “Boone? Surely you’re not talking about Boone Dorsett. What does he have to do with anything?”

“He and Cora Jane are thick as thieves these days,” Samantha said, then gave her a quick sympathetic glance. “Didn’t you know?”

“Why would I know? Nobody tells me anything.” At least not anything that might matter, such as the fact that her own grandmother and the bane of her existence, Mr. Boone Dorsett, were pals.

Oh, her grandmother had always had a soft spot for Boone. She’d taken to him the minute he’d started coming around with Emily the summer they’d both turned fourteen. While Emily had fallen for a bad boy with a dangerous edge most likely headed for trouble, Cora Jane had seen a boy rebelling against parents who didn’t care. She’d seen potential and, to her credit, nourished it.

Still, shouldn’t she have cut her ties with Boone when Emily had, out of family solidarity or something? Even as the thought formed, Emily knew better. Grandmother wouldn’t abandon Boone the way Emily had. In fact, though she’d never voiced her opinion, Emily knew Cora Jane had judged her harshly for what she’d done, choosing a career over the man everyone knew she loved.

“What’s Boone after?” she asked suspiciously.

“After?” Samantha echoed with a puzzled look. “I don’t think he wants anything. Cora Jane says he’s been a huge help to her with the restaurant. That’s all I know.”

“If Boone is being a huge help, then he wants something,” Emily declared with conviction. Wasn’t he always after something? That had been her experience, anyway. Once upon a time he’d wanted her, and when she’d said she needed time to explore the world a bit, he’d let her go and married Jenny Farmer about ten seconds later. Last she’d heard they had a little boy. So much for that undying love he’d declared he felt for her. Maybe she’d left, but he was the one who’d delivered a betrayal so deep she’d never really recovered.

“He probably wants the Castle’s by the Sea property,” Emily speculated direly. In her dark days, hadn’t she entertained that thought more than once, imagining him courting her even back then with an ulterior motive? How else to explain his rapid-fire marriage to someone else after she’d gone? True love couldn’t possibly have been so fickle. “I’ll just bet he’s hoping this hurricane will be the last straw and Grandmother will sell that prime beachfront location to him.”

Samantha slanted a wry look at her. “You do know that Boone already has three very successful seafood restaurants, right?”

“Three?” Emily echoed, startled.

“Sure enough. Boone’s Harbor on the bay opened first. Now he has one in Norfolk and one over in Charlotte. I think there’s some guy who’s like his administrative assistant who scouts out the new locations and gets them operational, but Boone’s definitely in charge. Grandmother says the reviews have been great in all those cities. She has a collection of them. I’m surprised she never sent them to you.”

“She probably assumed I wouldn’t be interested,” Emily said, oddly deflated by the news. She wanted to believe the very worst about Boone. Needed to believe it, in fact. She didn’t like thinking she’d misjudged his ambition or that she might have made a terrible mistake in being so quick to let him go. She didn’t believe in regrets, so what were these twinges all about?

Her sister studied her with obvious confusion. “I thought you were long over him. You did break up with him, right? Not the other way around? I always thought Jenny was his rebound romance.”

“Over him?” Emily huffed indignantly. “Of course, I’m over him. Haven’t given him a thought since I left here ten years ago.” Liar, liar, her conscience shouted.

“Then why the attitude?”

“I just don’t want him taking advantage of our grandmother, that’s all. Cora Jane is too trusting for her own good.”

Samantha laughed at that. “Cora Jane? You must have some other grandmother in mind. Cora Jane’s as savvy as they come where business is concerned and sharp as a tack when it comes to judging people.”

“She’s not immune to a man with Boone’s considerable charm, that’s all I’m saying,” Emily said irritably. “Let’s drop this. It’s giving me a headache.” She looked around and frowned. They were in the jammed parking lot of a discount store. “Why are you pulling in here?”

“To stock up on your brand-new hurricane cleanup wardrobe,” her sister said, then added, a little too cheerfully, “Let’s not forget the flip-flops and sneakers.”

Emily regarded her with dismay. The only flip-flops she wore these days came from a designer shoe salon on Rodeo Drive.

“Okay,” she said sourly, “but you and Gabi better remember that I don’t scrub windows.” She hesitated, then added, “Or floors.”

Samantha draped an arm over her shoulder as they crossed the busy parking lot. “Fine, Cinderella. We’ll leave the grease trap to you. That’s always fun.”

Emily scowled at her. It promised to be a very long couple of weeks, especially if Boone was likely to be underfoot.

2

“Daddy, are we gonna help Ms. Cora Jane?” B.J. asked, his expression as excited as if they were going to the circus.

“If she’ll let us,” Boone told his eight-year-old son. In his experience Cora Jane never asked for help and wasn’t real crazy about accepting it when offered. He’d learned to be incredibly sneaky about making sure she and the restaurant were looked after.

“Do you think she’ll make me pancakes like Mickey Mouse?” B.J. asked. “The little pancakes that make the ears are the best part.” A guilty expression passed over his face. “Hers are better than Jerry’s, but don’t tell him. I don’t want to hurt his feelings.”

Boone laughed, well aware of how competitive the cook and Cora Jane could be at times. “I doubt she’ll have the kitchen open,” Boone told him. “The storm water’s barely receded. You know what a mess things are over at our place. Castle’s didn’t look much better when I checked it out yesterday.”

He also knew that Cora Jane was the kind of woman who liked to feel in control of things. No hurricane would throw her off course for long. By tomorrow, she’d probably be cooking whatever she could on the gas grill even if she couldn’t get the oven up and running.

He gave his son a warning look. “Don’t be asking her for pancakes, okay? Not till we see what the situation is. We’re here to help, not to make more work for her.”

“But she always says making special pancakes for me isn’t work,” B.J. said earnestly. “She says she does it out of love.”

Boone chuckled. Of course she’d tell B.J. something like that. Hadn’t she always made him feel he was no trouble, too? Even when his own folks thought he was more of a nuisance than anything else. If it hadn’t been for Cora Jane and the jobs she’d given him to keep him busy and out of mischief, his life would have gone in a whole different direction. He owed her. He surely did. And he counted himself fortunate that she hadn’t pushed him out of her life when Emily had dumped him. Given the fierce family loyalty among the Castles, it could easily have happened.

If seeing her and listening to her brag about her three granddaughters, including the woman who’d been the love of his life, was painful, well, that was just the price he had to pay for having Cora Jane as the kind of compassionate, nonjudgmental moral compass he definitely needed.

As soon as Boone had parked beside the restaurant, B.J. was out of the car and running.

“Hold it!” Boone commanded, waiting until his son had skidded to a stop and faced him. He walked closer and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and pointed. “What have I told you about the need to be real careful right now? Just look around. There’s wood all over with nails in it and who knows what kind of glass on the ground. Take your time and pay attention.”

B.J. gave him an impish smile that reminded him so much of Jenny, it made his heart ache. Jenny had been the sweetest woman on the planet, and losing her to an out-of-control infection that had proven resistant to antibiotics had been devastating to him and to B.J.

With the resilience of childhood, B.J. was bouncing back, but Boone wasn’t sure he’d ever get past his grief. He knew some of that was colored by guilt because he’d never loved Jenny half as much as she’d loved him. How could he when a part of his heart still belonged to Emily Castle? No matter his feelings, though, he thought he’d done the best he could by his wife. Jenny had never wanted for anything. He’d been a good husband, a devoted father. Late at night, though, he couldn’t help wondering if it had been enough. It didn’t help that Jenny’s parents blamed him for everything from ruining Jenny’s life to contributing to her death. He just knew they were looking for any excuse to try to take B.J. from him. That, he thought fiercely, would happen over his own dead body!

As for the rest, well, it was water under the bridge now, he told himself, as he took a deep breath and followed his son. Alerted by Cora Jane that all three of her granddaughters were coming home to help with the storm cleanup, he braced himself for the first glimpse of Emily after all these years.

Inside the water-ravaged restaurant, though, he spotted only Gabriella, looking frantic as Cora Jane teetered on the top rung of a stepladder. Gabi was holding it steady with a white-knuckled grip.

“Cora Jane Castle, what do you think you’re doing?” Boone demanded, wrapping an arm around her hips and lifting her down until her sneaker-clad feet were firmly on the ground.

She whirled around and glared at him. “What do you think you’re doing, Boone Dorsett?” she inquired, her brown eyes flashing with indignation, even as he gave the obviously relieved Gabi a wink.

“Saving you from a broken hip, most likely,” he said. “Didn’t I tell you a long time ago that I’d take care of fixing all the lights whenever they needed it or to have Jerry or your handyman do it?”

“Well, Jerry’s not here yet and my handyman’s nowhere to be found,” she retorted. “And since when do I need you to screw in a few lightbulbs?” Hands on her hips, she tried her best to stare him down. Given their relative size difference, she wasn’t half as intimidating as she obviously hoped to be.

“You could at least have let Gabi do it,” he replied.

She seemed to fight a smile at the suggestion, avoiding her granddaughter’s gaze. “Bless her heart,” she confided in an undertone, “Gabi is scared of heights. She got two rungs up the ladder, and I thought she was about to faint.”

“It’s true,” Gabi replied, an embarrassed flush in her cheeks. “It was humiliating, especially when she went scampering right on up the ladder.”

Thankfully, just then B.J. tugged on Cora Jane’s hand. “Ms. Cora Jane, the power’s back on, right?”

She smiled and ruffled his hair affectionately. “Came on about a half hour ago, as a matter of fact.” She gave him a knowing look. “I imagine you asked because you’re hoping for pancakes.”

B.J.’s eyes lit up. “Uh-huh, but Daddy said not to ask because we’re here to help.”

Cora Jane rolled her eyes. “Well, since your daddy seems intent on taking over the most dangerous chores himself, I imagine I can try to rustle up some pancakes for my favorite customer. You gonna help?”

“Sure. I’ll mix the batter like you showed me last time,” B.J. offered, trailing after her.

Boone watched them go, shaking his head. “I don’t know which of them’s going to give me my first heart attack, but odds on, it’s your grandmother.”

Gabi laughed. “She has that effect on all of us.”

“She told me you and your sisters were all coming home to help put this place back in working order,” he said, hoping he sounded casual, rather than panicked, which was the way just thinking about Emily made him feel.

Gabi gave him a knowing look. “Samantha just called. Emily’s flight landed about an hour ago. They stopped to pick up some things for Emily to wear. Apparently Em was in Aspen when I called her, and the clothes she had with her weren’t suitable for mopping.”

“Aspen, huh?” Boone said. “She gets around these days, doesn’t she?”

Gabi nodded. “Her reputation as an interior designer took off after the remodel she did for some actress was featured in a magazine. Now she’s working on all sorts of celebrity homes in Beverly Hills and Malibu. Last year she renovated somebody’s villa in Italy, and I think this trip was to look at a ski lodge for the friend of one of her regular clients.”

“Sounds glamorous,” he said, a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach.

Wasn’t that what she’d always wanted, the high life with famous people? Some of their old friends accused her of being superficial and shallow, but he knew better. She’d been trying to fill some empty place in her soul with all the things she thought her simple life in North Carolina had been missing.

He wondered if she still saw that world as fascinating, if she’d gotten to know even one of those celebrities as a friend, rather than as a client. He’d learned a long time ago how much better it was to have a few people he could count on than a thousand acquaintances. The folks who’d been by his side when Jenny was sick and then stuck by him after her death had taught him the real meaning of friendship.

“I’d better go in and check on Grandmother,” Gabi said. She started toward the kitchen, then came back. “I’m sorry, Boone.”

He frowned at her serious tone. “Sorry for what?”

“The way Emily hurt you. She never meant to. There were just things she felt she needed to do. I think she always meant to come back, but then you married Jenny, and, well, you know how things went after that.”

Boone nodded, appreciating the sentiment but determined to make sure she knew it was unnecessary. “I accepted her decision a long time ago, Gabi. And just so you know, I don’t think she ever intended to come back. That’s why I moved on.”

Gabi glanced toward the kitchen and nodded. “Nobody blames you for that. And B.J.’s a great boy.”

“The best,” he agreed readily. “Probably no thanks to me. Jenny was an amazing mother. I think your grandmother’s influence accounts for a lot of that, too, same as it did with me.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.”

Boone watched her go, then sighed. Why was it that all the women in this family thought he was worth something...except the one who’d stolen his heart all those years ago?

* * *

Emily had prepared herself for seeing Boone again. At least she thought she had.

And yet the sight of him atop a ladder, his excellent butt hugged by a pair of worn jeans, his faded T-shirt stretched taut over a broad chest and outstanding biceps, was good enough to give her palpitations. A baseball cap had been pulled low, which made it hard to see his face, but she imagined his granite jaw, dark-as-onyx eyes and dimples were the same.

It had always been amazing to her that a man could be flashing fire hot as a furnace one second, flip a switch to a look as cold as the North Pole the next, and then turn right around and grin with the impish expression of a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Boone Dorsett had always been something of a contradiction, in her opinion.

“Hey, Boone!” Samantha called out, when Emily just stood there, probably slack-jawed, taking in the view.

His head snapped around so fast he might have lost his balance if Emily hadn’t instinctively grabbed the ladder to steady it.

“Samantha,” he acknowledged solemnly before allowing his gaze to settle on Emily. “Emily.”

To her annoyance there was not one tiny shred of a difference in the way he spoke her name, no hint that she was any more special than her sister, that he used to have his hands and that sweetly seductive mouth of his all over her whenever they could sneak away to be together. Seriously, shouldn’t that have called for at least a hint of intimacy in the way he spoke her name?

That was then, she reminded herself sharply. The man is married now. He belongs to someone else.

“What are you doing here, Boone?” she asked irritably.

He held up a lightbulb. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“I mean here, helping my grandmother, instead of taking care of your own business.” She knew she sounded churlish and ungrateful, but she couldn’t help herself. The rules had all gone and changed on her, and yet her feelings for this man apparently hadn’t. That was a shocker, all right. Boone Dorsett could still stir her blood in a way that not one single man she’d met since ever had. And he’d done it from atop a ladder, without even touching her. The discovery was unsettling. She’d been so sure that the bitterness she’d felt at his betrayal would trump all those old feelings forever.

“Darlin’, I know you’ve been away a long time, but down here, folks help each other out in a crisis. I’d say this latest hurricane qualifies. Your grandmother’s in the kitchen, by the way. I’m sure she’s real anxious to see you.”

He turned back to his chore, essentially dismissing her. Emily just stared at him, then turned to see Samantha grinning as if she’d just witnessed a scene in some ridiculous romantic comedy.

“Oh, hush your mouth,” she muttered to her sister as she headed for the kitchen at a fast clip.

“Never said a word,” Samantha retorted, following along behind, still grinning. “But in case you’re interested in my opinion, that was hot.”

Emily blinked and stared. “Are you delusional? The man just shooed me away as if I were an annoying mosquito or something.”

“Hot,” Samantha repeated. “Again, in case you’re interested in my opinion, I’d have to say things between you two are far from over.”

“The man is married,” Emily reminded her.

Her sister’s grin merely spread. “Oh, didn’t anyone tell you that he lost his wife?”

“Did he happen to leave her behind in the Great Dismal Swamp?” Emily asked sarcastically.

Samantha’s expression instantly sobered, all hints of teasing gone. “No, sweetie. Jenny died. Just over a year ago, in fact.”

Emily stopped just inside the kitchen door and stared after her sister. Oh, God, that was awful. She was suddenly assailed by more emotions than she could even begin to untangle. Sorrow for Jenny, who’d been a genuinely nice girl. Heartache for Boone and for his child, who must have been devastated.

And a completely inappropriate and unexpected flash of relief, followed all too quickly by panic. It was one thing to discover she wasn’t immune to the man when he was safely off-limits, but it was something else entirely to realize he was available, after all. She had not needed to know that. She really hadn’t.

Because the very last thing she needed in her very busy and tightly scheduled life was to have feelings for Boone Dorsett, the man she’d very deliberately left behind.

* * *

Cora Jane’s gaze went straight to Emily when she and Samantha walked into the kitchen. In that first quick glance she saw that her granddaughter was too thin, her face bordering on gaunt. She’d been working too hard, not taking nearly enough time for herself, Cora Jane assessed.

There was also no mistaking the bright patches of color in her cheeks and the sparks in her eyes, put there by Boone, no doubt. Cora Jane turned away, hoping none of the others would see the satisfied smile she couldn’t seem to stop. She wished she’d been witness to the first meeting between those two after all this time, but seeing Emily’s face told her it had gone exactly as she’d hoped.

“My sweet girl,” she said, then held open her arms. “It’s been entirely too long since you’ve been home.”

Emily stepped into her embrace and gave her a fierce hug. “I know. I’m sorry. I always think I’ll get here, but time just flies by.”

“Well, you’re here now,” Cora Jane said, misty-eyed as she glanced around the table where Samantha and Gabi were seated along with B.J. “You’re all here. You have no idea what it means to me that you dropped everything and came.”

“Well, of course we did,” Emily said. “Isn’t that the lesson you tried to teach us, to be there for family? Now tell me what you’re doing in here cooking? Judging from the looks of things in the dining room, we should all be on our hands and knees out there scrubbing the place down.”

“She’s making pancakes for me,” B.J. piped up, catching Emily’s attention.

Cora Jane watched as it dawned on Emily who B.J. was. There could be little question he was Boone’s son. The boy was the spitting image of the man. Shock registered on Emily’s face for just an instant, but she managed a smile.

“And who might you be that you can convince my grandmother to make pancakes?” Emily teased, her voice unmistakably shaky.

“I’m B. J. Dorsett,” he responded seriously. “Boone’s my dad. I help out here a lot, don’t I, Ms. Cora Jane?”

“Best helper I have,” Cora Jane confirmed. “And I figured B.J. had the right idea. We all need a hearty breakfast before we tackle this mess.”

“I’m betting you talked her into the Mickey Mouse pancakes, too,” Emily said to B.J., whose eyes lit up.

“Uh-huh. They’re the best.”

“I always thought so,” Emily said.

B.J. gave her a perplexed look. “How come I’ve never seen you before? Ms. Gabi’s here sometimes, but not you or Ms. Samantha.”

“Well, we both live far away,” Emily said, a guilty flush in her cheeks. “Samantha lives in New York. She’s a very busy actress.”

B.J.’s eyes widened as he took another look at Samantha, then widened some more as recognition dawned. “I’ve seen you on TV. You were the mom in a commercial for my favorite cereal.” He pumped a fist in the air. “I knew it. Cool! Have you been in other stuff?”

“Lots of things you probably wouldn’t have seen,” Samantha said. “I’ve been in a few plays on Broadway, a soap opera, a few other commercials.”

B.J. bounced in his chair with excitement. “Wait till I tell the kids at school.” He glanced at Cora Jane. “Does Dad know? I’d better tell Dad.”

“In a minute,” Cora Jane said, noting that Emily looked vaguely disgruntled by B.J.’s excitement over meeting a famous actress. That girl’s competitive streak between her and Samantha was still alive and well, apparently. “Your breakfast’s ready.”

She set plates of pancakes, eggs and bacon in front of everyone, poured more coffee, then took her own place at the table. Turning to B.J. she deliberately mentioned that Emily had worked for a few movie stars.

“No way!” B.J. exclaimed, now giving Emily his full attention. “What’d you do? Who’d you work for? Did you ever meet Johnny Depp?”

Cora Jane knew that Emily didn’t really like talking about her famous clients, but she also knew she needed to get the spotlight back on her. The affections of little boys could be fickle. Maybe it was ridiculous, but Cora Jane had a feeling that B.J. just might be the key to a reconciliation between Emily and Boone. The boy needed a mother. Oh, she knew that Boone was doing the best he could and would disagree with her about that, but in just the past hour she’d seen how B.J. responded to the attention of her granddaughters.

Over the years she’d been fortunate to have these three girls with her most summers. They’d been closer than many grandparents and grandchildren. She thought that was, in part, because she hadn’t done a lot of meddling in their lives. Oh, she’d given advice, given the occasional nudge when called for, but in general she’d let them make their own mistakes, their own decisions.

Now, though, they were older and showing no signs of settling down. Each of them had professional successes to be proud of, but not a one of them had a life. At least that’s how she saw it.

That needed to change. And though none of them had grown up here in Sand Castle Bay, they’d spent enough time here to earn the right to call it home.

She sat back and listened as B.J. peppered Emily with excited questions about Hollywood. Her granddaughter answered patiently, a smile playing about her lips.

“What about Disneyland?” B.J. asked. “Have you been to Disneyland? I’ll bet you’ve gone like a thousand times.”

Emily laughed. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but not even once.”

B.J. looked stunned. “Not once?”

“Afraid not.”

“Me and Dad will come and we’ll all go,” he announced excitedly. “He’s been promising to take me, and Dad never breaks his promises.”

Emily looked taken aback by the suggestion, as if she weren’t quite sure how to respond. “I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time,” she said eventually.

“You, too,” B.J. reminded her insistently. “I’ll go tell Dad now.”

He bounded away from the table, leaving all of them grinning.

“I think you’ve made a conquest,” Gabi said.

“Like father, like son,” Samantha chimed in.

“Stop it,” Emily said, blushing. “He’s at that age when he loves everyone.”

“You have a lot of experience with eight-year-old boys?” Gabi teased.

“No, but isn’t it obvious? He was chattering away to Grandmother and you before Sam and I even walked in the room. He’s comfortable here.”

Gabi’s expression sobered. “Be careful with him, Em. He’s been through a lot.”

“What are you talking about? I’m here for a few days. It’s not as if there’s time for him to get attached or something.”

“Just keep that in mind,” Gabi persisted. “You are leaving, and he might not understand that.”

“Well, I think it’s sweet the way he’s taken a shine to you right off,” Cora Jane said. “To all of you. He can use a woman’s influence.”

Emily chuckled. “You don’t think Boone is capable of teaching him manners?”

“Boone is capable of that and much more,” Cora Jane chided. “But it’s not the same as having a mother’s touch, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Grandmother, you’re not harboring any illusions about Boone and me picking up where we left off, are you?” Emily asked, her gaze narrowed. “Because that’s not in the cards. My life’s in California.”

“Such as it is,” Cora Jane muttered.

Emily frowned. “What is that supposed to mean? I have an excellent life. I make a ton of money. I’m respected in my field.”

“And who’s there to share in all that success, I ask you?” Cora Jane retorted. “No one, that’s who. Or is there someone special you haven’t bothered to mention to any of us?” She glanced at Emily’s sisters. “Samantha? Gabi? Have either of you heard about anyone?”

Emily ignored the sarcasm. “Plenty of women have happy, fulfilling lives without a man,” she said, turning to her sisters. “Am I right?”

“Men do have their uses,” Gabi said, grinning.

“Amen, sister,” Samantha chimed in.

Emily just shook her head. “Thanks for the backup. Wait till she starts on the two of you.”

“That’s not going to happen, because our lives are perfect,” Gabi said, standing up to give Cora Jane’s shoulder a squeeze.

Cora Jane glanced up at her. “Well, now that you mention it...” She let her voice trail off, leaving the unspoken implication to hang in the air. It would give them something to think about. She, indeed, had plans for all of them, and, God willing, she’d been unexpectedly blessed with the perfect opportunity to see them carried out.

3

Seeing Emily had rattled Boone, no question about it. His hand was shaking as he replaced the lightbulbs that had blown when the power was knocked out and a few that had been shattered by debris blowing around inside the restaurant after a boarded-up front window had given way to the storm’s fury.

He was supposed to be over her. Wasn’t that what he’d told Gabriella not ten minutes before Emily had walked in the door and caught him off guard? He’d meant it, hadn’t he? He was not going to allow her to stomp all over his emotions a second time, especially not with B.J. to consider.

Though he’d been out on a couple of dates since Jenny’s death, he’d made it a point to keep his son out of the mix. After his own mother had paraded half a dozen men through his life before settling on a replacement for his dad, he knew the dangers of allowing a child to get too attached to someone who wouldn’t be staying.

Unfortunately, that didn’t seem feasible with Emily, not with the two of them in the kitchen right this second apparently whooping it up with the rest of the Castles. With Cora Jane’s undoubted encouragement, his son and Emily were probably bonding even now.

B.J. emerged just then, his face sticky with maple syrup and his eyes round with excitement. “Daddy, did you know that Emily knows movie stars?” he asked, pretty much proving Boone’s point.

“Does she really?” Boone said, his tone offhand, though a perverse part of him wanted to know every detail.

“She’s been in their houses and everything,” B.J. reported. “She even met Johnny Depp once. Isn’t that awesome?”

Boone wondered what the appropriate response was. Should he express an enthusiasm he wasn’t feeling, deliver a lecture on the fact that celebrities were merely people just like everyone else, or let the moment pass and accept that Emily had impressed his son with a lifestyle he could never match?

“Hey, Daddy, how come you never told me you knew somebody famous?” B.J. asked.

“I’m not sure that working for celebrities makes Emily famous,” Boone said cautiously.

“Not her,” B.J. said impatiently. “Samantha. She does those soap shows on TV, and she was in a play on Broadway. She even did a commercial for that cereal I like. She was the mom, remember? I didn’t recognize her right off, because she’s prettier in person.”

Boone recalled only that every time he’d spotted Samantha in any commercial, she’d reminded him of Emily and, out of loyalty to Jenny, he’d tried his best to wipe all those memories out of his mind.

“You gotta come in the kitchen, Dad,” B.J. urged. “They’re telling the best stories.”

“We came here to help Ms. Cora Jane clean up, remember?”

“But she’s in the kitchen, too,” B.J. protested. “I think she’s happy her granddaughters came home.”

Boone imagined she was. He’d seen the yearning in her eyes when she’d talked about them. Oh, she’d bragged about their accomplishments, her pride showing, but he’d heard the note of wistfulness she couldn’t successfully hide, at least from him. Undoubtedly she was thrilled to pieces that a hurricane had brought them running home.

Too bad none of them came around when there wasn’t a crisis.

“And guess what else?” B.J. said as he dragged a reluctant Boone toward the kitchen. “Emily’s never been to Disneyland, so I said we’d come to California and she could go with us. We can do that, right?”

Boone stopped in his tracks. Things were suddenly moving way too fast. He hunkered down and looked into his son’s eyes. “B.J., you know Emily’s just here for a visit,” he cautioned.

“I know. That’s why I said we’ll come to see her,” B.J. responded reasonably.

“Son, don’t start counting on Emily, okay?”

B.J. clearly didn’t comprehend the warning. “What about Disneyland, Dad? You promised we’d go there, so why can’t she come with us?”

Boone counted to ten. It wasn’t B.J.’s fault that this entire conversation was making him a little crazy. “Actually I promised to take you to Disney World in Florida, so we could stop by and see your grandparents, remember?” Boone said patiently, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle. B.J. had the tenacity of a pit bull, and he wasn’t going to drop this, at least not right now. To his son, the two amusement parks were clearly interchangeable. And, sadly, Jenny’s folks were likely no competition for the glamorous Emily. He could just imagine the outcry, though, if he chose to take B.J. to California rather than Florida. There would be hell to pay.

“Well, I want to go to Disneyland and I want her to come,” B.J. said, his expression mutinous. “You promised!”

Boone sighed. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Was there even the faintest possibility that he was going to get through Emily’s visit with his sanity intact, especially with his eight-year-old apparently as enamored with her as he’d once been?

* * *

Emily had made herself a promise not to check her cell phone for messages until she’d spent a little time with family, but ingrained habits were hard to break. When she heard the signal for yet another text message in the past half hour, she excused herself from the table.

“Sorry. I need to deal with this,” she said.

“Told you she wouldn’t last an hour without checking her phone,” Samantha teased. “I’m just surprised you haven’t been on yours yet, Gabi.”

Gabi flushed guiltily. “Actually I made a few calls and sent a couple of emails right before you all got here. My very efficient assistant is on top of things at the office. She knows how to reach me if anything crops up that she can’t handle.”

“I wish I had one of those,” Emily said. “Mine’s great at taking messages and following up on details, but when it comes to taking the initiative or pacifying clients, that’s all on me.” She gestured with the phone. “And that’s what I’m dealing with now.”

“Go ahead and make your calls,” Cora Jane told her.

On the deck, Emily returned a call from Sophia Grayson, a high-maintenance Beverly Hills socialite who expected everything to be done yesterday. She paid top dollar to make that happen, and her acceptance of Emily had been a huge recommendation in certain circles.

“You’re up early,” Emily said when she’d reached her. “It’s barely eight o’clock out there.”

“I’m up early because I haven’t slept all night,” Sophia complained with a dramatic sigh. “I’ve been fretting about that disastrous mix-up with the drapery fabric. You know I’m throwing a very important party in less than two weeks, Emily. You promised every last detail would be completed in plenty of time.”

“And they will be,” Emily assured her. “The new drapes are being made as we speak. I spoke to Enrico myself, and he’s appalled by the mistake. He’s put his best people on the job and he’ll have the replacements ready to be installed tomorrow.”

“What about the paint in the dining room?” Sophia complained. “It’s just awful. I would never have chosen that color. People will feel as if they’re inside a pumpkin.”

“I did warn you that orange could be overwhelming,” Emily felt compelled to say, “but we have the backup ready to go. I think you’ll be much happier with the taupe. It’s so classy, definitely much more expressive of your excellent taste and style. The crew will be there at nine and should be out by this afternoon.”

“I know taupe will be just fine, but I’d hoped for a little pop of color for a change,” Sophia said with a sigh of regret.

“And we’ll have that in the accessories,” Emily assured her. “You have an appointment with Steve from Rodeo Gallery to look at art this afternoon. I think you’ll find a lovely painting for your collection of fresh new artists that will give you exactly the splash of color you want. Once you’ve chosen that, we can add a few other touches to bring it all together.”

“I suppose,” Sophia said. “You do know I trust you, Emily. You haven’t let me down yet. Where are you, though? Why aren’t you here? Isn’t on-site oversight part of that fee I pay for your services?”

“I’m dealing with a bit of a family emergency in North Carolina, Sophia, but you’re not to worry. Everything’s under control. If you need me, all you have to do is call.”

A beep told her she had another call. “Sweetie, I have to run,” she told Sophia. “I’ll speak to you later today, make sure everything’s on track. Text me if you need me before then.”

She cut off the call before Sophia could come up with another crisis. Glancing at the caller ID, she saw the name of the client she’d just met with in Aspen.

“We like your ideas,” Derek Young said without preamble. “How soon can you get back here to get started? We’d like to have the lodge up and running by December first to take full advantage of the ski season. Thanksgiving would be even better.”

Emily hated the thought of putting him off, but she had little choice. “It’ll be a couple of weeks at least,” she admitted. “If there’s any way to make it sooner, I will. I’ll be honest with you, though, Derek. December might be optimistic even if I could be there tomorrow. You’re going to have to decide if you want quality work or an expedited timetable.”

“I want both,” he said without hesitation. “If that means doubling up on work crews, then do it.”

Emily got the message. “Of course.”

“This is a big job,” he reminded her, clearly intending to emphasize the stakes. “It’s an entire ski lodge. I’m sure you could get some PR mileage out of that.”

“I understand what a fabulous opportunity you’re giving me, Derek, but I can’t abandon my family right now. The hurricane’s left a mess in its wake.”

He hesitated, leaving her with her heart in her throat. She thought she could hear his wife murmuring in the background.

“Okay, fine, do the best you can,” he said eventually. “Tricia has reminded me that, contrary to the way I live my life, family should take priority over business from time to time.”

Emily smiled. “It’s a lesson I’m struggling with myself,” she told him. “Thank her for me.”

“You’ll be in touch?”

“Of course. And there are things I can get started on from here. We won’t be losing much time.”

When she’d disconnected the call, she allowed herself a moment of triumph over snagging the job, then sighed. She wondered if anyone in her family would be excited for her over this coup. More likely, they’d be disappointed in her for making a promise to leave before the work here was likely to be done.

* * *

Cora Jane looked around at her girls, drinking in the sight of them, and the next thing she knew there were tears gathering in her eyes. It was Gabi who caught her before she could wipe them away.

“Grandmother, are you okay?” Gabi asked quietly.

“I’m just so glad to have the three of you under this roof again, even if it is leaking in a dozen spots and the place is a disaster.”

“There’s nothing wrong we can’t fix with a little elbow grease,” Gabi assured her. “I’ll make some calls about the roof, too.”

“No need,” Cora Jane told her. “Boone’s already taken care of that. He has someone coming first thing tomorrow to replace it. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of days to get it fixed up. As long as we don’t have another storm between now and then, we’ll be okay.”

“Did I hear you mention Boone?” Emily asked, coming back inside just in time to hear Cora Jane.

“He’s arranged for someone to fix the roof,” Gabi told her.

Emily’s expression soured. “Why don’t you let me make a few calls? Negotiating with contractors is what I do.”

“How many contractors do you know here who could get to the job tomorrow?” Boone asked, choosing that moment to join them in the kitchen, B.J. at his side. “But if you want to give it a try, I won’t be offended.”

Emily flushed pink. “She should have competitive bids, that’s all I’m saying,” she retorted.

“Gee, why didn’t I think of that?” he asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Cora Jane looked from one of them to the other and shook her head. Hadn’t it always been this way? If Boone said the sky was blue, Emily would argue it was a gloomy gray. She’d never before known two people who were happiest when they were at odds over one thing or another. She thought it was because they were so alike with high expectations of themselves and everyone around them.

“Enough, you two,” she scolded. “Tommy Cahill will be here tomorrow. He gave me a price I’m happy with, so that’s that. I was lucky that Boone was able to get him to take on such a small job on short notice when there’s so much to be done out here. He’s only doing it as a favor to Boone. I could wait for weeks for someone else to become available.”

Emily sat back, her expression disgruntled. “Whatever you want.”

“Thank you,” Cora Jane said dryly. “Now I propose we all get busy and get this place cleaned out. I’d like to open for breakfast tomorrow morning if I can get supplies here this afternoon.”

“That’s crazy,” Emily blurted. “The place is a mess. It’s going to take days for me to get some new furniture in here, get everything painted and spruced up with a new look. I sketched out some ideas on the way from Colorado.”

Cora Jane knew her granddaughter only wanted to help. And she was an expert, after all, but the last thing she wanted was to walk in the door a couple of weeks from now and not even recognize the family business started by her late husband. The decor it had—minus the debris and dampness anyway—suited her just fine. And they’d never wanted for customers. Locals and tourists packed the place. Caleb had had a knack for understanding what worked in a coastal community, and she’d merely followed the path he’d established.

“We’ll look over those designs of yours tonight,” Cora Jane promised, to take the sting out of her remark. “And you’re right about a fresh coat of paint. But in the meantime there are going to be locals coming back home and workers galore, and they’re all going to need someplace to grab a bite to eat. We’ll make do with what we have for the time being. Maybe later we can think about making a few changes.”

Emily looked as if she wanted to argue, but instead she just stood up and walked out of the kitchen and back onto the deck at the side of the restaurant.

Cora Jane turned to Boone. “Go after her.”

He regarded her with predictable alarm. “Me? Why me?”

“Sweetheart, you know why as well as I do. The two of you need to talk. You might as well do it now and settle things. Arguing with you might take her mind off whatever she’s stewing over right this minute.”

“And you think we’re going to settle things with a quick chat on the deck?” Boone inquired skeptically. “Assuming we don’t fall through the damaged boards, that is?”

“Probably not,” Cora Jane admitted. “But you have to start sometime. It might as well be now. Gabi, Samantha and I will get started in here. B.J. can help by washing up these dishes. You don’t need to worry about him getting into mischief or in the way.”

Boone gave her a resigned look, but he did head for the deck.

Cora Jane turned to see both of her other granddaughters grinning.

“Nicely done,” Samantha said. “Do you have any other missions for these next couple of weeks we should know about?”

Cora Jane chuckled at the girl’s impudence. Samantha might be thirty-five, but she’d always be a girl in Cora Jane’s eyes.

“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” she replied. “And in case you’re wondering, while I might feel I have a halfway decent relationship with Our Lord, not even I can call up a hurricane. That was His plan.”

And in her view it was definitely starting to look as if it had been a blessing in disguise.

* * *

Emily was crying. Boone could tell by the dejected set of her shoulders and the soft sniffs she tried hard to disguise when she heard the door to the deck open and close.

“Go away,” she muttered.

“Sorry. I’m under orders.”

Her head snapped around at that. “You!”

“Who’d you think it was?”

“Samantha, Gabi, maybe even Grandmother.”

He laughed. “Yeah, those would have been my first choices, too.”

Surprise, then resignation registered on her face. “Of course Grandmother sent you.”

Boone leaned on the railing next to her and stared at the ocean across the road. It was hard to believe that just a couple of days earlier it had been washing over the road with giant, angry, destructive waves. Today the sky was a brilliant blue, the waves were lapping gently against sand littered with boards, house siding and roof shingles.

“Cora Jane seems to think we should settle things,” he explained.

“What things?”

“You and me, I’m guessing. We didn’t exactly part on the best of terms. That weighs on her.”

“True, but we both moved on. That’s in the past,” she said, a hopeful note in her voice. “Right?”

“I’d have said so until you walked in the door this morning,” he said candidly. “You came in with complication written all over you.”

She glanced over at him, then sighed. “That was pretty much my reaction, too, if you must know.”

Boone chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“I didn’t expect you to admit it.”

“I’ve never been a liar, Boone. That was you.”

Boone frowned at the accusation. “Me? When did I lie?”

“You said you loved me. Next thing I knew you’d married Jenny.”

He was startled by the level of pain he thought he heard in her voice. Had she been rewriting history? “You made it pretty clear you weren’t ever coming back. What was I supposed to do? Pine for you?”

“You could have given me some time to work through things,” she accused. “That’s all I really asked of you.”

He regarded her with surprise. “When did you ask for time? If you’d asked for it, maybe I would have. Instead, you said we were over. You made it sound pretty final.” He studied her face. “Or was that the lie you had to tell yourself so you could leave town and not look back?”

She seemed to take the question to heart and actually mull it over. “Something like that,” she conceded eventually. “Okay, we both made mistakes. I wasn’t clear enough. You jumped to conclusions. I can admit to that much. Can you?”

He hesitated, then said, “I suppose.”

“Such a heartfelt concession,” she murmured dryly, then met his gaze. “But it doesn’t change anything, Boone. Not really. My life still isn’t here.”

“Believe me, I’m well aware of that. What Cora Jane hasn’t told me, B.J. has. He’s very impressed with you and Samantha. You’re the first real celebrities he’s ever met.”

Emily had the grace to chuckle at that, the tension easing slightly. “Samantha can lay claim to being a celebrity, but I just work for a few. Most of my clients aren’t that famous.”

“Just rich?” he queried.

“Is there something wrong with being rich? Your family wasn’t exactly poor. Your father was a high-powered lawyer, and your mother married a guy who made millions on widgets or something.”

He smiled at her dismissive assessment of his stepfather, who’d owned a multinational manufacturing company. “That has very little to do with me. I started from scratch and earned what I have.” He gave her a lingering look. “And I wasn’t making judgments. I just meant that having money calls for a certain kind of lifestyle, keeping up appearances, that sort of thing.”

“No question about that.” Her gaze narrowed. “Are you making a point?”

He gave her a thorough survey that put patches of bright color in her cheeks. “I just wonder what those clients of yours would make of it if they saw you in shorts and a tank top with a discount store tag hanging out the back?” He winked at her as he snapped off the tag, allowing his fingers to linger just a little too long against her bare skin before adding, “Me, I just think you look incredibly sexy.”

Her breath caught, and there was no mistaking the struggle she had to keep her gaze steady.

“Let’s not go there, okay?” she pleaded. “Obviously we have to find some way to get along with each other for the next couple of weeks for my grandmother’s sake, but then we’ll go our separate ways again. Acting crazy will only make that harder to do.”

Well, that was a clear enough warning, he thought. “No craziness,” Boone said. “Got it, though it might help if you defined this craziness you think we should avoid.”

“No fighting,” she said at once. Color climbed into her cheeks. “No touching or kissing. You know exactly what I mean, Boone. Don’t pretend you don’t. It doesn’t take much, even now, to stir us up, apparently.”

He grinned. “If you can keep a civil tongue in your head and your hands to yourself, so can I.”

“Okay, then,” Emily said.

He thought he detected a hint of disappointment in her eyes, but it was gone too quickly for him to be sure.

She turned to head back inside, but Boone caught her shoulder. Her skin heated beneath his touch, though he felt her shiver.

“Just one thing,” he said, holding her gaze. “Why were you crying when I came out here?”

The question clearly flustered her. “Just being silly,” she said, obviously not wanting to discuss it.

Boone knew better. He knew it ran deeper. The entire time they’d been together, he’d seen her struggling to find some kind of elusive acceptance from her father and even, to a degree, from Cora Jane. Her grandmother’s approval had never been withheld, in his opinion, but Emily hadn’t always been able to see that. And the distance between Sam Castle and his daughters had been impossible for any of them to bridge.

“You took offense when Cora Jane brushed off your offer,” he guessed based on past experience. “You thought it meant she didn’t need you here, didn’t you? You thought that’s why she didn’t jump all over your advice about the renovations.”

“Maybe,” she conceded, the tears gathering in her eyes proving his point.

He tucked a finger under her chin. “She needs you here, Em. She needs all of you here, not because of what you can do or how much help you’ll be. She needs you because she’s getting older and she misses you. Remember that, okay? She loved you all enough to let you go, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want you underfoot from time to time. She needs to fuss over you, meddle a little, to feel your love again.”

To his regret, more tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

“When did you get to be so darned smart and sensitive?” she asked, her voice hitching.

“I was always smart and sensitive,” he claimed, amused. “You might have missed it because back then all you cared about was my body.”

Because she evidently had no response that wouldn’t be a flat-out lie, Emily turned and walked away, swiping impatiently at the tears on her cheeks as she went.

Though her lack of response left him chuckling, he couldn’t help staring after her and wondering just how complicated his life was about to get. Despite her declarations and his promises, he was pretty sure things between them were far from over. And that was going to cause more problems and heartache than he’d ever wanted to experience again.

4

By late morning, Cora Jane’s cell phone had rung half a dozen times, and several members of her kitchen and wait staff had shown up to help with the cleanup. She had put them to work scrubbing down the kitchen, top to bottom, so it could pass the toughest health inspection ever, if need be.

The last to arrive was Jeremiah Beaudreaux, better known as Jerry. He’d been cooking at Castle’s practically since the doors opened. Now in his sixties and still standing tall at well over six feet, the one-time Louisiana fisherman’s face was deeply tanned and weathered, his hair white, but he still had a smile that lit his bright blue eyes.

“Well, this sure enough is a sight for sore eyes,” he declared when he saw Emily, Samantha and Gabriella at work sweeping the debris in the dining room into piles to be discarded. “Looks like an ill wind blew us at least some good, Cora Jane.”

“Better wait till you see how much trouble they manage to stir up, Jerry,” Cora Jane retorted, but her eyes were sparkling.

“Let me give you girls a hug,” he said, lifting them each off their feet in one of his massive bear hugs.

“How’d you get to be so strong?” Emily teased, just as she had the first time he’d tossed her into the air as a child. Compared to her reed-thin grandfather, Jerry had seemed like a gentle giant.

“Toting around those cast iron pots of crab soup your grandmother has me making,” he responded. “Now let me get in that kitchen and see what else needs to be done. Those kids you put to work, Cora Jane, will do a slapdash job of it without my supervision.”

“Some of those ‘kids’ are as old as you are, Jeremiah Beaudreaux,” Cora Jane said. “They know what to do.”

“I’ll feel better if I see the results for myself.” He winked at Emily and her sisters. “We’ll sit down and have us a long visit once this place is set to rights. Andrew said he’d be over here in an hour, Cora Jane, soon as he helps his grandmama set a few things outside in the sun to dry out. You just put him to work whatever needs doing around here. I promised his grandmama we’d keep him out of mischief.”

Jerry spotted B.J. “There’s my best helper,” he said exuberantly. “You gonna come with me, young man?”

B.J. beamed. “Whatever you need,” he said eagerly.

Before heading into the kitchen, Jerry paused and gave Cora Jane a searching look. “You doing okay? We’ll have this place shipshape in no time. You’re not to fret about it, okay?”

Emily caught the tender look that passed between them. She waited until Jerry and B.J. were gone before asking, “Did anyone else happen to notice the way Jerry was looking at Grandmother just then?”

“Oh, hush! You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cora Jane responded tartly, though there was a surprising blush in her cheeks. “Jerry’s been my right-hand man around here for a lot of years. He was one of your grandfather’s best friends.”

“Looks to me as if he’d like to be more than friends with you,” Samantha chimed in, her eyes alight.

“No question about it, Grandmother,” Gabi added. “Is there something you’d like to tell us?”

Cora Jane regarded each of them with an impatient look. “Don’t think you’re going to throw me off course by trying to turn the tables and meddle in my life,” she said. “Now, let’s get back to work. We’re setting a poor example for the girls who came in here to help out.”

Emily let the subject drop as she picked up her broom and went back to work. Gabi pushed her own pile of debris over to merge with Emily’s.

“You don’t really think there’s something going on between Jerry and Grandmother, do you?” Gabi asked. “You were just trying to rattle her, the way she said.”

Emily shrugged. “I saw something. Maybe it was nothing more than two old friends exchanging a fond look, but it seemed like more to me.”

“Would that be so bad?” Gabi asked, her expression thoughtful. “She must get lonely. Grandfather’s been gone a long time now.”

“I guess I never thought about that,” Emily admitted. “I don’t think kids ever give much thought to their parents being lonely, much less their grandparents.”

“We’re adults, not kids,” Gabi said. “We should be more sensitive.”

“Boone said something very much like that earlier,” Emily admitted.

Gabi grinned. “You’re quoting Boone now. That’s quite a turnabout.”

“Don’t make too much of it,” Emily said. “He just mentioned that, even though Cora Jane let us all go, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t want or need us around from time to time.”

“He’s right about that,” Gabi admitted. “Not even I get over here half as much as I should, and I live closest. Forget about Dad. Until the other day when he drove over to pick her up, I can’t recall the last time he set foot in Sand Castle Bay. He doesn’t even drive crosstown in Raleigh to see me unless I force the issue.”

“Did you honestly expect otherwise?” Emily asked her.

Gabi looked momentarily disconcerted by the question, then laughed self-consciously. “I suppose I did. Crazy, huh? Mom couldn’t even get him to come home for dinner most nights. I guess a part of me was thinking that with Mom gone, he might need company from time to time, maybe even a home-cooked meal.”

Emily regarded her with sympathy. “I’m sorry, Gabi.”

“Don’t be sorry for me. He’s disappointed all of us, Mom included.”

“But I think it affected you the most,” Emily said. “Mom accepted the way things were. Samantha went her own way. So did I. We gave up expecting anything, but you’re the one who’s settled right there in Raleigh, followed in his footsteps, tried to become a part of his world. Now don’t go and take offense at this, but we all know you did that hoping to finally get his attention.”

Gabi didn’t even bother trying to deny it. “I may be in the same field, but I don’t sit over a microscope the way he did,” she said candidly. “I write press releases about other people’s discoveries.”

Emily chuckled. “Worse, you do it for a competitor, who’s wildly successful, in part thanks to your PR work,” she said. “That must give Dad heartburn.”

Gabi grinned. “It isn’t nice to gloat,” she chided.

“Well, it makes me smile. It’s what Dad deserves for not hiring you himself. I know that’s what you really wanted.”

Gabi sighed. “It would have been a disaster. I can see that now. He was right to say no.”

“I’ll give you that,” Emily said. “I’m glad you can finally see it, too. You’d have been miserable having a boss who withholds praise or is too distracted to even notice you’re alive until you make a mistake.”

Gabi frowned. For a minute Emily thought she might jump in and try to defend their father, but instead she let it go. That alone hinted at her disillusioned acceptance of their father’s flaws.

“How’d you and Samantha get along on the ride over?” Gabi asked, deliberately changing the subject.

“Fine,” Emily insisted, a defensive note immediately creeping into her voice. “Why?”

“Because she always seems to get on your last nerve without even trying.”

“Not this time,” Emily swore, “though she does seem to have some crazy idea about me and Boone.”

Gabi laughed. “Sweetie, we all have crazy ideas about you and Boone, even you if you’re being honest with yourself. Tell me you did not just about swoon when you laid eyes on him for the first time today?”

Though she’d have denied it had Samantha asked, with Gabi she admitted the truth. “Maybe just a little swoon,” she said. “I told him there couldn’t be any craziness between us, though.”

“Did you now?” Gabi said, clearly amused. “And why did you find it necessary to say such a thing?”

“Because there was a moment out there on the deck, just a moment, when there seemed to be something sizzling between us the way it used to.”

“And you’re totally opposed to any sizzle?”

“Totally,” she declared very firmly, as much for her own sake as to prove anything to her sister.

Gabi looked disbelieving just as Samantha had earlier. “Oh, honey, you are in a heap of trouble if you believe that.”

“I can’t want anything to happen between me and Boone,” Emily insisted.

“Saying it won’t make it so. Feelings as strong as what you two once shared don’t vanish just because time has passed or because they’re inconvenient.”

“But we moved on,” Emily protested. “Both of us.”

“And now you have another chance. Seems to me what would be really crazy is not taking advantage of that.”

Emily started to utter another more vehement protest, but Gabi cut her off.

“I’m just saying it’s something you should consider before you get all stubborn and dig in your heels. Boone’s an incredible man.”

Not even Emily was fool enough to try to deny that. “But he’s an incredible man who lives in North Carolina.”

“Gee, last time I checked we had phone lines, airports and even Wi-Fi,” Gabi said. “And from everything I hear, you have an established reputation in your field that might even follow you all the way to this mid-Atlantic wilderness outpost.”

Emily laughed. “Okay, point taken.”

But that didn’t mean she was going to open her heart...or risk breaking Boone’s for a second time.

* * *

Boone left the Castle women working inside the restaurant, while he got started cleaning up the parking lot. After his exchange with Emily earlier, he needed to work off some steam without her in his face. The physical labor of picking up boards and cutting up tree limbs, loading them into the bed of his truck, was exactly what he needed. And when Jerry’s teenage neighbor showed up, he put Andrew to work at the task, too.

They’d been at it for a couple of hours and had made two trips to the dump when Cora Jane came into the parking lot with bottled water and a thick tuna salad sandwich on toasted rye, just the way he liked it.

“The others are taking a break out on the deck,” she told him. “I’ve coaxed Andrew up there, too, but something told me you might not be interested in joining us.”

“No, this is good,” he said, grateful for her perceptiveness.

“You and Emily settle anything this morning?”

“We talked,” he said, taking a long sip of the cold water.

“And?”

“Cora Jane, it might be best if you stayed out of the middle of this,” he suggested gently.

“Your opinion,” she retorted. “It’s not in my genes to sit on the sidelines and watch two people I love being miserable.”

He laughed at that. “Emily doesn’t look all that miserable to me. She’s a confident, successful businesswoman.”

“With no personal life to speak of,” Cora Jane assured him. “I could say exactly the same about you.”

“Have we not had this conversation more times than I can count?” he asked with good-natured exasperation. “I have exactly the amount of social life I’m interested in having.”

“Your focus is on B.J., yada-yada-yada,” she confirmed sarcastically.

“Well, it’s true. B.J. is my top priority. And I don’t think getting involved with your granddaughter, only to have her take off again, is in my son’s best interests, or mine, for that matter. I can only imagine what Jenny’s parents would have to say. They’d find a way to drag me into court and sue for custody of B.J. faster than you can say disaster. I won’t put any of us through that, especially not my son.”

She gave him a disgusted look. “Stubborn fool.”

“I’ve been called worse,” he said, not the least bit offended.

“Well, we’re not done yet,” she told him before heading back inside.

Boone watched her go and heaved a sigh. Heaven help him! Once Cora Jane got an idea in her head, there was no reasoning with her. He wondered if there was any way on God’s green earth to get her to focus her attention on somebody else’s love life. Sadly, he doubted it.

* * *

“Grandmother, I swear if you don’t sit down in one of these booths and put your feet up, I’m going to have Boone carry you out to his truck and take you home,” Emily declared, standing before Cora Jane who looked as if she was about to collapse.

Her grandmother’s eyes flashed. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me,” Emily said, staring her down.

“I think she might, Grandmother,” Gabi said more gently. “If you really want to get this place open tomorrow, you can’t wear yourself out today.”

Cora Jane looked around the restaurant in frustration. “I think we’re fighting a losing battle, girls. There’s no way I can open tomorrow, no matter how badly I might want to. I suppose I might as well admit that and sit down, at least for a minute.”

“Thank you,” Emily said. “If you sit for ten minutes, so can the rest of us. Anybody besides me want something to drink?”

“Sweet tea,” Cora Jane said at once.

“I’ll have the same,” Gabi said. Emily echoed her response.

“I’ll get it,” Samantha offered.

She came back from the kitchen with four tall glasses of sweet tea, along with a pitcher filled to the brim, as well.

She sighed as she slid into the booth next to Gabi.

“I’m not afraid to admit it,” Samantha said with a groan. “I’m beat.”

“And I’ve discovered muscles I had no idea I had,” Gabi said. “I’m sore everywhere.”

“We’ve been at this since late morning,” Emily reminded them. “And it’s now going on seven. I vote we call it a day.” She said that last part as if it were actually a democracy, though they all knew Cora Jane had the last word.

As expected, her grandmother started to protest, but Gabi cut her off. “You wouldn’t even let me stop at the house this morning. We have no idea what we’ll find there. We need to go home while it’s still daylight. My vote’s with Emily.”

“I’ll third that motion,” Samantha said. She reached over and squeezed Cora Jane’s hand. “We’ll get a lot more done when we’re back here fresh in the morning. Another day isn’t going to make that much difference. No one expects you to perform miracles, Grandmother.”

“I just hate the thought of letting folks down,” Cora Jane said.

“How about this?” Emily said. “Tommy Cahill replaced the few boards on the deck he thought were damaged and says it’s solid. The kitchen’s mostly functional. How about you serve a bare-bones menu out there tomorrow? Just eggs, bacon and toast in the morning and maybe burgers at lunchtime. Call in one or two of the waitresses to help and we’ll keep cleaning in here.”

Her grandmother’s eyes brightened at the suggestion. “That could work. And the bakery is going to deliver pastries tomorrow morning, so we’ll have those.”

“You scheduled a bakery delivery?” Emily said. Fearing the answer, she made herself ask, “What time?”

“Five-thirty, same as always,” Cora Jane said cheerfully.

“Oh, sweet heaven,” Samantha muttered. “Then we definitely need to go home. I’m going to crawl from a bath straight into bed.”

Cora Jane chuckled. “What has happened to the three of you? I certainly didn’t raise you all to be such wimps.”

“No, you didn’t,” Gabi agreed. “But I’m starting to recall the downside of spending summers with you.”

“Me, too,” Emily said.

Just then Boone, B.J. and Andrew came in from the parking lot. Boone gazed around at the four of them settled into a booth, shoes off, and shook his head.

“You all must not work for the same boss I have,” he said. “She never mentioned I could quit and put up my feet.”

“We rebelled and took her captive,” Emily explained. “And as soon as any of us can move, we’re going to take her home.”

“What about dinner?” he asked. “Did you grab something to eat here, because with the power out for so long at the house, you shouldn’t risk eating anything left in the refrigerator.”

“I never thought of that,” Gabi said with a groan, “and I’m starving.”

Jerry emerged from the kitchen just in time to overhear her. “Then isn’t it a good thing that I just made up a pot of crab soup. I could throw some burgers on the grill, too. With the generator here running, we didn’t suffer any spoilage.”

“And French fries?” B.J. asked excitedly. “Can I have a burger and fries?” He wrinkled his nose. “No soup, though. Yuck!”

“I’m with B.J.,” Samantha said. “I’ll take a burger and fries. No soup.”

Cora Jane shook her head. “How did you come from around these parts and have such an aversion to seafood?”

Samantha shrugged. “I just know I never liked the smell, the taste or the texture.”

“Or maybe it’s because you had a big-time nasty reaction every time you tried it,” Emily said. “You’re allergic to it, you idiot.”

“Don’t call your sister an idiot,” Cora Jane scolded automatically. “Are you sure it’s an allergy?”

“Swear to God,” Emily said. “Gabi, don’t you remember the time Mother insisted Samantha at least taste a crab cake and the next thing we knew we were traipsing off to the emergency room? She could barely breathe.”

Samantha looked momentarily taken aback. “I’d blocked that, but you’re right. I was scared to death. After that even the thought of seafood turned my stomach.”

“Well, I’ll take the soup, the burger and the fries,” Boone said. “Jerry, why don’t I help with those burgers?”

Emily frowned. “I guess that means we all should be back on our feet helping out. Grandmother, you stay put. We can handle everything. B.J., can you find silverware and napkins? Do you know where they are?”

He beamed at her. “Sure. I’ve helped with setups before. Want me to show you?”

Emily grinned at his eagerness. “That would be great.”

“I’ll get the drinks,” Gabi volunteered. “Are you all sticking with sweet tea? Do you want to switch to beer? Sodas?”

“I’d love a beer,” Samantha said, “but tired as I am, that would knock me right out. I’ll have a soda.”

“Make that two,” Emily said.

As soon as all the orders were in, they went about their respective assignments, working together as smoothly as if they’d been a team for years.

When two tables had been pushed together and set, drinks had been served and Boone came around with the bowls of soup, Cora Jane regarded them all with approval.

“I don’t ever want to hear any of you say you couldn’t take over this place in a heartbeat,” she said. “As long as it’s been since you were last here, you still remember everything I taught you.”

“Don’t go getting any ideas,” Gabi warned her. “Running a restaurant takes skill, business savvy and passion. Boone obviously has it, but I sure don’t.”

“Me, either,” Samantha declared. “Sadly I’ve kept up some of my skills working in restaurants between acting gigs, but it is not my calling.”

“And apparently you’ve forgotten my tendency to lose patience with difficult customers,” Emily reminded her. “I believe you were forced to pay several cleaning bills my last summer here after I accidentally dropped a few things into people’s laps.”

Cora Jane chuckled. “A few of them would have tested my patience, too,” she admitted.

“And I came close to dousing a few drunks with ice water after I heard about the unwanted passes they were making at you girls,” Jerry chimed in. “Only thing that stopped me was that you took care of them yourselves.”

“Actually Gabi and I didn’t,” Samantha said, grinning. “We turned ’em over to Emily. She really enjoyed retaliating.”

“I did take a certain amount of pleasure in it,” she agreed. When she noticed B.J. listening, wide-eyed, she leaned close. “What I did was not appropriate, though. Do not follow my example.”

“Thank you for that,” Boone said wryly. “After listening to you all, I’m probably going to have to completely deprogram him before I ever let him near a customer in any of my restaurants. We pride ourselves on impeccable, friendly service.”

“Well, fortunately, the lunch crowd rarely gets that rowdy,” Cora Jane said. “It’s one of the reasons I’m happy we close by midafternoon and that beer’s the strongest thing we have on the menu. Let the other places deal with the out-of-control drinking, loud music and such. This place is meant for families. It’s rare that the real party folks wander over from the beach in the middle of the day.”

“You’ve definitely made Castle’s into something unique,” Boone said. “It’s a real institution in town. I hope my restaurants last even half as long.”

“You run a good kitchen and have great service,” Jerry told him. “Last time Cora Jane and I came by, we were both impressed. I had a conversation with your chef, and he clearly knows his stuff. He’s got the whole Cajun influence going on, and you know I can appreciate that.”

Emily listened to the praise with growing surprise. Coming from Jerry, those were high marks, indeed. He might be working for a seaside diner, but his own credentials in the kitchen were pretty impeccable, and his standards were high. She recalled when her grandfather had recruited him from a restaurant in Louisiana.

“Thanks,” Boone said. “I paid close attention to everything you and Cora Jane taught me. If I’m succeeding, it’s because I had the best possible teachers.”

He stood up. “Now, let me bus these tables, help with cleanup and get B.J. home. You ladies should probably take off now. It’ll be dark soon, and you still need to be cautious on the road. Most of the debris has been cleared from the highway, but there’s bound to be some piled up on the side roads.”

“Boone, you went by the house,” Cora Jane said. “Anything we need to watch out for there?”

“There are a lot of branches in the yard, but the driveway’s clear. Just watch your step going inside. I flipped on the outside light, just in case the power came back on. I called your neighbors earlier and they say the power did come on over there. You should be okay. I didn’t spot any leaks in the house, but you might want to take a closer look.”

Cora Jane gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem. Are you still planning to open here tomorrow?”

“Just with deck seating,” Emily told him. She gave a pointed look at Cora Jane. “We compromised.”

“Then I’ll be back here early in case you need help,” he promised. “What time?”

“Grandmother scheduled the bakery delivery for five-thirty,” Emily said dryly.

Boone laughed. “Of course she did. And that is why I run a restaurant that serves only dinner. I also postponed our reopening till the weekend. I wanted my employees to have time to get their own situations under control, deal with insurance issues or whatever they needed to do.”

“Can we come help you out, instead?” Samantha pleaded.

“Traitors,” Cora Jane said. “Family comes first, and don’t you forget it. We’ll all be here at five-fifteen with smiles on our faces.”

Jerry chuckled at their groans. “Well, at least you and I will be, Cora Jane.”

“Oh, we’ll be here,” Emily said. “But the smiles might be expecting too much.”

Fully clothed might be the best they could promise.

5

“Bad news, boss,” Pete Sanchez announced when Boone called him to check in after finally getting home from Castle’s and getting an exhausted B.J. into a bath and then to bed.

Pete was Boone’s manager of restaurant operations. Though Pete was a year younger than Boone, he’d come to him with ten years of solid experience. Single and eager to be on the go, he spent most of his time overseeing the restaurants in Norfolk and Charlotte, taking the burden of travel off of Boone. Even so, he’d come straight back to North Carolina the minute residents and business owners had been allowed back on the barrier islands.

“Tell me,” Boone said. If the usually low-key Pete thought the news was bad, it probably rose to the level of disaster.

“Looks like the restaurant’s been flooded one too many times, and the last repairs must have been made with poor quality materials. When we pulled up the carpets, we found sections of rotting floorboards all over the place.”

“Blast it!” Boone muttered.

“It gets worse,” Pete disclosed direly. “We discovered mold behind some of the drywall on the side closest to the bay, where the water stayed high the longest. A lot of mold. It’s pretty pervasive.”

“You have to be kidding me,” Boone said, thoroughly frustrated. If there was extensive mold now, even as quickly as it could appear after a flooding incident, this definitely hadn’t happened overnight. Nor had those sections of floor rotted since this last hurricane blew through. These were most likely things his inspectors should have caught before he bought the property.

Exhaling a sigh, he concluded he’d just have to consider this a lesson well-learned. Next time, he’d hire an actual contractor to go over any potential real estate purchase to assure that the inspection wasn’t superficial or in the seller’s favor.

“Why didn’t you call me on my cell?” he asked Pete when he had his temper under control. “I could have gotten Tommy over there today to take a look.”

“I tried, but I guess the service is still spotty,” Pete responded. “One of the cell towers blew down or something. I did get through once and tried to leave a message, but it cut me off before I could explain what was going on.”

Boone pulled his cell phone from his pocket and noted the call logged in early in the afternoon. It must have come in while he’d had the noisy chain saw going. “Sorry. I was tied up over at Castle’s.”

“I knew that, so I didn’t want to make a big deal out of something that could just as easily be handled tomorrow. I thought about calling Tommy myself, but I figured he was there with you. You’d told me you wanted him to get Cora Jane’s roof fixed. I know how you feel about making that a priority.”

“It’s okay, Pete. None of this is your fault. I’ll call Tommy now. We’ll both come by first thing in the morning so he can assess the damage and give me a timetable for the repairs.”

“You talking daylight?”

“Or thereabouts,” Boone confirmed.

“You want me there?”

“No, give yourself a break,” he told the night owl. “I’ll handle this one. How about meeting me there around nine and we’ll come up with an action plan. Looks like I’ll need you to stick around here longer than we originally talked about. Is there anything you need to get back to right away in Norfolk or Charlotte?”

“No, both restaurants are good,” Pete assured him. “You have excellent management teams in place.”

Boone chuckled. “You pretty much have to say that. You hired most of them.”

“Doesn’t make me biased, though. If they screw up, that’s on me, too.” He hesitated, then said, “I’ve been thinking we could probably start looking for that fourth location you talked about once things around here settle down.”

“You getting bored, Pete?”

“Maybe just a little,” he acknowledged. “You know I love doing the start-ups.”

“Well, we’ll get serious about the next one soon,” Boone assured him. “Start compiling the market research for me, okay?”

“Will do,” Pete said eagerly. “In the meantime, should I cancel the ads announcing the reopening for this weekend?”

“We’ll decide that after I’ve been through the place with Tommy. Maybe it’s not as bad as you thought at first glance.”

“This is bad,” Pete warned him. “If that mold has spread beyond what I saw, we’re talking major renovations.”

Boone thought of the compromise Cora Jane had reached to get Castle’s reopened. “Is the kitchen operational?”

“Good to go and spotless,” Pete confirmed.

“And we know the deck is solid,” Boone said thoughtfully.

“What are you thinking?”

“That we could serve on a limited basis out there temporarily. We’re at the end of the season. Tourists will be pouring in here again by the weekend, based on what I heard from the local officials earlier today. I’d hate for the wait staff to lose out on the kind of tips they get this time of year.”

“You’d want to keep them all on, even with limited seating?”

“Dividing the tips more ways would be better than laying ’em all off, don’t you think?”

“And you’re not worried about our reputation if we can’t handle the usual crowds and can only serve a couple of specialties, rather than our full menu?”

Boone chuckled. “If anyone’s in a rush or out here to review the food, I imagine we can put a good public relations spin on keeping our kitchen open, our food selections limited but high quality, and our people working, despite being damaged by a hurricane.” He thought of Gabi. “I know just the person to draft a press release, in fact. I imagine she can make us sound like benevolent angels.”

Pete laughed. “If she can pull that off for a couple of guys like you and me, she’s a magician. Get that done and I’ll have it distributed. Might as well do a preemptive strike and generate some good buzz.”

“Now you’re getting into the spirit of this,” Boone said. “Put that press release on the list of things we need to finalize when I see you in the morning.”

Pete chuckled. “You are such a glass-half-full man,” he praised. “I don’t know how you do it. Even after Jenny, well, let’s just say it’s one of the reasons I love working for you. I know this was lousy news, yet you’ve turned it around, come up with a plan and are ready for action.”

“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” Boone joked, thinking of how often he’d gotten by on practically nothing just to keep the first restaurant afloat in the early days. “And making sure the action really happens on schedule is why I pay you the big bucks. See you in the morning, Pete.”

As soon as he’d disconnected that call, he punched in the numbers for Gabi’s cell phone. Other than Cora Jane’s, hers was the one Castle number he’d memorized. She’d be the closest if he ever saw a need for a family member to get here in a hurry. He’d last used it just before the storm to make sure that someone was coming to get Cora Jane away from the danger zone. He’d known she’d never choose to go on her own. If she ever found out he was behind Sam Castle’s appearance on her doorstep, she’d be furious, but he was willing to take the heat to keep her safe.

Now Gabi answered, her voice sleepy. “Boone? What’s up?”

“Sorry, did I wake you?” he asked.

“No, just settling down.”

“I promise not to keep you long.” He explained about the crisis. “Any chance I could hire you to draft a press release for me on short notice? Pete’s worried people will be disappointed if we’re not operating at full capacity.”

“And you want them to see that you’re open at all just for the benefit of your employees and your customers, even though the situation isn’t optimal,” she summarized.

“Exactly. Can you do something with that?”

“Of course I can. Leave it to me. Is the fax machine at the restaurant operating? Or do you want me to email you the document?”

“Send it by email. That’ll be more efficient for distribution, I think.”

“Perfect. What time’s your meeting with Pete?”

“Nine.”

“You’ll have it well before that. And if anything about your plan changes, just give me a call and I can do a new draft on my iPad and get it right back over to you.”

“You’re an angel, Gabi.”

“Seems to me your halo’s pretty shiny, too,” she teased. “Want me to spread the word about that to anyone in particular?”

“I don’t need you to talk me up to Emily,” he said, grasping exactly what she was getting at.

“Why not? It couldn’t hurt.”

“Stick to PR, not meddling, please. Don’t make me regret calling you.”

“Okay, since you asked so nicely, I’ll focus on the task assigned for now.”

“Will you let Cora Jane know why Tommy and I are running late?”

“Don’t worry about that. You did more than your share to help out today. We’ll see you when you get there.”

“Thanks, Gabi.”

He hung up wondering what the odds were she’d keep her nose out of his personal business. Given her genetic makeup, probably not all that good.

* * *

Emily’s gaze kept drifting toward the parking lot. It was midmorning, and there’d been no sign of Boone. Castle’s had been swamped from the minute they’d opened the doors at six. Word seemed to have spread quickly among the locals that they were open for business, at least with deck seating. After an initial trickle, there in time to see a glorious golden sunrise, there hadn’t been a vacant table the rest of the morning.

No one had complained about the limited menu, either. The coffee was strong. The eggs, bacon, toast and grits were plentiful. Everyone seemed thoroughly happy with the limited selection. The baskets of free mini-pastries Cora Jane insisted on putting at each table were a huge hit, too. And the long-time regulars had been delighted to see Emily, Gabi and Samantha working side by side with Cora Jane again.

With the help of two waitresses, Emily and her sisters had managed to keep things moving, but they hadn’t had a minute to deal with any more of the cleanup inside.

Now with the customers thinned out, Emily was finally able to take a deep breath. She carried a cup of coffee to a table by the railing where she could see the ocean...and the parking lot.

“Looking for somebody?” Samantha teased when she joined her, propping her sneaker-clad feet on an adjacent chair with a sigh of relief.

“No, why?”

“You’ve spent a lot of time with your eyes peeled to the parking lot. I just thought you might be wondering where Boone is.”

“Well, he did say he’d be here today at the crack of dawn,” she said. Years of doubts and bitterness crept into her voice. “Despite Grandmother’s faith in him, I guess he can’t be taken at his word, after all.”

“He called Cora Jane right after we got here,” Samantha reported. “And he spoke to Gabi last night to explain.”

Emily stiffened. “He spoke to Gabi? Why?”

“He had some work he wanted her to do for him.”

“What kind of work?”

Samantha grinned. “Please do not tell me you’re jealous of your own sister?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just wondering when he and Gabi got to be so tight that he’d ask her for help? Why not you? Or me?”

“Maybe because Gabi’s the one with public relations experience,” Samantha said patiently. “If you give me two seconds, I can explain all this and put your mind at rest.”

Emily knew she was overreacting, looking for excuses to judge him so she could keep him at a distance, so she drew in a deep breath and nodded. “Explain away.”

Samantha described the mess they’d found on closer inspection at Boone’s restaurant, Boone’s solution for working around it and Gabi’s role in spreading that word.

“This morning he had to meet with the people doing the cleanup over at his place, see for himself how serious the problem is and make some decisions,” Samantha concluded.

“And Tommy Cahill? Where’s he? Boone promised Grandmother he’d be working on the roof today. They’re predicting thunderstorms later this afternoon. We’ll be underwater inside, if he doesn’t at least have a tarp down up there.”

“Tommy’s with Boone, checking to see what repairs are needed. He’s meeting his crew here at eleven.” Samantha glanced toward the parking lot as several pickups turned in. “And there they are now. Right on schedule.”

She slanted a look at Emily. “You might want to cut Boone some slack. He spent all day here yesterday, even though he had his own worries. He put Cora Jane and Castle’s first.”

“You’re right,” Emily admitted, knowing that once more she’d misjudged him. “I know I’m just looking for reasons not to get along with him.”

“Because you’re scared,” Samantha suggested.

“Scared of what?”

“Falling for him all over again.”

“Not going to happen,” Emily insisted, though Samantha had hit the nail on the head.

Samantha grinned. “We could take bets on that, little sis, but I never take money from the delusional.”

* * *

After her conversation with Samantha, Emily went inside the restaurant, grabbed her laptop and slipped into one of the booths, hoping to get a little bit of her own work done before she was needed to wait tables or do more cleaning. She had a list of suppliers she wanted to check for the availability of their ski lodge furniture. With a deadline staring her in the face, she couldn’t afford to deal with anyone who didn’t have most things in stock in sufficient quantities. She didn’t have the luxury of waiting for custom pieces.

She’d been jotting notes and scanning websites for a while when she noticed B.J. standing quietly by the table.

“Hey there,” she said with a smile.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, sidling closer.

“Looking for furniture.”

“Can I see?”

“Sure,” she said, sliding over to make room for him.

He crawled onto the bench and knelt, leaning into her. The feel of his body with its little boy smell caught her off guard. She’d never really thought much about being a mother, but suddenly what she guessed were faintly maternal instincts were coursing through her. How about that? she thought, surprised and not entirely dismayed by the sensation.

She observed the way his brow was knit with a frown, the tip of his tongue caught between his teeth as he studied the screen intently. She’d seen that same expression on Boone’s face a time or two, when he was deep in thought. Finally B.J. turned to her.

“That stuff would look kinda weird in here,” he said hesitantly.

Emily laughed at his apt assessment. “It definitely would,” she agreed. “It’s not for here. Tell me why you think it would be wrong, though.”

“It’s all dark and it’s too big.”

“Precisely,” she said. “You have a good eye. Now, can you think of anyplace where it might look right?”

“Someplace really big,” he said eventually.

“Do you think it might look good in front of a great big stone fireplace?” she asked.

His eyes lit up. “You mean like one of those places where people go in the winter to ski?”

“That’s exactly it,” she said, impressed once more. “It’s for a new ski lodge in Colorado.”

“Cool. I think it would be better if it were red, though.”

“Why is that?” she asked, laughing at his boundless confidence in expressing his opinion.

“Because red’s my favorite color. It’s the color of fire trucks and candy apples.”

“And you like both of those things.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, then sobered. “And it was the color of my mom’s car. The one she picked out before she died.” He met Emily’s gaze. “Daddy bought it for her as a surprise for her birthday, but she never got to drive it. She got too sick.”

Emily swallowed against the lump in her throat. “I’m sorry.”

“Sometimes I miss her,” B.J. confided.

“Of course you do. My mom died a while back, and I still miss her, too.”

“Do you ever cry?”

“Sure. Do you?”

“Uh-huh, but I try to be brave, because I know talking about her makes my dad really, really sad.”

Emily suddenly wanted to gather him close and hold him until he could shed all the tears he’d stored up. It wasn’t her place, though. Instead, she said gently, “I’ll bet your dad would want you to talk about your mom anytime you need to. Even when it makes us sad to talk about someone, I think it always helps if we can remember them with someone else who loved them.”

B.J.’s expression brightened slightly. “You really think so?”

“I really do,” she said. “Where’s your dad now?”

“He’s still at his restaurant. I was bored over there, so he called Ms. Cora Jane and she said it was okay if I came over here with Tommy.”

“Does she know you’re in here with me?”

“Uh-huh,” he said, then flushed guiltily. “She sent me in to tell you to get back outside and get to work.”

Emily laughed, immediately suspicious that it hadn’t been Cora Jane’s sole motive. “Did she really? Well, how about we don’t tell her that you forgot? We’ll tell her that I asked for your expert opinion on the job I’m working on. That’ll make you my consultant.”

“Really?” he said, his eyes wide.

“Sure thing,” she said. “But I guess my break is over. I’d better do what she said and get outside.”

And later she’d have a few words with her grandmother about deliberately sending B.J. inside for the sole purpose of nudging the two of them a little closer. She had a feeling there was going to come a time when she’d regret that it had worked so successfully.

* * *

Boone had arrived at Castle’s and stepped inside the restaurant just in time to overhear his son’s conversation with Emily. Her insight and her tenderness caught him by surprise, but it was B.J.’s fear of upsetting him that made his heart ache. He slipped back outside before they caught sight of him.

“Weren’t they in there?” Cora Jane asked, looking puzzled by his quick retreat.

“They were there,” he said tightly.

“Why do you sound angry about that?”

“I’m not angry,” he said. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was feeling, but anger wasn’t part of it. Blind panic, maybe. Once again, he’d seen evidence of his boy bonding with a woman who would wind up leaving and hurting him. There were a lot of things in life he hadn’t been able to protect B.J. against, but he hadn’t anticipated needing to protect him from another loss quite so soon.

“I think I’d better keep him away from here for the next couple of weeks,” he said, trying to figure out how he’d pull that off without a major rebellion on B.J.’s part.

“Why on earth would you do such a thing?” Cora Jane asked, clearly mystified.

“He’s getting too close to Emily.”

“Seems to me that’s a good thing for both of them,” she replied.

“She’s leaving,” Boone reminded her. “Me, I know how that works, how it feels. He’s a kid. He’s already lost his mother. What if he gets attached to Emily and she walks out of his life? How’s he supposed to cope with that?”

Cora Jane regarded him impatiently. “I know you have your issues with Emily, but do you really think she’d be so cruel that she’d get close to B.J., then walk away without looking back? You’re not giving her much credit.”

“Why should I? She left me without a backward glance.”

“And we both know why she did that,” Cora Jane reminded him gently. “She was terrified that with one word, you could make her stay. Instead you didn’t even try. Worse, in the blink of an eye, you turned right around and married Jenny.”

He frowned at the hint of accusation he heard in her voice. “You actually think the breakup was my fault?”

She smiled at his indignation. “No, I think she broke up and your pride stopped you from trying to fix things.”

“You let her go because you loved her,” he accused. “How is what I did any different? I could see she’d never be happy here with me.”

“Really? Even though you could have offered her something I couldn’t, the future she really wants?”

“Cora Jane, she made it abundantly clear that a future with me wasn’t what she wanted.”

“Maybe not right that second,” she conceded. “But she loved you then, and I believe she loves you now. She just has to figure out how to have it all, that choosing you doesn’t mean sacrificing the career she wants. That’s a lesson that comes with maturity. I think she’s just about there now.”

Boone scowled at her. “Too late,” he said stubbornly. “What’s that expression—once burned, twice shy?”

“So you don’t believe in second chances? Seems to me you had a couple of them in your day. I recall sending my husband to the police station one night to bail you out when you got caught trying to buy beer with a fake ID. You called me instead of your folks.”

Boone winced. “I was an idiot.”

“But I didn’t hold it against you, did I?” she said, not denying the truth of his assessment.

“Because you’re a saint,” he joked. “Or maybe because you wanted something to hold over my head for a lifetime.”

“Or maybe just because I love you and know that your flaws are part of the bargain,” she said.

He sighed as he met her gaze. “I hear what you’re saying, Cora Jane. I really do. I just can’t take another chance, not with my heart and sure as hell not with my son’s.”

Left unsaid was the furor he’d stir up with Jenny’s parents if they got wind that Emily was back in his life. They unreasonably held her as accountable for any misery Jenny felt as they did Boone. If anything would bring them back to Sand Castle Bay on a tear, that would be it.

“There’s too much at stake,” he told Cora Jane. “Nothing’s worth the risk of hurting B.J.”

“Then I feel sorry for you,” Cora Jane said quietly. “Nothing in life comes without risk. Would you have given up the chance to have B.J. if you’d known ahead of time the pain you’d face when you lost Jenny?”

“Of course not.”

“That’s all I’m saying. If you want to experience the highest of the highs, then you have to take a chance that you’ll get the lows, as well.”

“I want my life—and B.J.’s—on a nice even keel,” he countered, knowing even as he said it that it was an impossible pipe dream.

“A noble goal, but an unrealistic one,” Cora Jane admonished. “Life doesn’t work out that way.” She held his gaze. “And you know as well as I do, Boone Dorsett, you’d be bored to tears if it did.”

Maybe. Maybe not. He sure would be willing to give it a try for a time.

6

B.J. burst through the door onto the deck at Castle’s, caught sight of Boone and went running in his direction. Emily followed more hesitantly, regretting that she couldn’t avoid the man completely. Instead, she seemed to be drawn to him like a magnet.

“Daddy, guess what? I’m Emily’s consultant,” B.J. announced happily.

Boone smiled at his son’s excitement but gave Emily a curious look. “How’d that happen?”

She shrugged. “It turns out he’s amazingly perceptive about interior design. I appreciate his insights.”

Boone didn’t even try to hide his skepticism. “He’s eight. What kind of insights could he have?”

“He knew immediately that the furniture I was looking at online wasn’t suited for here,” she explained, then grinned. “He didn’t hesitate to tell me that, either. That’s a very good trait in a consultant.”

Boone actually chuckled at that. “Yeah, there’s not much he holds back. If it crosses his mind, it comes out of his mouth.” He ruffled his son’s hair. “You weren’t pestering her, though, were you?”

B.J. regarded him impatiently. “I told you, I’m her official consultant. She wants my help.”

“Now, if only he could wait tables for me,” Emily said, anxious to get away, though not exactly enthusiastic about the prospect of dealing with what already looked like a huge lunch crowd, proving that, as usual, Cora Jane’s instincts about reopening had been right.

“I could carry stuff,” B.J. offered eagerly.

“Sorry, buddy, we have to get going,” Boone said. “I have to get back over to my restaurant. I just wanted to make sure Tommy’s guys had things under control with the roof.”

“Judging from the hammering overhead when I was working inside, they must be making progress,” Emily said.

Boone nodded. “Tommy says the protective sheeting will all be in place before any rain this afternoon. They’ll have a good start on the new shingles, too.”

“That’ll be a huge relief to Grandmother. She was afraid we were going to be dealing with more water damage inside. Speaking of that, did she tell you that the cashier station is a mess?”

Boone nodded. “I’ll take a look before I leave. I have an excellent cabinetmaker I use. I can get Wade over here tomorrow to build something exactly like she wants to replace it. If there’s any other updating she wants in the dining room, just let Wade know.”

“Updating?” Emily said, rolling her eyes. “I’m lucky she’s letting me bring in the painters.”

“Yeah, she is a big fan of the status quo.” He gave her a searching look. “You okay with that now?”

Emily shrugged. “I’ll continue nudging, but I’m not holding out a lot of hope.”

“Okay, then, I’d better check out that cashier area, then hit the road. Let’s go, B.J.”

“But I want to stay here,” B.J. protested at once.

“Not this afternoon,” Boone said firmly. “It’s too busy for you to be underfoot right now. Cora Jane can’t keep an eye on you when it’s crowded like this.”

“I will,” Emily blurted impulsively before she could stop herself. “If that’s okay with you, that is. Between Grandmother, Gabi, Samantha and me, he’ll be fine. And he can always hang out in the kitchen. Jerry loves having him around. Besides, don’t you have your hands full over at your place? I heard about the damage you found.”

“I do, but—”

B.J. bounced up and down. “Please, Dad.”

“Sorry, pal. I made arrangements for you to spend the afternoon with Alex. His mom said you could have a sleepover tonight, too.”

“I’d rather stay here,” B.J. pleaded.

“We’re only open until three, anyway,” Emily reminded Boone. “Then we’ll be cleaning some more. We can keep him busy with that. Then one of us can drop him off at your restaurant or the house later.”

She wondered if the real issue was Boone wanting him out from underfoot because he had a date tonight. For all she knew, he was involved with someone. “Or if you have plans for tonight, he can stay over at our house,” she suggested mildly.

“No plans,” Boone said, an oddly tense note in his voice. “Usually he loves having a sleepover at Alex’s house because they have all the game systems I won’t let him have at home.”

“But today I want to stay here and help,” B.J. repeated emphatically.

“Okay, fine,” Boone agreed with unmistakable reluctance. “Let me speak to Cora Jane.”

“No need,” Emily said. “I’ll let her know.”

“Then I’ll pick him up at your place tonight around seven-thirty. Will that work? That way if I get held up at the restaurant, he won’t have to hang around there.”

“Absolutely. Knowing you’re coming by will be the perfect excuse to get Grandmother out of here at a decent hour.”

“Then I guess it works out well all around,” he said, a wry note in his voice. He hunkered down in front of his son and held his gaze. “You do as you’re told and don’t give Emily or Ms. Cora Jane any trouble.”

“Promise,” B.J. said, and scampered quickly away as if he feared his father might change his mind.

Boone studied Emily with a narrowed gaze. “I’m not entirely happy about this.”

“So I gathered. Mind telling me why?”

“I told you the other day. I’m scared to death you’ll disappoint him when you leave.”

His candor wasn’t a total shock, but his lack of faith in her hurt more than she’d expected it to. “Boone, he’s a wonderful boy. I won’t let him down. I promise.”

His gaze locked with hers. “I’m holding you to that, Em. That boy is the most precious thing I have in my life. He’s been through enough.”

“And so have you,” she said, understanding the pain they’d both suffered. “I get it, Boone.”

He hesitated, holding her gaze, then nodded. “I’ll see you later, then.”

She swallowed hard as he turned and walked away. “Later,” she whispered, wondering if she hadn’t just made a huge mistake by making a promise she’d never be able to keep, no matter how good her intentions were. After all, what did she really know about protecting a little boy’s heart?

* * *

It was about six-thirty, and Boone was wrapping things up for the day, preparing to head over to Cora Jane’s house to pick up B.J., when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID but didn’t recognize the area code or number.

“Boone, it’s Emily,” she said when he answered.

The shakiness in her voice put him immediately on full alert. “What’s wrong? Has something happened to B.J.?”

“He fell in the parking lot and cut himself on a nail sticking out of a board,” she blurted as if she had to get the words out in a hurry. She drew in a deep breath, then added, “It’s a pretty deep gash, but he’s fine. I swear, Boone, he really is fine. He’s handling it like a real trouper.”

“Where are you?” he asked, trying to temper panic and the need to lash out. He’d known leaving B.J. behind today was foolish. What had he been thinking?

“We’re at Ethan Cole’s Emergency Clinic,” Emily told him. “Grandmother called Ethan and he met us here. B.J. needs stitches and probably a tetanus shot, unless he’s already up-to-date on that. That’s really why I’m calling. Ethan doesn’t want to give him the shot if he doesn’t need it.”

“Let me speak to Ethan,” Boone demanded, needing not only the insights of an expert, but his reassurance.

“Of course,” Emily agreed at once.

“Hey, Boone,” Ethan said, sounding calm and completely unruffled, exactly the demeanor one wanted from an emergency physician. “B.J.’s going to be just fine. Hasn’t shed a tear. In fact, he’s excited about having a scar. I’m numbing the area right now so I can do those stitches. He’ll be good as new in a couple of weeks.”

“Swear to me he’s okay.”

“He’s okay,” Ethan said. “Emily had the bleeding stopped by the time they got here. She really kept her wits about her and kept B.J. calm in the process.”

“What the hell was he doing running around in the parking lot, anyway? And where’d that board come from? I cleaned the parking lot of debris myself.”

“You’re asking the wrong person,” Ethan said. “But, if you’re looking for speculation, seems to me it could have washed into the road overnight on high tide and somebody tossed it into the parking lot. Does that really matter?”

Boone sighed. “I suppose not. I knew I shouldn’t have left him over at Castle’s today. Emily was supposed to be keeping an eye on him.”

“Sounds to me as if she and Cora Jane were both right there when he tripped and fell. It was an accident, Boone. Things like this happen, especially to little boys who don’t think about the dangers that might be underfoot after a storm.”

“But I warned him,” Boone said in frustration.

Ethan chuckled. “Do you not recall that eight-year-old kids have the attention span of a gnat? I can’t tell you how many people I’ve patched up this week from incidents just like this one. Where does B.J. stand on his tetanus shots?”

“He’s up-to-date,” Boone said.

“Then it’s all good. I’ll have him out of here in a half hour.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Why don’t you just meet them at Cora Jane’s as planned?” Ethan suggested. “It’ll give that temper of yours time to cool down. I know you’re looking to place blame, but I’m telling you it’s an accident that could have happened to anyone. Don’t make Emily the scapegoat. If you do, you’ll just make Cora Jane feel guilty, too, and she’s shaken enough.”

Boone sighed. “You’re probably right.” He hesitated, then asked, “How are your sewing skills? He’s not going to look as if he was sewn up by a butcher, is he?”

Ethan laughed. “You do recall that not that long ago I was stitching up soldiers on the battlefield in Afghanistan, right? The United States Army trusted me to know what I was doing. The scar will be real pretty, I promise.”

Boone finally managed a chuckle. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’m overreacting. Thanks, Ethan.”

“Any time, pal. See you soon. I’ll want to see B.J. to remove the stitches in a couple of weeks. Just stop by during office hours or if that doesn’t work, give me a call and I’ll come by the house.”

“We’ll settle up the bill then, too,” Boone promised.

“Just invite me over for steak next time you’re grilling,” Ethan said. “It’s been a while since we’ve gotten together.”

“Then we’ll plan it,” Boone promised. A guy’s night was way too rare these days. He could use one, too, a night free of the complications that seemed to be piling up in his life these days.

When he’d disconnected the call, he drew in a deep breath and said a little prayer thanking God that B.J.’s injury hadn’t been worse. He understood that accidents could happen anytime, anyplace to anyone. But this had been his boy, and B.J. had been in Emily’s care. He wondered if he had it in him to forgive that, despite the logic that told him no forgiveness ought to be required.

* * *

“Daddy’s going to be really, really mad at me,” B.J. said, looking dejected as Emily drove him and Cora Jane home.

“He’s just worried, that’s all,” Emily assured him, though he’d certainly sounded angry on the phone. She hoped that had been the fear talking and that Ethan’s reassurance had settled him down. The last thing B.J. or Cora Jane needed was to have Boone storming in on a tear.

They’d barely pulled into the driveway at home when Boone turned in behind them, tires squealing as he hit his brakes. He was out of his car practically before the engine cut off. He yanked open the back door of the rental Emily was driving, his expression easing only when he saw for himself that B.J. was essentially in one piece.

B.J. held out his bandaged arm. “Dr. Cole says I’m going to have a scar,” he said excitedly. “I had to have stitches. I didn’t even cry.”

“He was incredibly brave,” Cora Jane confirmed, giving Boone a warning look.

Emily watched Boone blink back a tear as he forced himself to give his son a congratulatory high-five.

“You’re not going to ground me, are you?” B.J. asked worriedly. “Or yell at anybody? Or keep me from going to Castle’s?”

“You might need to take a couple of days off till your arm’s healed up,” Boone said. “But, no, I’m not going to ground you.”

“How about the yelling?” Emily asked quietly. “I imagine you’d like to direct a few pointed words at me.”

Boone glanced up at her, his eyes filled with emotion. He looked as if there was plenty he wanted to say, but he managed to censor himself.

Cora Jane seemed to sense that the two of them needed to talk privately. She put an arm around B.J.’s shoulders. “Come on, B.J. Let’s get those cookies and the milk I promised you. I’ll bet Samantha has them on the table waiting for us.”

“All right!” B.J. enthused, then took off running.

Boone shook his head as he watched him. “That boy never slows down. I’m sure that’s how he fell in the parking lot.”

“It is,” Emily confirmed. “I’m really sorry, Boone.”

“Intellectually, I know it wasn’t your fault.” He tapped his chest. “But in here, I’m looking for somebody to blame.”

“I get that, and it did happen on my watch, right after I’d assured you he’d be safe with me.”

“And I was standing right here when he took off running across the lawn just now, oblivious to all the branches that could trip him up. He’s a rambunctious kid.”

“That almost sounds as if you’re letting me off the hook,” Emily said.

“Trying to,” he admitted, grinning. “Ethan gave me an earful. That helped to put things in perspective, too.”

“You two are still good friends?”

Boone nodded. “Ethan didn’t make it easy when he first got home from Afghanistan. He was angry and bitter and pretty much hated the world after he lost his lower leg.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “He lost his leg? I had no idea.”

“He’d be delighted to hear that. The truth is that most people don’t even notice. He’s mastered the prosthesis, had a huge attitude adjustment and finally seems to be on track again.”

“That’s amazing. Good for him.”

“It really is good for him,” Boone said. “There’s nobody around I admire more.”

“Wasn’t he engaged? Is he married now?”

Boone hesitated, then said, “That didn’t work out. And, word of advice, don’t bring it up around him.”

Emily stared at him. “They broke up because of his injury?” she guessed.

Boone nodded. “Talk about being bitter where women are concerned? Ethan wrote the book on it.”

“That’s a shame,” she said.

Boone nodded.

Emily met his gaze. “You coming in for cookies and milk? Or would you rather have something stronger? I think we have some beer.”

Boone looked torn. She had a hunch if it hadn’t been for B.J., he’d have taken off right then. He surprised her, though, by suggesting she get a couple of beers.

“Maybe we could sit down by the water,” he said. “Catch up?”

“Sure,” she said, eager to accept the olive branch he was extending.

When she went inside to retrieve the beers, she found her sisters doting on B.J., exclaiming over his bandaged arm and his bravery.

“Where’s Boone?” Cora Jane asked.

“Outside. I’m going to grab a couple of beers and join him for a little while, if that’s okay.”

The three women at the table exchanged amused looks.

“I win!” Samantha said, holding out her hand.

“Win what?” Emily asked with a narrowed gaze.

Cora Jane and Gabi each put five dollar bills into Samantha’s outstretched hand. The sight of her sister gloating grated.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.