The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,100
the beach in his suit pants and white cotton shirt, which he’d unbuttoned at the neck when he removed his tie and jacket in the car. He’d taken off his shoes and tossed them on the sand beside him when he chose this spot. He seemed to be alone and he was glad. That was the whole idea of coming here.
In the pale moonlight, he couldn’t see much more than the white crests of the waves as they rushed toward him. They came to within a few inches before falling back into the sea. The tide was coming in. If he didn’t move, he’d soon get wet, suit and all, but he didn’t care.
As he drank the beer he’d grabbed when he’d returned the stuff they’d borrowed from the restaurant, he told himself that he should be celebrating. They’d raised $56,493 to help pay for his mother’s cancer treatments. That was a significant amount and would bring him and his father some much-needed relief. He’d already given his parents every dime of his savings and couldn’t earn more now that he was working for them, so having the community rally behind them was a beautiful thing.
And yet, here he sat, feeling like shit. Money wouldn’t necessarily ensure his mother’s survival. He told himself that was the reason. But the money gave him hope. The real problem was Autumn. She’d pulled away from him just when he’d begun to believe he’d finally found someone he could love and admire.
After wedging the bottle into the sand, he fell back onto his elbows and stared up at the velvety sky. His father had always been a strong man. Quinn had never seen Mike cry in public before, and yet he’d stood up at the end of the fundraiser, his voice breaking as he thanked everyone who contributed. Quinn understood how helpless his father felt in the face of Beth’s cancer; he felt helpless, too. But he was beginning to worry about his father almost as much as his mother. Every day that Beth grew weaker, Mike changed, too. Quinn was afraid he wouldn’t be the same man if they lost her.
“Fuck love,” he muttered. He wasn’t sure anything else caused quite as much suffering. His marriage had been a nightmare—the night Sarah had stabbed him surreal—and he’d hated every difficult decision he’d had to make after, when it came time for her trial. He was stupid to sign up for another relationship, anyway.
His phone went off in his pocket, but he let it ring. He didn’t want to talk to anybody, even if it was Autumn. He was sincerely grateful for all she’d done to help his family, but they seemed to be at the end of what he’d expected to be a new beginning, and he didn’t have the reserves to deal with more disappointment right now.
Had she backed away because she’d found out that Taylor was pregnant? All week, he’d been going back and forth on whether he should tell her what he’d learned from Caden. But she’d never given him the chance. She’d refused to see him, had been brief and in a hurry to get off the phone if he called and had barely texted him back.
Now he could safely say Taylor’s pregnancy was none of his business. He’d just stay away from Autumn and her kids, let them go on with their lives. That was what she obviously wanted.
His phone started to ring again. Afraid that maybe he’d been wrong to ignore it the first time, that maybe his mother had taken a turn for the worse, he pulled it out of his pocket.
It wasn’t either of his parents—thank God. It was, in fact, Autumn.
Hitting the ignore button, he put it back in his pocket and finished his beer. He was about to grab his shoes so he could leave, when it rang a third time.
With a sigh, he checked: Autumn.
Again, he silenced it—and this time he turned on the do not disturb feature.
“Really?” a voice said, coming from close by. “You’re not going to take my call?”
Leaving his shoes where they were, he came quickly to his feet.
He squinted in the direction from which he’d heard Autumn’s voice, but he couldn’t see her until she emerged from the darkness only a few feet away. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to be rude. I just needed some time, and figured, as late as it is, you’d think I was asleep, anyway.”