Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,37
of us you got scared by the intensity of your feelings for Boone and took off.”
“I left because I wanted a career somewhere else,” Emily retorted impatiently.
“Anywhere Boone didn’t happen to be,” Samantha said. She looked at Cora Jane. “Am I right?”
“Seemed that way to me,” Cora Jane confirmed.
“And look how well that turned out,” Samantha added. “Surprise, surprise, he took you at your word and moved on, leaving you hurt and confused and bitter.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Emily said. “And I don’t have time to sit around arguing with you. Samantha, where are the car keys?”
Her sister tossed them to her. “The rental papers are in the glove compartment.”
“Thanks,” Emily said tersely.
She leaned down to give Samantha a hug, then dropped a kiss on her grandmother’s forehead. “Love you. See you soon.”
“I’d better, missy, or I’ll send someone after you,” Cora Jane warned. “I didn’t raise you to be a coward. Neither did your parents.”
“I am not a coward,” Emily said, but she could tell she was wasting her breath. Neither of them believed she was leaving because of work. Heck, she wasn’t entirely convinced of it herself. She’d made the decision impulsively last night because, well, to be honest, she had gotten scared. Sophia’s latest panic attack had given her the perfect excuse. Now she had to follow through or look like an indecisive idiot in front of her family and anyone else who might be the least bit interested.
* * *
Boone managed to keep B.J. away from Castle’s until after lunch, but only by bribing him with a handheld game he’d been wanting for months. He could already tell he’d made a mistake. Just as he’d feared, B.J. hadn’t put it down for a single second all morning.
As they pulled into the Castle’s lot, Boone held out his hand. “Turn it over,” he commanded.
“But you gave it to me,” B.J. complained. “And I want to show Ms. Cora Jane and Emily.”
“You can show them another time. For now, we need to put it away. We’ll decide later how long you can play with it each day.”
“But that’s not fair,” B.J. argued. “You said it was mine.”
“It is yours, but there are limits, just like the ones we have for TV.”
B.J. gave him a sour look, but he handed over the game, then jumped out of the truck and went running inside the restaurant. Apparently he’d already forgotten how he wound up with those stitches in his arm, Boone thought, watching him with a sigh.
He followed B.J. more slowly, stopping to talk to Tommy about the roof repairs and how soon he’d be able to get to the work in his restaurant.
“I’ll finish up here tomorrow morning at the latest,” Tommy assured him. “I’ll have the crew at your place after lunch.”
“That’ll work,” Boone said. “And the bill for Cora Jane’s roof? See that I get it.”
Tommy looked uneasy. “Boone, she’ll have a fit. You know she will.”
“Just tell her you haven’t had time to get to it.”
“You want me to put her off?” Tommy asked incredulously. “It’ll take about two days for her to get suspicious.”
“Only one, more than likely,” Boone conceded. “I owe her. I want to do this for her. If she puts it on her insurance claim, heaven knows what it will do to her rates. This is better. I’ll battle it out with her. You won’t be caught in the middle.”
“If she starts lecturing me about my lax business practices for not billing her or, worse, calls my mother to complain about them, I swear to you that I will spill the beans,” Tommy warned him. “I do not want to be on Cora Jane’s bad side. Nor do I want my mother sticking her nose into my business. She’s been itching to take over the accounting, and this would give her the perfect excuse.”
Boone laughed. “Not to worry. I’ll take the heat.” He gave Tommy an amused look. The man was successful, thirty-seven, six foot four and, despite that, obviously still scared of his mother, who was admittedly something of a force to be reckoned with. “I won’t let you get in trouble with your mama, either,” he consoled Tommy.
Tommy muttered an expletive in response, then walked off.
Just then B.J. came bounding back out the door, his expression dismayed. Boone reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, then hunkered down in front of him.
“Hey, buddy, what’s the problem?”
“Emily’s gone,” he said with a sniff, his eyes filling with