Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,82
her to say goodbye,” B.J. said stubbornly. “And she told me yesterday she has pictures of the ski lodge on her laptop. I want to see them. Forget ice cream. Let’s go to her house.”
Boone knew he could dig in his heels, play the parental card, insist it was ice cream or home, and end the conversation right now. A part of him recognized, though, that this might be the opportunity he needed to make amends for everything that had gone so horribly wrong earlier.
“We’ll stop by,” he relented. “But five minutes, that’s it. Understood? We can’t interrupt her when she needs to work.”
“Uh-huh,” B.J. said in an agreeable way that told Boone very clearly that he didn’t expect that five-minute rule to stick.
“Five minutes,” Boone repeated, as if the repetition would get his point across.
As soon as he pulled into Cora Jane’s driveway, B.J. was out of the car and racing across the lawn, yelling for Emily as he ran. The backdoor opened and B.J. threw his arms around her as if it had been weeks, rather than little more than a day since he’d last seen her. They’d all had Sunday morning breakfast together after Emily and Boone had come back here from their own sleepover.
Emily glanced in Boone’s direction, a questioning look in her eyes.
“Might as well face the music,” he muttered under his breath, getting out of the car.
“I didn’t expect to see you again this afternoon,” she said, her voice cool.
“B.J. insisted. He was afraid you might be leaving tomorrow.”
“That’s the plan,” she confirmed. “B.J., why don’t you go inside and look on the kitchen table? Grandmother brought home some cookies from the restaurant. She thought you might be coming by.”
“All right!” B.J. enthused with a fist pump.
Emily waited until he was safely out of earshot before lifting her gaze to meet Boone’s. “Cooled down?” she inquired mildly.
“Some.”
“Want to try that earlier conversation again?”
Boone shook his head. “Now’s not a good time. Why don’t I give you a call a little later?”
“Don’t you think we’re going to have to rely on too many phone calls when I’m out of town to be wasting precious face time now?”
He heard the intractable note in her voice and sighed. “Let me see if Cora Jane can keep an eye on him again,” he said, despite his reluctance to keep imposing on her.
“If you don’t want to ask her, Samantha’s in the kitchen, too. She’d be happy to spend some time with him. I can leave him with my laptop so he can look at the progress we’re making on the ski lodge. He’s really excited about that.”
Boone nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
When he came back, he gestured toward the water. “Want to go sit on the pier?”
“Sure.”
Boone led the way, trying to figure out what he was going to say to make things right. At the very end of the pier, the afternoon sun spilled onto the faded wood, leaving it warm. He held out his hand and Emily took it as she lowered herself to sit on the edge. He dropped down beside her.
“It’s so peaceful out here,” she murmured, her eyes closed as she turned her face up to the sun. “I’d forgotten what it was like just to sit here and listen to the sound of the water lapping against the shore and the breeze whispering through the trees. I’m sure there are plenty of places like this in Los Angeles, but I never get there. When I think of L.A., the sound that comes to mind is traffic, horns honking, car stereos blaring. Not exactly serene.”
“And yet you can’t wait to rush back there,” he said, unable to keep a bitter note from his voice.
She glanced at him. “It has its good sides, too, not the least of which is that I have work there.”
Boone studied her. “Do you really love what you do, Emily?”
“I’m good at it,” she said simply.
“That’s not really an answer, is it? People can be wildly successful and realize that something’s missing.”
She frowned at the comment, then sighed. “Okay, the regular jobs are creatively challenging, but I’ve recently realized that I need more than that from my work. That’s why this shelter means so much to me. It combines the things I love to do with something that is genuinely meaningful. It’s an amazing experience, Boone, and I think it’s exactly the kind of thing that’s been missing from my other jobs.”