Sea Glass Island (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,56

Gabi confirmed. “I’ll call the day care tomorrow, see if I can get Dani in there tomorrow or the next day. With everything going on this week for the wedding, it’s good timing, anyway.”

“If you make the arrangements, I’ll be there on her first day to offer tissues and moral support,” Samantha promised.

“That’s all well and good,” Gabi said. “But Wade needs to show up with at least two dozen of those doughnuts he uses to bribe me to get his way.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to oblige.”

“Yeah, he will,” Gabi said, smiling, though there were tears in her eyes. “How’d I get to be so lucky?”

“By being a fabulous, incredible Castle woman,” Samantha told her.

“In that case, you deserve one of the good guys, too. And, for the record, I hope it’s Ethan.”

“Too soon to tell,” Samantha said. But she couldn’t deny that she hoped so, too.

* * *

By the time Ethan was able to get away from the clinic and over to Cora Jane’s, most of the guests had left. Only Boone’s car and one other remained parked in the driveway along with the family vehicles. Though he’d made a quick call to Boone earlier to explain that he’d had to deal with an emergency, he doubted if that message had been passed along to the one person likely to be offended by his absence. Why hadn’t he thought to insist that Boone spread the word?

As he crossed the lawn, he was aware that all eyes seemed to be on him. He was also very aware of the frown spreading across Samantha’s face. Rather than going straight to her, though, he approached Cora Jane, bent down and kissed her cheek.

“I apologize for not getting here earlier,” he told her.

“Not a problem,” Cora Jane said, patting his hand. “I heard about the emergency. Is the boy okay?”

Ethan nodded, his gaze on Samantha, who was looking slightly less annoyed now. “He will be. He was scared more than anything. He took in a lot of water when he got caught up in that rip current. And no matter how often people are told to just let the current carry them, rather than fighting it, they panic. The natural tendency is to swim against it. That’s a sure way to wear yourself out. He could easily have drowned if the lifeguard hadn’t gotten to him when he did. I give the lifeguard a lot of credit. He did a good job on the scene and had the presence of mind to have someone call me, as well as 911.”

“You were close by?” Samantha asked.

Ethan nodded. “Fortunately I happened to be just up the street at the clinic and got there even before the paramedics. I stayed with the boy at the emergency room until his family could get there. They thought he was at a friend’s house. I imagine once nerves settle down, he’ll be grounded for a good long time.”

“He’s not the first kid who went surfing when he was supposed to be safely on dry land,” Boone commented pointedly.

Ethan laughed. “And we always got grounded, too.”

“When we got caught,” Boone replied, then glanced at B.J., who was taking in the exchange with interest. Boone frowned at his son. “Just so you know, young man, my spies are everywhere. You will always get caught.”

“I don’t even know how to surf,” B.J. said in obvious frustration. Then with a naive innocence he asked, “Can you teach me?”

Ethan chuckled. “Kid, you need to learn about timing. This could be the wrong moment to suggest that.”

“Got that right,” Boone said.

Samantha stood up and walked to Ethan’s side. “Have you eaten? There’s plenty of food inside. I can make you a plate.”

“Thanks. I’ll come with you.”

Inside, she busied herself spooning fruit and salad onto a plate while Ethan stood back and watched her nervous movements.

“Everything okay?” he asked eventually.

“I’m trying to decide if I need to apologize to you.”

“For?”

“Misjudging you,” she admitted, lifting her gaze to meet his. “I thought you’d bailed today just to avoid me.”

“I thought maybe that was on your mind,” he admitted. “First, I’m not the kind of man who skips out just to avoid someone. Second, if I’m being honest, I should have called you, rather than Boone. So, maybe the truth is, I’m more of a coward than I’d like to think.”

“You didn’t owe me an explanation. It’s not my party.”

“Technically true, but I do think common courtesy is in order. I wonder if I wanted to see