Summer by the Sea Page 18

  Her knees somewhere near her ears—Who needs meditation, she thought, when you have Sam Logan to make love to?—she rubbed against him, laughing and crying, savoring the after-waves, curling and uncurling her toes. He laughed along with her, gently encouraging, until last he couldn’t stand it anymore. He released his own pleasure, crying out and then lying limp. Both of them were covered in a sheen of light summer sweat.

  He smiled at her as if she’d put him in bliss.

  She—old, businesslike Sarah—had done that to him.

  He pulled her closer within his embrace. “Sarah, I’m exhausted.” He gazed at her in wonder.

  She laughed. She felt a happiness she knew she couldn’t have forever, but she could fool herself, at least for today.

  * * *

  THEY SPENT THE rest of the afternoon in bed, and it wasn’t awkward to Sam at all, even though Sarah knew who he was. She knew his kid’s name. Heck, she even knew that he had a kid. And he did not feel stress over this. He felt completely relaxed and at home being connected through feelings to his neighbor, Sarah Buckley.

  With his arms behind his head, leaning against the headboard, he asked her, “So, what did you do to make this guy, Richard Lee, mad at you in the first place?”

  Sarah gave Sam a closed-lip smile, as if she was guilty but no longer cared. She had the sheet wrapped around her middle—he did have the air-conditioning kicked up a little too high, he fully admitted that—and she laughed aloud. “I guess he’s just not as tolerant of my enthusiasm and my talents as he could be.”

  “Come on, what did you do?” He grinned at her, expecting an outrageous story.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter so much what I did, but why I did it.” She rolled onto her side and faced him. “See, Sam, I want to take the company public and then sell it right away. I want as big a payout as I can get. Richard, on the other hand, wants to wait. I think his aim is to see what other tech projects he can get from my engineering team and then spin those out, too.”

  “Well, if it’s your company, why can’t you do what you want with it?”

  “Because I sold a chunk of it to him, in return for some badly needed capital. I also gave him the right to decide when to take the company public in a five-year window.” She rolled her eyes. “I know, I shouldn’t have. But I wanted strategic direction from him, because he’s the top venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, and his word carries weight. If I ever need financing or help again, he’s someone I want as an ally, not an enemy. He has influence and can open doors. He’s a true master.” She frowned. “Except I don’t like the strategic direction he’s giving me. I made a mistake in trusting him.”

  “Can you fire him anyway?”

  She laughed and shifted so that she was on her elbow. “You’re ruthless,” she teased. “But I like the way you think.”

  “No, really. What do you want to do with your company besides make money?”

  “That’s really it.” She turned to face the ceiling again. “I want to sell it for lots of money. Power money. Money so big that that I can do this again. Start something, watch it grow, spin it off. Build and build and build and build.”

  Wow, she was scary ambitious. Not that he minded anymore. “The funny thing is, I could see Lucy saying the same thing you just did.”

  Sarah thought for a moment. “Yes, I can see her saying that, too.”

  It was so obvious that he was going to lose both of them at the end of summer. Sarah to her mogul ways. Lucy back to her mother.

  “I don’t want to lose her,” he said, feeling the old panic creeping back into his heart.

  “Who, Sam?” She stood and was putting her shorts back on. “Do you mean Lucy?”

  “Yeah.” He got up and opened a drawer. Found a pair of shorts so he didn’t have to wear his lifeguard trunks.

  “You don’t have to,” she said. “Hire a good lawyer. File for more custody.”

  He’d been thinking something along those lines. Slowly, he took a calming breath. “I want to try without a lawyer, first.”

  “Noble of you,” she remarked.

  “Yeah. I’m gonna do things my way this time.” He smiled at her, feeling more resolved. “You’ve inspired me. If there’s ever a woman who does things her way, it’s you.”

  “I’m glad to see you coming around to my way of thinking.”

  “I have an ulterior motive.” She looked suspicious until he laughed at her. “Don’t worry, Sarah. I’m no corporate shark.” He thought of something. “In fact, I need to give you your birthday present now.”

  “I thought you just did,” she teased.

  “Ha, ha, ha.” He playfully swatted her. He liked how they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. But he reluctantly let go of her hand and reached for a box on top of his dresser.

  “Lucy wrapped it for me,” he explained. And then he held the gift out, feeling slightly embarrassed. “I hope you like it.”

  She tore it open the same way she’d torn open the present Lucy had given her. He enjoyed her enthusiasm.

  She looked at the small box beneath Lucy’s wrapping paper.

  “Open it,” he urged lightly.

  With a hesitant touch, she opened the lid of the jewelry box, withdrew a delicate gold chain and held it up.

  But her fear—of jewelry, so serious, she surely thought—turned into a peal of laughter. With delight in her eyes, she said, “Where did you find this?”

  A little gold shark pendant swung beside a tiny gold heart.

  “It says Sarah Buckley all over it,” he teased.

  “It does!” she agreed. “I’m going to wear the shark proudly into my next staff meeting.” Her face clouded a bit. “If I ever have a next staff meeting.”

  “Oh, sharks always have a next meeting.”

  She smiled again. She loved to think of herself as a shark.

  “I added the heart,” he explained, “because you’re a lovable shark. At least, to me.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t tell anybody else, okay?”

  He crossed his heart. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  For a moment her smile faded and she looked away. But a moment later she was back to smiling brightly.

  A door slammed downstairs. “If it’s Lucy, she’s back early,” he said, tossing on his T-shirt. “Maybe she didn’t like the go-karts.”

  “Oh, no. Where is my shirt?”

  “Here, on the floor,” he directed. “On the far side of the bed.” He admired the view as she scurried over and bent down to retrieve it. Still, he thought, sighing, he wasn’t sure how this was going to go over with Lucy.

  “I’ll go downstairs first,” he said. “I’ll take the front staircase. It might be a good strategy for you to take the back.”

  “I definitely would like to take the back,” Sarah agreed. She coughed. “We need to have a conversation about this.”

  Not one he relished. “Sure. Later. I’ll go down and see her now.” He glanced at the clock. It was after five. “At least I’m officially off duty,” he said.

  “I hope it was a pleasurable duty,” she shot back as she pulled on her T-shirt. He was pleased to see that she then clipped the shark and heart pendant around her neck. “And thank you for the birthday present, Sam. Both of them.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “When is your birthday?” she asked quickly. “I want to reciprocate, and I’m getting some very good ideas on how to do that.”

  He grinned at her. “Sorry, Sarah. You’ll have to wait many months.”

  “When is it?”

  He grinned harder. “You’re not going to believe this, but January first.”

  “New Year’s Day? Your birthday is on a holiday, too?”

  “Yes. Another fireworks holiday. See what happens when you put us both together? We burn the place down.”


  * * *

  SARAH WAITED UNTIL Sam’s footsteps faded down the stairs, then pulled her phone from her shorts pocket. At least the time had passed quickly. She hadn’t thought once of her text to Gregory, which was amazing in itself, after all the agonizing she’d done this morning.

  She checked her text messages. Nothing. No missed phone calls or voicemails. Nothing. Her emails. Nothing.

  She dropped the phone on Sam’s bed and sat there. Some shark she was.

  Richard might not like Lucy’s idea, after all. And rejection wasn’t something Sarah had considered.

  She clenched her hands into fists. There was nothing she hated more than feeling powerless.

  Lucy would be devastated if she didn’t hear positive news soon.

  And Sarah would be stuck in Wallis Point that much longer.

  Tears prickled her eyelids. Not because staying here would be unpleasant—it would be very pleasant to delude herself and hang out with Sam all summer long—but she would never get her rightful place back this way. It was her company. She couldn’t let Richard run it any way he wanted.

  But all Sarah could do was wait. If she didn’t hear anything from Gregory by the end of the week, then she would know for certain that Lucy was out.

  It just couldn’t happen that way. Shaking her head, she went into Sam’s bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. He had his shaving things out on the counter. A bottle of hand soap. A neatly folded towel that hung on a towel bar.

  He had a beautiful tiled shower that looked big enough for two people.

  She studied herself in the mirror, gave herself a little shake. Tidied her hair with a comb she found in a drawer.

  What am I worried about? You’re a shark, Sarah.

  A shark with a heart, she reminded herself.

  Satisfied that she didn’t look like she’d just been ravaged by a very skilled and sexy lifeguard, she demurely patted her hair and headed down the back stairs.

  Where Lucy promptly met her at the bottom.

  The girl’s face was expressionless.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  SARAH PAUSED AND tilted her head at Lucy. “Am I allowed to pass, or do I have to pay you a toll?”

  “Are you and Sam, like, together?” Lucy asked.

  Sarah slowly exhaled, willing herself to stay cool. “What did he say about that?”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Nothing. But he’s whistling. And I know you were up there with him because your car is still in Cassandra’s driveway and you weren’t at home. I just checked. Becker threw up in the kitchen, by the way. But I cleaned it.”

  “Oh, wow,” Sarah murmured. “Is Becker okay?”

  “Yes, but I was reading on the internet, and I think we need to change his food to get him something to help him dissolve his hairballs. They’re too much for him.”

  “Okay. Yes.” Take better care of our cat children, Lucy was telling her. “You’re right, Luce. We’ll do that together.” Sarah went to step around Lucy, but Lucy still didn’t budge.

  Sarah took a breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to negatively affect your relationship with your dad. Please don’t take this in a bad way.”

  “I’m not. My dad would be lucky to have you, believe me.” Lucy thought for a minute. “And I would like it, too. If it worked out. Which it probably won’t, because of him.”

  Sarah stared at the girl. Lucy’s cheeks grew pink. “I don’t want you to get hurt,” she muttered.

  “Um...” Sarah didn’t know what to say.

  “My dad doesn’t commit. That’s what my mom says. She’s warned me about him.”

  “Do you still believe that? He seems very committed to you now.”

  “We’ll see,” Lucy said ominously. “The summer isn’t over yet.”

  Sarah still didn’t know what to say. She glanced up and saw Sam standing there, watching them. Sarah lifted her hands in a gesture of helplessness.

  Sam shook his head. Sarah figured he was going to walk away, but he didn’t.

  “Luce,” he said.

  His daughter turned. She had the grace to blush before she scurried off upstairs to her room. Both of them watched her leave.

  “Now what?” Sarah asked, leaning against the stairway wall and crossing her arms.

  “Give her some space. She’ll calm down eventually.”

  Maybe. But Sarah couldn’t help thinking of what Lucy had told her. “Did you hear everything she said?”

  “Just the tail end.”

  “She said you can’t commit. I think it might be a good time to talk to Lucy and answer any questions she has about the past between you and Colleen. And the future with you and her mother.”

  Sam’s face turned a bit green.

  “I know it’s a bombshell,” Sarah said. “But Lucy implied that she thinks it won’t work out between you and her—let alone you and me—because she thinks you leave people. She said that’s what her mother told her.”

  “Wow.” Sam shook his head.

  “Just so you know, I’m not worried about myself.” Sarah’s voice shook, but she controlled it. She would be the one who would be leaving him, after all. “It’s Lucy I’m concerned about. I really do think you should talk to her, Sam.”

  “I’m not going to leave her or make her choose between her mother and me,” Sam said quietly. “And if Lucy said that...” He paused. “I don’t want to speak negatively of her mother, so let me just say that it’s probably Colleen’s fears speaking, not Lucy’s.”

  “Are you really going to fight for Lucy?” Sarah asked.

  A tick stood out in Sam’s jaw. He seemed angry that she’d even asked him.

  “I, um, have to go back to my cottage,” Sarah said. “Lucy says Becker is sick and I need to tend to him.”

  Sam nodded. He just looked at her silently.

  “May I come back for dinner later?” Sarah asked.

  “I’m ordering pizza tonight. But, yes, I think you should come back.”

  “You think or you want?”

  “I want, Sarah.” He pulled her close to him. “I definitely want.”

  * * *

  SAM RAPPED SOFTLY on Lucy’s bedroom door then opened it a crack. His daughter sat against the pillows on her bed with a book in her hand. The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

  He entered the room and sat on the edge of her bed. “How were Uncle Michael and your cousins?” he asked.

  She shut her book, not looking at him. “Aunt Michelle didn’t come with them today.”

  That was Sam’s sister-in-law, Michael’s wife. “Did that upset you?”

  Lucy’s lip quivered. “Do you think they’ll get divorced, too?”

  Sam scooted her over on the bed and sat beside her. “I don’t know, Luce. But I wouldn’t jump to conclusions or worry about it until I talk with Uncle Michael.” He glanced at her. “Is that why you came home early from the go-karts? Because you were upset?”

  She gazed down at her book. “I wanted to meet you when you came home from work,” she said in a small voice.

  Sam was getting the inkling that Lucy was worried about the relationships of the important people in her life collapsing around her. Gently, he took the book from her hands. “Hmm. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I thought you’d finished it already.”

  “I did.” Her face turned pink.

  The story must be a comfort read for her, he figured. “Does it have a happy ending?”

  She nodded. “Kit and Nat end up together. They take care of Hannah and bring her away with them. Everybody is safe.”

  Okay. Obviously Sam didn’t know who the book’s characters were, but he gathered that Lucy’s worries had to do with keeping relationships and families together.

  He ran his fingers along the edges of her worn paperback, staring at the stylized art of the teen g
irl on the cover. “Lucy, I’d like for you and I to continue to have a closer relationship after the summer is over. I’ll do everything in my power to sit with your mom and you, and to figure out a better arrangement for all of us than we’ve had in the past.” He would never ask Lucy to choose between him and Colleen, but there was still a lot he could do to make it easier between the three of them. “I’m very committed to you. In fact, you are my most important person. I haven’t always been good at showing that, but I’m working on it.”

  Lucy nestled her head into his shoulder. She smelled like coconut-scented sunblock and fried dough. It pained him that she hadn’t been able to enjoy the day with her cousins in a beach arcade because she was so overset by worries about her home life.

  “Luce, if you ever have any concerns, I want you to come directly to me. You can talk to me about anything. I won’t blow you off. And I won’t ever be mad at anything you say.”

  “Okay,” she said in a small voice.

  “Do you have any, ah, questions you want to ask?” he said, thinking of Sarah and what Lucy had stumbled upon. That had to be confusing for his daughter.

  “No.” She shook her head. But he got the impression that there was something else she wasn’t telling him.

  And it bothered her.

  But he let that alone for now.

  * * *

  AFTER SARAH LEFT SAM, she climbed into her rental car and took a long drive to the outskirts of town with the windows rolled down. Time to help Lucy the best way she could at the moment, by shopping for their cats’ needs.

  Sarah figured Lucy’s worry and anger were symbolic, somehow, of the care Lucy felt was missing from Sarah and Sam. Or maybe a cat illness was just a cat illness.

  In any event, Sarah was taking Lucy’s dad’s attention away from her. She hadn’t intended to do that, at all.

  So intent was Sarah on doing her part to help Lucy, that for once, she didn’t mind—too much—that she had to suffer traffic in order to reach the local superstore, which she also disliked on principle. Her preference was to internet shop, but the cat was sick and needed special food for his diet now, and Sarah couldn’t get same-day shipping in Wallis Point. She also couldn’t borrow Lucy for this chore. Someday in the future there would be drone delivery. Within-the-hour order arrival—that would be perfect. Maybe Sarah would even have a part in that technology solution.