“I thought you had a self-imposed moratorium on rock collecting,” Bella reminded her. “Last summer you said your cottage runneth over, and that you weren’t going to be collecting for a while.” Runneth over might be an understatement. Every flat surface in Jen’s cottage was adorned with rocks, including various corners of the hardwood floor and the rails of her deck.
Jenna lowered her eyes and twisted from side to side with her hands clasped behind her back. “I know. But I’ll only take them if they’re absolutely perfect.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and her eyes widened with mischief. “And you know how picky I am.” She pulled Bella to her feet, then bounced up and down again. “Please, please, please? Just until it’s dark?”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Fine. But you owe me big-time.”
Jenna threw herself into Bella’s arms. “Yay!”
“You’re such a fool.” Bella laughed and laid her blanket over Amy’s lap. “Here you go, princess. Don’t drink all the wine without me.”
The wet sand was cold beneath Bella’s bare feet. She didn’t mind walking with Jenna, and she didn’t even care that Jenna owned more rocks than any mountain this side of Utah. She couldn’t put her finger on why, but she was edgy tonight. She’d told her friends she was giving herself until Monday to start working on the program for the school. She’d also told them that she wasn’t interested in super sexy Caden Grant in that blue uniform that hugged his broad chest and exposed well-muscled forearms and eyes that seemed to look right through her. But the job and Caden were all she could think about.
Jenna looped her arm through Bella’s. “Thanks for walking with me. I know I won’t find any good rocks, but I still like to look.”
“I know you do.” She loved everything about Jenna, from her obsessive-compulsive need for organization to her flip-flop fetish and her love of rocks. Jenna was always happy. Even when something pissed her off, she had the ability to spin a situation in her mind so her good mood wasn’t sucked away.
Jen picked up a rock and washed it off in the surf. She ran her fingers over the rounded edges, then scrunched her nose and tossed it into the ocean.
“Are you nervous about your whole job, house situation?” she asked, bending down to inspect another rock.
“Nervous? You might say that. I’m excited and maybe a little scared, but not really. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“You could end up jobless and living in your cottage.” Jenna smiled up at her. “Guess that’s not really so bad, is it? But it’s just not like you to pick up and start over. That’s more Leanna’s thing. She’s always been part gypsy like that, but you’re stable Mable.” Jenna tossed the unimpressive rock into the water.
“I know.” Jenna knew her so well. She’d nailed the reason Bella was feeling edgy before Bella even realized it. “It’s totally not like me, but dating Jay wasn’t like me, either. I never date guys I work with. I know better than that—or at least I thought I knew better than that. It can only lead to complications with peers and supervisors. Everyone knows that. I’ve been mulling this over in my mind since spring break, and this is what I came up with. I’m almost thirty, and I worked so hard to get where I was in the school system, and it’s been great, but I am stable Mable. So even if it weren’t great, I’d have stayed for years.”
“So, what are you saying?” Jenna stopped walking and gave Bella her full attention.
“Well, as I said, ever since Leanna made her dreams come true, I’ve been thinking about making mine come true. I think I dated Jay to force myself to make a change.”
“Like a subconscious nudge?” The moon rose higher into the sky, glistening off the water behind Jenna.
“More like a conscious and trying-to-ignore it nudge,” Bella said. “The whole time I dated Jay, I wasn’t connected to him. When I found out he had lied about being divorced and was just separated, I broke it off without thinking twice. And you know what? I knew that second that I was going to quit my job. What does that say about me?”
Jenna leaned her head against Bella’s arm and walked farther down the beach. “It says you’re normal, like the rest of us. That you followed your heart, which, I might remind you, is exactly what you told Leanna to do when she met Kurt.”
“Do you think it’s still called following your heart when you make a career and life change, or is that following your mind?” Bella was having a hard time separating the two when it came to the Cape. Everything about the Cape filled her with happiness, from the morning crows to the smell of the salty air, making her heart very much involved with her decision. But this decision was also made with her mind. She wanted a challenge, and the work-study program offered that.
“I think it’s both.”
“So you don’t think I’m nuts? And I’m serious about not dating, too. I think I need to make sure my life is in order before I become some guy-who-can’t-be-honest-or-keep-a-commitment’s girlfriend.”
“I think you’re brilliant and fearless, not nuts.” Jenna pointed down the beach. “Look, don’t you love when the fishermen head back to their cars like little soldiers in a line? It’s like the minute the gray sky turns black, they have some secret wave, or nod, or something that alerts them all to fall in line.”
Bella squinted at the fishermen with their long surf fishing poles over their shoulders and white buckets hanging from their thick, bare arms.
“Show me a man who’s not a jerk and I’ll go searching for rocks with you every day of the summer.” Bella nodded to two men as they walked past. She turned to check out their butts and walked backward. “I love rugged men.” Okay, so maybe I won’t swear off men completely. I just won’t get involved. “What’s better than a guy in a pair of cargo shorts and a tank top who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty and isn’t overly concerned with his looks? A man who can take the cold night air against his skin? You know they can keep you warm.”
“How about a hot cop without his uniform?” Jenna tugged Bella’s arm.
Bella spun around just in time to see Caden Grant’s profile as he leaned in close to a teenage boy. Even while he spoke, he had a smile on his lips. It lit up his eyes. He and the boy each carried a fishing pole over one shoulder and Caden also carried a bucket in his other hand. Bella reached for Jenna’s hand as she drank in his faded jeans, rolled up at the cuffs. His feet were bare and his gait was as casual as it was confident. And—holy mother of hotness—his white T-shirt hugged his broad shoulders in a way that practically made her drool. He leaned toward the boy, giving him his full attention in a way that felt to Bella like an embrace.
Caden threw his head back with a hearty, deep laugh.
Jenna squeezed her hand. “Close your mouth,” she whispered.
Bella followed her advice, or at least she hoped she did. Her brain was busy studying the man who, even without the uniform, had an in-control edge about him that wasn’t dangerous or mysterious, but so self-assured and warm that she wanted to be part of his inner circle.
Caden’s chin came back to center, and a breath later their eyes connected. The easy, sexy smile that followed did her in.