Small-Town Girl

“Well, I don’t.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Even with his boots on, he moved his feet back and forth in the sand as if he was digging in his toes. “I believe in thinking about things and not always saying them out loud. Words don’t always solve problems.”

“But sometimes they do.”

“Sometimes silence is better.”

“I feel sorry for your girlfriend.” Kendall slapped her hand over her mouth. “Wow. Sorry. That didn’t come out like it sounded in my head.”

Brice raised his eyebrows, but the lift at the edge of his lips told her he wasn’t mad.

Kendall pinched the bridge of her nose. “All right, you win. Sometimes silence is better, like it would have been four seconds ago. Let’s silently sit here and watch the sunset. Then we can silently walk across the beach. Afterward, we can silently say goodbye to each other. Won’t that be fun?”

“Why don’t you tell me your idea first? The one you had before getting off track.”

“I will. But sorry about the girlfriend thing. I’m sure she’s happy and—”

“I don’t have one, so no worries. No wives in the attic either.”

“Jane Eyre reference. Nicely done.” She sent him a wink.

Brice inched toward her. “Your idea?”

Kendall scooted so she was facing him. “Sunset cruises.”

“Yes...we’re doing one tomorrow.”

“Not just tomorrow. What if we had a planned sunset cruise every single week?”

His eyes grew wide. “You and me?”

“Well, yes, we’d both be there, but I’m talking about hosting it as a tourist activity. Every Friday night— Scratch that.” Kendall gathered up her hair and bunched it at the nape of her neck to keep the wind from whipping it around. “I’m sure there are better things you want to do on your Friday nights than spend them with me. Any night of the week would work really, as long as it was the same night each week so people could count on it. We’d charge a set fee and host a sunset cruise out onto the lake.”

Brice rocked a bit and leaned onto his elbows. He worked his jaw back and forth for a minute.

She’d gone too far, hadn’t she? Presumed upon this poor man who was now trying to find the kindest words he could to let her down. She always did this, didn’t she? Plowing ahead before thinking things through had only ever gotten her in trouble. And it made her a risk that most men didn’t want to be around. Like dynamite. They never knew when the risk would be too great or her ideas lead to failures.

This trait was probably what had driven her father to walk out on her and her mother when she was only six. Too much energy. Too many ideas. Too many failures.

Brice still hadn’t spoken up. She needed to take him out of his misery. “I shouldn’t have spouted that out like that. You don’t know me, and I know nothing of your boating company. And the cruises probably wouldn’t work, so—”

He finally sat up. “I think they will.”

“You... Really?”

“There are some smaller, fancier boats in my fleet. I bought them on a whim at an auction without knowing what I’d do with them. They could work really well for something like this.”

“You don’t think my idea is silly?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. It might be the answer to the prayer I hadn’t prayed yet.”

“Is that even possible?”

Brice nodded solemnly. “God knows what we need.”

Kendall flattened her hands against the cooled sand. “When should we start?”

“Let’s rein this in for a minute. How about we go on our cruise tomorrow and get a better idea of everything before making plans? Deal?” He rose to his feet, dusted off his pants and then held out a hand to her, helping her stand.

“Deal.”

They walked silently down the beach until they reached the edge, where they parted ways.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He headed toward the shipping yard.

“Until then.” She waved over her shoulder and headed home for the evening with a lighter step. Perhaps Brice Daniels was right. Maybe God answered prayers people hadn’t prayed yet.

Even hers.

Chapter Two (#ulink_e05beee9-b81e-5b97-bac1-47249717313c)

Kendall had changed her outfit. Six times.

It’s not a date.

In the end, she opted for comfort over style and wore leopard-print ballet flats paired with skinny jeans and a charcoal tank top that had some fancy draping across the front.

This morning after unpacking her condo a little more, Kendall had headed to Love on a Dime, where she’d spent the day drafting a press release and brainstorming other ways to get the word out about her business now that it was officially open.

Next she’d looked up Brice online, since she’d forgotten to get his number last night, and found surprisingly little information. Unless he used a false name online—and he really didn’t seem the type—he had no social-media accounts. His shipping business was called, get this: Brice Daniels. Just his name. At least that had made the number to his company easy to find. Her next move would have been bugging his brother next door, but Evan had been busy all afternoon entertaining a string of customers. She’d called Brice’s number and left a message on what sounded like an ancient answering machine. His voice came across deeper on the greeting than she remembered.

He’d called her back at the office ten minutes later and they’d settled on a time to meet at the pier. And now it was time. Kendall bounced her shoulders up and down a few times to relax them. Nerves. From looking forward to another sunset and the possibility of having a way to meet Sesser’s demand for a weekly event so easily; that was all.

Instead of walking the beach as she’d done yesterday, Kendall drove to the dock. Nothing was clearly marked and she couldn’t find a parking spot, so she parked along the side of one of the warehouses where her vehicle wouldn’t be in the way and headed out to find Brice. Kendall didn’t have to walk too far onto the docks, though, because she spotted him waiting for her near the front of the pier. He waved and Kendall felt her breath catch.

Oh. Grow up already.

But it was impossible not to notice Brice’s strong presence. His shoulders were wide and his profile cut an ideal male figure against the backdrop of boats lightly bobbing in the marina. He wore nicer boots than he’d had on yesterday. These ones were the kind that could be worn to church or to a casual office. Dark jeans, a formfitting gray Henley that looked as though it would be incredibly soft from many trips through the washing machine and a navy blue lightweight jacket completed his look. Kendall had to command her jaw to keep from dropping wide-open. She’d dated plenty of men in the past ten years, but none who looked as effortlessly handsome as Brice. The man belonged in a movie playing a dashing prince.

The sun hadn’t set yet, but it would in the next half hour. For the most part, the pier was quiet. Gentle waves lapped back and forth against the moorings, and a few fat seagulls scavenged for food along the beach.

“Ready?” Brice’s whole face lit up as he smiled.

“Lead the way.”

He surprised her by offering his arm. She took it and they started down the pier. There were two places to dock boats in Goose Harbor—the white-painted wooden pier located near the downtown area that held all the fancy sailboats and yachts or the working pier, where they currently were. This one was concrete. It had stains and puddles and carried the smell of freshly caught fish. Most of the boats attached to the working pier were barges and other large ships. Here they were tucked away from the normal path and sight line of tourists. Toward the far right, one boat stuck out because it didn’t look like the rest of them. It was white and green and had a deck sitting on top.