Andie pulled her tray closer. “Yes. That was not funny. It scared me.” It hadn’t been funny at the time, but now the memory made her laugh. She’d been holding the clam roll in her hand while talking, and a gull swooped right in and grabbed a clam. She’d been so startled she’d dropped the whole roll in the sand. Shane had bought her a new one. He’d always been a nice guy like that.
“Did you ever want to live anywhere else?” Andie asked, keeping an eye on the gull. She might feed him a fry, but she wasn’t wasting a clam on him. Those were all for her.
Shane thought for a minute then shook his head. “Nah. I was stationed all over the world in the navy, but I always just wanted to come back here.” Shane turned to look at her. “What about you? You lived in the city for a long time. Do you miss that?”
Andie tossed a fry to the seagull, and two more swooped down to battle him for possession. “Maybe I miss it a little. The pace mostly. The scenery is much nicer here.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Of course now that I have a grandkid, I wouldn’t want to live too far from him, and luckily they’ve made their home here.”
Andie studied Shane. He’d aged well. Looked like he was still keeping himself in good shape despite having been out of the navy for over a decade. His face was tanned, and the few wrinkles he had were in the right places—laugh lines that showed he spent a lot of time smiling. His hair was that distinguished salt-and-pepper color that looks a lot better on men than on women.
She was suddenly self-conscious about how she’d aged. She wasn’t the thin waif she had been back in high school. Her hair was the same length but shot with strands of silver. And the wrinkles. She didn’t even want to think about those.
“It’s nice you can be close to Caleb. He’s adorable.” Andie had met the chubby toddler a few weeks ago, and he’d just about stolen her heart, as well as made her sad that she’d never have a grandchild of her own. She’d never regretted not having kids, but a grandkid would have been nice.
“I got a few good things out of the marriage, anyway.”
“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to bring you down.”
Shane laughed. “No problem. That’s old news now and really was for the best. We had some good years, but in the end, she just wasn’t the right one.”
Andie sensed him looking at her, and she kept her eyes on the ocean, suddenly feeling awkward. “Hard to picture you as a grandfather. Feels like just yesterday we were graduating high school.”
“I know. Those were good times.”
“They were.”
They lapsed into silence, staring at the ocean, each with their own memories. It wasn’t the awkward silence of strangers, but the compatible silence of old friends.
“What about you? You never married, right? No kids?” Shane asked.
“Me? No. Never found anyone that could stand me long enough,” Andie joked. But as she glanced sideways at Shane, something in her heart pinged, and she wondered why she’d pushed away every guy that had tried to get close. Was it because she’d left “the one” behind?
Ding!
Her phone alarm went off, and she pulled the phone from her pocket, adrenalin shooting through her when she saw the message.
“Oh crap, look at the time! We have to get back. The inspector is due to be at the Thompsons’ in ten minutes!”
Chapter Twelve
Shane raced back to the Thompsons’ house, managing to steal a few sideways glances at Andie as he drove. She’d seemed younger, less uptight during lunch. She’d been more like the Andie he remembered from their youth, but now her face was tight and her shoulders raised with tension and anxiety at potentially being late for the inspector.
Shane was a little worried too. He wanted the job to be as complete as possible before the inspector looked at it.
“Do you know who the inspector is?” Hopefully it was Bob or Dick. Shane had worked with them before, and they were good guys.
“No. Is there more than one?” Andie looked surprised.
“Yeah. Most of them are retired and just work part time, so they have a few.” Shane turned into the road a little too fast, and Andie had to grab the armrest to keep from sliding. “Sorry. I have a few things I want to button up on the stairs before the inspector starts poking around. Can you bring him over there last? I want to clean it up so I can show him the intended fixes.”
“Sure. No problem.” Andie flashed him a shy smile even as she pulled on the door handle, ready to jump out as soon as he parked. “Thanks for lunch.”
“My pleasure.” Shane pulled to a stop, and Andie jumped out and jogged toward the house.
He thought about their conversation as he watched her go. He’d felt the tug of that deep connection they used to have. Not as strong as back then, but maybe it could get there. Had she felt it too?
The logical part of his mind warned him not to pursue it. She’d hurt him before, and who knew if she’d really stay in town. She had said that she missed some things about the city. Andie was ambitious, and there wasn’t much for a person with big ambitions in this town. Maybe she’d decide Lobster Bay wasn’t for her after all.
