“So, I guess that’s settled,” she said.
“Is it?” he asked.
“Isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. I want to give it a chance. But the crazy part is I don’t even have a house. I always live in hotels when I’m on leave. If I do this it will mean a complete lifestyle change.”
“You don’t own a house?”
“I’ve never needed one,” he said.
“What about an apartment?” she asked.
“No. I’m seldom in the States and when I am I use temporary quarters on base.”
“Jay—no wonder the idea of being married to me sent you running. You’ve never had anything in your adult life like it,” she said.
“I take it you own a home?”
“Yes. And a rental property with my brother,” she said. “Do you still want to come to the beach with me tonight?”
Hell, no. He had just established that he liked being apart from others and keeping himself removed, but he did want to spend more time with Alysse. So, he’d go to the beach tonight. Five years ago, it had been the thought of her big network of friends and family that had partially driven him to leave and this time...well, he guessed it was time to face them.
“Yes, I guess I do. But I don’t have a surfboard or a wet suit. And I haven’t surfed in over a year.”
“No problem. I’ll take care of that for you.”
He walked her back to the bakery and then rode away on his motorcycle, pondering the fact that in the course of a few hours he had a job offer and a date with Alysse and her friends. He certainly wasn’t in the Corps anymore.
ALYSSE HAD GIVENJay directions to the beach. It wasn’t the one that the Marines stationed at Pendleton used. This one was farther up the coast near San Clemente, which was where she’d grown up. They were meeting Toby, her older brother, his girlfriend, Molly, Tommy and Jean, who’d gone to college with Toby, and Paulo and Frida, who they’d met at the beach about eight years ago and had started playing volleyball with.
Toby was a marine biologist as were Molly, Tommy and Jean. His true passion was the ocean and he spent as many hours on the water as he could. Tonight he’d spotted a new grouping of sea lions and they were all going to paddleboard out to look at them.
Paddleboarding consisted of standing on a board—similar to a surfboard, and using a long pole to steer and move the board along. Alysse usually avoided going to these events even though Toby, who was two years older than she was, called her at least twice a week and invited her to do something with him and Molly.
And she usually went but lately she’d been busy at Sweet Dreams. Though it pained her to admit it, she was also a little jealous at Toby and Molly.
“’Bout time you showed up,” Toby said, giving her a hug as she unloaded cookies from the back of her car.
“I’m early,” she pointed out.
“I meant after putting me off fordays. What made you change your mind tonight?” he asked as he grabbed her board from the roof of her car. She slung her beach bag over her shoulder and locked the car.
“I invited a guy to come along and join us,” she said carefully. She hadn’t realized that she was sort of setting Jay up by bringing him to meet her brother until she’d arrived here.
“Great. It’s about time. So who is he?”
Toby knew about her marriage so she had a feeling that he’d be less than welcoming, which was why she’d come early.
“It’s Jay.”
“Your ex?”
“Yes. He’s back in town.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Toby said as they reached the beach area where he already had a small bonfire burning. He put her board down and turned to her with his hands on his hips. “Are you sure about this?”
“No, I’m not. But the bakery is a success now and I really don’t know what to do next. I want to date, have a relationship, I thought, now I just don’t know. I’m going to spend some time with Jay and see what happens.”
