“Hold on. You’re cute and you’re cooking my food and that’s not enough to get you some company? What’s wrong with the men of this world?”
Lucas Prime thought she was cute. Although he was probably just being nice. All the same, she was full-on grinning now. “Would you like that as an ebook or paperback?”
He laughed louder this time. “You’re funny.”
She couldn’t stop grinning and she had no idea why. “We should let you get back to your run. It was really nice to meet you.”
“You, too, Frankie.” He glanced down. “And Archie.” He pulled his sunglasses down. “Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
She nodded, a little tongue-tied. “Maybe.”
He started jogging again. She gave the leash a little tug and got Archie moving. Lucas Prime. Here in Hideaway Bay. Amazing.
She glanced over her shoulder. There was a good distance between them, but the view was still nice. She smiled and turned back around. “Archie, do you know who that was?”
Of course, he didn’t, but she bet Harper would. And while Frankie’s son, Jason, wouldn’t care, her daughter, Willa, would probably be impressed. Frankie made a note to text her when she was back in the shade and could see her phone properly.
Archie stopped to dig at something. A partially buried piece of driftwood. He was throwing sand everywhere.
“Archie, quit that. Your mother’s not going to be happy that you’re all sandy.” He kept digging. “If you don’t stop, you’ll have to have a bath.”
Archie looked up, possibly recognizing the last word.
She scratched his head. “We should go back before you get into any more trouble.” She turned them back toward their spot but took them closer to the water, letting Archie splash in the waves when he wanted. He was already sandy. Getting his feet wet couldn’t hurt.
They were a few minutes into the walk back when she realized Lucas was headed in their direction again.
She smiled as he approached. Mercy, he was fun to look at.
He slowed, so she did, too. “Hey, I was thinking—you said it’s you and your sister, right?”
Frankie nodded. “Yep. Just the two of us.”
“Would you guys like to come over tomorrow night? I’m testing some new recipes and I’d love the feedback.”
“Really? Sure. Just tell me when and where and we’ll be there.”
Lucas grinned. “Great. I’m at 1220. Come around six. Is Archie good with other dogs? If he is, you’re welcome to bring him, too.”
“I’ll ask my sister. Thanks for the invite. 1220 at six. It’s a date. Or, you know, whatever.” Why had she said date? It wasn’t a date. Obviously.
He took off running, grin still in place. “See you then.”
She watched him go. She was having dinner at Lucas Prime’s house. Tasting his new recipes.
She should really walk on the beach more often.
ChapterTwenty
Mitch finished his read-through and ended up with four pages of notes. None of which were really ideas, more like general observations. He had found several threads that could be tied up and one that could possibly be complicated and extended by the death of a minor character. That would buy him a decent number of pages.
What else was going to happen in the book, he had no idea. Nothing solid anyway. He could just trust the process and hope his lizard brain would come up with something unique and interesting. It often did, surprising him as it happened. But what if it didn’t?
What if that part of him that had taken joy in the creative process had died along with Jeanie? She had been the source of so much pleasure in his life. Without her, nothing had any color anymore. His writing included.
He’d never started writing a book without some inkling as to how it opened, something big that would happen during the book, and a solid conclusion with a hint of what could come next. This time? He had none of that.
And it was deeply disturbing.
