Chapter 31

Gemma

Lunch?

The text I sent two hours ago sits without a reply, despite the fact that it’s only half an hour until Grams’s usual lunch time.

I rub Xena’s back. She’s been keeping me company this morning while Beau’s out. “She just needs time, right?”

I’m pretty sure Grams knows, deep down somewhere, that Beau is a good person. She just hates it because it goes directly contrary to the platform she’s built the last few decades of her life on: the Palmers are the worst.

I’ll give her another day, and then I’ll start my next battle strategy: smothering her with love, even when she resists it. She needs to know that this isn’t a matter of me choosing them over her.

My entire future is still up in the air. Dating Beau doesn’t solve any of that; it actually complicates it. Who knows if what’s going on between us will go anywhere? And how much am I willing to do, how much is Beau willing to do to find out? He wants to stay in Sunset Harbor, and I? I don’t know what I want.

In the meantime, we still don’t have the surveyor’s report, and I’m starting to wonder if he’s ghosting us. Maybe figuring this stuff out was just too much for him.

When I open my laptop, the screen that pulls up is a blank video project—Beau’s presentation. My goal for the day is to go through all the footage I’ve taken and mark the ones that belong in the final video. I have a feeling the video could be very long. Maybe I’ll make a director’s cut just for me.

My phone buzzes, and I pick it up.

Beau

Can I take you on a lunch date?

I smile.

Gemma

I don’t know. I was just about to snuggle up with some hot cop cam footage…

How about some live action instead?

My cheeks go pink, and another text comes before I can respond.

Pulling up in thirty seconds, but don’t come out. I’ll come to the door.

I set my laptop aside and hurry to my feet, then to the bathroom to freshen up. My work clothes are still folded up in my suitcase, and I haven’t missed them. I’ve been living in shorts, loose shirts, and tank tops. No heels. And I’ve been loving it.

I spray myself with a couple spritzes of perfume as there’s a knock on the door. Xena beats me to the door, rushing out to Beau as I open it. But he doesn’t even look at her. His eyes are all for me.

“Hello, beautiful.” He hooks his finger in the pocket of my shorts and pulls me toward him.

“So you can text,” I say just before he presses his lips to mine.

“Mm,” he says, pulling back after a few seconds. “How does kissing you get better every time?”

I could’ve asked the same thing.

“As for your comment,” he says, pulling the door shut, then threading his fingers through mine, “texting is indeed a skill I possess. I just chose not to use your number before.”

“Playing hard to get?” I ask as we head toward the golf cart, Xena charging ahead and jumping into her usual place.

He chuckles. “More like responding to your hard-to-get. I figured you’d say no and shut me down on a text thread. I’d rather throw rocks at your window and wear you down in person.” He opens the imaginary golf cart door for me and hands me in.

Xena’s sniffing the brown paper bag on the seat, and Beau grabs it before she can nose her way in. “That’s not for you, princess.” He pulls a treat out of his pocket and gives it to her, then looks at me. “Lunch on the beach okay with you?”

“Yes, please,” I say as we start down the street.

“Any word from Grams?” He puts his hand on my thigh while steering with the other.

I shake my head as the breeze rushes through my hair. “Not since I texted her to let her know you don’t have a girl in Miami. She hasn’t responded to that or my suggestion we do lunch, but I promised myself I’d give her until tomorrow.”

“And then?”

I shrug. “Try a new tactic. I don’t know if she’ll believe you don’t have a girlfriend there. I think when she looks at you, all she sees is your grandpa.”

Beau grimaces. “I get it. He did her wrong.”

“And here I was, completely ignorant all these years. How did you know?”

“I asked my grandpa myself when I came back to Sunset Harbor a couple years ago. If I was going to be a good cop, I felt like I needed to understand things better. It took a while to get the truth out. I think he’s had long enough to convince himself he didn’t do anything wrong.” He shakes his head. “No one’s been innocent in the whole thing, though. I’m just glad it’s behind us. ”

I don’t respond to that because I’m less convinced of that than he is. “Does Rose have plans to live at Seaside Oasis? Maybe we could organize a friendship between her and Grams. Then Rose could vouch for you, you know?”

Beau squeezes my thigh as we pull into the beach parking lot. “I’ll find a way into Grams’s heart on my own.” He grabs a beach mat, I take the bag of food, and we head to a spot near the surf that’s shaded by the palm fronds waving gently above.

“Admit it,” Beau says as we stare out at the shimmering waves with our burgers in hand and Xena sniffing around nearby. “The scales have started to tip.”

I look at him, my brows knit. And then it comes to me—our first outing together. I told him he was putting mere grains of sand on the scale.

“You kind of like this island now, don’t you?” He wraps his arm around my shoulders.

I make a show of taking a huge bite of my burger so I don’t have to talk, and he laughs, pulling me toward him and kissing my hair. I really overdid it on that bite, though, and it takes me almost a minute to clear my mouth. “I do like it. But I’m scared of it too.”

“Scared?”

I lift my shoulders and watch the foam recede on the sand. “Sunset Harbor hurt my family a lot. I don’t want that to happen again.”

“I’m sorry for the way my family made yours feel, Gemma.”

I smile ruefully. “Thank you. It’s not your fault, but it means a lot to hear you say.”

We finish our burgers in companionable silence, then I lie back and look up at the palm fronds, outlined by the blue of the sky above. Beau joins me, his shoulder up against mine.

“Would you ever live here again?” he asks.

My heart clenches because I know this question is important to him. He loves this island and wants to stay here always. My answer could be a deal-breaker.

I want to respond yes right away, because I think that’s what I’ve been feeling for the past couple of weeks—a reluctance to leave. Grams’s house is just the physical representation of what I’m feeling more and more reluctant to give up.

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “Some days I wish I could buy Grams’s house from her.”

“Why can’t you?”

“I’m unemployed, remember? I’d never qualify for a loan. And it’s not like this island has amazing job prospects. Just look at the local superhero cop who’s not even paid a living wage.”

He chuckles, and the sound reverberates in his chest so that I feel it in my hand.

“How do you afford to live here on a part-time public servant’s salary?” I ask.

He shrugs. “The house is still my parents’.”

“Ah. Right. Silver spoon and all that.”

“Hey,” he says, nudging me with his shoulder. “I’ve got a little nest egg saved up too. I got a hefty sum from my injury, and then a little more came with the award they gave me.” His brows pull together, and he goes quiet.

“You deserved it, Beau,” I say softly.

“Thanks,” he says, grabbing my hand. He looks at me. “Things will come together the way they’re supposed to.”

I try for a smile, but his words bother me. They’re very Beau— assuming things will happen the way they should. Does he really want me to stay? They say easy come, easy go, right? I fought against my feelings for Beau so hard that now that I’ve surrendered, I feel invested. Too invested, probably, for the relatively short amount of time it’s been. The thought of leaving him behind hurts in a way losing my job didn’t.

But Beau hasn’t had that fight. He basically just had to wait out my stubbornness. What will that mean, then, if things don’t magically align to allow me to stay? Will he be willing to do long-distance? Or will he let it roll off his back and move on to the next woman?

His phone starts ringing, and I move so he can access it in his pocket. The name on the screen says Randall, and Beau sits up as he answers.

“Howdy, Mayor. How can I help you?” His brows pull together. “No, I must’ve missed that. What’s the reason?”

All I can hear is muffled phone-garble on the other end, but Beau’s gaze flits to me.

I raise my brows, wondering why he’s looking at me that way—so intently.

“I see,” he says. “What time?” A pause. “Yeah. I’ll be there. Thanks, Mayor.” He hangs up and lets out a huge sigh.

I sit up. “Something wrong?”

He doesn’t respond right away, tapping his phone against his palm with a deep frown on his brow. “The mayor wants me to come to the city offices in an hour.”

“Okay…” I still don’t understand what the big whoop is.

Beau grimaces and looks at me. “They’re holding an emergency city council meeting, Gemma.”

My pulse quickens. “Because…?”

“They’re voting on an emergency ordinance to ban short-term rentals.”