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It was dark when Hope approached the stairs leading to her back porch. As she climbed, her heart almost jumped out of her chest at the sound of scraping on the porch, which revealed itself to be Cruz standing at the other end with his tail wagging.
“Were you protecting me, Cruz? You look happy to see me.” As she reached midway across the porch, he backed up, looking one last time at her before descending the steps on that side and disappearing.
Hope undressed and climbed into bed. Picking up a book, she read for a few minutes before her text tone sounded—it was from Alex. She rushed to pick up the phone, concerned there was something wrong.
The text was only four words: Sleep tight, Boss Lady.
Smiling, she texted back, You too.
CHAPTER 35
The wooden boards were still wet under Alex’s bare feet as he stood on the pier. A passing summer storm had drenched the resort an hour ago, but the sky was now blue with no hint of nature’s ferocity. “Ok, Patti. Where do you want me to stand?”
“There, near the edge of the pier, so I have the ocean as a backdrop.”
He glanced over at the dive shop, which reminded him of the awkward conversation he’d had with the remaining six divers in his group. They’d finally cornered him yesterday, right before leaving for the airport. They tried to give him an outrageous tip, and Alex practically tripped as he backed out of the dive shop to escape. Eventually, he talked them into giving it all to the rest of the staff. He understood they had needed some closure on the whole episode, but he only wanted to put it behind him.
Alex still wasn’t a hundred percent but was fully capable of leading dives again. News of the boat sinking and subsequent rescue had flown around the local dive community, and his friend Robert had really come through, filling in for several days.
In the end, Hope managed to talk him into taking three more days off. He still wasn’t completely sure how she’d done it. Mostly, he would have agreed to anything she asked simply to avoid a repeat of the other morning when she’d broken down screaming and crying at him. He flushed, still not believing how badly he’d misjudged that situation. Alex had so much fun teasing and flirting with her when she was flustered and had thought it was more of that—how wrong he’d been.
As for what had come later that evening, a flush of another kind rose as he smiled to himself. Reaching the edge of the pier, he turned around. “Is this good?”
Patti held up her phone. “Yes! That’s the smile I want. You must be thinking nice thoughts.”
He laughed at that, and Patti took the picture.
“Excellent.” She pointed to him. “That wasn’t so bad, was it? Let’s go back to the lobby right now and I’ll print the picture. I need you to help me hang them. I’m not tall enough.”
As they walked toward the lobby, Alex took a deep breath, remembering how it had felt to hold Hope in his arms at last. Like she belonged there. They had hardly seen each other in the past few days as he healed, and she worked frantically to manage all the fires caused by the boat sinking. Just a few stolen kisses and one spectacular but interrupted make-out session in the gear room that only made him want more. He lifted the corner of his mouth.
I‘m a forty-year-old man making out in a darkened room.
But he was more reassured that she wasn’t going to run off on him again.
His smile fell as he thought about the consequences of the boat disaster. The event could have ruined the resort and everything Hope had accomplished, but the divers in his fated group had been content upon leaving, even Turtle Guy and Teresa. Ben and Mary were planning a return in December. But a new boat was priority one.
As Patti printed his picture, he inspected the staff photos lined up on the counter, all new in their just-purchased black frames. He was the last one. She was right—he’d been avoiding it. Patti placed the picture in the empty frame and held it up for his inspection, triumphant.
Alex winced. “I look like a grinning idiot.”
“You just stop it. You look very happy. It’s a wonderful picture.”
He returned to the photos, stopping when he got to Hope’s. Patti must have taken it in front of the lobby with the flame trees as a backdrop. Hope’s hair and face were lit by the sun, and she smiled at the camera, looking radiant. His breath caught as he stared at her mouth, remembering the feel of it. The taste of it.
Worst timing ever . . .
“Ok. So how do you want to arrange these?” He could see the big blank space on the wall but wasn’t about to suggest to her how to hang the pictures.
Patti went down the line and picked up Hope’s picture. He grabbed the hammer and nails, and they walked over to the wall. “Let’s start there,” she said, pointing up. “Hope belongs on top.”
Alex couldn’t help the broad grin that spread across his face as he took the photo from her.
Of course, Patti noticed and slapped his arm. “You bad man,” she said, but she was laughing too. “She is a beautiful woman, isn’t she?”
“You’re fishing, Patti. Besides, I’d never kiss and tell.” He caressed the picture after he was done. In the next row down, he hung the pictures of Patti, himself, Tommy, and Gerold.
Hope’s raised voice came from the office. “I know we sent that police report. You must have received it by now. This delay is not acceptable. We need the insurance payout as soon as possible to buy the new boat. You need to do better than this.”
