“Yeah, I got a bunch of scripts I need to read through,” he said, his tone polite, but agonizingly cool. “It was nice to meet you, Jazz. I’ll walk you guys out.”

I tried to catch his eyes, but they skated over mine as he headed back the way they had come. Oh my God, he totally thought I’d been looking through his phone on purpose. I guess he interpreted my reaction as getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

Well, I hadn’t meant to snoop. I wasn’t going to feel guilty about that. I thought maybe I should apologize anyway, but the other part of me was rationally saying he wouldn’t be mad if he had nothing to hide. Then again, this was Jack Eversea, who had to keep everything in his life hidden and private due to the nature of his work. I had a small twinge of understanding for him before my thoughts landed back on the text. He should be feeling guilty right now, and I had every right to feel the way I did.

We got inside and I headed straight for the front door, pausing only to grab my backpack and shove my feet into my sneakers. My clothes in the laundry room would have to stay. I definitely wasn’t coming back for them. My hands shook. This needed to be over.

I shouldn’t have been so surprised, but it turned out I had fallen hard and fast for Jack, and that one text had totally punched me in the gut. I was definitely not cut out for this. It would be tough, but I had to end this now. Regardless of Audrey Lane, I would never fit into his life so there was just no point in trying to save this situation. I shouldn’t have let it get this far. It was my own fault. It had been me who closed the distance and crossed the line.

As I grabbed the bag and swung it onto my shoulder, I turned to him, and my stomach dipped. “I wasn’t snooping, Jack. I was bringing you your phone, but I couldn’t help read the text since it was right in front of my face. I apologize for whatever breach of privacy you think that violates. Clearly, I wasn’t aware of my boundaries as they pertain to you and your girlfriend while you’re trying to patch things up.” My heart squeezed as I made it over those last words. I went on, “So, I apologize for this morning.”

Jack cocked his head to the side.

“In the laundry room,” I clarified, in case he didn’t get exactly what I meant. “And in the pool,” I added, and saw his eyes narrow and his jaw tighten.

Jazz cleared her throat. “I ... uh ... um, Keri Ann, I’ll wait for you outside. Nice to meet you again, Jack,” she said to him and turned for the door.

“No, it’s okay, Jazz, I’m on my way out, too.” And I swung around to follow her. I half expected or hoped Jack would argue with me, but he didn’t.

Then I remembered something and stopped. After digging around in my backpack, I pulled out the flyer I’d found at The Pig about their new online ordering and home delivery service. I held it out to him.

Jack glanced at it, enough to read it, and didn’t move. He just stared at me, his face expressionless, a muscle ticking in his cheek.

I set it down on the small glass coffee table and headed out the front door, stepping over the mound of boxes that had arrived.

E I G H T E E N

“What the hell was that about?” Jazz hissed at me as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

I did the thing where I just look at her and hope to heck she gets it. She had seen a look of emotional pain on my face enough times to recognize the signs. I’m sure I probably resembled a kicked dog, but hey, I needed to lick my wounds.

“Oh,” she said. Thank God, she was giving me a temporary pass on an explanation. “Hop in my car. I’ll borrow your bike to come back and get your truck ... because I freaking love exercising in eighty-five degree weather.”

I stomped around to the passenger side of her yellow car and sank inside. Flinging the door closed, I dropped my head between my knees.

“Thanks,” I mumbled toward the floor before I flopped my head back against the seat and buckled in.

As we made our way the whole long three minutes to my house, Jazz glanced at me repeatedly.

“Soooo ... awkward,” she sang. “You wanna tell me what just went down, coz for the love of roast fish and corn bread, I swear you just broke up with Jack-freakin-Eversea back there.” She paused, and then when I didn’t answer, slapped my knee. Hard.

“Ow! Jeez! What was that for?”

“Well, you weren’t talking so I was just checking. Oh, and also ... for ruining my first ever celebrity meeting. With Jack Eversea!” she yelled and then grinned. “I’m just kidding. Kind of. No, seriously I am,” she added at my raised eyebrows.

I smiled in spite of myself. “Yeah, right.”

“I know, I know. I still can’t believe he’s here in Butler Cove, first of all. And then that you met him, had an almost thing with him, and then dumped him before I even got a chance to ask him what he had tattooed on his glute.” She huffed. I knew she was trying to calm me down and cheer me up while still staying on the topic of Jack.

“How do you know he has a tattoo on his glute?” I asked. I thought of the ink I had seen peeking out of his shorts when we were carrying the paddleboard down to the beach. Well, I wouldn’t be finding out either. I felt sick and a little bit empty, like I’d just lost my mother’s wedding band. And I knew that feeling because I did misplace it once. Now I wore it most days on a chain around my neck.

“Apparently, he had it done during the filming of the first Erath movie, someone got a pic of him at the inkshop. But no one’s talking about what it is, not even the guy who did it. It’s a mystery. Although, obviously, Audrey Lane knows what it is. Shoot, sorry,” she added, at my slight wince.

“It’s fine, I’m just annoyed you know so damned much about him. Ugh.”

We were at the stop light by the Snapper Grill. There was no way I could sit around at home tonight. I needed to stay busy. I craned my neck to see down the side of the grill through the bushes to where the courtyard was and saw Brenda outside bussing a table.

“Nuh uh!” said Jazz. “You are not working. We’re putting the lime in the coconut tonight and watching sappy movies.”

Making margaritas and watching movies sounded like heaven and totally what I needed. Nothing with Jack Eversea in it, obviously.

“Nothing with Jack Eversea in it. I know,” Jazz muttered like an echo. I turned to her and slapped her hard on the knee.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“For knowing me too damned well, too.” I grinned at her to show her I was okay. At least until we broke out the margaritas.

She huffed dramatically and pulled onto the gravel of my driveway behind a van with a big flooring sign on it.

That was odd, I thought I was doing roofs today. I looked over to Mrs. Weaton’s and saw a brand spanking new roof. Man, those guys worked fast. Not a moment too soon either, I thought, seeing the ominous clouds gathering overhead. I guess it was time for some tropical rain. I climbed out and went to investigate why there was a flooring company here.

With the day I’d just had, nothing would surprise me. Or so I believed until I saw two men hauling a large piece of equipment out of my front door.

“Um ... hi ... who are you?” I asked the big one closest to me.

“I’m Chuck, this is Andy,” he responded with a jerk of a fat thumb behind him, as he informed me they had just finished sanding my floors.