That evening, while they were scrolling through Blair’s photos, there was movement out the back window.Must be the grounds crew finishing up.Emily leaned in to see what they were doing. But it wasn’t the grounds crew. Patrick was clomping down to the beach, his muscles bulging as he carried a metal container to the sand. With a thud, he dropped it at his feet. When he turned toward the house, Emily took a step back to stay out of his view.
A few minutes later, he reappeared with his arms full of logs and dumped them into the metal container. Blair and Sienna joined her at the window.
“What’s he doing?” Sienna asked over Emily’s shoulder.
Blair squinted. “I have no idea.”
Emily stepped away. “I’ll go see.”
She slipped on her flip-flops and padded onto the deck just as he came around the side of the house with an armful of folding chairs.
“Hey,” she called, stepping into the warm sand. “What’s going on?”
“With everything closed, I thought you all might be bored, so I planned dinner out here for a change of scenery.”
“You shouldn’t worry about us. You have other things you could be doing.”
“The restaurant only had minor cosmetic damage—absolutely incredible.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” she said, relieved more than she should be. It wasn’t even her problem, but she felt as if she’d been holding her breath over it.
“Indeed,” he said. “And it gave me time to take care of all Julia’s trees. We were able to keep most of the wood, but she already had this stacked in the garage.” He waved a hand at the pile of wood and then opened the chairs and set them around what she now realized was a fire pit. He clapped the dirt off his hands and reached into his pocket, retrieving a lighter.
“What are you cooking?” she asked, contemplating what he could manage to prepare over an open fire.
“I brought seafood skewers and a simple dough with herbs and cheese.” He lit the logs, a golden flame rising and licking the air.
Emily’s stomach rumbled. “That sounds delicious. Do you need any help bringing the supplies down?”
“I’ll be fine. Why don’t you ask your friends if they want to settle in by the fire?”
“Okay. Be right back.” Emily jogged up to the house, an odd sort of happiness tingling in her chest.
“I went upstairs to comb my hair and heard your phone chirping, so I brought it down,” Blair said when Emily walked in, handing it across.
A missed text from Will.
“He’s being weird.” Emily glared at the screen. “He asked what I was up to. As if we’re chummy.”
“He’s relentless,” Sienna said. “Isn’t your silence enough? You’re on a girls’ trip.”
Every time she started to move on mentally, Will sucked her back into their drama. And she didn’t want to deal with it anymore. She’d tell him soon enough, but tonight she wanted to enjoy her friends. She clicked off the phone screen and put it into her pocket. Then she filled in Sienna and Blair on the plans, and they went out to meet Patrick.
Emily kicked off her flip-flops and sat in the chair nearest the water. The sand had started to cool beneath her feet, and it was damp from the old tide line. Her hair tickled her face, the coastal wind light. She pushed the strands out of her eyes to view the fiery oranges, pinks, and purples that had begun to overtake the daytime blue in the sky. The wind carried a mist of sea spray that settled on her skin.
With a deep breath, she pushed Will right out of her mind.
“It’s almost room temperature with that breeze,” Sienna said, wriggling into her chair.
Blair and Emily agreed.
Patrick returned with a soft cooler slung over his shoulder, a radio in his hand, and a long grate under his arm. He dropped the bag next to Emily, sending sand onto her feet. She wiggled them clean. He noticed and a lightness filled his eyes as he looked at her. He clicked on the radio to beach music, and set it in the sand. Then he unzipped the cooler and pulled out a bowl with a towel over it.
Emily peeked under to find a lump of dough, the scent of butter and rosemary tickling her nose.
“No peeking,” he teased. His voice was gentle tonight, as if he’d come down from the stress of the storm.
While the dough rested, he put the grate on the campfire that had already burned down to glowing embers due to the small logs he’d used.
