Page 11 of Finding Love

CHAPTERFOUR

What the hell had gotten into her? Why had she asked him to come along? Had it been a moment of weakness?

Brook stood on the small sailboat that she’d purchased a few months back, waiting for Ryder and Willy to show up.

She had taken the time to pack food for them since she planned on being out until after sunset.

At least twice a month starting in the spring and all during summertime, a bunch of her friends got together and spent the day at a beach area not far up the coast from Pride. Her cousin Kate and her fiancé Tom had arranged the gathering earlier that week.

Tom’s sailboat was much larger than hers, and he’d shuttled at least a dozen of her friends to the cove earlier that morning.

She didn’t know why she’d invited Ryder along, other than she’d figured it would be a good way to get to know him a little better. A way to possibly get to the bottom of the dark, sad look she’d seen on his face when he’d talked to Eva.

Everyone in town knew Eva’s story. How she’d lost her younger brother in a car crash where she’d been driving. How she’d blamed herself for the accident and taken off for a full year, living on the streets, running from her family.

She’d run into the Brew Ha Ha in an attempt to hide once and had landed in the path of Rafe. The pair had fallen hard and fast for one another and, through patience and love, Rafe had convinced her to work things out with her parents. It just so happened that Eva’s parents owned a large well-known coffee company in Seattle.

Brook wanted to find Eva or, better yet, ask Ryder about how well the two of them knew one another. But she had been raised better than that.

People kept secrets and when others pried, sometimes the wedge they caused in the relationship was irreversible. Something told Brook that whatever Ryder was hiding, he didn’t want her to know. At least not yet.

She knew and trusted Eva and had seen how her friend had treated and talked to Ryder. Whatever he was hiding, it wasn’t that he was a bad guy. Eva genuinely cared for him, either as a friend or as an old lover.

When she heard a dog bark, she glanced up to see Willy rushing towards her down the dock.

“There he is.” She smiled and bent down to give the small dog some attention. Then she glanced up to see Ryder strolling towards her. He walked as if he had all the time in the world. A man without a purpose. “You found it okay?” she asked, straightening.

“Yeah.” Ryder smiled at her, then glanced behind her to the sailboat. A slight frown creased his forehead. “Fair warning, I’ve never been on a sailboat before.”

“I’ve been warned.” She motioned to the sailboat. He moved past her and stepped on board. “What about Willy?”

“He’s never been sailing either,” Ryder said with a smile. He snapped his fingers and the dog jumped on deck.

She liked his humor. Liked that it was dry and witty. Not a lot of people in town got her humor, which was much the same as his.

“Ready?” she asked when she stepped back on deck.

“Sure.” He moved over so she could unhook the ropes holding them to the docks. “Where are we heading?”

She motioned to the water. “Out.” She tossed the rope back onto the dock, then nudged them away. “Trust me?”

He shrugged and then sat down on the bench and relaxed back as if he didn’t have a care. When she was on the water, she felt as if the world stopped existing beyond her and that moment.

Her heart rate slowed, her energy level spiked, and she felt more at home than anywhere else.

She pulled out of the small inlet that Pride docks sat in, raised the sails, and enjoyed the instant tug of the smaller craft as it headed north.

One thing she could always count on was the steady winds would take her where she wanted to go. Except during a storm.

“How long did you say you’d been sailing?” he asked once they were on their way.

“I’ve had Calypso for almost six months. But I’ve been sailing and on boats my entire life.” She relaxed back as she steered them along the rocky coastline. As they went, she pointed out a few of the sights. “That’s Sunset Events. They host weddings, parties, and other large events. Last winter, we enjoyed our very first ballet there, thanks to my cousin Kate. She just opened a dance studio in town last year. She’s engaged to Tom. He’s a police officer here in Pride. They’re getting married this fall. Anyway…” She motioned to the hillside. “That’s Hidden Cove neighborhood.” She motioned to the new subdivision. “They have their own little beach and dock just…” She waited until they passed the small cove and then smiled. “There. If you blink, you’ll miss it.” They were traveling so fast that the small cove area passed by quickly. “The neighborhood is new to Pride in the past five years. My friends Jacob and Rose oversee the building and design of the entire neighborhood.”

She continued to chat about everything they passed—all the homes, the story of the town—as the flat beachy terrain turned rocky and the cliffs grew higher until most of the land was far above them.

The lighthouse sat just beyond Hidden Cove on a rocky cliff, and its beauty never ceased to surprise her. A massive house overlooked the lighthouse.

She’d always dreamed of owning the old place on Ocean View, ever since seeing it for the first time as a child when her dad had taken her out on the water. Whenever she passed it, she dreamed about what it would be like to live there, high above the water, in what to her seemed like a castle.