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Chapter 22

Wind to Carry Me

Colby

My phone pings with a text from Peggy.

You still coming?

Leaving in a few. Should be there midafternoon. What time tomorrow?

We’re set for 10 am.

Rustled up any parents yet?

No, but I’m working on it.

It’s a friggin’ Saturday!

Preaching to the choir. I’ll keep at it.

For Christ’s sake! I get that a lot of these parents work, but they can’t show up for a few hours on a Saturday to hang with their kids and help me? And no, this is not about me because I can manage. I’ve done it plenty of times before.

I stuff the rest of my groceries into a cooler when a brainwave strikes. No, it’s not a brainwave. It’s the stupidest damn idea I’ve had in a long time, so I ignore it and hustle down to the garage to load my truck for the trip to Beaufort.

A white rectangle trapped beneath my wiper catches my eye, and I free it. It’s an envelope with my name in pretty script on the front. Opening it, I slide out a card with a painted sailboat scene. It’s skimming across deep blue waters under an orange sunset sky. When I flip open the card, I find a thank-you note and Jackie’s signature in loopy letters. In it, she reminds me that she’d like to repay her “debt,” and that I should call on her when I need her help with the kids.

She doesn’t owe me a thing. Besides, I need to steer clear of this girl, which is what I told myself upstairs when I shot down my supremely bad idea from a few minutes ago.

I tuck the card inside my console and double-check that I’ve got everything. As I’m about to slide in behind the steering wheel, I’m surprised by the woman herself. She stands at my driver’s side door, panting like she just ran a mile. The skin beneath her eyes is smudged gray, as though she hasn’t slept in a week, but her face sports a half-smile. “Hey!”

A grin forms on my face. I can’t stop it. “Hey, yourself. Thanks for the card.”

“Oh good, you got it.” She glances to her right as if looking for something before swinging those light green eyes back to me. She wears a look that’s both beautiful and haunted, and something stirs deep in my gut. “That was quite the road trip for you guys, and two more wins.” Her mouth curves into a full smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Yeah, not bad, huh?” We took two out of the three away games we played. Points are stacking up, and it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that we can scrape our way into the playoffs. We have another month to get there.

“Nice that the coach gave you guys three days off. What are you doing with yours?”

This is one of those rare times when we get a string of days off. No games, no practice. Freedom to unwind, give our bodies a chance to heal during the final weeks of a grueling season.

“I’m heading to Beaufort.”

She laughs, and the sound is musical, a caress to my ears. “Of course you are. I should have guessed.”

“How’s the job? You’ve been there what, two weeks now?”

Her smile falters but instantly broadens into brilliant. “It’s going great. Thank you again. I guess I should have included that in the note too.”

An awkward beat of silence passes, and she doesn’t mention owing me for the tires. I’m not about to bring it up because I don’t want her money. I wouldn’t object to a different kind of payback, though, and my mouth hijacks my logical brain and blurts out, “The kids are coming tomorrow, and Peggy hasn’t been able to wrangle a single parent yet, so if you’re thinking of driving down that way, I could use a first mate.” Tilting my head, I wait for her answer. A voice inside my head screams out what a horrible idea this is.

Something passes through her eyes, and her smile wilts. “Um, well … I could but …”

I hold up a hand to stop her. “No, that’s fine. I get it. You’ve got other things to do.”

A look of remorse etches itself in her features. “It’s not that. I’d love nothing better, and I did promise, but I don’t want to upset my brother …”

Disappointment and relief swell inside me at the same time. She’s removing the temptation from my grasp, which is a good thing, but the fact that it’s because of her brother pisses me off. My reaction is completely irrational. “Yep. I got his message, loud and clear. Sorry. I should’ve thought before I asked. I don’t want you landing on his bad side because of me.”