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She settled into it, the breeze out here closer to the water finally kissing her skin. With her snacks and a drink nearby, she sighed. She’d brought out a book, but right now, she just wanted to drift.
Drift, and let her mind go wherever it wanted.
She must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew, someone said, “Tess, honey,” and touched her shoulder.
She jerked away from the sound and the pressure, her adrenaline spiking. In a moment, she was back on the boat where she’d been drugged, tied, and kidnapped. She had to get off. Now. Swim to shore.
She blinked, and Abe’s handsome face came into view. He sat on the end of her lounger, his eyes concerned even as his lips started to turn upward into a smile. “Sorry, I startled you.”
She’d not told him about everything that had happened to her in Nantucket Point last year. Something told her to do so now.
He nodded back to her house. “I brought ribs. Did you still want me to smoke them for dinner?”
“Yes,” she said. Her adrenaline faded, and she sat up. “Sorry. I…you scared me.”
He nodded and looked at his hands. He knew there was something between them, and Tessa had told him she’d confide in him when the time was right.
“I was kidnapped last year,” she said. She drew in a big breath, ready to expel this part of her life. It didn’t get to control her anymore.
Abe’s eyes flew to hers. “You were?”
She nodded. “By my mother’s neighbor. It was all over the news.”
“I didn’t realize it was you,” he said softly. He didn’t try to touch her again, but Tessa wanted him to. She wanted him to know she wasn’t broken.
She reached for his hand and knitted their fingers together. “I feel safe with you.”
He lit up, the kindness in his face almost more than Tessa could bear. “Thanks, Tess.” He leaned forward and kissed her. “Do you want to talk more about it?”
She took a moment to think about it as she gathered her wrappers and water bottle. Tucking them into her bag, she said, “I don’t think so. It’s not going to define me anymore.” She stood, and Abe took her into an embrace. She did feel strong and safe in his arms—and out of them.
Leaving Nantucket had been the right thing for her, and true happiness filled her. They started back toward her beach cottage, and she said, “How was the shop today?”
“Good,” Abe said. “I got the contracts for my son to sign.” He smiled at the sand, and Tessa found him so adorable. “We’re meeting with Sean in the morning.”
“That’s exciting.” Tessa couldn’t believe she’d found a man willing to relocate for her. Forher. She hadn’t realized how she’d followed her family around for her whole life, and it felt good to be the sun for once. To be the center of the universe and have everyone else circle her—even if it was only Abe.
Because “only Abe” was all she needed, and the moment they made it back insides her house, she turned toward him and kissed him. “How long do the ribs need to smoke?” she asked before pressing her lips to his again.
He kissed her back, his hands sliding along her hips and up her back. When he broke their connection, he looked hungry…for her. “At least an hour,” he said. “After I get them on the grill.”
She smiled at him and stepped back. “You do that then. I’ll shower and…maybe you can come see my new air plant. It’s in the bedroom.”
He swallowed and licked his lips. “Yeah, all right.” He spun toward the kitchen and jogged into it. Tessa grinned and then giggled as she entered her bedroom on the other side of the cottage. Yes, being in Five Island Cove had been good for her soul.
ChapterFourteen
Kristen swiped one more errant piece of hair out of her face as the doorbell rang. “Coming!” she called out of pure habit. She’d lived in the lighthouse for five decades, and she could never get to the door very fast. Once Joel had installed the intercom, she could take a few steps and let her guests know she’d heard them, and she was on her way.
She still called almost every time someone knocked or rang, and she hustled as quickly as her seventy-eight-year-old legs would carry her toward the front door. Theo should be on the other side of it, and Kristen indeed opened the door to see his handsome face.
“Morning,” he said, though they’d already seen each other that day. Kristen’s fingers tingled up and down their lengths, as she’d held his hand twenty minutes ago as they’d come in from their beachly walk.
“Good morning.” She twisted and bent to pick up her bag, which she’d placed by the door last night. “I just need to grab my water bottle and we can go.”
She turned her back on him, and he said, “I like your sweater.”
Kristen glanced down at it, though she knew what she wore. A navy blue sweater with red and white stripes and white stars. “Thanks,” she said. “AJ found it at a boutique a couple of days ago.” It had short sleeves, and Kristen had paired it with a pair of white shorts. Alice and Robin had come over the previous afternoon to help her with her outfit, and Kristen would die before she’d tell anyone she’d used that word.
