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It makes me smile.
How many times have I gone hiking there with Dad, Eliza, and the fam?
All that greenery is a big bowl of pea soup for the soul.
I’ve called this place home for most of my life, yet it still takes my breath away—even when the wind wants to shove me in the ocean.
I’m used to seeing people boating out here. Most mornings, the bay is littered with sailboats and little fishing ships.
Not today, though. The rising wind is enough reason to tell me why when I see the waves.
They’re rolling bigger like restless beasts rising from a long nap, the wind spitting spray off the top.
Brine coats my cheeks, and for the first time, I shiver as I check my phone.
Dang.
There’s even a wind advisory for small boats. As I scan the waves, I don’t expect anyone down by the boat launch.
Definitely not a man holding a flimsy green kayak.
“Oh no,” I mouth, noticing he’s only a few feet from taking off on a one-way trip.
As one enormous wave swells halfway to Blake Island, I lunge into action, running toward the launch with my hands over my mouth.
“Hey! Hey, wait, mister. You can’t go out in weather like this!”
Are you freaking crazy?I want to add. But there could be a thousand reasons. He might be a tourist or a risk-taker or just some guy who never checks his phone and underestimates how pissed off the sea is today.
He stops and stares, all dark hair and slashing blue eyes that ground me midstep.
I jerk back so hard I’m almost winded. Even Molly goes into an instant heel at my side, watching him warily.
“There’s a major wind advisory. Looks like it’s already over thirty miles per hour out there. You really don’t want to go out there,” I say quietly as he watches me like a statue.
Okay, yeah, definitely freaking crazy. It kind of comes with the territory in this town.
“I’m aware of the weather, miss,” he says sharply. “I also have eyes. I’ve done the route to Blake Island over three hundred times in worse weather than this. Thanks for your concern, but no thanks.”
Holy hell.
He’s talking polite, but the wave that crashes behind him hard enough to spray us both obliterates his argument.
“You can’t go out there, dude. That’s the kind of mess that drowns people,” I say. But the more I talk, the frostier his icy look gets. “If you’ve been out to Blake so much, you must know how many people wind up in a bad spot and need rescue? But this, this is easily avoidable.”
“So is this conversation,” he clips.
Oh, boy.
We’ve got a live one, I guess.
My brow pulls down. “Um, don’t you think it’s a littleselfishto risk people and resources if the Coast Guard has to roll out after you? I’m trying to avoid that.”
He rolls his eyes so hard I thinkI’mthe one who’s dizzy.
“Lady, get a life. You’re lecturing a grown man who’s perfectly comfortable with taking his own risks. If I’m swept away, I’ll find my way back. You can have the police standing by to arrest me for self-endangerment if it makes you feel better.”
“Come on. That’s not even a crime.” I sigh as he turns his back, shooting me another cutting gaze over his very broad shoulder. “I guess no good deed goes unpunished, huh?”
