Sand Castle Bay

“What’s Boone after?” she asked suspiciously.

“After?” Samantha echoed with a puzzled look. “I don’t think he wants anything. Cora Jane says he’s been a huge help to her with the restaurant. That’s all I know.”

“If Boone is being a huge help, then he wants something,” Emily declared with conviction. Wasn’t he always after something? That had been her experience, anyway. Once upon a time he’d wanted her, and when she’d said she needed time to explore the world a bit, he’d let her go and married Jenny Farmer about ten seconds later. Last she’d heard they had a little boy. So much for that undying love he’d declared he felt for her. Maybe she’d left, but he was the one who’d delivered a betrayal so deep she’d never really recovered.

“He probably wants the Castle’s by the Sea property,” Emily speculated direly. In her dark days, hadn’t she entertained that thought more than once, imagining him courting her even back then with an ulterior motive? How else to explain his rapid-fire marriage to someone else after she’d gone? True love couldn’t possibly have been so fickle. “I’ll just bet he’s hoping this hurricane will be the last straw and Grandmother will sell that prime beachfront location to him.”

Samantha slanted a wry look at her. “You do know that Boone already has three very successful seafood restaurants, right?”

“Three?” Emily echoed, startled.

“Sure enough. Boone’s Harbor on the bay opened first. Now he has one in Norfolk and one over in Charlotte. I think there’s some guy who’s like his administrative assistant who scouts out the new locations and gets them operational, but Boone’s definitely in charge. Grandmother says the reviews have been great in all those cities. She has a collection of them. I’m surprised she never sent them to you.”

“She probably assumed I wouldn’t be interested,” Emily said, oddly deflated by the news. She wanted to believe the very worst about Boone. Needed to believe it, in fact. She didn’t like thinking she’d misjudged his ambition or that she might have made a terrible mistake in being so quick to let him go. She didn’t believe in regrets, so what were these twinges all about?

Her sister studied her with obvious confusion. “I thought you were long over him. You did break up with him, right? Not the other way around? I always thought Jenny was his rebound romance.”

“Over him?” Emily huffed indignantly. “Of course, I’m over him. Haven’t given him a thought since I left here ten years ago.” Liar, liar, her conscience shouted.

“Then why the attitude?”

“I just don’t want him taking advantage of our grandmother, that’s all. Cora Jane is too trusting for her own good.”

Samantha laughed at that. “Cora Jane? You must have some other grandmother in mind. Cora Jane’s as savvy as they come where business is concerned and sharp as a tack when it comes to judging people.”

“She’s not immune to a man with Boone’s considerable charm, that’s all I’m saying,” Emily said irritably. “Let’s drop this. It’s giving me a headache.” She looked around and frowned. They were in the jammed parking lot of a discount store. “Why are you pulling in here?”

“To stock up on your brand-new hurricane cleanup wardrobe,” her sister said, then added, a little too cheerfully, “Let’s not forget the flip-flops and sneakers.”

Emily regarded her with dismay. The only flip-flops she wore these days came from a designer shoe salon on Rodeo Drive.

“Okay,” she said sourly, “but you and Gabi better remember that I don’t scrub windows.” She hesitated, then added, “Or floors.”

Samantha draped an arm over her shoulder as they crossed the busy parking lot. “Fine, Cinderella. We’ll leave the grease trap to you. That’s always fun.”

Emily scowled at her. It promised to be a very long couple of weeks, especially if Boone was likely to be underfoot.

2

“Daddy, are we gonna help Ms. Cora Jane?” B.J. asked, his expression as excited as if they were going to the circus.

“If she’ll let us,” Boone told his eight-year-old son. In his experience Cora Jane never asked for help and wasn’t real crazy about accepting it when offered. He’d learned to be incredibly sneaky about making sure she and the restaurant were looked after.

“Do you think she’ll make me pancakes like Mickey Mouse?” B.J. asked. “The little pancakes that make the ears are the best part.” A guilty expression passed over his face. “Hers are better than Jerry’s, but don’t tell him. I don’t want to hurt his feelings.”

Boone laughed, well aware of how competitive the cook and Cora Jane could be at times. “I doubt she’ll have the kitchen open,” Boone told him. “The storm water’s barely receded. You know what a mess things are over at our place. Castle’s didn’t look much better when I checked it out yesterday.”

He also knew that Cora Jane was the kind of woman who liked to feel in control of things. No hurricane would throw her off course for long. By tomorrow, she’d probably be cooking whatever she could on the gas grill even if she couldn’t get the oven up and running.

He gave his son a warning look. “Don’t be asking her for pancakes, okay? Not till we see what the situation is. We’re here to help, not to make more work for her.”

“But she always says making special pancakes for me isn’t work,” B.J. said earnestly. “She says she does it out of love.”

Boone chuckled. Of course she’d tell B.J. something like that. Hadn’t she always made him feel he was no trouble, too? Even when his own folks thought he was more of a nuisance than anything else. If it hadn’t been for Cora Jane and the jobs she’d given him to keep him busy and out of mischief, his life would have gone in a whole different direction. He owed her. He surely did. And he counted himself fortunate that she hadn’t pushed him out of her life when Emily had dumped him. Given the fierce family loyalty among the Castles, it could easily have happened.

If seeing her and listening to her brag about her three granddaughters, including the woman who’d been the love of his life, was painful, well, that was just the price he had to pay for having Cora Jane as the kind of compassionate, nonjudgmental moral compass he definitely needed.

As soon as Boone had parked beside the restaurant, B.J. was out of the car and running.

“Hold it!” Boone commanded, waiting until his son had skidded to a stop and faced him. He walked closer and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and pointed. “What have I told you about the need to be real careful right now? Just look around. There’s wood all over with nails in it and who knows what kind of glass on the ground. Take your time and pay attention.”

B.J. gave him an impish smile that reminded him so much of Jenny, it made his heart ache. Jenny had been the sweetest woman on the planet, and losing her to an out-of-control infection that had proven resistant to antibiotics had been devastating to him and to B.J.

With the resilience of childhood, B.J. was bouncing back, but Boone wasn’t sure he’d ever get past his grief. He knew some of that was colored by guilt because he’d never loved Jenny half as much as she’d loved him. How could he when a part of his heart still belonged to Emily Castle? No matter his feelings, though, he thought he’d done the best he could by his wife. Jenny had never wanted for anything. He’d been a good husband, a devoted father. Late at night, though, he couldn’t help wondering if it had been enough. It didn’t help that Jenny’s parents blamed him for everything from ruining Jenny’s life to contributing to her death. He just knew they were looking for any excuse to try to take B.J. from him. That, he thought fiercely, would happen over his own dead body!

As for the rest, well, it was water under the bridge now, he told himself, as he took a deep breath and followed his son. Alerted by Cora Jane that all three of her granddaughters were coming home to help with the storm cleanup, he braced himself for the first glimpse of Emily after all these years.

Inside the water-ravaged restaurant, though, he spotted only Gabriella, looking frantic as Cora Jane teetered on the top rung of a stepladder. Gabi was holding it steady with a white-knuckled grip.

“Cora Jane Castle, what do you think you’re doing?” Boone demanded, wrapping an arm around her hips and lifting her down until her sneaker-clad feet were firmly on the ground.

She whirled around and glared at him. “What do you think you’re doing, Boone Dorsett?” she inquired, her brown eyes flashing with indignation, even as he gave the obviously relieved Gabi a wink.

“Saving you from a broken hip, most likely,” he said. “Didn’t I tell you a long time ago that I’d take care of fixing all the lights whenever they needed it or to have Jerry or your handyman do it?”

“Well, Jerry’s not here yet and my handyman’s nowhere to be found,” she retorted. “And since when do I need you to screw in a few lightbulbs?” Hands on her hips, she tried her best to stare him down. Given their relative size difference, she wasn’t half as intimidating as she obviously hoped to be.

“You could at least have let Gabi do it,” he replied.

She seemed to fight a smile at the suggestion, avoiding her granddaughter’s gaze. “Bless her heart,” she confided in an undertone, “Gabi is scared of heights. She got two rungs up the ladder, and I thought she was about to faint.”

“It’s true,” Gabi replied, an embarrassed flush in her cheeks. “It was humiliating, especially when she went scampering right on up the ladder.”

Thankfully, just then B.J. tugged on Cora Jane’s hand. “Ms. Cora Jane, the power’s back on, right?”

She smiled and ruffled his hair affectionately. “Came on about a half hour ago, as a matter of fact.” She gave him a knowing look. “I imagine you asked because you’re hoping for pancakes.”

B.J.’s eyes lit up. “Uh-huh, but Daddy said not to ask because we’re here to help.”

Cora Jane rolled her eyes. “Well, since your daddy seems intent on taking over the most dangerous chores himself, I imagine I can try to rustle up some pancakes for my favorite customer. You gonna help?”

“Sure. I’ll mix the batter like you showed me last time,” B.J. offered, trailing after her.

Boone watched them go, shaking his head. “I don’t know which of them’s going to give me my first heart attack, but odds on, it’s your grandmother.”

Gabi laughed. “She has that effect on all of us.”

“She told me you and your sisters were all coming home to help put this place back in working order,” he said, hoping he sounded casual, rather than panicked, which was the way just thinking about Emily made him feel.