Chapter 21

A couple of weeks later, Lisa sat next to Cal, his hand gripped tightly in hers as a woman talked about the death of her son. She wept, and she wasn’t the only one. Lisa had sucked back her own tears a half-dozen times, and she didn’t even know any of these people.

Yet there was a sense of family here among them. Lisa had never spent a Monday as well as she had this one, and the meeting wasn’t even over yet.

No wonder Cal liked coming to these. They were full of good memories of dear people, and Lisa really liked thinking of them as still with their loved ones here on Earth.

When the meeting ended—Cal hadn’t said a word—they stood and started chatting with the Chief of Police of all people. Lisa liked Chief Gardner, and they’d chit-chatted a little bit about how his daughter was doing before the meeting.

“Oh, I see why you like coming to these,” Lisa said when she spied the platter of doughnuts on a nearby table.

“Yeah, the refreshments aren’t bad,” Cal said, selecting a chocolate frosted doughnut. “I haven’t eaten lunch yet, so this’ll probably make me sick.” He took a big bite anyway and looked over her shoulder. He nodded toward someone, and Lisa turned.

“Hey, so, uh.” The Chief shifted his feet and lifted his hat to put it on. “Do you know if Deirdre Bernard is seeing anyone?”

Surprise shot right to Lisa’s vocal cords. The Chief had his eye on Deirdre?

“No,” she blurted. “No, she sure isn’t.”

“Great, thank you.”

“We should set up a double date,” Lisa said, her mind racing down an exciting path right now.

Cal coughed, and the Chief actually barked the word, “No.”

“No double date?” She looked back and forth between the two men, almost giving herself whiplash.

“No setting up,” the Chief said. “I can get my own date when I’m ready.” He nodded to Lisa and then Cal before striding out of the room, sans doughnut.

“Wow, okay,” Lisa said, feeling giddy for her friend. “He and Deirdre.”

“He said they’d been out before,” he said. “Didn’t work out for some reason.” Cal finished his doughnut. “Do you have time for lunch?”

“Yeah, we’re meeting Riley and Evan, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Cal had obviously not remembered, but he smiled at her and laced his fingers through hers. “That bistro you girls love, right?”

“Right. And you’ll like it too. They have these Hawaiian spam rolls that have your name all over them.”

“Lead on,” he said, chuckling, and Lisa did just that.

“Thanks for inviting me to this,” she said. “I learned a lot.”

“Yeah,” Cal said with a sigh. “It’s not a bad way to spend a lunch hour.”

“Spending time with you is always a good time,” Lisa said, realizing too late how much she’d revealed.

Cal paused and looked at her, his feelings right there in his expression too. “I like spending time with you too, Lisa.” He bent down and kissed her, the sweetest kiss of her life. Lisa sighed into his touch, realizing that she could easily fall for this man in a matter of days.

In fact, she’d already started the slide in that direction.

***

Six months later:

“Wow,” Lisa said, gazing up at all the trees. Even in the winter, the rainforest was beautiful. “I can’t believe you have a place out here. It feels so remote.”

“We’ve been off the road for two minutes,” Cal said with a laugh. “And the beach is right behind us.”

Lisa didn’t look behind her. She was too entranced with the emerald green foliage, the brilliant blue sky, all of it. A house emerged from out of the branches, and Lisa pulled in a breath. “Is that it? It’s awesome.”

“It’s practically a hut,” Cal said, but Lisa knew he loved this place. He’d come a few times over the past six months without her, and she hadn’t pressed him to invite her. He would when he was ready. “Jo and I fell in love with it when we first saw it.”

“I can see why.” Lisa admired the bright blue exterior, with the bright white shutters. The porch spanned the whole front of it, and the rocking chairs looked like a great place to waste an afternoon with this man at her side. The front door was a pale yellow, and everything looked as charming as could be.

“There’s indoor plumbing,” he said. “And the boat is in the shed behind the house.”

“Kitchen?”

“Very small,” he said. “Everything about it is very small, Lise.”

She loved it when he used her nickname, and she basked in the love she felt for Cal. She’d told him she loved him; he’d said it back. They’d enjoyed the last six months together, and Lisa was looking forward to many more months of happiness with him.

No, he hadn’t asked her to marry him, and they hadn’t even really talked about marriage all that much. He had a now-fifteen-year-old, and she wasn’t sure if he wanted more children or not.

He pulled the truck to a stop and got out, waiting for her to join him. “So this place has two bedrooms and a bathroom. Jo and I would just come for a quick weekend away, and we brought Sierra a few times when she was little. The beach is a half a mile away, and we walk through the trees to get there.” He mounted the steps and looked at the rocking chairs to his right.

“I built those, and I’ll build you one so you have your own to sit in when we come.” He smiled and opened the front door.

Lisa’s heart felt like it might burst. “Do you carry the boat down to the beach every time you go fishing?”

“I dock it down there,” he said. “I nailed a spike into the sand, and nobody bothers it.”

“Not a lot of people out here.”

“There’s about a dozen huts like this one,” he said. “So no, not a lot. I know most of them, and they know my boat. We watch out for each other.”

Everything about this little house and the vacation community up here by Lightning Point sounded wonderful to Lisa.

“So here’s the main room,” he said. “Kitchen is right against the back wall there. Two-burner stove, fridge, microwave, small sink.”

The space held one couch and had windows everywhere. The walls were stark white, and the place seemed filled with light.

“Two bedrooms over here,” he said, indicating the doors. “And a bathroom in the back. There’s no laundry facility. If we get super dirty, we just hose off in the back yard.”

“Cold,” Lisa said. She grabbed onto Cal’s arm with both of her hands and hugged it. “I love this place. Thanks for inviting me up here. I know this place is special for you.” She gazed at him while he looked around at this house he clearly loved.

“It is,” he said. “And now we can start making our own memories here.” He faced her, a bright light in his eye that made Lisa’s pulse blip a little faster through her body. “All right, let’s bring in our food, and we can get down to the beach whenever you’re ready.”

She worked side-by-side with him as they brought in their bags of groceries and a cooler. She hauled in her rolling suitcase and put it in the bedroom closest to the front door. They’d be out here for a few days, and when she got back to Getaway Bay, she’d only have a few days until Riley’s wedding.

Everything was going to be perfect for her best friend, and Lisa hadn’t had so much fun planning a wedding in a very long time. Or maybe everything at work had seemed easier because she’d had Cal in her life all these months.

She changed into her swimming suit and double-checked her beach bag for sunscreen. After donning her sun hat, she went into the main room and said, “Time for the beach.”

Cal looked up from his phone, his eyes traveling the length of her body and back to her eyes. “I can see that.” He stood and came toward her, which meant he took two steps before he gathered her into his arms. “I love you.”

Lisa smiled up at him, thrilled with how and when he chose to express his feelings. “I love you, too, Cal.” She snuggled into his chest. “I have been thinking, what with Riley getting married soon and all of that…”

“Oh, yeah?” he prompted, obviously in no hurry to head out to the beach. In fact, he started to sway as if they were dancing right there in his tiny living room.

“Yeah,” she said. “Do you see yourself getting married again?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

Lisa’s pulse pranced through her chest at the same time a smile exploded onto her face. “No rush or anything, honestly. We just haven’t talked about it at all.”

“No rush,” he echoed.

Lisa straightened and looked into his eyes. “And one more hard question before we go to the beach. And you can take some time to think about it. I know you like time to think when I ask you hard questions.”

“Depends on the question,” Cal said.

She bent to pick up her beach bag. “This one’s about kids. I love Sierra to death. I’m fine if that’s all the family you want. Honestly, I am. But have you ever thought…do you think we’ll have kids together?”

Cal blinked, and Lisa could see she had surprised him with the question. She waited, the silence between them comfortable now. There had been some months that had felt incredibly slow to Lisa. And some times where their relationship picked up steam overnight.

She’d realized that not every day could be one lived with the gas pedal pressed all the way to the floor. In fact, the slower drive days were just as savory and some of her favorites.

“I think…I would like more kids,” Cal said slowly.

Lisa grinned at him, feeling playful and strong and sexy all at the same time. “You know what that means, don’t you, Cal?”

“What?”

“You better ask me to marry you—soon.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and headed for the back door. “And bring your muscles, because I’m not going to be able to help with the boat.”

He laughed, following her. He did carry the boat down to the beach, and Lisa kept exclaiming about the flowers and the plants growing on either side of the path.

“It really is the jungle here,” she said. And then she took a step, and the beach spread before her. “Oh, wow. I want to move here.”

Cal just laughed and kept moving. He finally flipped the boat over and dropped it to the sand when he was on the wet, hard-packed part of the beach. “You can’t move here,” he said. “The commute is too long. And didn’t you hear the part about how the house has no laundry facilities?”

Lisa dropped her beach bag and spread her arms wide, letting the energy of this untouched part of Getaway Bay flow through her. She sighed as she closed her eyes, this moment so surreal and so wonderful.

When she looked at Cal again, he just stood there watching her. “But there’s you, baby,” she said. “And you definitely seem like the type of man who knows how to wash clothes by hand.” She tiptoed her fingers up his chest and curled both hands around his neck.

She leaned her forehead against his, pure joy moving through her. Contentment. Neither of them said anything. They didn’t need to.

This memory would be with her forever, and she just wanted to bask in it.