Sherryl Woods - Home to Seaview Key

Abby shook her head, fully aware that going to the clinic meant seeing Luke again under awkward circumstances. “No, really. I’m fine. Just a little dazed, I think. That will pass.”

“You swallowed a lot of water.”

“And surely coughed up most of it,” she recalled, embarrassed yet again by the pitiful spectacle she must have made of herself.

“I’d feel better if Doc Stevens took a look at you. My car’s right up there on the road. I can have you there in a couple of minutes.”

“Seriously, no,” she said more forcefully. This wasn’t the way she wanted to see Luke again, bedraggled and half-drowned. Maybe he hadn’t been put off by that twenty-some years ago, but she still had a little pride left. She wanted to look her best when she finally crossed paths with Luke and Hannah. She needed them to know that coming home had been a choice, not a necessity.

“I live right over there,” she said, gesturing toward the house where she’d grown up.

The sad sight was almost as much of a mess as she was—the yard overgrown with weeds and the house itself in desperate need of a lot of tender loving care. While she’d been planning her return for a while and had made several quick trips to the island, she’d only been physically back to stay in Seaview Key for a few days. So far she’d tackled the dust and cleaning inside to make the house habitable again. She’d get to the rest eventually. For reasons not entirely clear to her, she was determined to do the work herself. Maybe she simply needed to get back to basics, remind herself of how little some of the luxuries she’d gotten used to really mattered.

The man stood up and held out his hand to help her up. “Then I’ll make sure you get to the house okay. I can check you out myself, take your pulse, listen to your lungs. I have a medical kit in my car.”

Abby regarded him skeptically. Since when had Seaview Key required two physicians to keep up with the small population of locals? “You’re a doctor, too?” she inquired doubtfully.

“Paramedic,” he corrected. “I’m Seth Landry. I worked with Doc Stevens in Iraq. After my discharge, I came here for a visit. He told me the town could use a volunteer rescue squad. He got me hired to organize it.” He grinned at her. “See, I’m totally respectable. I’m not just trying to get my hands on you.”

Too bad, Abby thought to herself. For a few minutes there, she’d actually felt desirable again, not like the pale shadow of the woman she’d once been before her marriage had sucked the life out of her.

Seth slowed his steps to match hers as they walked across the sand and up the path to her house. At the bottom of the porch steps, worn smooth by decades of sandy feet, she stopped and lifted her gaze to his, noting with delight that though she was tall at five-ten, he was taller, at least six-one or -two.

“See?” she said lightly. “Perfectly steady. Thanks for rescuing me.”

“All in a day’s work,” he told her. “But if you’re from around here, you should already know how the bottom out there drops away unexpectedly. If you’re not a strong swimmer, stay closer to shore. Stick to wading, even.”

“You’re absolutely right. It won’t happen again,” she assured him. In fact, she shuddered just thinking about how differently her morning and that innocent dip she’d taken in the Gulf could have turned out.

“I’ll see you around, then,” he said, giving her a casual wave before jogging off down the beach.

Abby watched him go, admiring the well-muscled shoulders, the narrow hips, the long legs. He was younger, too, if she was any judge of age. That made that flicker of awareness that had passed between them just a little more alluring. Maybe she still had it, after all, whatever that it was that could catch a man’s eye.

Too bad that kiss hadn’t been real, she thought with genuine regret. Seth was definitely the kind of hunk who’d been made to awaken any sleeping beauty’s senses, hers included.

* * *

Hannah sat on the porch facing the gently lapping water, a cup of coffee in hand. She smiled when her husband slipped up behind her, kissed the back of her neck, then sat down in the chair beside her. The few minutes they had together like this each morning set the tone for their days. She reached for Luke’s hand, twined her fingers with his.

“What’s on your schedule for today?” she asked.

“I need to track down Seth to talk about a possible rescue boat I’ve found. I thought I’d stop by Seaview Inn to try to catch him before I open the clinic.”

She gave him a long look, amused by his attempt at innocence. “Nice try. We both know you’re dropping by because Grandma Jenny bakes every Wednesday. She’ll have the treats that are never on the menu here.”

He grinned, his expression boyish and unrepentant. “You caught me. I’m hoping for blueberry muffins. How about you? How’s the new book coming?”

Hannah felt a little shiver of excitement at the question. Little more than a year ago she’d been an ambitious, driven public-relations executive in New York. Now she was not only surrounded by the tranquility of Seaview Key and married, but she was writing children’s books. The first was due for publication in a few months, the second six months later. She’d been working on the third for a couple of months now.

She grinned at Luke. “I’m putting the finishing touches on it today,” she told him, then frowned. “At least I think I am. I can’t wait till Kelsey and Jeff get back to town, so I can read it to the baby. Isabella’s my favorite test audience.”

“You do realize she’s not even a year old,” Luke said. “Maybe you should call my kids. They always have uncensored advice for you. And my daughter was the first to recognize your talent. You captivated her with your story when she was injured on our boating trip. She was so caught up in it, she forgot all about being in pain from a broken arm. You provided the best medicine she could have had before we got back to shore.”

She laughed. “I don’t know about that, but your kids can be a little too uncensored at times,” she admitted. “I like the gurgles of delight. After that, I can take whatever your kids have to say.”

Her stepchildren, who lived in Atlanta with their mother and her new husband, were regular visitors to Seaview Key. After a rocky beginning, they’d accepted Hannah into their lives...and forgiven their father for moving so far away. They’d even accepted the fact that he wasn’t the one who’d caused the divorce, that it was their mom who’d moved on while their father was serving overseas in a war zone.

Even at their young ages, they’d learned that assigning blame was a waste of energy. They could all thank Grandma Jenny for imparting that lesson, Hannah thought, grateful to her grandmother for smoothing out the rough spots in the relationship. That had allowed Luke to remain in Seaview Key with a clear conscience. He traveled to Atlanta at least once a month to see them and was always available for special events like class plays or soccer championships. They’d made it work.

Hannah gazed at the early morning sunlight filtering through the trees and sparkling on the water, then drew in a deep breath of the cool morning air. “Luke, do you realize how lucky we are?”

“Every minute,” he said, his gaze on hers. “Being here, with you, is exactly what I needed.”

“No regrets?”

“Not a one. You?”

She thought about the life she’d left behind to come home, the life she’d been so certain was exactly the one she was meant to live. There were things she missed about New York. Being able to order any food imaginable at midnight was one of them. Her best friend. Beyond that, though? This house already felt more like a home than her apartment in New York ever had, even when Kelsey had been filling it with clutter and noise. And her marriage? Being with Luke on an ordinary day surpassed anything she’d had with Kelsey’s father, a perfectly nice man who’d been totally unsuitable for her, for marriage and for parenthood.