Sherryl Woods - Sea Glass Island

“This is the one and only tiny bit of slack I’m going to cut you,” Samantha warned. “I will not cave in again.”

“Of course not,” Cora Jane said, wisely hiding a smirk this time. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

Samantha gave her a suspicious look, then headed back to the table where Ethan looked only slightly less irritated than she did. Oh well, Cora Jane thought, relationships had started with far less in common than mutual annoyance at a third party.

Satisfied, she returned to the kitchen, where Jerry turned from the stove and frowned at her. “I thought the only pot-stirring going on around here was supposed to be in the kitchen.”

“You do your stirring. I’ll do mine,” she retorted.

“One of these days your meddling is going to blow up in your face,” he warned. “Those girls of yours are independent thinkers, just the way you taught them to be.”

“Well, of course they are,” she said proudly. “It doesn’t mean that one of them can’t use a nudge from me from time to time. I don’t hear Emily or Gabi complaining, now that their lives are just about settled.”

“Samantha’s a different kettle of fish,” he warned. “So is Ethan Cole. Remember, I was with you the day you threw out the first bit of bait a few months ago. He didn’t bite. In fact, he made his lack of interest pretty clear. You might need to reassess your target and your tactics.”

Cora Jane shook her head. “I know what I know,” she insisted. “I’ve known Ethan since he was a boy. Those two are perfect for each other. They just have to get out of their own way and things will fall right into place.”

“I hope you’re right,” Jerry said, regarding her tenderly. “I know how badly you want this to work out. You’re convinced if they do, you’ll finally have all your girls back here in Sand Castle Bay and a dozen great-grandbabies underfoot eventually.”

“And what would be wrong with that?”

“Not a thing. I just hope you haven’t misjudged the situation this time.”

Cora Jane heard the genuine worry in his voice, and though she’d never in a million years admit it, he gave her pause. Jerry didn’t meddle, but he was a keen observer, especially of her and the granddaughters she loved. Could he have gotten it right? Were Samantha and Ethan a bad match? Or were they both so stubborn they’d fight fate just to spite her?

She thought about it, then thought some more, considering what she’d just seen with her own eyes. No, she concluded. Ethan and Samantha were every bit as destined to be together as Emily and Boone had been or Gabi and Wade. She was sure of it.

And in a lot of years of living, her gut hadn’t steered her wrong on more than one or two occasions. This wasn’t going to be another one of them. She’d see to it.

* * *

Samantha squirmed uncomfortably under Ethan’s cool gaze. Not even Emily’s steady stream of chatter or Greg’s determinedly upbeat efforts to keep the conversation flowing could cut through the tension at the table. It was getting on her nerves.

When she’d finally had enough, she stood up. “Ethan, could I speak to you outside, please?”

Every single person there looked startled by the request, but Ethan rose as if she’d just offered to show him an escape route from a particularly unsavory prison.

Casting one last scowl at her sister, Samantha led the way onto the deck at the side of the restaurant and headed toward the railing where they’d have a view of the ocean across the street. Thanks to an offshore storm, the surf was churning, reflecting her own emotions. She drew in a deep breath of the refreshing, salty air and turned to face Ethan.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have figured out that Emily and Grandmother had hatched some kind of plot the minute Emily started insisting we come here for lunch.”

Ethan’s hard expression eased slightly. “Not entirely your fault. This is your family’s restaurant, and I did come here, after all. I knew there was a chance you’d be around.”

She regarded him curiously. “So, why did you come?”

He shrugged. “Lost a bet, to be perfectly honest.”

Samantha’s lips twitched at his resigned tone. “To whom?”

“Greg,” he admitted sheepishly. “I’m thinking his matchmaking gene just might rival Emily’s and Cora Jane’s. If I’d had any idea he had such a devious, romantic streak, I’d never have opened that clinic with him.”

“So, what are we going to do about this? We’ve been warned. We know what they’re up to. Just hours ago we vowed to end the madness, and here we are again. Are we naive or just no match for their ingenuity?”

“No idea,” he conceded. “I’m way out of my element here. Oh, there have been a few people who’ve tried to set me up ever since my engagement ended, but most of them gave up eventually. If you say no often enough and forcefully enough, people stop trying.”

“So, you’re dead set against ever getting involved in another relationship?” she asked, hoping there was no hint of disappointment in her voice.

“Pretty much.”

“All because of a woman who, if you’ll pardon me for saying so, sounds about as sensitive as a slug?”

Ethan smiled at that. “That pretty much sums up Lisa.”

“Well, that’s just crazy,” she said. “If you can see her for the kind of woman she was, then you shouldn’t let her have any influence whatsoever over the choices you make now.”

He gave her a wry look. “So I’ve been told.”

“You don’t buy it?”

He hesitated, then said, “Maybe we should come at this from a different direction. You’re younger than I am, but if you’ll pardon me for stating the obvious, you’re not a kid. Why aren’t you married? Or have you been?”

Samantha winced at having the tables turned on her. “No marriages,” she conceded. “I guess I never met the right man.”

“So it’s not because some insensitive clod broke your heart?”

She thought about it, not sure how to explain the choices she’d made. “Amazingly, I don’t have any ill will toward any of the men I’ve dated, not even toward the man I was pretty sure I loved.”

“What happened with him?”

“He was an actor, which isn’t always the smartest match for an actress, even though you both understand the demands of the business. That’s the upside.”

“And the downside?”

“My career took off for a time. His tanked. He couldn’t handle it.” It sounded so simple, but it had been the most painful period of her life. No matter how she’d fought to keep silent about her own successes to keep him from feeling like a failure, it hadn’t been enough.

Ethan gave her a sympathetic look. “Pride can be a pain, can’t it?”

“Masculine pride surely can,” she responded agreeably. “I’m surprised you can admit that. After all, wasn’t it your pride your fiancée hurt, as much as your heart?” She studied him with a worried gaze. “Or did she really break your heart?”

For a minute the look on Ethan’s face suggested she’d gone too far. His jaw tensed, his eyes sparked and then, in an instant, a smile tugged at his lips.

“You don’t mince words, do you?”

“I don’t see a lot of point in it, no.”

“That’s a refreshing change,” he told her. “I’ve spent a lot of time in recent years with people who are way too careful about speaking their minds around me. Even if what they want to say has nothing at all to do with my injury, they seem to think I’m too fragile to be challenged.”

“So they think you can’t take the truth?”

“Probably. And, to be honest, when I first got back and was going through rehab, I probably couldn’t. If anyone even looked at me the wrong way, I’d explode. Believe me, I was impossible to get along with.”