This Can't Be Love (Whispering Bay Romance 5)

“Enough small talk. I want to know how this—” Mimi waved a hand between Sarah and Luke, “happened.”

“This?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, this,” Mimi said. “You and Sarah. Here. Now. You must have scared her to death when you walked into the house out of the blue.” She turned to Sarah. “And how on earth did Luke get you to keep his royal arrival in town a secret?”

Sarah felt her face go hot. It was said tongue-in-cheek, but there was also a serious curiosity behind Mimi’s words. In the short time she’d been in town, Mimi had been a good friend, and for Sarah to have kept Luke’s arrival a secret the other morning made her feel like a traitor.

“I don’t think I scared her to death,” Luke said, calmly reaching out for a slice of cheese. “Did I?” His blue gaze settled on her in a way that said they shared a private joke between them.

The hell with him. She didn’t want to be any part of this weirdness between him and his family. “I was sound asleep when he walked in on me at two in the morning, so yeah, it was pretty unsettling. It took me a couple of minutes to realize who he was.”

“Two in the—” Ann Powers gave her son a hard stare. “What on earth! Why didn’t you just call and tell us you were coming? Why sneak back into town in the middle of the night like a fugitive?”

“I’d just gotten off an oil rig off the Louisiana coast and drove straight here. I’m sorry I didn’t call. I truly am,” he said, “I just wanted—”

“Some alone time,” his dad said, clearly the family peacemaker. “We understand, son.”

No one else looked like they understood, but the conversation eventually flowed back to Sarah. “What did your parents think about you working on a cruise ship?” Ann asked. Despite the overall politeness in her tone the way she said cruise ship made it sound as if Sarah had been sent to Siberia. “You must have been, what, twenty?”

“Nineteen. My mom was disappointed I didn’t finish my degree, but she understood.” She drained the rest of her wine.

Thankfully, Alex automatically refilled it. “What about your father?” he asked.

“I didn’t ask him what he thought, and he’s never told me.”

“Really? Because I’d have a hard time keeping my opinion to myself on that,” Zeke said, tossing a glance toward his teenage daughter. “Not that there’s anything wrong with not finishing college or working on a cruise ship, but I’d definitely want to help my daughter make any life decisions.”

“That’s because you’re a good dad.” She picked up a canapé—zucchini stuffed with some mysterious cheese maybe—and took a bite. “Wow. This is awesome. I definitely need this recipe.” She could feel everyone’s abrupt gaze on her. “Oh! I don’t mean to imply that my dad isn’t a good guy, because he is. But he wasn’t a real dad. He was more like a…sperm donor, really.”

Cameron’s mouth gaped open and Claire smothered a giggle.

The mood in the room quickly fizzled from curiosity to discomfort. Oops. There went her big mouth again. Always saying what she thought when she should be more discreet.

She wasn’t embarrassed by the fact that her parents had never married, but this was a family dinner with near strangers and she’d probably just given out too much information. She knew they were waiting for her to elaborate on her last statement, so she chose her next words carefully. “My parents dated very briefly, but they never married. My dad lives in Houston with his new family, which includes three teenagers, so he keeps pretty busy.”

Mimi visibly relaxed. “Three teenagers at the same time? God bless him.”

Claire playfully rolled her eyes.

“But you keep in touch with him?” Ann persisted.

“Oh sure, we always talk on my birthday and the holidays. And, of course, I send him a Father’s Day card, because you know, I wouldn’t be here without him!” She laughed, but no one else thought it was funny. Sarah shifted in her chair and arranged her face into a smile. She glanced over to find Luke’s gaze on her in a way that made her even more uncomfortable, as if that was possible. She quickly looked away.

“What’s next for you, Sarah?” Zeke asked. “After you finish your job here?”

“I’m going on a cruise with my mom for Labor Day weekend.”

“A cruise with your mom? Sounds like fun.” Mimi said it politely, but it wasn’t hard for Sarah to read between the lines.

“Oh, it will be. My mom’s my best friend. We do lots of stuff together.”

Ann Powers raised a skeptical brow. “Imagine, being best friends with your mother.”

If that was a dig at her own daughter, Mimi smoothly ignored it. “What about your next job?”

“Well, I’m really hoping there isn’t going to be a next job. At least, not one that involves me working for someone else. I’m planning on buying my own food truck.”

“Now, that’s cool,” Claire said, looking at Sarah with renewed interest.