“And then you’ll be gone?” Jenna blurted. They all turned to look at her. Okay, so maybe she said that with a bit too much enthusiasm.
“Actually, I’m going to be staying here in town for a while. I just rented a house on the gulf for the next month.”
Jenna nearly choked on her tuna salad sandwich. A month! Ben Harrison was going to be in Whispering Bay for a whole month!
“I grew up nearby and I thought this would be a good opportunity to rediscover my roots,” he explained, sensing her reaction.
It was a lie. Jenna could see it in his eyes.
Not the part about growing up nearby. He was from some small town an hour away. In the time they’d known one another he hadn’t liked talking about his family, but she remembered that he’d never known his father and that he had a younger half-brother named Jake. But whatever he was planning to do here in Whispering Bay for a whole month had nothing to do with revisiting the old homestead.
She wasn’t sure how she knew that exactly. It had been thirteen years since she’d last seen him and he’d certainly fooled her back then with the way those dark eyes had looked at her as if he’d actually cared. She might not have been able to read him correctly all those years ago, but then she’d been a naïve eighteen-year-old. She was now thirty-one and perfectly in tune with her instincts. Which said he was up to something, all right.
“Which house are you renting?” Mimi asked.
“A two-story Mediterranean on Tortoise Way.”
“I know the place. That’s Kitty’s listing,” Pilar said. “That house has what, four bedrooms? That’s kind of big for just one person, isn’t it?”
“I expect family to come visit.”
Mimi put on her mayor face. “It’s a nice time to stay here in town. The summer tourists are gone and the snow birds aren’t here yet, so traffic is low and the beaches are nice and quiet.”
“Of course, it is hurricane season,” Jenna added. “So it might not be the best time to be here.”
Mimi looked at her strangely and Pilar bit back a smile.
“We have hurricanes in Miami, too,” Ben said pleasantly.
Pilar stood. “I should head back to the office. You have my number if you need anything from me. Otherwise, I’ll be expecting your motion. Which naturally, I’ll answer with a motion of my own.”
“I know the drill, Counselor.”
Mimi and Jenna got up to leave as well.
“Jenna,” Ben said, catching her eye, “can you stay and have a cup of coffee? We can talk about old times.”
“Sorry, but we all drove in the same car, and I really need to get back to city hall. I have a budget meeting in fifteen minutes.” Which was partially the truth. The meeting wasn’t for another hour, but he didn’t have to know that.
“Let’s meet for
a drink then later tonight,” he suggested. “I drove by a place that looks nice—The Harbor House—I think it’s called.”
“Not a good idea,” Jenna said.
“Why? Are you married?”
“What? No, I’m not—”
“Serious boyfriend?”
“Jenna doesn’t have a boyfriend,” Aunt Viola, the traitor, said cheerfully.
Ben smiled, like he was extremely pleased about something. “Then there’s not a problem. We can make it dinner.”
Talk about being pushy! “The problem is I already have plans for tonight.”
“Then how about tomorrow night?”