Summer on Lovers' Island (Jewell Cove 3)

He flashed her a grin and then went to the door, opened it, looked back for a flash of a moment, and closed it behind him.

His truck started up, lights came on, and the beam of light moved across the kitchen as he backed out of the driveway and turned onto the road.

It was only then that Lizzie realized that she’d left her car at the clinic yesterday and that Josh had gone, taking her ride to work with him.

* * *

It was strange for Josh to be sitting in the waiting room rather than being in among the action. But Jess had her obstetrician, and Rick and Meggie were there to help her through. Josh had gone in briefly to kiss her forehea

d and tell her he was here, but then he’d gone to the waiting room with Sarah and Abby to wait. Tom, Abby explained, would be by later once there was news.

Tom.

The mess of feelings about Tom and Abby having a baby were now all twined up together with what had happened at Lizzie’s. How the hell she and Josh had managed to go from his screwed-up relationship with Erin to making love still blew his mind, but he suspected that they’d both been looking for an excuse for a while. Ever since Lovers’ Island, really. They’d started something that day that had been leading to last night.

He took a long sip of strong coffee, thanked Lizzie silently for the dark roast, and leaned back in his chair.

Tom had moved on. Why was it so hard for Josh? He knew, deep down, that it wasn’t a case of who’d loved Erin more. Tom had loved Erin with all his heart. And he’d loved Josh, too. That knowledge was slightly uncomfortable. They’d been like brothers, and Tom had isolated himself rather than fight for Erin, rather than put himself in the middle of the marriage. It said a lot about the man Tom was. Said a lot about Josh, too, a lot that he wasn’t very proud of.

He should have stepped aside.

But if he had, Tom wouldn’t have Abby, and Josh also knew in his heart that Abby and Tom were meant to be together.

Damn, life could be complicated sometimes.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Abby interrupted.

He turned his head and smiled at her. “I think you might need more than a penny.”

She frowned and took the chair next to him. “Are you okay, Josh? I mean, with Tom and me? You left pretty soon after our announcement last night.”

Josh swallowed the bitterness, focused on the good. “Of course I am. I’m happy for you two.”

“He really wants you to be happy, too, you know. I think he still feels a little guilty sometimes. Like he doesn’t deserve happiness until you find it, too.” She smiled softly. “What a tangled web, huh?”

“You’re not kidding.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “It just brought back some memories, that’s all. But I’m fine, Abby.”

He thought back to how he’d dealt with his feelings and hoped he wasn’t blushing.

“Lizzie got home all right?”

Damned heat crawled up his neck. He took another drink of coffee, wondering if the cup might camouflage his embarrassment. “Yeah. Safe and sound.” And hot and naked. Just thinking about it made his body react. Meggie came down the hall, her eyes tired but twinkling. “I’m officially kicked out,” she said, flopping into a seat. “Contractions are two minutes apart, and Jess is getting grouchy. Fast labor for a first one.”

Josh chuckled. “You threw Rick to the wolves, did you?”

Meggie’s eyes softened. “He’s doing a fine job. I swear, the two of them used to fight like cats and dogs. And now he’s all ‘sweetheart’ and she’s all ‘honey’ and he’s holding her hand telling her how wonderful she is.”

“That’s lovely,” Abby said wistfully.

Josh laughed. “Give it a while longer. He’ll come out of there looking like he’s been in a war zone and the peace treaty’s just been announced. Battered, bruised, and happy.”

There were a few windows to the waiting room and the gray dawn warmed to pinks and soft blues as the sun came up on another scorcher of a day. Sarah had brought a needlework project along and Josh noticed the needle moving slower and slower until she finally dozed off, her head resting against the pillar next to her chair. Meggie flipped through a magazine and Abby turned the pages of a book—it looked to be one of the ancient ones from the library at Foster House. All he had with him was his phone, and he was half-tempted to send Lizzie a text. But she’d probably gone back to bed, and besides, he wasn’t really sure what to say.

She was his first since the end of his marriage. He imagined that would surprise her, and he knew for sure it hadn’t been that long for her since her last lover. After all, she’d been with this Ian guy just this past spring.

Before Erin there had only been two others. It was pretty limited experience for a man over thirty. He figured it was better to keep that information to himself. Lizzie wasn’t interested in anything serious, and hearing that sort of thing might scare her off big-time. Sex wasn’t something he tended to do casually.

He wasn’t looking for anything serious, either. He considered that for a bit. Maybe that was why it had been so good with Lizzie. So easy. No agenda other than being together and in the moment.