Summer on Lovers' Island (Jewell Cove 3)

“I didn’t know. Is he okay?”

Robin shrugged. “Probably sleeping off a wicked hangover this morning. Glad you were on the schedule is all I can say.” She hesitated. “For a while I thought that maybe you and Josh…” Robin looked a little embarrassed but carried on. “Anyway, with you being a little worse for wear, well, I guess I’m saying that if you need to talk, let me know.”

Lizzie was touched. Robin

cracked jokes, but she wasn’t gossipy and she didn’t tend to stick her nose too deeply in people’s business. “Thanks, Robin, but I’m fine. Really.”

Robin nodded and moved back to the door. “First appointment is in room two. Whenever you’re ready.”

Lizzie sighed and took a drink of coffee, her mind working double time. Josh had gone out and gotten three sheets to the wind last night? That didn’t sound like him at all. It was bad enough that his cousin the police chief had picked him up and taken him home. That sort of behavior was so unlike Josh that she was worried. He thought she didn’t understand, but she did. More than he could imagine. She knew exactly what it was like to be faced with expectations every day. Why else did she cut loose away from the office? She supposed, thinking about it, that her trips and adventures over the years had been her form of rebellion.

Josh’s escape was being out on the water.

On the heels of the worry came anger. If he’d let her explain, things might have been very different last night. But the moment she’d set foot on his property she’d known there was no sense trying to get through to him. He had his mind made up.

Well, one of them had to keep the practice running today. She left her half cup of coffee on her desk, popped a mint into her mouth, and headed for the first appointment of the day.

At lunchtime she went out for a walk in the early September sun, stopped at the market, and picked up a turkey sandwich, which she ate sitting on a bench in the square.

She sipped at her diet soda and closed her eyes, letting the sun soak into her face. She paid attention to her senses, the way the breeze fluttered on her skin, the salty tang in the air from the ocean, the sound of voices and traffic and the leaves on the trees and a short horn blast from a boat either coming in or leaving the cove. When she opened her eyes she was staring up at the statue of Edward Jewell, the town’s namesake, and she thought of Josh, and the bag they’d found, and how they’d never even talked about it even though it had to be terribly exciting for him. He’d been looking for evidence of a treasure since he was a boy.

She was tied to this town. It was utterly unexpected, but there it was. Jewell Cove felt like a home. Or at least the closest thing she’d had to a home since she’d grown up and her mom had started getting sick.

And other than Charlie, Lizzie doubted anyone would care whether she came or went.

She packed up the remnants of her lunch and walked back to the office. Inside, Luke Pratt was waiting for his appointment and he greeted her with a bright smile, calling her his “favorite doc.” Robin had brewed a fresh pot of coffee and, as Lizzie was tucking her purse away, brought her a mug full of steaming brew.

Reminders of how she’d become part of the community seemed to be everywhere. Luke made her laugh; one of the old ladies from the church group thanked her and called her “dear” and said she was feeling much better since starting her new blood pressure medication. And Lizzie had the distinct pleasure of letting a young woman know she was pregnant, almost exactly one year after her wedding day.

It wasn’t exciting and her heart wasn’t pounding with adrenaline and excitement, but now, faced with the prospect of leaving town, Lizzie was starting to appreciate it a little bit more.

But how could she stay? After last night, she knew working with Josh would be nearly impossible. And would she really be content doing this forever?

She met Charlie at her house after work. Dave had made dinner, and Lizzie sat down to a lovely meal of grilled chicken and salad. Once they’d eaten, Dave told Charlie to put her feet up and he’d clean up while she and Lizzie visited.

Lizzie watched him disappear into the house carrying their plates and then looked over at Charlie. “You’re a lucky woman, you know that?”

Charlie smiled softly. “I know. Ever since I mentioned having to watch my blood pressure, he’s been a sweetheart. I’m so ready for this baby to arrive, Liz. And I’ve got another few weeks to go. I’ll go crazy by then.”

“Short trip,” Lizzie joked, and Charlie laughed. Lizzie got a warm fuzzy feeling seeing her best friend so happy, though she was a bit concerned with Charlie’s color. Her feet continued to swell, too, and Lizzie couldn’t help but ask, “When was the last time you checked your BP?”

“This morning. It’s okay. Not as low as I’d like, but okay.”

“Don’t try to tough it out,” Lizzie advised. “If it spikes, you get yourself to the hospital, you hear?”

“Yes, Mom,” she replied. “And tonight isn’t about me. I’m going to sit here like the beached whale I am. I want to know what’s going on with you. I heard today that Josh got so drunk at the pub that Bryce had to come and take him home.”

“Yeah.”

“You know anything about that?”

“I might.”

Charlie huffed. “Are you going to make me pull it out of you?”

Lizzie shook her head. “No. I’m just not sure where to start.”

In her typical way, Charlie simply waited.