She knew. It had happened to her.
Her pace slowed.
Despite the exercise, she felt cold.
All she’d thought about through the winter months was finishing the boathouse and contributing to Snow Crystal. It was vitally important to her. But now all she could think about was the rift between Sean and his grandfather.
They needed to mend whatever had broken between them. If that meant having Sean around for a little longer, she’d cope with that.
She increased her pace, overtaking both of her friends as they headed around the lake and ended up at the boathouse just as the sun rose above the trees.
There was no sign of Sean. She told herself that the sudden lift in her pulse rate was due to the exercise, not the thought of him working on the deck.
“Is Tyler bringing anyone to the party?” Kayla caught up with her and pulled the top off her water bottle. “Because if he has a plus one, I need to know. Bren? You work with him.”
“I don’t know anything about his sex life, if that’s what you’re asking me, but knowing Tyler it’s probably pretty active,” Brenna said flatly. “I need to get on. I’ll see you later.”
Élise watched as Brenna sprinted across the deck, sprang over a pile of planks and disappeared down the forest trail.
Kayla took a mouthful of her water. “I’ve never seen myself as cupid, but if I had an arrow I’d shoot Tyler in that perfectly formed butt of his—or derrière as you probably say.”
“Butt works for me. Perhaps the party will help. The two of them will be together in the same place at the same time and we can let nature do the rest.”
“From what people say she and Tyler have been in the same place at the same time for most of their lives.” Kayla finished her water. “Nature’s been pretty idle so far.”
“So she needs a bit of a push. What’s Brenna wearing?”
“Knowing Brenna, probably ski pants,” Kayla said dryly. “And anyway, I think it may be Tyler that needs the push. I’ll find out if he’s bringing anyone. He’s been behaving himself since Jess came to live with him. Six months of behaving like a monk. The guy must be going crazy.” She bent to adjust her running shoe and paused. “Well, well.”
“Well what?”
“This is a button from one of Jackson’s shirts.” Picking it up, she turned it over in her fingers and glanced pointedly at Élise who felt heat streak across her cheeks.
Hoping her friend would blame her high color on the exercise, she shrugged. “So? Sean has been working hard on the deck.”
“So hard he tore the buttons from his shirt? From what I’ve heard, he wasn’t wearing a shirt for most of the time. According to Poppy the view from the boathouse has improved considerably in the last couple of days. She’s going to start selling tickets.”
“I wouldn’t know. I have been too busy to look. And talking of busy—” She started to walk toward the boathouse but Kayla caught her arm.
“Sean is gorgeous. Clever, sophisticated, seriously sexy—why not have a fling?”
Because one night was all she ever allowed herself.
“We had one. It was over last summer.”
“Are you sure?” Kayla turned the button in her fingers. “Because it doesn’t look over to me.”
* * *
“SO YOU’RE NOT LEAVING?” Jackson had a mug of coffee in one hand and a slice of toast in the other. “Does Gramps know?”
“Not yet. I’m just on my way to undo the work on the deck so I can start again.”
Jackson raised his eyebrows. “I’m sure that makes sense to someone.”
“I need an excuse to stay here. Gramps is sending me away because he’s feeling vulnerable.” And he should have been the one to see that. Instead, he’d been blinded by his own complex emotions. “Helping with the deck is the only thing I could come up with. I have to try and make it seem like it’s a massive job for me.”
“Maybe that won’t be so hard given how long it is since you did any manual labour.”