Let Me Burn (Angel Sands 1)

Brooke quickly glanced around her.

“It’s okay,” Ember reassured her. “Nobody heard me, I made sure of that before I even said it.”

The fact was, Ember, Ally and Brooke were the only ones who knew the truth about Nick’s father, and they’d both sworn to keep it a solemn secret. Not once in all the years since Nick’s birth had they even talked to each other about it, let alone divulged it to anybody else.

There was a good reason for that. He’d left town long before Brooke even realized she was pregnant. By the time she’d been to the obstetrician and had her pregnancy confirmed, they had no idea how to contact him.

“I hate the way Father’s Day makes so many kids feel alone,” Ember said. She wasn’t just thinking about her own father, though goodness only knew how hard she’d find the day this year.

There were so many children without a positive male influence in their lives, and it made her feel sad.

She knew how it felt to lose somebody. She’d lost her fiancé and her dad in quick succession. That’s not all you lost, either, a little voice in her head whispered.

Yeah, well she really wasn’t going to think about that.

In the water, Lucas lifted Nick up onto the board, showing him how to lay belly-down on the surface and paddle out to a wave. Then he showed him how to stand, trying to help him balance as the gentle waves lifted him up and down.

“He really is a good guy,” Brooke said. “Perfect for you.”

“Yeah, well he’s heading back to White City next week, so that’s not quite so perfect.” Ember couldn’t help but feel like she was losing something all over again. Except this had the potential to hurt more than ever.

“What happens after that?” Brooke asked.

“I don’t know,” Ember answered honestly. “We haven’t talked about it.”

“Maybe you should start talking.”

Maybe they should, but talking had never been her strong point, and in spite of Lucas’ revelations the previous night, she had a suspicion it wasn’t his either.

Nick tumbled off the board and Lucas caught him right before he went under the surface, lifting him up and sitting him back on the board. The two of them started laughing, and Nick reached up to give Lucas a high five.

Maybe Brooke was right; it was time to start talking, because he really was a good guy.

22

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Deenie Russell smiled at Lucas as she walked out of the stock room carrying a pile of books. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, why wouldn’t it be?” Lucas turned to her from where he was leaning on the counter, idly flicking through the postcards she had displayed there. Books By The Beach was in full-on summer mode now. Beach reads were laid out on the front counters to entice the casual browser, and the shelves were stocked with local guides and maps of tourist trails to bring in the hikers and cyclists who flocked to the area at this time of year. And on the counter, alongside the cards, were cheap toys and souvenirs – the kind that children would go nuts over. When Lucas and Caitie were younger it had been their job in the summer to keep them stocked.

“Because you don’t usually come in here on a weekday night and hang around the register.” She put the books on the counter and walked around to the back of it. “Not unless there’s something up.”

“Maybe I just wanted to spend some time with you, I won’t be able to come in much longer anyway. I’m back at White City next week.”

“Well in that case, I’m very pleased to see you.” She gave him a big smile. “Now, what’s up?”

He shook his head, then took the books she’d left, picking them up and carrying them over to the displays. He slotted them in the empty spaces – created no doubt by some tourists snapping up the latest romance reads. “Maybe I’m just feeling a little sentimental,” he said, walking back to the counter. “I want to fit everything in before I’m working twenty-four hour shifts again. Who knows when I’ll be able to come and see you here after that.”

“You’re not moving to Timbuctu, Lucas,” she pointed out, her voice warm with amusement. “You’ll only be an hour away. And yes, your shifts mean you won’t be around here as much, but we’ll still be able to have you over for Sunday lunches when you’re not working. And any time you want to come in here you know you’ll be more than welcome.” She tidied the postcards where he’d been flipping through them. “Anyway, I thought you couldn’t wait to get back to White City, why the long face?”

Lucas hadn’t realized he was frowning. He reached up to smooth the skin between his brows, trying to find the right words to tell her what he was feeling. It was crazy, because he’d never been the kind of guy who went to his mom with his problems. Really, he never went to anybody. He was more likely to bottle them up, stew over them, until finally a solution presented itself.

But right now, he needed to say things out loud. He’d thought of calling Caitie, but a phone conversation with his sister would have been even more awkward than this conversation with his mom. Then he’d considered Griff and Jackson – but who could face the kind of ribbing he knew they’d give him?

So here he was, hanging around his mom like a teenager with issues. Right now he felt like he was sixteen again.

“There’s this woman…”

“Okay.” Deenie’s face was implacable. No sign of a reaction there, he appreciated that a lot.