It had been a hell of a day. Two days, really. Was it really that short of a time since Riley found them laying out on the deck? She shook her head, trying not to dwell on what had happened.
She’d lost one man and gained another. And though her dad wasn’t a replacement for Nate, she was glad he’d come home.
Because she didn’t feel quite as alone anymore.
29
Gossip moved faster than the speed of light in Angel Sands. It was no surprise to Ally when Ember called to tell her Nate was back. Or at least that’s what Frank Megassey had told Deenie Russell, who’d told her son Lucas, who’d passed the message on to his fiancée in case she needed to warn her best friend.
Having social media was pointless around here. By the time you opened your phone up to look all the news was old.
“Has he not called you to tell you he’s home?” Ember asked, her voice full of concern.
“I don’t know,” Ally admitted. “I haven’t checked my voicemail.”
It was over, she knew that much. It was time to take control of her life again, because it was the only way to get through the pain. Maybe she was finally growing up.
“You look pretty,” her dad said as she walked out into her living room. He was piling up the sheets and pillows she’d loaned him, putting them on the arm of the sofa. “Going somewhere?”
“Only if you can give me a ride.” She passed her car key to him. Might as well put him to work. She didn’t want to get herself all messed up before she made it to the boardwalk this time.
“Your wish is my command.”
She was still getting used to having him around. After their heart to heart yesterday, the awkwardness between them had almost disappeared.
“Where are we going?” he asked after he’d helped her into the car. Her small Fiat was so much more difficult to get into than Nate’s Lexus. One more reason to look forward to getting this damn cast off.
“To the coffee shop. I just need to drop this off.” She held up a white envelope with Nate’s name scrawled across it. “After that I want to catch up with everybody. Being unable to drive I feel like I’ve been gone for an eternity.”
The beach was packed by the time they made it to the parking lot. Her dad had to drive around twice before he found a space, managing to squeeze her car in between a beaten up truck and a sports utility vehicle.
Once out of the car, he looked up at the café and blinked, as though some sand had blown into his eyes.
“It looks different,” he said.
“Yeah.”
He took a deep breath in, holding it for a moment before blowing it all out again. “But good. It looks good.”
Ally followed his stare to the freshly painted façade, and the blue and white sign that proclaimed it was a Déjà Brew outlet. It did look good – inviting and professional and everything the Beach Café hadn’t been. It was busier than they’d been in years. The line for coffee was spilled out onto the boardwalk, and from the look of it there wasn’t a spare seat in the house. If anybody had any doubts if a chain could work in a place like Angel Sands, their answer was right here.
A strange feeling of pride washed over her. Because some of that success was down to her.
“How long until you go back to work there?” her dad asked, as they walked across the parking lot.
Ally bit her lip. “I’m not.”
“What?”
The note she’d written out earlier was clutched tightly in her hand. She rubbed her thumb over the thick paper. “I’m not going back. It’s time I took a new direction. I’ve been working there for years after all.”
Yeah, her heart hurt a bit at the thought. But there was no way she could work there after everything that had happened.
She’d been afraid for too long. Of leaving the café, of leaving town, of losing the things she loved the most. But she’d lost so many things already and here she was still standing. It was time to let go of the past and start facing the future.
Whatever it might be.
“Are you coming in?” she asked her dad as they reached the end of the line.