Page 9 of After You Returned

“She’s fine unless dying of curiosity is a real thing,” he mutters.

Curiosity? Uh oh.

I love Smuggler’s Hideaway. I love being close to the beach. I love knowing most of the inhabitants. I love how safe it is. I love how quirky it is. I love the mermaid lore. I love the Prohibition stories about moonshine.

What I don’t love is how everyone gossips as if it’s a national sport. An incredibly competitive national sport. And it’s even worse. The gossipers appear to have their sights set on me.

“Curiosity? Are you interested in becoming a physical therapist?” I ask because I am not feeding the gossipers. They’d have better luck speaking to a mermaid.

Her nose wrinkles. “Would I have to interact with other people?”

Maya is shy. As the financial manager for the local brewery,Five Fathoms Brewing,she doesn’t have to deal with strangers much. Which is exactly how she prefers it. How she everconvinced Caleb – who was determined to keep her in the friendzone – to give her a chance is beyond me.

I giggle. “The whole point of therapy is to help other people, so interacting with people is kind of necessary. You’d have to touch them, too.”

Caleb growls. “Maya is not touching strange men.”

Holy smugglers caught in a storm. Caleb is one sexy dude but when he gets all protective over his woman? Wowzer.

I wouldn’t mind a man over six feet tall with bulging muscles, blond hair, and blue eyes wanting to protect me from the world. Miles certainly doesn’t protect me from anyone or anything.

He’s also not my man. Good reminder.

“If you’re not here to check out a day in the life of a physical therapist, why are you here?” I ask Maya.

She clears her throat. “Rumor has it—”

I hold up my hand to stop her. “Nope. No way. Not happening.”

She widens her eyes as if she’s all innocent. As if. Maya and her girlfriends, who own the brewery together, are the least innocent women on the island. Their troublemaking rivals the Raider brothers.

And now I’m thinking about Miles again. He’s not Rome. Not all roads should lead to him. But here I am. Steering my mind toward him every chance I get.

“I told you to let it go,” Caleb grumbles. “You just had a baby. Lucy should be keeping you busy enough.”

Maya sighs. “I love Lucy. She’s the best baby in the world.”

“Congratulations!”

She smiles and all the love she has for her baby and her husband shines through. A ball tightens in my stomach. I ignore it. I refuse to be jealous. Maya and Caleb deserve to be happy. Especially after Caleb came home injured from a deployment to some faraway, unknown country.

“Thanks. I’m a lucky girl.”

“Where’s Lucy now?”

“With Caleb’s mom. I’ll probably have to fight her to get her back.”

Caleb frowns. “The last time my parents babysat, they weren’t home when we arrived to pick up Lucy. They weren’t ready to say goodbye, so they took her on a road trip.”

Maya slaps his chest. “It wasn’t a road trip. They were home before it got dark.”

“Still. Mom would kidnap Lucy if she didn’t know I’d track her down.”

Maya rolls her eyes. “Yes, we all know how Mr. Former Army can track anyone down.”

“Speaking of Mr. Former Army.” I motion toward my rehab room. “We should get started.”

“Where do you want me?”