Page 34 of Acadia Falls

I took a deep breath. “Maybe.”

“Well, I hope it’s with me.” His smile deepened.

My heart did a somersault, and then I knew for sure; I was in trouble. Deep trouble.

But I couldn’t help myself; I smiled back. “I hope so, too.”

Chapter Twelve

JACK

Itexted the co-op and ordered a couple of lobsters, and then we drove down to pick them up. We stopped at the small farm stand and grabbed a bagful of fresh lettuce, cherry tomatoes, micro greens, and cucumbers. Every person we passed seemed real interested in the fact that I was with the pretty blond lawyer from New York.

In about twenty minutes, everyone on the island would know that Maran and I were cooking lobsters for dinner. That’s just how things worked around here. Like I said, everybody on the island knew everything.

We passed M.B. as she was trudging up from the dock, her baseball hat pulled low, rubber boots kicking up dust. Surprised to see her leaving so late, I slowed down. “You just get finished?”

“Yeah.” She swiped her brown hair away from her forehead. “I did a second route today.”

“Why’s that?”

“I like to make hay while the sun’s shining.” M.B.’s shrewd gaze flicked over Maran before swiftly returning to me. “A girl’s gotta eat, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” I smiled at her. “I’ll tell Tommy you said hi.”

M.B. arched an eyebrow. “You do that.”

Maran turned to me as we drove away. “She’s a fisher… man?”

“I believe the correct term is ‘fisher person.’”

“Oh.” Maran shook her head. “Sorry.”

“I’m just messing with you. That’s M.B., and she calls herself a fisherman. So we go with it.”

“Is that Tommy’s girlfriend?”

I snorted. “He wishes. She’s been blowing him off forever. Since she babysat him back when he was in kindergarten, to be exact. He’s always had a thing for M.B.”

“Huh.” Maran glanced back at her. “She’s pretty.”

“She’s something, all right.”

We took a right down the street that bordered the beach, and what did you know, Daisy was walking by. Her chair was strapped to her back, sunglasses pushed up on her hair, and bikini strings hanging out. Daisy’s eyes widened as she saw Maran in the passenger seat. She waved at me, a smirk on her face.

Maran stuck her nose in the air. “She’s got some nerve, going to the beach so close to Alex’s house.”

“There’s only one town beach,” I reminded her. “Daisy’s all right—I’m sure you don’t think so, and I understand. But she didn’t know who Derek was. He lied to her. She thought he was one of the groomsmen.”

Maran shook her head. “I should probably thank her. Derek’s a complete douche. Alex got out just in time.”

“Divine intervention, that’s what it sounds like.”

She turned to me. “Do you believe in that? In divine timing?”

I shrugged. “I believe that the sun’s going to set tonight and that it’s going to rise in the morning. That’s pretty much all I got. What about you?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Maran went back to staring out the window at the mountains. “But it sure is pretty up here.”