Page 49 of Acadia Falls

Yes. Yes, there was.

Being soaking wet and stranded with Jack Brennan, that’s what.

Chapter Nineteen

JACK

“It’s fixing to storm,” Tommy said as he finished tying up the boat.

“Yep.” I peered up at the sky, which was deceivingly calm. It was drizzling, but we both knew by how the fish and birds were acting that significant weather was rolling in.

“I just saw Blondie while you were in the co-op.” Tommy scratched his head.

“Oh yeah?” I tried to sound disinterested.

“Yeah, she just got on the mailboat. She’s going hiking.”

I cursed under my breath. “Doesn’t she have a weather app?”

“She said it was just a little rain—she only had a T-shirt underneath her jacket. But she’s from New York, so she knows everything. Except how freaking cold it gets up here, even in the summer,” he said mildly. “I know she’s not your responsibility and all. Just thought I’d warn you.”

I sighed. “She happen to say what trail?”

My brother laughed. “Jordan Pond.”

“Ugh, of course. She’ll probably end up in the pond.”

“You might want to go bail her out.” Tommy shrugged, then headed off down the dock. “Just saying.”

I watched his retreating back. Tommy didn’t usually meddle in my business, but he’d sure seemed… meddlesome… as of late.

But he was right; Maran had no idea what she was getting into. A storm was coming, and the whole park shut down when there was big weather. Not only would she get stranded, but she would get soaked and freeze her butt off.

But like Tommy had said, she was from New York. Not to mention a fancy lawyer. So off-island she’d gone.

I hustled down the dock. A quick shower was what I needed, followed by a speedy boat ride. Once the lightning started, I’d be stranded myself. But Blondie needed my help, even though she didn’t realize it. After the way I’d ignored her the night before and punched Charlie in the face, she probably didn’t want anything to do with me. I understood.

It was probably for the best.

Still, my insides twisted at the thought of her being on the pond loop by herself, caught in a downpour. My brother was right, she wasn’t my responsibility.

But that didn’t stop me from practically sprinting to the truck.

By the time I docked in Northeast, it was pouring. I carefully tied up the boat—the wind was picking up. Even my weather app hadn’t predicted this. Sometimes summer storms blew into Acadia without much warning. The surrounding mountains created their own weather center, and we were subject to its whims. There’d been plenty of times when the winds had picked up out of nowhere, and Tommy, my dad, and I were practically blown off the boat into the raging sea.

I hurried to my truck. Maran might be from New York and have fancy degrees, but she was not equipped for MDI weather. Especially not in a T-shirt and some trendy water-repellant jacket. She needed me—whether she wanted me or not.

I sighed as I pulled out onto Main Street. Downtown Northeast Harbor was deserted. All the tourists were probably playing board games with their kids or checking out one of the small local museums.

Then there was Maran, who was hiking. Who said blondes had more fun? Instead, they should say that blondes were more stubborn.

My thoughts circled the current blonde in my life as I drove the familiar road to the park. The thing was, I wasn’t prepared to have a blonde in my life—or anyone, for that matter. This was just supposed to be a summer fling. But my interaction with Maran was somehow more complicated than that, and that’s what troubled me.

Sex was the easy part. I was good at that. But the rest of it? The relationship part?

I had no clue how that worked.

I was almost thirty years old, and I’d never had a serious girlfriend. Some might say that made me a player. Others might say it was pathetic. My mother said it was downright scandalous. But for me, it was simply about the timing. I wanted to build my business and be secure before I settled down. When I finally had a family, I wanted it to be… Shoot, I’d never really thought about it directly before.