Page 15 of Summer Ride

“Someone was just trying to scare me.” She took a sip of her soda.

“You know, one day soon, you’re going to trust me,” he said softly.

“I trust you,” she said quickly, turning slightly towards him.

His eyes narrowed slightly at her. This time, he could tell that she was telling the truth, which threw him off.

“Then show me the note.”

Her hand went back into her pocket, protectively.

He waited, holding himself perfectly still.

About a minute passed before she finally pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket.

Instead of handing it to him, she set it down on the table and took a moment to straighten the folded paper.

There, in bold handwriting, was simply a name.

“Who is Mary Ester Boyle?” he asked, glancing up at her.

Kara winced when he said the name. Then she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cushion.

“I am.” She said it so softly that he questioned the words.

His eyebrows shot up, then he looked at the name again. Mary Ester Boyle. It sounded so… old-fashioned.

The name Kara Regan fit her so perfectly. If she’d changed her name, what did that mean? Had she been married before?

“Were you married?” he asked, unsure of how he felt about that knowledge.

“No,” she answered with a frown. He could tell that bit was the truth and he relaxed.

“Then what? Why the name change. And more importantly, why are you afraid of your old name?”

She glanced around and then surprised him by saying, “Let’s take a walk to the beach. I need the cool air if I’m going to tell you anything.”

They cleaned up the table and headed outside, passing other employees on their way to grab some dinner for themselves.

Dinner for the guests would be served in about an hour, which meant that the pathways were empty for now. Most guests had shuffled off to their cabins to change. The theme for tonight’s dinner was Cinco de Mayo, since it was currently the fifth of May.

The employees had about an hour to grab dinner themselves or help set up for the evening’s festivities.

He had helped out a lot of times in the past when they’d been shorthanded. Or when Kara had volunteered and he’d wanted to spend the evening with her.

As they walked through the paved pathways on the grounds and headed towards the beach, he itched to reach out and take her hand in his.

But then he remembered that she’d asked for distance, and he tucked his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.

In the past five years, they had shared a lot about themselves with one another. He’d believed that the lies she’d told him were because she was hiding from an ex-boyfriend or was ashamed of her family or how she’d been raised.

He’d been lucky to be raised in a loving home with parents that were still together. They’d had enough money growing up to send him to school and still retire with style. His parents took vacations three times a year and more recently had started taking a lot of cruises. He knew not everyone was as lucky.

When they reached the edge of the beach, Kara toed off her shoes and stepped onto the soft warm sand.

He had slipped on his tennis shoes with his dress pants, so he did the same and rolled up the legs of his pants. Then he followed her to the edge of the water, where she sat down and crossed her arms over her knees.

“I’m from North Carolina, not Tennessee,” she said after he sat beside her.