Page 84 of Blame it on the Kiss
“I need your help,” he said, barging into Danny’s office. Bryce staggered for a second, seeing boxes packed up.
“You okay?” Danny stood from behind his nearly bare desk.
“Yeah.” He let out the breath he’d been holding since the day Danny told him about his new plans. “I’m just going to miss you around here.”
Danny grinned. “Aww.”
“Shut up.”
“So, what kind of help?” Danny eased back into his chair.
Bryce launched into what he envisioned, watching Danny nod in agreement. They made a plan and on his way out of the office Bryce called Zane and Sophie. To make this work, he needed them, too.
And a small town named White Strand Cove.
…
“Could you slow it down to a human pace, please?” Honor said, trying to keep up with her brother. When she’d agreed to go grab coffee and a fritter with him she hadn’t realized she’d signed up for a speed walk, too.
“You really need to get back to exercising,” Coop said, not slowing down in the least.
“I’ll have you know I went running last weekend.”
“Really?”
“And I walkallthe time. But jeez, what’s the rush this morning?” The sun shone, birds sang, flowers bloomed. Spring had sprung and she wanted to enjoy it.
Those seemed to be the magic words because he lagged enough for her to join his side. “Sorry. I’m just hungry,” he said.
She bumped his elbow with hers. “You’re always hungry.”
They turned the corner onto Main and Honor sighed as the smell of baked goodness and coffee hit her nose. “Where is everyone this morning?” she asked, not really expecting Coop to give her an answer. It was just awfully quiet for a Friday morning. Usually the line for fritters busted out the door.
Weirder still, when they pushed open the door to the Beach Café not a single person stood inside. That hadneverhappened in Honor’s entire existence. If Rachel hadn’t smiled from behind the counter, Honor would’ve thought she’d entered some alternate universe.
“Morning!” Rachel said, a little too perky.
Then Coop ran back outside like someone had yelled “fire.” What the heck was going on? The way the hair on the back of her neck stood up, she was about to get punked or enter the Twilight Zone.
What she didn’t expect was to hear Bryce’s voice from somewhere behind the counter. In the kitchen maybe?
Her pulse hammered. She’d thought to reach out to him this weekend and here he was, like her wish had been granted.
“Have a seat,” Rachel said. “There.” She nodded to Honor’s right.
That’s when Honor noticed a computer sat on one of the round tables. She walked over and took the chair in front of it.
“Don’t move,” Rachel said before disappearing into the back.
Not a problem, since she’d decided to stay glued to her seat until someone told her what to do. Because all of a sudden it seemed vitally important she not make one wrong move.
Bryce.
Was here.
Why?
“There’s a song from the Beatles,” he said, coming out from behind the register.
