“They were for me, too.”
He pressed his lips to hers in a tender kiss. “I’m sorry for that. I might be slow on the uptake, but I’m going to make it up to you.”
“I think you already have.”
“Your expectations are too low, Jules.” A coy grin slid across his handsome face. “And you can’t imagine how happy I am that you’re not a one-night stand girl. It would be awkward if I had to beat the shit out of a bunch of guys on the island.”
She laughed and popped a piece of shrimp into her mouth.
His eyes went serious. “Can I ask you something I’ve been curious about?”
“That’s casting a wide net, but sure, go ahead.” Her nerves prickled again, and in that split second, she decided if he asked about her experience, she’d just lay it on the line.
“Why didn’t you go away to college? You’re obviously smart, and you’re definitely a people person.”
Relieved, she said, “Why would I go away when I’m happy here with my friends and family?”
“I don’t know. To meet new people, expand your horizons, gain some real-life experience away from the safety of family and friends. Weren’t you ever curious about what else is out there?”
“Nope,” she said between bites of delicious grilled vegetables. “Exploring places I’ll never live sounds fun for a few days, but not for four years. My sisters love to travel, but I love the island and the safety of living here. I like knowing people everywhere I go, and there are plenty of places to explore right here. It’s been ages since I’ve been to Bellamy Island.” Bellamy was named for the heart-shaped island, which was accessible only by a causeway that was unpassable at high tide. “Or since I’ve spent time in Seaport, Chaffee, or even Fortune’s Landing or Brighton Bluffs.” Silver Island had several boroughs—ritzy Silver Haven, artistic Chaffee, and old-school New England fishing towns Rock Harbor and Seaport.
She stabbed a shrimp popper with her fork and offered it to him, earning an amused smile as he accepted it. “Besides, I’ve known what I wanted to do since the first day I went to work for Bianca. I loved dealing with customers, getting to know what they liked and finding special items for them. And what’s more fun than talking up the island to tourists who don’t know about all the special places to go and things to do, like the Remingtons’ impromptu dune-side movies, when they drive up and down the streets using that enormous megaphone to invite everyone?”
“Gotta love Roddy and Gail. That was always a good time. I haven’t been to one of those in years.”
“They won’t do them again until the spring, but if you do go back to a job like your old one, you can let me know when you’re coming home and we’ll plan a movie night.”
“Ever the island entertainment coordinator. How are you still single?”
“I’m an acquired taste,” she said cheekily.
“More like an addiction.” He leaned in for a kiss.
An appreciative moan escaped before she could stop it, and he smiled against her lips. “I love how much you enjoy everything you do.”
She pushed him away playfully. “Stop, before we enjoy ourselves too much and Wells catches us in a precarious position.”
“Now I’m going to think about you in a series of precarious positions.”
“Ohmygod.”
He leaned closer. “Don’t worry. I won’t talk about the positions I’m thinking up.”
“Grant!” she whispered, loving his brazenness despite her embarrassment.
He laughed. “You’re so damn cute and sexy. But I wasn’t just talking about kissing. I meant that you really do seem to enjoy every part of your life. I think it’s great that dealing with all the headaches that come with owning a business hasn’t stolen the joy out of it for you.”
“Owning it makes it better. I get to make all the decisions, and its success is all on me. I like looking at how well we do every month and knowing I’m behind it. I couldn’t do it without Bellamy, of course, and Noelle when she helps, and the girls who work over the summers with me. But I get to work with my friends, and I love setting up displays and coming up with new ways to market the products. Now that I’ve been in business for a few years, I know the tourists who come every summer, and I keep up with some of them with email and texts and order special items I know they’ll love for their next trip. I know a college education would have taught me many things that I probably don’t even realize I’m missing, but between Bianca teaching me the ins and outs of the business and my parents teaching me how to handle the accounting, deal with vendors, negotiate, and troubleshoot, I felt good about it.”
“And you did it all on sheer will.”
“Not really. I wouldn’t have succeeded without the support of my family.”
He ate a piece of chicken and said, “Do you mind if I ask how you could afford to open your own shop?”
“I don’t mind. Bianca had bought the corner building for a steal when she first came to the island, and had always lived above it. When she decided to retire and go back to Spain, she offered to sell me the business and the building for an incredibly low price. I don’t know if you remember, but she came from old family money, and she’d come here with one of her aunts just for the summer when she was in her early twenties. When her aunt left, Bianca stayed because of the friendships she’d made, and she opened the store as more of a hobby than anything else.”
“I remember she was a Bra Brigader. I stumbled upon them one summer when I was a kid, and I couldn’t look any of them in the eyes for about a month.”
Jules laughed. “I think every kid on the island has done that. She was one of my grandmother’s closest friends. When I asked about the low price she was offering, she said there were times in life to make a killing and times to do the right thing, and that after I had worked for her for five years, all signs pointed to selling it all to me.”
“Let me guess, she was into universal signs, too?”
“Bianca is the one who turned me onto them. She was always pointing out where signs came into play, and she gave me books to read on the subject. I learned a lot from her about enjoying life and following my heart.”
His voice softened. “You must miss her.”
“I do. But one day I’m going to get up the courage to travel to Spain to see her.”
“You’re afraid to go?”
“Not afraid, really, but hesitant. I’ve never traveled far. I went to Cape Cod to see Jock when he lived there and to pick up merchandise for my shop, and I’ve gone to New York City to visit Leni, and Port Hudson, New York, to see Sutton, but that’s it, unless you count Boston for my surgery and treatments when I was little. But like I said, one day I’ll get to Spain. But I got off track. What were we talking about? Oh, I remember. Bianca’s offer. I was excited. I had been collecting ideas for my own shop for five years.”
“I bet you had one hell of an inspiration wall.”
“I did.” She loved that he knew her well enough to realize that. “I had also saved a good bit of money toward it, because I was still living with my parents and had banked all of my paychecks since I first started working with her. But I didn’t have nearly enough, so I asked my parents to cosign a loan. A few days later they came back with a different offer. They said since they’d paid for college for some of my sisters and brothers, I could use the money they’d saved toward my schooling to start my own business. I appreciated the offer, and I know how blessed I am to have such generous parents, but I felt funny taking that much money, so we made a deal. I accepted a third of the money as a gift, and I borrowed the rest to get the business up and running. I’ll be paying the loan off for the next ten years, but it’s worth it. And I’d like to think I’m paying off the money they gifted me by making them proud.”