“I…I can’t,” he said, his voice low and gruff.
Her shoulders dropped, her expression turned sad. “Then why? I know you want me…”
And he did – more than anything. But…he owed more to the Colemans than to take advantage of her. They had no future, and she deserved more than to be a summer fling.
So he’d be the bad guy and let her think he didn’t want this – her. He’d rather she hate him now than later.
“Sorry, Mal, it’s just not gonna happen. I prefer my girls a little bit older.” He shrugged, looked away. Grabbing his forgotten bottle of water, he made his way to the door. “We’ll be done with the roof by the end of the day Friday. Don’t make me go talk to Zeke about what you’ve been doing.”
And then he was out the door, storming up the pier and cursing himself for being the world’s biggest fool.
Girls like Mallory Westbrook deserved guys with staying power.
And as much as he hated to admit it, that just wasn’t him.
5
“Tell me how to dress and where I can and can’t be,” Mallory muttered to herself again three days later. It was infuriating. And if she hadn’t been busy working with Pops on organizing his library, she would have pranced around however she damn-well pleased.
Is that your thing now? Walking around being a tease?
His words played on an almost continuous loop in her head and each time she heard them, she teetered between embarrassment and rage.
Mostly rage.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this! They’d known each other for so many years and she knew Jake genuinely liked her. After the way he kissed her, she knew he was attracted to her.
No matter what he tried to say.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him every day since he threatened to tell Pops what she’d been doing. With him working on the house it wasn’t as if she could completely avoid him. The few times she had seen him, however, Mallory could feel the tension rolling off of him.
She just wasn’t sure if it was sexual or annoyance.
“There you are,” Pops said as he walked into the room carrying two glasses of lemonade. Had Mallory known he was going to grab drinks for them, she would have offered to go to the kitchen for him. Carefully, he placed the glasses down on his desk and looked around his study. “I think we’re making progress here, sweet pea.”
Following his gaze, she had to agree. One entire wall was floor-to-ceiling shelves that were lined with books of all kinds – history, fiction, biographies, along with family scrapbooks and Bibles. They’d been on the shelves for so long that they were covered in dust. Mallory had no idea why Pops was suddenly so keen on cleaning the shelves, but she was more than happy to help. They’d spend a lot of time talking about family history and she’d seen more pictures of her relatives in the last several days than she’d seen in her entire life.
Walking over to one of the shelves they hadn’t started on yet, Pops pulled down a tall thin book and smiled. Turning toward her with twinkling blue eyes, he said, “This is the most important book in this entire study.”
Curious, Mallory stepped closer. “What is it?”
He held it up, his smile growing. “This is the history of Magnolia Sound.” Slowly, Ezekiel sat down in his massive, old brown leather chair behind his desk and opened the book. “It’s more of a scrapbook, but everything has been documented in here. The division of the land originally and what was built on each parcel and when.” He flipped a few pages. “Look at these photos, Mallory. They’ve faded some, but you can still see how much the land has changed in the last hundred or so years.”
Standing behind him, that’s exactly what she did as she looked on in wonder. Page after page showed the growth of the small coastal town – from the original, small homes that eventually were torn down to make way for the larger ones that were currently here. The main street that housed only a few small brick buildings now had storefronts lining it for several miles.
“One thing that never changes,” Pops said, breaking the silence, “is the water and the peace it brings. We’ve got the beach on one side, the sound on the other, and the land is wide enough to give us all spectacular views.” Looking up, he studied her. “You don’t get views like that back home, do you?”
Living on Long Island meant she did have water around her.
She just couldn’t see it from where they currently lived.
“No, I don’t,” she agreed. “That’s why I love coming here so much.”
“You should move here. After you graduate,” he clarified. “I can see how much you love this town, Mallory. And once you’re done with school, I think there’s a lot you can do here.”
Small town life wasn’t really going to be conducive to her career as a computer systems analyst, but she didn’t think Pops would understand that.
“Maybe,” she said, unwilling to get into that discussion with him.
“I know you think your fancy degree in computers would be lost here,” he went on, as if reading her mind, “but you and I both know it isn’t exactly what you want to be doing. It’s what you let some guidance counselor talk you into.”
Her eyes a little wide, she began to sputter. “How…I mean…you don’t know…”
Placing one weathered hand over hers, his expression softened. “I do know, Mallory. I know how creative you are. How much you like to hide that side of you because you think you need to be some sort of big-shot in the business world.”
“That’s not it…”
“For the last two summers, you took painting classes and yoga classes,” he went on as if she hadn’t said a word. “I watch you lend a hand wherever you’re needed. I see you outside with your face looking up at the sun. Why do you want to hide away in a cubicle somewhere?”
“Pops, I’m not going to be hiding out anywhere.”
“Seems in my day women were happy to settle down with a man and have a family.” He shook his head. “Now, all everyone does is talk about their careers. It’s not right.”
Unable to help herself, Mallory leaned over and hugged him. “Times change. It’s not a bad thing, you know.”
He waved her off. She knew Pops wasn’t usually the warm and fuzzy type, but when it was just the two of them, he normally didn’t mind. Today he just seemed to be in a bit of a mood.
Rather than stay on a topic that clearly bothered him, she went back to asking about the scrapbook. “Isn’t that where the ice cream parlor is now?”
Nodding, he pointed to one of the pictures. “This strip of the road is where the record store is, the video game store, the ice cream parlor, and the diner.” He smiled. “Quite an eclectic little town we created from nothing.”
It was true. Although, by the time Mallory was born, the town was well-established, but there had certainly been growth over the years. New businesses, new residents…still, there was a classic small-town feel that never went away.
Pops was looking at all the pictures and he just seemed so relaxed, so happy…
“So tell me something,” she said softly.