Page 29 of Love Again

I’m always aware of how beautiful fire is—and how dangerous.

“What are you doing wandering around? I thought you were working. We would have invited you—”

“You don’t have to feel like you need to ask me over every time you have a fire. I bet”—I raise my chin slightly—“there are nights when you’d like this whole beach to yourselves.”

Claire drops her arm from Finn’s waist and comes over and gives me a hug.

I do appreciate her hugs. They are whole-body hugs where she almost curves herself around you. It’s so bizarrely comforting.

“We do it in the ocean,” she whispers in my ear before releasing me.

“Oh, TMI,” I say loudly, and Finn arches an eyebrow.

In a few minutes, Bryce Tucker and Mateus Gutiérrez come down the path from The Inn, swinging Cory between them. They let him touch the ground with his toes and then swing him up every other step. Cory’s on the spectrum, so the fact he can enjoy this stimulation is a step forward. Laurel would be pleased.

“Is Laurel in class?”

I used to know her schedule, but I’ve lost track since spring semester started. Plus, having her living with Mateus in a cottage at the top of the hill puts her out of reach for day-to-day chatter.

I miss her terribly, and I miss Cory even more. What I really miss is being needed. I kneel down, and Cory comes up and gives me a peck on the cheek. This is his new habit they are working on. Kissing his aunties when he sees them.

“I love you,” I say.

Cory’s blond curls catch the firelight.

“Me and Mateus made this.” He means the fire.

“Hey, I helped too,” Bryce chimes in.

Cory shrugs. “Mateus had the matches. The long matches.” He looks up at me. “I can be a captain?”

The tide is out, so the beach stretches for a distance. Ropes, buoys, and nets all sag against the pilings of the piers and the wharf. Even some dinghy’s lie trapped in sand. This is where Cory wants to go, to play in one of the grounded boats.

“Take the blue one,” says Finn. “That’s Brighty’s.” Brighty is a feisty lobsterman who has watched all of us grow up. As Cory starts off trudging through the sand, Finn asks me, “Were you at that early morning fire off Bridgerton Road?”

“I think the house is going to have to be scrapped,” I say, flipping the lid and taking a sip of wine. It’s a Shiraz, and I’m very happy I have a cupboard of traveler’s mugs.

Finn is tall, over six-two, and Mateus is a little under six feet, and they’re both strong, good-looking men. Finn’s put a gym in the basement of The Inn that’s open to guests for limited hours each day, but it’s really for his security team and any of us who want to use it. Same with the hot tub he built for Claire. Guests can book a half-hour time slot, but really, it’s for us. Bryce is a whole other matter. Bryce is probably six-five, six-six, I don’t know. I feel like I come up to his elbow when I stand next to him. Chloe, who is five-ten, loves this about him. She loves everything about him.

These three men entered our lives a year and a half ago, and honestly, I’m so glad. The moment I saw Finn, I knew he was perfect for Claire. I told her to have him over for Thanksgiving that first year, and she did.

The only reason I knew Bryce was perfect for Chloe was because of the way they were around each other—it was so obvious. If I had known Bryce better, I wouldn’t have let him off the hook for his silly cat and mouse game he played with himself. So many times, I want to put them in a room and shut the door.

Laurel and Mateus were more complicated in some ways, and yet so simple in others. Their relationship is like the easy give-and-take of a rock-solid couple. I kept telling her that he liked her, and she finally believed me. Or maybe I’m taking too much credit. I know I put the idea in her head at least.

This is the reason my sisters are so quick to judge me. I get it. I kept talking to them about these guys and how they were perfect for them, and they want the same for me. But what they don’t know is that I’m married, separated, and never even told them about the man.

I can’t tell them now. They would be so hurt.

It’s either ironic or a tribute that everyone at Colton Security has had their secrets revealed. Except me. And the rate things are moving along, I’d better be careful because these guys are experts at sniffing out secrets: both professionally and personally.

Colton Security’s main offices are in Boston and managed by Nic Silvano. Although Finn left for two years and attempted to give Nic the business, he turned him down and then convinced Finn to come back. Now he operates Colton Security from what he calls NP, or North-of-Portland, and business is booming in the Portland area. I think it might be booming too much for Finn.

He bought an inn for a reason. He bought our family inn, which all the locals call The Inn, because his wife had loved the place on their honeymoon. It was a rocky start, but then he fell in love with Claire. I think he really did want a quieter life in some ways, but now he’s back at least half-time with secure offices on the second floor of a three-story, seventeen-bed inn.

Poking the fire, he waits for Cory to clamber into the little dinghy and out of earshot. Then he glances at Bruce and Mateus. “I got a call from Jack Carlson today. It was definitely arson.”

I shiver. Arsonists are fickle. The Mid-Coast has been plagued with one for nearly a year with no clues.