After putting away all the cleaning stuff, I grabbed my purse from behind the bar and the set of keys to lock up behind us. “You ready?”
“Yeah.” He put his cap back on, curling his one hand around the peak and mashing the back of it up and down on his head a few times with his other the way guys do. I have never understood that—like it has to be just perfectly molded to their heads or something. Joey did exactly the same thing. Jack pushed his arms through his hoodie and popped the hood up over the cap.
“It’s, like, eighty degrees still outside. I should have seen through your disguise sooner. You’re going to have to think of a better way to blend in or you’re gonna die from the heat.” I shook my head, amused. Then a thought occurred to me.
“Are you staying here? I mean, in Butler Cove?” I was treating this encounter as a one-time deal. Which, of course, it was. Even if he was staying close by, there was no way I would be seeing him again. I’d been awkward enough already to last me a lifetime of horror and humiliation.
I locked up the restaurant behind us.
“Yeah, I’m borrowing a friend’s beach house for a while,” he responded. “How long depends on if I can stay here without being found out. You have no idea what the paparazzi are capable of. I didn’t think a lot of stuff through before I got here, I just drove. I was pretty upset.” He scowled off into the distance.
It was the second time he had made mention of his current issues. It must be weird to meet a person for the first time and have them know all this stuff about you already. I really wanted to ask him about it, but with my track record, I was as likely to make him feel worse. Anyway, what was there to say? He was broken hearted over his girlfriend cheating on him. He was hardly going to tell me, a complete stranger, the lurid details.
It was time for me to get out of here. I may have been getting over my initial star-struck moment, but he was still absolutely and sinfully gorgeous. Hanging out with him wasn’t going to get me over that. And the last thing I needed was to get pie-eyed over him when he was going to vanish about as quickly as he’d arrived.
“Okay, well ... thanks for helping me close up and ... good luck.”
“Wait. Keri Ann?” For a moment he looked unsure, with his hands deep in his pockets and his toe absently kicking a pebble. “I really hate to ask this. It’s just I don’t know anyone else here and I trust you. For whatever reason.”
“Thanks,” I said, surprised. “You should.” Even though it was going to kill me not to tell Jazz about tonight. “Soooo, walk me to my door—it’s only about a hundred yards—and you can ask me whatever you like.” I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. But regardless of this being my hometown and it not being a far walk—it was eleven thirty and dark as Hades, even with the moon. I turned toward home, not waiting for an answer. Immediately I regretted it, wondering what this hotshot Hollywood type would think about my run down, falling apart southern home. It was built of plaster and wood in the 1800’s. In the hot and humid south. Need I say more?
Jack’s tall frame fell in beside me. “Geez, it gets dark here,” he said, echoing my thoughts of a few moments ago.
“It’s the sea turtles.”
When I didn’t elaborate, Jack scratched his head. “Sea turtles?”
“Hmm? Oh, they nest on the beaches and when the babies hatch they follow the moonlight to the water. Too many house and streetlights can confuse them, so we keep it pretty low key around here. Prepare to get lost a few times if you’re driving at night.”
“Huh. Who knew?”
“I’m pretty sure they have sea turtles on the west coast.” I looked over at him.
He furrowed his brow. “Yeah, I guess I haven’t paid attention. That must seem pretty dumb to you, huh?”
I shook my head as I directed us left to a narrow path. Our feet crunched on crushed oyster shells as we made our way under a huge magnolia dripping with Spanish moss. “No. Sea turtles are important in a small town that’s big on eco-tourism. You kind of pick it up by osmosis living here. You’ve had more going on with your life than I am sure I could possibly fathom, so it doesn’t seem dumb.”
“Just shallow. Right,” he added, as if he was filling in a blank I’d not said.
“No! Not at all.”
“It’s fine, I’m not offended. I’ve been living a pretty shallow existence lately which isn’t really ... ” He trailed off.
We had stopped at my back deck. He looked around and I tried to see the place through his eyes. Bringing him to the backyard wasn’t the best idea. I quickly kept walking and he followed me around to the front. I jogged up the front stairs onto the porch and fished around in my purse for the key.