CHAPTER ONE

      “CODY JARVIS! What’s he doing here?” Luci Monroe stared at the man who’d just stepped out the back door of her parents’ home. “I didn’t see his name on the guest list,” she added.

      Her sister, Francine, set a plate of crab cakes on the buffet table. “Maybe Don invited him,” she said. “Didn’t he say he had a surprise for you tonight?”

      “He did, but I thought he meant the combo.” Luci nodded toward the musicians her older brother had hired. Their music provided a pleasant backdrop to the party celebrating Luci’s graduation from Seattle’s University of Washington and her return to Willow Beach.

      “Cody’s spotted you,” Francine said. “Better put a smile on your face.”

      “I’ll be okay. I’ve been over him for at least a year.” And yet, as she watched him approach, her heart was beating wildly.

      “C’mere, Luci.” Cody opened his arms and swept her up in a warm embrace.

      With a resigned sigh, she looped her arms around his neck and hugged him back.

      He drew away and let his gaze rove over her. “Lookin’ good, Luci.”

      “Thanks. You, too.”

      And he did. She always thought the cliché “tall, dark and handsome” suited him perfectly, and that still held true. He’d let his hair grow a little longer, but she liked it that way. And his brown-eyed gaze was as sharp as ever.

      Cody hugged Francine. “Hey, Fran, good to see you.”

      “Hello, Cody.” Francine returned his hug.

      Don joined them, carrying two bottles of beer. He handed one to Cody. “Here you go, buddy. Glad you could make it.” He turned to Luci. “How do you like your surprise?”

      Luci propped her hands on her hips. “He’s a surprise, all right. I thought he was in Timbuktu or some other exotic place.”

      Cody tossed his head back and laughed. “I’ll have to put that on my list. No, I just got back from Italy.”

      “Still the freelance photographer?” Luci said, although she didn’t know why she asked when she knew the answer.

      “Always.” Cody patted the camera attached to a leather strap slung around his neck. “And here you are, all graduated and degreed and starting a new job, I hear.”

      The mention of her job brought a smile to Luci’s lips. “Right. I’m working for Glen Thomas at the chamber of commerce. Writing, of course. Articles, brochures, some PR, a little of everything. How about you?”

      “I’ll be in town till I get another assignment. Then I’ll be off again. You know me.” He shrugged and sipped his beer.

      “Nice you could come back for a visit,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound insincere. “Bet your mom’s happy to see you.”

      “She’s here, too.” He nodded toward the back door. “I left her in the kitchen trading recipes with your mom. Something about sponge cake.”

      “For Mom’s strawberries,” Francine said.

      Anna Monroe and Olive Jarvis stepped from the house. Anna placed a large bowl on the buffet table and said, “Olive made her famous potato salad.”

      “Thank you, Olive,” Luci said. Cody’s mother was an attractive woman who shared her son’s dark hair and brown eyes.

      “You’re most welcome.” Olive enveloped Luci in a hug and then squeezed Anna’s hand. “This is a happy day, isn’t it? Both our children home again.”

      Cody rolled his eyes. “I’m going on thirty here.”

      “But children are always that, aren’t they?”

      “They are,” Anna agreed.

      “Well, look who’s here!” Luci’s father, having left his post at the barbecue pit, burst into the group, thrusting out his hand to Cody.

      “Hey, Erv.” Cody shook the other man’s hand.

      “Good to see you,” Erv said. “Want to hear about all the places you’ve been.”

      Some of the other guests wandered over, and soon a large group had gathered around Cody. Luci edged away and circulated among the other guests, but Cody’s presence distracted her. She heard him laugh politely at pharmacist Hal Barnett’s corny joke and watched him help Don’s wife, Arliss, pop open sodas for their children, ten-year-old Spencer and eight-year-old Hannah. She tracked his movements despite herself.

      When her father’s barbecued chicken was done, the guests lined up at the buffet table. Cody sat with Don and his family. Then Francine and her husband, Will, and their daughters, Betsy and Megan, joined the group. Luci thought about joining them but instead sat with two friends from high school and their families.

      When Cody finished eating, he did what she expected him to do—put his camera into action. He gathered several couples and their children for a group shot. He caught her father and one of his golf buddies laughing over a joke, and her mother showing off her prize roses to the ladies in her garden club. Even the musicians posed for him.

      Luci sighed. Cody had turned her homecoming party into one of his photo shoots.

      Needing a break, she wandered to the edge of the lawn where a path led through the dunes to the beach. The ocean sparkled under a sun about to slip below the horizon, and the waves made a soft shushing sound as they rolled onto the shore. If only she could escape there now. When something upsetting happened, a walk on the beach always helped to calm her. Cody’s unexpected appearance was certainly one of those times. As soon as the party was over...

      “Luci.”

      She turned and, sure enough, there he stood, camera raised to his eye. He took a few shots and then backed away and took some more. Still more while