Small-Town Girl. Jessica Keller
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The coast guard certified her, and we’ll have to have her inspected annually just like the rest of the ships. We’ll have to carry more life jackets on board. I think she’s got ten or so now, but we’ll need one for every passenger we plan to have. The ship-to-shore radio worked the last time I checked, and she’s radar-equipped.”
“Then let’s shove off.” Kendall saluted him because that felt like the right thing to do to a boatman, but heat flashed across her cheeks after doing so.
Brice’s face did that thing where he was clearly fighting a huge, goofy grin again. “Aye-aye, Captain.”
He unwound the ropes holding the boat to the pier and then jumped back onto the vessel. Brice worked his way to the top of the ship, where there was a booth built for him to sit at and steer. Kendall came alongside him as he started the boat and it rumbled to life.
Brice winked at her. “Go on over to the edge and enjoy the ride.”
Kendall made her way to the back near the paddles and watched the red slats slap against the water as they headed away from the sight of the little, safe harbor in town and out into the waters of Lake Michigan. She leaned against the railing and watched the town grow smaller in the distance, wondering if she should have asked Brice just how far out they were going to go.
After a while he angled the boat so it was going up the shoreline, away from Goose Harbor and toward an area full of dunes and a thick forest. When the leaves changed yellow and brown in the fall, the hill probably looked like a group of giant, sleeping bears.
“See them?” Brice hollered. He pointed down the shore to a place near where a large river entered the lake.
Kendall shaded her eyes with her hand. “See what? The river?”
“The eagles!” Brice pointed again. “They’re getting ready to fish.”
She looked higher and then gasped. Three bald eagles soared in a circle high above the trees that grew near the mouth of the river. Their wing spans were huge. “I didn’t know you had those in Michigan.”
“We do.” The boat started going much slower. “On nights when the lake is too rough, we can offer a cruise up that river instead. It’s a protected area, but I called the rangers today and they said river cruises are allowed and welcome on the preserve. There’s bound to be all sorts of wildlife to spot. I think most tourists would like that.”
He’d called the rangers today? If Brice was thinking ahead, then he really was on board with running these sunset cruises and wasn’t just being kind. He was an equal partner.
Wouldn’t it be nice to finally be around someone she could count on? That wasn’t a trait she usually associated with men in her life. Maybe Brice was different.
Or maybe she didn’t know him well enough yet.
* * *
Brice turned off the paddle wheeler and dropped both the bow and stern anchors, which was probably overkill, but better safe than sorry.
He crossed the boat to where Kendall stood, watching him. Not knowing what to do, and more than anything not wanting to sound foolish in front of her, he chose to stand beside her and look out at the sunset. Kendall didn’t make a move to talk right away. She simply turned and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Her hand rested beside his on the rail, making his heart thump off-kilter in a way it hadn’t done since college. Since the first time he saw Audra.
Brice stole a glance at Kendall. Gorgeous. Better than any sunset. He kept finding his gaze shifting back to her. Kendall’s skin had an exotic color to it; he thought he’d heard that type of skin called olive toned before. Her hair was thick, and dark, and had soft-looking curls. Her nose had character. It was a little big, but it fit her perfectly. Maybe six inches shorter than him, she was a good height. If he tucked his arm around her, she’d fit perfectly into the crook of his body.
Brice pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.
What was he thinking?
Hadn’t he been kicked in the teeth enough by women? He was not going to jump back into the dating pond anytime soon. Besides, women didn’t care about being committed. They cared about what a guy had to offer them. They liked to be chased, not caught. He would do well to remember that he had nothing to offer to anyone; in fact, he usually made people’s lives worse.
If I hadn’t had you I wouldn’t be stuck.
He took a step away from Kendall and from his mother’s voice in his mind at the same time. When he opened his eyes, Kendall had followed his movement, though. She was looking up at him, wearing an open expression.
“You have a scar.” She tapped his cheek where there had been a deep, half-inch scar since he was eight years old. From a belt buckle to the face. “I didn’t notice it before.”
He grabbed her hand and steered her back to the railing. “Don’t miss the sunset.”
Space. He just needed space.
Brice turned to head back to the inside of the boat, but Kendall snagged his arm.
“Stay with me. It’s no fun watching this or dreaming about romance alone.”
“Romance?” He reeled back a bit.
“Don’t look so shocked. I’m not talking about us. Love on a Dime. My business. Remember?” She spent the next ten minutes as the sun sank lower detailing her plan-a-date service. Brice’s resolve against dating grew stronger with each word she spoke. An entire business dedicated to making men spend money to impress their girlfriends? And his shipping business was going to be tangled up in it.
Yup, women worked exactly like he’d figured. Exactly as Audra—his last girlfriend—had. She’d done him a favor when she turned down his proposal. They would never have been happy together. Brice saw that now. But it didn’t remove the sting of rejection, even all these years later.
Kendall’s voice broke through his thoughts. “We should offer this as one of the date packages on top of running the weekly cruises. What do you think?”
“Not sure.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ll have to think on it a couple days if that’s all right with you.”
“Of course. It’s your boat, so the choice is all yours. I just think that people would really pay well for this experience. And I’m meeting with a chef next week who I’m sure I could convince to cater meals for dates. Wouldn’t it be romantic to eat here at the back of the boat while the sun set? The couples could finish the evening by dancing here under the stars.” She closed her eyes for a second and swayed. “Does the boat have a sound system?”
“It does.” His jaw was aching again. “How’d you come up with the idea to start your business?”
She bit her lip. “Want me to be completely honest?”
He scrubbed his hand over his face. “What else would I want?”
“Right. Silly question.” Kendall broke eye contact. “Before I moved to Goose Harbor, I dated. A lot.”
“Define ‘a lot.’”
“A lot.” She crossed her arms and looked back at him. “Nothing serious. But suffice to say, I’ve been on more dates than I can count.” She uncrossed her arms and trailed her fingers absently on the railing. “Some of them were really creative, and I planned a lot of them, as well. In the midst of it I realized that I’m really great at the dating part of relationships, so why not make money off that? I used to work as an event planner for a small golf course near my hometown, and the idea sort of sprang from that.”
She rubbed her hands back and forth over her bare arms. Although it was summer, the evenings cooled down quickly, especially out on the water. And she was only wearing a tank top of sorts.
Brice shrugged out of his coat. “Put this on. You’ve got to be cold.”
“Thank