Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
As he looked at the photograph, he no longer had any doubt he had to try to get Erin to forgive him. To give him a shot. Because he had never felt this way before and he wasn’t about to let her slip through his fingers.
But how was he going to fix the mess he’d made?
He needed to clear his foggy head, so he donned sunglasses, clipped an ecstatic Nelson to his new leash, and the two of them set off for a glorious long walk on the beach. Not even his hangover could stop him from enjoying the fresh breeze, the sand, the surfers out daring the waves, the couples strolling arm in arm, and of course, the other dog walkers. It was just a happy place, and when he was with Nelson it was impossible for him not to be happy there too. He couldn’t help searching the other dog walkers, wondering if Erin might be among them, even though he knew she wouldn’t be. If she was walking Buzzy, then she would have found a spot so far away and so secret that newcomer Jay would never have known about it.
No, he wasn’t going to be bumping casually into Erin on the beach anytime soon. If he wanted to make it right with her, he was going to have to think of something else. And fast.
Chapter Twenty
By the time Jay arrived home, he’d come up with the beginnings of a plan.
He glanced down at the copy of the Sea Shell, the one where he’d been profiled, still lying on his desk.
Telling Nelson that he’d return soon, he called a car service so he could pick up his car. Then, on impulse, he headed for the library. Libraries had been his refuge when he was a kid with no money to buy books. They’d been a safe place where he could hang out and read, escape into other worlds, learn things he never learned properly at school. Even now, donating to libraries to help keep them afloat was one of his biggest charitable endeavors. It made him happy to think about kids like him or people who just didn’t have a lot of money being able to access everything from recent thrillers to all the great classics. They also carried newspapers and magazines, and he was pretty sure the local library would keep back issues of the Sea Shell.
But when he got there, the library was closed because it was Sunday. He felt like banging his head against the closed door.
Back home he was greeted by Nelson as though he’d been gone a year, then found the library website. They had online services, and to his delight all the issues of the Sea Shell were available. He put on his glasses and settled down to read, searching out only Erin Davenport’s byline. He read everything she’d written in the last two years. Every single thing. There were profiles of important people and celebrities who’d moved to the area, her Dog of the Week feature—which was probably his favorite thing she did—articles about school plays and funding, and he noticed that a few times she referenced romantic comedy movies. That was funny, because it was one of the things she’d asked him about in their interview: Why was he always making movies like Shock Tactics and not putting his actors into rom coms? Now he realized that, as well as calling him out on some blatant sexism, she had also been showing him a side of herself he hadn’t seen before—a softer, more girly side, that loved to cozy up with a rom com.
He took off his reading glasses and settled in his chair. He’d spent a couple of hours getting to know Erin in a new and intimate way. He’d been inside her mind, he understood her wry sense of humor, and most of all, he understood what moved her, what caught her heart.
And he knew another thing for sure: she was a damned good writer. She could set her sights a lot higher than the Sea Shell if she wanted to, but knowing Erin, she wouldn’t want that at all. If he’d ever known someone who was exactly where she wanted to be, it was Erin Davenport. She was the least wealthy of the siblings, and her ambitions weren’t nearly as lofty, but she lived with a kind of contentment that was rare to see. Spending so long with Erin’s voice, absorbing every story and every word, he could feel her sliding deeper and deeper into his heart.
Maybe Smith was right. Maybe this was what love looked like. He shook his head in disbelief.
He was in love!
And now that he had finally faced the truth, he knew exactly what he could give Erin to show her how much he cared.