Trusting His Promise (Love on Sanctuary Shores #5)

Chapter 10

Jo’s legs wobbled as if she were a landlubber who had just gotten off her first boat ride, but she made herself keep walking up the beach. Keep walking toward their spot. Toward Beckett.

She’d prayed that he might miraculously disappear while she was in the water, but apparently God’s answer to that prayer was a big fat no.

She would have stayed in the water longer if it hadn’t been for two things: her feet had turned into blocks of ice, and Sam had gone off to build a sandcastle with her friends.

So here Jo was, on her way up the beach to sit next to a man she wanted absolutely nothing to do with. Maybe she could surreptitiously grab their things and relocate to another spot without Beckett noticing. His head was down, and he appeared to be concentrating on a book.

His Bible. Jo scoffed.

Who did he think he was fooling?

She supposed he had to make a show of being a Christian to keep his job—but really, Beckett Knox reading his Bible on the beach? It was too much.

She started to angle her walk farther to the left so she could skirt around him and grab their things before he noticed, but just then he looked up, staring out over the lake with a pensive expression.

Jo froze and turned to look over her shoulder, but the lake glimmered back at her, nothing amiss.

She turned around and started walking again, praying he wouldn’t—

His eyes landed on hers, and his lips immediately lifted into a smile that was warm and inviting—and completely disconcerting.

She made herself change her trajectory. There was no point in trying to sneak her things away now. If she wanted to escape, she’d have to make some sort of excuse.

She wished he would at least look down at his book again, but he watched her come up the beach. She glanced away for a moment but then made herself look again. She wasn’t going to let him think he’d intimidated her.

But looking at him made it hard not to notice that he’d only grown even better looking over the years. Where he’d once had an impish, boyish look, his eyes were more serious now. And where he’d once been lean and lanky, his shoulders had broadened, and his biceps were hard to miss peeking out of the sleeves of his t-shirt. She supposed that was what all the women who watched his movies liked.

But they didn’t know him. Because if they knew him—the real him—the way she did, all the good looks in the world wouldn’t be enough to attract them.

She reached her spot and snatched her towel, rubbing her legs so vigorously that her skin sent up a sting of protest.

“How was the water?” Beckett’s voice was casual, as if they talked to each other every day.

“Cold and wet.” Her voice, in contrast, did not invite further conversation. She turned to search the beach for Sam, who was in the exact spot where Jo had left her. Jo should have stayed and helped build the castle, even if she hated the feel of wet sand. Right now, it seemed like it would be the lesser of two evils. She bent and scrubbed at the clumps of sand stuck to her feet.

Beckett chuckled, the warmth of the sound annoying Jo.

“What?” she snapped.

“I thought you spent all day in the water,” he said simply, apparently undeterred by her tone.

“ On it,” Jo emphasized. “Not in it.” She shook out her beach towel, grimacing when Beckett raised his hands with a protesting laugh.

“Thanks for the sand shower.” His voice held a note of teasing—much friendlier than when they were kids, but still a little too close to home.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “Thanks for watching our stuff.” She bent to scoop up Sam’s towel.

“Where are you going?” Beckett looked genuinely surprised.

Jo shrugged. Anywhere but here. But out loud, she simply said, “I should move closer to Sam.”

“You have a perfect view of her from here,” Beckett pointed out. “Come on. Have a seat.” He scooted to the far edge of his beach blanket. “There’s plenty of room.”

Jo stared at the blanket, then her own towel, debating. Which did she detest more—wet sand or Beckett Knox?

“I’ll use Sam’s towel.” It seemed like a fair compromise.

Beckett shrugged, but his grin suggested that he knew the nature of the internal war she had just waged.

Jo spread Sam’s towel back out, then sat and reached for her beach bag. If she could get to her book and bury her face in it, she would be safe.

There . She yanked the book out of the bag as if it were a life raft and tore the pages open, huffing at herself as her eyes fell on the upside-down words. She flipped the book as discreetly as she could.

“ Lord of the Rings ?” Beckett offered a low whistle. “Do you like it?”

“Mmm.” Jo turned the page even though she hadn’t read a word.

“I gave up on it halfway through.” He laughed. “Too slow for my taste.”

“Mmm.” There was no need to admit she’d been struggling with the same issue.

“I’m more of a romance reader myself.”

Jo couldn’t help it—her head jerked up.

Beckett grinned. “Just checking if you were listening. “I’m actually more of a science fiction fan. Although now that I make romance movies, I guess I can admit that I do enjoy Christian romances as well.”

“Oh.” She supposed this was the part where she was meant to ask about his movies. But she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.

She checked on Sam again, then directed her gaze back to her book.

Beckett finally seemed to get the memo that the conversation was over, and he picked up his phone. Jo tried to tune out the sound of his fingers tapping, but some ridiculous part of her wondered if he was texting his girlfriend—maybe even his wife.

She kept the book up to her face, reading a line, then checking on Sam. Then rereading the same line again. She’d done that a dozen times when the petite dark-haired woman Beckett had sat next to at church dropped onto his blanket, directly between Beckett and Jo.

“Turns out I’m too short for beach volleyball,” she said with a laugh that instantly warmed Jo to her. “I’m Sadie.” The woman held out a hand. “And you’re Beckett’s Josephine.”

Jo felt her mouth gape open, but she couldn’t figure out how to close it. Number one, how did the woman know her name? And number two—and more importantly—what in all of creation had given her the idea that Jo was Beckett’s?

“Not my—” Beckett spluttered, then seemed to bite his tongue. He looked past Sadie to Jo. “Sadie is my co-star in the movie. She wants to move here someday.”

“I do.” Sadie nodded. “And I’m going to convince Beckett to move back too.”

“I told you.” Beckett’s voice tightened. “That’s not going to happen.”

“We’ll see.” Sadie grinned at him, and Jo wondered if maybe they were more than co-stars. Were they together in real life as well as in the movie?

“Anyway—” Sadie turned back to Jo. “This place is beautiful. I can see why you stay here. You’re much smarter than Beckett.”

“No one’s arguing with that,” Beckett said with an easy laugh that annoyed Jo, though she couldn’t say why.

Fortunately, her eyes fell on Sam, making her way up the beach toward them. Jo let out the world’s longest breath of relief and jammed her book back in her bag. By the time Sam reached them, Jo was already on her feet, gathering up their beach towels.

“How was the water?” Beckett asked Sam.

“Sooo good.” Sam let Jo wrap a towel around her. “I saw my teacher. She wants to meet Mr. Beckett. I told her to follow me, but she got stuck talking to Mrs. Camden, so it might be a minute.”

Beckett chuckled. “Mrs. Camden caught me the other day, so I know what that’s like.”

Try as she might, even Jo couldn’t help smiling at that. Candi Camden didn’t have a reputation as the town busybody for nothing. She probably knew Beckett was coming back to the island even before he did himself.

“See, that’s another thing I love about small towns,” Sadie piped up from her spot next to Beckett.

“Rumors?” Beckett quipped. “Busybodies?”

“No.” Sadie rolled her eyes as if Beckett were being ludicrous. “Everyone knows everyone else. You can be gone for a decade, and you come home, and people still remember you.”

Beckett shook his head. “I think you’re romanticizing it a bit.”

Jo found her eyes surveying the wide space between Beckett and Sadie. Neither of them had made a move to get closer to the other, and there was no hand holding, no affectionate glancing. Maybe they were just co-stars after all.

Not that Jo cared either way.

She pulled Sam closer and rubbed the girl down with her towel.

“Ouch. Mommy, that’s too hard,” Sam complained.

“Sorry,” Jo muttered. “Are you ready to go?”

“We have to wait for Miss Patterson,” Sam insisted.

Jo glanced down the beach. The young teacher was still talking to Candi. “I’m sure she’ll find her way over here without you.”

Sam crossed her arms. “I promised I’d introduce her.”

Jo sighed. She could push it, but she had learned she needed to choose her battles.

She crossed her arms in front of her. “All right. But we’re doing your reading the moment we get home.”

“I thought we were going to stay here and do it at the beach,” Sam said helpfully.

Jo gritted her teeth. “We’ll do it at home.” They were not going to stay at this beach one moment longer than was necessary.

Sam shrugged, and Jo let out a breath.

“So,” Sadie continued cheerfully, still sitting on the blanket, though Beckett got to his feet. “Have you gone to Prince of Peace long?”

“All my life,” Jo answered. She didn’t add that there had been a period—when she was with Jay—that she’d stopped going. It had been hard to go back once she’d learned she was pregnant, but she was glad she had. For the most part, the people of the congregation supported her—although that didn’t stop Jo from wondering what they thought about her behind her back.

“I went there a couple of times when my family first moved to the island,” Beckett said softly. “You were the first one who came over to talk to me at Sunday School, remember?”

Jo shook her head. Of course she remembered. Just like she remembered how a couple months later, when she had tried to comfort him after his mother’s death, he’d mocked her faith, calling her “Jesus-freak Jo.” She could still feel the sting of those words—and the years of mockery that had followed—pressing hard against the bottom of her chest.

Beckett turned to her with a strange look. Regret, maybe. Or remorse. As if he knew the direction her thoughts had taken.

Jo steeled herself against the idea. Beckett Knox had never known a day of regret or remorse in his life.

“I wish—” he started.

“Miss Patterson. Miss Patterson.” Sam jumped up and down and waved her arms. “We’re over here.”

The young teacher waved back, her face blossoming into a radiant smile, the light blue sundress she wore billowing behind her, along with her long, shimmering curls. Jo lifted a hand to her own limp ponytail and glanced down at her ragged cutoff shorts and t-shirt.

Hard as she tried, she couldn’t keep her eyes from traveling to Beckett again. Her heart gave an obnoxious and unnecessary skip when she realized he wasn’t watching Miss Patterson make her way toward them. He was looking into the sky, following the line of Sam’s finger as she pointed out a plane. “That’s my mom’s friend Angelica’s plane. I’m going to learn how to fly a plane someday.”

“Oh?” Beckett dropped his head to smile at Sam, and then his gaze lifted to Jo, his eyebrows raised. “And how does your mom feel about that?”

“Well, she says, ‘We’ll see about that.’ But that’s what she says about everything. I say, if she can have a pilot friend, she can have a pilot daughter too.”

Beckett’s laugh was rich and warm as he looked to Jo again. “I’m afraid there’s no arguing with that logic.”

Jo shook her head, but she had to fight against the tug that threatened to lift the corners of her mouth. “We’ll see about that,” was all she said, but it made Beckett’s smile grow wider.

“You’re right.” He winked at Sam. “She does say that about everything.”

Sam giggled, then ran to Miss Patterson, who was only a few steps away now. She grabbed the teacher’s hand and pulled her closer.

“This is my teacher, Miss Patterson,” she told Beckett. “And this is Beckett Knox.” She let go of Miss Patterson’s hand, so the teacher could shake Beckett’s outstretched one.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Patterson” Beckett said, his warm smile traveling to the teacher.

“Nicole,” Miss Patterson corrected with a nervous, breathy laugh. “It’s my pleasure. I’ve seen all of your movies. I love them.”

Beckett turned to Jo with a raised eyebrow, as if to say, See, some people love me.

Jo rolled her eyes.

“I think your last movie was the best one.” A pink flush swept over Miss Patterson’s cheeks. “Sorry. Is that a terrible thing to say?”

Beckett laughed. “Not terrible at all. I think so too.”

“Me too.” Sadie popped to her feet and held out a hand to Miss Patterson. “Even if I wasn’t in it.”

“Oh, and you’re Sadie Pieper,” Miss Patterson gushed. “Your movies are great too. I loved The Heart of It All . You two had such great chemistry. I was sure you must be a real-life couple.”

Sadie’s laugh was much louder than Jo would have expected from such a petite person. “That just proves what good actors we are,” she said, shoving Beckett’s arm. “This guy might as well be my brother for the extent of my romantic feelings for him.”

Jo couldn’t help laughing at that, and Beckett glanced her way with a self-deprecating smile. “It wasn’t as funny the first time she said it to me. After I asked her out.” He made a face, but Sadie only laughed.

“Whatever. The one time you asked me out was a joke, and you know it.”

Beckett shrugged lazily, but the blood was suddenly pounding too hard in Jo’s ears for her to register his response.

She knew too well Beckett’s idea of a joke.

A cloud slid over the sun, and Sam shivered. Jo grabbed for her daughter’s hand. “We should get you home and into some dry clothes.”

“But I don’t want to go yet,” Sam protested.

“We’re going,” Jo said firmly. Nothing was going to induce her to stand here any longer.

“Don’t go yet.” Beckett sounded almost pleading. “I promised the cast ice cream after the beach. You all should join us.”

“Really? That sounds so fun.” Miss Patterson looked as excited as Sam, who was jumping up and down, chanting, “Ice cream, ice cream.”

Jo shook her head. “Not tonight, Sammycakes. Come on, let’s go.”

“But Mommy, I want ice cream.”

“I know you do. And I said not tonight.”

“Oh, come on,” Beckett cajoled, winking at Sam. “What happened to, ‘we’ll see about that’?”

“It’s a firm no.” Jo kept her eyes on Sam. “It’s almost dinnertime. And you need to shower and finish your reading, and we almost forgot about your spelling.” She looked to Miss Patterson, hoping the teacher would back her up.

But Miss Patterson was too busy talking to Sadie to notice.

“I don’t want to do my reading,” Sam pouted. “I don’t like to read.”

Jo sighed, knowing there was a battle ahead at home. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Beckett opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it. Then he opened it again. “Another time,” he said to Sam. “I promise.”

Jo gritted her teeth against the word. Beckett Knox did not need to make her daughter promises he had no intention of keeping.

“I doubt it,” she said.

Beckett shrugged. “We’ll see about that.” He winked at Sam again with a grin.

“You know what would be so incredible?” Miss Patterson threw in, mercifully drawing Beckett’s attention off of Jo and Sam.

Jo took the opportunity to pull her daughter away from the group, ignoring the little part of her that wondered what Miss Patterson thought would be so incredible—and whether Beckett would agree.