Trusting His Promise (Love on Sanctuary Shores #5)

Chapter 27

Jo smothered a yawn as Pastor Olsen finished the weekly announcements.

“Tired?” Beckett leaned over to whisper, grinning as if he knew she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night.

And it was his fault.

Every time she closed her eyes, she felt his lips on hers again. Felt his solid shoulders under her hands. Felt the way she had wanted this —whatever it was between them—to become more .

And then she had to start all over again, listing off to herself all the reasons that couldn’t happen. The only problem was, the reasons were getting harder and harder to remember.

“And don’t forget, we’re down to three weeks until trunk-or-treat,” Pastor Olsen announced. “So hopefully everyone knows what they’re planning to do for that.”

He dismissed the congregation, and people started chatting and filing out of the pews, but Sam turned to Jo, looking panicked. “We don’t know what we're doing for trunk-or-treat yet.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Jo looked to Beckett for confirmation.

He nodded but looked distracted. “How about a bike ride?”

Sam wrinkled her nose. “How do you make a bike ride out of cardboard?”

“Sorry.” Beckett chuckled. “Not for trunk-or-treat. Right now. You and me and your mom.”

“Yes!” Sam cheered, but Jo shook her head.

If trunk-or-treat was in three weeks, that meant that Beckett was leaving soon. Which meant Jo had to keep her daughter from getting closer to him—or she would be crushed when he left.

“We should really—”

“Don’t make me bring up our bet,” Beckett warned.

“What bet?” Jo stared at him.

“About them already knowing we won the tournament.” Beckett looked smug. “I haven’t collected on my winnings yet.”

“We never made a wager. And anyway, you got your reward. Remember?” She almost lifted a hand to touch his cheek and remind him of the shaving cream, but sat on it instead.

“Everyone knows that doesn’t count. That was just you making things up.”

“And this isn’t you making things up?” Jo asked, crossing her arms.

“Oh, it is. But since I won, I get to do that. And what I make up is that the winner gets to take the loser and her daughter—” He winked at Sam. “On a bike ride.”

“Sam can’t ride without training wheels yet,” Jo protested. “And my bike needs new tires and . . .” She had to be able to come up with more excuses than that.

“We’ll rent bikes from the Outdoor Activities Center. And we’ll get a bike trailer for Sam.”

“But,” Jo said, more weakly still. “It’s lunchtime.”

“I packed a picnic,” Beckett said smugly. “Now no more buts.”

Sam giggled, and Beckett wrapped his hand around Jo’s and stood, pulling her up after him.

She made one feeble attempt to pull her hand away, but when he didn’t let go, she had no choice but to follow him out of the pew.

In the lobby, Beckett moved to the coat room and scooped the same backpack he had brought on the boat yesterday off a shelf.

Then he led them outside and turned them toward the harbor, and Jo finally found her voice. “We should change first.”

“Good point.” Beckett’s gaze skimmed the flowy pink pants she’d finally convinced herself to wear, and Jo’s face heated.

She should have stuck with her regular black pants. These looked too—

“You look amazing though,” Beckett added.

“I— Thanks,” Jo murmured.

“I told you those pants would make Mr. Beckett fall in love with you,” Sam crowed.

“Sam,” Jo choked.

But Beckett’s chuckle warmed the air, and his hand squeezed hers tighter. “Don’t worry. It’s not just the pants.”

Jo’s foot caught in a crack in the sidewalk, and she stumbled forward. Only Beckett’s firm grip kept her from sprawling on her face.

She almost wished he had let her fall. At least that way she’d have something to think about other than his comment.

Of course, he didn’t mean he was really falling in love with her. And she very much wasn’t falling in love with him.

So everything was fine.

She subtly freed her hand from his as they turned up the walk to the house. Beckett didn’t even seem to notice.

Which was only proof that his comment hadn’t meant anything.

When they reached the door, she rushed inside and hurried up the stairs to her room, closing the door behind her harder than she intended. Theodore looked up archly from cleaning himself in the middle of the bed.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Jo muttered. “You know you like him too. No, not too . It’s only you. Not me. I don’t like him. I—” She flopped onto the bed, sending Theodore shooting toward the door with an angry yowl.

“Sorry.” Jo pushed herself off the bed.

She needed to get a grip. Beckett had only asked her to go bike riding—not to marry him.

She snuffed to herself. That would be the day.

Quickly, she pulled on a pair of leggings and the first shirt she found. She grabbed Beckett’s sweatshirt to return to him, along with one of her own so she wouldn’t have to borrow his if she got cold.

Then she returned downstairs, where she found Beckett and Dad chatting like old friends.

“Ready?” Beckett’s eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled at her, and Jo told herself that absolutely was not the reason her cheeks suddenly felt so warm. That was only because she was overdressed for the temperature in the house.

“Don’t forget about me!” Sam charged down the steps.

Beckett laughed. “That would be impossible.”

Jo turned to Dad. “You’ll be okay here alone?”

Dad’s recovery was going much better than even Colton had anticipated, but still, she worried he’d do something stupid to re-injure himself if no one was here to stop him.

Dad cleared his throat and looked toward the window, his cheeks suddenly looking as warm as Jo’s felt. There was a knock at the front door, and then Karen let herself in.

“Oh, hello,” she said cheerfully. “Long time, no see.”

“Hi.” Jo glanced from Karen to Dad, who looked sheepish and pleased at the same time.

“Well, I guess we’ll get going then . . .” She turned to the door.

Beckett and Sam followed her out, and Sam took off ahead of them.

“Are you okay?” Beckett fell into step next to her.

“Yeah. Of course. Why?”

Beckett shrugged. “I thought it might be hard, seeing your dad with someone who isn’t your mom.”

“Oh.” Jo considered. “Honestly, until just now, I didn’t think he even realized that she liked him. But I’m happy for them. It’s been a long time since my mom died, and I think he gets lonely sometimes.” She didn’t add that just the fact that Beckett had asked was making it ten times harder to stick to her resolve not to fall for him.

“Do you ever get lonely?” he asked quietly. “Being a single mom?”

Jo swallowed hard. “I . . . It wasn’t part of the plan,” she finally non-answered.

Beckett nodded, as if that were enough, and she wondered if she should ask the same question of him. But that felt too much like inviting him to think that she wanted to be the one to fill that loneliness.

They continued in silence, and Jo couldn’t help the audible breath of relief when they reached the Outdoor Activities Center.

The moment they walked in the door, Nate Hawthorn greeted them.

“It’s our resident celebrities.” His smile was warm and genuine. “Congratulations on the big win yesterday.”

“Thanks.” Jo shook her head. The whole thing still seemed a little surreal.

“We’re going for a bike ride to celebrate,” Beckett said. “We need two bikes and a bike trailer.”

“Well, you’ve come to the right place.” Nate led them to the lineup of bikes for rent.

“You should get these bikes!” Sam pointed to two rather old-fashioned looking bikes, identical aside from the fact that one was blue and the other pink. “They’re so cute.”

Jo laughed. “I’m sure ‘cute’ is exactly what Mr. Beckett is looking for in a bike.”

“As a matter of fact—” Beckett kept a straight face. “ Cute is my number-one qualification. I can’t bike with cute girls if I don’t have a cute ride to match.” He winked at Sam, smiled at Jo, then turned to Nate. “We’ll take them.”