Without bothering to change out of their regatta clothes, Nick and Lucy had set out to find a place that served pizza. They’d found a place on a busy street, tucked in between an expensive jewelry store and a doctor’s office, and to their surprise, the hostess had led them through the restaurant and out to a back patio made of terra cotta bricks. Strings of lights criss-crossed the open seating area, and tables for two dotted the space, filled with couples leaning close to one another over flickering candles as they shared bottles of wine and plates of pasta.
“Wow, this is gorgeous,” Lucy said, feeling breathless as she took in the view of the water from over the railing of the patio. She’d had no idea that the street itself backed up to a bluff with a view of the marina and the open waters beyond. “And I’m starving.” Nick pulled out her chair for her and waited for Lucy to get situated. “I was so busy checking on everyone else and meeting Finn’s girlfriend at the regatta that I forgot to eat anything from the buffet spread that I spent so much time planning.”
“Let’s remedy that right away.” Nick signaled a waiter so they could order a bottle of wine and an appetizer.
“Any further word on Honey or the robbery back home?” Nick asked, leaning back in his chair after putting in their drink order.
“Oh god,” Lucy groaned. “With everything else going on I completely forgot about that.” She put both hands to the sides of her face and looked pained. “How could I have forgotten?”
“When you’re in another country, it’s forgiven. Sometimes you get caught up in what’s going on in front of your face, you know?”
“Yeah, but I’m generally not an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ kind of person. Not at all.”
Nick was holding his fork in one hand, using the handle of it to gently trace a pattern along the tabletop as he listened. “So, when you were in Venice, did you think about me, or did you forget about the old Carrier Pigeon and your buddy Nick because we weren’t right there?”
Lucy’s face flushed; she had thought of him. “I called you, didn’t I? And I texted on Valentine’s Day.” Lucy leaned forward in her seat, warming to the subject. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I was the one who reached out first both times, wasn’t I? So maybe I’m not the one suffering from ‘out of sight, out of mind-itis.’”
Nick laughed. “Did you just coin a new term? Identify a new medical diagnosis?” He set his fork on his napkin and folded his hands on his lap casually.
“Maybe I did.” Lucy gave her long, loose hair a toss, flipping it over her shoulders as she considered him. “But then, you did travel to another country with me, so I guess that counts for something.”
“Oh, it does?” Nick laughed again. “Like maybe I’m making progress with my disease?”
“I feel like progress is being made,” Lucy said with a smile, looking up at their server as he appeared with two glasses and a bottle of red wine. The waiter uncorked the bottle, poured each of them a glass, and waited as they took their first sips. “Delicious,” Lucy said to him as he bowed slightly and walked away.
They were quiet for a long minute as they sipped wine and watched the people around them. Beyond the railing was an evening sky of orange and pink that faded into the horizon as the sun sank towards the water. It was easy to push everything aside in that moment, to forget home, robberies, boat accidents, drunken weddings, and surprise girlfriends showing up on the island. There was nothing in that moment except their glasses of smooth, rich wine, the watercolor skies, and each other.
Lucy smiled shyly at Nick.
“Hey,” he said, setting his wine glass down. “This might seem like a bizarre thing to say, but I really enjoy your company.”
Lucy threw back her head and laughed. “Oh yes, it is completely bizarre for a man to enjoy my company. Thank you for clarifying that.”
“No,” Nick said, looking down at the table. “What I meant to say is that it’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed anyone’s company.” He lowered his voice but lifted his eyes to meet Lucy’s gaze. “For a long time after I lost Daisy, I didn’t enjoy anything. I couldn’t bring myself to leave the house much, so I read a lot, I wrote a lot—three of my best-selling books were written in the midst of crushing grief—and I definitely didn’t think about love. I wasn’t even sure I was capable of it anymore.”
Lucy’s heart rate picked up at the mention of love. She knew this feeling: the inability to put past hurts behind her and look ahead. There were times she’d even questioned herself about whether she’d agreed to date Charlie when she’d arrived on Amelia Island simply because he was an obvious dead-end, thus offering her a self-fulfilling prophecy of aloneness and misery. Sometimes after a big upheaval and a broken heart, what you really needed was to be allowed to carry around a chip on your shoulder that would keep everyone away—at least for a while.
“I get that,” she said to Nick, holding onto the stem of her wineglass and moving it around slowly on the table.
“But you’re easy to be with, Lucy. Whenever you walk through the front door of my shop, my mood lightens. Your face makes me happy.”
Again, Lucy felt the flush of pleasure that came with his words. “I feel the same way when I see you.”
The waiter materialized then with their appetizer and set it down quietly between them on the table. Neither reached for it.
“I’m really glad I came along to St. Barts, Lucy.” Nick held her gaze. “I mean, I felt like I might have missed my chance when I got sick that evening and you ran off and married that younger guy, but now that I know it was only a drunken fling, I feel much better.” He winked at her and picked up a piece of the fried calamari on the plate in front of him.
“Yes, that was a close call,” Lucy said, rolling her eyes. “I almost sailed off into the sunset with a fireman ten years my junior.”
Nick shrugged. “Hey, no judgment. If a lady can still pull the younger men, then she’s got it going on, you know?”
Lucy picked up a piece of calamari and dipped it in the creamy lemon-basil sauce that had come in a ramekin with their appetizer. “Oooh, this is good,” she said, closing her eyes as she chewed. “Try the sauce.”
Nick grabbed another bite and dipped it in the sauce. “You’re right: this is amazing. We’ve only been here a few days and I already feel like I’ve put on twenty pounds.”
“You haven’t,” Lucy said, taking a sip of her wine so that she wouldn’t gorge on calamari and ruin her dinner. “But I can already see that we’ll get home feeling like we need to detox. I never drink this much—I don’t do cocktails on weeknights, and I definitely never drink enough to wake up married.”
Nick laughed appreciatively. “That’s probably for the best. And hey, speaking of gorgeous women who can snag younger men, what do we really think of Finn and his lady? Are they a love match?”
Lucy gave in and dragged another piece of calamari through the lemon-basil sauce before popping it in her mouth. She smiled gleefully. “She was his high school English teacher.”
Nick gave a low whistle. “Damnnnnn,” he said, shaking his head. “Young men everywhere just felt a glimmer of hope at that story.”
Lucy reached across the table and swatted Nick’s bare forearm. “Nick, stop! He told me that there was nothing whatsoever between them until they bumped into one another a couple of years ago and started talking. And apparently she’s very hesitant to make their relationship public.”
“What’s the age difference?”
“Uhhh, I think Finn said he was about to turn thirty, and I’d say she’s around fifty.”
Nick nodded as he thought about it. “That sounds pretty decent, to be perfectly honest.”
“You could be with a woman twenty years older than you?”
“Sure. I could do it. Some guys couldn’t, but I’ve gotta say, there are a lot of indecisive, immature women out there. When a man has his head screwed on straight, sometimes he doesn’t want to play around with a girl when he could find himself a woman.”
Lucy put her wine glass to her lips and drank, watching Nick’s face. She set her glass on the table. “And you’ve dated both?”
Nick tilted his head to one side, letting his mouth curve into a smile. “I have. I once dated a girl fifteen years younger than me and that was not the move—not for me anyway. And I dated a woman twelve years older than me, which worked out infinitely better. Ultimately, it didn’t work out on a permanent level, but we had a lot of fun.”
Lucy held up a hand. “Okay, okay. I get it. No details, please.” She was starting to feel the buzz of wine in her head on top of the vodka tonic she’d had by the pool that afternoon.
Nick’s smile grew wider. “I’m not trying to make you jealous, Dr. Landish, I’m just saying we got each other. And the fact that she knew who she was and what she wanted was really attractive to me.”
“And now? Any preferences?” Lucy ventured, swallowing. She resisted another sip of wine, opting instead to stay as clear-headed as possible while they were on this topic.
“I can’t say I have strong preferences about specifics,” Nick said honestly. Their waiter passed by with a delicious looking pizza for the table behind them, and they both watched as he set it down. “I’ve never been one who insists on dating only blondes or only short and curvy girls.”
“Both of those demands would take me out of the running,” Lucy said out loud before she could stop herself. “I’m tall, kind of twiggy, and not a blonde.” She ticked each item off on her fingers.
Nick looked at the candle on their table before returning his gaze to Lucy’s face. “Did you want to be in the running?”
Lucy’s heart pounded against her ribcage like a fist beating against a locked door, and Nick’s eyes burned hotly as he waited to hear what she’d say. But before she could answer, their waiter walked up to the table with the ham, arugula, and fig pizza they’d ordered to share. They broke eye contact and leaned back in their seats like two fighters returning to their respective corners of the ring.
“Saved by the bell,” Nick said, watching as the waiter slid a piece of pizza onto a plate and set it in front of Lucy, then did the same for him. “Thank you,” he said to the waiter.
Once they were alone again, Lucy picked up her knife and fork. “This looks incredible,” she said, cutting into her slice of pizza and taking the first bite. She’d wanted more of the conversation they’d finally started, but the waiter showing up with the pizza had shifted the mood, and now what she wanted was to save it for a time when they were truly alone, and not seated back-to-back with other people who were drinking and eating pizza by candlelight.
She got her wish after dinner as they strolled down the street together, stopping to look in the windows of all the shops.
“What do you think of going down to the water?” Nick asked, standing behind Lucy’s left shoulder as she stared into the window of a store filled with silk scarves dyed to look like undulating blue waves and golden-hued sunsets over the sand. “I think there’s a walkway just down the street and we could go down and hang out on the beach if you want.”
Lucy turned around slowly so that they were facing each other. “I think that sounds nice,” she said, reaching out and slipping her hand into his. His eyebrows lifted ever so slightly at the feeling of her fingers laced through his. “I love the beach at night.”
Together, with the moonlight casting a warm glow across the sand and the water, they walked down a set of wooden stairs that led to the beach. There were other people scattered around, some walking, some sitting on blankets, but Lucy and Nick walked directly to the surf and took off their shoes, picking them up and holding them in their outside hands so that they could wind their fingers together again and hold hands as they walked. It was the purest, sweetest feeling Lucy had felt in a long time, and she smiled up at him as they strolled, feeling the cold, wet sand against the soles of her bare feet.
“So,” Nick said, swinging the hand that held his shoes as he returned Lucy’s look. “This has been a great trip. Watching everyone enjoy the island and seeing you in action as you lead the whole event is impressive.”
“It’s actually pretty easy once we’re here,” Lucy admitted. “Except for the unforeseen disasters, of course.”
“Sure. But everything must be okay at the hospital, or I’m guessing we’d have heard. Maybe they already released Elise’s guy with just some bandages and Advil.”
“I hope so.”
They stopped talking and walked for a couple of minutes in easy, companionable silence. Once they were a good distance from the last people they’d passed on the sand, Nick stopped walking but held Lucy’s hand in his.
“Hey,” he said, dropping his shoes. Lucy dropped hers and took his other hand so that they were facing one another with just inches between them. “You’re something else, you know that?” Nick’s voice was soft, but his words had meaning and insistence behind them. “I’ve been thankful for your friendship and for all the joy you bring into my life since the day I met you.”
Lucy smiled, as a blush crept across her cheeks. She willed herself not to look away. “Same,” she said, squeezing both of his hands. “I know that if I walk over to The Carrier Pigeon at any point during my day, I’m going to laugh at least five times. Not to mention that I get to see that handsome coworker of yours,” she said, referring to Hemingway.
“He really is the one everyone comes to see,” Nick said, making a self-deprecating face in the moonlight. His eyes sparkled beneath a fringe of lashes, and Lucy looked up at him, taking a step closer.
“Not me,” she said gently, standing on her tiptoes and tilting her chin up so that her face was closer to his.
“Oh?” Nick tugged both of her hands lightly as he moved even closer. The heat from both of their bodies mingled as he slowly lowered his mouth toward hers. “You come there just to use my fax machine, don’t you?” he said, his eyes still locked on hers.
Lucy couldn’t help it: she giggled. “Stop,” she said, pressing her chest against his as she let go of his hands and reached up to wrap both arms around his strong neck. “Stop teasing and just kiss me.”
The waves lapped onto the shore, threatening the shoes they’d abandoned in the sand as Nick put his warm lips against Lucy’s, kissing her softly at first, then with an urgency that could not be ignored.
Lucy pressed her body against the length of his and kissed him back with a fever she hadn’t felt in years. This was Nick, her next door work neighbor. Nick, who joked and made her laugh everyday. Nick, who wrote murder mysteries and read every book under the sun. Nick, who’d lost a daughter and known his own heartbreak.
This was Nick, making her wild with desire. This was Nick, making her forget everything but the moon on the waves, the sand between her toes, his lips on hers. Lucy gave into it completely and kissed him the way she’d wanted to for a long time, and she didn’t worry once about what it would mean tomorrow, or when they got back home.
Nothing mattered but that moment.