that, someone pounded on the front door. She heard a kid’s eager voice, a dog’s bark and the scrabble of nails on the wooden floor. God. Her new home was close quarters for two people, especially when one of them was as noisy, popular and, she was forced to admit, attractive as Jake Renner. So much for peace. So much for sleep.
Jake better find a place to stay right away, or she’d find him one herself.
2
JAKE GAVE RICKIE a couple of boards and some paint and promised to help him with the tree house tomorrow. Rickie had haunted the beach house from the moment Jake arrived three weeks ago. He was lonely and his parents were divorcing, so Jake had played catch with him a couple times, then introduced himself to Rickie’s mother, so she’d know he was okay. Then he’d met the sitter—a definite dating prospect, which enhanced things considerably.
He couldn’t break away now, though. He had the bike to fix for Barry and he wanted to be around when his new roommate got up. He turned his CD player down a little, in deference to the sleeping woman, though he thought he’d heard her moving around.
Jumpy. The way she’d barreled into him at the door showed she was wired for action. If she hadn’t been so tired, she’d have had him packed and out on his ass right now. Despite her jet-lagged befuddlement, her knotted hair, business suit and erect posture spoke volumes about her personality. Gung-ho, no nonsense, maximally serious.
He wasn’t moving out, he already knew that. He’d given up his closet of a basement apartment and he liked having room for all his equipment in one place and living where he was working. Besides, he couldn’t afford rent if he wanted the scratch he needed to fund his sister Penny’s trip.
He’d have to get Ariel comfortable living with him—make her life as smooth as the gearing on Barry’s Guerciotti, which he was working on right now—so she’d forget all about him leaving.
He adjusted the triple-gear unit, then spun the pedals. Much better. He liked getting his hands on equipment. That was one thing he’d learned from his father, Admiral Shipshape—how to handle machinery. It made up a little for the commands and the regulations and the misery when he was growing up.
His father better not be as hard on Penny as he’d been on him. Penny claimed not, but she was too sweet to fight back.
That made Jake remember that she was planning to check out the beach house this weekend. Not a good idea with his landlord on-site. Having a teen guest—even one as smart and sweet as Pen—would definitely annoy Ariel Adams. He put down the bike and grabbed the phone to postpone the visit a couple weeks.
“Renner residence, Jake here.” His father. Damn. He hated talking to the man, hated that air of disappointment—thick as the slabs of beef his dad loved to grill in the back yard—that permeated every conversation.
“Hello, sir.”
“Jake Junior, how are you?”
“Fine, sir. Penny there?”
“Yes, she is.” Pause. Stern silence. “You haven’t been to the house in two months.”
“I’ve been busy. Charters and a house-painting job…” He let his words trail off.
“You owe it to your mother to present yourself from time to time.”
For inspection. Shoes shined, tie straight. His dad was Navy to his bones. “I’ll come out in a week or two.”
“Saturday, the fifteenth? I’ll let her know.”
“That depends….” But the last thing he needed was another argument with his dad. “All right. The fifteenth.”
The admiral was silent on the other end. He had something else on his mind or he would have gone for Penny. These conversations were as awkward for him as they were for Jake. “Made any progress, son?” he finally said. That was Admiral Renner code for settling down—having a real job, a wife, becoming a man with responsibilities, debts, burdens.
“Every day is progress, sir,” he said with a sigh. He’d be damned if he’d do anything in life the way his dad had done it.
Silence. Then his father said tightly, “I’ll get your sister.”
Why did Jake’s heart thud after these exchanges? He was almost thirty years old. It was the shame in his father’s voice. His only son was a footloose bum he couldn’t brag about with the other officers, whose kids were in the Academy or the diplomatic corps or were lawyers or computer whizzes. He felt the shame heat his face. Ridiculous. What did he care what his narrow-minded father thought? Unlike his father, Jake enjoyed life. Enjoyment was not a duty, so Admiral Renner didn’t make room for it.
And as far as being footloose, that was something he’d learned as a kid, thanks to his father’s transfers from naval base to naval base—Virginia to Florida to California. Jake had learned how to let go when he needed to. Now, when things got weird or dull or troublesome, it was easy to just leave.
As a kid, it had hurt, being forced away from things he loved—the swim team, girlfriends, great buds, even teachers who’d inspired him. But he got used to it and it taught him to be flexible, open to new things that were just as worthwhile.
Moving around had been tough, but that was only the launching pad for his struggles with his by-the-book father. Jake had never met a rule he liked, and he made sure his father knew it.
“Hey, Jake,” Penny chirped.
“Hey there, Squirrel, how are you?”
“Good. I got second place in the swim meet.”
“Terrific. Did the Admiral stop picking on you about your grades?” It wasn’t until he’d left home that Jake realized that Penny might be paying the price for his rebellion. His parents were overprotective and kept her close to home, under watch.
“He wasn’t picking on me. He was concerned about me, that’s all. Parents do that. It’s a duty.”
“There’s more to school than grades, Pen. Don’t let him browbeat you.”
“Chill, would you? I want good grades, too. For college.”
“There’s plenty of time for college. You have to live life.” As soon as she graduated high school, he was making sure she got to spend a year in Europe. That was what she wanted, though she’d stopped talking about it. He’d seen the flyer on her desk when he was home at Thanksgiving—Study Abroad. See Europe and earn college credit. He’d asked her about it and she’d sounded so jazzed until she read him the costs. Then her enthusiasm faded. Too much money. She didn’t have to say it.
That was when he decided he would make it happen. He’d pay her way, arrange everything, including running interference with the old man. Jake would not let Penny suffer for his sins. As soon as she had her high school diploma, he’d break her out of the brig his parents kept her in.
“So, I can’t wait for this weekend,” Penny said. “You can teach us to surf—I’m bringing Sheila. She wants to sailboard.”
“Um, that’s kind of why I called,” he said, hating to disappoint her.
