Complete Pelican Lake Series

Chapter 4

Jared forced himself to turn away and take the ticket Ashley had given him into the store, along with his list. He"d hoped to see her today but was surprised to find her on the dock. He wasn’t prepared and didn’t know what to say. Now he felt like an i***t.

This morning he"d called Brandt, who told him where to find the key for the boat and to take it for supplies, it was far faster and easier than the road. Brandt had also admitted to having the place cleaned and stocked. Jared hadn"t been happy, but what could he do? All he could do was leave the place in as good a shape as he found it, or better. There had only been enough gas in the shed to fill the engine, so he"d brought the tank with him to fill while he picked up a few things. He’d been thinking about Ashley since he left the day before, despite trying not to.

His therapist had told him to write about his experiences, his injury, but he just couldn"t write it out like a report. He"d tried several times but found it impossible. When he"d told his therapist about his difficulty, he had suggested Jared write it as fiction. Make up a character and have them go through what he had, putting the fictional character in between him and what was happening was supposed to make it easier.

Jared wasn"t so sure. But he was going to give it a try. Who said his fictional character had to be just like him? Why couldn"t he have a girl? So what if the girl looked surprisingly like Ashley? He hadn"t started writing yet, but he was working out the details in his mind.

Inside the little general store, Jared picked up a basket and wandered the aisles, gathering the things from his list as he thought more about his story. What would he name the girl who looked like Ashley? What would her job be?

"Can I help you?" a woman"s voice startled him, and he jumped, landing wrong on his still healing knee. It gave out beneath him and he barely managed to save himself from falling by grabbing a nearby shelf to help regain his balance. "I"m sorry. Are you all right? I didn"t mean to scare you."

"I"m okay," Jared said. "You startled me and then my knee decided to misbehave. It does that." He turned to see the girl. She was a younger, somehow unfinished, version of Ashley with different hair. He knew this had to be her sister. What did Ashley call her again? Oh, that"s right, Steph.

"I think I have almost all of it." Jared checked his list. "The only thing I haven"t found is," he glanced down again, "composition books, or any kind of notebook really."

"I"m not sure about composition books, but we have several different sizes of notebooks over here." She turned and walked away, stopping after a few steps to turn and make sure he was following. Jared had just started moving, taking the first steps carefully until he was sure his knee was going to behave. When she saw he was following, Steph turned and continued.

Jared followed as she skipped several aisles then turned down the only one he hadn"t been down yet. Jared realized he should have started on one side of the building and worked his way aisle by aisle getting what he needed from each, instead of looking for things down the list. "Is this what you"re looking for?"

Jared stopped in front of a small section of office supplies, including pens, pencils, legal pads, and spiral notebooks. "Not exactly but close enough."

"Just let me know if you need anything else." She smiled and left him there to decide what he needed. He"d been thinking of spiral notebooks but seeing the legal pads made him realize that might be better, so he grabbed a couple and a package of mechanical pencils, feeling lucky they had his favorite ones, and added them to his basket.

After wandering the store for a few minutes, looking for anything that caught his attention or might be helpful, he carried his basket to the counter where Steph was busy dusting the shelf on the wall. The sound of his basket on the counter made her turn, the smile from before was still on her face. Jared wasn"t sure why, but it seemed just a little off, maybe it was because it was a little different than her sister"s.

"Did you find everything you need?"

"I think so. I found everything on my list at least."

"Oh, good. Now if you need anything we don"t have, we can order it, but it takes a few days. I"m not sure how long you"re going to be here; if it"s just the weekend, it wouldn"t arrive before you left."

"I plan to stay for the summer, so I"ll keep it in mind." He looked down at the counter knowing there was something he was forgetting. "Oh, I need a mail box too."

"No problem," she reached under the counter and pulled out a paper. "Fill this out and I"ll grab a key to an available box."

She left him with a pen and the box rental form as she went to the corner where the boxes were. He filled out the form then waited while she rang up the cost of the box for the next couple months along with his purchases, remembering at the last minute to give her the paper Ashley had given him. He pocketed the mail key instead of dropping it into a bag with the rest of his purchases.

"Have a nice day!" Steph called as he carried his bags out the door.

"You too," he called back. Now he was better prepared to see Ashley, he wanted to ask her out, but where would they go? And he was still trying to get his life straight, he had no business getting involved with anyone.

"Hello again," he smiled at Ashley as he approached her and his boat.

"Hi." She smiled back. His gas can was back in his boat, despite having told her he could do that.

"All full? No trouble?"

"Full and no trouble at all."

Jared set his bags on the dock and grabbed the wheel on the boat as he carefully stepped into the bobbing craft. He probably could have done it with the bags and not bracing himself but since his knee had tried to drop him, it was better to be safe than sorry. Once safely aboard, he turned to find Ashley holding his bags so he could take them.

"Thank you." He took the bags and stowed them near the gas can so he could unload them once he arrived back at the cabin. "Hey, is there any place up here to get a bite to eat? I mean like a diner or a pizza?"

"There"s a place on the other side of the lake, in Brighton, it"s about an hour"s drive, or you could take this across and get there in about half that. They"re right on the water and have a little bit of everything."

"Sounds great. Any chance I could get you to show me where it is?"

She looked his boat over then met his gaze. "Not on that. You don"t have any lights or navigation system. If you"re out after dark, you"re going to have a hard time finding your way home."

He looked at the boat again himself. She was right. He hadn"t even thought about lights. Not that he planned to be out after dark, at least not today.

"Then in my Jeep maybe?"

"I could do that, but not tonight. I"ve got plans with my family. I"m free tomorrow though."

"Sounds good. When and where do I pick you up?"

"I"m inside tomorrow, I get off at 5:30. You can pick me up then."

"It"s a date. I"ll see you then." Jared started the boat and carefully maneuvered it away from the dock before turning it around and heading back to his cabin for the night. He had a lot to do if he was going to get everything ready before he picked her up for dinner the next day.

Jared shoved his hand through his hair for the fifth time in as many minutes. He just had that legal pad, had just been making notes, and now he couldn"t find it.

He"d searched the entire living room, retraced his steps and hadn"t found it. He knew he had to have set it down somewhere, the question was… where? To hell with it. He"d go take a shower and see if thinking about something else helped his memory. He wasn"t counting on it.

He went into the bedroom, pulled his t-shirt off over his head, and tossed it aside. In the bathroom, he turned on the water and adjusted the temperature before stepping under the spray.

Instead of the legal pad, his mind filled with the image of Ashley as he’d seen her the day before. Tiny string bikini top peeking out from under the loose top, which only stayed somewhat closed because of the tails tied at her waist. Long tanned legs stretching for what seemed like miles. She was the thing of fantasies, and if he weren’t seeing her tonight, he might indulge.

Hell. He was just taking her to dinner, a first date. There was no chance he’d be spending the night with her, and even if he were hoping to, which he wasn’t, that wouldn’t be for hours. What would it hurt?

Jared closed his eyes and pictured her as he’d seen her yesterday, then imagined her slowly peeling off each item until she stood in front of him in nothing more than both pieces of that swim suit, then shedding that too. His hand wrapped around his stiff rod and slid up and down as he imagined it was her hand, then her mouth.

Faster than he’d thought possible, he found himself tensing as fire raced up his spine and he came with a shout.

He shook his head and wondered what had come over him. He hadn’t even gotten to imagine the good part. He finished showering and stepped out, the legal pad completely forgotten.