Six Hours Away Read online

  Six Hours Away

  Return to Lighthouse Point

  KAY CORRELL

  Zura Lu Publishing, LLC

  Copyright © 2020 Kay Correll

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any matter without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

  * * *

  Published by Zura Lu Publishing LLC

  091720

  This book is dedicated to my reader group on Facebook. You guys are the best! So supportive. Always there for me. I couldn’t do this without you.

  You have my deepest gratitude.

  Contents

  Kay’s Books

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Also by KAY CORRELL

  About the Author

  Kay’s Books

  Find more information on all my books at my website.

  * * *

  COMFORT CROSSING ~ THE SERIES

  The Shop on Main - Book One

  The Memory Box - Book Two

  The Christmas Cottage - A Holiday Novella (Book 2.5)

  The Letter - Book Three

  The Christmas Scarf - A Holiday Novella (Book 3.5)

  The Magnolia Cafe - Book Four

  The Unexpected Wedding - Book Five

  * * *

  The Wedding in the Grove - (a crossover short story between series - with Josephine and Paul from The Letter.)

  * * *

  LIGHTHOUSE POINT ~ THE SERIES

  Wish Upon a Shell - Book One

  Wedding on the Beach - Book Two

  Love at the Lighthouse - Book Three

  Cottage Near the Point - Book Four

  Return to the Island - Book Five

  Bungalow by the Bay - Book Six

  Click here to learn more about the series.

  * * *

  CHARMING INN ~ Return to Lighthouse Point

  One Simple Wish - Book One

  Two of a Kind - Book Two

  Three Little Things - Book Three

  Four Short Weeks - Book Four

  Five Years or So - Book Five

  Six Hours Away - Book Six

  Charming Christmas - Book Seven

  * * *

  SWEET RIVER ~ THE SERIES

  A Dream to Believe in - Book One

  A Memory to Cherish - Book Two

  A Song to Remember - Book Three

  A Time to Forgive - Book Four

  A Summer of Secrets - Book Five

  A Moment in the Moonlight - Book Six

  * * *

  INDIGO BAY ~ A multi-author sweet romance series

  Sweet Days by the Bay - Kay’s Complete Collection of stories in the Indigo Bay series

  * * *

  Or buy them separately:

  Sweet Sunrise - Book Three

  Sweet Holiday Memories - A short holiday story

  Sweet Starlight - Book Nine

  * * *

  Want to be the first to know about exclusive promotions, news, giveaways, and new releases? Click here to sign up:

  VIP READER Signup

  Chapter 1

  Lillian looked at the long list of storm preparations scratched onto the crinkled paper on her desk. Even with help, she’d only managed to make a small dent in them so far today.

  More hurricane shutters needed to be put up at Charming Inn. They had a good supply of bottled water and a generator to keep the fridge and freezer going if the electricity went out. They’d gotten extra gas for the generator. She got to check that off her list.

  She always kept a supply of candles and lanterns around, so that had been an easy check, too. But there were so, so many other things to do to get ready.

  Hurricane season. It was always such a stressful time each year.

  She clicked on the computer to check the forecast for the approaching storm. No change. It was still predicted to go north of them, though of course, they’d get strong winds and torrential rain.

  She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. The work would all get done. It always did.

  She looked up to see Gary standing in the doorway to her office, watching her. Her heart did a quick double beat. She wasn’t quite used to the feeling that rushed through her when she saw him.

  Her husband. She glanced down at the ring on her finger. They’d been married less than twenty-four hours. Who knew that all this storm preparation would be how they’d spend their first day as husband and wife?

  “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Not long. Just watching… my wife.” His eyes twinkled and his mouth curved into a smile. “My wife. I like the sound of that.”

  The heat of a blush crept across her face. “Oh, go on.”

  He entered the room. “So, where do you want me next? I thought I could get the rest of the shutters up on the beachside of the inn. Jay said he’d help after he gets things settled in the kitchen.”

  “That would be great.”

  “Then I’ll put shutters on The Nest.”

  Lillian smiled. The Nest, her private area of the inn where she and her niece, Sara, had lived. Until Sara had married and moved out, and now Gary had moved in as of last night.

  “Leave the one off the kitchen window for now. It’s quick and easy to put up, and I like some light coming in. And we’ll pull the folding shutter across the doors to the deck when the storm gets closer, though I have that one hurricane door I put in last year when I needed to replace a slider, so we’ll still be able to see out there, too.”

  “Sure thing.” Gary shook his head. “Who knew it was so much work to protect against a hurricane that might not even come very close?”

  “It’s the unpredictability of the storms that gets us. We’ve pretty much perfected the whole getting-ready-for-a-storm routine.” She shrugged. “And we always hope it passes around us and all the preparations were for nothing.”

  “Better to be too prepared than not ready.”

  “The guests have been notified and most are packing up to leave. I’ve sent emails out to guests who were scheduled to arrive later this week and next, explaining the forecast, and offering refunds or to rebook for a later date. I’m having the front desk person make calls to all incoming guests, too. There’s not an evacuation order, but we can’t handle an inn full of guests if the electricity goes out. I always err on the side of safety when a storm is predicted to be this strong.”

  “I don’t know how you juggle all this, but you’re doing a great job. I’m impressed.”

  Her heart swelled at the compliment. Gary walked over and kissed her forehead, just a simple gesture between a married couple, but one that meant the world to her. Her heart fluttered again. How did I get so lucky? She hoped he always made her feel this way.

&nbs
p; Gary turned to leave. “I’m going to get back to work. Let me know if you need me for anything.”

  “Thank you, again, for delaying the honeymoon so I could stay and get the inn ready.”

  “Don’t you know by now that I’d do anything for you?” He gave her a quick smile and disappeared out the door.

  Her heart did that little flip yet again. She’d married a very good man.

  Zoe Birch headed to the community center to help her uncle, Noah. He ran the center and was busy getting it ready for the storm. If the storm got stronger or was predicted to come closer, the community center would be used as a place where people could go to ride things out.

  The center had been built to strict standards to—technically—sustain the high winds of strong hurricanes. Though luckily it hadn’t ever been fully tested. But people in older homes on the island would often come and wait out the storm at the center, whether in an effort to remain safer or for the companionship, Zoe was never sure.

  She hurried down the sidewalk, waving at a few people putting up shutters. The grocery store was packed with people stocking up. She remembered the drill from growing up on the island. Bottled water, batteries, candles, food that didn’t need to be cooked in case the electricity went out.

  They’d had a few fairly big storms come through in the years she’d lived here, but luckily none had done much damage to the town or their home. Though one time a storm had taken out the electricity to the whole island. It was out eight long days in the suffocating heat of late August. She remembered every detail of that storm. Noah had taken her to the beach to swim each day in an effort to beat the heat, but by the time they walked back to their house, they’d be sweltering again. She hoped the electricity stayed on this time. She wasn’t anxious to repeat the eight-day outage.

  It was strange to think that just yesterday she’d been celebrating Lillian and Gary’s wedding. And it had been wonderful. A beautiful ceremony and a fun reception in spite of the threat of the storm this week.

  She’d been sorry to see Gary’s son, Mason, leave to head back to his home in Seattle this morning, but it was the sensible decision to get out of town before the storm hit. She’d thoroughly enjoyed her outings with Mason this past week and their time together at the wedding. She smiled, recalling how they’d danced the night away with Mason holding her close. She also vividly remembered the kiss he’d given her before he’d left town this morning.

  She pushed the thoughts away as she hurried down the sidewalk to the center. She’d keep busy helping Noah get the center ready. That was better than feeling sorry for herself that Mason was gone. She didn’t even know if she’d ever see him again unless they both just happened to be back on the island at the same time.

  Just her luck. Fall for a man who lived a six-hour flight away from her.

  She pushed into the center and went to find Noah. She found him in the back storage room, dragging out the hurricane shutters.

  “I’ve come to help.” She walked over to him.

  “Don’t you think you should head back home?” Noah’s forehead creased in a frown.

  “The roads are already jammed with people leaving the area. I thought I’d stay here. Especially since the storm is predicted to hit north of here. It’s probably safer here than up north.”

  Noah nodded. “You’re probably right. I hate to think of you spending half the day stuck in traffic on a trip that usually takes a couple hours at most.”

  “Well, I’ve come to help. The shutters are numbered, right? Start at the front corner?”

  “You act like you’ve done this a time or two.” He grinned. “You get started on those, and I’m going to drag more tables and chairs out to the main room. Need to check on the bottled water supply here, too. Though, people are pretty good about bringing water and food with them when they come.”

  “Hand me the drill with the wing nut screwer-on-thingie attachment. I’m not screwing those suckers on by hand.”

  He smiled at her description and handed her the drill. She grabbed the next shutter and went outside. The clear blue sky and white clouds mocked all the townspeople scurrying around with preparations.

  She put up the first shutter, then another. The heat of the day weighed down on her as she struggled to put each shutter on. She shoved damp wisps of hair back from her face, still fighting with a particularly obstinate shutter.

  “Hey, you.”

  She whirled around at the sound of the familiar voice.

  Mason. Her pulse raced and delight bubbled through her.

  “Mason. What are you doing here? You just left.”

  He helped her adjust a shutter into place and held it up for her. “About that. I decided I should really stay here and help Lillian and Dad with the inn. They’ll be short-handed and there’s so much work to be done to close it up. I think I’m needed here more than back home in the boardroom.” He tossed her that half-smile of his and his one dimple deepened.

  “I’m sure they can use your help.” And yet, he was here with her, not at the inn.

  “When I got to the inn, Lillian sent me over here to help with the community center. She said if it gets worse, the center will house a lot of the townspeople.”

  “Yes… I… well…” She sounded like a fool. Pull it together. “Noah will be glad for the help.”

  “Good.”

  He’d changed from his usual attire of dress slacks and collared shirt into shorts and a t-shirt. The shirt stretched across his chest and tapered down to his waist. He’d finished his outfit with sturdy looking sandals. She realized she’d been staring at him, and he tossed her yet another lazy grin.

  That grin was her downfall.

  She tried to still her pounding heart as he held the shutter and she used the drill to screw on a wing nut holding the shutter in place, then another one.

  They fell into a routine and worked side by side for hours putting up the shutters until she swore she couldn’t raise her arms again.

  Noah came around to the far side of the community center. She and Mason had gotten shutters up on all but the front.

  “Mason, what are you doing here?” Noah reached out a hand.

  Mason wiped his hand on his shorts, then reached out and shook Noah’s hand. “Decided to come back and help. It seemed silly and selfish to just dodge out of town with the storm coming and work needing to be done. I knew Lillian could use help, but she sent me over here. Said you might have a lot of people here if the storm got bad and she wanted to make sure it was ready.”

  “Typical Lil, always worrying about others.” Noah looked down the side of the building. “I was wondering how Zoe had gotten so many shutters up. Appreciate your help, Mason.” Noah turned to her. “You look tired. And I was thinking. You should move out of the inn and back to our house.”

  Since Noah and Lillian’s niece, Sara, were newlyweds, she’d been staying at Charming Inn this week instead of with her uncle. She’d wanted to give them their privacy.

  Okay, and she’d enjoyed staying at the inn where Mason was staying. That, too.

  “You know, Uncle Noah, I think I’ll just stay at my room in the inn. I can help out Lillian that way. But I’ll come back to the center to help you too.” And Mason would be staying at the inn again…

  Noah frowned. “I’d feel better if you came back home.”

  “Uncle Noah, I’ll be fine. And I can help at the inn.”

  “I suppose so.” Noah looked from her to Mason and back to her, then a brief smile crossed his lips. “Okay, but why don’t you two call it a day? We can finish up the shutters tomorrow. Go get cleaned up and something to eat. I’m going to track down Sara.”

  “She was at the inn helping Lillian earlier,” Mason chimed in as he handed the drill to Noah and turned to her. “Come on. Let’s go back to the inn.”

  And suddenly she was walking down the sidewalk with Mason… something she’d never imagined would be happening when he’d said goodbye to her this morning.

  An
d when he had kissed her this morning.

  A kiss she swore she could still feel on her lips.

  Chapter 2

  Robin appreciated the help of her best friends, Sara and Charlotte, as they dragged beach chairs and umbrellas in from the beach at the inn and put them into storage. The three friends talked and laughed as they helped each other. Everyone pitched in when a storm was coming.

  They finally finished and went to the deck at The Nest, exhausted, and sat and sipped some sweet tea.

  Robin kicked off her sandals and propped her feet up on a lower railing. “That was a long day.” This was the first big storm to head their direction—or kind of their direction—since she’d agreed to become a manager of the inn with Lillian. She really should keep chipping away at the to-do list, but she just needed a quick five-minute break.

  Charlotte leaned back and propped up her feet, too. “I don’t care if I ever see another beach chair.”

  Sara laughed. “But after the storm, all those chairs and umbrellas will need to go back out.”

  “I guess so, won’t they? We must have made a million trips across the beach.” Charlotte took a sip of her tea. “And I will come back and help then. But for now, I’m just going to rest for a few minutes, then I’ll head to the marina and check on Ben. Last I heard he was busy securing boats as best they could. And people were dropping off their boats for storage there on the lot, too.”