From This Moment On: Heartwarming Contemporary Romance (Windswept Bay Book 1) by Debra Clopton

somewhere.”
    Cali stood and smiled. “Hey,” she said, barely above a whisper. “You are alive.”
    “I am. Now, about that food?”
    “She’ll go.” Jillian hitched a brow at her.
    “Sure I will. Of course.” She glanced at her watch. “I only have an hour. I have a meeting with a wedding party.”
    Jillian frowned and glanced down at her jeans that were smudged with their usual dirt. “I’m not exactly dressed for a meeting like that or I’d take it over for you.”
    “I can eat a lot in an hour.”
    Cali laughed. “Okay then, so let’s go feed you, you painting machine. I just hope one of your fans don’t knock me over to get a selfie with you.”
    “It’ll be fine. I’m not that memorable when I’m not standing in front of one of my murals with a paintbrush in my hand.”
    “Yeah, tell that to coffee girl. She’d know you anywhere.”
    Turned out, Cali was right. They ended up at a beachside restaurant, eating between him taking photos with dozens of people who’d watched him paint the lobby mural.
    When they finally made it out of the patio porch she reluctantly headed back to her office. She’d enjoyed watching Grant interact with those who admired him. She admired him too, and knew that she’d be distracted for the rest of the afternoon with him on her mind.
     
    Grant watched her leave. He was in the deep end of the pool—he’d almost kissed her two days ago when she’d been crying on his balcony. He’d come fully awake in the shower earlier and everything had flooded back. He’d been undone by the strong emotions when he found her crying. It had broken his heart.
    She’d been crying silently, alone, and he was determined to find out why. How bad had her divorce been? Did she still care for the guy? That didn’t ring true from what little Cam had said and what she’d said so far. So why?
    Had he done something to her? The picture of her had triggered something…why?
    The desire to wipe the tears from her eyes and fill them with joy was overwhelming. He wanted to see that carefree woman who jumped into her Jeep that first day and tore out of the parking lot. The one who’d looked at him with a gleam of challenge in her eyes that he wasn’t even sure she’d known was there. And again, he wondered why. Was it something to do with the divorce?
    If so, he planned to find out.
     

Chapter Ten
    He called her that night while he sat on the beach, watching the waves roll in. He felt edgy and alone and he just wanted to hear her voice.
    “Hey, it’s me,” he said, when she answered.
    “Hi. Is everything all right?”
    That was a loaded question he decided to sidestep. “I’m going to pick up supplies in the morning. Can you come with me? And mark some time off on your schedule?”
    She hesitated. “Of course,” she said at last. “I hope you had a good afternoon.”
    “I did. I’ll show you tomorrow. Sleep good.”
    “You too.”
    Short and sweet—that was all he trusted himself with at the moment. But he had a date.
    And hopefully by morning he’d have his head screwed on a little straighter.
    Boy, that was a joke , he thought the next morning. One look at her in her sundress and barely there flip-flops and any progress he’d made went out the window. But he had a lot to show her and he focused on that and not how pretty her legs looked in that soft yellow dress.
    He hadn’t told her last night how good an afternoon he’d had but it had been good.
    “Where are you going?” she asked when they reached the parking lot and she headed toward her Jeep and he went in the opposite direction.
    He grinned. “I have wheels today. I decided relying solely on the kindness of others while I was here wasn’t fitting me, so Horace took me to see his friend Charlie, who owns Charlie’s Used Cars and Rentals, and I bought a Jeep of my own.”
    “You did not.” She gasped.
    He laughed at her disbelief. “I did. And why do you look so shocked?”
    “Charlie’s is a rent-a-wreck