Page 4 of Best Laid Plans (Rock Harbor #1)

CHAPTER THREE

ELLE

E lle didn’t bother locking the door when she left the apartment early the next morning.

If someone broke in and scared Cam away, it would at least solve one of her problems. Or, more likely, he’d get into his third fight in twenty-four hours, and the problem of having a roommate would solve itself.

She’d come home to Rock Harbor to fix her life, but all she’d done last night was add another mess to deal with.

A broad, towering mess with unbelievably striking green eyes that had made Elle feel more than a little exposed when Cam had leveled them in her direction.

Maybe that’s why, in spite of how ridiculous she must have looked, she hadn’t managed to take the blanket off until Cam had safely shut the door to Wyatt’s room.

She tried to shake the memories of last night away as she walked down the steps, touching the sun-bleached red brick that made up the two-story building, just like she’d done since she was little.

When she hit the bottom step, she put her earbuds in and turned on a playlist with music that was at least a few years out of style.

Her parents wouldn’t be at the restaurant for another few hours, but still, she didn’t dawdle, setting out as soon as she’d stretched for a few minutes.

The morning was still cool enough that she could run without wanting to die, and it didn’t take long before she was on the main road that traveled through Rock Harbor.

And which led her as far away as possible from Cam Devers.

The streets felt familiar, even though this was the longest she’d spent in town since she’d been in college and home for summer vacation. Whenever she’d come back after graduating, there was always a big project at work or studying that she’d needed to do for her MBA.

She hit her stride at the same time clusters of buildings came into view, Rock Harbor a quintessential small town on the New England coast that oozed charm. Tourists flocked here throughout the summer and fall, and there were already a few dozen people out and about at the ungodly early hour.

But when the clock had struck seven a.m., and it was clear that she wasn’t going to fall back asleep, she decided to put her frustration to good use and go for her first run in recent memory.

Only she didn’t settle into a rhythm and focus on her breathing. Or enjoy the salty air enveloping her senses. No. Instead, she continued to fixate on her most pressing problem at hand.

What the hell was Cam even doing here? It was a question she doubted she’d get an answer to, given where they’d left things last night.

She knew that he and Wyatt had stayed close in adulthood, but she hadn’t been aware of their ‘mi casa es su casa’ policy until the literal worst possible moment.

And what was with those bruises?

Last Elle had heard, Cam was a successful chef in Boston, not that she’d had the time or the money to visit his restaurant.

Maybe he’d gotten himself into trouble. Gambling or drugs, probably.

The service world was rife with issues, if you believed pop culture exposés.

And Cam had never exactly been a ‘staying on the right side of the tracks’ kind of guy.

What was even weirder is that he’d just won some major cooking show, as Wyatt had excitedly texted her about when it had happened last week. Cam’s life should be on the upswing, but here he was, broody and bruised, like no time had passed at all.

When Elle had been younger, she’d found that whole thing sort of attractive. She could at least admit that. He was four years older than her, dreamy and mysterious in a way that a thirteen-year-old girl would find more appealing than a no-limit shopping trip to the mall.

And even if Wyatt would get annoyed that she’d always wanted to tag along with them, Cam hadn’t seemed to mind. He’d always given her a soft smile and looped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her along with them.

That was, decidedly, not the same Cam that she had dealt with last night.

She pushed that thought away as she stopped at one of the few lights in the downtown area to wait for the walk sign. She wasn’t going to give him credit for something he’d done at least fifteen years ago, like it made up for him acting like a complete oaf after he’d terrified her half to death.

Waiting for the light, she spotted a new–at least to her–coffee shop in town. And even though she considered stopping, she was only about a half-mile into her run. Maybe on the way back, as a reward for at least going back-and-forth on the downtown drag.

The town of Rock Harbor covered about fifteen miles geographically, with homes spread along the rocky coast that sold for well into the millions.

Living downtown, which was walkable and looked like a Hallmark movie set, also cost more than Elle could afford.

Not that she could actually afford anything right now.

Or that she was looking to move back home .

She took in another deep inhale of salty air, pushing her already tired muscles for the last five minutes until she reached the far end of the downtown, which was made up of a mile-long strip that was crowded with antique stores and art galleries, small restaurants tucked in between.

If Elle hadn’t grown up here, she’d probably love Rock Harbor a lot more.

But to her, it was a town cleaved right down the middle, at least economically.

There were people like her parents, who just managed to get by running businesses.

Then minutes up the rocky shoreline coast were families who kept their second homes here, who made more in a week than Elle would have seen in a year if she’d stayed and gotten a job.

So Elle hadn’t wanted to be poor for the rest of her life. That wasn’t a crime. But the way Cam had looked at her last night… like she didn’t belong here. In her childhood home, for fuck’s sake.

And just like that, the heat ignited in her veins again, and she let it propel her faster. The sidewalk was getting busier now, and she moved onto the street to keep up the pace. It felt good. Her anger felt good.

Stupid Cam Devers. He didn’t know anything about her, even if he looked at her like he did.

He didn’t know that her last boyfriend had cheated on her.

Or that she’d just gotten fired from her job, most likely so they didn’t have to pay the student loans they’d promised to help her with once she’d gotten that degree.

And oh, that on the same day she got fired, her roommate had let her know that she was ‘like really, really sorry to spring it on her’ but that her boyfriend was moving in and they’d like the apartment to themselves.

She pushed harder, the adrenaline coursing through her. Cam Devers didn’t know a single thing about her. Presumptive ass.

It was on the last stretch of downtown when it happened. Elle couldn’t say, for sure, that the car had hit her. Honestly, given how she smacked into the side of the older model SUV, it seemed like… she hit the car?

The air rushed out of her lungs as she toppled backwards, her ass painfully hitting the gravel as she braced her arms so she didn’t fall completely back on the ground.

She sat, stunned, as the vehicle door opened. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

Elle took a few beats, making sure that she was, in fact, okay.

Nothing felt broken, even if her left wrist was a little sore from where she’d come down on it.

And she knew that she’d have to take a pair of tweezers to her gravel-filled hands later to make sure that the smaller pieces didn’t stay embedded.

Mostly, she was embarrassed, her exertion covering up the flush on her cheeks as she put her hand over her eyes and looked up toward the sun.

A blonde ponytail came into view, with eyebrows a few shades darker furrowed in concern. Holy shit. She should have known that coming home was going to be a blast from the past, but the hits–literally and figuratively–just kept coming.

“Becca?” A strange rush of nostalgia and homesickness flooded through her body at saying Becca’s name again.

Becca Watts had been her best friend throughout her childhood, and they’d always had plans to move to Boston together, after they had both finished college.

Life hadn’t worked out like they’d planned though, Becca’s detour coming far sooner than either of them had expected.

In high school, Becca had worked at The Rock Harbor Inn.

Elle realized, in this moment, it’s also where she was currently sprawled out.

After she’d gotten her first car, she’d pick Becca up most nights after Becca’s cleaning shift at the inn, though she’d never got quite as up close and personal with the parking lot.

“Elle.” Becca’s voice was soft and warm and made that strange ache in Elle’s chest split open again .

After pulling herself up, which took more effort than Elle wanted to admit, she brushed her palms together to wipe off the stray gravel.

“It’s good to see you, Becca,” Elle said, meaning it in a way she hadn’t been expecting. “How are you doing?”

“Well, besides possibly just hitting someone with my car, things are going good,” she said, her dimpled smile still the same one she’d had since their youth.

“What are you…”

“I’m the General Manager now,” Becca said, pointing back to the inn. “Zoe and I live on-site. I was just heading out to drop her at my parents for the day.”

It was then that Elle noticed the car seat in the second row of seats, a curious, dark-haired child peering out the window.

“Wow.” The air rushed out of Elle’s lungs. “She’s gotten so big.”

“She just turned five a couple of months ago.” Becca beamed with the kind of love in her eyes that Elle didn’t know if she’d ever felt for anything.

“In July.” Elle knew Zoe’s birthday. It had only been in the last few years, once their communication had tapered off to the point that it couldn’t qualify as communication anymore, that she’d stopped sending birthday cards.