Page 17 of Holiday Wishes and Tentacle Dreams

“Oh, the coastline is teeming with them.” A greedy glint sparked in Dorothea’s eye as she spoke of the cryptids. “I’ve seen a few myself. Still trying to get a decent photograph.”

“You have?” Jake was getting nervous. He’d assumed that Dorothea and the other townies were harmless. But there was a wide chasm between “I watch out for sea monsters as a fun hobby” and “I’ve definitely encountered a mythical creature in person.”

“When I was a teenager, out on my father’s lobster boat. A few times since then. I caught a glimpse of one last Christmas. The sightings tend to happen in the winter.”

Jake swallowed, the delicious taste of blueberry still on his tongue. “Who…what did it look like?”

Dorothea smiled wide, clearly believing she’d hooked an interested audience, and reached out to grab Jake’s hand. “Tentacles, my dear. Lots of tentacles. No one I know has gotten a good look at the main body of one of the things. It’s almost entirely tentacles.”

For a second, Jake flashed back to the dream he’d been having when she knocked on her door. Tentacles. In the dream he hadn’t seen what they were attached to, although he didn’t mind how agile they could be. What if the dream-tentacles went one further and entered his?—

Stop it. He was here with a sweet old lady. He shouldn’t be thinking about being ass-fucked by a tentacle, even if Dorothea was delusional. The dream was just a product of sleeping with the gentle rush of the ocean in his ear. And meeting the beautiful surfer, of course.

“Well, I hope I don’t see any,” Jake said. “That sounds scary.”

“Well, if you do, make sure you let me know.” She squeezed his hand and released it, standing. “If you’re willing to keep an eye out, I’ll stop by with more pie.”

“Oh…sure.” He could pretend to watch for imaginary monsters if Dorothea brought over her very real and very delicious pie. “Happy to.”

“Good. Now excuse me, I have a few more stops to make this morning before I have my shift watching out at McKendrick’s Point.”

“Wait!” Jake stopped her as she reached the door. “Don’t you want to take the rest of your pie with you?”

Dorothea shook her head and waved him off as she exited. “That’s for you, sweetie. Enjoy it.” She was speeding down the walkway before he could say another word.

That had been an insane conversation. Were all the people of Linwood Falls obsessed with cryptids like her? Or just her little society?

The blueberry pie sitting on the counter drew Jake’s eye back. With only two pieces cut from it, there was plenty left, and he hadn’t eaten breakfast. The sweet berries and crunchy crust called to him. No harm in having a second piece.

Cutting himself a slice, he exited the kitchen and settled into the large upholstered chair by the bay window. Several handmade afghans were draped over it, and the chair enveloped him as he sat, filling him with a sense of coziness he could never achieve in the city.

His eyes went to the ocean as the taste of blueberry filled his mouth once more. It was low tide, and there was an enormous expanse of wet sand between the house and the waterline.

Would he see a sea monster? Doubtful. Would he see Doren again? He hoped he would.

Stop. Jake had to be smarter about this. He didn’t know the surfer. For all he knew, Doren was a drifter, and had already moved along to another town, chasing another wave. While Doren had been flirty, that was probably just their personality. Someone like them would never be interested in a chubby loser like Jake.

Besides, he’d just gone through a traumatic breakup. He had to figure out his life before he could even consider hooking up, never mind dating a new person.

Doren had been sexy, though, no question about that. Considering his dream last night, Jake couldn’t deny it.

His eyes were glued to the sea as he ate his pie, images of handsome shirtless surfers and tentacled sea monsters filling his head.

When his phone rang, he nearly jumped out of his skin. It was his grandmother calling, but the clock on the phone showed…3:30? Had he been staring into the ocean for almost five hours?

That was not good at all.

Jake brought the phone to his ear. He’d have to deal with his brain’s faulty circuitry later.

“Hi, sweetheart. How’s the weather up in Maine? It’s fuckin’ freezing here.”

Jake bit back his request that she not swear. She’d been that way his whole life. It had been embarrassing when he was younger, but he wasn’t a kid anymore. He did his share of swearing, and she should be able to, even if she was his grandmother.

“It’s notwarm, that’s for sure.” Jake grabbed an afghan off the arm of the chair and draped it over his bare legs, as if the suggestion was enough to remind him he was cold. “How are you?”

“Typical,” she said, then munched on something for a moment. Chips, maybe? “Men are assholes. You know that. But I didn’t call to talk about my love life being in the shitter. How’s the house? Are you settled in?”

Jake glanced around the living room. Everything was where it had been when he had come through the door the day before. He hadn’t brought much with him. He hadn’t had much to bring after Phil had taken their entire life with him when he’d left.