Forever on the Bay

Book 6: Off Season

by Lee Tobin McClain

Genres: Small Town & Rural; Clean & Wholesome Romance

Synopsis

"Lee Tobin McClain dazzles with unforgettable characters, fabulous small-town settings and a big dose of heart." —Susan Mallery, New York Times bestselling author

Safe harbor and new beginnings await on the Chesapeake Bay…

Pleasant Shores cop Evan Stone has worked hard to become a man of his word, overcoming the alcoholism that sent him down the wrong path in his youth. So when his late best friend’s sister asks for his help, he doesn’t hesitate. He promised he’d watch out for Cassie, and the cottage next to his will be a perfect short-term refuge for her and her dog. The other half of that promise—to stay away from Cassie romantically—is harder to keep. 

Sheltered for years because of a childhood illness, Cassie is ready to reach for what she wants. And despite her family’s warnings and her own fears, Cassie’s heart wants Evan. As the return of his estranged son puts his sobriety to the test, Cassie and Evan are drawn together, finding strength through what they’ve each weathered. She knows Evan would risk anything to protect her, but are they willing to risk the price of loving, now and forever?

The Off Season

Book 1: Cottage at the Beach
Book 2: Reunion at the Shore
Book 3: Christmas on the Coast
Book 4: Home to the Harbor
Book 5: First Kiss at Christmas
Book 6: Forever on the Bay
Book 7: Second Chance on the Chesapeake
Book 8: Secrets of Summer

Release date: April 26, 2022

Publisher: HQN Books

Print pages: 384

Sample

e, stood and strode out into the chill of an early-March night. Cassandra Thomas, his late best friend’s younger sister, never, but never, asked for help. Even though she had more reason than most people to do so.

What’s wrong, can you talk? he texted back and then, too impatient to wait for an answer, tapped the audio call button.

She answered immediately. “I’m okay. I’m sorry to bother you.” Her voice sounded fine, just a little...funny.

His tight shoulders relaxed some, and he leaned against the bar’s outside wall. “What’s going on?”

“I’m worried about Mom.”

“She’s gotten worse?” Cassie’s mother struggled with anxiety and depression, and it had gotten more acute since the death of her only son, Cassie’s brother.

Cassie sighed into the phone. “Not exactly. It’s just, since I didn’t get this artist-in-residence job I applied for, she’s cancelling her trip. Do you think you could talk to her, reassure her that I’ll be safe staying here in Minestown? She really needs to get away, and she might listen to you.”

“Are you safe there?” Cassie had lived with her brother after college, in an apartment in a half-gentrified area of the city. After he’d been killed four months ago, she’d moved back in to her mother’s home on the outskirts of town so they could help each other cope. Minestown was just two hours away from Pleasant Shores, over the border in Pennsylvania, but the depressed community was worlds away from the idyllic beach town Evan now called home.

“Yes. Yes, I think I’m safe.”

“You don’t sound sure.” Cassie was nine years younger than Evan was, but he’d grown up next door. Since Josh was his best friend, Evan had spent a lot of time at their house, and he could recognize the doubt in Cassie’s voice.

“No, I know I’ll be fine here. And I get it, why Mom’s so anxious. She’s afraid for me. She only has one child left. But she’s not getting better sitting around thinking about what happened.”

“Any signs of the guy who...?” He trailed off, not wanting to say it.

“Noooo...” Her voice was uncertain. There was a pause. “No,” she said more firmly. “I mean, only in my nightmares.”

His gut clenched. “I’m sorry, Cassie.”

“I know you are.” Her voice was husky now. “We all are. And Mom really needs this trip, but I made the mistake of telling her I thought I spotted the, um, the intruder, once, and—”

“You spotted him?” Evan’s hand went sweaty on the phone. “Where?”

“I thought I spotted him at a grocery store. I’m pretty sure, now, I was wrong. But Mom’s the queen of all worriers, and she’s getting worse.”

Evan blew out a breath. The last time he’d seen Cassie and her mother had been at Josh’s funeral. Her mom had barely been able to stand, even with her live-in boyfriend on one side, and Cassie, looking exhausted herself, on the other.

“Did you tell the police you thought you spotted him?”

She made a disgusted noise. “No.”

“Why not?”

“They’ve basically stopped working on the case. Whenever we call, they just pass us off to victim services.”

The idea that no one was trying to find the thug who’d created this misery made a slow, angry fire simmer in his gut, but he’d think about that later. Right now Cassie needed him.

She was twenty-eight, young to him and yet stronger than most women he knew.

“Give Mom a call tomorrow, would you? Not tonight. She’s upset.”

“I’ll talk to her. And...look, what if we could find you a low-cost rental here in Pleasant Shores? It’s safe, and I’m here.” As soon as he said it, he thought of all the reasons it wasn’t a good idea.

“Hmm... Maybe. Josh and I loved it there when we were kids.” She cleared her throat. “It would have to be really cheap, though, and take dogs. And Mom’s just going to be gone six weeks, so I’d need, say, a two-month rental.”

“I’ll ask around.” Really cheap places in a waterfront community were rare, but it was the off-season.

“Thanks. Love you. Bye.” Her voice was a husky whisper that sent an electrical surge down his spine. Which made him feel like a jerk.

Take care of her if anything happens to me, but don’t you dare try to get with her. Josh’s prescient words echoed in Evan’s mind as he pocketed his phone and turned back toward the door of the Gull.

He would call Cassie and Josh’s mom tomorrow, but he doubted he could be convincing. The truth was, he worried about Cassie. He’d figured she was safe, living with her mom and her mom’s burly boyfriend, but if they left her alone in the family home in Minestown, and if she thought she might have spotted the intruder who’d killed her brother...

Cassie’s mom had helped Evan out a lot over the years, before she’d started spiraling into anxiety and depression, and he cared about her. She needed to get away from the site of all her heartache. Cassie probably did, too, for that matter. Evan frowned, thinking. He’d check online tomorrow, see if there was anything vacant near him, cheap and safe. A tall order.

Evan’s friend William greeted him when he returned to the table. “You left in a hurry. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. An old friend’s sister, having some trouble.” Evan sat, but grabbed his coat. “I should take off.”

“Want a beer first?” It was a guy Evan didn’t know well who’d stopped by the table. He held up a pitcher and a glass.

Evan’s friends turned as one and glared at the newcomer.

“What?” the guy asked.

“It’s fine. Chill,” Evan said to his friends. He was surprised to feel a slight tug toward the beer, more of a dryness in his throat that only alcohol would fix, but it was nothing unmanageable. He gestured at the table. “I’ll finish my soda, but then I have to go. Early shift tomorrow.” And a cop in a small town couldn’t be late to work.

He sat down and the conversation got general, someone continuing a story he’d started, the rest listening and laughing.

“So your friend’s sister is having trouble?” William asked, scooting his chair back away from the others.

“Yeah. Trying to find her a new place to stay.” Evan debated whether to say more, but only for a minute. In the short time he’d known William, he’d come to trust him as much as he’d trust any man. “She needs to get away somewhere safe, make a fresh start, to get over the fact that her brother, my friend, was killed.” He paused, took a drink of soda and forced the memories and the regrets out of his mind. They’d been childhood best friends, and back then Josh had basically saved him. Had tried to save him again when they were older, but Evan had pushed him away and they’d ended up running in different directions. Though they’d reconnected in the past year, they’d never regained their childhood closeness. And now Josh was gone. Evan thought a lot about all the lost opportunities.

“Killed like in an accident, or murdered?” William could ask the question because he was familiar with violence, had lost a daughter to it. He understood that it was okay to bring up a bad experience, because something like that never really left your mind for long.

“Murdered. Shot.”

“Sorry, man.” They were both silent for a couple of minutes. “Are there safety issues for her? The sister, I mean.”

“I don’t know. Her mom thinks there are.” Add the unsolved murder of her brother onto Cassie’s health issues, and Evan totally understood the worries.

Take care of her if anything happens to me.

The noise at the table had risen. One of the guys was leaning in, telling a joke that had the others roaring.

“You know,” William said to Evan, “the guy at Victory Cottage is about to move out, and the person Mary had planned to have there next can’t come.”

“Yeah?” The Victory Cottage program was for victims of violent crime and their families. They came to stay for three months, got counseling, volunteered in the community and generally found healing. William had been a participant and was solid now.

Evan was happy for William, but why had he brought up Victory Cottage when they were talking about Cassie? And then he got it. “You think Cassie could be a candidate for Victory Cottage?”

“Might be. She’s a victim, right?”

“Her brother was killed, so...yeah, she is.”

“And now that you’re living next door, it’s more secure. If she is at any risk, or feels herself to be, she’d have some protection.” Having a local cop rent the place next to Victory Cottage was a recent addition to the program, and a smart one, after the cottage had been broken into by a lowlife from a resident’s past. Evan had been glad to oblige, since he was the only single guy on the force. He kept an eye on the place, his cruiser parked in the driveway serving as a deterrent to criminals and a reassurance to residents.

Evan thought about what it would be like to bring Cassie to Pleasant Shores. She already loved it here, based on a couple of childhood visits. It was safe and the location was beautiful, right on the shores of the Chesapeake. It was small and easy to navigate, important since Cassie still struggled with fatigue and other physical issues.

The town wasn’t pretentious, but a real fishing village full of ordinary people for most of the year. And sure, the tourists would descend in the summer, liven things up, but it never got tacky-crazy like some of the beach towns over on the Atlantic shore.

Evan could protect Cassie here. He’d felt neglectful of his promise to do that—no surprise; neglect was his calling card—but he hated that he was letting Josh and Cassie down after all their family had done for him.

Bringing her to Victory Cottage would solve Cassie’s problems and her mother’s, too.

The trouble was, the last few times he’d seen Cassie, before Josh was killed, he’d gotten a feeling. She’d grown up, come out of her shell, turned into an interesting woman. And a very pretty one.

Josh had seen what was going on before Evan realized it, consciously, and had called him on it. “No way. I love ya but I also know ya. You’re not dating Cassie. Ever.” He’d paused, then added, “She’s got way too much potential to get tangled up with someone like you. She’s going places. Don’t derail her.”

Josh had been right, of course, and Evan had promised.

Now Josh was gone, and Cassie needed Evan. There was a solution at hand.

But the idea made Evan uneasy for reasons he couldn’t articulate, even to himself.

---

CASSIE THOMAS SET the last carton on the desk of her childhood bedroom and looked out the window for the tenth time. Where was Evan?

And how many times, back when she was a kid, had she looked out this very window, hoping for something to happen, someone to spring her from her soft, comfortable prison?

Ace, her big apricot-colored labradoodle, jumped his front paws to the windowsill beside her, standing like a person to look out.

“We’re going on an adventure,” she whispered into Ace’s shaggy ear, and he nudged her with his nose as if to say he was excited, too.

She’d longed for independence to chart her own course practically since childhood, but her health, and Mom’s needs and Josh’s protectiveness meant she’d never lived alone. The fact that she was about to do it almost made her giddy. Finally, she was going to get unstuck, spread her wings.

She spun away from the window, straightened the cover on her single bed and put the packing tape and scissors into a neat stack on her desk. She’d replaced her childhood posters with good nature paintings, had brought the neutral comforter and pillow shams from Josh’s house, but the room still felt like it belonged to a kid. She’d packed up her dolls and supplies, but she wondered if her passion for dollmaking—a child’s pursuit, according to most—was what kept her feeling stuck in the past.

After opening her laptop, she double-checked the lists she’d made: routines that kept Mom calm and steady on one, activities that helped her stave off depression on the other. She emailed the list to Donald, Mom’s boyfriend, even though he was here in the house, downstairs, and knew her mom’s routines as well as Cassie did, if not better. You couldn’t be too sure.

She picked up her phone and scrolled. Was there time to call Mom’s therapist and remind him that today was the day Cassie was leaving?

“We can all back out,” Mom said from the doorway, her voice catching.

Cassie turned. “No way. You’re doing that trip, Mom.” She worried about her mother traveling far away from her therapist, but going back to Ireland would fulfill a lifelong dream. Cassie and Donald had strategized about ways to help Mom stop spiraling into darkness, and that was what they’d come up with. The counselor had agreed, and just looking at brochures and websites had gotten Mom more energized than she’d been since Josh’s death.

Now she seemed to be backsliding. “I feel better when I can see you.”

“I know you do.” Cassie crossed the room and reached up to hold Mom’s shoulders and look into her face. “You’re going to have such a good time.” She pulled Mom into a hug, and Ace came over to lean against the pair of them.

“Yes, but I’ll worry about you.” Mom stepped back, her chin quivering.

Cassie forced confidence into her voice. “I’m excited about this Victory Cottage program, and with Evan living next door, you know I’ll be safe. He’s just as protective as...” She trailed off, her throat tightening. “Anyway,” she said, “if you don’t feel ready, it’s not too late to change our plans.” She wanted to go, wanted independence in the worst way, but Mom came first. Cassie might have more physical issues, but Mom was fragile, emotionally and mentally. If Mom couldn’t handle being apart, Cassie was ready to cancel her dreams in order to stay with her.

Mom stepped back, drew herself up and patted Cassie’s shoulder. “No. You’ve sacrificed enough. I know you’ll be safe. And it’ll be good for you to get away, too.” She straightened her shoulders. “We can do this.”

A car door slammed outside. Ace barked, and Cassie moved back to the window. There was Evan, climbing out of the driver’s side of a pickup truck and going around to the passenger side.

Cassie fanned herself with the brochure from Victory Cottage. Watching Evan move was always a pleasure.

He opened the door and helped a slender, white-haired woman climb out. Who was that?

Cassie’s friends had always thought Evan was hot. Short hair befitting a veteran and cop, broad shoulders, his weathered face reminding her that he was thirty-seven—Josh’s age—and had already lived a life full of action and ups and downs.

Mom came over and stood at her side. “He’s a good man in a lot of ways,” she said out of nowhere. “But he’s not for you. Dating-wise, I mean. You know that.”

“Of course.” She glanced over at her mother, puzzled. Why would Mom feel the need to tell her that? Evan was Josh’s friend, not hers. He thought of her as Josh’s annoying little sister, the one with all the health problems. Right now he was being kind, because she’d asked for help. But once she got on her feet again, once the three-month Victory Cottage program was over, their relationship would go back to the occasional text or phone call.

The doorbell rang, and Cassie turned to go downstairs, but Mom put a hand on her arm. “I mean it,” she said. “Evan’s a recovering alcoholic, and kids of alcoholics can get drawn into the same patterns. You need to be cautious.”

“I’m not going to fall for Evan Stone.”

Mom put a shaky hand to her throat. “That’s what I said about your father.”

“I’m not in the market for romance,” Cassie amended. Her childhood illness had pushed her toward being quiet and quirky, not to mention her nonsexy aches and pains and frequent need to rest. Men weren’t interested. Which was a good thing, because relationships meant dependence. Cassie had had enough dependence to last a lifetime.

She had things to do, a business to run.

“Good. You’ll be better off single. And you’ll always have a place with me and Donald.”

“Right.” She and Mom went downstairs, Ace running ahead of them, and there was a flurry of introductions. The white-haired woman turned out to be Mary Rhoades, who’d started the Victory Cottage program, and she somehow herded Mom and Donald into the kitchen so Evan and Cassie could carry her things out to the truck.

“Mom, take Ace,” Cassie said, and Mom called the big dog. He trotted into the kitchen. He’d comfort Mom by his loving presence, help her keep it together.

“That was brilliant, bringing the Victory Cottage woman along,” Cassie said to Evan once they were upstairs.

“I know your mom will like her,” he said. “And she’ll offer a little more reassurance than I could provide. Mary’s great.”

“Thank you so, so much for this. It’s the only way Mom would agree to the trip, and she really needs to go.” She wrapped her arms around Evan in a big hug, just like always.

Just like she’d always hugged Josh.

A heavy feeling settled behind her eyes and made her throat hurt. She’d never feel her brother’s embrace, never hear his ready laugh again.

Evan tightened his arms briefly around her as if he could read her thoughts and then let her go quickly, half pushing her away. “None of that. We’ve got work to do.”

He tested the weight of a carton before letting her carry it, waved away her protest that she could carry more as he picked up three of her actually heavy boxes and started downstairs.

She needed to make sure he didn’t expect to keep her in bubble wrap, even though he had a point regarding her ability to lift and haul heavy boxes. “You know I’m healthy now, right? Stronger all the time. I lift weights at the gym.” She flexed her arm to show her decent biceps.

He raised an eyebrow, one side of his mouth quirking up. “So now you’re Wonder Woman?”

“I could take you,” she said, the words coming out automatically before she could even remember why: she’d used to make that threat to him and Josh, back when she was a little kid trailing after them.

Then, though, it had been “I could take you both.” Now there was only one of the duo to joke around with. That heavy feeling settled behind her eyes again.

Evan must have had the same thought, because his smile slipped away. They walked through the living room and he stopped before a family picture: Mom, Josh and Cassie. “Hard to believe he’s gone.” She saw him swallow hard.

“Yeah.” Her eyes strayed to another picture, pushed to the back. It was a rare whole-family picture taken when Cassie was a baby, before Dad left and Cassie got sick and Mom got depressed and Josh... She swallowed. “We should get on with it.”

As they headed through the house and up the stairs, he kept looking around, and it hit her: he hadn’t been here for years. He had to be remembering all the days he’d spent hanging out with Josh in their living room. They’d been as close as brothers at one time. She wrapped an arm around him as they reached the top of the stairs. “It’s hard, I know.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” He extricated himself, and they grabbed the last load of boxes.

Cassie closed the bedroom door behind her, the quiet click resonating. Despite what Mom had said, she had the feeling she wouldn’t be coming back home, not as the same person, anyway, and not to stay.

She closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, then turned and followed Evan downstairs.

They loaded the last boxes into the truck, and then he looked over at his old house. “Who lives there now?”

“A nice family. They have a couple of young kids.”

“Good.” He laughed, but it sounded forced. “About time your mom had some decent neighbors.”

“Oh, Evan.” His parents had continued to live there until a couple of years ago, when they’d moved south. They’d slowed down their drinking, Mom had told her, because both of them had developed some health problems.

Unfortunately, they’d never been the nurturing types, and that hadn’t changed when they’d sobered up.

Evan was looking over at his old house, his eyes far away, and she figured he was seeing into the past, a difficult childhood where he’d had to fend for himself.

Mom, Donald and Mary came out the front door, Ace pushing his way past them to run to Cassie.

Mary followed the dog and put a hand on Cassie’s arm. “Your people are delightful, and I’ve promised to keep them updated on your well-being, ...