Piper had butterflies in her stomach. Good ones. She was going out of town today with her boyfriend. It didn’t matter if she was a little suspicious of the circumstances. Nor did it matter that, by agreeing to be his girlfriend and traveling together, she was sinking deeper into a relationship. One that might not […]
They pulled into Grays Harbor that evening. Brendan had planned to be back earlier, but Piper had fallen asleep on his chest, and a bulldozer couldn’t have moved him. There she went again, changing his plans. Taking a red pen to his routines. As he parked his truck in front of No Name and glanced
Homey sounds came from somewhere. Drawers opening and thudding softly, bare feet on a floor, the sputtering of a coffee maker. Piper cracked an eye open but didn’t move. She couldn’t, because she’d lose the sweet spot of warmth and fluffy bedclothes and the scent of Brendan. Best sleep of her life, hands down. She’d
Brendan leaned against the wall of Blow the Man Down, arms crossed, a quiet smile on his face as he watched Piper weave her magic over everyone in her vicinity. She was shit-faced—and adorable. Everyone who spoke to Piper got her undivided attention and walked away like she’d just imparted the secrets of the universe.
Piper dragged herself up the steps to the apartment and unlocked the door. Out of concern for her growling stomach, she’d stopped for coffee and breakfast on the ride home, making it close to noon. She’d already texted Hannah to let her know Brendan and the crew were fine, then promptly ignored all the follow-up
Piper woke up to her phone ringing. She blinked at the device, then at her surroundings. White walls, navy bedspread, beige chair angled in the corner by a lamp. No storm sounds. Was it over? The world was almost eerily quiet around her, save the jangling notes of her ringtone, but she ignored the winding
The storm started thirteen days later. Piper had fallen into a daily routine by then. Run along the harbor just after sunrise. Walk Abe to the maritime museum in the morning, visit Opal on her way home, often with Hannah in tow. Work on the bar until dinnertime, then collapse. They’d made a ton of
Piper watched Brendan take a seat on the opposite side of the table and frowned. The boat captain didn’t appear to be easily seduced. When she’d picked this dress out, she hadn’t even expected them to make it through the front door, but here they were, sitting in his charmingly masculine dining room, preparing to
Brendan adjusted the silverware on his dining room table, trying to remember the last time he’d had reason to use more than one set. If Fox or some of the crew came over, they ate with their hands or plastic forks. Piper would be used to better, but that couldn’t be helped. Instead of dipping
Deciding to make over the bar and actually doing it were two very different things. The sisters quickly decided there was no way to salvage the floor in the bar. But thanks to an abundance of foot-sized holes in the hardwood, they could see the concrete beneath, and thus, their industrial-meets-nautical-chic vision was born. Ripping
Brendan watched through his binoculars as Westport formed, reassuring and familiar, on the horizon. His love for the ocean always made returning home bittersweet. There was nowhere he was more at ease than the wheelhouse, the engine humming under his feet. A radio within reach so he could give orders. His certainty that those commands
Obviously they visited the winery first. Brendan was right about Piper loving the selfie spot—damn him—a jewel- toned wall painted to look like stained glass, vines crawling up the sides and wrapping around a neon VINO sign. Essentially an altar at which to worship the social media gods. Hannah was not a drinker. Thanks to
Brendan sat in the wheelhouse of the Della Ray stabbing at the screen of his phone. He should have been helping the crew load groceries and the ice they would need to keep the fish fresh in the hold. But they’d be pushing off in ten minutes, and he needed to take advantage of the
Piper was stuck in a nightmare in which giant mice with twitchy little noses chased her through a maze while she wielded a flaming frying pan. So when she heard the knock on the door the following morning, her waking thought was The mouse king has come for me. She pinwheeled into a sitting position
Brendan went through the motions of looking over the chalkboard menu at the Red Buoy, even though he already knew damn well he’d be ordering the fish and chips. Every Monday night, he met Fox at the small Westport restaurant. An institution that had been standing since their grandfathers worked the fishing boats. Brendan had
Later that night, Piper stared down at the package of ground beef and tried to gather the courage to touch it with her bare hands. “I can’t believe meat looks like brains before it’s been cooked. Does everyone know about this?” Hannah came up behind her sister, propping her chin on Piper’s shoulder. “You don’t
After the groceries had been purchased and organized in the mini-fridge, the Bellinger sisters decided to go exploring—and escape the grunge of the upstairs apartment. Now Piper sat perched on the wooden railing overlooking the harbor, head tilted to allow the early afternoon breeze to lift the hair from her neck, sunshine painting her cheek.
Brendan locked the door of his house and double-checked his watch. Eight fifteen, on the dot. As was a captain’s habit, he took a moment to judge the sky, the temperature, and the fog density. Smelled like the sun would burn the mist off by ten o’clock, keeping the early August heat minimal until he
Who the fuck. Even. Was this douche? Piper forced her chin up and followed the beast to the back of the bar—the bar which was essentially the size of her closet back in Bel-Air—and up a narrow staircase, Hannah in tow. God, he was freakishly big. Just to make it up the stairs, he had
Brendan Taggart was the first Westport resident to spot the women. He heard a car door slam out by the curb and slowly turned on the barrel that passed as a seat in No Name. His bottle of beer paused halfway to his mouth, the loud storytelling and music filling the bar fading away. Through
