SECOND TIDE’S THE CHARM
Author: Chandra Blumberg
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781335476999
Format: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Harlequin Trade
Publishing / Canary Street Press
Price $18.99
At first glance, Hope Evans just
landed the perfect job: spending the summer on a shark research boat. Except as
every marine biologist knows, it’s what’s going on beneath the surface that
counts, and Hope’s new position comes with a big catch—the boat belongs to her
ex-boyfriend, Adrian Hollis-Parker. For three years Hope’s been treading water,
staying away from anything that reminds her of their past. It’s time to dive
back into a job that could springboard her career—and maybe offer much-needed
closure.
Since their split, Adrian has
risen to internet fame as a shark expert with the launch of his YouTube channel
to dispel myths and educate viewers about sharks. But success rings hollow
without Hope. Embracing this new career trajectory was a risk, but working in
cramped quarters with the woman he never stopped loving? That has the potential
to backfire in heartbreaking ways.
Side by side, weathering storms of
every kind, they’ll have to navigate the murky waters of past hurts…and hope
it’s not too late to chart a new course…
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Excerpted from SECOND
TIDE’S THE CHARM by Chandra Blumberg. Copyright © 2024 by Chandra Blumberg.
Published by Canary Street Press, an imprint of HarperCollins.
“Hope, I love you.”
“Back at you.” I bare my teeth in my most charming smile.
Zuri’s lips flatten into a line, the same exasperated
expression I often receive from friends and family. “I love you, but that would
be the third one-star rating I’ve had since I hired you.”
“Technically, the first one came when I was still training,
so…”
“Hope,” she repeats my name with the warning tone of a mom
threatening to turn the car around. “You’re fired.”
I’ve never been fired before, and it’s a unique sensation.
Like bungee jumping at a discounted rate. A thrill mixed with a reasonable
amount of panic. Freeing, but also mildly horrifying.
“Fired, fired?” My voice sounds stunned, even to my own
ears. The fact that I didn’t want this job in the first place doesn’t mean I
want it snatched out from under me. Shepherding tourists on paddleboards and
kayaks isn’t where I saw myself at thirty, but helping out Zuri has given me an
excuse to put off coming to grips with the embarrassing truth that I’ve let
heartbreak derail my career. “Or more of a temporary suspension?”
“You really think I can pay you to sit the bench?”
“Fair point.” Surf to Shore is not exactly a corporation.
“But I promise I can do better. Especially if you stop making me wear these
shirts.” I pluck the fabric away from my chest, damp in the muggy June heat.
“They’re an open invitation to—”
“Deliver unsolicited lectures about sharks?”
My mouth drops open, then I shrug. “I mean, yes.”
“Everything is an open invitation for you to educate people
about sharks.” She sighs. “Which isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. That’s why I’m
kicking you out of the nest.”
I squint against the sun reflecting off the brilliant
turquoise of the lake behind her, my sunglasses forgotten in my beach bag as
usual. “Are you the mama bird in this scenario?”
“When am I not?” she asks, and I chuckle, thinking of how
she rounded up the employees this morning and checked to make sure everyone had
a water bottle and snacks. Her smile fades, though. “I honestly don’t know what
I would’ve done without your help after Eric’s accident.” She sniffs, but her
eyes are dry, holding my gaze. “But I’ve found my way. And I refuse to be your
excuse to keep hiding.”
I’m used to being called impulsive and single-minded, but I
am not timid. I’m not hiding from anything. Except my old colleagues, career,
and a certain shark researcher with midnight-dark eyes and a lopsided grin who
broke my heart by letting go.
“I’ve only been here for a month.” My previous job, working
on an invasive species study in northern Michigan, wrapped up in the spring.
Knowing the project was coming to an end, I should’ve had something lined up,
but returning to shark research also means facing my ex-boyfriend. The
possibility of running into him has kept me stalled, procrastinating my job
hunt as if delaying the inevitable will make a difference.
“Long enough to make it clear to everyone, including my
customers”—I flinch at the emphasis—”that you don’t want to be here.”
Shoreline Dunes is one of my favorite places. But while the
lack of sharks in the Great Lakes is a huge draw for some people, for me, it’s
a drawback. I can’t reboot my career if I refuse to leave the safety net of my
hometown.
“It’s embarrassing, how much time I let pass.” The words
scrape their way past a throat gone dry. I drop my head, catching sight of the
turquoise nail polish on my toes, chipped from navigating the rocks at the
water’s edge.
What began as a few months away to help Zuri care for her
young children after the sudden loss of her husband somehow turned into three
years. Somewhere along the way, shark research became entangled with my
feelings for Adrian, and if I can’t manage to separate the two, I’ll remain
stranded.
A moment later, an arm comes around my shoulders. Zuri,
pulling me in for a hug. “Life happens. But we keep going, right?” Her words
are born of experience, picking up the pieces after unimaginable loss, and my
heart lurches for her.
The truth is, I have no qualms about defending my employment
history. My work in the lab gave me worthwhile experience. But applying for
jobs or going back for a PhD means coming to grips with the fact that not only
am I starting over but that my worst fears about love were absolutely founded.
“I was thinking of applying to the Shedd,” I tell her, and
she pulls away, frowning.
You’d work at an aquarium in Chicago? With tourists?” Her
skepticism tells me she’s fully aware of how I view tourists. One star. Would
not recommend.
“Not like I plan to work the ticket counter.” Besides, I
worked at an aquarium for a time, while earning my master’s degree, and unlike
my current—former, I guess—gig working for Zuri, there were no complaints on my
job performance back then.
A warm breeze shifts off the lake, bringing with it the
crisp, earthy scent of freshwater, so different from the briny tang of the
Atlantic. Here, at least, memories of the man I used to love with my whole
heart aren’t everywhere I look, but the call of gulls is enough to transport me
back to a dock at sunrise. Adrian’s calloused palm against mine, our fingers
laced together.
The first time he’d told me caught me by surprise. I love
you. I’d looked up at him, backlit by pink and violet and tangerine hues of
dawn, all broad-shouldered vulnerability, and when he spoke those three words,
my whole world changed.
Before that, I loved how effortless it felt to be near him.
I loved how we fit together, even when we were apart. But that morning, I
realized I loved him. Loved Adrian with a fierceness that defied comprehension.
Even now, my lips part in memory of the kiss that followed
those words, threaded through with want and promise, my fingers flexing at the
phantom touch of his tight curls beneath my fingertips, his touch remembered by
every cell of my body.
But all I want is to forget.
A volleyball lands nearby, splattering my shins with grains
of sand, and the whisps of memory dissolve. I toss it back to the group of
swimsuit-clad beachgoers by the net. “I just thought I’d be over him by now.”
“You’re really going to let a guy keep you away from
sharks?” She grabs one end of a kayak and I stoop to lift the other. It sounds
irrational because it is, even though she knows full-well Adrian isn’t just any
guy. He’s the guy, the one I never expected to find, never went looking for.
The one who showed me a kind of love I didn’t think existed.
My feelings for him defy logic. No person should have that
strong an effect on another. Love isn’t quantifiable, and yet here I am, still
trying to fall out of love with a man I haven’t spoken to in years.
We hoist the kayak onto the rack, the fiberglass hull a
reminder of the moments I spent with Adrian at sea, rushing to catch a glimpse
of my first shark, pointing overboard at the dark shape below, his presence
warm and solid against my shoulder, both of us breathless with excitement.
Memories I can’t seem to leave in the past. “It just feels so daunting to start
over.”
“Why don’t you reach out to some of your old contacts?” Zuri
suggests, like I haven’t thought about that. But thinking is all I seem to do
lately. The lack of action is unlike me. “They might have leads you’re not
seeing online.”
Nothing I haven’t already considered and discarded. “I
barely speak to anyone in the shark community.” Too painful without taking
part. I don’t even have social media anymore to keep tabs on people. “Marissa
is the only one who keeps in touch, and the last time we talked was her
birthday.”
“Reach out. It’s worth a try.”
“Why, so she can tell Adrian I’m desperate?” She’s Adrian’s
cousin, and while our friendship outlasted my relationship with him, I have no
doubts of her ultimate loyalty.
“Aren’t you?” At my glare, she relents. “Is she that kind of
person?”
“No.” Marissa’s not vindictive, or else she wouldn’t have
spoken to me after I stopped dating Adrian. But family comes first, and
distance has weakened our once strong friendship. “At least, I don’t think so,
but—”
“Text her,” Zuri insists. “What have you got to lose?”
Good question. I’ve already lost the love of my life, my
career, and as of five minutes ago, my day job. And I know Zuri won’t let up
until I follow her advice. It’s impossible to bluff with a friend who’s known
me since we both staged a walk-out—or maybe it was a crawl-out?—of tiny tot
ballet class.
I squat by my backpack and dig out my phone, scrolling down
to the thread with Marissa. Our last conversation was months ago, and I wince
at the idea of breaking the silence with a request. But one thing that’s kept
my friendship with Marissa intact is we always pick up right where we left off.
Except this time, I’m going to raise the subject I haven’t broached in years.
Hope: Long story, but say I was looking to get back into
shark research…
Marissa: I don’t care how long the story is, I need details!
But first: are you really thinking of coming back??
Hope: Not just thinking about it.
Marissa: Please tell me you’re serious, because if so, your
timing is perfection.
A thrill of anticipation runs through me. Another text
appears, but the wind whips streaks of sand across my screen, obscuring the
words. Hands unsteady, I swipe away the grains to reveal what might be my way
back into shark research.
Marissa: Don’t get too excited. There’s a catch.
My mind instantly floods with potential issues. An unpaid
position? Not ideal at this stage in my career, but I’ve got savings. Something
that starts immediately? I could pack my bags and be gone tomorrow. A job
outside the country? Logistical hurdles, but an exciting opportunity. I can
only think of one dealbreaker. Working with Adrian.
Author Bio:
Chandra Blumberg writes funny, heartwarming love stories about characters that feel real and relatable. Born and raised in Michigan, Chandra moved to the Chicago area after majoring in English at Michigan State University. When she’s not writing, she enjoys lifting heavy barbells at the gym, making a mess of the kitchen while baking alongside her four kids, and traveling with her family.
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Author website: https://chandrablumberg.com/
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