Commitment

Part 66

A week later, as Gray parked his car in the beach car park, as he and Caro arranged a lunch at a café close to the beach. He was pleased they were still friends. And today they were meeting as friends, platonic friends for lunch, because Gray was in town for two meetings in the morning and the afternoon and had time. They both knew there was no spark, no chemistry, and that their relationship was in the friendship zone, but they enjoyed their conversations.

But as he parked his car, he and Caro could see smoke coming from the beach, and saw the three fire engines, several police cars, and two ambulances in the vicinity.

"Wow. That looks like the surf club. I wonder what happened?" Caro searched the area seeing if she could spot any friends to ask about this incident. "There are lots of people around."

Gray could see that. Then he noticed that the crowd parted while the paramedics appeared, and from that distance, Gray and Caro couldn't see who was on the stretcher.

Gray and Caro got out of his car, and he pressed a button to lock the car, while he and Caro continue to watch the crowd. Some of the crowd moved away, deciding that the entertainment was over. Obviously the fire brigade had everything under control, and the police were still keeping the crowd away from the building.

"Must be a fire." Caro looked around and murmured, "Probably a fire at the surf club."

"Looks like the police and the fire fighters have everything under control." Gray saw that the horde was dissipating but it was still busy compared with the other side of the road. "We should cross the road here, rather than thread through the crowd on this side."

He looked over his shoulder, to see if there was a gap in the road's traffic and was about to suggest that they could cross over now, when he heard Caro saying, "Looks like your ex-boss is enjoying the entertainment."

"My ex-boss?" Gray was watching the traffic and turned his gaze to Caro, to follow her stare.

"Yes, your ex-boss! Regan!" Caro gestured with her head, nodding.

"Regan?" Gray did a quick track over the crowd and could not fathom Caro's view. She was staring at lots of people who were loitering beside the low sand wall.

"She is over there, with David." Again, Caro nodded towards the wall. Gray stopped in his tracks. She is really here? Gray frowned and looked around. He had been looking for her over the last few days, as he wanted to apologise to her. He didn't want to make a fuss in front of others. But he was sure she would find an excuse to avoid him if he cornered her. And turning up at her farm without a reason she would probably ignore him, or hide. He thought the best option was to wait and hoped he would see her in town, as some point, and soon, still in public but have a private conversation in plain sight. But either she was getting better at avoiding him or she was really busy with the farm and her job.

Gray knew David. He met him at his brother's store. Gray also knew that David, and his brother had reputations in the town: one of the alphas in this town. And this particular alpha was sitting beside Regan, on the beach wall that separated the sand and the bitumen.

Gray growled when he saw David caress Regan's cheek.

Somewhat surprised by the growl, "You ok?" Caro asked.

"Fine." He snapped, and that surprised Caro again. She had never heard him snapping at anyone. She tracked his gaze, and saw that he was staring at Regan and David.

"You ok?" Caro asked. Her gaze returned to Gray.

He nodded, ran his fingers through his hair, "Sorry. Didn't mean to snap."