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with you and shoes. Don’t you wear them indoors?”
    “Not my work boots.” He lifted the pizza box. “I brought dinner.”
    “Dinner doesn’t come in a box.”
    “Do a tour during wartime. A box never looked so good.”
    “I’ll have to trust you on that.” She jerked her head and stepped back, indicating he could enter. The gesture was casual, but her neck and shoulders were tense, like she didn’t often allow people into her space.
    Ryan followed, taking the chance while it lasted. “I’m a trustworthy guy.”
    Her response was muffled, but he found himself struggling to focus beyond the decor. Her clothes and hair and creamy complexion weren’t the only part of her that suggested she was living in the wrong time.
    A black and white checker print rug dominated the living area’s floor. Centered on the rug was a round, glass-topped table with a red couch and two yellow chairs around it. The furniture and every knick-knack and picture in the place had to have come straight from the fifties.
    Following her to the small kitchen, he saw that she’d carried on the same theme, though there was only so much she could do with the building standards of the modern-day apartment. She’d compensated for the modern by bringing in touches that made the room look like a diner. He could so easily picture her with an apron over her dress as she moved around the room in heels to cook a real meal.
    “You decorate yourself?”
    “Yes.” She pulled out a couple of plates.
    He set the pizza box on the silver-edged table with plastic-covered chairs and turned to take the dishes. His chuckle escaped. They were shaped like vinyl records with the edges curved up. The centers were even painted with a label to identify the album. The two she’d pulled down were for Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Great Balls of Fire” and Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti”.
    “Carmen, do you ever feel like you’re living in the wrong decade?”
    She smiled as she closed a cabinet, holding two wine glasses. “Life then seemed simpler.”
    Ah. She was an idealist. Life had never been simple, though. According to his parents, the fifties had been filled with people struggling with major changes, like the introduction of TV and rock ‘n’ roll being two big ones. It was a time of discovery. A time when family ideals began to shift, to make room for something new. Maybe that’s why it appealed to Carmen. Maybe she was in a time of self-discovery.
    “Whispering Cove is pretty simple.”
    She nodded. “That’s why Aimee and I stayed. We loved it as soon as we arrived.”
    He pulled Carmen’s chair out for her and then sat beside her. He could go for some simple. “Aimee’s your sister, right? I heard she married Josh Bryan.”
    “Yeah. Long story short, she was a fling he couldn’t let go.” Carmen flipped open the box and served him before sliding a piece onto her plate. “Turns out she didn’t want him to.”
    “I heard someone say they’d be back in town for the parade. There’s a rumor floating that Josh will do another concert.”
    Carmen shook her head. “They’ll be back, but not for him to do a concert. This is his home between appearances and when he’s here his only plan is to spend time with Aimee and Kendall.”
    “It has to be rough to be Josh. People always wanting something from him.”
    “Even in Whispering Cove people can forget that sometimes all anyone wants is to be left alone.”
    The loneliness Ryan had witnessed on the beach crept into her tone. He didn’t think she wanted to be left alone so much as he suspected it had become a state of normalcy for her. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask about her family, other than Aimee. He changed tactics, choosing instead something he thought she’d find safer.
    “So, about the gazebo.”
    “Yes.” She perked up, like she was relieved he’d changed the subject. “How’s that going?”
    “We have the old bushes pulled and the bed area is ready for plants. I was