Sweet Horizons

by Jean C. Gordon

  “Nice idea, the rally.” Although the prospect of bookings was exciting, she could see how much good the rally could do for the celebration and Indigo Bay, in general. “The rally could celebrate our local veterans, especially any who have come home from overseas deployment this year or have finished their tour of duty.” Sonja searched Jeff’s face. Was she overstepping with her suggestion? Not any more than he had, hawking her B&B rooms.

  “Done sand.” Shelley appeared beside her. Sonja hadn’t even seen her leave the sandbox.

  “Go with Papa now.” She tugged his hand.

  “In a minute,” Jeff said.

  Sonja was still thinking about Shelley walking across the yard to the porch without her noticing. And she hadn’t realized Shelley had picked up on her and Jeff’s conversation about going to the hardware store with him.

  He stood and lifted Shelley. “I’ll need the key.”

  “And the B&B credit card.”

  Jeff frowned. But she paid her own way.

  “I’ll come in with you,” he said. “I want to look at the door handle.”

  Sonja left Jeff and Shelley inspecting the sitting room door and went up to her flat to get her purse with the credit card. She was being a stickler about paying for the keys, but she didn’t want to be indebted to Jeff or give him any wrong ideas about the two of them. Sonja rubbed her forearms. She knew Jeff wasn’t like her ex. He didn’t seem the type to try to control her with money. As she descended the oak staircase that had been restored to its original beauty, Sonja weighed Jeff’s innocent offers to pay for the keys and promote her B&B. She shouldn’t be so prickly, but her son-in-law had told her how his mother had worked with his father as a partner in the shop he had in California. Experience told her that meant that his mother worked for Jeff at the shop.

  As friends, she and Jeff could support each other in their respective businesses, like she planned to support her former college roommate and long-time friend Caroline by supplementing what she baked for the B&B with sweets from Caroline’s Cafe. When it came to running the B&B, though, she already had Jesse as a partner. She didn’t need another one.

  “Your Grammy is going to love this,” Jeff said about the new door handles he’d picked up at the hardware store.

  “Grammy love it,” Shelley repeated from the backseat of his pickup.

  He glanced in the rearview mirror at his granddaughter in her car seat. I hope so. He was unsure how Sonja had taken his drumming up business for her B&B. But the replacement handles were perfect for Sonja’s purposes. She could set the french doors to open from the inside and be locked from the outside. And unlike the current door handles, Shelley and other small children wouldn’t be able to reach and press the thumb lever to open it. He’d even waylaid a woman at the store he knew from the small business group who had a home decorating business, asking her advice. The woman had said the handles would fit well with french doors and the era of the B&B’s decor.

  By the time they’d reached the B&B a few minutes later, Shelley was fast asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he lifted her, car seat and all, and carried her to the B&B’s front door. Jeff raised his hand to use the door knocker and stopped not wanting the noise to wake Shelley. He tried the door, which, as he’d expected, was unlocked and carried Shelley inside. Sonja had been polishing the woodwork in the downstairs room earlier, so that’s where he started looking for her, checking the entry hall, the two downstairs sitting rooms, and the dining room. He peeked into the kitchen. No Sonja.

  When he found her, he would say something about locking the front door. He could have been anyone roaming around the place. He turned to go back the way he’d come and head up to her flat, which she should also keep locked, especially once she had guests. Then he stopped and placed Shelley and her car seat on the floor beside him. He didn’t want to startle Sonja if she was working on the second-floor guest rooms and had heard him coming up the stairs. Although that might help his cause for locked doors.

  Jeff pulled his phone from his back pocket and called her.

  “Hi, is there a problem getting the keys made?” she asked.

  He relaxed and warmed that she either recognized his number or had him as one of her phone contacts. Jeff cleared his throat. Of course, she’d have him as a contact. They were jointly taking care of Shelley. “No, no problem. Just wanted to let you know we’re back. Downstairs. Shelley’s sound asleep in her car seat.”

  “Oh, okay. Come right up. I’m working on the woodwork in the second-floor guest rooms. With these old plaster walls and ceilings, I didn’t hear you come in.”

  More ammunition for locked doors. Jeff picked up Shelley and retraced his steps to the entry hall and the staircase. When he hit the landing and first turn, Sonja was waiting at the top of the stairs.

  “How long has she been asleep?” Sonja whispered.

  “Only a few minutes, so I didn’t want to wake her to bring her in.”

  “I’ll take her up, put her in bed, and turn the baby alarm on. It’s linked to an app on my phone.”

  Jeff handed Shelley over to Sonja. Should he walk them up to the flat?

  “Can you wait there and stay a few minutes or do you have to get back to the shop?” she asked. “I need your help with something.”

  That was a plus for him. Sonja wasn’t entirely against him helping her. “Sure, I can stay.” Jeff relaxed and enjoyed the pleasant view of Sonja in her well-fitted jeans walking up the staircase.

  He was leaning against the newel post at the bottom of the stairs to the third floor when Sonja reappeared on the landing a few minutes later. Watching her descend the stairs was as visually enjoyable as watching her climb them. He wished he could say that had nothing to do with having feelings for her; that it was simply any man appreciating a beautiful woman. But in his gut, he knew it was more.

  Her gaze connected with his stare. He cleared his throat. “Any problem getting her down for her nap?”

  “She didn’t bat an eyelash.”

  “Good.”

  Sonja descended the last step and stood close, too close to where he stood, his feet seeming to be glued to the floor. “What’s that baby monitor you mentioned?” His cottage was so small, he didn’t need a monitor, but the feeling that she knew he’d been staring at her compelled him to say something to cut the awkwardness. The monitor was the first thing that had come to his mind.

  She reached in her back pocket and pulled out her phone. “It’s called Baby Watch.”

  He stepped to her side, a suitable distance away, and looked over her shoulder at the screen.

  “It’s phone-to-phone,” she explained. “I picked up an inexpensive used cell phone at the computer repair place near your shop that I leave in the room Shelley’s sleeping in, the bedroom or any of the other rooms, if she falls asleep on one of the beds or couches while I’m working and I need to go to a different room.”

  “Handy, I’ll have to check it out. So what did you need my help with?”

  “The top window trim in the guest rooms. All of the windows have beautiful carved corners that need a good cleaning and polishing. But the windows are so tall that I can’t reach the tops from my stepping stool. I can go out and get the step ladder if you don’t have the time.”

  “I have the time. Lead the way.”

  As they started down the hall, Sonja’s gaze dropped to the hardware store bag, he held between them. “That’s a pretty big bag for a few keys.”

  He swallowed. “Ah, I bought something better than keys, which I can return if you disagree.” Jeff couldn’t quite read her sideways glance, so he blustered on. “But I don’t think you will. I’ll show you when we get to the room you want my help with.”

  “Okay. It’s all of them.”

  He followed her into the first guest room and pulled the set of door handles out of the bag with a flourish. “You can set it to open from the inside of the house, but be locked from the outside, and Shelley and other small children shouldn’t be able to open
it.” Jeff removed the packaging from one of the handles and held it upright from the back. “Give the lever a try.”

  “It’s beautiful. I like it better than the ones on the door now.”

  “Try the thumb lever.” He didn’t even try to contain his enthusiasm. She liked the handle.

  “Her thumb isn’t long enough to push the lever, even if she had the strength.” Sonja said.

  “I can install them after I do the window trim.”

  She handed the handle back. “But they had to have cost quite a bit more than the keys would have.”

  Jeff tensed. They had, and he hadn’t given Sonja her credit card back. He reached in his pocket and removed his wallet and the card from it. “They were more. But I paid for them.”

  Sonja pursed her lips.

  “My son’s your partner here and my partner in the shop. I’ll work it out of him.”

  A smile tugged the corners of her mouth. “You’ll do no such thing.”

  “Then, they’re my grand opening gift to you.”

  “Thank you. I really like the design.”

  Jeff thought about telling her he’d gotten professional advice at the store. Nah. He would have bought them anyway.

  “So if the door handles are a grand opening gift, what’s installation and helping me with the windows?”

  “Sheer pleasure, ma’am.” He southern drawled the last word in stark contrast to his usual Southern California style.

  Sonja laughed. “Don’t you ma’am me.”

  “I’ll just get to work.”

  “You do that.”

  They worked companionly until the window trim in all of the guest rooms was finished.

  “I’ll go down and put the new handles on the sitting room door,” he said stepping off the step stool.

  “Fine. I have more to do up here.”

  “Then, if I don’t see you before I finish downstairs, I’ll text to let you know I’m leaving.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  Her simple thanks warmed him more than it probably should have.

  “And everything else.”

  Jeff bounded down the stairs to the sitting room. It had been pure pleasure spending the afternoon working with Sonja. It reminded him of all the hours he and his wife Shelley had spent working together, getting his first shop up and running. Something he wouldn’t mind recapturing.

  A short while later, he straightened and admired his work before testing the doors inside and out.

  His phone pinged and his heart leapt. It was dangerous to hope, but he wanted the text to be Sonja needing his help on something else. It wasn’t. The text was some great news for his business. Jeff started toward the entryway to go upstairs to share it with Sonja—and stopped. He hated to lose the warm companionable buzz of the afternoon.

  And his news might just kill it.

  C H A P T E R 4

  Sonja fumed to herself as she threw laundry into the washer piece by piece. Yesterday, she’d accepted his help because she thought he was giving it as a friend. Today, she suspected otherwise. She tossed in the last t-shirt. How long had he known his custom bike shop had been nominated for best new business, along with her B&B and three other businesses? Why hadn’t he told her? She poured in the laundry detergent and swung the door closed with a thud.

  She knew Jeff wasn’t her ex. That hadn’t stopped her from re-examining the work Jeff had done for her yesterday and finding it excellent. Nor from feeling badly that she’d questioned his work and possible motives. The truth was that she thought they were friends, and wouldn’t a friend have told her?

  “All done.” Shelley tugged on the pant leg of Sonja’s shorts.

  “Already?” Sonja looked to the pile of little socks next to the basket of clothes she’d taken out of the dryer. “Good job.” She’d asked Shelley to pick her socks out of the basket.

  “Walk Xena now?”

  “Let’s get those socks rolled and back in the basket first.” Sonja bent and scooped up the socks.

  “Walk Xena now.” Shelley ended her statement by pushing out her lower lip, looking so adorable that Sonja wanted to scoop her up and cover her with kisses.

  “Tell you what. I’ll roll the socks and you can see if you can throw them in the basket.”

  “Okay.”

  Sonja rolled the socks and clapped her hands each time Shelley made a successful basket. Sonja’s cell phone rang with the last toss to hit the basket. A picture of Jeff, the excitement on his face when he told her about the new door handles, popped into her mind as she picked up the phone and looked at the screen. It was a local number she didn’t recognize. The smile her lips had started at the memory stopped.

  “Hello,” she answered, tapping her foot in anticipation of the call being some unwanted solicitation or a deal to set her up with a free back brace she didn’t need.

  “Ms. Cooper?”

  “Yes.” She stopped tapping her foot. Telemarketers generally didn’t address her by name.

  “This is Eva Andrews. Lauren and I usually get the kids, Shelley and my nephew Arthur, together to play when I have him over here.”

  “Right. Lauren said you might call.”

  “I know this is short notice, but Arthur has been asking all morning if Shelley could come and play this afternoon.”

  “I’ll ask her, but I would think so.”

  “Do you want to go play with Arthur?” Sonja asked. When she’d been a young mother, she would have set up the play date without asking first. But she was the Grammy now.

  “Papa walk Xena with us?” Shelley asked.

  “No, remember, I told you he’s working today.” Her reply brought back unpleasant memories of giving a little Lauren the same answer to similar questions too many times. She shook it off, along with any connection she might have unconsciously been extending to Jeff. Her ex was a work-aholic. Jeff had spent most of yesterday with Shelley and her.

  “Okay. Play with Arfur.”

  “Shelley would love to come and play,” she said into the phone. That had been too easy and a little deflating. If Jeff wasn’t involved in the dog walk, Shelley was fine throwing Grammy over for a playmate. As it should be, Sonja thought, quickly getting over her miff.

  She firmed up the arrangements with Eva, dropped Shelley off to play, and brought her car back to the B&B. It was a beautiful day, not stifling warm, as June could be sometimes. She might as well take advantage of the weather and get back into her regular exercise routine by picking up Xena from Jeff’s cottage and walking her on the beach. She exchanged her sandals for cross-trainers and did a short warm up before jogging down the dunes to the cottage.

  Xena barked up a storm while Sonja pulled out the cottage key and turned it in the lock. It turned too easily. The door had been open, which was unusual for Jeff. He’d kept it locked tight when he wasn’t home ever since the cottage had been vandalized last year when he and Jesse had been renovating it just after Jesse had inherited the property.

  “I’m coming Xena.” She turned the knob and opened the door to a very excited dog—and Jeff dressed in only a pair of low-slung jeans with a towel draped over his bare shoulder.

  “Sonja,” he said. “What are you … I was in the shower, didn’t expect you.”

  She coughed to cover her frantic effort to find her voice and string words together to form a coherent response. “Shelley likes to walk Xena on the beach. Remember, I offered to walk Xena at lunchtime when you’re at the shop. But you’re not at the shop.”

  A slow smile creased his face. “No, I’m not. And where’s Shelley?”

  “She got invited to play at a friend’s and chose that over walking the dog with me.”

  His smile turned into a grin. “She is only a child.” The gaze he ran over her seemed to say he would have made a different choice than Shelley had. She shuffled her feet. Where had that come from? Jeff continued to grin. He knew he was making her uncomfortable. Sonja wished she was a child so she could stomp her foot without being
unseemly.

  “Come in.” Jeff leaned over to hold Xena by the collar and Sonja caught the fresh scent of his newly washed hair.

  She closed the door behind her, thinking she could have asked Jeff for Xena’s leash and just taken the dog for her walk instead of coming in.

  “I’ll grab a shirt and be right back,” Jeff said.

  “You do that.” Sonja’s gaze stayed pinned on his broad back as he walked to one of the bedrooms off the living room. She couldn’t help a twinge of disappointment about him covering up all that smooth muscle-covering skin.

  Jeff returned seconds later wearing a t-shirt with his shop’s logo on it. But his feet were still bare. What was with that? She was getting hot over his bare feet? She’d seen Jeff in less, in swim trunks before, more than once. But other people had been around. She looked up to see him fighting another grin. She wasn’t going to let him charm her out of having this conversation.

  “Why didn’t you tell me your shop was also nominated for best new start-up business of the year?” she blurted.

  “How …” Jeff slicked back his still-wet hair with his hand. The day was already on the downswing with Liam not having checked to see if Jeff had the oil plug in before pouring almost a quart of motor oil in the bike he was under.

  “You haven’t read your email today?” She stood, hands on hips, having regained her usual deportment.

  “No, we were busy at the shop this morning with a rush job.” And still are.

  “Caroline sent the final list of nominees out to all the small business association members, and there it was, Seaside Cycles.” Her words sounded like an accusation.

  “Guilty.” Jeff tried a grin.

  “What?” She knitted her brows.

  “Guilty of being one of the nominees. Caroline texted me yesterday afternoon.”