Sweet Horizons

by Jean C. Gordon

  “Grammy, come on.”

  No, what mattered was that she get her jumbled thoughts about attractive, attracted to, attracting out of her mind. She did not have time in her schedule for a relationship with Jeff or any other man until the B&B was up and running.

  “I’m almost ready.” Sonja tossed a flirty coverup on over her suit and stuffed towels in her beach bag before slathering Shelley and herself with sunscreen. Then, she dropped the sunscreen in the bag and debated whether to leave her cell phone home. She dropped it in, too.

  Jeff was outside the cottage, waiting for them, rubbing the gas tank of his bike with a cloth. “Seagulls,” he said, making a face. He dropped the cloth into a pail next to the vehicle, grabbed his towel from the seat and flung it over his shoulder. “I put a couple beach chairs out for us.”

  Sonja looked toward the ocean at the two canvas chairs on the beach, the private beach that was part of the mansion property. For no real reason, she’d thought of the public beach by the boardwalk when he’d mentioned swimming. Her phone rang in her bag, giving her something to do other than pondering being alone with Jeff—and Shelley—on the quiet ocean front.

  “I’d better take this. It could be business.” She dug in her bag for the phone.

  “Sure. I’ll take Shelley down to the water.”

  “Hello,” she said, somehow feeling guilty for bringing her phone, taking the call.

  “Ms. Cooper, this is Dave Hanson. I’d like to see the condo again, with my fiancée. I know this is short notice, but can I set something up for later this afternoon?”

  “This afternoon isn’t good for me. How about this evening?” She’d miss Lauren and Jesse’s call, but Jeff could take it with Shelley. “How does 6:30 sound?”

  “Great. See you then. I think my fiancée is going to love it.”

  She put her phone on do not disturb and dropped it back into her bg. Normally, she’d be jazzed by a second viewing the same day. But she wasn’t. She nibbled her bottom lip. She should have checked with Jeff before assuming he could … would take Shelley. She’d learned never to assume help from her ex. Sonja trudged down the path to the beach. But assuming Jeff would help had come naturally.

  “That was the client I showed the condo to this morning,” she said when she reached the pair of chairs, where Shelly was industriously filling her sand pail.

  “Ah, no sale?”

  “Actually, it sounds promising,”

  “Oh, your expression, I …”

  “Are you busy this evening?” she asked before he finished.

  “What do you have in mind,” he asked in a low teasing voice that set her nerves humming.

  Sonja mentally quieted the humming. “I have to show the condo again at 6:30. The guy who saw it this morning is bringing his fiancée. Can you take Shelley and tonight’s call from Lauren and Jesse?”

  “The kids are calling tonight? I’d forgotten and planned to work this evening to make up for today.”

  Her stomach churned. Make up for helping her. How could she just assume he’d be available to help her again? She knew better.

  “I’ll call Liam. He’s always looking for extra hours.” He patted the sides of his knee-length Hawaiian print swim trunks as if searching for his phone. “That is if I can use your phone.”

  “I’ll reschedule,” she said.

  “No, it’s fine. If I go in now, I should be able to finish the job that needs to be done for tomorrow by six or so. You can drop Shelley off on the way to the condo. Liam gets his extra hours. My work gets done. Shelley and I can work on the block house. Everyone gets what they want.”

  With an inexplicable reluctance, Sonja handed Jeff her phone and he cleared the evening hours with Liam.

  “Bye-bye, Shelley,” Jeff said. “Papa has to go to work now.”

  “Bye.” Shelley waved and dumped her pail of sand on a pile beside her.

  Sonja watched Jeff walk to his cottage. Yes. Everyone … she … had gotten what they wanted. So why did she feel like she was missing out on something?

  C H A P T E R 7

  Jeff opened the boxes the parts distributor had just delivered with all the excitement of a child opening Christmas presents. He texted Jesse as he’d texted him two days ago when he’d found the perfect vintage Triumph café racer for Eric’s son in Charleston. It had taken him longer than he’d expected to find the right bike to customize.

  His index finger hovered over Sonja’s name on his messages list. He wanted to share his excitement with her, too. No. He dropped his finger to the home button and turned off the screen. It could be his imagination, but the feeling that Sonja was avoiding him seemed real to him. In the past few days, they’d exchanged Shelley a couple of times and shared another Skype call with Jesse and Lauren. But there’d been no requests for help, no impromptu lunches or outings since the interrupted beach one. Now, he was getting jammed for time on the bike and might not be able to help if she needed it.

  A picture of a smiling Sonja flashed in his mind. Nah. He’d find time, but he was taking Caroline’s advice and not pressing.

  “Hey, boss,” Liam checked in for his afternoon shift, interrupting Jeff’s thoughts, which was good.

  He had other things to do besides mooning over Sonja. Jeff ripped open another box with more force than necessary. Had he really used the word mooning in his thoughts?

  “What do you want me to do?” Liam asked. “It’s getting nasty outside. I don’t think we’re going to have many beach rentals today.”

  Jeff glanced out the back window of the shop at the dark clouds and greenish sky over the choppy ocean waves.

  “Looks almost like a hurricane sky, but my weather app doesn’t say anything other than thunder storms.”

  “Has Indigo Bay ever been hit by a hurricane?” Jeff asked.

  “Close, but not since I was a kid,” Liam answered.

  Jeff choked back a chuckle. Liam was all of 18. “I’m going to get started on Eric’s bike.”

  “Man, I still can’t believe you’re friends with Eric Slade.”

  “I won’t be if I don’t get working on it. I’ve sorted out the parts for my custom work. You can put the rest of the delivery into stock.”

  “On it,” Liam said.

  Jeff carried his parts into the garage part of the shop and took a moment to admire the racer. It was a beauty, and he’d got it for a rock-bottom price. He frowned when his cell phone rang. Seemed like he’d got nothing but solicitation calls on it lately. He pulled it out of his pocket anyway and looked at the caller ID. Sonja. His chest tightened.

  “Hi,” he answered.

  “Papa,” Shelley shouted.

  All he could think is that she’d gotten a hold of Sonja’s phone and somehow, playing around with it, had called him.

  “I push Papa’s picture.”

  Sonja must have added his picture to her contacts list. The quickening of his pulse had nothing to do with physical exertion. Muffled words and a pounding sound came over the transmission.

  “Shelley, give Grammy the phone. I want to talk to her.”

  “Grammy go …”

  He heard a thunk and the call ended. Sonja went where? She’d never leave Shelley alone. His heart leapt to his throat as he rushed back into the main shop and out the front door. “An emergency. I’ll be back,” he shot over his shoulder.

  Jeff hopped onto his bike and flew down Main Street. At the end of the B&B drive he jumped off, tossed his helmet on the grass, and ran to the front door. He reached behind the righthand gaslight replica for the key he knew Sonja kept there in a small metal box with a magnet attaching it to the lamp base.

  Ah, there it was. Jeff flipped open the box and stared at the empty bottom. Jeff stuffed the box in his jeans pocket as he took off for the back of the house and the french doors. Even if they were locked, he’d be able to look inside and, maybe, see what was going on.

  “Sonja.” She was standing outside the door, hands cupped to the sides of her face peeri
ng in.

  “Jeff! You startled me. What are you doing here?” She held her hand across her heart. “Not that I’m not glad to see you.”

  “Shelley called me.”

  “What!” Sonja tilted her head, eyes wide.

  “I’ll tell you once you tell me what’s going on. Where is Shelley?”

  Sonja drew back from his harsher-than-intended words. “She was here, at the door,” her voice rose. “I was trying to get her to open the door.”

  Jeff swallowed hard. The door that he’d made toddler proof. He pulled his key ring from his pocket.

  “Something distracted her. She went over to the couch.” Sonja’s words tumbled out.

  Jeff touched her shoulder. “It’s okay. I have a key.” He put the key in the lock, turned the door handle and held the door for Sonja.

  She rushed in, with him close behind. “Shelley!” she called.

  “Grammy.”

  He and Sonja rounded the couch where their granddaughter sat playing with Sonja’s phone.

  “I wait for Papa,” Shelley said.

  Sonja pulled her up into her arms and hugged her tight. “I just went out to clip a few roses.”

  Heart pounding with relief and something more, Jeff wrapped his arms around both of them.

  “Shelley was working on her puzzle on the floor just inside the door where I could see her.”

  “It’s okay,” he whispered into her hair.

  “I always have my keys with me.” She pushed out of his arms. “How did you have a key?”

  Jeff ignored the edge of accusation on her words. “I found it on the floor of my truck. It must have fallen out of the bag on the way to your place from the hardware store.”

  Sonja’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

  “No problem. You were worried. So was I. I thought you might be hurt, fallen off a ladder or something. I’m lucky I didn’t get stopped, racing over here.”

  She hitched Shelley to her hip and touched his forearm. “We’re lucky, too. I was frantic. I hadn’t realized how isolated we are here when you’re not at the cottage.”

  He didn’t need her to point that out to him. It had passed through his mind enough times. But he wanted to respect her independence. “What matters right now is that you and Shelley are fine. By the way, did you know that your back-up key for the front door is missing from the box?” Why did he say that?

  “Yes, I took it out. This is a place of business, not just my home. I shouldn’t be making it easy for some stranger to get in when I’m not here.”

  Or when you are … alone. Although she’d probably need to have it open to people checking in once the B&B was open. Unless she would go with relying on the door knocker. Or he could install a door bell, one of those security systems where she could see who was at the door. Jeff reined himself in. He’d mention the idea to Jesse when he got back.

  “Hey, don’t I get some points for that?” Sonja asked.

  “What?”

  “The front-door key.” She touched his arm again. “We’re okay. Thanks to you.”

  He cleared his throat. “And this little girl.” He tapped Shelley’s nose, and she giggled.

  “Down. Puzzle,” Shelley said. “Show Papa.”

  Sonja placed Shelley on the floor, and they followed her back to the french doors, where she squatted beside her puzzle and pointed at the wooden animal pieces she’d put in their places.

  Jeff squatted next to her.

  “Cow, horsey, pig, chicken, dog, kitty,” she rattled off.

  “Good job,” Jeff said.

  “No dolphins.” Shelley shook her head.

  “You’re right. No ocean on the farm. No dolphins.” He rose. “I’d better get back to the shop. I bought the bike for Eric’s son, and most of the parts I need to customize it came in today.”

  “Why don’t you come back about six. I’ll cook you supper,” Sonja said. “That is, if you don’t have to work or have other plans. A combination thank-you, business meal. You can tell me about the bike, and I’ll go over what I think about the PR stuff you sent me.”

  “Six o’clock. It’s a date.” He cringed and shook it off. Why not a date? That’s how people got to know each other better. Wasn’t it? Jeff opened the door.

  “See you about six, then,” Sonja said.

  “See six, Papa,” Shelley echoed.

  Walking across the deck, Jeff could feel Sonja’s gaze on him. Or he wanted to think he felt her gaze. He snuck a sideways glance at the doors when he turned to walk across the yard to the driveway. Sonja and Shelley were still standing there.

  Jeff started whistling Tom Petty’s old “Running Down a Dream.” Sonja had accepted his help, thanked him for it. She wasn’t avoiding him anymore, if she had been. She’d invited him over to eat tonight, even if it wasn’t a date.

  He was making headway. Toward what, Jeff wasn’t sure. But it seemed all good to him.

  It’s a date. Jeff’s words thrummed through her as he moved out of sight around the corner of the house. She told herself that he hadn’t meant it that way, as if they were going on a date. She’d clearly told him the invitation was to thank him for rescuing her today. Yeah, today qualified as rescuing, not simply helping. She didn’t know what she would have done if he hadn’t come. She hadn’t expected anyone else to come by. Sonja shuddered. She would have managed fine if it had just been her locked out without Shelley locked in.

  “Papa go bye-bye,” Shelley said, rubbing her eyes.

  “Yep. He’s gone to work. But he’ll be back after your nap to eat with us.” Sonja held her breath for Shelley’s reaction to “nap.”

  “Movie?” Shelley hopped up on the sitting room couch all ready to watch a DVD and take her nap there as she did the other day.

  Sonja stood still. She couldn’t do it. Despite having the Baby Watch monitor, she didn’t want Shelley out of her sight for the rest of the day. And she’d planned on finishing washing and drying the new sheets that had come and getting all the guest beds made up.

  “I have a better idea.”

  “No movie?” Shelley put on a pout.

  “You can watch a movie—and take your nap—upstairs where I’ll be working.”

  “Elsa?”

  “Yes, you can watch Frozen. We just need to get the sheets from the laundry room and the portable DVD player from the cabinet. You find Elsa while I get the DVD player.”

  Shelley hopped off the couch and ran to the DVD rack. “Got it.”

  “And I have the player.” Sonja closed the cabinet under the TV and rose. “Let me get the sheets, and we’ll go upstairs.”

  Shelley was still asleep when Sonja finished making up the beds, but the time and physical activity had taken the edge off her earlier scare. She set up the Baby Watch monitor phone in the guest room where Shelley was sleeping and went upstairs to see what she had to put together for supper for Jeff. Not a lot. She hadn’t done big grocery shopping in a while.

  But there was a ham in the B&B’s kitchen refrigerator that she’d meant to put in the freezer, a container of premium vanilla bean ice cream in the freezer, and she had a 30-pound bag of potatoes sitting in the kitchen to be put back in the pantry. The first of the green beans in her garden should be ready for an early picking, along with scallions. With the sour cream in her flat’s refrigerator, she could make twice-baked potatoes. And she had all the ingredients she needed for her triple chocolate brownies—with the ice cream to top it off.

  As Sonja was returning upstairs with her supper ingredients, her phone alerted her to Shelley waking up already. She left the food in the second-floor hallway and went in the guest room to get her granddaughter. She’d hoped Shelley would sleep longer, so she could put the food back in the pantry. With Jeff coming to eat with them, and maybe staying a while, she probably wouldn’t get to restocking the pantry. Unless Jeff helped her. With her short nap, Shelley might go to bed early that evening. Sonja’s heartbeat ticked up at the thought of her and
Jeff working together in the pantry. Alone. But she couldn’t ask him. He’d already done too much for her and worked at the shop all afternoon.

  “Grammy,” Shelley said so forcefully, Sonja suspected it wasn’t the first time the child had addressed her. Competing feelings of warmth and guilt filled her over being so lost in thoughts of Jeff that she hadn’t registered Shelley’s first Grammy. What was she, fifteen again and mooning about a boy? But Jeff certainly was no boy.

  Sonja lifted Shelley to the floor.

  “Papa here?”

  So she wasn’t the only one looking forward to Jeff coming to supper. But Shelley was a child. She was a grown woman who could stand on her own two feet. But didn’t mind the company of a certain gentleman when doing so, her traitorous inner voice said.

  “Not yet. We have to make supper first.”

  “I help?”

  “You most certainly can.” Sonja picked up the food items from the floor and climbed the flight of stairs to her flat at Shelley’s baby pace, her thoughts drifting again. Even if Jeff wanted to take their friendship to something more, what did she know about healthy, happy, lasting relationships? From things Jesse had said, and Sonja had gleaned from Jeff, Jeff and his wife had been partners in their marriage, in life. She certainly hadn’t had that with her ex, and she hadn’t really had any other serious relationships.

  “Coming Grammy?” Shelley stood at the top of the stairs.

  “Yep, sweetie.” What was she doing? Jeff hadn’t given her any indication that he wanted a romantic relationship. Except for putting his arm around her while they were watching the movie on TV. And that could signal that he was interested in a different kind of relationship, and she’d never done that, either. Sonja tightened her jaw muscles in disgust. No wonder her relationship thoughts teetered on a high-school level.