Sweet Horizons

by Jean C. Gordon

  He cleared his throat. “What was that for?” His voice sounded gravelly.

  Sonja blinked twice before answering. “I wanted to.”

  As had he, more than he’d imagined. “And here I wouldn’t have had you pegged for a girl who made out on the first date,” he teased.

  Her eyes narrowed. He swallowed hard and lifted his hands from her waist. Maybe this wasn’t something to tease about.

  Then she shot back, “I wasn’t when I was a girl.”

  In relief, Jeff leaned against the doorway in what he hoped looked like a casual stance. “You know, I caught your annoyance when Eric called his PR person his girl.”

  The corners of her lush lips curved up. He caught himself leaning involuntarily toward her and pulled back, not wanting to push things. “Does that win me points?”

  “Points for what?”

  He shrugged. “Points in general.”

  “A lot more than that one-up-man-ship you and Eric did all through supper.”

  “Bad?”

  “Way, bad.”

  “We kind of do that when we get together.” Jeff pushed away from the door frame. “I should get going.”

  “Yeah.” Her lips stayed parted.

  He was sure it was unintentional, but that fact didn’t make it any less of a draw. Jeff leaned over and brushed her lips with his as lightly as he could manage. “Goodnight,” he whispered against them.

  “Goodnight. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  He stepped out into the hall, and she clicked the door shut behind him. He bounded down the stairs, let himself out the front door, and nearly walked into Eric.

  Eric snuffed his cigarette butt out in the planter on the porch. “That didn’t take you long.”

  What did the man think they’d been doing? No, he wouldn’t let his friend goad him. To Jeff, it had seemed a fleeting moment and eternity, and he wasn’t going to let Eric be a buzzkill.

  “Just busting on you,” Eric said. “Sonja is a class act. A keeper. Not that Shelley wasn’t. But Sonja’s different.”

  Jeff twisted his mouth in a wry smile. “You don’t say?”

  They walked to the truck and got in.

  “Is she the first woman you’ve been serious about since your wife?”

  Jeff pushed the ignition button and put the vehicle in gear. “Who said anything about serious?” His brain was flashing liar signs. But he was determined not to let himself think serious until he had a better grasp of how Sonja felt. Except she didn’t appear to dislike his kisses. Jeff grinned.

  “Yeah like the two of you weren’t shooting attraction bullets all through supper, like that silly grin you have on your face right now.”

  Jeff relaxed his facial muscles and concentrated on maneuvering the dark, the narrow private road to his cottage.

  Eric relaxed against the seat. “You may be a little rusty.”

  Jeff braked hard for a gecko crossing the road. His and Sonja’s kiss hadn’t felt rusty.

  “I’m just saying, take care. Don’t mess up.”

  “I don’t plan to. My momma didn’t raise no idiots,” he paraphrased a line from one of Eric’s movies.

  “Seriously, I envy you.”

  Eric envied him?

  “I know how to woo a woman. You know how to love one.” Eric turned his head toward the side window. “I’m not sure I really loved any of my exes.” He turned back with a dry laugh. “Or why would they all be exes?”

  “You have a point there.” Jeff pulled the truck in front of the cottage.

  “Hey,” Eric said, as he got out. “I never gave Sonja the information to reserve the B&B suite. Give me her phone number when we get inside and I’ll text it to her.”

  Jeff closed the truck door—hard—and clenched his hands. It was just her phone number. No big deal. “Give me the information and I’ll see she gets it.”

  Eric raised one eyebrow and smirked.

  Okay. Maybe it was a big deal for him.

  C H A P T E R 9

  “Papa,” Shelley said pointing at the Seaside Cycles’ building.

  “Yep.” Except for trading off Shelley, Sonja hadn’t seen, really seen, Jeff long enough to talk in the week since supper with him and Eric. His choice. Her lunch and stay-for-a-while invitations after his dropping Shelley off had been met with no thanks, I have to get back to work.

  She pulled into a parking spot on the street in front of his shop and turned the car off. If he had second thoughts about their kiss, that was okay. Well, she was a grown woman. She could live with that. All he needed to do was to say something.

  “Hey, Shelley, Ms. Cooper,” Liam said when Sonja and Shelley walked into the shop. “Jeff’s gone to Charleston to get a part for Eric Slade’s bike.”

  And avoid her?

  “The distributor sent the wrong one and he didn’t want to wait the extra day for them to bring the right one.”

  “Grammy, Meg.” Shelley tugged her toward the teenager behind the counter, who Jeff had hired to help out with odds and ends and with Shelley when he had her at the shop.

  “My sister, Meg,” Liam said.

  Sonja smiled at the teen. “I’ve heard all about you from Shelley.”

  “She’s so cute,” Meg said as Shelley ran to her. Meg lifted her up onto the counter.

  “We do papers.” Shelley patted a rental agreement on the counter.

  Meg looked so young, but Sonja wasn’t going to insult her by asking how old she was. Obviously, Jeff thought she was capable. Lauren had had teenage babysitters when she was Shelley’s age and Sonja and her ex had gone out for an evening. But Shelley would be here the rest of the morning and all afternoon.

  “When do you expect Jeff back?” Sonja asked.

  “Within an hour,” Liam answered. “Want to leave a message for him or something?”

  “Yes, tell him I’ll be shopping for things for the B&B, so if he needs to get a hold of me, he should text or call my cell phone.”

  “Okay, sure.”

  Liam didn’t need to know that Jeff always contacted her on her cell phone. “Give Grammy bye-bye kisses.” She opened her arms and hugged her granddaughter.

  “Bye, Grammy.” Shelley was already chattering away to Meg before Sonja had taken the few steps to the door.

  Sonja stepped out and breathed in the tangy sea breeze. Much as she loved Shelley, she needed some adult time that wasn’t all work. Her mood and unsettled feelings lifted as she walked down the block to the Café to get Caroline, who was seated outside under the awning.

  “Hi. I figured I had better escape out here before I saw something more that I needed to do. Where’s your car?”

  “I left it parked in front of Jeff’s.”

  Caroline hopped up. “Let’s go before any of my staff realizes I’m still here.”

  Sonja laughed. “It kind of feels like it used to when we ditched Psych II to go to the beach.”

  “It sure does, and I’m not about to miss out on anything that makes me feel nineteen again.”

  “Me either,” Sonja said, her heart adding against her will, including Jeff Brewster.

  The two friends caught up with each other on the drive to the mall. During a lull in the conversation, a motorcycle whizzed by in the opposite direction. The rider wore a sky-blue helmet like Jeff’s. Her breath caught until she realized the bike had a completely different sound than Jeff’s, and that she knew the sound of his bike’s engine.

  “Jeff said he talked with you about me,” she blurted out.

  “Where did that come from?” Caroline asked.

  “The helmet, the motorcycle that went by.” Now she was babbling and conjuring Jeff when he wasn’t here. Sonja blew out a breath. But this was Caroline. If she couldn’t put it all out in front with her, who could she?

  “Uh, huh. I can’t tell you what he said to me anymore than I would tell him whatever you might be about to tell me.”

  “Fair enough,” she begrudged Caroline.

  “You know, I told yo
u he brought Eric Slade to supper last week.”

  “Yeah, and …”

  “I didn’t tell you the two of them spent the evening trying to out-impress me.”

  Caroline laughed. “Men.”

  “Eric went out ahead of Jeff to smoke and we, Jeff and I, kissed.”

  “I could have guessed that’s where he was headed with the cinnamon buns.”

  “No.” Sonja shook her head. “I kissed him.”

  Caroline clapped. “You go, girl.”

  “And he kissed me back and we mutually kissed.”

  “You sound like that’s a problem.”

  “No, the problem is that he’s avoided any one-on-one time with me since. I don’t know if he regrets it. Maybe I’m making a big deal out of something that doesn’t mean the same to him as it did to me. You know the extent of my experience with men since the divorce.”

  “Yeah, what little there is. Why don’t you just ask him?”

  “I’ve been trying to, but I don’t think it’s a conversation to have in front of Shelley or his employees.” Sonja blew her bangs off her forehead. “I can’t seem to get him to stay and talk.”

  “Tell him you need his help with something. He likes doing things for you. I told him to give you space, wait until you indicated you needed him.”

  “Although it was impulsive, I thought my kissing him might indicate I didn’t mind his company.”

  “Maybe. Who knows? I don’t claim to be any expert on the operating instructions for men.”

  “I have all the big work done at the B&B. I don’t know what I’d ask him for help on.”

  “Take something small and make it big. Play the helpless female.”

  “But I’m not, which I realized after Tom left us.”

  Caroline waved her off. “Forget that period of your life. It’s done and over. Men don’t mind capable women being helpless every so often. The key for women … you … is to control your helplessness.”

  “I think I get it. But it took me a long time to throw off my helplessness. I never want to be there again.”

  “Jeff doesn’t strike me as a man who would want you to be helpless all the time. Besides the woman he knows is the independent, take-charge woman you’ve rebecome since your divorce.”

  Sonja slowed the car for the traffic light at the mall entrance. “I suppose you’re right. Still, I have fears that if I get serious about a man, I’ll fall back into old patterns.”

  “Nah,” Caroline reassured her. “You’re more evolved than that. I’m talking to the woman who’s pulled ahead to the top spot in the best new business competition this week.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Sonja didn’t feel that confident. The only reservation the B&B had for its opening week so far was Eric’s and that was because of Jeff. “I don’t want to just make up something to get him over to talk.” Sonja pulled into a parking space.

  “Okay then, how is this? When you pick up Shelley, invite him to come over when he gets done at work tonight to talk. Straightforward, no subterfuge. Sweeten the offer with a couple pieces of pie. I’m sure there will be some left at the Café when we get back.”

  “I don’t know.” Sonja hedged.

  “What’s the worst that could happen? All he could do is turn you down.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

  Jeff put down the wrench he’d been working with and read Sonja’s text for the third time. He should have been here when she picked Shelley up. But a customer had mechanical trouble with the ATV he’d rented and was stranded far away on the beach. He clicked off his phone. Was this talk she wanted where she’d tell him she regretted kissing him, them kissing? A move to put their relationship back to being in-laws and nothing more? He wiped his forehead with his bandana. He should text Sonja back. His ignoring the text was juvenile. It wasn’t going to disappear. But his experience with dating was juvenile. He and his wife had been seventeen when they’d started going out.

  His stomach clenched. He’d been avoiding being alone with Sonja because their kiss had sealed it. He wanted more, a lot more than being casual friends. If he avoided her, she couldn’t shatter that desire. He might as well get it over with. He texted Sonja that he’d be over about 7:30 and help tuck Shelley into bed.

  Jeff left the shop earlier than he’d planned so he’d have time to shower and shave before going to Sonja’s. He glanced in the bathroom mirror and stroked the stubble on his chin. Or not shave. Some women found stubble sexy. At least that’s what the media said. He went with the stubble. On the way out, he grabbed his bike helmet. He should walk, or jog, up to the B&B. He hadn’t gotten much exercise this week. But riding calmed his nerves, which really needed calming.

  Too soon, he lifted the door knocker on the B&B’s front door and let it drop. He should have taken the long way around Seaside Boulevard and back down Main. His stomach churned while he waited on the porch for Sonja to answer. As he reached to use the knocker again, Jeff heard footsteps. He shifted his weight from foot to foot until the door swung open.

  “Hi,” Sonja said, motioning him in.

  “Hi.” He took in her casual cotton shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, comparing them to the sundress and sexy sandals—at least, he’d found them sexy—she’d worn for supper with Eric and him. She wasn’t trying to impress him. Was that good or bad?

  She closed the door behind him and locked it.

  “Uh, you texted that we needed to talk.”

  Sonja cleared her throat. “Let’s go upstairs. I have that pie I promised.”

  “I like pie.” Jeff could have slapped himself in the head at how lame he sounded.

  “Good to know.” Sonja’s laugh rippled through him, softening some of the edges on his nerves.

  “Make yourself comfortable,” she said when they walked into her living room. “I’ll get the pie, and would you like coffee or a cold drink?”

  “Coffee’s good.” He sat on the couch and tapped his foot, which was probably better than pacing the room, but not by much.

  “Here you go,” she said in a cheery voice as she placed a tray with a double-sized piece of pie and two mugs of coffee on the coffee table.

  “Lemon meringue. My favorite. How did you know?” And was the super-sizing her effort to soften her blow? Jeff caught himself before he raked his fingers through his hair. He didn’t need to blast how unsettled he was.

  “Luck of the draw. It was what the Café had left when I dropped Caroline off after shopping.”

  Sonja sat next to him, not over at the other end of the couch. A good sign? He avoided her gaze glancing around the room for an idea to stall their talk. “Where’s Shelley?”

  “All worn out from doing papers with Meg. She fell asleep a half hour ago.”

  Guilt pierced him. “I should have cut out of work earlier. I told Shelley I’d be here to tuck her in.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. Meg is really good with Shelley, isn’t she?

  Was Sonja stalling now? He swallowed in an effort to dislodge the boulder in his chest. “You said you wanted to talk. About the PR campaign?” They’d covered that last week, but he could hope.

  “No, about you and me.” She folded her hands in her lap and clenched them.

  “You mean us kissing. You regret it.”

  “No.” She favored him with the kind of smile that could bring a man to his knees, unclenched her hands and relaxed against the couch back. “The exact opposite. I enjoyed it—very much.” She stiffened again. “You regret it. I understand if you don’t want to get involved.”

  “Get involved? Honey, I’ve been involved in some way since we first met.” He hesitated. Nah. He might as well throw it all out there. “You’re the first woman I’ve been seriously attracted to since my … my wife.” When he finished, his heart was beating so hard he couldn’t breathe.

  Sonja reached over and squeezed his hand. Her soft touch did nothing to slow his heart.

  “Me, too, but I wouldn’t ad
mit it to myself. I’ve been afraid that if it doesn’t work out, it could be awkward. You know, with Lauren and Jesse, and all.”

  “We just have to put our friendship first.” Jeff didn’t know where that had come from, but it sounded like sage advice to him.

  “So what’s next?” she asked.

  Jeff put his arm around her shoulder and leaned in. “I could go with some more kissing.”

  She playfully batted him away. “I was thinking more along the lines of an actual date. We could see if Meg would watch Shelley.”

  “Okay, where do you want to go?”

  “Surprise me.”

  “Before you say that, let me tell you that one of my favorite dates when I was single, before I was married, was an Easy Rider retro showing at the drive-in. We took my bike and a blanket.”

  “I can work with that. Why don’t we plan a ride up the coast for a picnic on the beach?”

  “On my bike or the pickup?”

  “Your bike. I’ve never ridden on a motorcycle before.”

  “All right. You’ll love it.” Or he sure hoped she would. “Sunday about 1:00?”

  “Sunday is good if Meg is free.”

  “I’ll check with her.” He lifted his arm from Sonja’s shoulder to stand to leave.

  “Before you go, I have a few more things.”

  He waited on the edge of the couch to hear what.

  “When Eric is here for Independence Day week, I can do without the competition to impress me. You’re the hands-down winner.”

  He let himself bask in Sonja’s words. “And?”

  “We should have our coffee and pie.”

  “Yeah.” He picked up his plate of pie and relaxed back to sample it.

  “And I wouldn’t mind a few more of those kisses.”

  Jeff placed his pie back on the coffee table and pulled Sonja into his arms. “Whatever the lady wants,” he whispered before capturing her lips with his.