A Brambleberry Summer

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “There’s my friend Sadie,” he announced. “I need to tell her something.”

  He handed the leash to Wyatt and hurried over to talk to his friend. Wyatt realized that left him alone at the table to make conversation with Rosa.

  “What part of Honduras are you from?”

  He didn’t miss the way she tensed a little, then seemed to force herself to relax. “A small fishing village near the coast. I left when I was a teenager.”

  “How did you go from a small village in Honduras to living at Brambleberry House and running a gift shop on the Oregon coast?”

  She shrugged. “A long story. The short version is that mi Tia Anna is part owner of the house, along with her friend Sage. Anna and her husband live in Portland while Sage and her family spend most of their time in California. Anna needed someone to run the gift shop for her. I have a retail marketing degree and was working a job I didn’t enjoy that much in Park City.”

  “Utah?”

  “Yes. Have you been there?”

  “No. I’m not much of a skier. My parents used to take us to Mount Hood when I was a kid. I never really enjoyed it.”

  She smiled a little. “I do not ski, either. It seems a silly pastime to me.”

  “I guess some people like the thrill. You’re not an adrenaline junkie?”

  “No. Not me. I have had enough adventure for a lifetime, thank you.”

  He wanted to pursue that line of questioning but didn’t have a chance as Logan and their food arrived at the picnic table at the same time.

  They had never really made a conscious decision to eat together, but it somehow felt natural, especially as their dogs were nestled together and had become fast friends.

  What happened to Hank’s restlessness? Wyatt wondered. Right now, the dog did not look like he wanted to move.

  The food was as good as always, the chicken flavorful and the salsa spicy.

  He spent a moment helping Logan get situated, then turned his attention back to Rosa. “So you were saying you lived in Utah but you don’t like to ski. And that you have had enough adventure and aren’t an adrenaline junkie.”

  She took a drink of the horchata she had ordered. “Utah is beautiful year-round. In the summertime, I do like to hike in the mountains and mountain-bike with my parents and primos. Cousins,” she explained at Logan’s quizzical look.”

  “I have one primo. Cousin. Her name is Bella.”

  Rosa smiled at him. “I know your cousin very well.”

  “You sound like you are close to your family,” Wyatt said.

  “Oh, yes. Very. My family is wonderful. My parents, Daniel and Lauren Galvez, are the most kind people you will ever meet. Daniel is in law enforcement, as well. He is the sheriff of our county.”

  “Is that right?” He found the information rather disheartening. If she had law-enforcement members in her own family, his occupation wasn’t likely to be the reason she was so distrustful of Wyatt.

  “Yes. Everyone loves him in Moose Springs and the towns nearby. And my mother, she is the doctor in town.”

  “The only one?”

  “It is not a very big town. Some people go to Park City when they need specialists, but Lauren is the best doctor in the whole world.”

  She spoke of her parents by their first names, which made him wonder at the relationship.

  “Is she also from Honduras?”

  He wasn’t surprised when her jaw tensed at the question. “No. She is from Moose Springs. Daniel, as well. They adopted me when I came to this country.”

  He wanted to pursue that line of questioning but reminded himself this was a casual encounter over tacos, not an interrogation. She had the right to her privacy. This was obviously a touchy subject for her and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

  “So. What do you think of your taco?” she asked Logan.

  “Muy delicioso,” he said with a grin. “That means ‘very delicious.’ I learned that from my friend Carlos. That’s what he says every day at lunch.”

  “That is the perfect thing to say about the tacos here. They are definitely muy delicioso.”

  She and Logan spent a few more minutes comparing ways to gush about their meals, leaving Wyatt to wonder what made Rosa so uncomfortable when she talked about her past.

  What was she hiding? She did not like to talk about herself, which he found unusual. In his line of work, he had learned that most law-abiding people loved talking about themselves and their lives. With a few well-aimed questions, Wyatt usually could find out anything he wanted to know.

  People who had things to hide, however, learned techniques to evade those kinds of questions.

  Her secrets were not his business, he reminded himself. She was a private person and there was certainly no law against that.

  He would be smart to remember that her history was her own. He wasn’t entitled to know, especially when their only relationship was that of landlady and tenant.

  Chapter Five

  The man was entirely too curious.

  It didn’t help that she couldn’t seem to keep her usual defensive techniques in place when he looked at her out of those blue eyes. She forgot about protecting herself, about concealing the parts of her life she preferred to forget. She forgot everything, lost in the totally ridiculous urge to lean across the picnic table and press her mouth against his. Anything to stop his questions.

  Wouldn’t that go over well? She could just imagine how he would react. It almost made her wish she had the nerve to try it.

  To her relief, he seemed to give up his interrogation as they finished dinner. He sat back and let her and Logan chatter about Logan’s friends, his day camp and the very cool dinosaur bones he saw at a museum in Portland with his aunt Carrie.

  He was really an adorable boy, filled with life and energy. He loved Star Wars, Legos, his dog and his father, not necessarily in that order.

  She enjoyed their company immensely, especially once Wyatt stopped digging into her life.

  “Good choice on dinner, kiddo,” he said with a warm smile to his son.

  Seeing him with Logan was like glimpsing a different person. He was more lighthearted, and certainly more approachable. He had smiled more during dinner than she had seen in all the time she had known him.

  The Townsend men were both extremely hard to resist.

  “That was so yummy,” Logan said as he balled up the wrapper of his taco and returned it to the tray. “Thanks, Dad.”

  “I didn’t do much except pay for it, but you’re welcome. You should tell Jose how much you enjoyed it.”

  At that moment, the taco-truck owner was delivering another tray to a nearby table so Logan jumped up and hurried over to him.

  “Gracias for the taco. It was muy delicioso.”

  Jose, bald head gleaming in the fading sunlight, beamed down at the boy with delight. “You are welcome. You come back anytime.”

  He fist-bumped Logan, who skipped as he hurried back to their table.

  “That was very nice of you,” Rosa said. “People like to feel appreciated.”

  “My dad taught me we should always tell people thank you for things they do. Sometimes we might be the only ones all day who say it to them.”

  Rosa had to smile at that. Her gaze met Wyatt’s and she found him watching her out of those unreadable blue eyes again.

  “That is probably true. Then I must say thank you for sharing dinner with me. I enjoyed it very much.”

  “So did I,” Logan said.

  “As did I,” Wyatt said to her surprise.

  He rose and took her trash and his to the garbage can and dumped it, then returned to the table. “Are you walking back to Brambleberry House?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’re headed that way, too. We can walk together, if you want.”

 
Did she? A smart woman would tell him she only just remembered an errand she needed to run at one of the little shops close to the taco truck. Spending more time with Wyatt and Logan was definitely dangerous to her peace of mind.

  She couldn’t think of anything she needed at any of the touristy places in this area of town, anyway.

  “Sure. It makes sense as we are going the same place.”

  Fiona jumped up from her spot beside Hank, almost as if she had been following the conversation and knew it was time to go.

  Sometimes Rosa thought the dog had to be the smartest animal in the world.

  As if on cue, Hank jumped up as well, then sat on his haunches and looked pointedly at his owner, as if to tell him he was ready to leave, too.

  “I’ll take Hank,” Logan said and picked up the leash. He led the way, still chattering, as they headed along the sand toward Brambleberry House.

  “Looks like it’s going to be another gorgeous sunset.” Wyatt looked out across the water at the clouds fanning out across the sky in shades of apricot and plum.

  “Lovely.”

  It was the sort of beautiful, vibrant summer evening meant to be spent with a special someone.

  Too bad she didn’t have a special someone.

  Rosa sighed. She hadn’t dated anyone seriously since she moved to Cannon Beach four years earlier.

  She really should go out on a date or two. All of her friends were constantly trying to set her up, but lately it all seemed like so much bother. Maybe that would distract her from this unwanted and inconvenient attraction to Wyatt.

  Rosa was not a nun or anything. She dated, when she found someone worthy of her time, though it was rather depressing to realize she hadn’t dated anyone seriously in a long time. Not since college, really?

  For two years, she had been very close to a fellow business major whose parents had emigrated from Peru. She and Santos had talked about returning to South America to open a string of restaurants.

  As far as she knew, he might have even done that. They had lost track of each other after graduation and she rarely thought of him anymore.

  Santos and the few other serious relationships she’d had had taught her that sex could be beautiful and meaningful with someone she cared about.

  She was happy with her life. She was running a successful business, she lived in a beautiful home and she loved the surroundings in Cannon Beach. She had good friends here and back in Utah and loved her volunteer work for the local women’s shelter.

  Okay, maybe she was sometimes lonely at night. Maybe she sometimes wished she could have someone to cuddle with, to talk to at the end of the day, to share her hopes and dreams.

  Fiona was lovely but talking to her had its limitations since she couldn’t respond.

  At the same time, she was not sure she was ready for the inherent risks of trusting her heart to someone.

  She had told no one else about the things that had happened to her. Not even Santos or the few other men she had dated seriously had known the entire truth. She had told them bits and pieces, but not everything.

  Maybe that was why those relationships had withered and died without progressing to the next level, because she had never completely trusted them to know.

  She certainly wasn’t about to spill her life story to Wyatt, as much as she enjoyed the company of him and his son.

  The walk back to the house passed quickly, mostly because Logan dominated the conversation. He pointed out a kite he liked, told her about riding a bike along the hard-packed sand near the water, went into a long story about the time he and his dad took a charter out to see whales up near Astoria.

  “Sorry about Logan,” Wyatt said in a low voice when the boy was distracted by something he saw on the sand and ran ahead with Hank to investigate. “He’s in a chatty mood tonight. Some days I wish I could find a pause button for a minute.”

  She smiled. “I do not mind. I love listening to him. Your son is terrific.”

  “Agreed,” he said gruffly. “He’s the best seven-year-old I know, even if he does tend to show off a little in front of pretty women.”

  Rosa felt flustered and didn’t know how to answer that. Fortunately, they had reached the beach gate at Brambleberry House.

  She punched in the code and the door swung open. As they walked through the back garden, she suddenly saw a strange car in the driveway, a small late-model bright red SUV she didn’t recognize.

  Rosa tensed, worrying instantly for Jen. She was reaching for her phone to check in with the woman when two females hurried around the side of the house. She recognized them instantly—Carrie and Bella—and shoved her phone back into her pocket.

  She smiled and waved, happy at the unexpected visit even as she could feel the usual mix of joy and tension settle over her.

  “Hi!” Bella called out to all of them, waving vigorously.

  “Hi, Bella,” Logan shouted, then beamed toward Rosa. “That’s my cousin, Bella, and her mom.”

  “It is good to see them,” Rosa said.

  As they moved toward each other, she thought she saw Carrie look between her and Wyatt with a surprised sort of look, as if she wouldn’t have expected to see them walking up from the beach together.

  “There you are! We rang both your doorbells but nobody answered.”

  “We bumped into each other while we were grabbing dinner and walked back together,” Rosa said quickly, so that his sister didn’t get the wrong idea about the two of them.

  “We got tacos at the food truck.”

  “Oh, I love that place,” Bella gushed. “My friends and I like to stop there after school. I love their churros.”

  “Me, too,” Logan declared, as if the cinnamon and sugar still dusting his clothes wasn’t enough of a giveaway.

  Rosa had to smile. She thought she saw Carrie give her a speculative sort of look but couldn’t be certain.

  “I came by to show off my new wheels,” her friend said. “What do you think?”

  “Let’s take a look,” Wyatt said.

  They moved toward the driveway and the small red SUV.

  “Nice,” Wyatt said, walking around the vehicle to check it out.

  “I like your new car,” Logan said. “It’s pretty.”

  “Thank you, dear.” Carrie beamed at him.

  “And guess what?” Bella’s voice vibrated with excitement. “We’re keeping Mom’s old car and when I start learning how to drive, I get to practice in that one.”

  Driving. Bella would be driving in only a few more years. How was it possible that she had grown so much?

  “There’s plenty of time for that,” Wyatt said, looking alarmed.

  “Not really. In less than two years, I’ll be old enough to get my learner’s permit. I’ll be driving around town before you know it.”

  “Good luck with that,” Wyatt said to his sister.

  “I know. I remember Dad teaching me how to drive. It was a nightmare. And I believe you wrecked a car or two in your day.”

  “You wrecked cars, Uncle Wyatt?” Bella looked at him wide-eyed and so did his son.

  Wyatt gave his sister a rueful look. “One. And it wasn’t my fault. A guy T-boned me in an intersection. He got the citation.”

  “In that case, I’m sorry I impugned your driving credentials,” Carrie said.

  He shrugged. “I will confess that in the past, I might have had a propensity to drive too fast. Good thing I can do that legally now, with lights and sirens going.”

  He tapped Bella lightly on the head. “But remember, I’m a highly trained officer of the law. You should always stay within the legal speed limit.”

  Bella giggled. “What about you, Rosa. Where did you learn to drive? Here or in Honduras?”

  She always felt strange talking about her childhood life with Bella and Carrie. “Here. My
father taught me when I was in high school. He and my mother were tired of driving me to after-school activities all the time. We had many ranch roads in Utah, where they live, so we practiced for hours until I could feel comfortable behind the wheel.”

  That was one more gift Lauren and Daniel had given her. Independence. They had wanted her to have all the skills she would need to make a success of her life. She knew they were proud of what she had done and how far she had come. At the same time, she knew Lauren especially worried about her love life.

  What would Lauren think about Wyatt? Rosa could guess. She would probably adore him—first because he was in law enforcement like Daniel and second because he was a good man who loved his child.

  She would be over the moon if she had any idea how Rosa couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him.

  She didn’t plan to tell either of them about her new tenant. Her parents and siblings were coming to town just before Labor Day, but Logan and Wyatt would be back in their own home by then. She would have to tell them nothing.

  Oddly, the thought of the Townsends moving out left her feeling slightly depressed.

  “When I get my learner’s permit,” Bella said, “I’m going to need a lot of practice time. Rosa, maybe you and Uncle Wyatt can help and give my mom and dad a break so they don’t always have to ride with me.”

  Rosa couldn’t find words for a few seconds, she was so honored that Bella would even consider allowing her to help her learn how to drive.

  “I would enjoy that,” she said, her voice a little ragged.

  “It’s a deal,” Wyatt said. “It will be good practice for when I have to teach this kiddo how to drive.”

  Would she be here when Bella was learning how to drive? Rosa wasn’t sure. She had never intended to stay in Cannon Beach for long, but once she had moved here, it had been hard to drag herself away. Now that she was a part owner of the gift store, it became even more difficult.

  She didn’t like thinking about leaving all the friends she had made here, but perhaps she would one day find it inevitable.