The Cliff House

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “You chose me, unilaterally, without giving me the chance to have any say in the decision. Despite everything we were to each other.”

  “Yes. It was wrong and I’m more sorry than I can ever say.”

  He exhaled and it was as if he released all the pain and sadness on his breath. “It’s done. We can’t change the past. I’m not sure I would if I could. I grieved for you and our love for a long time, wondering what I had done wrong and how I could have lost the best thing that had ever happened to me.”

  More tears trickled down and she wiped at them with her sleeve.

  He held her closer. “Then one day I woke up and I decided I had to move on. I started dating again, met Holly, and two years later we were married. If not for everything that happened, I wouldn’t have Rowan. I hated losing you but I wouldn’t trade Ro for anything.”

  He was a wonderful father to his daughter, just as he would have been a wonderful father to her nieces.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you. I grieved, too. I’m not sure I ever stopped grieving.”

  “Why didn’t you ever marry?”

  She sighed. “I came close, twice. Both of them were good, honorable men. But neither was you, the love of my heart.”

  His eyes gleamed with emotion and he angled his head to brush his mouth against hers.

  His kiss was everything she remembered from all those years ago, heat and tenderness and joy. How was it possible for years to have passed, a lifetime for each of them, yet they could still fit together like two pieces of a puzzle?

  After a long moment he lifted his head. “Do you think, after all this time, we could try again?”

  She felt tears burn again. At this rate she was going to be dehydrated, from the crying alone.

  “Is that what you want?”

  “Something led Rowan and me here to Cape Sanctuary. I thought I was coming here for a fresh start. Now I wonder if everything was simply leading me back to you.”

  He kissed her again, until she felt all those years melt away. One thing still niggled at the back of her mind, a huge part of her life.

  “What about the baby?” she asked.

  His smile was as sweet as it was reassuring. “I never expected to have any more children. Holly had to have a hysterectomy because of complications after Rowan, and I was fine with one. I think we should take things slowly, of course. Get to know the people we’ve grown into over the years. But if things go forward with us, as I fully expect them to, I would love the idea of helping you raise your child.”

  More tears, only this time she was laughing and crying at the same time and so very grateful to God or fate or kismet or whomever had decided, after all these years, to once more merge their separate paths into one.

  25

  BEATRIZ

  Oh, how she wished every Sunday afternoon could be like this one.

  The day after the picnic Bea sat on a huge pillow on her pool deck with a wide kaleidoscope of color spread out in front of her, glittering and bright.

  She was trying something new, a mosaic made out of glass crushed from trash she’d found the last time Open Hearts did their annual beach cleanup at Breakers Beach a few months earlier. She still didn’t have a clear vision but thought she would try a mermaid, with swirls of blue waves for hair and an iridescent green fin.

  Working on a new project always excited her, especially trying a medium outside her usual comfort zone.

  When people asked her to describe her art, Bea struggled to come up with the right words. She considered herself an explorer, someone constantly trying to find new ways to get her message across. She loved what she created, especially when all the pieces came together.

  This one was working beautifully. She could already tell it would be better than she had hoped. It might even be something she decided to keep and hang here instead of putting up for sale at one of the galleries that displayed her work.

  The art wasn’t what was making her so happy, though she found her usual joy in the act of creation. It was the activity going on at the table next to her. For the past two hours, Shane and Mari had been busy working on Mari’s car for the Pinewood Derby.

  It was truly destined to be epic. The car was painted in rainbow colors, glossy and bright under the August California sun. Now the two of them were trying to decide if they should attach Skittles candy to the car for decoration and for weight.

  This was the first time Shane had spent any length of time here since moving out. He seemed relaxed and happy, teasing Mari and even smiling at Bea once in a while. It almost felt like old times, before the awkwardness of the past few weeks.

  She had missed this friendship. She had missed him. Shane was an integral part of their lives. How could she convince him that both she and Mari needed him to stick around?

  She had to just tell him she was in love with him. No more dancing around the subject. She had to sit him down, hold his hands in hers, gaze into his blue eyes and tell him she knew what she wanted, and it was a future with the football coach and biology teacher at Cape Sanctuary High.

  She had to find the courage somehow. She had been so afraid of losing this friendship she treasured. Wasn’t she already losing it by not being honest with him?

  As she worked with the cut pieces of glass, arranging the shattered pieces into something bright and beautiful, she thought about how life was like art in many ways. Broken pieces could be formed and shaped into something better.

  “This is looking so good,” Mari exclaimed. “I bet I’m going to win.”

  “It’s not necessarily about winning. It’s about knowing you tried your best.”

  “Is that something they teach you in Football Coach 101?” Bea teased.

  He smiled. “Something like that. Along with, There’s No I in Team and Keep Your Eye on the Ball.”

  They ultimately decided against the Skittles for now, though Shane told Mari they could add them later if they decided the car needed them.

  When they were starting to clean up, Bea knew she had to act. She couldn’t say anything to him with Mari there, but if she extended the evening, perhaps she could keep him there after Mari’s bedtime to talk.

  Did she have the nerve?

  She had to find it. She had spent enough of her life living with regrets. She couldn’t regret not taking the chance to tell him of her feelings.

  “Shane, do you have dinner plans?” she blurted out. “I made pizza dough earlier. There’s plenty, if you want to stay.”

  She didn’t have many culinary skills, but she made a mean pizza. After she and Cruz moved to West Hollywood, one of her several part-time jobs had been at a neighborhood pizza place. The owner, Mr. D’Angelo, had been kind to her, showing her how to prep the dough, flip it, spread it into a circle and even how to shake it off the pizza peel into the wood-fired oven.

  She had hated leaving after she found a much more lucrative job waitressing at a fancy sit-down restaurant, where she could make more in tips on one busy Friday night than she could in a week of working afternoons at D’Angelo’s.

  “I do love your pizza,” Shane said, “but I’m afraid I can’t tonight.”

  “Why not?” Mari pouted.

  “I have plans already. Sorry.”

  “Is it a date?” Mari teased.

  “None of your business, Sunshine,” he said, though he looked uncomfortable at the question, which Bea took as confirmation.

  He had a date. He was leaving her and Mari to go out with someone else.

  Was it with the French teacher? The woman was obviously interested in him. That had been clear enough at the football game when she had seen them together.

  Shane must feel the same.

  He had someone else. She had waited too long to act.

  The knowledge took all the joy out of her afternoon. She looked down at her mosaic, at all the broke
n shards of glass that now only looked like a hodgepodge of mismatched trash.

  “What time do you want to go next week?” Mari asked him as Shane was preparing to take off.

  “Your invitation said dinner is at seven. I’ll pick you up about six thirty.” He paused. “Are you sure you don’t want to go with your dad, since he’s in town? The other girls will have their fathers.”

  Mari shook her head. “I already gave you the invitation. It would be rude.”

  “I would certainly understand, Sunshine. It won’t hurt my feelings.”

  She shook her head again. “I want you to be my date. Unless you don’t want to come with me.”

  “That’s not it. You’re my favorite eleven-year-old in the whole world. You know that. But I don’t want you to miss a chance to hang out with your dad.”

  “I’ve been with him like every day since he’s been here. I already told him I was going with you. He knows.”

  “In that case, I’ll see you Saturday night, for sure.”

  “Bye, Shane. Thanks for helping me with the car.”

  “You bet.” He hugged Mari and then turned to Bea. Suddenly, the ease of the day seemed to have dissolved into awkwardness. After a moment he hugged her, too, and it was all Bea could do not to hang on tight.

  “I’ll see you later, too,” he said.

  “Bye. Have fun on your date.”

  He gave her a searching look, nodded and let himself out.

  She hadn’t said anything about her feelings. What would be the point? She had waited entirely too long to come to her senses. Now that she knew exactly what she wanted, it was too late. He was dating someone else.

  If he married the French teacher and they settled here in Cape Sanctuary, what would she do? Somehow she would have to find a way to be happy for him, for the sake of the friendship she had cherished for most of her life.

  26

  DAISY

  She wasn’t sure when she had enjoyed a Sunday afternoon more.

  Usually, she spent the day with Stella or Bea or alone in her studio. She enjoyed both of those options, but there was something magical about this particular Sunday. Daisy sat in her most comfortable chair in her small living room with Louie on her lap and a book open in front of her.

  Gabe sat on the sofa with his laptop propped in front of him. He had been editing for the past two hours, with an intense, single-minded focus she found fascinating.

  For the most part he was silent, headphones clamped over his ears as he watched and listened to the footage he had shot at the picnic.

  Every once in a while, he let out a sound that made her smile and made Louie jump in his sleep. Despite her best efforts at interpretation, she couldn’t tell whether his random sounds were frustration or triumph.

  She wanted to help. She had tried to help when he first came over to her house. They had watched about an hour of footage together, interviews and candid shots of families together at the picnic. It quickly became apparent that Gabe was used to working alone and really didn’t need any help.

  He knew exactly what he was doing and she figured out early on that she was only messing with his process.

  Eventually, she had slipped to her bedroom and found the mystery novel she was reading on her bedside table. Gabe had been so engrossed in the project, she wasn’t sure he even noticed she had moved to the other chair and was no longer sitting beside him.

  She wasn’t making much progress on her book, since watching him work was far more engrossing than her novel. He worked the laptop like it was a Stradivarius and he was a virtuoso.

  Gradually, his frenzied movements began to slow and finally stop. He winced a little and stretched his back. She could only imagine he hurt, being in one position for so long. She should have insisted he get up and move around before now.

  “Is it really seven o’clock or is my computer time wrong?”

  “It’s seven,” she answered. He had arrived at two and hadn’t left the sofa since he started. “You’ve been hard at it for hours.”

  He made a face. “Sorry. I tend to get wrapped up in a project and lose track of space and time. And company.”

  Daisy saw no reason to be offended by that. She did the same when she was hard at work in the studio.

  “I actually didn’t mind. Louie and I had a nice visit and I’ve enjoyed reading and watching you.”

  She wished she hadn’t added that last part, especially when he gave her an interested look. She quickly changed the subject.

  “Are you close to being done?”

  “Maybe another hour. Maybe less.”

  “Are you hungry? Do you want to take a break to eat something?”

  He blinked, a frown furrowing his brow. “Yeah. Actually, I am hungry. Do you want to go somewhere?”

  He needed a keeper, someone to make sure he took care of his temporal needs. She should have done a better job of that, as his official assistant on the project.

  “I have things to make sandwiches, if you’d like to eat out on the patio.”

  “That sounds great. I can help.”

  “No need. Everything’s already in the refrigerator. It will only take a minute to put it together. Why don’t you take Louie out and I’ll bring the food in a moment?”

  He rose slowly, wincing again, and she resolved to make him at least take some pain reliever.

  It only took her a moment to throw together chicken salad sandwiches on the fresh ciabatta rolls she had purchased earlier that morning. She added cut vegetables from her refrigerator, some of the gourmet cheese James had introduced her to and a couple of fresh early-crop apples and headed out to the patio to join him.

  When she walked out she found him standing on the edge of the low stone fence that enclosed her patio, gazing down the steep cliff toward the water.

  From here she had a view for miles up and down the coast in both directions.

  Louie barked when she came out, which made Gabe turn. He shook his head. “This view. It’s spectacular!”

  She had to smile. It did take the breath away. From the front her house looked like a quaint little cottage surrounded by flowers and trees and strange little whimsical statues. Back here the cliff sloped away into nothing. The terrace went straight to the edge. If not for that low fence, she would worry about stumbling over the side to the water hundreds of feet below.

  She didn’t like heights in general but she forgot that fear here, with the sheer magnificence of the view.

  “It takes my breath away every time I walk outside.”

  “Why do you ever go inside?”

  She smiled a little and set the tray out on the wrought iron table. She brought along a lighter and spent a few moments igniting the citronella torches around the edges of the terrace that helped keep away any mosquitoes.

  It was entirely too romantic a scene, she realized too late as she watched Gabe pour wine into the two glasses she’d brought out. Would he think she intended that? She should never have suggested they come out here.

  “I think I would become a hermit if I lived here,” he said as he sipped at the wine.

  “It is hard to leave sometimes,” she admitted.

  “This house suits you.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “It appears to be one way from one vantage point. Nice enough. Pretty, even. When you take the time to explore a little deeper, though, you discover something completely unexpected. Something so extraordinary it takes your breath away.”

  Heat seemed to flash through her, fierce and wild. She didn’t know what to say. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, looked at her that way. No one had ever bothered to see beyond the surface except James, a man whose heart wasn’t free for him to give.

  She wanted to soak in the wonder of the moment. When he left Cape Sanctuary and moved on to other
projects and places, she would remember that once Gabe Ellison had stood on her terrace and said words to her that seemed to reach right into her heart.

  “That...is a lovely thing to say.”

  “I mean every word,” he murmured. And then, as she had been hoping, he leaned down and brushed his mouth over hers.

  Now the evening truly was perfect.

  She wrapped her arms around him, loving the heat of him and the way his mouth danced over hers as if he couldn’t get enough.

  It seemed inevitable, as if it had been foreordained eons ago that they would be here at this moment, with the sweet smell of the flowers in her garden drifting around them and the spectacular setting laid out ahead of them.

  She was falling in love with him.

  She had always assumed she was immune to that particular emotion. She had dated before she married James, in college and after, and had never even been close. Here she was, though, head over heels with Gabe Ellison—a man she knew would be leaving Cape Sanctuary as soon as he could arrange it.

  She had always been so careful, so determined to protect herself. Yet now she was destined to wind up with a broken heart. She saw no possible way to avoid it.

  She wasn’t going to worry about that right now. For this moment they were here and he was in her arms. She was determined to savor each taste, each touch, each moment with him while she had the chance.

  27

  GABE

  He hadn’t been lying. This house mirrored her perfectly. It was charming, whimsical, overflowing with surprises.

  Daisy was the most intriguing woman he had ever met. She was a puzzle he had a feeling he would never grow bored trying to solve. He missed her when he wasn’t with her and couldn’t wait for the moment when he would see her again.

  He wanted to know everything about her, and every new discovery made him more intrigued. He was attracted to her, wildly attracted, but it was the astonishing tenderness that surprised him most. She put on a front as a tough, pragmatic accountant, but her heart was as soft and vulnerable as a hatchling turtle.