Longing for Forever (Sunset Bay Romance Book 1)

by Debra Clopton

  “I’m, for one, hoping it works out. I’ll have to look for someone else if not, because I’ve made my mind up that I’m going to start relaxing some. But, you have always been my first choice to take over for me. I’ve just been trying to wait you out. Let you get that drive for excitement and adrenaline rush out of your system.”

  Adam didn’t know what to say. Had he gotten it out of his system or was he in crisis mode? A few minutes later, as he headed back to his bungalow, he kept going over the doc’s words. Had he just been in it for the adrenaline rush?

  No, but it had been a big help to him to keep him doing his job when he needed his skills the most. Now it was gone.

  Compassion fatigue was something he’d denied for over a year, but then there came the night he couldn’t deny it any longer. The night he’d lost the boy. A hard lump formed in his chest thinking about the poor kid. Adam had walked away and taken a leave of absence after losing Mikie.

  He’d known it was time—couldn’t go on even if he’d wanted to. He’d blamed himself. Still did. Questions about that night haunted him. He hadn’t been able to continue after that and he’d walked away. Now, here he was, back home, where his dreams of being a doctor had begun. Here, he was hoping the joy would return and his mind and soul would heal. That somehow he’d find peace. But the sleepless nights still persisted. Sleep evaded him as he relived every aspect of that night fighting to save little Mikie’s life. But he hadn’t been able to do it.

  There were other similar cases where he’d lost his patient, but in Adam’s mind he’d given them his all, done absolutely everything he could to save them. He wasn’t sure if he had done that where the little boy was concerned.

  And that doubt and losing Mikie ate at him constantly.

  Spotting the coffee shop, Bake My Day, that Tate had suggested, and the place where his neighbor had bought the muffins he’d devoured, he pressed the brake and pulled into an empty parking spot. He passed it every day, leaving or coming home, but hadn’t stopped yet. But today, needing something to help shake the sudden feelings threatening to pull him down, he pulled into an open parking space and got out. He wasn’t a huge sweet eater, but the muffins had been more than excellent and he had been tempted with thoughts of them often.

  Then again, it could have been that they were connected to his neighbor, whom he’d had on his mind over the last week and it had always been a sunny spot in his thoughts when he let himself think of her. He hadn’t seen much of her since that day she’d caught him looking ridiculous with the pelican. Her job, whatever she did, must have her keeping odd hours because most of the time it didn’t look as if she were home. He even wondered if she might be a nurse or something since he was used to the medical field having odd hours. Her yellow bike would be there in the evenings but she wasn’t outside when he was, and in the mornings, despite the fact that he did his early morning jog at six, her bike was gone. Maybe she slept days and worked nights.

  He had decided that if he was going to run into her again, he would have to spend all day outside so he could catch her in that small sliver of time that she returned home, parked her bike, and disappeared inside, never to be seen—at least by him—again.

  He walked to the cute building, and as he opened the door he decided that he would buy her some muffins today to return the favor. And if all else failed and he didn’t see her today, he would hang the bag from her doorknob so that she would have the muffins to enjoy. Good plan. A plan that upped his mood and gave him more purpose for being here than simply filling his own stomach.

  The heavenly scent hit him the instant the door opened. Rich coffee and mouthwatering scents of delicious things being fresh baked nearly took him to his knees, it was so rich and strong. The place was fairly empty other than a table with four older ladies who seemed to be busy dipping round balls of what looked like cake or muffins into a container of chocolate and then setting them on a tray. They were chattering, but stopped to stare when he entered.

  Halting inside the doorway, he nodded to them and smiled… It was then that he realized one of the ladies was Birdie Carmichael, the older lady he’d bought his bungalow from. “Afternoon, ladies. Ms. Carmichael.” It didn’t take but an instant for smiles of welcome to splash across their faces in a wave.

  “Good afternoon to you, too. And I’m only going to tell you once more to call me Birdie. I don’t cotton to the Ms., Mrs., or Miss. I’m just plain Birdie.”

  A youthful-looking older woman with big glasses that were rimmed in multi-toned colors like party confetti, smiled. “She’s right—Birdie suits her. And I’m Lila Peabody. You can call me Lila. And this here is Mami Desmond and Doreen Posey. I hear you’re the new doc in town. We are too to some extent. We were all snowbirds, coming down during the winter, and then we all decided not to go back up north.”

  “We are so glad to have a new doctor in town. Especially such a handsome one,” the lady named Mami said.

  Doreen just nodded and went back to work dipping the ball on the stick into the chocolate sauce.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” He moved across the room to their table, curious about what they were doing and how she knew him as the doctor. “I’m helping out at Doctor Coleman’s for a few months. How did you know?”

  Lila blinked hard behind her thick glasses. “Birdie told me. Said a tall drink of water had bought one of her dilapidated bungalows and was some fancy doctor come home to give old Doc Coleman some much-needed time off.”

  A tall drink of water. The description—and her bluntness—took him by surprise. He looked at Birdie. “Looks like you’re someone I need to look out for.”

  The old woman grinned impishly. “I been around a long time and don’t see any reason not to say what I mean. And you are a good-looking doctor in his prime. And those dimples…oh my. I might be old but I’m not blind. Those brothers of yours are heartbreakers too. And that one that’s the fire chief, he’s got those same dimples.”

  The women all laughed and agreed, making him slightly uncomfortable.

  “Okay, ladies, don’t make our new doctor skittish. Don’t mind them—they don’t bite.”

  He swung around at the familiar voice. His neighbor, Rosie Olsen, stood in the doorway of the back room behind the counter. She wore a pink apron with the words Bake My Day scrawled across it and she looked adorable. His senses heightened instantly: his adrenaline spiked, his heart thumped wildly, and a pleasant sense of well-being surrounded him, even with the reaction. “I’m not scared.”

  That brought more laughter and made Rosie’s smile widen, which pleased him all the way to his toes.

  She moved from the doorway and came from behind the counter carrying a tray of the balls with sticks sticking out of them. She looked at what the ladies were doing.

  “Great job, girls. Those are going to be a hit.”

  “What are those?” He tried not to stare at her.

  “Muffin balls and cake balls on a stick.” She took the now chocolate-covered tray in one hand that Lila lifted up to her and then twisted to set the new batch of muffin balls on the table.

  When the finished tray tilted, he moved quickly to take it from her, seeing disaster in the making. “Here, let me help.”

  “Oh, thanks.” She released the tray. “I need all the help I can get at this time of the day. I’m normally in bed taking a much-needed nap about now, but there is too much to do before tomorrow.” She spun and started back the way she’d come and he followed, catching a grin pass between Lila and Birdie as he turned to follow her.

  “What’s happening tomorrow? And why are you sleeping in the afternoons?” The idea of her napping at her age had him instantly concerned. Then again, he reminded himself that she was gone in the wee hours of the morning and her bike was parked at her door around five but then he didn’t see her in the evenings. “And do you work here? I hadn’t realized that when you gave me the muffins the other day.” He was rambling. He wasn’t normally that way but she fascinat
ed him and he was curious.

  She paused at the doorway and gave him that stunning smile that did things to his insides. “I own the shop and tomorrow is the festival I agreed to have a booth in. But Gigi, my part-time help, had to call in sick again. She caught the flu or something and can’t seem to kick it to the curb. And Trena was already scheduled to visit her family this weekend and I couldn’t ask her to take up the slack. It’s her grandmother’s birthday, after all. Poor Gigi feels terrible, both physically and just helpless about the whole thing. But she can’t help it, poor thing, but no matter. I’m in a real mess. Thankfully the ladies realized I was in desperate need and volunteered to help me.” She led the way into the back and opened a large freezer. “Slide them on that shelf, please.”

  He did as told, passing by her close enough to smell the sweet scent of the bakery on her. She’d been talking nonstop and exposing just how highly distraught she was about her situation. He was taking it all in but was so distracted by her that it hadn’t had time to process. They were both standing in the doorway of the freezer as the cold air swept over them, but he wasn’t cold. No, he was warm all over. Looking into her endless blue eyes…his brain fogged over, thinking her eyes were like an inviting ocean and he wanted to dive into them.

  He had the nearly overwhelming desire to lean forward and kiss her. She stared up at him and he leaned slightly forward but caught himself. His actions were completely out of character for him.

  Her gaze dropped to his lips, and for a moment he thought she might be thinking the exact same thing he was—that him kissing her was a good idea.

  “And, to answer your other question, I sleep or take a nap about this time every day because I’m usually up at four, here baking every morning. So, I find that if I take a nap when I get off or soon after I have done my errands for the day, then I have more time in the evening to not feel completely worn out. And I can do my thing before turning in for the rest of the night.”

  She gazed up at him, looking like a bird ready to fly. There was no way that this attraction he felt humming between them was one-sided. The vibes jolted between them like electrical currents on a short fuse. He propped one hand on the door of the freezer, completely dialed into capturing her fast-talking, tempting lips with his.

  “And what exactly is your thing?” he asked, fighting the pull between them—very much wanting to know everything about her, especially how her lips would feel kissing him. She hadn’t moved since he’d placed his hand on the freezer door frame beside her head, but was still looking at him as if she were entertaining similar thoughts. Then her words got past his preoccupied thoughts and rocked him to his senses. He pulled his hand back and stepped away from her, out of the cold air that had obviously frozen his brain.

  “You ride your bike through the streets of Sunset Bay at four in the morning? Alone? Are you crazy?” He hadn’t meant that to come out like that, but he wasn’t exactly feeling in control at the moment.

  Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth dropped open. “What?” She closed the freezer door and faced him, clearly alarmed.

  He hated putting that expression on her pretty face, but she should be alarmed because no woman needed to be on a bicycle, alone in the dark, that early in the morning. “Do you?”

  “Yes, I ride my bike on the streets of Sunset Bay at four and no one bothers me.”

  “Yet,” he snapped, feeling crazy with worry. “Don’t you have a car?”

  “No. I don’t want a car. Everything I need is right here near me. It’s only one block to my shop. One block.”

  It wasn’t much farther than a block, but this world was not a nice place. Terrible things happened that early in the morning. Dark and terrible things happened in the dark. Terrible things happened in the daylight, too—at least they had in Chicago and in New York.

  He raked a hand through his hair as an overwhelming wave of worry for her crashed down upon him. “Look, I don’t want to seem bossy, but I worked trauma units and I see what happens in the early mornings in the cover of darkness. I’ve treated people who’ve been attacked, who’ve been shot, stabbed, raped. It’s not pretty. You don’t need to be out in the dark like that alone.” He needed to step back into the freezer to cool off.

  Her eyes saddened. “I am sorry that your view on life is so negative and that you’ve seen so many horrific things that influence that view. But I have another perspective and I focus on the good. And Sunset Bay is a quaint little beach town where people know each other and appreciate each other and look out for each other. They don’t murder each other or harm each other.”

  Stubborn woman. “It just takes one bad seed to move into town and turn your world upside down. I’m just concerned. And obviously someone needs to look out for you.”

  She visibly pulled back and took a deep breath. “I just met you. So, I think this is a little premature on your part. While I appreciate your concern, I don’t want it. Believe me, I’ve been through a lot in my life and there’s not much anymore that scares me. And after my last round of…well, my last ordeal, I decided I wasn’t going to be scared ever again. I enjoy riding my bike to my shop in the dark at four in the morning. It’s quiet and peaceful. I enjoy that still time in the wee hours as I open my doors, turn on the lights, get the coffee brewing and I start baking. I watch the sunrise through my large store windows as I roll dough or make muffins. I feel peace.”

  She mesmerized him. He remembered a time when he’d been a kid growing up in Sunset Bay and didn’t have a care or fear in the world. But he was an adult now and he knew differently. “I get that you love it. But it’s still not safe.”

  Her shoulders lifted and she sighed. “I’m safe. I’ll continue filling this place with the scents that make people happy as I bake fresh muffins and pastries for them each day. It makes me happy and I’m going to keep riding my bike because it also makes me happy. But as much as I love making people happy, I’m not going to alter my routine in order to do that.” She turned and walked back into the front room of the store.

  What had she been through that made her make such a drastic declaration? He wasn’t done, not by a long shot, because he wanted her to be safe. But he wanted to know what she’d been talking about when she’d talked about the ordeal she’d been through. Still, no matter what she’d been through, he was going to make her understand his point of view. He was a doctor; most people listened to his point of view—most people asked for his advice. So why was she being so stubborn?

  So reckless?

  Chapter Four

  Rosie fought emotions that threatened to send her spiraling. Adam had startled her when she walked from the back room earlier to find her incredibly handsome neighbor talking with her friends. Since meeting him that first day, she had discovered that he was the new doctor in town. She’d overheard Birdie telling the other ladies the next morning at their usual coffee and muffin meeting. They had been sitting around the table in the corner, in a deep discussion about the new doctor. Birdie had then told her he had bought the cottage next door to her. Everyone was thrilled that he had started working a couple of days a week to relieve old Doc Coleman. It had piqued her interest. Her bird-battling neighbor was not only good-looking, but a doctor too. It was, to her, an irresistible combination. She had a very high regard for doctors and a very good reason for that regard. And then add on the fact that he was helping out Doc Colman…the man was a hero on all counts.

  Everyone loved Doc Coleman. The man was so dedicated to keeping the community well, even to his own detriment. So in their eyes, Adam Sinclair, in coming to ease his workload, had practically put on a red cape and joined the realm of superhero. He was giving Doc the time off everyone knew he needed, and add to that that he was a hometown boy…this automatically elevated Adam to superhero status.

  And he was living right next door to her.

  She had been busy since that first meeting as she was baking extra every evening in preparation of having enough baked goods for the shop and the festival
booth. She had seen him, though, a few times when she woke from her evening nap and looked out her kitchen window. He’d been working on the bungalow, sometimes without his shirt on, and she knew that beneath that shirt, the doctor was built. Not that she needed to be thinking about that right now; she needed to stay on track. She had been working on flyers and social media for the festival so she’d forced herself to stay inside, not avoiding him exactly, but she had to admit that she was relieved to have something to keep her busy and out of trouble. Because she had been afraid that if she went outside and talked to him again that she might not be able to hide her attraction to him.

  Something about the man called to her, made her want to feel things she hadn’t felt in a very long time and, well, quite frankly, it all scared her.

  Was she ready to try to let someone past the barriers around her heart?

  Could she handle the emotions a romance could set in motion?

  Ready or not, the man had followed her into the back room and almost kissed her, standing right there in the doorway of the walk-in freezer. Even the frigid air couldn’t cool the heat waves between them. And she had almost let him kiss her.

  She didn’t kiss men she barely knew.

  And yet she had wanted to kiss Adam.

  Very much.

  Until he’d opened his mouth and said those ridiculous things. What had he been thinking? He was far too bossy for her taste. It was a good thing she’d learned that now. Then again, she’d also learned that he had a very sad and jaded opinion of the world. And that made her ache to change his mind.

  He walked from the back of the bakery and instantly the room shrank around them. She checked the muffins baking in the oven, letting the heat wash over her in hopes that anyone looking at her would think the oven had turned her cheeks red. She willed him to walk around the counter and back into the front of the bakery. He needed to leave. Or at least put the counter between them.