Love in Lavender_Sweet Contemporary Beach Romance

by Elana Johnson

  Drew’s chest seized. He’d forgotten about the funeral. The only reason he knew Yvonne’s mother had died was because Russ had told him. He did miss his friends at work, especially Russ.

  “So you talked to Yvonne?” Drew asked.

  “She begged me to come talk to you.” She lifted one shoulder. “I guess having two people stop by in the same day kicked me into gear.”

  Janey’s Jeep pulled into the driveway, and she got out in her forest green park ranger uniform. Her sigh was audible as she glanced toward the other property and scanned the farm area.

  “Up here,” Drew called, and Janey headed for the porch. She saw Gretchen sitting next to Drew and stopped.

  “He made me do it,” she said.

  Gretchen looked at Drew, who shrugged. “I can be pretty convincing when I have to be.” He started to laugh, and Gretchen joined in.

  Janey relaxed and approached the railing. “So we’ve made up.” A brief smile appeared on her face, and she kept most of her attention on Gretchen. “Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

  “Yeah, of course.” Gretchen patted Drew’s knee and stood. “Does your mom still do dinner in the evenings?”

  “I’ll ask her and text you.” He watched the two women walk down the driveway and disappear in the direction of the other farmhouse. Drew felt more settled than he had all summer, and he went into the house to take a shower and get all the paint out of his hair. Clean and dressed, he wandered over to his farmhouse and discovered that Joel had finished the spraying.

  “Thank you,” Drew said, his fondness for the man stronger than ever. He stepped into him, though he wore messy, painted clothes and Drew had just showered, and gave him a quick hug. “Thank you for everything, Joel.”

  “Of course.”

  Drew may have imagined the extra hitch of emotion in his stepfather’s voice, but he didn’t think so.

  “So you and Gretchen are good?”

  “We’re talking,” Drew said as they walked through the gate and back to the farmhouse. “So yeah, we’ll be good.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Gretchen walked beside Janey, not sure what to say.

  “I’m sorry,” Janey blurted as they passed the fence and crossed from the Loveland Farm to the one Drew had been fixing up for the past month.

  “I’m not mad,” Gretchen said. “Well, I was.” She looked up into the sky and tried to sort through her confusing feelings. “I think I just felt…I don’t know. Naïve or something. I mean, how out of it am I to not even notice that my own daughter had been staining a deck and painting baseboards?”

  Janey giggled and looped her arm through Gretchen’s, but Gretchen didn’t see anything funny about the situation.

  “Drew swore us all to secrecy.”

  “Who else helped?”

  “Oh, everyone. Adam, Trent, Russ, all the guys they could spare from the EMT service. The kids. Me. His parents.” Janey sighed. “He really loves you.”

  “I know he does,” Gretchen whispered. She could feel Drew’s love all the way down into her soul.

  “I didn’t want to lie to you. I told him that if you asked, I would tell you the truth.”

  Gretchen smiled and kept her focus on the gravel at their feet. “Thank you, Janey. You’ve always been such a great friend to me.”

  “I am pretty great.” She laughed, the sound fading quickly. “Now I just need to find my roadside hero the way you did.”

  Gretchen giggled too. “Well, he does have a brother…”

  Janey scoffed and waved her free hand. “Adam Herrin? Nah. I’ve known him my whole life, and there’s just no spark there, you know?”

  “You think there was a spark between me and Drew when he delivered Dixie on the side of the road?” Gretchen stopped walking and looked at Janey. She saw pain at the same time she saw hope.

  “Of course not.”

  “No. But this time, there was. Things change. People change.” She couldn’t believe she was the one saying so, but she was right. She reached out and brushed Janey’s hair off her face. “So maybe Russ. He’s an EMT. Could be your roadside hero.”

  Janey rolled her eyes, but Gretchen pressed on. “Hey, he’s single. Good-looking. And he’s only been in town for what? A few years?”

  “Five years,” Janey said. “I think.” She drew in a breath and blew it out. “I don’t know, Gretchen. Dixie’s more easy-going than Jess. He’s been moody lately, and I’m worried about him.”

  “He’s a great kid. And he likes Drew.”

  “Yeah, but Drew’s yours.” Janey gave her a sad smile. “I’m happy for you, Gretchen.” She stopped walking and hugged her friend. “I’m glad you’re not mad at me.”

  “Nothing to be mad about.” They turned around and headed back to the farmhouse in silence. But Gretchen started thinking through all the eligible bachelors in Hawthorn Harbor. After all, Janey deserved a happily-ever-after too.

  Friday afternoon, Gretchen bustled around the house, looking in cupboards and under the sink for the sunscreen. She couldn’t find it. “Dix! Do you have sunscreen in your bathroom?”

  “No,” she called back. “We’re out, remember?” She entered the kitchen wearing a bright pink tank top and a pair of plaid shorts Donna had bought her. “We ran out last time we went to the beach.”

  Gretchen groaned and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” She lifted her phone from the counter and tapped on Drew’s name. She hesitated, as she’d already asked him to stop and get drinks and ice for the cooler.

  But he’d already be at the store…

  She dropped her thumb onto the call button and said, “Hey, are you still at the store?” when he picked up.

  “Yeah, headed to check out now.”

  “So we’re out of sunscreen.”

  “I can grab some. Just a sec.” A few seconds later, he said, “Oh-kay, there’s like a million different kinds. What do you want?”

  “A spray, at least thirty SPF. Fifty is good for Dixie. She’s so fair.”

  “Thirty…fifty. Got it.” A beat of silence passed. “Anything else while I’m still here?”

  Gretchen chuckled, and said, “I certainly hope not. We’re almost ready here.” She hung up, and gazed at his face on her screen for an extra moment. School started on Monday, and they were headed to the beach for the weekend—their first trip together. Gretchen’s nerves fired strangely from time to time.

  She wasn’t sure why she was nervous, probably because she and Drew had been talking a lot about marriage, when they should have the wedding, and if she should invite her parents or not. He wanted to. She didn’t.

  And he hadn’t even proposed yet. Until he did, she wasn’t making any plans.

  She took a big breath. So this was just another trip to the beach with the people she loved. She’d booked a beachfront cottage on Whidbey Island, with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, and she did not want to make any adult decisions this weekend.

  Drew knocked at the same time he entered the front door, plastic shopping bags in his hands. “Sunscreen and drinks.”

  Gretchen went to help him, and told Dixie to unload the drink pouches into the cooler. Working together, she caught a glimpse of what family life would be like once she and Drew did get married.

  She paused, drinking in the moment and committing it to memory. She hadn’t done much of that with Aaron, and like Dixie, she’d started to forget.

  Drew dumped ice over the drinks and Gretchen put the cold cuts and cheese on top so it wouldn’t get waterlogged. He caught her eye, and she saw something in his. Something that said he wanted to say something but didn’t know how.

  “Dix, go grab your beach bag. It’s on your bed.” Gretchen smiled at her daughter. “And make sure you have your inhaler.”

  Once she’d flounced away, Gretchen leaned into Drew and kissed him. “Tell me what you’re thinking about.”

  His hands snaked around her waist and he leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m glad you calle
d and asked me to get the stuff at the store.”

  Gretchen hadn’t known what he was going to say, but that wasn’t it. “Oh.”

  He inched back and looked into her eyes. “I like it when you need help. I like that you’re relying on me to provide that help.”

  “It was a sugary drink and some ice.”

  “And before, you’d have had to go get it yourself.” He released her and stepped back to resume packing the cooler. “I’ll put this in the back of the truck and come help with the bags.”

  “We can get those,” Gretchen said, unsure of why she couldn’t just let go and rely on him to do the heavy lifting, the errands, all of it. She took the bags out to the driveway, and she let Drew lift them into the bed. Maybe that was all she needed. Someone to meet her halfway.

  By the time they arrived at their cottage and checked in, the afternoon was fading into evening. Dixie changed into her swimming suit anyway and went running across the patio, down a few steps and onto the sand. Gretchen watched her go, the joy flying off of her so infectious that Gretchen had to smile.

  Drew wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his body. “Chief and Blue would’ve loved this beach.”

  “Next time we’ll book somewhere that’s pet friendly.”

  Several beats of perfection passed, and Gretchen couldn’t believe that she was standing here, with Drew. It seemed surreal almost.

  “So I stopped by Engagements the other day,” he said, and Gretchen flinched.

  “No.” She shook her head. “We agreed that this weekend—the last weekend before Dixie has to go back to school—would be non-serious.”

  He chuckled and swept his lips across her temple. “Right. No talking about weddings, or parents, or venues.”

  “Or engagement rings.” She nudged him with her hip. “It’s nothing but two days of sand castles and sleeping in and eating dessert for breakfast.”

  “All right,” he said in a higher voice than normal. “If that’s what you want.”

  “It’s what I need,” she said. “Remember how I have five weddings in the next six weeks?”

  “I remember,” he murmured. “No ladders, okay?”

  She laughed and snuggled closer to him. “Oh, I don’t know. The last time I used a ladder, you came to my rescue. Again. Without that, maybe we wouldn’t be here now.”

  “Oh, we’d be here,” he said.

  Surprise shot through Gretchen. “You think so?”

  He gazed at her with the same golden warmth that the sun was casting over the water. “Do you even know how much your spare tire was?”

  She blinked, his conversation topics full of surprises today. “Well, no.”

  He grinned and lightly touched his mouth to hers. “That’s because I paid for it. I was doing everything I could to make sure I’d see you again.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and laid her cheek against his chest, happier than she thought she could ever be in a world without her first husband.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Drew got out the cold cuts and the jar of mayo and set them on the counter in the beach rental. He checked out the huge wall of windows that faced the water just to make sure Dixie and Gretchen were still knee-deep in the ocean.

  Of course they were. He’d been in the house for less than sixty seconds. He could count on Dixie to beg and whine to stay in the water until Gretchen dragged her in to eat. So he had plenty of time to get the diamond out, get it set right in the middle of the table, right where Gretchen couldn’t miss it.

  But he wasn’t sure if he should.

  Gretchen had expressly said she didn’t want to even talk about engagement rings. He hadn’t told her he’d gone to Wedding Row and bought her a ring. Hadn’t told her that he’d talked to Mabel about a spring wedding. Hadn’t told her that he’d called her granddad and asked for her hand in marriage.

  And what a conversation that had been. Drew smiled at the way Will Ryder had said, “You should definitely marry her, Drew. You actually know lavender from a daisy.”

  Drew had chuckled, glad he did—now. Gretchen still hadn’t shown him her cross-pollinated indigo daisies. She claimed they weren’t ready to show to anyone yet, and though Drew had helped her cut the flowers she’d needed for a couple of months, he’d never seen the indigo daisies in her garden.

  The doorbell rang, and Drew nearly jumped out of his skin. He hurried to answer it, taking the vase full of yellow and white daisies from the man on the doorstep. He couldn’t speak much more than “Thanks,” and the glass and water and flowers felt so heavy in his hands.

  He turned slowly, trying to decide what to do. He could say the owner of the cottage had dropped them by. He didn’t have to get out the ring this weekend.

  Dixie’s voice filtered to him and his muscles seized. They’d come in already? He ducked around the corner and sure enough, they’d come in already.

  “Drew?” Gretchen called, and her eyes locked onto him a moment later. He had no choice but to continue into the kitchen, and set the vase of daisies on the counter.

  “What are those?” She eyed the flowers as she toweled her hair.

  “Daisies,” he said as if she didn’t know.

  “What’s this?” Dixie held the ring box in her hand, her eyes round. She looked up at Drew, and he wasn’t sure if he should lunge for the box and hide it behind his back or drop to one knee.

  Gretchen had frozen too, and Dixie danced between them. The black velvet box seemed like a spotlight, and Drew didn’t know how to turn it off.

  “Drew,” Gretchen said, drawing out his name in a way that said, Tell me what’s going on right now.

  “Can I have that, please?” Drew glanced at Dixie. And then the flowers. And finally that velvet box. Everything inside him settled, even though all his plans hadn’t worked out.

  “Drew,” Gretchen said again, this time with more snap to her tone.

  “Okay, so I know you didn’t want to talk about anything serious this weekend. But I’d sort of already made a few plans, and well, I was trying to decide what to do about them.”

  Gretchen reached out and trailed her fingers along the petals of one of the white daisies. She didn’t say anything, and Drew’s emotions surged up his throat.

  “So I got these daisies, and I was going to have everything all set out…I don’t know. Nicely.” He set the ring box on the counter and got out a stack of plates. He got out the cheese, the head of lettuce, and a bottle of mustard. He kept talking as he worked.

  “So I was going to have everything out.” He spun and grabbed the macaroni salad she’d made that morning. “And set this right here.” He put the ring box on the plates. “Where you’d see it. And then wait for you on the deck, and I don’t know…”

  Drew stopped talking and moving, realizing that both Dixie and Gretchen were frozen.

  “So what’s in the box?” Dixie finally asked.

  “Dix.” Gretchen drew her into her side. “It’s a ring.”

  “How do you know that?” Dixie looked up at her mother.

  She giggled and looked down at her. “I just do. Rings come in boxes like that, Dix. Expensive rings.” She met Drew’s eyes again, and he was struck breathless. “Expensive rings from Engagements.” She cocked her eyebrow.

  Drew shrugged. “I told you I’d stopped by.” He shook his head, none of this going how he’d planned. He wasn’t sure what the next step was, because so much depended on her reaction.

  He grabbed the ring box, cracked it open, and dropped to one knee. “I love you, Gretchen Samuels. Will you marry me?”

  Dixie squealed, and Gretchen gasped.

  “Mom!” Dixie danced in front of her. “You’re going to say yes, right?”

  “Yes,” Gretchen said, a smile blooming on her beautiful face. She looked at Dixie and then right into Drew’s eyes. “Yes.”

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  Sneak Peek! Beloved in Blue Chapter One

  “I don’t want to go,” Adam Herrin said, but his best friend would not be deterred.

  “Come on,” Matt said, that perpetual smile still stuck to his face. “You like the Fall Festival.” He nudged him, making Adam slop milk over the side of his cereal bowl. “Besides, you can pretend like you’re already on the force. You know, scan for vandals and all that while I find the prettiest girl there and ask her to dance.”

  Adam grunted and wiped the spilled milk from the countertop of the apartment they shared. He’d been back in Hawthorn Harbor for just over a month, and he’d just finished his final round of police interviews.

  “I’m starting work on Monday,” he told Matt.

  His friend whooped and sent his spoon clattering into his cereal. “You got on? They hired you?”

  Adam let a smile spread across his face. “Yeah. I found out last night.”

  “And you’re just now telling me?”

  “You were out really late with Bea.”

  The joy on Matt’s face disappeared as if Adam had flipped a switch. “Yeah, well, not tonight.”

  “You mean we won’t be out late?” Adam’s heart lifted, as he preferred the early-to-bed, early-to-rise method of living.