Sisters of Summer’s End

by Lori Foster

  First, she’d have to emerge from the bathroom.

  He drank more coffee, stewing over the impressions Ostenbery had given. Though the retiree hadn’t mentioned Joy’s age, his descriptions of her had led Royce to expect someone older. Someone not so attractive.

  Someone austere and aloof.

  Instead, Joy Lee had openly gazed at him while her face and throat flushed pink.

  Focus, he told himself. After far too long taking care of others, this was his turn and he wouldn’t get derailed by wet clothes clinging to a sweet body, or bold, mesmerizing eyes.

  With that in mind, Royce strode to the door and called back, “You okay in there?”

  Her head poked out, not from the bathroom but from his utility room. “Yes, sorry. You said I could use the dryer, so...” She smoothed back a long hank of still-damp hair.

  Royce realized he was doing it again, allowing his brain to go down paths it shouldn’t. At least this time he had good reason for staring.

  She stood there in the logo T-shirt, knotted at the side so it’d fit her waist, with the beach towel tied like a toga skirt around her. The colors clashed, but that was the least of the fashion disasters.

  Yet somehow, on her, the hodgepodge outfit looked like a trendy statement.

  When she laced her fingers together and smiled, he felt it like a kick. Luckily, a kick was just what he needed to get back on track.

  Royce cleared his throat. “I pulled some chairs up to the counter for us.” The building had a small break room, but it felt too isolated for this meeting.

  He gestured for her to precede him, then wished he hadn’t as she moved past, slim legs parting the overlap of the towel, giving him a glimpse of calf and thigh.

  Calf and thigh? he repeated to his libido. This wasn’t the 1700s. A man could see legs—gorgeous legs, not-so-gorgeous legs, young legs and old legs, plus a whole lot more—any damn time he wanted. Just because they were her legs didn’t make them special.

  Sure, the past year had been...rough. No sex, no dating. Nothing but all-consuming responsibility, focused around sickness, culminating in the inevitable end of life.

  But legs?

  Royce followed her, doing his utmost to keep his gaze on the back of her head and not anywhere else.

  Being here in Woodbine, rebuilding the drive-in to what it could be, was his turn and he wouldn’t let pretty green eyes and shapely legs muddle his plans.

  Keeping that in mind, Royce got down to the task of building a business relationship, and absolutely, one hundred percent, nothing else.

  As Royce parked at the entrance to the RV park three days later, he paused just to enjoy the view. Fall painted the landscape a breathtaking pallet of hues, from bright orange honey locusts, red maples and the purple sweetgum trees, to the softer yellow of aspen trees. The pale blue skies, interrupted by only a few fluffy clouds, met the darker surface of the rippling lake.

  As a kid, every tree was a challenge to climb. Now, as an adult, he took in the colors and understood how others would see them—and why his mother had been so single-minded in her pursuit to catch the image.

  Dispelling the pang of that memory, he inhaled the crisp scent in the air and glanced around at the plentiful fall flowers.

  Without meaning to, he searched the various people moseying around the grounds. Most of them were likely campers, but the second he saw the slender woman, a long, patterned skirt drifting around her legs as she walked, he knew it was Joy.

  He’d done his utmost not to dwell on her, but still a tension fell over him that had nothing to do with stress and everything to do with awareness. A gentle breeze teased her long, fawn-colored hair and she looked like a woman with a purpose, striding toward the back of the grounds where she disappeared into a building.

  Would he run into her? Would he get close enough to see those remarkable eyes again? It seemed likely, and damned if he didn’t hope he would.

  Goals, Royce reminded himself, starting down the slanted drive from the extra parking area to the park itself. He was here for an appointment with Cooper Cochran, the park owner, not to indulge a juvenile infatuation.

  A few campfires burned outside RVs and tents, the wood smoke scenting the air. People waved to him as he passed, friendly in the extreme. The play areas were still and empty, but Cooper had explained that with school back in session, weekdays were naturally quieter now. Weekends, though, the park would fill, especially toward the end of the month when Joy helped facilitate a site-by-site Halloween event. Guests decorated their campers, kids wore costumes, people handed out candy and the lodge hosted a “friendly” haunted house, appropriate for kids of all ages.

  The evening would end at the drive-in with campers getting discounted tickets and a free bag of popcorn. According to Joy, that got the kids settled before dark, when mishaps could happen if they were still out going door-to-door for candy.

  His visit to the park today was just to get to know another businessman, since he and Cooper were neighbors of sorts, with the drive-in just through the woods that bordered the property. If it weren’t for the tall trees, campers would be able to catch a free movie every weekend, minus sound.

  Suddenly Joy came around the corner only a few yards away from him. She had her arms loaded down with more boxes, a large scarecrow under one arm and her sunglasses were slipping.

  Royce stepped into her path. “Joy.”

  She stopped so abruptly the uppermost box toppled, spilling fall decorations around her feet. Glasses askew, she blinked at him. “Royce.”

  “Here.” He reached for the remaining load she still held, setting everything aside while squatting down to collect the things she’d dropped. “Sorry if I startled you.”

  “You didn’t,” she said a little breathlessly. Pushing her glasses atop her head, she looked him over in that same intent way she had at their first meeting.

  “Just throwing things at me, huh?” Trying to ignore the charge of her nearness, Royce replaced everything as neatly as he could, although he had no idea how she’d gotten it all in the boxes in the first place.

  Her lips parted. Soft lips. Naked lips.

  He was thinking things he shouldn’t when she suddenly rushed into explanations.

  “I’m running late and I’m afraid my mind was elsewhere...” She trailed off and then knelt, too, quickly rearranging things. “What are you doing here?”

  She smelled nice, Royce thought, her scent subtle but sexy. Stirring. Maybe it was the October sunshine on her skin, or the warmth of her hair. He breathed her in before explaining, “I’m meeting Coop in the camp store. I’m a little early yet. Let me help you carry this stuff.”

  As they both reached for the same box, their hands bumped.

  She jerked back to her feet. “Oh no.” A nervous laugh. “That’s okay. Really.”

  Why she was nervous Royce couldn’t guess. He watched her, trying to figure her out—trying to figure himself out, too. He had no business lingering here, deliberately running into her and then prolonging his time with her.

  Yet there was a pull, opposite of what he told himself he should be doing. Business, that was number one. Building a relationship in the community. Establishing himself and, therefore, the drive-in needed to be his goal.

  So why was it so hard to look away from her? Seeing the flush on her face, he had to assume she felt it, too.

  Like him, did she find it equally alarming and exhilarating?

  Without taking his gaze off her, he slowly stood with two boxes in his hands as a natural barrier so he didn’t do something really dumb. Like step up against her.

  Breaking the spell, Royce asked, “Where to?”

  After a deep inhalation, she forced a bright smile and snagged up the scarecrow. “This way.”

  Following her through the grounds, Royce continued to admire...well, the area, sure.
It really was a well-laid-out, nicely tended park. But he also admired Joy. The sway of her hips. The flow of her hair. How everyone greeted her with smiles.

  That is, everyone except the guy who pulled up on a golf cart, a toolbox beside him on the seat. Shoving sunglasses to the top of head, he frowned at Joy. “Hon, I told you I’d get this stuff for you. Don’t you need to go?”

  Royce remembered her saying she was running late. He waited, unsure who the young man might be, but assumed he worked for the park.

  “I’m leaving as soon as I drop this stuff off at the lodge.” She gestured back to him. “Royce is helping.”

  The man eyed him. “Royce, as in the new owner of the drive-in?”

  “One and the same.” Juggling the boxes in one arm, Royce reached out a hand. “Royce Nakirk. Nice to meet you.”

  “Daron Hardy, handyman extraordinaire, or so I’m told.” He accepted the handshake. “You going to do a horror night for Halloween? Something really scary that’d make a sexy lady friend want to cuddle?”

  Royce glanced at Joy.

  She gasped, then quickly denied, “Not me!” as if that idea were the most absurd thing she’d ever heard.

  Daron grinned. “Could be you, hon. You fit the bill.” To Royce, he said, “Sadly, Joy gives me the cold shoulder. To hear her tell it, there’s only one guy in her life.”

  Well, shit. Royce automatically looked at her hands, though he already knew she didn’t wear a ring. Not married...but that didn’t guarantee she wasn’t involved in some other way.

  Not liking that idea at all, he gave his attention to Daron. “We’ll have a double dose of kid-friendly flicks that night, but leading up to it we’re playing movies that’d probably work for you.” He mentioned the latest blood-and-gore movie that’d hit the big screen.

  “I’ll take what I can get.” Back to Joy, Daron asked, “So you’ll be there Halloween weekend for the kids’ flick, right? If Jack can stay awake long enough?”

  Jack? Royce watched her get more flustered. “Yes, we’re planning to attend that weekend, along with many of the families from the park.” She adjusted her purse strap. “Speaking of Jack, maybe I’ll need your help, after all, or I really might be late.” She strode around to the back of the golf cart. “Drop this stuff off for me, okay?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Royce watched the younger man, and realized he had no real interest in Joy. He was friendly in a flirting way, but he wasn’t at all serious about it.

  Already walking away, Joy said over her shoulder, “Royce, thank you for your help. Just give the boxes to Daron. He’ll take care of it.” She practically jogged away, her skirt dancing around her calves as she headed toward a parking area.

  Daron cleared his throat in an exaggerated way, drawing Royce’s attention. “Seriously, dude, you’re wasting your time.”

  “How’s that?” Pretending he hadn’t just been watching her, Royce unloaded the boxes onto the rear-facing seat, then secured the scarecrow there.

  “Joy doesn’t date. Her whole focus is on Jack.”

  “And Jack is...?” he asked, trying to sound casual.

  Judging by Daron’s wide grin, he wasn’t fooled. “Her five-year-old son. Cute kid. A little shy.”

  Royce forgot that he wasn’t interested in a relationship. He wasn’t even interested in dating. He felt like he’d just taken one in the gut. “She’s a mother?”

  “Head to toe.”

  “But...single?” His brain stuck on that fact, regardless of how Royce tried to block it.

  “Always has been, far as I know.”

  Royce looked back and saw her driving out of the park in a small yellow Ford hatchback. It took a strong woman to raise a kid alone. He knew that firsthand.

  “Again, fair warning,” Daron said. “Joy assigns all men to the ‘casual friendship’ zone. In all the time she’s been here, plenty have tried to get past it with no luck.”

  Royce shot him a look. “You?”

  Laughing, Daron tugged off his hat to run a hand through messy brown hair, then jammed it back on his head. “Not me, no. I could say I don’t play where I work, but truth is, she’s a mom through and through. She’s also a really nice person, a hell of a hard worker and she’s never given me a single hint of interest. Fact, most times she treats me like a bigger version of Jack.”

  Huh. From what Royce could tell, Daron was a midtwenties, fit, decent-looking man—but Joy saw him as a kid? Fascinating.

  She sure as hell hadn’t looked at him that way. Royce was rusty, no doubt about it, but he figured he could still pick up on sexual tension. “So she’s going somewhere to get her son?”

  “Kindergarten. If you’re into lost causes, she’ll be back in half an hour.”

  He wouldn’t mind seeing her again, but it wasn’t the reason for his visit. “Actually, I’m meeting with Coop, and now I’m late.” But only by two minutes. “Hope I’ll see you Halloween night, if not before.”

  Chapter Two

  It was cowardly, Joy knew, but she didn’t trust this new version of herself. So instead of heading directly back to the park, she took Jack to a restaurant for fried chicken and biscuits.

  Even though he was thin, Jack was a bottomless pit and he finished off two legs and a biscuit while Joy nibbled on a wing.

  Her thoughts refused to veer long from Royce.

  Now that he knew she was a mother, what would he think?

  It didn’t matter, but still...

  “What’s wrong, Mom?”

  Joy gazed at her son’s big brown eyes and smiled. “Nothing. I just have a busy day yet ahead.”

  Warily, he eyed her around a third piece of chicken. “Will I get to play?”

  Unable to resist, Joy stroked his fair hair. “We play every night, don’t we?”

  “Could I play longer?”

  Oh, that wheedling tone. Jack was at the age where he negotiated everything. She loved each new facet of his growth, watching him expand his horizons. He was still shy, but kindergarten had helped him to make friends. And thank God for that because while the summer had provided constant entertainment, the park would now be incredibly quiet until spring. If it weren’t for school, he’d spend all his days without peers.

  For the thousandth time, Joy questioned her decision in moving to the Cooper’s Charm resort. At the time, she’d been desperate for work that would accommodate a baby and allow her to be both caregiver and breadwinner.

  Because there was no one else.

  Cooper Cochran hadn’t owned the park long when she’d shown up largely pregnant with a nonexistent résumé and promises that she’d be perfect for the job, vowing that she’d work harder than anyone else possibly could. At that time, promises and determination were all she had to offer. She’d felt so fragile, so utterly alone, that when he hired her, she’d broken down into tears.

  Badly needing a positive focus, and grateful for his confidence, she’d thrown herself into the job, going above and beyond the requirements, and in that process, she’d found a new love: organizing recreational activities for kids and adults alike. Jack had grown up with the other employees as family—more so than her real family would ever be. She, however, still kept others at a distance.

  Trust, once broken, instilled a very real fear.

  “Tell you what,” Joy said, leaning an elbow on the table and smiling at him. “We’ll grab an ice cream at the camp store first, then play for an hour if you promise to help me with some of my work afterward.” On her strict budget, ice creams were a treat, but she needed to see Maris, anyway. Jack didn’t know that, and she’d found he was really great at sorting craft items, as long as she gave very clear instructions. He liked helping out, plus it kept him busy—and close.

  “Deal!”

  The way Jack’s face lit up had Joy grinning, too. With their frugal lifestyl
e, it wasn’t often he got to eat out and have ice cream. She’d grown up the opposite, indulged to a ridiculous degree. Rarely were there meals at home, and if she’d chosen a diet of jelly beans and milk shakes, no one would have denied her.

  Only in hindsight had Joy realized it was lack of interest, not an excess of love, that had motivated her parents. The hard truth was forced on her at twenty-four, and in some ways, it felt like her life truly began after that moment.

  Now, without her family’s influence, she lived on a shoestring budget—and it didn’t matter. Her life couldn’t be happier. She had Jack, so she had everything she really needed. She’d give her son the more important things in life, like her attention, guidance, protection and supervision. And yes, unconditional love.

  And if occasionally, when in her bed alone, she felt an undefined yearning...well, that didn’t matter, either. She wouldn’t let it.

  Cupping her son’s face, Joy put a smooch on his forehead. “You are the most perfect little boy I could ever imagine.”

  “Mom,” he complained, wiggling away as his dark eyes quickly scanned the room, ensuring no one had witnessed her affection. He didn’t mind hugs, cuddles and kisses, but only when they were alone.

  Hiding her smile, Joy cleared away their mess, and within minutes they were headed back to the park. Of course, with Jack buckled up in the back seat with a picture book, her thoughts returned to Royce.

  The morning after their first meeting, she’d given her report to Maris, who’d been suitably interested and impressed. But as far as Joy knew, Maris hadn’t met him in person yet—unless the introductions had happened earlier today, after Joy left for the school.

  Would Maris be as impressed with his looks as Joy had been?

  Somehow Joy doubted Maris would lie awake at night thinking about him. And for sure, Maris wouldn’t have let his presence at the park chase her away.