“Abby nearly drowned,” she said, an unexpected catch in her voice. She covered her face and started to cry. “It was so awful, Mom. She got a cramp and she kept going under.”
“Oh, no,” her mom said, looking shaken. “She’s okay, though? Someone got her out?”
Hannah nodded. “Luke Stevens saved her. He went with her to the hospital, so they could both get checked out. I just called to let her folks know.”
“You must have been terrified,” her mother said. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to drive you to the hospital to check on Abby?”
Hannah shook her head. “Luke’s there,” she said wearily. “That’s all she needs.”
It was her grandmother who apparently caught the note of defeat in her voice. “Hannah, what’s wrong? What is it you’re not saying?”
She stood up, afraid she’d already let them see too much. “Nothing. Nothing at all. I’m going to bed.”
“You don’t want to go back to the party?” her mother asked worriedly. “Maybe you should be with your friends tonight.”
“Abby’s my friend. It wouldn’t be any fun without her,” she said. And deep down inside, she wondered if the whole summer wasn’t going to be just as miserable as tonight had turned out to be.
The next day was the first full day of summer vacation and Hannah had managed to sleep away most of the morning. She dragged herself downstairs just before noon and wandered into the kitchen wearing shorts and a tank top, only to find Abby sitting at the table while Grandma Jenny made strawberry-rhubarb pies.
Hannah was relieved to see her, but a part of her was wary, too. “You’re okay? I got worried when you didn’t call last night like you said you would.”
Abby rolled her eyes. “Too much commotion then, but I’m fit as a fiddle, according to the doctors,” she said. “Otherwise, I doubt my parents would have let me out of their sight. They flipped out when they heard what happened, and they totally embarrassed Luke. They kept carrying on like he was this huge hero, and then they offered him a reward. Can you imagine? It was so embarrassing.”
“He was a hero,” Hannah said. “No one else was diving in to save you. I was going to, but he stopped me. He said he was a stronger swimmer, and he was right.”
Abby twisted the glass of tea she was holding around and around in her hands, her gaze avoiding Hannah’s. “He was pretty great, wasn’t he?”
“He was amazing,” Hannah agreed. She hesitated, then asked, “So, are you going to see him again?”
Abby blushed. “He said he might stop by today. I told him I’d be here.” She finally met Hannah’s gaze. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
Hannah forced a smile. “Sure. Of course.” She was careful to avoid her grandmother’s penetrating gaze when she said it. She had a feeling Grandma Jenny saw right through her and knew it was anything but okay.
“Why don’t you girls go outside and sit on the porch and relax?” Grandma Jenny suggested. “I’ll bring out something to eat. Abby, did you have breakfast?”
“No, ma’am,” Abby said with a grin. “I came over here hoping you’d offer to fix us something. Now that my mom’s working, at home all I’d have would be toaster waffles.”
“I definitely think I can do better than that. Hannah, what would you like?”
“Whatever,” she said.
“I’ll make waffles, then. With peaches on top. How does that sound?”
“Awesome,” Abby said enthusiastically.
“It sounds great, Grandma Jenny. Do you need any help?”
“Not on your first day of vacation,” she said. “Run along. And if Luke gets here, let me know. I imagine he’ll want some, too.”
Hannah slowly followed Abby outside and settled into one of the wicker chairs. “Are you really okay?” she asked Abby.
“Fine, thanks to Luke.”
“Were you scared?”
“Terrified, but when I came to on the beach and saw his face, I knew everything was going to be okay.”
“And now you’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Hannah said, her voice toneless.
Abby gave her an odd look. “I’m grateful to him and I think he’s pretty incredible because of what he did, but he’s never even noticed me. Last night was just an emergency.”
Hannah had seen the look in his eyes the night before, when Abby had been lying on the sand. “You’re wrong,” she said. “Luke might not have noticed you before last night, but trust me, he’s noticed you now.”
“Well, half drowning will get a guy’s attention,” Abby said. “Hannah, why do you sound so angry about it?”
“I’m not angry. I’m glad he was there.”
“Well, you’re mad about something.”
Hannah forced a smile. She was not about to reveal her crush now, when it was too late. “Am not. It’s the first day of vacation. What’s there to be mad about?”
Abby didn’t look convinced. “That’s what I want to know.”
Fortunately before Hannah had to answer, her grandmother came out with two plates with waffles, glasses of orange juice and a pitcher of iced tea. And just as she set everything down on a table for the two of them, Luke strolled up the front walk. He acknowledged her grandmother with a nod and said a distracted hello to Hannah, but his gaze was riveted on Abby.
“You feeling okay?” he asked, his hands shoved in the pockets of his cutoff jeans.
To Hannah’s disgust, Abby looked just as smitten as he did.
“Luke, if you’re hungry, you can have my waffle,” Hannah said. “I’ll go fix myself another one.”
She brushed past her grandmother and went into the kitchen. Grandma Jenny followed.
“It’s hard, I know,” she said as she spooned more batter into the waffle iron. “Seeing your best friend with a boy you like.”
“I don’t like him,” Hannah said adamantly.
“You sure?”
“Well, I can’t like him, can I? He only has eyes for Abby and now she’s falling for him, too.”
“Sometimes it happens that way,” her grandmother said sympathetically. “I’m sorry.”
Hannah impatiently brushed at the tears welling up in her eyes. “Gran, please, don’t say anything about this, okay? Promise me. They can’t find out, not ever.”
“Of course not. If you want to talk about it, though, I’m always here.”
Hannah sighed. “I think the less said about this the better.”
In fact, if God was merciful, she’d never even think about Luke that way again. But, of course, life almost never worked like that.
9
It was funny, Hannah thought as she and Luke sat on a bench now with their frozen custard cones, but as vivid as the memories of the past were, she didn’t see the carefree boy in the man. She glanced sideways and studied him, trying to find some glimpse of the boy she’d been so crazy about, but it simply wasn’t there.
Oh, he had the same twinkle in his eyes on occasion, the same dark blond hair that was already getting sparks of gold and red from being out in the sun, the same smile and dimple, but there was a sadness about him now that hadn’t been there before. She imagined almost losing a leg to a roadside bomb had contributed to that, as had whatever had gone on in his marriage that had sent him to Seaview Key. She’d been infatuated with a boy. Now she was increasingly drawn to a man, with all of his complexities and secrets.
“Luke, do you ever wonder why your relationship with Abby didn’t last?” she asked, recalling how powerful the attraction between them had been. They’d been inseparable that summer, all during the following school year and that one last summer after graduation. Once they’d gone away to separate colleges, though, the bond had been broken.
“We were kids,” he said simply. “How long did your first real relationship last?”
“I didn’t have a real relationship until I graduated from college,” she said, faintly embarrassed to admit that. “I was too focused on my studies.” And getting over her unrequi
ted feelings for Luke, she added to herself. She’d dated from time to time, but not one of the men had been worth risking the achievement of her goals, and not one had come close to sparking the sort of feelings she’d had for Luke. For years she’d wondered if her feelings for him had been magnified simply because she couldn’t have him or because she was so young, but based on how quickly they’d been rekindled lately, there had to have been something there.
“That surprises me. I thought one of the reasons you wanted to get away from Seaview was to meet guys who were smarter or more ambitious than the boys here.”
She poked him with an elbow. “You make me sound like a terrible snob.”
“Well, at the time I thought that, but in retrospect I can see that you were just being choosey.”
“Did everyone think that?” she asked, horrified.
“Maybe not everyone, but I could name half a dozen guys who wanted to ask you out but were too scared to do it.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “Name one.”
“Tommy Wilder,” he said at once, a wicked glint in his eye.
“Tommy Wilder could barely find his way from one end of the football field to the other, even with the team shouting at him,” she said with an exaggerated shudder.
“But he thought you were hot. He even asked me to set the two of you up on a date.”
“But you didn’t even try,” she recalled. “I would have remembered that.”
“Abby said you’d never in a million years go for it,” he said, then glanced over at her. “Was she wrong?”
“No. Abby knew me better than anyone. What did you tell Tommy?”
“That you were thinking of going into a convent, so you didn’t date.”
She poked him again. “You did not!”
“I did. I had to let him down easy. He was the best offensive tackle we had. I couldn’t crush the guy. And the mention of a convent was all it took to scare off a good Catholic boy.”
“You are so lying,” she accused.
He grinned. “Didn’t you ever wonder why all the boys at school were giving you a wide berth?”
“I’m not even Catholic,” she said.
“Minor detail,” he said blithely. “Sorry if I ruined your social life.”
“Actually, you probably made me more intriguing than I deserved to be,” she said, not especially bothered by the revelation that he’d deliberately put a damper on her social life. “And I had lots of time to study so I could keep my grades up.”
“So, let’s get back to my original question. How long did your first big relationship last?”
“Five-and-a-half years,” she said. “And we were married for most of that time.”
He whistled. “Kelsey’s father?”
Hannah nodded. “Maybe if I’d been more experienced, I would have seen just how wrong we were for each other, but then, I wouldn’t have had Kelsey. I can’t regret my ill-advised marriage, because I came away from it with this amazing child.”
He frowned slightly. “And there’s been no one important since then?”
“No one worth shaking up the status quo,” she admitted. “My judgment was so bad the first time around that I never quite trusted it again. Ironically, I chose someone just like my father, a man with no staying power. I figured the odds were that I’d do it again. Besides, Kelsey and I are a team. Some men couldn’t deal with that. Some couldn’t deal with my successful career. Either way, they wanted me all to themselves.”
“Makes perfect sense to avoid a guy that selfish,” he conceded. “Surely not every man in Manhattan is like that, though. And there have to be plenty who can deal with a smart, successful woman.”
“Probably so, but as time went on I became more and more married to my career. I stopped looking.” She gave a rueful shrug. “It drives my friend Sue crazy. She’s set me up on so many blind dates and has such an agenda to see me happily married, it’s a wonder any single man will go near her.”
“Don’t you know how challenging most men find an unavailable, uninterested female to be?”
“I thought all men hated and feared rejection.”
“They do. They just don’t believe it will happen to them. It’s these oversize egos we’re blessed with.”
She studied him curiously. “You included?”
“Mine’s taken a couple of hits, but basically, yes. I believe in myself.”
Hannah wasn’t entirely convinced of that. “Then why are you here?” she asked bluntly. “I get the feeling you’re running away from something.”
“Just taking some time off to get back on my feet, literally and figuratively,” he claimed. He met her gaze. “So, tell me something, does it work?”
“Does what work?”
“Substituting a job for a life. Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?”
She bristled at the suggestion, then sighed. That was exactly what she’d done. How could she even attempt to deny it? “I didn’t mean to, but that’s how it turned out. I’m not complaining, though. My career has allowed me to provide well for Kelsey and me. I get a lot of professional recognition.”
“But you’re alone at the end of the day. Who shares that success with you?”
Ah, that was the rub. There wasn’t anyone. Oh, Sue, of course. She was always ready to have a celebration. And the people at work always made a fuss when she landed a new account or pulled off a public relations coup for one of their clients.
“I see you don’t have an answer for that,” he said quietly. “And what happens now that Kelsey is grown and about to have a child of her own? Especially if she stays here in Florida or goes back to California?”
Hannah had no idea how to answer. The question was one she’d been asking herself a lot recently. Over the past couple of years she’d begun to realize that having Kelsey away at college was foreshadowing the loneliness of her future.
“I don’t know,” she confessed finally.
Suddenly she saw how deftly Luke had shifted the conversation away from himself. He’d barely answered her question about his breakup with Abby—or any of her other tentative personal questions—before turning the spotlight right back on her.
She was about to call him on it when the cell phone she’d stuck in her pocket out of habit rang. Glancing at the caller ID, she saw that it was Sue.
“I need to take this,” she told Luke. “It’ll only take a minute.”
When she answered, Sue said, “I can hear waves. Are you on the beach, you rat?”
Hannah smiled at her indignation. “No, but close. I’m sitting on a bench across the street and I’ve just finished a huge cone of frozen custard.”
“I hate you. It’s twelve degrees here and the wind is whipping down Sixth Avenue. I’m scared to walk outside for fear I’ll be blown all the way to Staten Island.”
“Sorry,” Hannah said, but without much sincerity.
“No, you’re not, and who could blame you?” Sue said. “When are you coming home?”
“Another week or so, I guess.”
“You don’t sound very sure of that. What’s going on, Hannah? Is your grandmother balking at selling the inn?”
“She didn’t balk. She flat-out refused. Worse, she’s convinced Kelsey to stay here and work with her.”
“Say that again?” Sue said, her shock evident. “Kelsey is giving up Stanford to stay in Seaview Key?”
“That’s the plan,” Hannah confirmed with weary resignation.
“Oh, brother. Do I need to come down there to keep you from killing her?”
“No, I’m restraining myself, for the time being, anyway.”
“When are you coming home?”
“As soon as things are under control here, whenever that is.”
“I thought your doctor’s appointment was in eight days. You’ll be back for that, right?”
“Hopefully,” she said evasively.
“Hannah, you can’t blow it off,” Sue said urgently. “You know that. I don’t care what
’s going on down there, this is too important.”
Hannah rubbed her temple, where she could feel a headache starting. “I know. I’ll be there, I promise. Even if I have to turn right around and fly back down here.”
“You’d better be or I’ll be down there the next day to drag you back up here myself.”
She smiled, despite the added pressure she was feeling. Sue would do exactly that, if need be. “I’m not giving you an excuse to play hooky from work,” she retorted. “If you want to come to Florida, just say so. You’re always welcome.”
“A few more days of this weather and I’ll take you up on that.” Sue paused, then asked, “You are feeling okay, though, right? And you’re doing your self-exams?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, then, I’ll stop nagging for now. Love you.”
“You, too,” Hannah said. “Thanks for checking in.”
She shut off the phone and tucked it back in her pocket.
“You getting pressure from work to come back?” Luke asked.
“No, just Sue, the friend I mentioned earlier, calling to find out how things are going down here.”
He studied her intently. “Are you sure? Because between Kelsey and me, things here are covered if you do need to go back.”
“Are you trying to kick me out?”
“Heaven forbid!” he protested. “It would be a lot less interesting without you around. I just wanted you to know you could go back without worrying about Grandma Jenny or the inn. Or Kelsey, for that matter.”
“Neither the inn nor my grandmother are your responsibility,” she reminded him. “Neither is Kelsey.”
“I’m just saying that if you need to go, I’m here.”
She wasn’t sure how she felt about him sounding so eager to be rid of her, then decided she was being ridiculous. He was merely offering to help out. She was the one twisting that into some sort of rejection. No wonder she didn’t have a relationship. She couldn’t even accept a simple act of kindness in the spirit in which it was intended.
“I do appreciate the offer,” she said finally. “You really have been a godsend when it comes to getting the painting and repairs started. I know how much Grandma Jenny appreciates it. Despite what she says about all these people in Seaview looking for work, finding someone reliable isn’t as easy as she makes it sound. Still, I don’t want you to feel obligated to stay on or help out. You’re going to want to get back to your own life one of these days.”
Seaview Inn Page 12
