“No, I wouldn’t mind that, either,” she said softly. “In fact, it would be incredible.” Then she sighed. “But we can never tell Kelsey how we feel. She shouldn’t be influenced by what the two of us want.”
“Of course not,” Gran said, but there was a glint in her eye that suggested she wasn’t above using her powers of persuasion to get exactly what she wanted.
Kelsey had gone for her walk alone today, because her mom had been huddled with Gran talking about Luke’s unexpected decision to go to Atlanta and bring back his kids. Kelsey wasn’t sure why they were making such a big deal about it. She thought it would be kind of cool to have a couple of kids running around. The inn was meant to be filled with families and noise and laughter. This would be the ideal test run. They’d have a few days to make sure everything was working as it was supposed to before the first paying guests arrived.
She was so excited, in fact, that she’d made a stop in town at the discount store and picked up a bunch of plastic beach toys for the kids. It was the kind of stuff they needed to have on hand—beach balls, brightly colored floats, swim rings for the smaller kids and plastic pails. She thought the antique tin sand pails her grandmother had collected were more fun, but these were more durable. She’d also picked up some extra beach towels, bottles of suntan lotion and a big, floppy straw hat, which she was wearing now to keep the sun out of her face. She was beginning to get freckles on her nose, which was kind of cool actually, but probably not too smart.
Her purchases were a lot heavier than she’d anticipated and the sun had gotten hotter than she’d expected. She was walking along the edge of the water lugging everything when she spotted Jeff. He was strolling toward her, looking out of place in his jeans and his favorite black shirt. He thought it made him look dangerous, which was a joke, given what a sweet, quiet nerd he was. Just looking at him, she felt her heart skip a beat.
He picked up his pace the instant he recognized her. “What were you thinking?” he scolded. “You shouldn’t be carrying all this stuff.”
He tried to take some of the bags, but Kelsey held on tight. “I can manage,” she insisted.
“Oh, would you just give it up and let me help,” he said impatiently. “I know you’re strong and capable and that you can do anything you want to do. That doesn’t mean you can’t let me carry some of this for you.”
She sighed and relinquished a few of the bags. She started to ask what he was doing here, but she already knew the answer to that. In fact, to be honest about it, she was a little surprised it had taken him this long to show up.
He gave her a knowing look. “You don’t seem that surprised to see me.”
She shrugged. “You didn’t like the answers I was giving you. Of course you’d fly all the way across the country to try to change my mind.” She gave him a defiant look. “But my mind is made up, Jeff.”
“Okay,” he said simply, and fell into step beside her.
Kelsey halted in her tracks. “Okay? Just like that?”
He grinned. “You’re stubborn as a mule. Arguing with you will only make you dig in your heels.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Because you’re here,” he said.
Kelsey frowned. “What about school?”
“I dropped out for the time being.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’ve left school? That’s crazy.”
“No crazier than you doing it,” he said indifferently. “I can do my computer stuff anywhere, and that’s what’s going to pay the bills for both of us and the baby. I’m having all that stuff shipped here, by the way. Mine and yours.”
“You can’t just show up here and expect to move in,” she protested.
“You live in an inn. I’ll rent a room.”
“We’re all booked,” she told him proudly. “At least as of next week.”
“Then I’ll rent a room until the other guests show up.”
“And then what?”
He grinned at her. “Maybe by then you’ll be used to having me around and you’ll let me move in with you.”
“Under my mom’s watch? Good luck.”
“I think your mom already likes me,” he said.
“You met my mom? For what? Like five minutes?”
“It felt like longer,” Jeff said. “But maybe that’s because she was interrogating me. I think I held up okay.”
“You didn’t meet Grandma Jenny, did you?”
He shook his head. “I think she was standing just inside, though, ready to call the cops if she didn’t like what she heard. At least, she had a phone in her hand.” He grinned. “I never saw her dialing, though, so I must have passed some sort of test with her, too.”
Kelsey grinned back at him. That would be just like Gran, ready to turn Jeff in to protect Kelsey from him.
“So, do I get to stay or not?” he asked, looking around. “This place is kind of cool.”
Despite her trepidation about spending too much time with him, Kelsey couldn’t help sharing her enthusiasm about the inn. “Just wait until I take you on a tour of the inn, Jeff. It’s so amazing. We’ve been working like crazy to get it ready to open. I’ve been trying to pull some of the paperwork so it can be computerized, but I haven’t got it all figured out yet. I want to create a Web site.”
“I could do that for you,” he offered.
“Would you?”
“Of course.”
“I’ve sketched out all these ideas, but I don’t have enough experience to make it look right online. I’ll show you after I’ve given you the grand tour.”
His steps slowed. “Kelsey?”
“What?”
“You really like what you’re doing here, don’t you? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you this excited about anything.”
“I do,” she said. “I feel as if I’m part of something that goes back for generations. I feel this amazing connection to this place that I never felt in California or even in New York.”
He nodded slowly. “Okay, then. I guess you’d better take me on that tour. If this is where we’re going to live, then I should know everything there is to know about it.”
“Jeff—”
He cut her off before she could complete the protest. “No arguments, okay? I’m not going to push for getting married right now, but I’m not leaving, either.”
“Just like that?” she asked, astounded. “You would stay here just because it’s what I want?”
“Of course.”
His response didn’t settle everything, not by a long shot, but it went a very long way toward putting her mind at ease. Maybe there was hope for the two of them, after all. How many men would change their lives at the drop of a hat to please a woman? That had to count for something.
A couple of hours ago, if anyone had told her that Jeff was going to show up and announce he was here to stay, she would have felt nothing but panic. Now, here he was, and what she felt was hopeful.
Hannah was exhausted by the time they’d finished dinner and dessert. She’d sent Gran off to bed and Kelsey and Jeff out to the porch.
“I’ll do the dishes and clean up,” she told them, shooing them out of the house.
She wanted the time alone to recover from the tension of waiting for an explosion that had never come between Jeff and Kelsey. Instead, they’d acted as if his arrival were nothing unexpected. Not one word had been said about the future or marriage or the baby. In fact, all of the talk had been about a new Web site for the inn, which Jeff was apparently going to create. The whole meal had been surreal.
When the phone rang, she grabbed it, eager for anything that might distract her from the latest turn of events.
“Hannah?”
Her heart skipped a couple of beats. “Luke, hi. Where are you?”
“At a motel just outside Atlanta. Traffic was awful. I got in later than I expected, so I’ll pick up Nate and Gracie tomorrow morning. Hopefully we’ll be able to drive straight through to Seaview.” He paused. “Are
you still sure you’re up for this?”
“Hey, it’ll be a great distraction from our other guest.”
“What guest is that? I thought no one was due to check in until next week.”
“This isn’t that kind of guest. Jeff turned up to plead his case with Kelsey.”
“How’s that going? He’s not pressuring her, is he?”
“Only if kindness counts,” she said. “He’s already pitching in around here. She has him designing a Web site. I gather he’s some kind of computer genius who creates software, something she’d neglected to mention. He’s also heir to a family fortune, which he claims doesn’t interest him. And he looks as if he just rode in with a biker gang, at least until you look into his eyes and realize he’s just a kid who’s wild about my daughter.”
“You like him, don’t you?” he asked. He sounded astonished.
“Yes. I’m actually on his side. He’s smart, too, by the way.”
“You mean because of the whole computer thing?”
“No, I mean because he’s apparently picked up on Kelsey’s love for this place and is making himself a part of it, instead of fighting her. I gather we now have two dropouts on our hands.”
“Maybe you should stop thinking of either one of them as dropouts and think of them as entrepreneurs.”
“An interesting spin,” she said glumly. “I’ll try.” Because she didn’t want to discuss Kelsey and her uncertain future, she turned the tables. “How do you feel about seeing Lisa? Are you nervous?”
“Not nervous. It will be strange. I’ve known her for twenty years, but she’s not the same woman I fell in love with.”
“What about your medical practice?”
“What about it?” he responded, a distinct edge in his voice that should have warned her off, but didn’t.
“Will you stop by? Make any decisions?”
“I’ll never walk into that office again,” he said.
“Luke, you can’t just turn your back on it. I may not know much about the medical field, but you invested a lot of your life in building that practice, I’m sure. It’s not right to walk away with nothing.”
“Which is why I will eventually have to hire an attorney to sort out the dissolution of the practice,” he said. “But I can’t think about that now. Right now, my focus is on the kids. I hope they’re not angry with me.”
“For leaving them to go to Iraq?”
“Yeah.”
“Luke, even if they are angry, they’ll get over it. I mean, what kid can resist being happy with endless hours to play on the beach?”
“I hope you still have that positive outlook a couple of days from now,” he said.
“I will,” she told him. “I promise.”
“I’m counting on it, Hannah,” he said. “I really am. I should get some sleep, if we’re going to get on the road really early.”
“Do you think you’ll make the last ferry?”
“I’m planning on it. I’ll call if we don’t.”
Her heart accelerated in anticipation, which probably wasn’t a good thing. “See you tomorrow night, Luke. Drive safely.”
“Night, Hannah.”
She hung up slowly, then stepped outside to gaze up at the darkening sky. One lone star winked at her. “Let this be okay for him,” she whispered. In fact, let it be okay for all of them.
14
Luke arrived at his former home before dawn, anxious to pick up the kids and get on the road. If there had been any way to avoid it, he would have skipped an encounter with his ex-wife, but he could hardly sit in the driveway and honk the horn until the kids came out. Reluctantly he crossed the manicured lawn and rang the doorbell. Since every light in the house was blazing, there was no chance he’d be waking anyone up.
When the door opened, Brad was on the other side, his expression wary. “Luke, you look good,” he said with forced geniality. “Come on in.”
Luke’s hands instinctively balled into fists. Lisa hadn’t even done him the courtesy of keeping Brad away as he’d requested. Any other time, any other place, he’d have punched the man out. Because his children were undoubtedly close by, he restrained himself. “No thanks. I’ll wait right here. Are the kids ready to leave?”
“Just about,” Brad said. He hesitated, then added, “Look, I’m sorry, man. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
“I don’t want to hear any of your excuses or apologies,” Luke snapped. “Tell the kids I’ll be in the car when they’re ready.”
“Come on, don’t do this,” Brad pleaded. “We need to find some way to co-exist for Nate and Gracie’s sakes. And you and I have a business relationship.”
“Not anymore, we don’t,” Luke said. “Do you think I could ever trust you again?”
“Look, I know this is bad. Lisa and I, we didn’t plan any of this. I was doing what you asked me to do, looking out for them, you know?”
“And by your interpretation that included sleeping with my wife?” Luke inquired.
“Of course not,” Brad said. “It just happened. We certainly didn’t mean to hurt you. You and me, we go back too far to throw our friendship away.”
Luke stared at him incredulously. “You can’t possibly be that naive. As if we could ever be friends again. I don’t even want to share office space with you.” He held up his hands. “Forget it. I’m not having this conversation with you. You’re both adults. You knew exactly what you were doing and what the fallout would be, so don’t pretend to be all broken up about it now. I’ll be in the car. Just send the kids out.”
He whirled around and walked away before he succumbed to temptation and bloodied Brad’s aristocratic nose.
Five minutes later, Lisa emerged from the house with Gracie and Nate trailing behind her, obviously reluctant. For two kids who were normally eager for any excuse to skip school, they didn’t seem especially happy about this unexpected vacation in sunny Florida.
Luke forced a smile for them and opened the back door. “Hop in, guys. This is going to be a real adventure. I can’t wait for you to see Seaview Key.”
Gracie gave him a surprisingly bored look. “Whatever,” she said.
Nate said nothing.
Luke turned to Lisa, who’d rolled two suitcases up to the car. They didn’t look as if they’d hold enough for an overnight visit, much less a week. “You sure they have everything they’ll need?”
“I’ve packed shorts and T-shirts and bathing suits. We’re talking Seaview Key. They won’t be dressing up.”
“No, but they’re kids. They will be getting dirty.”
“Doesn’t this inn have a washing machine? If not, I’m sure you can spring for a few more things from the nearest discount store. They do have some kind of dollar place there, don’t they?”
Her attitude snapped the last thread that was keeping his temper in check. He took a step closer and whispered in her ear, “When did you turn into a first-class bitch?” He made sure his voice was low enough that the kids couldn’t overhear him.
“The day you started making all the decisions for all of us,” she retorted.
“Don’t even go there,” he said, nudging her a safe distance from the car. “We are not having this conversation now. You wanted out of our marriage, Lisa. You got it. Let’s not rehash old news. And maybe, while the kids and I are away, you can come up with some way for the two of us to be civil to each other. And it needs to start with keeping Brad out of my face.”
“How am I supposed to do that? He lives here now.”
“Find a way,” he said grimly. “I’ll have the kids call you once we get in tonight.”
“Any idea what time that will be?”
“Why don’t we just say they’ll call around six? That way it won’t matter if we’re held up. You’ll know when to expect the call.”
“Actually, I’m meeting Brad at six. We’re having dinner with friends.”
Luke kept a tight grip on his patience. “Then they’ll call you on your cell phone.
Make sure you keep it turned on.”
He could tell from the expression on her face that she wanted to find something wrong with that plan, too, but she remained silent.
“Okay, then,” he said with forced cheer as he walked back to the car. “I guess we’re ready to hit the road.” He leaned inside. “All set, guys?”
Neither child responded.
“Tell your mom goodbye,” he said.
Nate and Gracie both stared accusingly at Lisa as if she were sending them off to Siberia, rather than to a winter break at the beach. Neither said a word.
“Love you,” Lisa said to them, anyway. “I’ll see you in a week. Have fun in Florida.”
Luke finally forced himself to meet her gaze. “I’ll take good care of them,” he told her.
Her chin wobbled slightly. “Oh, Luke, don’t you think I know that? I am so sorry…” Her voice shook. “You know, about everything.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said tightly.
He got behind the wheel and turned on the engine to drown out whatever else she might say. He didn’t want to hear apologies or excuses from her any more than he’d wanted to hear them from Brad.
He waved one last time as he pulled out of the driveway, then didn’t look back. What would have been the point? That woman, that house, that life were all behind him now.
Luke hadn’t known what to expect when he picked up the kids earlier in the day, but he definitely hadn’t anticipated the total silence that had greeted him at the house or the sullen expressions he’d been dealing with ever since they’d hit the road. He wasn’t the one who’d betrayed his family, but clearly he was paying the price for a decision that had been out of his hands. If today was any indication, this was going to be a very long week, and any progress toward healing the rift between him and the kids was going to be made by inches, not leaps and bounds.
“Want to stop for pizza before we go out to the inn?” he asked. Pizza had always been a sure-fire hit. “We have about an hour before the ferry.”
His ten-year-old daughter’s sunny disposition was nowhere to be found in the scowl that greeted his question. Eight-year-old Nate glanced at his big sister hopefully, but then sighed and remained stubbornly silent.
Seaview Inn Page 19
