Island Dreams (Wildflower B&B Romance Book 2)

by Kimberly Rose Johnson

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chase’s unease grew with each passing second. Water from the Sound lapped at the shoreline as Piper stood still. So many expressions weaved across her face he didn’t know which one to believe. Was she angry or excited? She had to be excited. Why would she be angry that he’d done something nice for her?

  She finally turned to face him. “Chase, you and I have had some pretty up and down moments. I know I should be thanking you for what you did because you were trying to be nice, but I wish you hadn’t talked to Tom on my behalf. I’ve worked hard to prove myself, and I feel like you usurped my authority to Tom, by talking to him rather than me.”

  “Oh. I didn’t think of that.” He’d been so excited to tell her the good news. Now all he felt was stupid. Of course a woman in her profession would want to take care of something like this on her own. “Tom knows I was trying to surprise you. He wanted to do something nice for you since you’re a good boss.”

  “Thank you for that, but I hope you can see it from my point of view. It’s tough to be a woman in my position. Especially when I’m the boss’s daughter. I have to work harder than everyone else to prove myself.”

  “I get that, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any harm.” Why was it, when it came to women he always messed up? Maybe he should quit trying while he was ahead. “I guess I should go. I just wanted you to know it’s an option. You don’t have to build if you don’t want to.” He turned and retraced their steps, leaving her alone.

  Once back on the B&B property he marched to his pickup. He liked Piper, even admired her grit, but she annoyed him too. He didn’t appreciate being made to feel guilty for trying to be nice. How could he be attracted to a woman that drove him nuts? Maybe he needed to have his head examined.

  “Hey, Chase.” Nick called. “What’s your rush?”

  Chase looked over his shoulder toward where he’d left Piper. “That woman is impossible.”

  Nick chuckled. “I assume you’re referring to Piper.”

  “How’d you know?”

  “You wouldn’t dare complain about Zoe to me, and I saw you and Piper head down the trail not long ago. Anything I can do to help?”

  “Not unless you can perform a lobotomy on her.”

  “Ha. Very funny. Besides the fact that those are rarely ever performed anymore, you’d need a neurosurgeon, and I’m not one.” He grinned. “Seriously though, what happened? You were all smiles earlier.”

  “That was before I realized what a stubborn woman she is. Word to the wise. If you are tempted to do something nice for a woman—don’t. It will only bite you in the butt.”

  Nick frowned. “This sounds serious. Maybe you should come inside.”

  Chase shook his head. “I’m fine. Really. Just annoyed and confused. I didn’t mean what I said. Sometimes my mouth gets ahead of my brain. I should go.”

  “Okay. See you.” Nick went inside.

  Chase reached for the handle to his pickup and spotted the tube containing the blueprint for the resort and his landscaping ideas. True to her word Piper had had the plans delivered to him, and he’d been working on them a lot since. He should have opened their conversation with that. Then at least he’d know if he was headed in the right direction.

  “You’re still here.”

  He looked over his shoulder.

  Piper panted and bent over resting her hands on her knees. “I’m glad I caught you.” She stood straight and swept toward him. “I wanted…” She pressed her lips together.

  Maybe she wanted to tell him she was wrong and thank him for what he did.

  “How is the design coming along for the landscaping?”

  “I’ve drawn up a preliminary idea. It’s right here if you have a few minutes.” He kept his tone professional. Clearly there would never be anything beyond a professional relationship between them. He’d hoped, but…

  The uncertainty he’d read on her face disappeared and in its place confidence shone. “I’d like to see them. I’m particular, so it’s best to catch issues in the early stages.”

  He spread the paper on the hood of his pickup. “I added several planters outside the entrance along with a cascading rock fountain.”

  He explained the rest of his plan then asked what she thought of including a sand volleyball court.

  “Hmm. I hadn’t considered that.” Her face looked contemplative instead of annoyed, which was a huge relief.

  “I left room on this side in case you’d like to include a court since you mentioned wanting something for families to do together. Otherwise we can put grass there, and incorporate something smaller into the space—maybe tetherball, or a foursquare court. Kids love that kind of stuff.” For the next thirty minutes they discussed his ideas.

  “I feel like our guests would prefer tennis to volleyball, but there’s not enough room.”

  “Uh, there’s plenty of room if you expand a little. It’s not like you don’t have enough level ground to build on.”

  She stared at the design a few minutes longer. “You make a valid point, but what if we put tennis courts behind the hotel and sweeping lawns to the side?”

  He shrugged. “You’d ruin the view of the lake.”

  She tapped her chin. “Good point. Oh, before I forget, I’d like a sunny location for a garden. The restaurant will need a nice spot to grow vegetables, herbs, and berries. In fact, maybe we should have a greenhouse.” Her face lit with excitement. “Let me talk with Zoe, and I’ll get back to you on this. As for the tennis court let me talk with Tom. I may expand like you suggested. I really like the idea of offering that to my guests.”

  “Sure thing.” He put the paper away and climbed into his rig. “See you around.” On the drive home he couldn’t get Piper off his mind. She was difficult to figure out. One minute she was angry with him, then she seemed to move on as if it never happened. Then again, the warmth of earlier was missing.

  Piper tossed the magazine she’d been attempting to read onto the coffee table and stood. She couldn’t sit still. Maybe Zoe wouldn’t mind having help in the kitchen. She’d mentioned something about cooking a special meal for Nick tonight. She strolled through the main floor of the B&B. The kitchen door stood closed.

  The sound of pots clanging together gave her pause. Many cooks didn’t like people in their kitchen, but surely Zoe wouldn’t kick her out. “Knock, knock.” She pushed the swinging door forward and poked her head inside. “May I come in?”

  Zoe stood at the sink filling a medium size pot with water. “Sure. Have a seat and keep me company while I cook.”

  She breathed in deeply the heavenly scent coming from the oven. “Roasted chicken?”

  “You have a good nose.”

  “I can help if you’d like.”

  Zoe placed the pot onto the gas stove. “Are you handy in the kitchen?”

  “I don’t starve.” She shrugged.

  Zoe grinned. “Tell you what. I’ll do this, and you tell me what has you so down.”

  “Am I that easy to read?”

  “I’m afraid so.” She chopped a red onion then tossed it into a skillet on the stove. It sizzled in the hot oil.

  Zoe might one day be her employee, but she had to trust someone with her thoughts or she’d go mad, and right now there were no better options. “I may have overreacted to something Chase did for me as an act of kindness.” May have was an understatement.

  Zoe stopped chopping and looked up. “Really? Tell me about it.”

  Piper explained what had happened, which now sounded even worse as she said the words out loud.

  “Why do you think it bothers you so much that he talked to Tom? You said yourself he was only trying to be nice.”

  “I know, but it was my place to talk with Tom if I wanted to build a cabin. Not his. Being the boss’s daughter comes with its trials. I suppose it comes down to the fact that for so many years I’ve felt as though I don’t live up to my parents’ expectations. I try so hard to be perfect. I want despera
tely to hear good job or way to go from one of them, but all I get are questions. It’s like they don’t think I’m capable of doing my job without always being told what to do. And believe me when I say this: I don’t need them to tell me how to do my job. Half the time I’ve already done what they suggested.” She clamped her hands together. “I try so hard, but it never seems to be enough. So when Chase went behind my back and talked to Tom, it didn’t sit well.”

  “I imagine not. Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

  She hesitated. “I don’t think so, but I reserve the right to not answer.”

  “Fair enough.” Zoe tossed something green into the skillet then added broth to the mixture. “Why is it so important to be perfect?”

  “I feel like a failure if I’m not.”

  Zoe looked up and caught her eye. “You do realize that no one is perfect?”

  “You’re pretty perfect, if you ask me.”

  “You couldn’t be more wrong. If you had been here earlier in the summer you’d know better too. My first day here I burned myself and ended up covering half the kitchen in flour. What a mess. You should have seen the look on Nick’s face when he walked into that disaster. I thought for sure I would get fired.”

  “Seriously?” This didn’t sound like Zoe at all. “I’ve never seen you burn toast much less destroy the kitchen.”

  “I was not in a good place when I arrived. In fact it took most of the summer for me to work through some stuff. Come to think of it, I’ve been much less clumsy since then.” She narrowed her eyes. Hmm.”

  Piper waited for Zoe to say more, but the only sound in the kitchen was the slice of what looked and sounded like a very sharp knife as it cut through a potato.

  Piper cleared her thoughts. “So you think that once you got your life in order you stopped being clumsy?”

  “I guess so.” Zoe shrugged.

  “How’d you do it? I mean, how did you get things worked out?”

  “I prayed and I forgave some people. I can’t tell you what a difference that made for me.”

  Forgiveness. Is that what would make the difference for her too?

  “I hope this doesn’t offend you, but I’ve noticed you put walls up when someone starts to get too close to you.”

  Whoa. Zoe didn’t mince words.

  “I haven’t always been like that. It took getting burned by an old boyfriend and years of disappointing my parents to send me over the edge. You’re right though, and that really irks me,” she said with a smile so Zoe would know she was being playful.

  Zoe shrugged. “It might be that you need to work on forgiving like I did. You may find it very freeing.”

  “Funny, you seem to know me better than most people even though we haven’t spent a huge amount of time together.”

  “I’m observant, and I have personal experience on my side.”

  “By the sound of it, you know what you’re talking about. I think I need to work on forgiving like you suggested, but it’s not easy.”

  “On your own it sure isn’t. I needed the Lord to help me. But I wouldn’t wait too long. I see how you look at Chase and how he looks at you. I’d hate for you to miss out on something special because you keep pushing him away.”

  Piper’s face heated. Did she really do that?

  Zoe paused and looked her straight in the eye. “I suppose I should have asked you this before, but are you a Christian? I’m not talking about the kind of person who thinks about God on Sunday morning and forgets about Him the rest of the week, either.”

  “I am.” Where was Zoe going with this line of questioning? Piper had never had someone call her faith into question.

  “Good.”

  “Why?” This conversation was getting weirder by the second.

  “Chase is into you, but you have to get things right here first.” She pointed to her heart. “Oh and FYI Chase never stopped by the B&B as often as he has since you showed up. When you left the island, he never came around, then you came back and so did he.” She raised her brows.

  “I didn’t know,” she said softly. “Will you excuse me?”

  “Sure. Have a nice evening, Piper.”

  “Thanks. You too.”

  “Oh I plan to.”

  Nick walked into the kitchen from what Piper assumed to be his living quarters. Definitely time to vamoose. She quickly grabbed her purse then headed for her Jeep. Without thinking she drove wherever the road led.

  Zoe’s question about why she always put up walls when someone got close bothered her. She didn’t mean to do that, but she could see now the words rang true. Devon had done a number on her ability to allow people to get close to her, but wasn’t that a good thing? There was nothing wrong with being cautious. But was unforgiveness fueling that caution with fear?

  She pulled off to the side of the road and rested her head on the steering wheel. She wanted to change, but could she? Old habits were difficult to break. Cars whipped past, shaking her vehicle. She sat up and rested her head against the headrest with eyes closed.

  Lord, I know Zoe is right when she says I need to forgive. I feel like I have, and yet I can’t get past the hurt and fear that I’ll be burned again. How do I do it? She wanted so much to move past the hurts and unrealized expectations, but more than anything, she craved approval and praise from her parents. She worked so hard to be perfect, but perfection always seemed to be slightly out of reach.

  It struck her that the Lord was perfect. That was probably why He could forgive unconditionally, but she struggled. She never would be perfect. That realization disturbed her more than anything. All her life she’d sought the approval of others, but she could never measure up. She was done trying. If people couldn’t accept her for her flawed self then she’d do what Jesus told His disciples to do in Luke 9:5 and move on. Granted that was a loose translation, but it was the gist of His point. But that might be easier said than done.

  Lord. I give you my fear and distrust. Please help me let go of past hurts. I don’t want to feel like this anymore.

  Peace washed over her as cars whizzed past her. This is what she’d needed to do all along. Too bad she’d held onto the hurt for so long. Things could have been a lot different. The big question now—was it too late for her and Chase?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Restless, Chase slid his kayak into the bed of his truck then hopped behind the steering wheel. He put it in gear and headed toward the road. This thing with Piper ate at him a lot more than it should.

  When she first dropped into his life he wanted nothing to do with her. She reminded him of Victoria, and that was not good. But it was clear Piper loved Wildflower, and she wasn’t pretending like his last girlfriend had. But he and Piper could never seem to get on the same page.

  He sighed. What was he going to do?

  Up ahead a black Jeep was on the side of the road. “Piper?” He pulled over and waited for traffic to clear then jogged across the street. She sat with her eyes closed. He went around to the passenger side and eased the door open.

  Her eyes fluttered, and she sucked in a loud breath. Her head whipped toward him. “What are you doing?”

  “Checking on you. I saw you here and thought you might be having car problems.”

  She shook her head. “Get in and close the door.”

  He did as she asked and tilted his body to face her as best he could. “What’s going on?”

  “I was having a moment.” Her cheeks reddened.

  “Oh. Do you want me to leave?”

  “No. Thanks for stopping. You’re the first person who checked to see if I was okay, and I’ve been sitting here a good ten minutes.”

  “Why exactly are you sitting here? You said you’re having a moment, but I’m not sure what that means.”

  “It means I realized I’m messed up, and I was praying.”

  If he could have, he would’ve kicked himself for interrupting. “I’m sorry for intruding.”

  She reached over and took his
hand. “I’m not. I need to apologize to you.”

  “You do?” Surprise caused his voice to rise in pitch.

  “Yes. I’ve been so focused on trying to be perfect, and when I failed, I took it out on you. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not following. What were you not perfect about, and how do I fit into the picture?”

  “When you went to Tom about the cabin I felt like I should have been the one to do it. I gave up on the idea before even trying to see if it was feasible, and I shouldn’t have. When you took the initiative that I should have taken, it made me angry. I realize now, I was actually angry with myself and I blamed you, which was wrong.”

  Silence filled the Jeep. Unaccustomed to people apologizing, he grappled for what to say. “Perfection is boring,” shot from his mouth.

  A slow grin spread across her face, and her twinkling eyes met his. “You’re kind of right.”

  He chuckled. “I’m glad I’m only kind of right, otherwise I’d be too boring.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “So are we good now?”

  “Mostly, but…” she chewed on her lip for a moment then drew in a quick breath. “Please don’t go behind my back again and talk to my employees again. Okay?” she asked as she tightened her grip on his hand.

  He liked the soft side of this strong woman. “Deal. I get the feeling you’ve been burned in that area.”

  “You’d be right.” She let out a shuddering breath. “I may as well tell you, so my behavior makes a modicum of sense.”

  He saw shame in her eyes and reeled. What had happened to put that look on her face?

  She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “Okay. Here goes. This is so embarrassing,” she muttered more to herself than to him by the look of it. “Remember when I told you I had made a couple of mistakes and lost some accounts?”