by Holly Jacobs
“You were telling me that Hank’s an adult and doesn’t need looking out for. Now you’re accusing me of taking advantage of his mental infirmity. You can’t have it both ways, Seb.”
Sebastian bristled at the childhood nickname. This woman didn’t have any right to use it. “It’s Sebastian. And Hank is an adult. I’ll thank you to remember that. But I’m not some grasping person out to... Well, I have no clue what you’re out to do. But I’m his grandson and I love him.”
“Yeah? You couldn’t prove it by me. He’s been saying you were on your way home for weeks, and rather than go see him at the diner, you’re here? Hank needs you.”
Sebastian clenched his fist in his pocket. Truth was, his hand barely made a fist, and what little there was of it sent spasms shuddering down his lower arm that served as a reminder of so many things he didn’t want to deal with. This woman was one of them.
Well, he couldn’t escape his injury, but there was nothing to say he had to stand here and allow himself to be browbeaten by an utter stranger.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find my grandfather.” He stalked away from this woman who looked like a gypsy, all wild and free, but sounded like a house-bound shrew.
He’d been waiting to feel some sense of homecoming—to feel any emotion—about coming back to Valley Ridge. And now he did. Annoyance and suspicion about this woman who’d wormed her way into his grandfather’s home and business.
Well, he was here now, and he’d take care of things.
* * *
“‘NOW, IF YOU’LL EXCUSE ME, I need to go find my grandfather,’” Lily muttered as she stormed over to Sophie’s shower. She wasn’t much of a stormer by nature, but for Sebastian Bennington, she’d make an effort.
All tall, dark-haired Lieutenant Bennington, eyeing her with suspicion. Pretty is as pretty does. She wasn’t sure where she’d heard that saying. Though in this case, the lieutenant might present himself in a handsome package—she’d developed quite the crush on him as she’d looked at all his photos and listened to the stories of the irrepressible rogue he’d been as a kid—after talking to him for a few minutes, she didn’t find him attractive in the least.
She’d felt a momentary spurt of sympathy when she’d seen his scarred hand, but that totally evaporated quickly enough.
Lily’s friend and fellow bridesmaid—maid of honor, to be precise—Mattie Keith, appeared at her shoulder when she finally walked up to the Nieses’ cottage.
“You okay?” Mattie asked.
“Sure, I’m fine,” Lily assured her, but she wasn’t. She was angry, and since she wasn’t someone prone to anger, it made her a bit sick to her stomach. She didn’t like it. She prided herself on being upbeat and happy in the face of difficult circumstances. It was a skill she’d honed for years.
Even when she didn’t feel like being cheerful, she found that if she faked it long enough, she’d eventually fake her way out of whatever funk she was in.
Right now, she was anything but happy or upbeat, and she doubted any amount of faking would improve upon that.
She glanced at the bridal-shower decorations, which had made her smile only a half hour ago, and hoped they would jolly her out of her Seb—pardon her, Sebastian—Sebastian-inspired funk. She’d had to explain to Mattie that such events were always decorated in pastels. Mattie had seemed flummoxed, which made Lily wonder why that was true. She’d finally decided that it was true because pastel colors were bright and cheery, and everything about Sophie Johnston’s wedding to Colton McCray should be bright and cheery. They were the most perfect couple Lily had ever seen.
Lily could look at Sophie and Colton and believe that true, everlasting love did exist.
“Who was that you were—” Mattie hesitated “—talking to?”
Lily resisted the urge to growl her response, took a long, deep breath and said, “That was Sebastian I’m-sure-Hank’s-all-right Bennington.”
“He’s home!” Mattie looked pleased at the thought.
Well, that made one of them.
“It doesn’t appear that you two hit it off,” Mattie continued with what had to be the biggest understatement of all time.
Lily had been looking forward to having Hank’s grandson around. She thought she’d have an ally, but instead, she had Sebastian. Hit it off? She was pretty sure her snort was audible as she said, “No. I don’t think we did. In fact, no, I’m sure we absolutely did not.”
“Anything I can do?” Mattie asked.
“No.” She paused. “I take that back, yes. If he asks, would you assure Mr. Sebastian Bennington that I didn’t come to Valley Ridge with some nefarious plan to steal his inheritance?”
“What?”
Mattie’s shocked expression mollified Lily slightly. “He’s mad that I bought into the diner. I tried to reassure him that I’m simply a silent minority partner.” Lily sighed. “Hank needed help, and I’ve been pitching in when I have time. But it’s taken more and more time.” And money, she thought but didn’t mention.
Hank had let so many of his bills lapse that his suppliers were threatening to stop his deliveries. She’d used her small savings to pay them all off and infuse the diner’s account with what money she had left. It was enough to keep things going for a while. And yes, she’d taken a one-third ownership of the diner in exchange. But she would have been as content with loaning Hank the money. “He was forgetting to place orders and pay bills. I’ve taken over most of that.”
“That’s a lot, on top of your home visits,” Mattie said.
“I work at Hank’s mainly in the evenings.” And frankly, her patients didn’t keep her nearly busy enough to pay all her bills. Investing in the diner meant a small but steady revenue stream that she could rely on as she built her home-health-care business here in Valley Ridge.
It was more than a financial mess at the diner, though. There was the morning she found Hank sitting at the backyard picnic table wearing his pajamas and bathrobe. It was March then, and there was still snow on the ground. When she’d asked him what he was doing, he seemed to come out of his fog and tried to laugh it off, but she didn’t buy it.
There was the time he’d left a pan on the stove and it had burned dry. The fire alarm had gone off and he’d been confused, unsure what to do.
And sometimes, he called her Betty. It wasn’t a slip. Lily knew it was more.
She told Mattie how he was refusing to see a doctor and how, as she wasn’t related, she had no way to make him see one. Sebastian had been her last hope to get Hank some help, and now even that was gone.
The Seb stories she’d heard from Hank had painted the image of a rapscallion. Someone who frequently found himself in trouble, but due to a sense of mischief rather than any real badness. The man she’d met today hadn’t been that. No aura of mischief, only a dark cloud of anger that seemed to pulsate around him. This man wasn’t going to lift a finger to help her get Hank to the doctor’s.
In all honesty, there could be a number of reasons for Hank’s problems. Some could be fixed, some managed and for some there was nothing that could be done, but at least if he visited a doctor they’d know. Hank would have some time to make whatever arrangements he needed to. He could take control of what would happen. Having that control—that mattered. She knew that more than most.
No, she couldn’t make Hank do anything, but Sebastian could. If only she could convince him.
Maybe Sebastian would see the problem when he caught up with his grandfather today?
Maybe.
But even if he did, she wondered if he’d be willing to admit his grandfather needed help.
Mattie seemed to sense Lily’s thoughts and offered reassurance. Lily looked at the short blonde woman who’d become her friend. Lily was grateful to have had Mattie 24/7 when she was looking after Bridget Wallace Langley—Finn’s sister and Mattie’s best friend—until her passing.
Mattie hugged her, which was a surprise, but a nice one. She tried to assure her that Seb
astian would come around to what Lily was saying, and until then, it was his loss that he didn’t realize the good person she was. Mattie was so kind.
“We should tidy up the place and go.” Sophie’s bridal shower had been a hit. Up until she’d had her run-in with Sebastian, she’d been enjoying the talking, the eating and particularly the traditional bridal-shower games. She’d felt lucky to be counted as a friend by Mattie and Sophie, and accepted as part of the community by the other women who’d attended.
“Yes, we should finish cleaning up,” Mattie agreed. “But it would be a shame to waste this view.”
And that was why, despite knowing each other a bit less than a year, they were friends. Mattie had sensed that Lily needed a moment to collect herself, to tamp down her anger.
Lily could do many things, but she didn’t do anger well. She worked hard to avoid that emotion.
She sat next to Mattie on the picnic table, looking out at Lake Erie. The Great Lake was vast. So huge it was easy to forget it was merely a lake and not the ocean. The waves crashed into the shore, one after another. There was a fierceness to the water on this early-spring day, as if the lake was beginning to wake up from its long winter’s nap.
Sometimes that was how Lily felt. She’d left home. Not simply left. She’d turned her back on it and tried to forget it. She’d gone to school and then landed a job in Buffalo. Thinking about it now, it all felt as if she’d been sleepwalking. It wasn’t until she arrived in Valley Ridge, New York, to care for Bridget Langley that she started to wake up.
Bridget’s brother, Finn Wallace, was a doctor she’d worked with at a hospital in Buffalo. He’d paid her to move here and care for his dying sister and had expected her to return to the hospital after Bridget died. But Lily hadn’t returned.
She wouldn’t return.
Here, in the small farming community beside the lake in Western New York, she’d found her true home. A sense of acceptance and freedom had settled over her here. She was working with Dr. Neil Marshall and taking care of some of his patients in their homes. Her patient roster, and thus her income, fluctuated week to week.
And yet, she was happier here in Valley Ridge than she’d ever been.
Sebastian Bennington might not believe her, but now that he was home, he’d have to believe what was happening with his grandfather, and when he did, he’d agree that Hank had to visit a doctor. She’d have an ally.
Eventually.
Until then, she was going to be upbeat and understanding, even if it killed her.
She helped Mattie finish cleaning up the cottage, then headed home, ready to charm Sebastian. He was going to like her before he knew what hit him.
CHAPTER TWO
IT WAS ALMOST six o’clock that evening when Sebastian actually entered Valley Ridge. Not that the town was much to speak of. There were essentially four blocks that made up the town center. Heading from the west side of town to the east, the first block had a park on one side, city hall and the volunteer fire department on the other.
The next two blocks had various businesses like his grandfather’s diner, MarVee’s Quarters, Park Perks Coffee Shop, Burnam’s Pharmacy, the grocery store. The final block had the high school on one side of Park Street and the grade school on the other, then there was a small bridge that he’d always felt marked the end of town, though the library and a church sat on the eastern side of it. Frankly, he’d never had much to do with either of those places when he was growing up, which might color his view, he admitted to himself.
During the holidays, the town strung those four main blocks with lighted garland. The festive strands stretched between the lampposts, each sporting a giant wreath. MarVee’s did up their huge front display case with a train system that old Mr. Mento spent weeks building each year. His nephew Chris had taken to assisting him the past few years, according to Hank. Sebastian remembered Chris as a small, bubblegum-chomping redhead who’d once broken the window at the diner with a stone. He’d spent a few weeks working off his debt. Now he was in high school, according to Hank.
It was a reminder that despite the fact the town looked the same, things had changed. Time had marched on while he was gone.
The parking meters that lined Park Street hadn’t been updated since Sebastian was a kid. They still charged a dime an hour, with a four-hour maximum. To the best of his knowledge, no one had ever gotten ticketed if they went over a bit.
He had to park a block away from Hank’s. The evening dinner crowd had taken all the closest meters and filled the tiny lot behind the building. He walked down the block and stopped in front of the huge plate-glass window that read Valley Ridge Diner. He looked inside and everything was the same. The red vinyl seats and Formica tabletops. Booths lined the walls, tables settled in the center of the floor. The jukebox in the corner. The long counter that many of the locals preferred.
Then he spotted Hank, coffeepot in hand, working his way from one end of the counter to the other, smiling and chatting as he went. Looking the same as he always looked.
He’d like to grab that crazy nurse who’d practically taken over his grandfather’s life and shake her shoulders and scream, See. See, he’s fine.
Nurse Lily with her wrinkly blue eyes, her wild clothes and wilder hair thought she and Hank were close, but she’d been in Valley Ridge less than a year. Sebastian had lived with Hank for as long as he could remember, and Hank never changed. In his mind’s eye, he’d always been like this. Thinning gray hair, enough wrinkles on his face to make a shar-pei jealous.
Hank had always walked with a brisk step and a slight bow to his spine. And he’d never been a type A personality. Hell, he’d never been a B or C, either. Hank had always felt that things would get done in their own time, which was why Sebastian learned to do laundry in grade school. It seemed its own time didn’t always match up to the number of underpants he’d owned.
Taking a deep breath, and making sure his stupid left hand was secure in his jacket pocket, Sebastian opened the door and was greeted by the smell of home.
Some people might say the diner smelled of French fries and burgers, but for Sebastian it was more home than Hank’s house was.
“Hank,” he called.
His grandfather glanced up and set the coffeepot down with an audible thud, then hurried over to Sebastian. “Good to see you, boy.”
“Good to see you, too, old man.”
Pleasantries exchanged, Hank gave him a hefty thwack on the shoulder. “You look well.”
“And you do, too.” He paused, then added, “For an old guy.”
His grandfather burst out laughing. “I’ve missed you, boy. Of course, I had a carbuncle once, and I missed that, too, when the doctor finally got rid of it.”
Sebastian and his grandfather weren’t the type to get all sappy with each other. Sniping was more their thing. And Sebastian knew that being compared to a carbuncle was his grandfather’s way of saying I love you.
Hank pushed him onto a stool at the counter. “So what’ll you have for your welcome-home dinner?”
“What else?” Sebastian asked.
“Hey, Tony, we need a double cheeseburger, extra cheese. Some pub fries. And because I’m a firm believer in good nutrition, throw a few pickles on the burger.” Hank looked at Sebastian and grinned. “Vegetables, you know.”
Maize, who was as much a fixture at the diner as the Formica tabletops and the jukebox in the corner, walked over and kissed Seb’s cheek. “Welcome home, kid. Can I get you something to drink?”
Sebastian didn’t have a chance to answer. His grandfather said, “Maize, how about a chocolate shake? And you probably should make the rounds with the coffeepot.”
“Sure, boss.” She turned to Sebastian and grinned, her whiter-than-white teeth glowing beneath her largely styled hair and overdone makeup. But on Maize, the over-the-top look worked. “How’s my favorite marine?”
“Doing fine.”
Her grin slipped a notch and she asked, “How’s the arm?”
“Still there,” he assured her, though he didn’t pull his hand out of his pocket.
She laughed. “Seb, we’ve missed you.”
“Sebastian,” he corrected.
She stopped and winked. “Sebastian it is. I’ll have that shake to you in a minute.” She leaned down and kissed his cheek again.
Sebastian waited until she’d moved to the floor before he wiped the cheek, pretty sure that she’d left a lipstick mark in the kiss’s wake.
“So, boy, you here for a while?” his grandfather asked.
“Till Colton’s wedding.”
For a split second, Sebastian thought he saw a hint of confusion, but it was over so quickly he couldn’t be sure. Hank nodded and said, “Weddings are a big deal.”
“They are. Me and Finn have to throw him a bachelor party.”
“Of course, you do. I remember my bachelor party. Me and the boys went into Buffalo. Betty said, ‘Hank, don’t you be doing anything you can’t tell me about afterward.’ That’s it. That was my only rule. Finding my Betty was the best piece of luck I ever had. She’s an amazing—”
“Hank, there’s a message from Jerilu’s Produce on the machine. They—” Lily stopped short when she spotted him, and frowned. “I figured you’d get here eventually.”
“I dropped my stuff at the house before I came over.” He should have come directly from the lake to here. Hell, he should have come here before the lake. He couldn’t explain his hesitation.
Okay, so he knew why. He didn’t want anyone noticing his problem with his arm and being sympathetic. He’d hoped that Hank would be home before the dinner rush. When he wasn’t, Sebastian had given up and come here.
“I’m sure that was a priority,” the formerly smiling woman snapped without a smile in sight.
“You two have met?” Hank asked.
Lily smiled at his grandfather, like she had at him...at first. “Yes, we met,” she told Hank. “Your grandson stopped at the lake on his way into town.”
“Oh, that boy and his friends, they’ve always run the lakeshore like they owned it. Betty’s always scared one of them will go tumbling down the cliff and end up in the water, but I’ve watched them scramble up and down it enough times to know that’s not likely.”
