by Nana Malone
Grandma Lucy laughed. “Yes, I know, Justin does tell me all the stories about you. The time you tried to make him a stew.”
Alex flushed. “It was not my fault. I swear the oven hates me.”
“Well, we’ll just fix that today.” Her smile was filled with warmth. Alex knew in that moment, there was no way that anyone couldn’t love this woman.
Alex opened her mouth to tell her that she had to get to the city. But Grandma Lucy just clucked around the kitchen handing her things, asking her to open jars, telling her that she was going to show her how to make bread from scratch.
Alex needed to get out of there. But do you really? Cassie’s got it. And she was here for Justin. He wanted his grandmother relaxing. And until he could take care of her himself, it was Alex to the rescue. Besides, she could help out for an hour.
But as Grandma Lucy told her stories about Justin growing up and asked her questions about herself, and her childhood and what her dreams were, Alex realized that there was no way she was going to LA today. And part of her didn’t even mind.
* * *
Justin woke up alone and cold. He was never cold. But when he reached for Alex in the morning, her side of the bed was cool, like she’d been out of bed for a while. Probably running from you.
He flopped back onto the pillows and groaned. He’d expected to be up all night, staring at the wall, kind of like she’d stared at the ceiling. But the moment the light was out, and he heard her deep sigh and exhale, he did the same and was out like a light. His brain offered up glimpses of memory and snippets of bliss of soft, warm skin pressed into his side within fifteen minutes.
Just like every other time they’d crashed together, Alex was like coming home. And even though he’d slept later than he would’ve liked, he felt so refreshed and revived. Eight thirty. Wow, when was the last time he’d slept in that late? He was showered and out the door within minutes, and could hear Alex in the kitchen, laughing with Grandma Lucy. Just the sound of the two of them giggling like schoolgirls made the warmth in his chest spread out like a ball of fire, simultaneously filling him with joy and calm. Like this was the way it should be. Easy there, boy. Don’t go getting all excited. This is just pretend.
The smell of baking bread made his stomach react, and he walked into the kitchen with a smile. “I see you two are happy.”
Grandma Lucy gave him a broad grin. “That’s because your girl here is regaling me with stories of your misadventures. Did you two really meet because you and your fraternity brothers were attempting to steal a mascot?”
He darted a glance to Alex. “You told her that story?”
Alex shrugged. “You know I don’t lie well.” Her expression said it all. Don’t go there. I’m trying to talk about anything but the one thing I can’t talk about.
He cursed his luck. “Yeah, Alex busted me, but then I asked her if she wanted to help. And she helped to cart it all the way back to our fraternity house.”
“Well, the establishment in the fine-arts department was a bit snooty. They certainly needed a shake-up. Besides, I liked the idea of being stealthly and undercover.”
Justin grabbed a slice of the fresh-baked bread and slapped a big pad of butter on it. When he took a bite, he all but moaned around it. And his grandmother looked on with delight.
“Cinnamon bread. Your favorite.”
He couldn’t help but talk around the mouthful. “Grandma, seriously, I don’t know how you do it, but this is amazing.”
His grandmother shook her head. “Wasn’t me. Alex made that.”
Justin coughed. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to swallow the piece now or spit it back out. Thing was, it tasted fine. It wasn’t rock hard; it was soft and warm and moist. Just how he liked it. And it tasted freaking delicious. He opted for swallow.
“Alex made this?”
Alex nodded. “I dunno how it happened, but with your grandmother standing right here, there was no way I wasn’t getting it right. Turns out when she says pinch it’s not an exact science. It’s more like an art. When she explained it like that, it was pretty easy.”
He nodded warily, not sure it was a good idea to take another bite, but his stomach rumbled, begging for more. It was really good.
His grandmother patted him on the back. “And why are you standing up like I didn’t teach you properly? Grab a plate, and coffee and juice. Eggs and pancakes will be out in a moment.”
“Another Alex creation?”
Grandma Lucy shook her head. “Now that I have Marta from the hotel coming on over to cook for everybody, Alex and I got to know each other.” Her smile intensified when she glanced at Alex. “Oh my, I forgot. Justin, I want you to go golfing with Martin today. I think you two can heal your tension. Then when you’re done with that, will you go to LA and check on Alex’s artwork for her? So she doesn’t have to do it herself? You know her nerves.”
Justin looked back and forth between his grandmother and his best friend. And his gaze locked on Alex’s. The crack of a spark was there, just like it had been last night, but today it was worse. He needed to get away from it.
“Okay, I’ll head out there. What time?”
His grandmother grinned. “They started an hour ago.”
Shit. That meant he was late. He grabbed another slice of bread and jogged upstairs to change. When he finally made it up to the golf course, his cousins and uncle were on the fourth hole.
Martin was typically snarky. “Look, the family slacker decided to wake up. It seems the rest of us who aren’t the favorite were up at the crack of dawn.”
“Keep talking, Martin. Grandma’s not here right now, so I will happily break your nose. For the second time.” Justin grinned. He’d been seven when he broke Martin’s nose the first time. Didn’t matter that his cousin was older or bigger than him.
But now Justin had the height and weight advantage. While Martin may have looked similar to him, working out for his cousin consisted of a round on the golf course. Justin wasn’t sure if his cousin had ever run anywhere in his life.
Martin studied him for a moment, unsure if he should take him seriously or not. Try me. There was no way Justin was going to poke at his cousin with his grandmother present, but since Grandma wasn’t here, he was done taking Martin’s insults.
Martin cocked his head and took a step back, conceding the would-have-been fight. “It’s okay, cousin. I mean, I know you probably didn’t get enough sleep, with that hot piece next to you.”
Justin tossed down the five iron he’d picked and got in Martin’s face all close and personal. “What did you say?”
Martin held his hands up. “Sorry. Can’t help it if I notice that your woman is hot. She’s got that sassy thing going for her. I mean honestly, I never thought you were into exotic girls, but man, am I glad you brought her around. Maybe she’s looking for an upgrade.”
If Justin hit him in the face, Grandma Lucy would notice and she’d be upset. As Justin assessed all the points that he could hit on his cousin without his grandmother noticing, his uncle stepped between them. “That’s enough. You two need to stop arguing and learn how to get along.” Uncle Lester wasn’t a bad guy; he was just complacent and let his son have too much freedom.
“Not another word about my girlfriend.” Justin punctuated the point with a glare.
Martin grinned. “That’s fine, I’m happy she’s in my imagination.”
As if Justin would let Martin anywhere near Alex. Luckily for Martin, he narrowly dodged a beat down thanks to an intervention. Justin pulled out his ringing phone and turned his back to his cousin. “Yeah?”
“Justin. Thank God you answered. I didn’t want to disturb Alex. You know how she gets—she’d be freaking out right now.”
“Cassie? Calm down. What’s the matter?”
“The pieces haven’t a
rrived. No, scratch that. Some of them have arrived. But not all of them. And I watched the guys load the truck myself. Alex is going to kill me. And just when we started to become friends. Oh my God.”
This was so bad. “Cassie, calm down. Were there any other scheduled deliveries for the truck?”
“I was on the phone with the truck delivery people this morning. They’re looking up to see where else the vehicle stopped. But the problem is, I’m here at the gallery and I’ve got maybe two-thirds of the pieces we promised. And I don’t know a way to fix this. Alex put everything that she had at the studio on that truck. I have no contingency if they can’t find the pieces.”
His gut curled in on itself, and the bile rose. Alex had worked so hard for this. She was finally getting the recognition she deserved. She was selling her pieces. This gallery showing was going to open up new opportunities for her. She needed this. “Cassie, calm down. I’m coming. We’ll figure this out together.”
“What about Alex? Will she know there’s a problem?”
“You and I are keeping any problems to ourselves for now. Besides, she asked me to look in on the gallery today anyway.”
He hung up with Cassie and turned on his cousin with a grin. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go save the day for my girlfriend. You should be so lucky.”
Chapter 8
It had been a long time since Justin had been this angry. “What do you mean you don’t know what happened to the pieces?”
He had the owner of the delivery truck shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet as he tried to explain. “Just that. I don’t know what happened. There were two other stops, but things were supposed to be loaded on there, not taken off. I’m trying to figure it out.”
“You need to do more than try. Do you understand how long Alex Winters has been working for this gallery opening?” Instead of shouting, Justin’s voice went deadly soft. Cold. “You may already think yourself a success with your business. She is meant to do so much more than any of us could do. With her work, she brings joy and light to people’s lives. And you want to tell me that you don’t know where those pieces are? Let me tell you how this is going to go. You’re going to get on the phone, and then you’re going to personally go to those other locations and do a full search for those items. And you will have them here for me tomorrow.”
The guy darted a glance to Cassie, and Justin got in his face. “Don’t look at her. Look at me. I’m the one you have to deal with if you can’t perform the simple task of delivering what you were contracted to do.”
The guy nodded vigorously, the sweat beads rolling down his temples. Granted, it was also unseasonably warm for December in Los Angeles, but Justin wasn’t screwing around.
After the man left on his search for Alex’s paintings, Cassie came over and blew a low whistle. “Man, remind me to never get on your bad side.”
Looking over, Justin frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’ve got your boxing gloves on. You were about to tear that guy a new one.”
“Well, he pissed me off. It’s his job to deliver. If he can’t handle that responsibility, I’ll make sure everyone knows about it. By the time I’m done with him, he won’t have much of a business.”
Cassie stared at him for a moment, then a slow smile crept over her lips. “You really care about Alex.”
Could she see? Did she know what lurked deep down in the recesses of his mind? “Of course I do. I should. She’s my best friend.”
“I wish I had a best friend like you, riding in on the white horse, all angry gladiator. I’m down for that.”
He shook his head. “I’m not charging in on a white horse. I’m just trying to get that guy to fulfill his obligations.”
“Whatever you want to call it, it’s still fighting for her.”
He frowned. “Yes. As if you’d do anything else.”
Cassie shrugged. “Alex has a lot of people who want to see her succeed. So it’s cool. In the meantime, when are we going to tell her about the missing pieces? Because as much as you terrified that dude, I’m not so sure he’s going to come through.”
“I certainly hope I scared him straight, but I have another solution. One I pray works almost as well.”
“I’m all ears. Because right now we’re up the creek, no paddle, and the canoe is leaking.”
He laughed. “Great visual.”
“Isn’t it accurate?”
Justin laughed. “That it is.”
“Okay, so what’s plan B?” Cassie asked.
He had no idea. He hadn’t gotten much further than to light a fire under the delivery guy’s ass. But he needed to do something. This was going to break Alex’s heart. She’d lost sleep over this, she’d lost weight over this. Not that she had any weight to lose. But the stress was showing. All he wanted to do was help her. “Cassie, don’t worry about this. We’ve got all the pieces we need.”
“What you mean? We’re supposed to be exhibiting twenty pieces—right now we have thirteen. There are a couple sculpture pieces in there, too. But she’s a bit nervous about those ones, because she’s known for her paintings.”
“You won’t be short on paintings. And you might have one or two extra.”
“You going to go back to Catalina and ask her to paint through the night?”
“Next best thing. We can raid my piggy bank.”
“Huh?” She scrunched her face.
“For every birthday, for every anniversary, for every celebration, whenever Alex asks what I want, I always tell her a new painting. I’ve got at least eight. They’re currently displayed at the hotel. I can have them replaced with prints. Alex needs this. And then there are pieces that have never been shown from my private collection. So they should make a mint.”
Cassie’s eyes went wide. “You would do that for her?”
“There’s not much I wouldn’t do for Alex.” And that was true. She deserved so much more. But this was what he could give her. He would make sure she had the gallery opening she deserved.
“Looks like she’s lucky to have you.”
As he walked away, Justin mumbled under his breath, “No, I’m the lucky one.”
Chapter 9
Patience was her biggest weakness. Okay, patience and cooking. Though, now with Grandma Lucy’s help, cooking wasn’t nearly as bad. She’d made bread this morning. She’d actually even managed the sandwiches for lunch.
She was pacing in the library, waiting for Justin to come back to the island. When Martin and his father and brothers had come back from golfing, they’d said Justin had taken off early. They’d also said his phone conversation hadn’t sounded good, so of course, she’d worried. She’d tried several times to call Cassie, but Cassie didn’t answer her phone. And neither did Justin. Neither one of them was filling her with confidence at the moment.
When Justin walked through the front door, she pounced on him. “What’s the matter? Did you see it? Do they all look bad? Will I get laughed out of the community? What if everyone hates my pieces? What if none of them sell?”
Justin was somber, but his lips twitched. “If no one purchases a single one—which, by the way, is not going to happen—I’d buy all of them. Remember I had to fight Mr. Takahashi last summer for one of the pieces that’s hanging in the hotel.”
“Yeah, but you’re only saying that because you’re my best friend. And you have an obligation to. But I wouldn’t let you buy them all.”
He chuckled low, but she could see something was wrong. “What’s the matter? You’ve got that look on your face like you’re trying to figure out the best way to tell me something. How many times do I have to tell you? You don’t need to sugarcoat things with me, just rip off the damn Band-Aid!”
“Alex, it’s not that easy. I want this to be great for you
.”
“You’re making it worse. Just tell me.”
He sucked in a deep breath. “Look, there was a problem with delivery. Some of the pieces didn’t quite make it there.”
Her lungs constricted. Even as her heart hammered that thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud, she couldn’t get any air and her head started to spin.
Justin put his big hands on her shoulders and propped her upright. “Alex, breathe.”
His voice was a sharp command. And she inhaled. And this time the air made it past her lungs. What was she going to do? “I don’t know—What am I supposed to—I don’t have time to make new pieces.”
He shook his head. “And you don’t have to. I took care of it.”
“What do you mean, you took care of it? Are you an artist now?” Her tone was harsher than she meant it, thanks to the panic.
“I don’t have to be. You’ve given me art since we became friends. Every birthday, for every congratulations. I’ve got dozens of your pieces. We are going to show some of those.”
Show those? Those were personal. Those were her past. She opened her mouth to argue with him. But then he put his finger over her lips. The buzz of electricity where he touched her pulled at something low in her belly.
“I took care of it. I only gave Cassie six of them. My absolute favorites, I kept. This is done, this is perfect. I remember every one.”
When he removed his finger, she struggled to find words. “But those were for you.”
“But I’ll give them to you so that you can have what you want. You worked too hard to not have this go right.”
“You’d do that for me?”
He shook his head. “How long is it going to take for you to realize that we’re family? Whatever it takes to make you happy, I’m down for it. Hell, you came to Catalina to stand in for me. As my girlfriend,” he whispered. “I can do you a favor. Consider this an early Christmas present.”
And boy, he had done her a favor. At least she wouldn’t be showing with a half-empty gallery, but still, what about those pieces? All that work, the blood, sweat and tears? Where were they? “Justin, I don’t know what to say.”
