Pawleys Island Paradise boxset, Books 1 - 3

by Laurie Larsen

“I’m pleased you asked me. Thank you.”

  They reached her car. She unlocked the back door and stepped aside. He started to hoist the basket in, then hesitated. “I’m sorry.” He ducked his head. “I’m really old-fashioned, I guess. I have a hard time with a beautiful lady driving me around. You sure you don’t want to go in my truck? Or, I could drive your car for you if you’d rather take it.”

  She gave his shoulder a playful punch. “If I let you drive, it’d give away the surprise, wouldn’t it?”

  He shrugged. “You could give me directions, one road at a time.”

  She gave her head a firm shake.

  He sighed and put the basket in the back seat, shut the door firmly. “Okay. I’m in your hands then.”

  They set off, driving west away from the beach. Because she didn’t want to have a set of directions setting beside her that would clue him into their destination, she’d read through her route enough times to memorize it. As they rode through the scenic coastal plain, they shared stories. Leslie told him some of her favorite memories of Jasmine’s childhood, those funny stories everyone remembers, sure to bring on laughs. In turn, he shared a couple stories about Marianne, one or two about his other daughter and then a boatload about Stella.

  About two hours into the drive, they stopped at a rest area and lugged the laden basket to a wooden picnic table. Leslie chuckled as she dug into the basket. Tucked along the side was a white and red checked tablecloth. She pulled it out, gave it a flip and rested it on the tabletop. They unloaded the contents onto the table and then sat, serving themselves.

  The food was delicious; the company was better. Leslie couldn’t remember the last time she’d shared a casual outdoor meal with a man and had a better time. Laughter flowed and they’d shared so much about their family members, Leslie felt she was personally acquainted with them all.

  Their stomachs were full long before the basket was empty. Marianne had packed enough to feed a family of ten, after all. Leslie gazed down at all the leftovers. She couldn’t pack it all back up into the basket and put it back in the car. With the day she had planned, and no refrigeration available, it would all be spoiled before they returned home. She glanced around the rest area. A short distance away, three children of grade school age played on a swing set. A young woman stood to the side, blowing smoke from a cigarette.

  She motioned to Hank. “Think they could use some lunch?”

  He smiled. They grabbed all the wrapped food they could carry and hiked to the swings.

  “Excuse me,” Leslie called to the young woman. The woman looked up, then dropped the cigarette to the ground, smooshing it under her foot. “My name’s Leslie and this is Hank. We enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch, but we have way too much of it left. It would be a shame to throw it away. I’d feel so much better if I could find someone to eat it instead of letting it go to waste.”

  The girl didn’t speak, but looked curious about what menu choices they had to offer.

  “I’ve got some fried chicken, a couple bologna sandwiches, some potato salad and cole slaw. I assure you it’s all fresh, and homemade by a wonderful seaside inn in Pawleys Island. I know it’s strange that in this day and age, a stranger is offering you food. But you can rest assured there’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t have the heart to throw it all away.”

  The girl’s glance swung from Leslie to Hank to the food. Then she smiled. “That’s very nice of you. I had planned to take them to lunch soon, but they were driving me crazy with energy and I figured I’d let them run it off a bit first. They’re getting so tired of riding in the car.”

  Leslie gazed at the children, two on swings, what looked like the oldest one standing behind the smaller ones, pushing them higher and higher. “How old are they?”

  The woman followed her gaze and her face softened into an affectionate smile. “Seven, five and four. They’re a handful.”

  Leslie nodded. “I’m a teacher. So I work with twenty five eight-year-olds, every day.”

  The woman laughed. “Enjoying your summer break?”

  Leslie automatically responded, “You bet I am.” Both women laughed, but Leslie glanced over at Hank.

  Yes, she was enjoying her summer break. Given the way it had started, who would’ve thought it?

  “Do you think they’d like this lunch? If so, you’re welcome to have it. If not, throw it away after we leave.”

  The woman laughed and held out a hand to Leslie, then to Hank. “My name’s Rona. Thanks so much, this was very kind of you. And you seem trustworthy so I’m going to accept your generous gift. Besides, that chicken smells better than anything I’ve smelled all week. It’s making my mouth water.”

  “Great! I’m so glad you’ll enjoy it, Rona.”

  She and Hank placed their armloads of food on a nearby picnic table. Rona called to her kids and they readily left the swings and joined them.

  “Kids, this is Leslie and Hank. They were very nice to share some of their lunch with us.” The kids gave them a busy nod while they settled themselves into the bench. When they saw the spread, they breathed an admiring, “Wow!”

  Leslie gave each of them a paper plate and they helped themselves. She smiled at Hank and he returned with a grin of his own.

  “Where are your manners?” Rona scolded. “What do you say to Leslie and Hank?”

  “Thank you!” they chanted in unison. Rona hovered over them.

  “Please, help yourself. We need to leave, so enjoy the meal. So glad you could take it for us.”

  “Daddy’s going to be so happy to see us!” the littlest one said. “Maybe we can save some chicken for him.”

  Rona glanced at Leslie. “My husband got a new job three months ago, and had to move to Columbia. I didn’t want to pull Marge out of second grade this close to the end of the school year, so we’ve been living separately all this time. We visit on the weekends, but it’s not the same. Now, school’s done, and we’re moving there with him. We’ll be together again.”

  “Oh, that’s lovely,” Leslie said. “I’m so happy for you all.”

  They exchanged a few last words, and Hank and Leslie left them to walk back to their own table. They tidied up the area, folded the tablecloth, tucked it back in the basket and returned to the car.

  “You are amazing with people, you know that?” he said.

  “Me? Why? What’d I do that was so amazing?”

  He wrapped his arm around her, resting his hand on her waist and pulling her close as they walked. “You’re so kind, and people respond to you. You make friends wherever you go. You’re a good woman. A good person.”

  Leslie blushed. “So many compliments, you’re going to spoil me.” She giggled and then felt ridiculous for doing it. But she looked over at him and saw nothing but admiration in his eyes.

  “You know another thing I noticed?” he asked. “She called us ‘Leslie and Hank.’ Just like that.”

  She knew what he meant. She smiled. They reached the car and climbed in. “It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

  “I reckon it does.”

  The journey commenced, along with the chitchat. Leslie turned onto 26 West and began the final leg of the trip. Conversation centered around vacation destinations they’d both enjoyed, and Leslie’s favorite students.

  Once Leslie exited the highway at Columbia, and pushed the “Go” button on her GPS, pre-programmed with the address she needed, Hank tensed.

  “Columbia. What are we doing here?”

  She looked over at him with a grin and winked. “It’s a surprise.”

  But in the quick moment she glanced over at him, she was alarmed at his expression. His shoulders were tight, the muscles in his neck tensed and a vein in his forehead pulsed. His complexion reddened to a ruddy color.

  “I’m aware it’s a surprise,” he said, his voice taut with strain. “But now it’s becoming clearer to me what this surprise is all about.”

  She looked over at him, confused at his reaction. It was bec
oming difficult to follow the city directions being announced by the GPS while also taking her eye off the road to study the befuddling reaction beside her.

  “Hank, what’s wrong?”

  “Where are you taking me? Where are we going?” His voice, normally so calm and kind, had a hard edge to it. Her head swiveled back to stare at him. She’d never heard him with anger in his tone. Heartbreak, yes, but never anger.

  “We’ll be there soon, and you’ll see.”

  He shifted in his seat, straining to look out the front windshield then back to the limited information on the GPS. “You’re not taking me to the prison, are you?”

  A dive of panic attacked her esophagus. The nightmare of someone taking on the challenge of executing a surprise was that it would not be well received. Unwanted. Unappreciated. From Hank’s reaction, it was clear this surprise was all those things. She just didn’t know why.

  “Well,” she stammered. A car squeaked to a stop in front of her and she barely braked in enough time to avoid hitting it. That’s all she’d need, a fender bender on top of everything else. Traffic continued to move forward so she had to move with it. But something was terribly wrong with Hank, and she needed to figure out what was troubling him.

  “Leslie, talk to me. I’m not going to the prison. You had no right to bring me here. No right to arrange this at all. Are you listening to me?”

  The mechanical voice of the GPS was squawking at her for missing her turn, “Route recalculating” with computer-generated annoyance. Cars passed her on both sides, implying she was going too slow. Unfamiliar roads started causing her blood pressure to rise, when Hank placed his hand on her steering wheel.

  They passed a brown sign on the right, “Kirkland Correctional Institution.”

  “Stop the car.” His voice was raised, his anger apparent. But too many things were happening at once. She was completely out of her element. She wanted to scream but managed to hold it in.

  “Pull over there.” As he said it, he applied pressure to the steering wheel and guided it to the right.

  It was the action that broke her.

  “Stop it!” she yelled. “You’re going to get us in an accident! I can’t take this anymore!”

  And yet he didn’t let up on the steering wheel, so the car followed suit and changed lanes, then continued on into a parking lot. Leslie worked the accelerator, Hank the steering wheel, a team effort, except the team was at odds. Once safely off the street, Leslie pushed on the brake a little too hard, causing the car to jolt to a halt, shaking with the suddenness of the stop. She pushed the gearshift into Park as Hank unfastened his seat belt and slipped quickly out of the car.

  She huffed with frustration, watching him leave. What had happened just now? She’d gone to the trouble of planning a meaningful day the two of them could share together — a surprise. Why had it gone so wrong?

  She turned the engine off and raced out of the car. He stood a few steps away from the passenger side, his back turned, his head down. She approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked it away, unwanted. He took a step further, then turned toward her.

  “You had no right to do this.”

  Leslie was stunned, her eyes widening at the seething emotion beneath his words. “I’m sorry,” she started, sure it was a good place to start, but entirely unsure why the apology was necessary. “Hank, let’s talk about this. I thought it would be a fun outing to come visit Jeremy together.”

  If she’d had plans to say more than that one sentence, those plans were thwarted by his raged response. “A fun outing? You thought it would be fun to come visit Jeremy? Together.”

  Sarcasm dripped from every word and even though he’d done little more than repeat what she’d said, it sounded ridiculous when he did. She cringed.

  “After everything I shared with you about my family. After baring my soul, you took it upon yourself to come here without even checking with me?”

  He gripped his forehead with his hand, rubbed it absently, then moved his hand into his hair, forming ruffles from his fingers. He turned in her direction and she saw the anger in his eyes. Then he strode back to her until his face was an inch from hers. “This is none of your business. None of your concern. This is wrong. You shouldn’t have done this.”

  Her breath was coming in pants from the intensity of his reaction. She had messed up apparently, but she had to hold on to the fact that whatever colossal mistake she’d made, it wasn’t intentional. She’d meant well. He’d understand that if she explained it.

  “You’re not ready to see him yet. I know it’s been a long time. I should have been more sensitive to that. I’m sorry. But I didn’t do anything maliciously. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I …”

  He huffed out a big breath. “Will you be okay driving home?”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “Why don’t you take a break from driving, maybe go to a bookstore and read for a bit. Then will it be safe for you to drive home alone?”

  She shook her head. “Are you going to visit Jeremy? I’ll wait for you. If you don’t want me to go with you, I’ll sit in the waiting room. Or the car.”

  “I’m not going to visit Jeremy.”

  “Hank, you’re not making any sense.”

  “Six straight hours of driving is too much for you.”

  She shook her head. “You can help me. You can drive home if you want.”

  He dropped his head and toed the gravel. “I’m not riding home. I’ll get a bus.”

  “What?” She was astounded. “You’re so mad at me you would rather get a bus home than ride three hours with me?”

  He quieted. The man was crazy. Juvenile. Completely insane.

  “I want you to be safe,” he said tentatively.

  “Well, how nice of you,” she said with a tinge of sarcasm.

  She understood. A battle was at odds inside him. He was furious at her for arranging this visit. His first impulse was to storm away and avoid a three-hour drive with her. And yet, the southern gentleman and all around nice guy inside him wouldn’t put her in danger. She was so close to being the one to storm off — jump back in her car, leave him standing there. Drive leisurely back to Pawleys Island. She’d driven six hours straight before, it was no big deal.

  But fortunately, wiser minds prevailed. She sighed and put some distance between them. And she said a quick silent prayer. She asked God for guidance in this situation, and the ability to put herself in his place. She hadn’t foreseen his reaction, but having him storm off and take a bus home, while she turned around and drove three hours by herself, wasn’t a godly solution.

  So, she marched back to him and held the keys out to him. Doubt was obvious in his eyes. “Here. Take them.”

  The stubborn man still didn’t obey her, so she grabbed his hand and stuffed them in. “You drive, I’ll sleep in the back. You won’t even have to talk to me.”

  She flung open the back door.

  “Leslie …”

  “Don’t want to hear it. Just do as I say.”

  She climbed into the back, and true to her word, it didn’t take long after the drive started, the warmth and motion in the back seat lulled her to sleep.

  The awkwardness reemerged when they arrived at the inn. Leslie’s pride was still nipped at his puzzling reaction and the last thing she wanted was to get into a conversation with him. That was the last thing he wanted as well, judging from his actions. He parked in the lot, left the car, opened the trunk and removed Marianne’s picnic supplies. They walked in silence across the lot and up to the inn’s front door.

  Marianne was leaning down behind the front desk. Leslie glanced over and felt a chomp of pain in her heart at the uncomfortable encounter that was sure to follow. Unless they could sneak by without Marianne noticing them. But it was not to be. Marianne looked up and a huge, happy smile bloomed on her face.

  “You’re back! Did you have a good day? How was your lunch?”

  Hank and Leslie glanced at each
other. A question fleeted through Leslie’s mind, how’s he going to play this? Unfortunately, he dipped his head and said nothing. Men. Figures.

  She cleared her throat. “It was a beautiful day, made even better by your delicious meal. Thank you so much for going to all the trouble. Not only did we enjoy it, but we also shared it with a mother and her three children.”

  Marianne laughed. “Really? I am so bad at judging how much food to make. I guess it’s better to prepare for an army, than to have someone go hungry.”

  Hank turned away. Was he that desperate to leave this day behind? If he was, she’d help him out because she was anxious to end it as well.

  “Well, I’m going to take my leave,” she said. “Good night, both of you.”

  Marianne waved and turned back to her work. Hank took two long steps to reach Leslie’s side. “Can we have a word?”

  She sighed and looked at him. “I don’t know. How difficult will the conversation be? Because I don’t think I’m up for anything strenuous.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not either. I wanted to thank you for trying to plan a nice surprise for me. I mean, the beginning of the day was a lot of fun and I enjoyed being with you.”

  Exhaustion, mental and physical, seeped into her bones. What was she doing? Why had she even gotten involved? Who was she to try to reunite a man and his estranged son when there was so much water beneath the bridge? Maybe he was right to be angry with her. Why did she care? This wasn’t her battle to fight and for some reason, she’d grabbed onto it with both hands. And now, it was a big fat mess.

  “You’re welcome,” she replied. “And now, I think I’ll call it a night.”

  She turned quickly so she left him with no choice but to leave as well. She returned to her room and plopped onto her bed. Closing her eyes, she wondered if she could sleep, but it was still early evening and if she slept now, she’d surely regret it when she awoke in the middle of the night. A shower sounded good. She dragged herself out of the bed, gathered her things and went down the hall.

  About an hour later, she sat in the comfy chair in her room, attempting to enjoy her novel, but her mind kept coming back to the epic failure of the day. Sure, Hank had confided in her, and in his deepest desire, he wanted to repair his relationship with Jeremy, but did she really think it would be that easy? What was she expecting, that they’d pull into the prison parking lot, and skip hand in hand to the front door, announcing their desire to visit Jeremy?