She grabbed him by the shoulders. “Don’t you see me? I’m right here.”
He blinked like he was waking up from an insane dream…or maybe a nightmare. The white parts of his eyes cracked red, like he was straining to hold back his emotions. “I see you,” he whispered. “My God, do I see you.”
Her stupid phone buzzed, breaking the moment. She grabbed her pants and pulled it out of the pocket. “It’s Sebastian. We need to go.”
They dressed, and she checked herself in the mirror above the little sink, fixing her makeup the best she could. He waited on the couch, head in his hands. She turned to him and plastered on a smile. “Ready?”
He nodded and grabbed their towel. He motioned with it. “I’ll wash it and return it.”
She loved him for that…and so much more.
Chapter Seventeen
Sebastian looked up from his spot on the couch. “I was about to call the police.”
Ashe shook his head, swirling his finger around his ear and mouthing, “Drama queen.”
Desiree sat flipping through a magazine while Marigold and Chase played a game of slapjack on the coffee table. Bo and the server he had flirted with earlier stood by the dining room table seeming to be getting along just fine, and a handful of other party guests Blake didn’t know headed toward the door.
“Where’s Cassidy?” Seanna asked.
“She left about five minutes ago,” Ashe said. “Rob and Gwendolen were leaving, so she hitched a ride.”
Sebastian closed the door and turned to them. “That just leaves us.”
Seanna checked her phone. “Gosh, were we gone that long.”
“Where were you, anyway?” Marigold asked.
Desiree glanced up from her magazine, giving Blake a look that made his cheeks heat up. She flipped a page. “Stroll down the beach?”
“Yeah,” Blake said, pocketing his hands.
Sebastian put his hands on his hips. “Well, are the two of you staying or what? Have a seat.” He headed for the dining room chairs.
“Let’s go swimming,” Chase said.
“Nobody has their suits,” Desiree said.
Chase waggled his eyebrows. “Even better.”
“I have suits,” Sebastian said. “Follow me upstairs, ladies, and I’ll find your perfect fit. I keep new suits in the guest rooms.”
Ashe jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Sebastian. “Of course he does.”
Blake looked over at Seanna, and she shrugged. “Guess I’m getting suited up.” He watched her walk up the stairs behind Desiree and Marigold, wondering what the hell he was doing. Every minute he spent with her made him doubt everything. He ran scenarios through his head constantly. Could he keep going just like this? Swear Bo to secrecy and live life as a handyman with her here in South Walton forever? He could hold the lie about who he was and vow to spend his life making hers comfortable and safe, no matter how much he wanted to practice medicine…or how much she deserved to know the truth about who she chose to spend her life with.
“Catch!” Sebastian shouted. Blake looked up just in time to catch a pair of swim trunks. He held them up. “I think these are mine.”
“I know they are. I’ve had them here since you left them Fourth of July.”
“Thanks.”
He got changed in the hall bathroom and met Bo, who was coming out of Sebastian’s room. “You have a good walk down the beach?” Bo asked, grinning like an idiot.
“It’s not like you missed me.” Blake nodded toward the kitchen where the catering crew was cleaning up.
“It’s not happening,” Bo said. “She’s moving back to Knoxville where she’s from after Christmas. Going back to school to be a nurse.”
“Christmas is a long time from now.”
She came out of the kitchen and grabbed a plate off a buffet, giving Bo a big grin before she headed back in. “I’ve had enough of the short-term. It’s not worth it…getting involved, getting right to that point where you think this might be the one you’re meant to be with, and then having your heart ripped out, leaving you depressed and lonely. I’d rather sit at home with Jake watching reruns of Family Guy.”
Bo walked toward the pool, and Blake followed him, Bo’s words rattling around in his head and pinching his gut.
Bo jumped in the pool and picked up a volleyball, hitting to Ashe who hit it back to him. Bo hit it to Blake, and he set up Chase a few feet away from him for a spike that Bo had to duck away from. “You son of a bitch,” Bo yelled.
The girls filed out looking good in their bikinis, and Seanna did a running cannonball into the water. She came up holding her hands out to the side. “What’s my score?”
“Ten!” several of them shouted.
“Best birthday ever,” she said, giving Blake a smile, and then she turned to Sebastian. “Get your skinny butt in here with me.”
“Well, I’m not going to top that jump, but I will show off my diving team skills circa seventh grade.”
He stepped to the end of the diving board and turned around, balancing on the end with the tips of his toes. He jumped up in the air and did an inverted dive to rival Greg Louganis. He emerged from the water to applause and whistles all around. “Why, thank you,” he said, batting his eyelashes.
“I’m next,” Marigold said, shuffling over to the board. “How did you do that?”
“I’ll show you tomorrow when we’re all sober,” Sebastian said.
“I haven’t even had that much.” She walked to the end of the board and started jumping. “This is fun. It’s like a—”
She slipped on the board and fell awkwardly to the side, her head bouncing off the board and leaving a smear of blood, her body dropping into the pool like a sack of potatoes. Bo, who was already in the water, dove for Marigold’s limp body, bringing her up to the surface through a red cloud of water.
Instincts Blake hadn’t felt in three years kicked in like he’d been practicing medicine yesterday. He looked directly at Chase, who wasn’t in the water, and pointed for emphasis. “Call 911.” Blake turned to Sebastian. “Go get a stack of towels. Hand towels and full size.” He grabbed a beach towel from a chaise lounge and spread it out while Bo met him at the shallow end of the pool with Marigold coughing up water. He helped Bo lift her out of the water, carefully, stretching her out on the beach towel, aligning her head and spine.
He looked up at Bo. “Place both of your hands on either side of her head to keep her still in case of spinal injury.” Bo pulled himself out of the water and did as Blake instructed.
Once her coughing slowed enough, Blake cradled her head, Bo backing off, and checked for damage to the skull, noting a deep cut on the right side.
Sebastian appeared with the towels.
Blake looked back at Bo. “Take over holding her head in place again.” He turned to Sebastian. “Give me the hand towel.” Sebastian did so without a word, and Blake held the towel against the wound. “What time is it?”
Sebastian glanced over his shoulder. “Um, 10:34.”
Blake nodded confirmation, and then smiled for Marigold. “You’re doing good. It’s a minor wound, it just bleeds a lot because there’s a lot of blood vessels close to your scalp. It looks worse than it really is.” He wouldn’t mention his concerns about an underlying skull fracture or intracranial injury.
“Who are you, my doctor?” she said, her voice scratchy from the choking.
He took it as a joke and not her being out of it, but he couldn’t be certain of that. “Don’t speak, and try not to move. The paramedics will be here soon.” He looked up at Chase. “Go out the front door and wait for them at the end of the drive. Wave them to you as soon as you see them coming down the street.” Chase nodded and headed back inside.
Blake could feel the towel soaking through, and he looked at Sebastian. “I’ll take another.” He stacked the towel on top of the soaked one, holding it in place, applying steady pressure to stem the bleeding, careful not to push too hard in case she had an underlying
skull fracture.
Marigold’s eyes shot up to the towel, and she opened her mouth, but Blake cut her off. “Shh, it’s nothing to worry about. Don’t talk, don’t move. Just be still, okay? Can you do that for me?” He smiled. “Blink once for yes.” She blinked, and he nodded. “Good. You’re doing really good.” He looked back at Sebastian. “Go get a couple more towels just in case, and take everyone else inside. I think this is one time Marigold probably doesn’t care to be the center of attention.” Sebastian gathered their crew and emptied the area of everyone except Bo, who was watching him without a word.
Marigold frowned. “I know it hurts,” Blake said, “but you’re okay.” She closed her eyes. “Do you feel dizzy or lightheaded? Blink once for yes, twice for no.” She blinked once, slowly. “Think about the time we all drove to Pensacola for that monster truck thing for Bo’s nephews. Remember that? They had more fun with you than they did with him.” She blinked, trying to smile, and Bo gave Blake part of a smile. “Or think about that time we all went paddleboarding, and Chase squealed like a two-year-old when he thought he saw a shark.”
“Yeah, think about that for sure,” Bo said. She smiled as the hint of a siren sounded in the distant.
“See, there’s your ride,” Blake said. “Just a few more minutes now till the paramedics come. Can you hang in there for me?”
He kept talking to her until the paramedics made their way to them, flanked by Sebastian. Blake passed his patient off to one of them.
“Did you call as soon as it happened?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Blake said.
“How long have you been applying pressure?”
Blake looked at Sebastian, and he said, “Twelve minutes.” The paramedic inspected the towel and then put a neck brace on to stabilize her spine. She discarded the additional bloody towels, leaving the bottom one in place to preserve any clot, and quickly wrapped sterile gauze around it for the transport ride.
Blake stepped away, allowing them to do their job. He had to look away. He didn’t want to be tempted to instruct them on anything. They knew what they were doing. He was the rusty one.
It wasn’t long before they had her on a back board and stretcher heading through the house. Blake collapsed onto a chair, rubbing his forehead. Bo stood next to him and clasped him on the shoulder wordlessly.
Seanna came outside with a towel wrapped around her, closing the doors behind her, and Bo made his leave.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He blinked, bringing himself back into this world. “Yes, of course.”
“You’re really good in a crisis. How’d you know all that stuff?”
He considered her. The question was simple, but the answer seemed to hinge on so much. He could tell her right now, and he’d be free of the lie. Or he could keep up the charade. As she stared into his eyes so matter-of-fact…so naïve of him, he knew what to do.
He stood. “I’m going to head home. Can I drop you home on my way?”
She blinked, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes, which made his stomach sick. “Um, no, thanks. I’m going to hang a little while, maybe wait for Sebastian to get back with Marigold.”
“He went with her?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” He held out his hand to her, and she took it, giving a small smile. “Happy birthday.”
She huffed a laugh. “It really was a great one.”
He nodded. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
As he let go of her hand, a tide shifted in him, a darkness settling into his chest as he walked away from her.
Chapter Eighteen
Seanna wiped down the countertops, and then took a moment to inspect her work. She’d spent the week repainting the walls, getting them the color she originally wanted; retiling the backsplash; making some tweaks to the readymade cabinets to give them a custom feel; and touching up the kitchen in a way she could be proud to present the final product to her client. Her work had helped keep her mind off the bigger problem taking up entirely too much of her head space.
Blake had dutifully called her on Sunday as he said he would, but the conversation lacked heart. He was slipping away from her as the days dropped away, and she was powerless to change his heart. Something had shifted in him on Saturday night when Marigold hit her head. The whole incident had been truly frightening, there was no question about that—the blood in the water and on the towels that had been discarded by the pool when the ambulance left, uniformed paramedics stomping through what was previously an elegant, champagne-filled party with equipment and a stretcher, Marigold’s still body being taken out on that stretcher.
Blake had taken charge of the situation like he’d done it a thousand times before. That was the part she couldn’t understand. Did something about that incident make him change his mind about her? The idea that he realized he had feelings for Marigold crossed her mind, but she couldn’t reconcile that as a truth, and she didn’t think that was wishful thinking on her part.
She caught Chase’s image in the corner of her eye and picked up a few tools quickly before he came inside, getting the kitchen as perfect as she could make it for presentation.
He tossed his keys down on the kitchen table and looked around. “Man, this looks like a real kitchen now and not something out of an old house I’d have lived in when I was in college with six other guys.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I do. You get the icemaker fixed in the fridge yet?”
“Yep. They replaced it this morning.”
“I guess I owe you a check.” He pulled out his wallet and handed her a folded-up check.
She shoved it in her pocket without checking the amount. “Thank you. If you have any problems with anything, please call me. I want the opportunity to fix whatever arises.”
“You have any interest in quoting out that gut-job? I closed on it today. I could run you over there and let you eyeball it if you like.”
Something clenched at her gut, the idea of starting on this house sounding miserable. She needed to keep working though, and this was what her training was in. Outside of being able to find a job like her old one where she could use her knowledge of building to sale services, she was stuck, at least until she could get herself on her feet. She could work on that while she worked on this gut job. “I’d love to.”
He looked around. “This place looks fantastic.”
All she could think of was holding that platter up to the spewing faucet like Wonder Woman, waiting for Blake to come rescue her. “I would love to go see it tonight, but I’m supposed to be at Sebastian’s right now checking on Marigold. I can call her and tell her I’m going to be a minute.”
“Ah, hell no. It’s the weekend. I’ll take you over there Monday or Tuesday. You go. Give her a hug from me.”
She smiled. “I will.” She grabbed her purse from the kitchen chair and shouldered it. “I can’t thank you enough for these opportunities.”
He glanced around his kitchen. “Looks like I’m the one who got the benefit.”
“I know it’s inappropriate, but can I hug you?”
He huffed a laugh. “Sure. I’ll take off my client hat and put on my friend one.”
She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. He pulled away. “So are you thinking of staying here permanently?”
The idea sounded fantastic…settling into this town with all these wonderful people so far away from the mess she’d been dealing with back home for a year. If only she could convince Blake to stay here with her, she’d never leave.
“If you all will have me.”
He grinned. “I feel confident rendering a huge yes on behalf of the group.”
She smiled back. “Thank you. I’ll text you Monday about the quote on the gut-job.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
She held up her hand in a wave and headed for her car. Exhaling a deep breath behind her steering wheel, she checked her phone. No
texts. She was used to the disappointment by now. She checked her email, which was stupid because Blake didn’t even have her email. One email stood out to her over the junk. One of the companies she’d applied to weeks ago. She clicked on it, expecting a rejection letter but was shocked to see it was a personalized email, familiar even.
It was from Isabelle Pointer. She’d worked in HR at the firm up until about a year ago when she had her baby. Seanna thought she was staying home, but she was working for this company Seanna had applied to, apparently.
She’d found Seanna’s resume when cleaning out her junk folder. The job she had applied for was too far down the line to start from scratch with interview one, but there was another opening for a junior project manager, and did Seanna want to interview for it?
She huffed a laugh. Didn’t that figure. She’d have jumped on this offer weeks ago, but she was ready to stay here now…quote out the job for Chase. She was fairly certain she could get it. He was into helping people, the big ole sweetie he was, and she imagined he’d be no different with this job than he’d been with the first one, especially if he was offering to take her to see the property next week. Project management wasn’t her favorite work, but it paid well, and it would keep her here and enable her to make that last payment on her apartment.
She thought about Blake and his distance from her. He was leaving and she was staying. That was the way this could go. But he wasn’t gone yet. She just had to figure out how to change his mind.
Sebastian answered the door wearing a navy blue apron. “I hope you like million dollar chicken.”
“Oh, I didn’t know we were having dinner.”
“Of course we are, sweetie. I can’t have a guest over at six o’clock and not offer food. Come on in.”
She stepped inside the foyer. “I hope you didn’t go to trouble for me.”
Seaside Sweets Page 17
