by Jill Sanders
“Yes, thanks.” She popped it open and took a sip. He’d yet to take a drink of his beer, but instead was just watching her.
“I’m really glad you came. I needed you so much. I just need you,” he said, just before he took the can from her and set his beer and the Coke down on the bar. Then he was kissing her with so much feeling, she had no choice but to hold onto him and let him take what he needed from her.
Later, as they lay in his large bed, he talked to her and told her what had happened at the hospital, how his father had mistaken him for his brother.
“I’m sure it was just the drugs talking.”
“Yeah, I know you’re right, but it doesn’t take away the fact that his eyes lit up.” He shook his head as he continued to run his fingers through her hair. “It still hurt.”
“He doesn’t know what a great son he still has.” She sat up a little. “Neither of them does. I can see it in their eyes.” She looked down at him, lying on the bed with the sheets covering his hips. His arm rested behind his head as he looked at her. She shook her head. “I didn’t get a chance to meet Calvin, and I’m sure he was a great man.” She sat up a little more and made sure to look into his eyes. “But they have one of the best sons staring them right in the face and they can’t see beyond their noses.”
His smile was slow to form, but when it did, it was the sweetest thing she’d seen all day.
“What do you say to some room delivery?”
She smiled back. “Can this place make a decent pizza and banana splits?”
He laughed. “Some of the best on the gulf.”
Chapter Sixteen
Cassey woke up enveloped by Luke and the thick warm blankets. His warm smell surrounded her, filling the whole room. When she thought about him not being there when she woke, her gut would twist and ache. Was he going to be staying on? There were so many questions left unanswered from last night. She knew early morning wasn’t the best time to ask everything she wanted to, but she doubted she could wait much longer.
“What has you so tense this morning?” he murmured into her ear.
She sighed and then smiled. It was nice that he knew her so well. In the past, she’d never reached this level in her relationships. She found that she liked knowing his moods as well.
It had been hard to gauge his moods at first, but after a few weeks, she had picked up on the subtle changes in his eyes and face when his moods changed.
She rolled over until she could look him directly in the eyes. “Will you be staying here until your father recovers?”
His dark eyes looked back at her, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“I suppose I will have to stay on, at least until he goes home.” He frowned a little.
“Don’t you need to run the business until he can go back?”
“No, my father has a whole floor of competent employees who can handle it until he gets back on his feet.” He brushed a strand of her hair away from her eyes. “I plan on going back to Surf Breeze as soon as possible. I have my own business to tend to now. We break ground in less than a week. We’d better head out. I’m sure they’ve moved him to another room by now.”
They grabbed a quick breakfast downstairs, where he was approached by over a dozen employees who all wished his father a speedy recovery.
It was close to nine when they walked into his father’s private room. His mother was sitting in the chair in the corner, a book in her lap.
“Oh, there you are. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it.”
“How’s he doing?” Luke asked.
“He’s stable. The doctors have come and gone several times. All of them say the same thing.” She set the book down and hugged Luke.
“Have you had breakfast?” he asked.
“Yes, don’t you worry about me. Now, Calley, sit down and tell me all about yourself.”
“It’s Cassey, Mother,” Luke corrected.
“Yes, of course. Sorry, dear.” His mother motioned to another chair near hers. “Sit, please.”
Cassey walked over and sat next to the woman, feeling completely out of place. Luke’s mother was wearing a pale green skirt and blazer, the pearls wrapped around her neck were undoubtedly real, and she didn’t have a hair out of place.
She looked down at her jeans and sweatshirt and wished she’d dressed a little better. She also wished that she’d thought to bring an umbrella, since it had still been raining this morning. Her hair was frizzed, and her makeup was probably running from the downpour they’d sprinted through to get into the hospital.
“Now, what is it you do, dear?”
“Cassey owns Boardwalk Bar and Grill in Surf Breeze. You know, the one dad’s been trying to buy for the last year,” Luke broke in as he shuffled a chair closer to hers.
“Oh, that’s nice.” Cassey could see the interest leave her face.
“I hope Mr. Callaway will make a speedy recovery.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will. He was fit as a fiddle before.” She frowned and looked at her sleeping husband. “Well now, tell me about your parents. I believe I knew your father a long time ago.”
“Mark Grayton?”
She nodded her head. “I grew up in Spring Haven; we were in the same class in school.”
Cassey smiled. Here she’d thought that the woman had grown up with a silver spoon in her mouth. Looking at her, Cassey had a hard time imagining the woman sitting in the broken down stands at the high school football field, rooting for the Fighting Bulldogs.
Mrs. Callaway laughed. “Oh, the times we had sneaking out to Orsborn Orchards. They had this pond, with a dock floating in the middle. One Fourth of July, we snuck over a hundred kids out there in his pond. Someone had heard that old Mr. Orsborn was going to be gone for the weekend.” She smiled, leaned closer, and tapped Cassey’s knee. “We may not have had cell phones back then, but word spread like wildfire. Well, of course, the information was false. When Mr. Orsborn showed up, everyone started to scatter, until he pulled off his shirt and jumped in to the water with everyone else. Well, he sat there and ate and drank and enjoyed the day like he’d thrown the party himself.”
Cassey laughed. “Mr. Orsborn now hosts the biggest Fourth of July party in town. I’d wondered where that tradition started.”
By the time they headed back to the hotel later that evening, Cassey was sure she’d just made a new friend. Luke’s dad woke several times during the day. Each time Cassey would step outside since she didn’t want to cause him any stress.
“I think my mother likes you more than she likes me,” Luke said as they walked into his apartment.
“I like her, too. I had no idea your mother was a Bulldog.”
“Pardon me?” He turned and gave her a funny look and she laughed.
“A Spring Haven Bulldog. Our school mascot.”
“Oh,” he chuckled. “Do you know that she talked to you today more than she has ever talked to me?”
Cassey shook her head and frowned. “I’m sorry.”
He smiled. “Don’t be. It’s nice knowing that even if my father won’t give you a chance, at least my mother has.”
He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I like knowing that at least one of my parents approves of us.”
She smiled and stood up on her toes. “I know you’ve won over my entire family. Dad’s asking if you’ll be back for Christmas.”
Luke frowned. “I think I might have to pass.”
“I understand.” She tried hard not to let the sadness show in her eyes.
“Maybe you can come down here for a few days?”
She nodded. She was finding it too difficult to talk. “I hate to leave, but I’ve a million things to do before I take off next week.”
He nodded then looked down at her mouth. “I wish you could stay.”
She nodded just before he kissed her slowly, showing her how much he wished it.
On her drive home, she tried not to let the fact tha
t she’d become entirely too attached to him dominate her mind.
She arrived back at her place, and chaos consumed the rest of the next few days. Two of the heater units stopped working, leaving the place a little too chilly for her or her customers’ liking. She had to hire a local company to replace the units, which ate into her savings a little more.
Then just three days before Christmas, she was on damage control back in the kitchen. Her head chef, Sam, had caught his wife having an affair and wasn’t in the mood to either cook or be civilized to any of the other staff. Cassey had no alternative but to send him home and help in the kitchen herself.
She still hadn’t had any time to get the rest of her Christmas shopping done, and more important, she still hadn’t had time to get Luke anything yet.
They’d talked to each other every day. His father had been moved home and, with the help of two full-time nurses, he was on the mend.
According to Luke, he still called him Calvin and thus far that was the only word he’d said since waking.
She was in the kitchen, cleaning up after the evening shift, getting ready to close the place down for Christmas, when her cell rang.
Smiling, she answered it. “Hi, I was just thinking about you.”
Luke chuckled. “Good things, I hope.”
“Always. How’s your dad?”
He sighed and she could tell things were the same. “Pretty much the same. I really wanted to see you for Christmas, but it doesn’t look like I’ll get out of here until after New Year’s.”
She tried not to let the disappointment reflect in her voice.
“I can always—”
“No,” he interrupted. “Go be with your family.”
She couldn't believe that she’d allowed him to be so deeply embedded into her life that just a few days away from him made her feel like a lonely old maid. She found herself tossing and turning because she missed his warmth in the bed. She missed seeing him sit across the table from her during breakfast. She missed his friendship, his laughter, and his touch.
“I miss you,” she blurted out, then immediately felt like a stupid high school girl with a crush, something she never remembered feeling before.
“I miss you, too.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “Soooo, what are you wearing?”
She laughed.
When Luke hung up the phone with Cassey, he sighed and closed his eyes for just a moment. His family and this job were going to kill him. What he wanted and needed was to be in Surf Breeze with Cassey, working on his own projects and helping Cassey with hers.
“Luke?” His mother peeked into the office. “Oh, there you are. Your father was wondering how things were going.”
“Fine, I’ll be there shortly to give him an update.” Even though his father had only said the word “Calvin” since waking, that didn’t mean he hadn’t demanded hourly updates. He still had full motion with his fingers and hands and typed faster than most secretaries. Luke was finding it hard to keep up. On several occasions, he’d thought about just leaving. Especially when his father would punch the keys and glare at him like he was stupid.
Since Luke was in control of the business, he’d made a few changes he’d been thinking about since his father had brought him on board almost a year ago. For the most part, his father had a handful of competent employees that could run the place smoothly, so he looked at it all as a great opportunity.
So far, he was seeing great success with his changes. The employees seemed to enjoy the flex shifts he’d implemented, and the office staff really enjoyed being able to work remotely. So far, their productivity was up by almost ten percent.
He’d yet to tell his father any of that, of course, since he didn’t want to cause him more stress.
They’d moved their father back into their apartment across from his and had a large hospital bed setup with several machines. Two full-time nurses came and went as well as a staff of physical therapists.
His father still had not regained his speech. He was learning to walk again, slowly, but his left leg dragged a little, causing him to stumble sometimes. He had to use a walker, which Luke could only guess pissed his father off no end.
His mother was treating the whole ordeal like it was some sort of family vacation. She kept a chipper tone and smiled entirely too much.
For his part, he was absolutely miserable. He missed the slower life of Surf Breeze. He missed his hotel project, which was moving forward without him. And mostly, he missed Cassey.
Talking with her each day wasn’t helping much. He wanted to hold her, to smell her sweetness, and to see her smile one of those rare smiles she had. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold out.
When he talked to his mother about it, she would just pat his arm and ask him to stay just a while longer. He thought she was just enjoying having him around. It was true she knew nothing about running the hotel or staff, but he was sure the place would get along just fine without him. He would leave if it weren’t for the guilty look she gave him every time they talked about his father.
His mother was staying busy putting up Christmas decorations everywhere. She’d even had a tree delivered to his place. For his part, he worked in his father’s office from morning to nightfall and then dragged himself back to his apartment, desperately wishing to be anywhere but there.
He’d stopped by and picked up his gift for Cassey and couldn’t wait until he could watch her open the small box.
Since his father’s stroke, he had known what he wanted more than anything in the world. So much had changed in the last few months since he had met Cassey. He no longer felt like he was alone in the world. She’s opened a whole new doorway for him to go through. No one had ever done so much for him in his life, except maybe Calvin.
Just then, his phone rang and his thoughts of Cassey and his brother were interrupted by more work. This time it was on his own project.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Luke. It’s Marcus. I’m just giving you a heads-up that the inspector will be here Monday. The cement work was completed today and we’ve got everything covered for the weather we’re supposed to have over the holiday weekend.”
“Great. Sorry I can’t be there myself.”
“Don’t worry about it. Oh, I’m opening an office above The Lunch Box. Rented the space out so I can hold meetings and all that. Might even get a secretary or two.” He chuckled.
“That’s good to hear. Shall I meet you there and we can go over the plans in…” He looked at his calendar. “Say late next week?”
“Sure. How’s the old man doing?”
“The same.” He frowned.
“Well, send him my best.”
“Hey, Marcus?”
“Yeah?”
“I wish I could be there with your family this weekend.”
“Next time.” Marcus chuckled. “That is if you can convince my sister to keep your ugly mug around.”
“Oh, I plan on doing just that.” He smiled and looked down at the small box as a new plan formed in his head. “You know what? I might just make it up there for Christmas after all.”
Chapter Seventeen
When Luke walked into his father’s office the next day, he was shocked to see his old man behind the desk. His mother was sitting in the corner quietly reading a book.
“Mom.” He nodded to her and continued to walk across the floor towards his father. “Dad, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on bed rest for the next few weeks.”
His father’s eyes narrowed. He typed something on his computer and then spun the screen around so he could read it.
“What have you done to my company? Why are half my employees working from home? Where are my weekly reports? What is this about discount meals for employees?”
He sighed and sat down across from his father and started to explain all the changes he’d implemented during his father’s absence.
When he walked into his apartment just over ten hours later, he was
exhausted. Looking around the large space, he realized he had nothing here he wanted to move with him. All the furnishings, all the decorations had been picked out by the hotel interior decorator years before.
Walking into his bedroom, he thought that the only things he’d take with him were his clothing and a small box of items that had belonged to him and Calvin when they were kids.
He had been so busy all day, explaining everything to his father, that he hadn’t told them about getting married. It wasn’t as if it had slipped his mind. On the contrary, he couldn’t stop thinking about it—being with Cassey, starting a new life with her. It’s all he had thought about all day long while his father was reaming him for the changes.
Even after he had explained how productivity was up and employee costs were down, his father had undone everything he’d changed in the last few weeks. It was the biggest slap to the face his father could have given him. Even with all his hard work the last few weeks, his father still wouldn’t trust him to handle the business. Which only assured him that his move to Surf Breeze was the best thing he could have ever done.
He picked up the phone to dial Cassey, looking at his watch. It was a quarter to midnight and he knew that on a normal night she would be in the thick of things with still almost an hour until closing time. But since she was spending the holidays with her family, she may have gone to bed earlier. He hoped she would still be awake.
“Hello,” she answered in a soft whisper.
“Hi, I miss you.” He smiled as he removed his shoes and leaned back on his bed.
“Me, too. How did today go?”
He groaned.
“That good, huh?”
He chuckled. “You’ve no idea. I just don’t get how I came from someone like him. Can you believe that in one day he undid everything I worked hard to accomplish in the last few weeks?”
