Lucinda? What would she be doing at Crescent Creek Lodge?
Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought and continued up the flight of stairs to his room.
Chapter Fourteen
Keely sprayed her towel-dried hair and slipped into the comfy ankle-length tunic dress Lucinda had given her before heading downstairs to dinner. It had been a surprise to open up the overnight bag and find a wrapped present on top. The package had contained the dress and a pair of matching flat sole, beaded slippers.
Walking into the restaurant a few moments later, Keely spotted Lucinda already seated at a table for two, waving her over.
“I thought we were going to meet in the lobby?”
“I know, but I had no idea I’d run into so many people who recognized me.”
Keely smiled. “That’s good isn’t it? To know you have a following, even at a lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains? So there’s that many people here?”
“Yes, while I waited for you I had a chance to speak with one of the managers. She was telling me besides the lodge here, they have fourteen private cabins located on the property. And they are booked solid this weekend. We were very lucky to get rooms at the last minute.”
Keely nodded and opened her menu, surprised by the gourmet offerings. Her stomach rumbled again and she made a quick selection, closing the menu as the waiter came to take their order. When he’d left, she took a sip of water.
“Thank you for the lovely present. I was quite surprised when I opened up my bag.”
“You look exceptionally pretty. I’m glad you like it.” Lucinda said. “I picked it up in Paris but wanted to wait until the right moment to give it to you. I see the gris-gris goes well with it.”
Without thinking, Keely reached up and toughed the charm as if she’d forgotten it was there. But she couldn’t forget the meddlesome thing, or how her life had changed since Lucinda gave it to her.
“Don’t frown, child.”
Keely half-smiled for Lucinda’s sake and removed her hand from the gris-gris. Then she spent a few moments rearranging her silverware as her mind replayed her encounters with Darren.
Darren.
Why couldn’t she get him out of her mind?
“Excuse me. I hate to interrupt your dinner,” a middle-aged woman said, coming to their table. “But I just heard you’re Lucinda.”
Keely bit her lip as she watched the woman talk to her friend, but she found it odd how the woman’s eyes kept glancing her way. As if she were more interested in Keely than the jazz singer.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lillian,” Lucinda said, shaking the woman’s hand. “So very nice. Won’t you join us?”
Keely blinked, not believing she heard correctly. Although her friend enjoyed fans’ support, Lucinda rarely got involved with them. What made this woman different?
“No. I couldn’t intrude.”
“Nonsense,” Lucinda said. She moved her arms and her bracelets jingled. “Please join us.”
Lillian hesitated a moment, then pulled up a chair from a nearby table and made herself comfortable. “If you insist.”
Keely shot Lucinda a questioning look, and she winked in response. Before she could say anything the waiter brought their salads and a dessert menu for their guest.
“So Lillian, what brings you to Crescent Creek Lodge?” Keely stabbed a cherry tomato with her fork.
“I’m visiting my daughters who co-manage the place.”
“Ah, I met one of them earlier this evening,” Lucinda said, cutting her salad greens with her knife before sprinkling oil and vinegar over them. “Lovely young woman.”
“Thank you,” Lillian chirped proudly. “May I ask what brings you?”
“She’s running away from her true love, so I brought her here.”
“Lucinda!”
“Well. It’s true,” she said in her no-nonsense voice.
“That doesn’t mean you have to make it public knowledge,” Keely whispered, mortified. Her temples began to throb and her stomach knotted.
Lillian smiled and patted her hand. “My son is going through something similar, dear. So don’t feel ashamed. It happens to us all. In fact, he’s upstairs. Perhaps I should introduce you?”
Keely put her fork down, finding it very hard to eat. “That may be true, but misery doesn’t always love company.”
The woman’s soft chuckle made Keely tense even more.
“Of course not. What was I thinking?” Lillian glanced at her watch. “Oh, look at the time. I’m supposed to meet my girls.”
“It was a pleasure,” Lucinda assured her.
Keely smiled and nodded. “Perhaps we’ll see you again this weekend?”
“I’m positive we will,” Lillian said, waving as she left.
As soon as they were alone, Keely picked up her fork and pointed it at Lucinda. “You, my darling god-mother, are walking on thin ice. What do you mean telling a total stranger about my personal life?”
Lucinda’s thick Cajun voice rumbled forth as she laughed. “Who better? She doesn’t know you; therefore, she can’t judge you.”
“Hah! You heard her. She immediately took the opportunity to try and set me up with her son.”
Lucinda shook her head. “I only heard her suggest you meet him. Nothing more. Perhaps two kindred hearts could shed some light on why you continue to push the boy away?”
“Push him? I didn’t push him. He made it impossible to be with him from the moment he lied.” Keely wiped her mouth on her napkin and laid it on the table. “Now, if you will excuse me. I’m going back to my room. At least there I can have some peace and quiet.”
Lucinda chuckled. “If you feel that way.”
“I do. Good night.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Keely stopped their waiter and signed her check, charging the half-eaten meal to her room before leaving the restaurant. As she climbed the stairs to the second floor, she spotted a blonde through the upstairs window, getting out of a car outside the lodge. The woman looked vaguely familiar and she immediately thought of Jama Wright. But what were the possibilities that Jama would be at the lodge the very same weekend as she?
Shaking her head, she continued climbing the stairs and walked to her room. Deciding she didn’t want to have any interruptions, she hung the do-not-disturb sign on the door and locked it. Her head was still reeling from her words with Lucinda. She’d never spoken to her friend like that before. In fact, she didn’t understand what had gotten into her lately. Without any other explanation, she blamed it on Darren.
Allowing herself the liberty to indulge in self-pity, Keely fell across the bed and cried. The tears were short lived, however, because she felt too much annoyance for this whole mess to cry. She turned over and reached for a tissue, blotting her eyes.
The sound of water running in her bathroom startled her. She sat up and listened closely as she blew her nose. Certain the sound was coming from her bathroom, and not on the floor above, she went to the closed door and turned the knob.
Nothing.
She turned and pushed, but concluded the door had locked somehow. Curious, she picked up her room key and slid it into the keyhole in the knob and was amazed it worked. The door swung open.
Steam from the running hot water billowed into her room. Opening the door wider, a baritone sound of humming filled her ears.
“What’s a man doing in my bathroom?” she mumbled, looking for anything handy to protect herself. Grabbing a wooden clothes hanger from the closet rack, she raised her arm and slowly inched her way into the bathroom.
“Who’s there?” she asked loudly.
Darren rinsed shampoo from his hair and hummed a familiar tune. Then stuck his face under the spray, getting off the suds. He shut off the water and reached outside the curtain for the towel.
“Hold it right there. Don’t make another move.”
He froze in mid-reach.
Keely? No. It couldn’t be. Could it? What was she doing there?<
br />
“Who are you and what are you doing in my bathroom?”
It was her.
“Your bathroom, Keely?”
A moment of silence then a nervous laugh escaped her. “Darren? Oh my God! Darren?”
“Yeah.” He wiped water from his eyes with his hand the best he could and opened them. Then he pulled the curtain back a little more and stuck his head out. He sucked in his breath at the sight of her. Had it only been twenty-four hours since he’d seen her? It felt more like weeks.
“Just stay behind the shower curtain.”
He chuckled. “I can’t stay in here forever, Keely. You’ll either have to close your eyes or leave, because I’m coming out.”
“Oh, no you’re not!”
“Try me, honey.”
Chapter Fifteen
Keely grabbed the white fluffy towel off the rack and threw it, hitting him in the face. The flip flopping sound of her shoes as she retreated back to her room mingled with his laughter. How could he find this funny? All she wanted to do was strangle one Cajun singer.
Lucinda!
Keely was certain her “dear friend” was responsible for this happening. It was a cheap shot. Darren was the last person she wanted to see right now.
“What are you doing here, Keely?”
She swung around at his question. He stood in the bathroom doorway with the towel wrapped around his waist.
Her pulse raced and her throat felt dry. She tried to speak, but found it hard to form the words. Shaking herself, she finally responded.
“Me? What are you doing here? And in my bathroom?”
Darren shook his head. “It’s an adjoining room with a common bathroom. So it’s our bathroom.”
“No way!”
“I’m in 224B.”
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“Doesn’t it?” He crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned back against the doorframe.
Just like him to be cocky.
Despite her annoyance, Keely sucked in her breath again. His movements drew her attention back to his exposed pecks and the dusting of dark hair on his chest. She almost expected him to cross his ankles and waited for him to do so, but when he didn’t she slowly looked away.
“Don’t you think someone’s trying to get us together by placing us here?” he asked.
“It does look that way, and I think Lucinda is behind this.”
His brows arched. “So that was her I saw earlier in the lobby.”
Keely nodded. “I should have known she was up to something bringing me here for a spur of the moment weekend getaway. The only problem is how she knew you were going to be here.”
“I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.” He pushed away from the doorframe. “I’m going to go get dressed, unless you object.”
“No. No. You go ahead,” she laughed nervously and motioned for him to go with her hand.
She paced in front of the window, clenching and unclenching her fists while laying out in her mind exactly what she would say to Lucinda the next time she saw her.
“I always imagined you doing that when you were planning a strategy for a new campaign.”
She looked up, startled, and stopped pacing. God. He looked even better in the tight jeans and snug fitting polo shirt. His hair was still damp and it curled across his forehead.
Get a grip, girl. Don’t go getting weak in the knees.
She mentally shook herself and returned to the problem. “Who knew you were coming here?”
“Just Jama, my twin sisters and my mom.”
Tension prickled up Keely’s neck. She’d bet money the lady from the dining room was his mother. It suddenly made sense why Lillian kept looking at her fondly, offering to have her meet her son. Priceless, when Darren was her son! And the twin sisters co-manage the place so she now understood how they were placed in adjoining rooms. But how did Lucinda know to bring her here, unless…
“Is Jama here?”
“No. At least I don’t think so. But I wouldn’t swear to it. Did you see her?”
“I saw someone earlier that made me think it was her getting out of a car.”
He shrugged. “It’s possible. What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we’ve been set up.”
He chuckled. “I already figured that. I mean, what’s the likelihood we’d be given adjoining rooms that share a common bathroom otherwise?”
“Exactly.”
“Someone sure went to a lot of trouble to put us here. Too bad it’s for nothing. For what it’s worth, I want you to know that I’ve resigned from my position at Wright and Associates. I don’t want to be your competition.”
Keely blinked, sitting down on the edge of the bed. That was the last thing she expected him to say. “What do you want to be?”
“I think you know what I want, Keely. I want to be with you, but if my being your competition is going to prevent that, because I can’t keep from screwing things up there, then I don’t want part of it.”
All she could do was keep staring at him. Her mouth dropped open a little and she tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out.
He’d given up his job for her? His career? His passion?
The mere thought that he’d make such a sacrifice by giving up the one thing he loved the most made her feel light-headed. Her heart began to pitter pat in her chest and her palms felt clammy.
“But you love advertising.”
“I love you more, Keely.”
“Oh,” she murmured, swallowing hard. Lucinda’s words rang in her ears: “The boy loves you, you love him.”
But he’d kept his true identity from her.
He’d also given up his job.
No one had ever done that for her.
Inside her head she could hear Lucinda’s thick Cajun voice saying, “Consider the possibilities, Keely. Consider the possibilities.”
She shook her head and bit her lower lip. “Oh, Darren.”
He watched her struggle with what he’d said. He knew she’d been through a lot since they’d met and she was torn between wanting her career and allowing a schmuck like him into her life. It was a lot to ask. And he didn’t have the right.
The prolonged silence between them was painful. He’d told her he’d loved her twice now and she hadn’t reciprocated. He slowly turned, heading toward his room to put distance between them.
“Darren, wait,” she called.
He stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
“You once offered me a job at Wright and Associates. Is that offer still good?”
Surprised, he pivoted around. “Well, yeah. But I thought you were satisfied at Jackson and Jackson.”
“I am. But like you, I don’t want to be competition.” She walked towards him, stopping a foot away.
He half-grinned, wanting to pull her into his arms and kiss her, but he didn’t dare. He didn’t want to make a move until he knew for certain she was saying what he longed to hear.
“If we were to work together, then there would be no need to compete. And it wouldn’t matter if we were dating.”
“But I don’t work there anymore.”
Keely leveled a look at him. “As if Jama wouldn’t take you back in a second.”
“Okay. So she would.”
“And bringing me along with you will make you a hero to the company.”
“That sounds a little conceited, like you’re the hottest thing on the market.”
She grinned. “But I am. Haven’t you heard?”
She laughed when he pulled her into his arms and she melted against him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he kissed her deeply. Hearing her moan, he pulled back, trailing little kisses from her lips to her neck.
“Does this mean you forgive me?”
She nodded. “Yes I forgive you, but …”
He didn’t let her finish, planting another kiss on her delectable mouth.
Keely suddenly pulled away from him, looking surprised. Her hand
reached to where the necklace she always wore hung. He noticed there was something wrong with the charm. The colored stone was no longer there.
“What is it?”
“The gris-gris. It opened. It really opened.”
“What do you mean?”
“When Lucinda gave me the charm she told me it was magical. That when I opened my heart up to being with my soul mate it would open, spilling forth the blood-red stone.”
“Is that why you’ve been wearing that necklace all this time?”
She nodded. “Silly huh?”
“Not at all.” He shook his head, pulling her back into his arms.
She nestled against him, feeling his heart beat underneath her cheek. She smiled, feeling the stone lying near her heart within her bra and knew she’d made the right choice falling for her Mr. Wright.
Epilogue
One year later…
Lucinda fidgeted with Keely’s veil. “There. It’s perfect.”
Keely smiled, pleased at her reflection in the full-length mirror at her final fitting. The white Italian silk gown hung loosely over her hips, pooling around her feet like a waterfall. “Thank you for being here, Lucinda.”
“Oh child, it’s my honor to be here. If your own momma can’t then I feel blessed to step in for her. I just wish Alex could have made it.”
“He tried, but we decided to do things so quickly when we finally set the date. He was already scheduled for a business trip, and he couldn’t get the time off.”
“Hogwash. That boy needs to be reminded what his duty is to his family. He should be here to give you away. I’ll just have to pay him a visit.”
“Lucinda! Don’t you even think of it. You’d never get him to wear the gris-gris.”
“Tsk tsk. You don’t give a gris-gris to a man. Do you think he’d take the time to heed its powers? Besides, I wasn’t even thinking of Alex, yet. He still has some growing to do before he’s ready for marriage.”
Keely eyed her friend and slowly smiled. “It’s amazing how you know these things.”
The Good Luck Charm (The Good Luck Series) Page 10
