Susan Hatler - Just One Kiss (Kissed by the Bay Book 3)

by Unknown

  “Thank you.” Luke smiled, his eyes lighting up like I’d told him he’d won an Academy Award. “For dinner, the Inn at Blue Moon Bay’s room service offers a picnic basket complete with a wine. We could have a quiet dinner down on the beach?”

  I bumped my hip into him. “It sounds like you’ve planned this all out.”

  He winked. “You caught me. Let me give the inn a quick call to reserve the dinner basket and then we’ll head out.”

  An hour later, we arrived at the Inn at Blue Moon Bay. We strolled through the familiar lobby, a place I’d spent a lot of time in growing up. In high school, Wendy’s grandma let us have sleepovers here, and our tight-knit posse took advantage as much as possible.

  Even though Wendy’s grandma passed away a few months ago, I could almost feel her here between these bright blue walls, offering us homemade cookies. She was strict in her way, but kind and loving at the same time.

  Wendy’s brother, Brian, manned the front desk and greeted us as we came through. He handed Luke the dinner basket and a picnic blanket, exchanged a few jovial pleasantries with us, then Luke and I headed across the back deck toward the beach. I smiled as we descended down the old stairs toward the plaque that held the legend of Blue Moon Bay.

  “Have you seen the plaque yet?” I asked.

  Luke shook his head. “I’ve heard about it, though. I ran into Max by the pool here over the weekend. He told me that he and Wendy met at that spot on the beach near the legend’s plaque, and that they kissed at that exact spot under a blue moon, which meant they would be in love forever. It’s a great legend.”

  “It is.” I jumped off the last step, landing on the beach. The sand shifted beneath my feet. We took shoes off to walk easier. “When Wendy and I were kids, we’d hide with our friends on the nights of a blue moon and wait for people to come along and kiss right there.”

  “Did many people do that?”

  I shook my head. “I suppose we didn’t know how seriously people take that legend. We honestly thought that anyone who liked someone could kiss that person out here on one of those nights and then they would be happy together forever. That’s not real life, though.”

  We strode over to the weathered monument set against the bluff, which housed the plaque containing the story of the legend of Blue Moon Bay. Luke ran his fingers over the bronze letters on the plaque. “Will you read the legend to me, Charlie?”

  “One kiss, right here, under a blue moon will lead to love that lasts forever . . .” My belly fluttered. “I just realized I’ve never read the legend aloud before.”

  “Maybe you were meant to read aloud with me.” He peered down at me with those blue-gray eyes, soft and sincere. He slipped his arm around me.

  Excitement coursed through my veins as I gazed down at the plaque. “Know the history of two young people, the daughter of locals and the son of summer guests, who fell helplessly in love at this very beach.”

  “I can picture that,” Luke whispered.

  His breath felt warm against my ear, causing my belly to do a somersault. “No more distractions if you want me to read this to you,” I joked.

  “Am I distracting you?” he asked, his fingers trailing lightly up my arm.

  I shivered. “When their parents discovered their relationship, they were forbidden to see each other. His parents felt the working girl was beneath their son and her parents feared the scandal could ruin their business. But the night before the family was to return home, the son got a note to his sweetheart and they met here under the stars.

  He pleaded with her to wait a year for him to turn eighteen and become a man—that until then they could write to each other in secret and he’d find a way for them to be together. The young girl knew their parents would never allow that to happen, though. She’d always obeyed her parents and wasn’t strong enough to go against their wishes, even for the perfect love she shared with him.

  So, with broken hearts, they said goodbye to each other right here at this very spot. A blue moon hung in the night sky, illuminating their final kiss and they promised to love each other always. Then they vowed that everyone who kissed at this exact point by the bay, under a blue moon, would be in love forever—and would never separate as they tragically had.”

  He rested his head against mine for a moment. “There’s a tree back home in Florida that’s kind of like your legend of Blue Moon Bay. Our tale claimed that if you carved your names on that specific tree then you would be together forever.”

  “Really?” I asked, tapping the picnic blanket that he held under his arm. My knees had gone weak and I so needed to sit down pronto.

  Luke handed me a corner of the picnic blanket and he took the other end, and we stretched it out, anchoring the stiff fabric with little pegs that were inside the basket. Then we sat down and a question permeated my brain.

  “Did you ever carve your name in that tree?” I bit my bottom lip, unsure as to whether or not I wanted to hear the answer.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “Oh.” The one word admission sent a dagger to my heart. I felt envious of that girl, whoever she was, but I reminded myself that had been in his past. I mean, hello? I was married before. I shouldn’t be worried about an old girlfriend. But if Luke had carved their names in a tree that meant he’d loved her, and that was way ahead of where we were. Trying to keep busy, I removed the sealed containers of food, the plates and the silverware. “What, um, happened to you two?”

  “Kristin and I knew each other from back home. One time, after college, I flew home for a visit and she was at a party. We started talking and . . . well, we ended up dating. I stayed for two weeks and in those weeks a lot happened. We put our names on the tree, for one.”

  He reached for the wine and corkscrew, opened the bottle, and then poured us each a glass.

  I accepted the glass of white wine, trying to keep casual, even though I was dying to know what had happened between them. “Then what?”

  He sipped his wine, staring out at the ocean waves thoughtfully. “I wanted her to come to New York where I was working, but Kristin was in her last year of college and couldn’t transfer. I spent a lot of time flying back and forth, and so did she.”

  One look at his face told me his brain had moved to the part of their relationship that had gone wrong. I took his hand. “It sounds like things were working out.”

  “The distance broke us apart.” His voice held steel, and he squeezed my hand. “People grow apart when they don’t spend time together. Now I know we should’ve ended things right away. I’ll never do a long distance relationship again.”

  A chill ran up my spine. If I decided to take that part in Los Angeles, Luke would end things between us? Wasn’t that what he’d just said? The thought made my stomach churn.

  “Was distance ever a problem between you and Rex?”

  “No, but his wandering eye was a problem,” I joked, waiting for the twinge of pain that always came when I thought of Rex’s infidelity. But something weird happened. Instead of feeling hurt, a bubble of laughter came up. “Looking back, I should’ve ended things when I first found out he was cheating. I lived in denial for far too long.”

  His gaze darkened. “I’m sure that would be a difficult decision to end a marriage.”

  I nodded. “I stopped acting to support his singing career. I wanted to support him and thought he’d do the same for me, that the two of us were going to make our dreams come true.”

  Luke set his glass aside. He placed crispy fried chicken on each of our plates, then added soft yummy-looking bread and creamy potato salad beside it. He glanced over at me. “You must’ve been happy at first to have married him. What changed?”

  “Honestly? I used to think fame changed him. But he’d always had an ego, even back in high school.” I dug my fork into my potato salad. “I was young and in love. I mistook what Rex and I had for something deeper. I believed him when he said my turn with acting would come later. But he lost interest in that half
of our agreement.”

  “I get it.” He bit into the chicken, and chewed thoughtfully.

  Seagulls dove down from the sky, eager for some of our dinner, and stalked along the sand. The inn’s lights came on, lighting the stairway, and the posts next to the beach furniture against the bluff here. The moon had begun to rise fat and high in the darkening sky.

  The shore was peaceful. It was getting noticeably cooler and even though my sweater was warm I could feel a chill seeping in. I shivered. Luke moved closer to me. We sat side-by-side, our plates on our laps, eating our dinner and tossing crumbs at the seagulls, even though we knew it just encouraged them to pester us.

  Luke tilted his head back. “Look at the moon.”

  I gazed up at the sky where the moon was fat and full, shining silver. Not a blue moon, since there hadn’t been a full moon last night, but a perfect moon for us. I breathed it all in, and found myself more relaxed and joyful than I’d felt in as long as I could remember.

  “I want to tell you something, Charlie . . .”

  I turned toward him. “What is it?”

  “I haven’t been able to care about a woman like this. I was always too guarded or afraid or still too hurt. But, with you, I feel like . . .” He paused, as if searching for the right words. But he never finished his sentence. Instead, he gathered me into his arms, and showed me.

  He slanted his head, and pressed his mouth to mine in a kiss that said all of the things I was feeling and more. The smell of the ocean mixed with that delicious scent of his cologne. The breeze blew my hair around our faces, but neither of us seemed to care.

  His hands brushed along either side of my face, sending tingles across my chest, and making me feel cherished. It was the sweetest, most romantic moment I had ever known. Taking the kiss deeper, he leaned me back against the sand, and his chest met mine.

  I could feel the crazy pounding of our hearts. His tongue pressed against my lips, nudging them open, and I tasted him over and over. The birds sang a raucous chorus, a counterpoint to the sea’s soft whisperings, and the moon shone down on us, bathing us in its silvery light.

  That soft light suddenly turned bright, flashes coming in rapid succession. We broke the kiss and turned toward the lights, staring dazedly as flashbulbs exploded all over the beach and the seagulls burst into noisy flight. Oh, no.

  The paparazzi had found us.

  I tried to stand, but the sand shifted just as a flash bulb went off. I fell backward, right into Luke’s lap. “Are you okay?” he whispered.

  “No,” I replied, because I wasn’t.

  The cameras kept snapping and the night turned into a sheet of brilliant light and yelling voices. Nowhere in the legend of Blue Moon Bay had they accounted for the intrusion of the media. And just like that, our beautiful, private moment had been ruined.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Frankie’s Fiesta was already packed when I arrived on Friday night. The cheerful and colorful décor made me smile, as did the sight of people dancing in front of the tiny little stage where the mariachi band sometimes sets up. They seemed so carefree, something people took for granted since they didn’t have the paparazzi waiting to snapshot every moment of their life.

  The hostess, a pretty young woman with dark hair, asked me if I wanted a table just as I spotted Olivia, Wendy, and Megan near the pool table.

  “No, thanks. I see my friends.” I gestured in their direction and the hostess nodded and turned her attention to the people behind me. My heels clicked across wide tiles as I headed toward the pool tables.

  “Look out!” someone yelled.

  I jumped back just in time to keep from knocking a huge pitcher of margaritas from Wendy’s hand. She grinned at me. “You’re just in time. The margaritas are on special, two-for-one.”

  I eyed the foaming green mixture in the pitcher. “So where’s the other one?”

  Her daffy grin told me before she crowed out, “We already drank it! I got four glasses so come on. I’m glad you decided to join us, but you’ve got some catching up to do while we celebrate Olivia’s new contract.”

  The music stopped then started up again in a toe-tapping swirl of sound that did nothing to ease my tension. My gaze darted around, checking for paparazzi, as I followed Wendy to the pool table.

  She set the pitcher down on a smaller table tucked into a corner. A basket of blue-corn chips and a half-empty bowl of salsa sat there as well. I lifted a tortilla chip as Wendy poured a good amount of the margarita into a tall glass and handed it to me.

  Megan gave me a long look. “I almost didn’t recognize you. No hat or sunglasses.”

  “No scarf either. What’s up with that?” Olivia chimed in.

  I stuffed the chip in my mouth, hoping something would come along to distract them while I was chewing. No such luck. I followed the chip up with a big gulp of tart and tasty margarita. “Disguises don’t seem to be doing me much good, anyway.”

  “I’ll say.” Olivia wrinkled her nose. “Those sexy pictures of you and Luke on the beach are everywhere.”

  So they’d seen the photos. Just great.

  I raised the chilled glass in the air. “To having no privacy. And not being able to do a single thing about it.”

  Olivia gave my arm a squeeze. “At least you’re not giving in to them by hiding out, right?”

  I cleared my throat. “Right.”

  Wendy gestured behind Megan. “Hey, I think those guys are waiting for a pool table and you two,” she gave Olivia and Megan a fond look, “are just messing around on it anyway. Let’s grab a booth so we can talk.”

  Olivia sidelined the hostess and got us a booth near the back where it was quieter and more private. She also got us more margaritas, chips, and salsa. I studied the menu for a moment, trying to decide if I was hungry. My stomach had been in knots all week long.

  I set the menu down. “How are things at the inn?”

  Wendy slid a chip into green-tomato salsa, “Oh, we are totally full. Brian’s been working hard. Did you know he’s decided to hand carve the railings and chair molding? I knew he was great at woodworking, but I never imagined he’d be so creative at it, too.”

  “He’s always been talented,” Megan added, taking a sip of her margarita.

  A little laugh escaped my mouth. “Well, I do remember him fixing the railing for us that time we snuck out in high school. Olivia had tripped on the steps and knocked a piece of wood off.”

  Olivia gave me a mock-glare. “I tripped because you got cold feet and stopped right in front of me. You were so worried Wendy’s grandma would catch us and call our parents.”

  I scoffed. “Megan said she heard Wendy’s grandma coming down the hall.”

  Megan blushed and tried to hide it behind her glass. “I did think I heard her coming.”

  A server came and took our orders. I decided on a burrito, even though I wasn’t really hungry. I could always take it to go. When the server left Olivia raised her glass in the air. “Thanks for helping me celebrate tonight. You’re looking at the new event planner for the Blue Moon Bay library’s fundraiser!”

  We all cheered, clinked our glasses together, and took a sip. I loved how we supported each other and celebrated our accomplishments. Not sure how I made it through all of these years without my best friends.

  “Will this fundraiser be similar to the Pumpkin Festival?”

  Olivia shook her head. “It will be a black-tie event and I will be advertising like crazy to make sure all of the big wigs, with big pockets, are there. Our goal is a complete renovation of the library.”

  My heart warmed. “That’s exciting.”

  “Let me know if you need a web banner or something for the event. I’m happy to donate my time for such a good cause,” Megan said.

  I toyed with a fork, wishing I could donate something to the library’s renovation. “Are you still enjoying designing websites, Megan?”

  She nodded. “I really do enjoy it. It’s just that between that and workin
g at the dress shop I never have time to paint anymore.”

  “That’s a shame.” Wendy paused as our food arrived, then the server left and she leaned forward again. “You used to paint all the time. My grandma’s room still has one of your seascapes hanging in it.”

  “You should definitely find time to do what you love,” Olivia added.

  Megan’s forehead creased. “I don’t have the time. Believe me, I wish I did.”

  Startled by the note of bitterness in her voice, I covered her hand with my own. “You’ll find a way. Hang in there.” I let go when she gave me a smile. “I’m trying to work out career issues myself. I love acting. I just hate the spotlight.”

  Megan snapped her fingers. “You used to long for the spotlight. I remember making us all drive to Los Angeles, and visit the stars who were signing autographs at Universal Hollywood.”

  Wendy tapped her fingers on the table. “I remember those times, too. You used to always say you wanted to be a star. You loved being around them then.”

  I squirmed in my seat. “I thought fame meant you wouldn’t have any problems. Instead, you have the same problems as everyone else only those problems are spotlighted in the media for the world to see. No, being famous isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Not even close.”

  Wendy swallowed the bite of fajita she’d just stuck in her mouth. “Being with Rex wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Luke, however, seems like a really nice guy. He’s down to earth and romantic, giving you that picnic dinner on the beach.”

  Megan clapped her hands. “Picnic on the beach? Now he’s a winner.”

  Olivia nodded. “That’s crazy romantic.”

  I thought about that picnic down on the beach and kissing Luke. “It was the perfect evening until the paparazzi ruined it. Now photos of Luke and me making out on the beach are all over the Internet. Definitely not romantic.”

  The band took a break and recorded music came over the speakers.

  Wendy set her fork down. “You and Luke seem good together on-screen and off. There’s something there. Are you really going to let it fizzle without even trying?”