Thirty minutes later she sat down at the dining table with Ruby, Sam, and the Wrights, who’d emerged while Vee was still on makeup damage control. She’d heard the sounds of conversation and Julia’s laughter as she’d entered the kitchen, walking in on Sam manning the frying pan and Eric the toaster, both of them deeply engrossed in conversation about what sounded like geek speak for surfers. Julia was setting flatware on the dining table and chatting with Ruby.
Making herself useful, Vee grabbed a pitcher of juice from the fridge and carried it over.
“Good morning, Julia,” she said in a post-caffeinated cheerfulness she didn’t really feel. The struggle had been real not to burrow under the covers and hide there for the rest of the day. As if she had that luxury. “How did you sleep?”
“Best sleep I’ve had yet in En-Zed—as y’all would say.” She passed Ruby a fork.
Ruby set the fork beside the plate, crooked and on the wrong side, as were all the others, and glanced up at Julia seeking approval.
“Sugar, you’re doing such a great job.”
And Julia earned Vee’s instant approval by not rearranging the wonky fork or the upside down knife like a lot of adults would’ve.
Julia moved to the next plate, handed Ruby the final fork, then rubbed a hand over her volleyball-sized baby bump. “Junior’s mighty frisky this morning. I think she had a good night’s sleep, too.” Her gaze zipped from the juice Vee set down in the center of the table to Vee herself.
“Oh my,” she said. “That is the cutest dress. Is it one of yours?”
Vee had mentioned her job in passing the evening before, but Ruby’s bedtime interrupted them and the conversation had moved on when she’d returned.
“Yes,” she admitted as Julia hurried around the table, her eyes bright with what Vee recognized as frock fever. “It’s from the mother-daughter range that one of my partners, Gracie, designed for this summer’s collection.”
Some women loved dresses—like herself—and others only donned a pretty frock for weddings and the occasional party. Julia was obviously one of the former as she skimmed her fingers down the crisp cotton of the 1960s-style sundress with a little hum of approval.
“I just love the rosettes on the belt.” Her gaze jumped up to Vee’s. “And do you mean you make matching dresses for little girls to wear with their mommies?”
“It’s a little kitschy, but yeah. They’ve proven to be quite popular. We’ve even extended the kids’ sizes from ages three to ten into those for younger children. Six months to two-year-olds.”
“Well, this I just have to see,” Julia said. She released the sunflower print of Vee’s skirt and angled toward the kitchen. “Eric?”
Her husband glanced up from adding another two slices of bread to the toaster. “Yes, my moon and stars?” He grinned at her and Julia giggled, obviously in on some sort of private joke.
Then she dipped her chin and muttered to Vee out of the corner of her mouth. “Watch a master at work.” Louder, she said, “Honey, on the way to Kauri Whare, can we make a stop at Vee’s store? I’m dying to show you these adorable mommy-daughter dresses Vee was telling me about.”
“Ah.” Eric’s forehead crumpled and he shot a glance over at Sam.
Vee recognized it as the slightly panicked look men get at the prospect of playing the beast of burden in a woman’s shopping spree.
“We’re on a bit of a tight schedule going over details and meeting staff. Maybe you and Vee could do a little retail therapy and meet us there later?”
Julia cocked her head in pretend thoughtfulness. “That could work. If you’re sure you don’t need me for a few hours?”
“There’ll never be a moment when I don’t need you or value your advice,” Eric said. “But we’ll soldier on without you both for a few hours, won’t we?” He directed this last comment at Sam.
“Yeah. Somehow we’ll get through the morning without our little women.” Sam grinned at him, then shot a sizzling glance back at Vee.
Who, with great discipline, resisted flipping him the bird.
Eric laughed and caught the two slices of toast as they popped up. “Buddy, you’re in for a world of hurt later.”
“Wonderful.” Julia turned to Vee and lightly touched her arm. “Aren’t we both the most nauseatingly happy couples you’ve ever met?”
“We sure are.” Vee’s stomach rolled a loop the loop at Julia’s warm and encompassing smile. She hadn’t expected lying to the Wrights to be so easy—and yet so hard.
“Aren’t you coming over to say goodbye?” Julia called from outside the ute’s open passenger door, where she’d been leaning in to give Eric a kiss before the guys headed off to Kauri Whare.
Vee had finished strapping Ruby into her safety seat in the minivan and was about to slide behind the wheel. The sun reflecting on the ute’s windshield meant she couldn’t make out the driver’s expression. “Just how long do you expect us to shop for?”
Julia giggled. “Until we drop. I miss Eric even when we’re only apart for a few hours. Won’t you miss Sam?”
Like the way one missed an overdue electric bill or a urinary tract infection.
After witnessing all the lovey-dovey behavior from their guests, Vee thought she’d probably better put up or shut up. “Sure.”
Vee narrowed her eyes at the windshield but she still couldn’t see Sam’s face, just his hands gripping the steering wheel as if he were a rally driver about to hit a hairpin curve. She strode down to the driver’s window. The closed driver’s window. And the driver, his eyes covered with wraparound sunglasses staring straight ahead, missed only an earpiece in order to look like a bodyguard or a secret agent or something. If that bodyguard-secret agent wore black cargo shorts and a black T-shirt veritably molded to his chest instead of a tailored suit.
Sam, with douchebag timing, made her wait another long beat before he buzzed the window down. He angled his head closer to her and tapped a finger against the chiseled line of his jaw. “Hit me, babe.”
Oh, don’t tempt her to put her ten-visit kickboxing for fitness routine to good use.
Still, she hesitated, her gaze drawn to the smooth skin where he’d made the effort of shaving this morning. She wasn’t used to the clean-shaven look. Scruff seemed to be Sam’s baseline setting. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t kissed his cheek before, thanks to the natural warmth of Māori culture where a brief embrace and cheek peck were normal protocol. Vee had managed to avoid this kind of greeting with Sam over the years, except on occasions when their families were present and it would’ve been a direct snub to turn away.
Think of it as a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, thanks for inviting me, rolled into one kind of kiss, she told herself. Her hands gripping the car sill, she dipped her head and puckered up.
Sam moved, shifting the X-marks-the-spot target from jaw to mouth so she found his firm yet pillowy-soft lips pressed to hers. She started, eyes popping wide since reflex had made her eyes slit almost shut at the point of impact. Somehow, some weird and funky chemical reaction caused her lips to cling to his for a moment longer. The two-second lingering zapped through her like static shock. She jerked back, pushing away from the vehicle, her lips still tingling at the sensation.
She didn’t dare look back into the ute’s interior to gauge Sam’s reaction. She imagined it’d be a smirk she’d want to smack off his face. The ute’s engine turned over and she was grateful for the distraction. “We’d better get going before Ruby gets cranky.”
Vee did her best to keep the conversation turned toward Julia as she drove them into Bounty Bay. Luckily, the other woman either hadn’t noticed the awkwardness of the goodbye kiss or was too polite to mention it. Vee got her talking about her childhood growing up in Galveston on the Gulf Coast of Texas, how much she loved the ocean, and how she was looking forward to a swim in Bounty Bay.
“Just don’t expect the water to be as warm as Texas,” Vee warned, finding a parking spot near Bountiful.
Ruby
insisted on holding Julia’s hand as they walked toward the store.
“She’s just the sweetest thing,” Julia said softly to Vee as they walked. “You and Sam are doing an incredible job raising her. She’s so confident for her age.” She swung Ruby’s hand in hers and Ruby giggled. “Goes to show what effect a happy home and loving parents have on kids, doesn’t it?”
Julia’s guileless smile knocked the wind out of Vee and her feet nearly tangled together. She shoved down the wash of rising guilt clogging her throat and held the door to Bountiful open. Ruby tugged her hand from Julia’s and ran inside the store, making a beeline for Susan.
“Um,” Vee said as their shop assistant scooped Ruby up and set her on the service counter beside the register, listening with rapt attention as Ruby told her all about Turbo’s antics. “You do realize Sam isn’t Ruby’s biological father?”
“Oh, honey. Biology don’t count for much when it comes to being a little girl’s daddy.” Julia lay one hand on Vee’s arm and the other over her heart. “It’s about what’s in here. Believe me, he loves that sweet little girl of yours as much as he loves you. Anyone can see it.”
Dammit to hell, but Vee could feel the prickle of tears forming in her eyes. Julia had just uncovered a secret corner of her heart and directed a ruthless spotlight on it. When it came to men and matters of the heart, Vee wasn’t half as complicated as she made herself out to be. All she’d ever wanted was a man who’d love her and love her daughter. Unconditionally and passionately. Simple, but almost as impossible as waiting for ashes to turn into diamonds without help.
“There now, don’t you start tearing up because hormones will make me join you.” Julia gave a soft chuckle and drew Vee into a hug, the arc of her belly pressing hard against her. Julia’s baby picked that moment to object to the pressure and gave a sudden kick.
They both laughed and pulled apart. “Wow, she might end up playing football,” Vee said.
Footsteps drew her attention behind them and she spotted Gracie heading their way with a giant smile on her face. Vee’s stomach gave a small sideways lurch. She’d warned Gracie and her fiancé, Owen, of her and Sam’s week-long pretense, but she hadn’t exactly planned for Gracie to meet the Wrights.
“What are you doing here?” Vee said as her friend and partner sidestepped around a display of swimwear to join them. “Shouldn’t you be with the kids?”
“They’re probably locked up in a police cell by now.” She turned to Julia, extending her hand. “Hi. I’m Gracie, one third of Bountiful.”
Julia shook her hand, but her smile was a little strained.
Gracie grinned wider. “I’m just teasing about the police cell. Charlie and William are currently on a tour of Bounty Bay’s little police department.”
“That’s a relief,” Julia said.
“I’ll be relieved if the two of them aren’t in handcuffs by the time Gracie goes to pick them up.” Vee gestured to the far wall where Bountiful’s summer dresses hung on a rack. “Julia really liked the mother-daughter dresses you designed, Gracie.”
“Oh, they’re just adorable. I can’t wait to see some more of them.”
Julia followed Gracie over to the rack, with Vee stopping to check that Susan was okay with Ruby for a little while longer. Only one other customer was browsing through the clothes this early in the morning, and as Vee finished talking to Susan, she wandered out of the store without purchasing anything. Granted, first thing Tuesday morning wasn’t a shopping rush hour, but if they’d been in Kauri Whare’s new building, the first tour bus would be pulling in within the next few minutes.
Vee swallowed hard and straightened some coat hangers out of order on a rack of their screen-printed T-shirts. Nobody was being hurt by her and Sam’s charade. Eric and Julia seemed happy, and soon Natalie and Gracie would be happy when they had more customers than they knew what to do with. And Susan, who desperately needed her salary from Bountiful to provide for her and her mum who suffered with multiple sclerosis.
Vee slid a sideways glance at Ruby. Her daughter was licking one of the lollypops that Susan kept hidden beneath the counter, beaming up at their sales assistant as if she were her fairy godmother. Her daughter was happy, too, so she’d ignore the niggling feeling that churned in her gut and continue to put on an Oscar-winning performance. Securing her daughter’s future counted on it.
Chapter 9
It was a perfect morning for showcasing Kauri Whare. Sam and Eric met Isaac at nine in the already crowded parking lot, and his brother had brought his A game. Which was just as well, as Sam felt like the flattened roadkill he and Eric had passed by on the drive from his place.
Make that a few days’ old roadkill. Perhaps even a week of cars and tour buses grinding over him. He grimaced and slid from the driver’s seat, attempting to stretch the kinks from his spine.
“Rough night?” asked Isaac, hot on the heels of Eric who’d circled the ute and was thoughtfully scanning the busy parking lot.
Overhearing, Eric chuckled. “Must’ve been. Your brother cooked us a breakfast to rival my mama’s. Don’t know how y’all can eat so much without getting soft, but I guess you’ve got to keep up your strength.”
Isaac’s ever-present sunglasses rose up toward his eyebrows. “Vee keeping you on your toes, is she, bro?”
Sam sent Isaac a look that could’ve peeled bark from one of their untreated lengths of timber.
“Have you talked to Raewyn yet about alternative accommodation for the Wrights?”
Changing the subject was more diplomatic than beating the crap out of his smirking sibling in front of the steady stream of tourists entering and exiting Kauri Whare’s showroom.
Isaac’s nose wrinkled and he shoved his sunglasses onto his head so he could meet Eric’s eyes. “She’s been on the phone since she arrived, trying to sort it out, but…” He flicked his gaze to Sam, the no luck in his gaze clear. “She wants to apologize in person to you and Mrs. Wright, Eric.”
Eric waved a hand in dismissal. “Ju and I were more than comfortable last night. I might come from a hotel background but we always enjoy getting to experience another culture in a more casual setting. Dad swears he’ll disown me if I choose another B&B over spying on his business rivals while we’re travelling, but he’d make an exception in this case. The importance of forming a partnership with someone we trust can’t be understated, and spending this sort of time with you both is invaluable.” He chuckled again. “That’s got be worth more than room service.”
Sam nodded along with what he hoped was an agreeable expression, all the while his mind racing. Once Eric’s little monologue was over he addressed Isaac.
“Raewyn’s tried the B&Bs?” Sam tried to keep a desperate tone out of his voice. Maybe by some miracle she’d found a cancellation which would at least enable him to move Vee into the spare room with the Wrights none the wiser.
“Same as the hotels and motels. Nada rooms for miles around,” said Isaac.
“Looks as if you’re stuck with houseguests for a couple more nights, Sam,” Eric said. “If you’re sure we’re not imposing.”
“It’s not a problem,” Isaac said quickly. “Sam and Vee love to entertain.”
Sam could’ve used a six-by-four plank to smack his brother over the head right then, but without a viable alternative—and Eric had turned out to be a nice enough guy for a lawyer—they were stuck.
He found a smile and a modicum of Ngata charm. “My whare is your whare, my man. Now, why don’t you let Isaac give you the tiki tour around while I go and do what I do best—play with my tools? Come and find me when Julia and Vee arrive.”
He waved Isaac and Eric off across the parking lot, watching them disappear into the showroom before he double-timed it to his workshop and slammed the door shut behind him. The knock on his workshop door came about an hour later. He glanced up from his bent position over the wharenui post commissioned from a neighboring town’s marae he was working on. He lowered his chisel and blew the
fine curls of kauri wood shavings from the shallow groove he’d carved.
He rubbed his thumb over the precise gouges, nodding to himself. “Come in.”
The door cracked open and he flicked a barely curious glance at it, expecting the interruption to be one of the showroom staff. The women were the only ones who bothered to knock. Uncle Manu and the guys would just barge right in.
Instead Vee eased inside, looking as comfortable in his domain of wood and tools as he did in hers of sewing machines and stuff. “You drew the short straw, eh?”
“Yep.”
Her gaze skipped around his workshop, dancing off the lengths of raw timber and the walls lined with different sized chisels, gouges, and other tools he’d collected over the years. She stood just inside the open door, hesitant as if she needed the reassurance that she could make a quick exit. Her pretty dress that’d caused his blood pressure to skyrocket when he’d seen her in it earlier swayed around her legs as she half turned to look over her shoulder.
“Isaac and the Wrights are waiting for you outside. Isaac’s telling them about the ancient kauri forests and the swamp kauri you use. He told me to come get you.”
Sam’s mouth twisted. “Sending the lamb into the lion’s den.”
“I’m no lamb,” she said a little stiffly, but she still hadn’t met his gaze directly, which was completely out of character.
Vee never backed down from a challenge. The woman was too damn stubborn, though why she’d consider looking at him a challenge—unless…
He narrowed his eyes, trying to forget this was someone whose face had become as familiar as family over the years. She still had the same inky black lashes framing midsummer blue irises. Sullivan blue everyone called it because Vee, her parents, and siblings all had matching blue eyes. Same delicate nose and jawline carved from a creator’s vision of perfection. Same smooth skin the creamy color of the palest radiata pine—the same skin he’d seen change to a rosy pink after a day in the sun when they were teenagers. Everything was the same as it had been months ago, and yet nothing was.
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