Sweet Nothings: A Bethany Beach Romance

by Lacy Hart

  “Thank you so much for all your help,” I said to him. “You went well above the call of duty. Shannon is lucky to have you.”

  “No trouble at all,” he said to me as he patted my back. “You know, just because you didn’t get to talk to him tonight doesn’t mean this won’t all work out. I’m sure he’s working on something.”

  “I don’t know, James. Maybe… maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. There were just too many differences to fight through.”

  “If you really felt that way you would have given up already and not tried to track him down in New York,” James said to me. “Go home, sleep on it, and see what the sunrise brings. Take care, Kelly.”

  James watched me as I walked up the driveway and out the street. I stood on the corner for a moment, looking at the quiet area, and decided that instead of going home I was going to the bakery. It was practically time for me to get there any way to start the next day of work. I could get a jump on things and get items started and think about something else besides Damian.

  I walked to and climbed the steps to the boardwalk and began my trek towards the bakery. The boardwalk was silent and empty. With the rain, there weren’t even any walkers, joggers, or fishermen out getting ready for the morning. All I could hear was the mist gently pattering on my umbrella, and the sound of the ocean waves as they moved on shore.

  I made my way over to the shop and noticed that there were lights on inside. I peered through the front window and could see that the one light was on over the coffee machines and that the lights in the kitchen were on. I couldn’t believe that Jodie or my Mom forgot to turn off the lights at closing time since it was such a part of the routine each day. Since I was at the front of the bakery, I took my keys out to just open the front door and shut the alarm off from this side instead of the kitchen. As I went to put my key in the lock, the door moved slightly, indicating it was already unlocked. There was no way they would forget to lock the front door, and no one ever came in this way when we always worked in the kitchen before opening.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and got ready to dial 911, but I opened the front door first instead. I closed the door behind me quietly and took soft steps towards the counter so as not to startle anyone. A quick glance at the register showed it was still off and locked, so no one had tried to break into it (not that there was ever any cash in it anyway; that always went in the safe). I could hear moving around in the kitchen and the soft sound of music playing.

  I pushed open the kitchen door and startled the person in the kitchen so that they dropped a bowl on the floor.

  “Damian? What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Well I was making a batch of biscuits for breakfast, but that’s pretty much ruined now,” he said as he bent down and picked up the bowl and the dough that had fallen on the floor.

  “Why are you in my kitchen? I thought you were in New York. How did you get in here?”

  “I do own the building now,” he said to me. “Getting keys was just a formality.”

  “So that’s how you want to end this?” I growled. “Fine, take it,” I said as I tossed my keys at him and marched out the kitchen doors.

  “Kelly, wait!” Damian yelled at me. He caught me as I stomped towards the front door and pulled me back towards him.

  “I was joking, okay? It was a bad joke. I’m sorry.”

  I was already crying as he held my arms. Damian pulled me closer to his chest.

  “I did go to New York to find out what was going on and I spent time there trying to fix this mess. Once I had a solution, I immediately started to come back here to see you. I was more than halfway here when Shannon called me and said you were on your way to New York to see me. She told me how she and James came to you, and how James was taking you to the city. I didn’t see any sense in trying to get back there to find you, so I came here. I was hoping to finish making breakfast and then bring it to you at your house, but you beat me to the punch.”

  “And what’s your solution?” I asked him.

  “It was all pretty easy actually. I should have been able to come up with this before. Since my company owns the property now, we don’t have to do anything with it we don’t want to. So, I am going to rescind all the eviction letters. Anyone that wants to take the buyout will get their money, no questions asked. Anyone that wants to stay can stay. If we have some space to use, I would like to build a small satellite office down here, but if it isn’t on the boardwalk, I’m okay with that. I’m sure we can find another space to use. So, the bakery is still yours, for as long as you want it, and at a better rent than what you were paying. That previous company was ripping you off.”

  I was happy over what I was hearing, but we still had things to say and work out.

  “Shannon and James did talk to me,” I said through my tears. “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding with that, and with all that happened with the letter, the buyout, and everything. I know I jumped to conclusions about you, Damian. I let my judgment get clouded by expectations and what I had seen in the past. But even with all that, I don’t know… I don’t know if this will work.”

  “Why not, Kelly? Look, in case you haven’t noticed, I am crazy about you, and I thought you felt the same way about me. I’ve never fallen for anyone this fast in my life, and now that I have, I don’t want to lose you, especially over silly misunderstandings or because you think we’re so different that it will never work out. I’m just a guy who is falling in love with someone, plain and simple.”

  My heart swelled when I heard him say he loved me, and I embraced Damian tightly. I turned to look up at him, and he gently moved some of the damp strands of hair out of my face with his fingers. He took my face into his hands and placed a slow kiss on my lips. The kiss lingered, and I never wanted it to end. When we finally parted, Damian began to wipe my face lightly with his fingers.

  “Sorry, I got some flour on your cheeks,” he said with a smile.

  “You were working in the kitchen without wearing any gloves?” I said in mock anger.

  “I guess I was. I didn’t really think about it at the time. Honestly, I didn’t think anyone would see me here. Does it matter?”

  “Does it matter?!” “You have a lot to learn about working in food preparation.”

  I took Damian by the hand and led him back into the kitchen. As we got through the doors, he pulled me back towards him, kissed me, and lifted me off the floor. I wrapped my feet around him as he pressed me against one of the refrigerators, kissing me deeply.

  “Damian,” said breathlessly, “My family is going to come walking through that door in an hour or so. We don’t have time for this here.”

  Damian put me back down.

  “You’re right,” he said to me. He led me back out to the storefront, turning off the lights as we moved.

  “Let’s lock up and go back to my house. If we hurry, we can make good use of that hour.”

  We walked outside, locked the front door, grasped hands, and ran down the slippery boardwalk, laughing all the way towards Damian’s home.

  Epilogue

  Damian

  Four months had passed since that August where Kelly and I first met, first dated, first made love, first fought, and first made up. It was a whirlwind as we found a compromise of time to get to know each other better and time to work with our hectic schedules. I found myself spending more and more time in Delaware as the weeks wore on, from the end of summer and beyond. I hated the days where I had to come back to New York for office work or meetings and had set up an office in my house down here while plans were put in place to build the satellite office for the business in Bethany.

  In the end, I decided the boardwalk was no place for an office like what we wanted. I wanted the boardwalk to remain a place of fun, of tourism, and a place for the town to be proud of so that they could grow and thrive. My money could be more usefully spent opening a larger office somewhere else in town where we could have proper facilities, a laborato
ry and anything else that we might need to keep things moving forward. The town was more than happy to oblige our wishes since we would be bringing tax dollars and employment to the area that went beyond tourism, and the ground was broken in September for our new office, with the hopes of being ready for summer of the following year.

  With all that in mind, that didn’t mean I wasn’t up for making some changes on the new property I owned. Since some of the businesses had opted for the cash buyout, there was no suddenly more room around the bakery. This empty space gave Kelly the perfect opportunity to expand the bakery and grow it into something she had always wanted. We set to work right away on demolition and building so she could have the bigger kitchen, larger seating area, and a place to showcase her skills for bread, cakes, and cake decorating. The changes allowed her to make a bigger name for herself so that the bakery would be a destination point for tourists, locals, and a wider circle out.

  The growth also let her do more things for her family. Kelly was able to give Jodie more responsibility with the business, letting her take a larger managerial role in running things and overseeing the additional staff they were able to bring on now. Kelly’s Mom was able to cut back and work a lot less if she wanted to, which she rarely did, and while she was still a regular face in the bakery, she didn’t have to put in the hours and effort.

  So here we were, with December rolling around, most of the tourism going quiet and the holidays coming around the corner fast. I spent a lot of time rattling around in my big house by myself since Shannon and James had gotten a place of their own at the beach instead of staying with me. They had more privacy, but they also took advantage of using the indoor pool and the gym at my house whenever they wanted. Of course, Kelly was here more and more also, to the point where Alice spent more time at my house as my guard dog and companion while I worked.

  When Christmas Eve came around, I had walked down to the bakery as it got near to closing time, something that had become a ritual of mine so that I could walk back with Kelly. The bakery had been very busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas, with cookie and cake orders coming in at a rapid pace so that Kelly and everyone at the bakery were working long days. Even when I got to the bakery on Christmas Eve, there were still people picking up items and getting last-minute desserts and snacks.

  I walked by the expanded area of the bakery, where there was now a large display window so those strolling by could watch as Kelly decorated a cake or others made cookies or pastries. Kelly spied me walking out of the corner of her eye and gave me a wink.

  I entered and said some hellos to a few locals that I recognized. I had become much more a part of the community than I ever thought I could or ever had when I was in New York all the time, and I was much happier for it. I saw Alex behind the counter as I came in.

  “Hi, Damian,” she said to me as she wiped the counter down.

  “Do you have my jelly donut, Alex?” I asked her. She quickly tossed me a white bakery bag that housed my donut, Something I made sure to get regularly when I stopped in.

  “Are you all set for the party tonight?” I asked her.

  “You bet,” she said with a smile. “It’s okay if I bring Tyler, right?”

  “Sure, but I thought you were dating someone else,” I said quizzically.

  “Oh, you mean Brad. No, Brad’s gone. Tyler is back in the picture now.”

  “Okay, sure, bring him along.”

  “Alex, get back to cleaning, or we are never getting out of here tonight!” Jodie yelled as she peeked out the kitchen door. “Hi, Damian. See you tonight,” she said to me with a smile.

  I looked over to where Kelly had been decorating a cake, but she wasn’t there. Instead, she was standing next to me now, putting her arm around me.

  “All set?” I said to her.

  “I think that was the last cake,” she said to me. “It will be nice to have a couple of days off now. I’ll see you at the house later Jodie,” she yelled as we walked towards the door.

  Kelly and I strolled the boardwalk back towards the house. There was a chill in the air, and the clouds were overcast and looked almost like they might bring some snow down.

  “Wouldn’t it be great to have some snow tonight?” Kelly said to me. “I can’t remember the last time we had snow for Christmas down here.”

  Kelly put her arm through mine and snuggled up close to me as we walked the rest of the way to the house.

  The house was decorated to the hilt for the holidays, with a beautiful live tree as the centerpiece upstairs. We had made some catering arrangements for the party we were having, just with Kelly’s family, and with Shannon and James. Everyone arrived at around seven, and we ate, drank, laughed, listened to music and had a great time. We shared presents with everyone, including a gift from Kelly and me to the whole family for a cruise we would take next year.

  By the time everyone had gone home, it was close to midnight. The last of the catering and cleaning crew had just left, and I saw Kelly curled up on the couch, the fireplace going with a nice fire, the tree lit against the backdrop of the night sky. I sat down on the couch next to her, pulling her close to me.

  “Did you have fun tonight?” I asked her.

  “It was wonderful,” she said kissing me. “I think it was the best family Christmas party yet. Thank you. I hope you had a good time.”

  “Are you kidding? I never got to have a holiday experience like this. Sure, it was fun with my brothers, but this just felt different. You could see that everyone was relaxed, having a good time, enjoying each other’s company. It sounds silly, but there was a lot of love in the house tonight, and that’s something I have been missing out on for a long time that you brought into my life.”

  Kelly leaned in and kissed me, and the snuggled close to me again, laying against my chest. I heard the clock on the mantle start to strike, and I sat up.

  “It’s midnight,” I said to her softly.

  “Does that mean you want to go to bed?” she said with a frisky tone.

  “Well, when you say it like that, yes. But what I really meant is that it’s Christmas. Merry Christmas, Kelly.”

  Kelly smiled back at me. “Merry Christmas, Damian. Does that mean I can give you a present?” she asked.

  “I thought my present was the going to bed part,” I told her as I reached for the buttons on the front of her dress.

  “Hmmm, not quite yet, mister,” she told me and got up off the couch. She went over to the tree and plucked one of the presents from underneath.

  “Here,” she said handing me the small rectangular box.

  “Thanks,” I said to her, lightly shaking the box.

  “Let me tell you, it is not easy to shop for the billionaire who has everything,” Kelly said to me.

  I gently opened the paper and took the lid off the box. Inside was a multitool, something I had my eye on for a while.

  “Hey, this is great,” I said joyfully.

  “James said you are always eyeing the one he has, so he helped me get one for you. I hope you like it.”

  “I love it, thank you,” I told her, kissing her.

  I sat back on the couch and reached to the table behind it, taking my glass of wine and sipping it.

  “Well?” Kelly said to me.

  “Well, what?” I asked innocently.

  “Do I get to open a present too?” she said impatiently.

  “I guess so,” I said to her. “I think there’s one in a green box under the tree for you,” I said pointing.

  Kelly bounded over to the tree, searching under it to find a green box. She looked for a few moments before stating:

  “Damian, there’s no green box under here.”

  When she turned around, I was right behind her, down on one knee, holding the green ring box in my hand.

  “I know,” I said to her. “I have it here.”

  Tears came to her eyes as her hands went to cover the gasp that escaped from her mouth.

  “Kelly, I never imagi
ned that four months ago my life would change for the better as much as it has, and it’s all because of you. I want this feeling to last for the rest of my life. I love you. Will you marry me?”

  I flipped open the ring box to reveal the diamond ring for her and held it out to her. Kelly’s hands trembled as she took the box from me and held it. She looked down at me and then knelt next to me on the floor.

  “I love you too, Damian, and yes, I will marry you.”

  I took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. She hugged me tightly and kissed me over and over, with the last kiss being a long one.

  “How long have you been planning this?” she asked through her tears.

  “In my head? For a few months. I knew a long time ago I wanted to marry you. The actual planning? About a month. I asked your mother for permission first, and then it took some covert operations involving your sisters and Shannon to get your ring size, but I did pick out the ring myself. I will take credit for that,” I said proudly.