WATERCOLOR WISHES: Love Along Hwy 30A, Book Four

by Chambers, Melissa

  Fiona appeared in front of them with two glasses and a corkscrew. She popped the cork and poured a little into each of their glasses. “See what you think about this one.”

  Marigold pointed to the glass without trying it. “It’s fantastic. May I have some more, please?”

  Fiona pursed her lips at Marigold with a little smile. “You’re no fun,” she said, pouring the rest. She looked at Dane? “Do you want to try yours first?”

  “Fill her up,” he said, so she did.

  “Talk amongst yourselves. I’m going to see about this group of lovely tourists.”

  “God love ‘em,” Marigold said. Fiona nodded and headed off while Marigold and Dane both sipped their wine.

  “What do you think?” he asked her.

  “I think it’s wine. I’ll be honest, I’ve had a lot of wine in my time, and my family always has the best at Christmas and Thanksgiving—bottles that cost hundreds of dollars. But to me, anything that’s $9.99 or up works. I do draw the line with the super cheap brands.”

  “That sounds about right. I actually prefer beer.”

  “I won’t turn down a bottle of beer.” She held up her glass. “But this is the elixir of the gods right here.”

  He clinked her glass with his. “Cheers.”

  “To what?” she asked.

  “To cupcakes in the face.”

  She smiled. “I guess I’m to blame for that.”

  “You guess?”

  Her smile faded. “I have to ask, do you have a wife and kids at home?”

  He huffed a laugh. “No, why would you think that?”

  “You know an awful lot about kids’ Halloween games not to have kids of your own.”

  He looked down at his glass, twisting the stem. He didn’t want to get into this, not right now, but he realized his knowledge of kids did require some explanation. “I dated someone with kids, recently. I took them to a Halloween party this time last year. I just remembered a few things from that.”

  “What was that like? Dating someone with kids?”

  He chewed on the inside of his cheek, not wanting to dredge up his mixed-up life choices just yet. “Um, okay.” He had to shift focus, quickly. “You haven’t ever dated anyone with kids?”

  “No. God no. I can barely take care of myself. I can’t imagine being responsible for another human.”

  “So you don’t want kids?”

  “Well, I’m not saying never, but not right now, for sure. I guess dating someone with them would be a good test run to see how you might be with them. But then, you wouldn’t want to get serious with someone with kids unless you thought there was a real shot at long-term, because then you’d have to leave the kids and that would suck majorly.” She met his gaze like she’d just remembered he was sitting there. He tried to keep his expression impassive, but by the look on her face, he’d failed. “Oh shit. I’m sorry. I sometimes work things out with words that really belong in my head.”

  He shook her off. “No, it’s no big deal.”

  She studied him, making him shift in his seat. “It is a big deal. This was someone you were really serious with, wasn’t it?”

  He really didn’t know how to answer that question without unloading a massive amount of his baggage. “It’s hard to explain.”

  “Complicated is the official Facebook term.”

  He nodded with a contained smile. “Then it was complicated.”

  “Was?”

  “Yeah, definitely in the past.” That statement was partially true.

  “But not too far in the past if you were taking them to Halloween parties this time last year.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t want to hear about my mess.”

  She turned her body toward him. “Trust me. Nobody leaves a bigger mess behind them than me.” She nudged him in the leg. “It’d be nice to know someone else is as screwed up as I am.” The smile she gave him made his heart open wider than he thought it ever would again.

  He winced, feeling the words coming, knowing he was an idiot to be getting ready to say them. “It was more about the kids than it was about her.”

  Marigold’s eyebrows went up.

  “I kind of fell for them. She introduced me to them after we’d just been out a couple of times. I’d never dated anyone with kids, so I didn’t know the protocol. But I realize now, that was a huge mistake. I should have seen that was a red flag at the time. I learned.”

  “How many kids?”

  “Two. Boys. They’re six and eight now.” He smiled, thinking about them. “Crazy and full of energy. A lot of fun.”

  “How did that go with their dad? Was he in their life?”

  “No. She told me he’d left them several years back and moved to Arizona.”

  Marigold narrowed her gaze, probably reading his expression. “But you don’t believe her?”

  He let out a huff of air. “Toward the end I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Lots of stuff didn’t add up.”

  “Wow. That sounds intense.”

  He just nodded.

  “So I take it you’re in between girlfriends,” she asked.

  “That’s a way to put it.”

  “When did that last relationship end?”

  He thought about it. “Last November. Before Thanksgiving. I couldn’t bear to spend that holiday with the boys like a happy family knowing it wasn’t going to last.”

  “And you haven’t dated anyone since?”

  “Not seriously. Not really interested in that right now.”

  She narrowed her gaze. “But you were with someone the night of the bonfire.”

  He frowned, no idea what she was talking about. “Hmm?”

  “I saw you, when I was getting another drink at Sebastian’s cabana.” She cleared her throat. “When you told me my skirt was tucked in my underwear?”

  He remembered how cute she’d looked, walking down the beach, sliding him a flirtatious smile. He had to keep thinking though. He hadn’t been with any girl that night. He’d been with… “Oh, okay. That was our cousin, Celia. She was in town for the weekend.”

  Unmistakable relief flooded her face. Damn, had he missed his opportunity that night because Marigold thought he was hooked up with someone else? That sucked.

  “So you’ve been too interested in building hotels to date?” she asked.

  He was just about to say that this would be their first hotel, but he caught himself, remembering he was talking to the competition. “Yep.”

  She nodded, gauging him in that way that made him feel like he had no secrets.

  He cleared his throat. “So tell me about the gift shop you want in this hotel. Same as what you have now?”

  “Not exactly. I know I’ll need to carry toothbrushes and headache medicine, but I want this shop to be fabulous. It’ll have its own separate outside entrance, and inside entrance, of course, wide open to the bar area. The thought of having that kind of traffic after being tucked back behind this restaurant over here…” She trailed off, shaking her head like the idea had a life of its own.

  “Have you had any more traffic since this wine bar opened?”

  She waved him off. “Drunk people don’t want to go shopping. They want to go drink some more or go home and pass out. I did try keeping it open later when Fiona first opened, but it wasn’t helping and I couldn’t keep up with the hours.”

  “So you don’t have any employees?”

  “I hire help in the summer when I can, but in the off-season, it’s just me.”

  “You must spend a lot of time there.”

  “Oh yeah. Six days a week. I have no life.”

  “I thought Ethan and I worked a lot.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a bad workplace, but it’s like a prison sometimes. I can’t leave without locking up. I’ll have days during the slow time of the year where nobody comes in for hours, then when someone does, I’m so happy for human contact that I come on too strong and they back away slowly like I’m Jack Nicholson
in The Shining.”

  He smiled. “I love that movie.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah.” Against his own better judgement he pulled out his Jack Nicholson imitation quoting the famous line about bashing Wendy’s brains in.

  She raised her eyebrows. “That actually wasn’t half bad.”

  “Thank you,” he said, feeling way prouder than he should.

  “No, I’m serious. Everyone thinks they can do Jack, but few actually can.”

  “Well, I’ve only seen that movie a few hundred times.”

  “Me, too. So do you just like Jack, or is it all horror movies?”

  He hesitated, not wanting her to think he was a freak. “It’s actually all horror movies.”

  She studied him. “Do you prefer kitschy or serious?”

  He scrunched up his face. “Both?”

  “Good answer,” she said with a smile. “Do you think that makes us both psychos?”

  “Possibly.”

  “Well, as long as I’m not the only one.” She grinned at him, making his heart swell.

  He could feel the connection between them strengthening by the minute which was starting to freak him out a bit. “So why didn’t you go into the family business?”

  She let out a big sigh as if the question had been inevitable. “I actually planned on it. I majored in hotel management back in college.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. I seriously thought I was going to go to work for my dad. I actually don’t know if I realized I had a choice back then. It was always so assumed that my sister and I would work in the business.”

  “She likes working there?”

  “She’s my dad’s favorite. She’s always done everything he said to do and never given him an ounce of trouble. She’s like a Stepford wife, except that’s weird, because it’s her dad, but you get the idea.” She studied him. “What about you? Does your dad have a favorite?”

  His heart cinched. No matter how many times he had to explain his situation, he never got comfortable with it. “Actually, my dad isn’t really in the picture.” The look of surprise followed by her reddened cheeks made him wince. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel uncomfortable around him.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  He touched her knee. “Please don’t be. I hate having to tell people that. It’s fine. I’m an adult. I’m over it by now.” His words rang as hollow as they felt in his head.

  “Do you mind me asking what happened there?”

  He exhaled. “They were both pretty young when they had us. My dad hung around for a few years, and then when we were four and a half, he just headed out. He moved to Hawaii of all places.” He smiled at her, but sludge was circulating in his stomach.

  She stared at him with those big, beautiful cat eyes of hers, and then reached for his hand and squeezed it, taking his whole body off guard. “I’m really sorry that happened to you.”

  He couldn’t remember a time a person had seemed more sincere than she did in that moment. He squeezed her hand in return. “Thanks,” he said, and then let go.

  “Where does your mom live?” she asked.

  “She moved to St. Louis a few years back. She’s remarried.”

  “Do you like the guy?”

  He shrugged. “He’s okay. I’m glad she’s happy. I think he takes pretty good care of her, and she does the same for him.”

  “Are you close with her?”

  He let out a sigh because he never liked answering that question. “I’m glad she’s taken care of right now, and if that situation ever changed I’d move to St. Louis or wherever she was to help her or do whatever I needed to do. But it’s tough being around her.” He shifted in his seat. “Her husband makes comments about homosexuals like it’s a dirty word in front of Ethan.”

  “What does your mom say when he does that?”

  He shook his head as that dull pain infiltrated his heart like it always did when there was talk of his mom. “She doesn’t say anything.”

  “He knows Ethan’s gay?”

  “I’m sure he does. Ethan doesn’t hide anything. I’m sure she’s told him. Honestly, we don’t discuss it.”

  “So has he ever come out to her?”

  “Not in any kind of official way, but she knows. He’s brought a guy or two around for a dinner or special occasion.”

  “How does she react?”

  He huffed a humorless laugh. “Fidgety, nervous. So damn ridiculous.”

  She frowned. “That’s got to be tough on Ethan. Was she always like that?”

  “Pretty much, but it’s worse now that she’s with this guy.”

  She backhanded him lightly in the arm with her wrist. “How did you turn out so okay with Ethan’s orientation?”

  He shrugged. “He’s my brother and my best friend. I knew he was gay before he did. Even though my mom made it clear when we were little that homosexuality was wrong, I never thought anything about Ethan was wrong.”

  She smiled. “That’s true brotherly love.”

  Heat rose in his neck, and he huffed a laugh trying to cover up the fact that he’d said too much. “Probably my own damn vanity since we look just alike.”

  “You don’t look just alike, by the way.”

  “Yeah, I know. He’s better-looking.”

  She gauged him. “I don’t know. You’re…bigger, or something.”

  “Are you calling me fat?”

  She pinched at his stomach. “Hardly.”

  He loved how touchy she was. He hadn’t been touched by a woman since Erin, and at the end of that relationship her touch had given him the willies. “Ethan’s thinner than me. I’ll give him that. And better-dressed.”

  She looked him up and down. “You do okay.”

  That heat from his neck reached up to his ears. How could this woman be so good at making him feel like a kid again? He cleared his throat, looking for a subject change. “So is it just scary movies you like or other scary stuff?”

  “Oh, I’d have turned my gift shop into a full-on haunted house tonight if I hadn’t been focused on selling to the moms. I didn’t want to detract from the merchandise once I had them all in there.”

  “You like haunted houses?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah, but I can’t get any of my duddy friends to go with me.”

  He considered her, knowing he really shouldn’t go there but somehow physically incapable of stopping himself. “Have you been to the Haunted Woods?”

  She straightened. “You don’t mean the one north of here with the hayride, do you?”

  He couldn’t help a grin. “Yeah, have you been?”

  “No, I’ve been dying to go though.”

  His heartbeat revved up. He really needed to get that under control. “Wanna go sometime?”

  “Uh, does a cat have a tail?”

  He peered around her backside. “It appears that way.”

  She pulled it out and swatted him with it.

  6

  Marigold fixed herself a cup of green tea and headed out to the back deck. She couldn’t believe this ocean view was her life for the next couple of months. With Fiona’s parents staying in Lexington till January, she had the whole next two months to live like she was on vacation. But it wasn’t like she could relax and enjoy it. She’d chosen not to renew her lease on the shop, and she had to be out by the end of November, so her days were filled with a low level anxiety about her uncertain future.

  She had to figure out her life one way or another. Even if her family got the bid on the land to build the hotel, it wasn’t like it’d be ready for her to go to work there on December 1. She had some hard decisions ahead of her. If she knew the hotel was a for-sure, she could limp along working retail somewhere until it was built. But if the hotel wasn’t going to happen, she’d have to face the abysmal possibility of going where the money was. And the only sure option she had for that was back home in Savannah with her family.

  She didn’t hate her family. S
he actually got along with them fine…just as long as they were in separate states. Marigold took a moment to imagine herself working there at the flagship hotel in Savannah, Camellia walking into the room to let her know in her gentle but yet oh-so-condescending way that she had screwed up some process or procedure. She gave a physical shudder at the thought.

  The sliding glass door opened and Marigold pulled herself back to earth, smiling a silent good morning to Fiona. “We’re not alone,” Fiona whispered as she took a seat.

  Marigold glanced back at the condo. “Beauty still asleep?”

  “Yep.”

  “Anyone I know?”

  Fiona shook her head and then sipped her coffee.

  “Anyone I’ll be getting to know soon?” Marigold asked.

  “Possibly. It’s early. What about you? Dane Knight, huh? That’s a catch.”

  “I haven’t caught anything yet. Besides, I don’t think he’s into me for my body.”

  “Uh, the grin he had on his face all night would tell a very different story.”

  Marigold waved her off. “He’s trying to charm me into backing off of the hotel bidding. He and his brother already have a client in place.”

  “Oh, yeah. They do property development. So he thinks he’s going to use his charms to talk you out of it? Is that why he happened upon your shop right as you needed help with the kids?”

  “I actually asked him to stop by to help me hang my big ghost.”

  “And then you all just stumbled into my bar afterward?”

  “He earned a drink, trust me.” She swirled her tea in her mug. “He actually asked me out, I think.”

  “You think?”

  “Do haunted hayrides count as dates?”

  “Are you kidding me? How can you get more intimate than voluntarily going somewhere that you’ll need to grab onto each other in delightful fear?”

  Marigold giggled at Fiona’s turn of phrase. “How well do you know him?”

  “Not as well as I’d like to.” Fiona waggled her eyebrows. “But I think you’ve beat me to the punch.”