The House on Sunshine Corner

by Phoebe Mills

  Honestly, a week away with her grandma in a town that didn’t remind her of Carter sounded like exactly what she needed.

  She frowned as longing filled her chest. “I’d love to but we haven’t rented a place yet. Plus, I don’t have anything lined up for the Sunshine Corner, and I’d hate to—”

  Hilde cut her off with a wave of her hand. “You leave that all to me. If I can get things set up, would you want to escape for a little while?”

  Truly, Abby could think of nothing better than getting away from the town that had been revitalized, once again, with memories of Carter. She saw him everywhere she went—even her own bedroom—and she knew that wouldn’t abate anytime soon.

  Smiling, she nodded. “If you can figure out a way to make it happen, I’d love to escape with you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Abby had no idea how her grandma had managed to pull together a weeklong vacation on the beach with less than twenty-four hours’ notice. But then again, Hilde had always had a way with things like that. If she wanted something, it seemed she could make it happen simply by manifesting it. Abby didn’t care how her grandma had managed to do it. She was just grateful that she had.

  They’d traveled down to Florence and rented a small cottage just steps from the beach. They’d spent their days camped out in the sand, books in hand and margaritas on tap, soaking in the sun. Each night, they’d stay up until the wee hours of the morning talking about everything and nothing before the crashing waves against the shore sang her to sleep. She’d lived on the ocean her whole life, but she’d never gotten tired of its all-consuming beauty or its gentle lullaby. Even though they’d only gone a few hours from home, it had felt like a different universe.

  “I do believe our little vacation worked,” Hilde said as Abby pulled into their driveway just as the sun was setting.

  She put the car in park and turned to her grandma with a smile—one that was mostly genuine. The “mostly” part was courtesy of this getaway, and she knew the rest would come with time. “I think you’re right.” She reached over the center console and pulled her grandma to her, enveloping her in a hug as she breathed in the familiar scent of lavender and cloves. “Thank you for this.” Abby’s voice shook with emotion, the bone-deep gratitude she felt for her grandma nearly overwhelming.

  If she didn’t have this amazing, strong, fiercely protective woman in her life, she didn’t know what she’d do. And that Hilde had always been there, through every hill and valley in Abby’s life, was something she could never repay. It was also something she’d never wished for with anyone else, despite spending years desperate for parents—or at least a mom—to be as invested in her life as her grandma was.

  Abby’s mom would call at some point, filling the entire phone call with her latest dating woes. That was a guaranteed filler and one Abby could count on. Something else she could bet on was that her mom would never ask about Abby, and she’d learned over the years not to bother volunteering any information. It didn’t matter anyway—her mom would forget everything she’d mentioned by their next phone call. At one point, Abby had craved some sort of reciprocal relationship with her mom. But she was beyond that now. She knew her mom just simply wasn’t capable of it, and Abby was finally at peace with it.

  Hilde patted Abby on the back, rubbing soothing circles. “A little beach time is always good for the soul.”

  Abby felt tears prick the backs of her eyes at all her grandma wasn’t saying. She’d been there for Abby over the week, giving her space when she’d needed it and filling her time when she didn’t want to think. And through it all, she’d never once pressed.

  Their family home was something to behold, a piece of her history that she loved with all her heart. But she couldn’t deny how the weight of the future of the Sunshine Corner settled heavily on her shoulders the moment she walked through the back door.

  She’d spent a week away digesting the ending of her relationship with Carter and of his leaving, and accepting the new path her life would take. She hadn’t had the mental bandwidth to also think about her troubles with the preschool. That would be on the top of her to-do list this week. She had to call all of the parents who had put their child’s name down on the waiting list and inform them that they’d need to find another preschool in the area for their child. She wasn’t sure how she’d make it through those conversations without tears, but she’d force herself. The parents would have enough to worry over and didn’t need to concern themselves with her problems, too.

  She also needed to contact the individuals who’d purchased items at the fundraiser, as well as the businesses who’d donated, and make them aware of the situation. Even though she’d have to borrow against the home equity loan she’d taken out as a safety net, she’d pay each and every one of them back.

  Her grandma was already at the bottom of the stairs, her suitcase in hand, no doubt intent on hefting it up the steep steps.

  “Hey!” Abby snapped. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Hilde heaved a sigh. “I’m tired, Abby. I want to go and get into my nightgown. And then I’m going to get a glass of scotch, and I’m going to sit in my chair and watch the stories that I missed all week.”

  Abby grinned. While they’d been gone, she’d had to listen to her grandma bemoan the fact that their cottage didn’t have cable, and thus she couldn’t watch the soap operas she was addicted to. “Fine. That sounds like a wonderful evening, but you know you’re not supposed to carry heavy things up the steps. Dr. Gerandy told you that.”

  Hilde scowled. “Simon’s only interested in ruining my fun. All because I turned him down when he asked me out in 1972.”

  Abby rolled her eyes, having heard this particular gripe approximately three thousand times. “Dr. Gerandy,” Abby emphasized, “is only interested in your health. He’s a good doctor.”

  Her grandma snorted. “He’s the only doctor in Heart’s Hope Bay, so we’re stuck with the old geezer.”

  “Didn’t you two graduate together?”

  “Age isn’t a number, Abby. How many times do I have to tell you that? Age is a feeling. And he feels like a geezer. I, on the other hand, feel like I’m twenty-two.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re not and neither is your back, so I’m going to carry this up for you.” Abby yanked the suitcase from her grandma and trudged up the stairs. “I don’t know why you have to be so stubborn all the time. Just let people help you once in a while.”

  “You’re a fine one to give that advice. You don’t like to take help from anyone.”

  “That’s not true. I took help from Carter for the preschool, didn’t I?”

  “And that was only because Becca strong-armed him and you into it.”

  Abby shrugged. “Well, I accepted it all the same.”

  “And what if all your friends showed up here and said they wanted to help you get the preschool done in time?”

  Abby stopped short, unsure what she’d do if that actually happened. She’d…what? Put them to work? Ha! Never. No, more likely she’d brush them off and wave them away. Tell them not to worry about it because it was her problem. That it wasn’t a big deal. She’d gotten herself into this mess, and she could get herself out.

  “That’s what I thought,” her grandma said, smugness ringing in her tone.

  “Everyone has their own lives that they need to deal with, Grandma. I don’t want to ask them to worry about mine, too.”

  Once at the top of the stairs, Abby flipped on the light for the hallway and froze, blinking in confusion over what she saw. The drop cloths and various tools were no longer strewn across the faded, scratched floor, and in their place was nothing but gleaming hardwood. The walls were painted a bright, crisp yellow, the white trim work making the color pop. What had once been tiny, closed off rooms were now open and inviting. The cubbies she’d built with Carter stood along the far wall, filled with a rainbow array of bins. Small round tables edged the main room, a large circle rug filling up the cente
r.

  Abby stepped into the space, her hands covering her mouth as she looked at her dream come to life. A mural was painted on one wall, depicting a bright sunny day and a replica of their family home right in the center with smaller scenes drawn all around it. And arching above it all was the Sunshine Corner’s logo.

  Tears pricked Abby’s eyes as she examined the beautiful piece, picking out details from her life’s work in each of the scenes. Art class, cooking with Hilde, science experiments, and even puppy day with Ollie taking the lead. And right in the middle of it all, in front of her family home, stood Abby with Hilde next to her, surrounded by the people who were her family in every sense of the word.

  Giddy but apprehensive, Abby walked toward the two spaces they’d created for the classrooms where the children would spend a designated amount of time each day on their curriculum. She peeked into the three-year-old room, smiling at the semicircle tables, the backs of the chairs marked with a nameplate for each child already enrolled.

  Heart pounding, she hurried to the four-year-old room, flipped on the light, and gasped. Her gaze bounced rapidly over her friends and her extended family from the Sunshine Corner, everyone beaming at her.

  And there, amid all her loved ones, stood Carter, a grin stretching his face, hands tucked into his pockets.

  “Surprise,” he said, as smooth and as calm as could be. Like her heart hadn’t leaped into her throat, its beat thrumming wildly.

  “Carter, what—” She shook her head and glanced back at her grandma, who stood in the doorway, a smug, knowing smirk on her face. Narrowing her eyes, Abby pointed an accusatory finger in her direction. “You…You did this!” she accused.

  Of course her grandma would put this together for her, and of course Carter would have felt obligated to stick around and help, despite his need to leave. The heart that had leaped into her throat suddenly plummeted, her hopes sinking right along with it. She would never admit this aloud, but for a brief moment, she’d hoped that Carter had changed his mind. That he’d come back for her. That he was back in Heart’s Hope Bay, not out of obligation, but out of a desire to be there.

  She’d take that misassumption to her grave. There was no way she’d tell even Savannah or Gia, having no desire to relive that brief humiliation.

  “Actually, it was his idea,” Hilde said, lifting her chin toward Carter.

  Abby turned back to him, only to find he’d stepped closer. So close, her body reacted to his nearness just the same as it always did. Apparently all the parts of her that Carter had showered so much loving attention on hadn’t gotten the message that he was no longer theirs.

  “I know it’s probably the gentlemanly thing to do to let your grandma take credit for all this, but I kind of need that in order to pull off this whole grand gesture thing.”

  Abby furrowed her brow. “A grand gesture…for what?”

  He breathed out a laugh. “For you, sweet girl. I’m hoping you’ll forgive me.”

  She swallowed down her hope, refusing to get lost in daydreams again. “For what?”

  He reached out and cupped her face, brushing his thumbs against her cheeks. “For leaving you. It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done—and I’ve done a lot of dumb things. I wish I could go back in time and knock some sense into myself.”

  “Just so you know,” Savannah called from behind him, “you’re on your own the next time you’re an idiot.”

  Abby breathed out a laugh as Carter rolled his eyes, but she didn’t dare look away from him. Not when he was staring at her like he was. As if she were his whole world.

  “I don’t intend on being an idiot again,” he said. “Or much, anyway. But now that I’m back for good, there’s a high probability that it’s going to happen.”

  “What do you mean you’re back for good?” Abby asked, shaking her head. “What about your meeting? What about your firm?”

  Carter pulled her closer, pressing his forehead to hers. “None of it means anything without you, Abby,” he whispered, low enough that it was just for her. He pulled back and looked down into her eyes. “I want to be with you. And if that means Heart’s Hope Bay, or that means Yemen or Liberia or wherever, that’s where I’m going to be.”

  “But…you can’t ever have your own firm here. And I—” She broke off, glancing over Carter’s shoulder at the people who stood there, grins splitting their faces. Savannah, Gia and Marco, Jenn and Jenn’s wife Lori…Becca, Norah, and half a dozen other parents. And though she couldn’t see Hilde, Abby could feel her grandma standing behind her, the unwavering support that had been present her entire life as solid as a brick wall. “And I can’t leave,” she said.

  “I don’t want you to. I want to stay here. With you. In this town I love, with the woman I love.”

  Abby ignored the roller coaster of emotions swirling inside her. She desperately wanted to soak in his words. Wanted to pull him to her and kiss him, tell him she loved him, too. But she’d already made the mistake of not listening to him before. Of not concerning herself with his needs. Of plowing on with only her own in mind, and she wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

  “Even if that means being close to your dad?” she whispered, quiet enough that the roomful of observers couldn’t hear.

  Carter shrugged. “I’m tired of running from him. I thought I was being brave by branching out on my own and making something of myself in a new town where I started out with no one knowing my name. But I never admitted to myself just how much of a coward I was being. I was running. Plain and simple. I put roots down in Vegas, but I was running all the same. I’m done with all that, Abby. I’m done running from a chance at happiness and a family of my own. With you. If you’ll still have me.”

  At her bright smile, he lifted her face, pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss that started off slow and sweet but quickly turned into something more. Something that had her gasping for breath by the time he pulled away, heat flooding her body as if a switch had been flipped.

  Abby didn’t know what to say. Couldn’t reconcile how she’d accepted the fact that he was gone from her life with his words now.

  She gripped his waist and tugged him even closer, staring up into his eyes. So filled with love it took her breath away. “You’re really back in Heart’s Hope Bay? To stay?”

  “No, Abby.” He kissed a path along her jaw, pressing his lips into the sensitive skin below her ear. Quietly, he whispered, “I’m really back with you. To stay.”

  Epilogue

  Abby couldn’t believe this was actually her life. She’d had five months to get used to it, but it still felt surreal most of the time. They were two weeks into the school year, which meant they were two weeks into ironing out the kinks of their brand-new preschool program, and Abby was surprised at just how smoothly it had gone. She’d known she’d made the right choice when she’d asked Savannah to be the lead four-year-old teacher. The only person who loved these kids more than Abby did was Savannah, and that showed in every interaction with the kids and their parents.

  Well, all the parents except one. There was the small issue of the volatile nature of Savannah’s relationship with a preschooler’s dad…Noah, her brother’s best friend. Their relationship had been volatile for as long as Abby had known Savannah, which meant they had about twenty-odd years’ worth of animosity built up. She wondered if maybe it was just par for the course with older brothers and their annoying friends, but Savannah got along great with everyone else.

  As Savannah’s best friend, it was Abby’s job to side with her at all times. And she did…or tried to. That said, she’d be an idiot not to see the sexual tension sparking between those two. Sexual tension that Savannah was all too willing to ignore.

  “Do I need to put you in a separate room when Noah comes to pick up Rosie?” Abby asked.

  Savannah scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I think a better use of your time would be to tell him to keep his mouth shut and his judgmental eyes focused on his own lane.”

&
nbsp; Abby laughed, waving from the front window as the last parents backed out of the driveway. “Uh-huh. And you don’t think any of this hostility has anything to do with the unresolved sexual tension just hovering around you?”

  Savannah shot her a look of disgust that might have fooled anyone else. But Abby wasn’t just anyone. She’d been Savannah’s best friend for twenty-five years. She knew her facial expressions and reactions nearly as well as she knew her own. And Savannah’s disgust might be genuine, but it was more probable that it was disgust directed at herself that she’d been so obvious.

  “You’re out of your mind, Abby, you know that?” Savannah gathered her bag and car keys and the two of them strode toward the back door just as it opened and Carter stepped through.

  Abby ignored the butterflies that took flight in her stomach when their gazes met and held.

  “Good, you’re here,” Savannah said, clapping a hand on his back. “You can keep an eye on your girlfriend because she’s clearly lost her damn mind.”

  “Keep telling yourself that!” Abby called after Savannah before turning her attention to Carter.

  He shrugged off his messenger bag and set it on the hook by the back door. “What was that all about?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her, his fingertips dancing along the swell of her bottom.

  She rested her hands on his shoulders and shook her head. “Denial at its finest.”

  Carter raised an eyebrow in question. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

  Abby shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Okay, then. Let me get to the good stuff,” he said before lowering his mouth to hers.

  This had been their greeting every day since he’d moved in, and she hadn’t gotten sick of it yet. He’d stayed with Becca for the first couple weeks after he’d officially moved back, trying in vain to find a rental property. But the size of Heart’s Hope Bay meant that rental properties weren’t exactly readily available. He and Abby had decided they’d wasted enough time and weren’t interested in wasting any more. After discussing it with her grandma and making sure she was okay with it, Abby had asked Carter to move in. His only answer had been a kiss that had turned explicit in a blink and ended with the two of them panting and sweaty.