Sweet Horizons

by Jean C. Gordon

  C H A P T E R 10

  Early Sunday afternoon, Sonja stood in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom and studied her outfit. She’d looked up how she should dress for a bike ride on the internet and had gotten conflicting advice. A leather jacket and pants weren’t something she had in her wardrobe. And the linen capris, light top, and sandals she might choose for a picnic didn’t seem like enough protection. Not that she didn’t have every confidence in Jeff’s driving, but there would be other drivers on the road. Jeans and the summer top with a windbreaker jacket, along with black ankle-high boots had been her compromise.

  “Grammy pretty,” Shelley said.

  “Thank you.” Sonja finished her makeup with lip gloss over her lip color.

  “Me, too, pretty.” Shelley pointed to her mouth.

  Sonja opened a tube of flavored lip balm and ran it over Shelley’s lips. The little girl promptly licked it off.

  “Come on, let’s go downstairs and wait for Meg.”

  The door knocker sounded as Shelley hopped off the bed, where she’d been watching Sonja get ready. “Meg!”

  Sonja hoped so. She hadn’t heard Jeff’s bike, and nerves about going on an actual date with him had her not quite ready for him to be here to pick her up. She hurried down the stairs to catch up with Shelley. A glance out the peep hole showed Meg on the other side of the door. Sonja let out her held breath. She opened the door.

  “Meg.” Shelley hugged the teen’s legs. “Come, see my toys.” She tugged her inside.

  “Wait a minute, Shelley. Grammy needs to talk with Meg first. Then you can play.”

  “Okay.” Shelley held onto Meg’s hand and hopped up and down.

  “There’s a list with my and Jeff’s cell phone numbers and other stuff you may need to know on the coffee table up in my flat.” Probably far more information than Meg would need. But it had been a long time since Sonja had hired a babysitter. So she’d printed a babysitter information checklist from a parenting site on the internet.

  Meg nodded. “My mom’s home if anything comes up and I can’t reach you.”

  Sonja couldn’t think of any reason Meg wouldn’t be able to reach them, except while they were on the road. But Meg’s mom being on call would provide adult contact coverage for the whole time she and Jeff were gone. “Good. Do you have any questions?”

  “Not that I can think of.”

  An engine sounded outside and her heart tripped. Jeff. She still wasn’t ready. Well, she was technically ready, except for grabbing her wallet and the picnic food she’d made. But she wasn’t mentally ready. Her pulse skittered out of control when the engine sound stopped.

  “Grammy, play with Meg now?”

  “Yes,” Sonja answered.

  Had that answer sounded as breathless to Meg as it had sounded to her? Sonja took control of herself. “Meg, if you would, you can go upstairs with Shelley. I live on the third floor. The door’s open. I’ll let Jeff in and be right up.”

  “Sure.”

  Sonja waited a moment, took a deep breath in and out, and fluffed her hair before realizing she was stalling. She swung the heavy wood door open to face Jeff sprinting up the porch steps. “Hi. Meg’s here. She just went upstairs with Shelley. I’ll go get the cooler with our lunch and make sure Meg knows where everything is, and then I’m ready to go.”

  “I’ll carry the cooler,” he said, falling into step with her.

  She opened her mouth to say she could manage the cooler and snapped it shut. As Caroline had told her, there was nothing wrong with her choosing to let Jeff help her. He could handle the cooler more easily than her. Except her going upstairs alone would postpone the beginning of the date, whereas having him right beside her made her feel like the date had already begun. His hand brushed her leg, and she nearly missed the next stair. She was a nervous wreck, and they hadn’t gotten anywhere near the motorcycle yet.

  Jeff took her arm and steadied her before sliding his hand down and enclosing her hand in his. A sense of strength and warmth flowed through her, soothing her nerves like a healing balm. She could do this date thing. She glanced sideways at Jeff’s sculptured profile. Do it and enjoy it.

  “Papa,” Shelley shouted, followed by a “hi, Jeff” from Meg.

  “Did you walk over?” he asked.

  “Mom dropped me off,” Meg answered. “Is that a problem?”

  Sonja had wondered, too. Meg being dropped off was good. She’d rather the teen not be driving Shelley anywhere.

  “I guess not,” Jeff said.

  “My mom’s home. She could be here in two minutes if I needed her to be.”

  Jeff’s jaw muscles relaxed. “Did Sonja tell you about the french doors to the deck?”

  “No.”

  Sonja steeled herself for Jeff to tell Meg about the day she’d locked herself out with Shelley inside and he’d had to come rescue them. That’s what her ex would have done.

  “The doors are set to open from the inside with the outside locked. I’ll give you my key to put in your pocket in case you want to take Shelley out to the back yard.”

  “Okay.”

  That was it? No embarrassing story to go with the warning? But he had told Meg that he had a key to her B&B, the sort of information that could turn into gossip. Sonja stopped herself. Her thoughts had gone in that direction, as if Jeff had boasted about having a key, because a part of her was trying to find fault with him. To prevent herself from falling for him. Too late for that, her heart said. Not only was Jeff attractive and personable in his quiet way, but he was just plain a nice guy.

  “I’ll go get the cooler,” Sonja said, leaving Jeff to give Meg the key and herself some space to adjust to her feelings.

  “I’ll take that,” he said, crossing the living room in a few long strides when she returned and taking the cooler from her. “Ready?” he asked.

  “Almost. We should be home about supper time,” Sonja told Meg, putting a time limit on the date. “There’s mac and cheese you can warm up and a salad in the refrigerator if you and Shelley get hungry before we get back, along with the snacks on the list on the coffee table.”

  “Yep, I looked at your note,” Meg said.

  “Okay.” Her voice didn’t sound as positive as her word. “Shelley, give Grammy and Papa a hug.”

  “Play with my toys.”

  “That’s right.” Jeff opened the door. “You and Meg.”

  “Bye-bye hug.”

  He crouched and Shelley hugged him. “Grammy give Papa bye-bye hug.”

  Sonja felt her cheeks warm at the memory of Jeff’s arms around her.

  “No Squirt, Grammy is coming with me.”

  Shelley faced Jeff, hands on hips.

  Was she going to make a fuss about their leaving? Sonja had been sure Shelley understood that she and Jeff were both leaving.

  “No squirt. Big girl, Papa.”

  “Big enough girl to stay with Meg while Grammy and I go out?”

  “Yes. Bye, Grammy and Papa.”

  Sonja’s feeling ping-ponged between hurt that Shelley was so quick to dismiss her and admiration for the way Jeff had handled things.

  Jeff stood and whispered in her ear. “I think we’d better get while the getting is good.”

  She ducked under Jeff’s arm, holding the door into the hall. “Whew!”

  “Yeah, I thought we might be in for trouble for a minute,” Jeff said, closing the door behind them and running his gaze over her. “You look great.”

  Jeff’s compliment took her by surprise. “Thanks.” She gave him a reciprocal once-over. “You don’t look bad yourself.”

  From the look on his face, her compliment had caught him more off-guard than his had caught her.

  “Let me get our lunch stowed,” he said when they reached the end of the front walkway and his motorcycle parked in the circular driveway. “Then, we can take off.”

  Sonja gave the motorcycle a once-over and had a flash of misgiving. Or not.

  Jeff flipped ope
n the top of a chrome box fastened to the back of the motorcycle with what looked like chrome saddlebags below on each side.

  “I wondered how we were going to carry the cooler,” Sonja said. And her inner voice of over-caution lost its twinge of hope that he hadn’t thought of that, and they’d have to skip the ride and picnic on the B&B’s beach.

  He put the cooler in the box and snapped it shut. “Yeah, Jesse got me the panniers and top trunk for Christmas a few years back. They’re real handy.” Jeff handed her the smaller of the two brilliant blue helmets that were hanging from the bike’s handle bars, along with a pair of women’s leather gloves.

  Sonja slipped the helmet on and fiddled with the chin strap.

  “Let me help.” His hand grazed her jawline as he fastened and tightened the straps, sending her nervous system into overdrive. “There you go.” He flipped the visor down and put on his helmet, before swinging his long leg over the bike seat and steadying the vehicle for her to climb on between him and the top trunk fastened behind the seat.

  “Put your arms around my waist,” he said when she was settled.

  It could have been the helmets, but Jeff’s voice sounded gravelly to her. She tentatively put her arms around him, closed her eyes as he started the bike.

  As Jeff took off up the driveway to Main Street, Sonja thought of Caroline’s advice that sometimes it was okay to act helpless. There was no acting going on here. She felt absolutely dependent on Jeff and his driving skill. Sonja tightened her grip around Jeff’s solid form. Feeling his taunt stomach muscles through the gloves somehow reassured her. A weight lifted, replaced by a trust that Jeff would take care of her if and when she needed someone to be there and a sense that she was flying free on the wind rushing by. By the time Jeff had the bike up to the speed limit of the highway, Sonja was thoroughly enjoying the ride.

  Jeff knew exactly when Sonja’s fear had left her, and knowing that she trusted him stoked his ego in a good way. He flexed the kinks out of his fingers, wrapped them one by one back around the hand grips, and enjoyed her softness against him. More relaxed, he let himself blend with the rhythm of the engine and the joy of introducing Sonja to his passion for riding. When they closed in on his planned destination, he almost wanted to drive right by and keep going indefinitely. But he didn’t. He flicked the right directional and raised his arm in the right turn hand signal for good measure.

  Her arms tightened around him as he slowed for the turn, bringing what was probably a stupid grin to his face. He kept the bike speed low as he guided it under the canopy of live oak trees lining the side road. She loosened her grip when they came within sight of the wildlife preserve sign and tightened when he slowed to turn into the parking lot. Jeff pulled into a space, turned off the engine, lowered the kickstand, and waited for Sonja to get off so he could. She dropped her hands from his waist. And he waited, heart plummeting. She wasn’t frozen in fear, was she?

  Jeff flipped up his visor and looked over his shoulder at her. She didn’t look scared. “You need to get off first.”

  Her mouth formed an “O.” She flipped up her visor. “Right.” She scrambled off, and he did the same, removing his helmet and facing her.

  She took off her helmet and smiled. “That was fun.”

  The dam in his chest burst in a torrent of warmth. “I thought we’d tour the preserve and have our picnic afterwards. Have you been here before? They have a manatee rescue house.” Words poured out as part of his internal flood. He clamped his mouth shut, not wanting to dim her smile.

  “No, I haven’t been here. I didn’t even know about it, or I would have come before.” Her smile broadened.

  “Great. Hand me your helmet. They won’t fit in the saddle bag compartments, so we should take them with us.”

  “Okay, but I can carry one.”

  Of course she could, but her hand closest to him held the helmet by its strap, interfering with his plan to take the helmet, pass it to his opposite hand, and slip her freed-up hand into his.

  “Sure. We need to sign in at the information booth.” He could maneuver to her other side on the short walk to the booth and put his plan back in play.

  “You’ve been here before,” Sonja said.

  “Yeah. I was out riding and saw the sign on the highway.”

  “Good afternoon,” the woman staffing the booth said. “Please sign in and leave an email if you’d like to be on our newsletter list. We’re open until six today.”

  Jeff and Sonja signed in.

  “Here’s a map and a little information about the preserve and our manatee rescue program.” She handed them a folded glossy sheet. “If you’d like to make a donation, you can do so on the way in or out.”

  “Thanks.” Jeff waited until they reached the donation kiosk at the beginning of the preserve walkway, then dropped in a twenty-dollar bill before he took Sonja’s hand in his. They walked the tree-canopied path, her delight in the sandpipers and other wildlife fascinating him more than anything the world of nature had to offer. She was so engrossed that she barely noticed when he took charge of her helmet so she could take pictures. He captured her smiling face in his heart and held it close and safe.

  “The manatee tank is up here at the end,” he said when they started up the return loop of the path.

  “Look at them,” Sonja said when they reached the window of the tank and one of two manatees swam over to greet them. “They’re so ugly they’re cute.”

  He squeezed her hand and laughed. “I guess you could say that.”

  She squeezed his hand back starting a rush that made him want to pull Sonja into his arms and kiss her. After a quick glance around to make sure they were alone, he did, savoring the softness of her lips and her response.

  When he’d finished the kiss and lifted his head, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. He breathed slowly and deeply in a nearly futile effort to slow his pounding heart.

  “Poor things,” she said, removing one arm and motioning to a healing cut on the manatee’s side.”

  “Unfortunately, they’re too curious and friendly and swim too close to the propellers of the boats in the bay.”

  Sonja lifted her head and stepped away to focus her attention on taking photos of the manatees, leaving him feeling oddly alone.

  “Is there a gift shop?” she asked. “I’d love to get Shelley a stuffed manatee or something. We’ll have to bring her here sometime.”

  Her words wiped away the odd feeling. “Yeah, there’s one around the other side of the tank.”

  Sonja found just what she wanted for their granddaughter, and they headed for the picnic area next to the parking lot. All of the tables were taken in what looked like a child’s birthday party.

  Before he could think and come up with an alternate plan, Sonja said, “We could go back and have our picnic on the B&B beach. What do you say?”

  Would he like to spend the rest of the afternoon with Sonja, alone on a private beach?

  Well, yes!

  With the manatee-shaped pillow for Shelley secured in one of the saddlebag compartments, Sonja let herself enjoy the ride home even more than she’d enjoyed the ride to the preserve. Once Jeff had the bike parked in the space in front of his truck at the cottage and turned off the engine, Sonja hopped off. Her first thought after how reluctant she was to let go of Jeff so she could climb off was to let Meg know they were back and down at the beach. She reached into her jacket pocket for her phone, but left it there. Meg didn’t need to know they were down on the beach.

  “You can hang your helmet on the handlebars,” Jeff said before he opened the back compartment with the picnic fixings and one of the saddlebags. “I’ll carry the food and stuff if you can take the blanket.”

  She eyed the plain blue blanket he held out to her.

  “What?” he asked when she didn’t immediately take it.

  “Was this a setup?” she teased, nodding toward the deserted beach front. Did you expect the picnic tables a
t the preserve would all be taken?”

  “Not 100%. More of a backup than a setup. Is it a problem?”

  She took the blanket. “Not at all.”

  His grinning response sent her mind in very tempting directions it shouldn’t be going. Yet. Her plan was to keep her and Jeff’s relationship lowkey until after the B&B opening.

  She led him to a spot near the dunes on the beach and shook out the blanket. “How’s this look?”

  “Perfect,” he said, his gaze on her, not the spot she’d chosen.

  A thrill shot through her. “You must be hungry,” she choked out.

  “Definitely.” He kept his gaze on her until she thought she’d melt into a puddle and soak into sand. Then he lifted the opposite corners of the blanket and stretched it out on the sand before walking around to her.

  Anticipation ticked up her heartrate until she felt her heart would pound out of her chest.

  Jeff wrapped his arms around her and put her out of her agony with a toe-curling kiss. Afterwards, they stood forehead to forehead until they’d regained the ability to breathe normally.

  He lifted his head and removed his arms from her waist. “And I could use some food, too.” Jeff kicked off his boots, moved the cooler to the middle of the blanket and sat down to remove his socks.

  Sonja ogled his bare feet before chastising herself for the silly attraction the memories triggered. She slipped off her windbreaker, toed off her shoes, and sat on the other side of the cooler. She opened it. “I made ham and cheese sandwiches and have chips, cans of sweet tea, and lemon meringue pie to go with them.” She handed him a wrapped sandwich, small bag of chips, and tea, leaving the containers of pie in the cooler.

  “Great!” He unwrapped his sandwich. “And more of Caroline’s pie.”

  “My pie, this time.”

  “All the better,” he said before biting into his sandwich.

  “You should reserve your judgment until you taste it.”

  “No need. You’ve yet to disappoint me.”

  Sonja swallowed hard. But you will, an old voice she’d thought she’d put behind her with her divorce said.