Soldier of Her Heart

by Syndi Powell

  Beckett sipped his coffee, seeming to hide a grin behind the mug. “I meant a boyfriend actually.”

  “Oh.” Her cheeks burned, and she dropped her gaze to her hands on the table. “No boyfriend.”

  “Why not?”

  She brought her gaze to his piercing blues and gave a shrug. “I broke up with someone last year, so I haven’t dated in a while.”

  His jaw seemed to sag open a little. “Are the men around you blind?”

  His attention on her made her squirm a little, so she turned the spotlight on him instead. “What about you? Is there anyone you need to call?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “No girlfriend?”

  “That either.”

  She gave him a smirk. “Are the women around you blind?”

  He leaned in, one eyebrow arched high. “Miss Lowman, are you flirting with me?”

  Yes, she was, and enjoying it more than she had with any man for a very long time. “No more than you are with me.”

  “I guess I am just a little.” He took another sip of his coffee. “I’m afraid I’m out of practice.”

  “Me too.”

  A man came over with two plates that he placed in front of each of them. “Lizzie’s bringing the dog’s burger. My name is Rick. Just let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Rick as in this is your diner?” Andie asked.

  He nodded and then smiled as his wife placed a plate in front of Phoebe. “I’m owner. Cook. And chief bottle washer.”

  “Unless you’re making me wash them,” his wife, Lizzie, muttered, but she smiled as she said the words.

  Rick turned to her and returned the smile. “You love washing dishes. Admit it.”

  She shook her head, but kept the smile on her face as she returned to the cash register. Rick followed his wife, whispered something in her ear to which she slapped him on the shoulder and tipped her head back, laughing.

  Beckett turned to Andie with a smile. “They seem to be in love.”

  Andie looked over at the couple and couldn’t help smiling at their obvious affection for one another. “They do. They remind me of a younger version of Russ and Pattie.”

  He and Andie returned their attention to their meals. Andie removed the top bun off her cheeseburger to add ketchup and mustard, picking off half the onion and pickles. Replacing the top bun, she sliced the burger in half and picked up one portion. She looked up to find Beckett watching her, his own burger halfway to his mouth. “What’s wrong?”

  “You’re fussy about what you eat.”

  “I don’t know if fussy is the right word. I like it the way I like it. That’s all.” She took a bite, then laid the burger back on the plate next to the fries.

  He gave a shrug and took a big bite of his own burger, and they continued to eat in silence. She made a pool of ketchup to dip her fries in on the side of her plate while Beckett poured lines of the stuff over his fries. She sipped her tea while he gulped his coffee.

  Andie had to admit that Lizzie had been right about her husband making the best burgers. She doubted that she’d had one as juicy or flavorful in a while. And the pickles were crisp and tasted fresh. She hadn’t been sure of what to expect from the diner, but the meal had been delicious. “We should come here for breakfast tomorrow before we hit the road.”

  Beckett nodded and accepted the tab from Lizzie. “That works for me.”

  He collected Phoebe, who was still licking her lips, and together the three of them walked to the register to pay. Lizzie snapped her fingers. “You were on that home renovation special in Detroit, right? You won the big prize and all.”

  Beckett gave a short nod. “That’s me.”

  “I knew that you looked familiar, and it was going to bug me until I figured it out.” She rang up the total on the tab. “How was everything?”

  Andie noticed that they had jars of pickles for sale. She pulled out her wallet to give Beckett some cash for her portion of the bill as well as enough for one jar of the pickles, but he waved off her money. “This is my treat. You packed us breakfast and lunch after all.”

  She accepted his generous offer and carried the plastic bag with her pickle jar to the truck. Once inside, she stowed the jar in the cooler. She couldn’t wait to share them with Cassie, who loved pickles.

  Even more snow had fallen since they’d been in the restaurant, and Beckett had to clear it off before they headed for the inn. He paused and glanced behind him. “We might want to pick up some supplies we’re going to need since we’re spending the night. Toothpaste, deodorant and such.”

  He made a lot of sense, so they walked next door to the drugstore. When they entered the small store, an older man in a plaid shirt and cardigan looked up at them from where he counted money at the register. “I’m closing in five minutes. Want to get home before this snow gets worse.”

  Andie assured him they wouldn’t be long and grabbed a small basket for their toiletries. She walked down the short aisles, choosing items she would need. Beckett came alongside her and placed a large bag of potato chips in the basket. She looked up at him. “This is part of the necessities?”

  “We’re going to be trapped inside a room while it snows, so yes I need chips.”

  She looked at the other stuff he’d chosen. Jerky, a bag of dog treats, a few candy bars and a toothbrush. “No toothpaste?”

  He gave a shrug. “I’ll borrow some of yours.”

  The thought of them sharing toothpaste felt almost intimate. Shaking her head, she took their purchases to the front of the store. The gentleman rung them up, and Andie pulled out her wallet. Again, Beckett beat her to the punch, waving off her offer to help pay. “You can get it next time.”

  As they exited the drugstore, Beckett noticed a bakery that still had its lights on. “I need some cookies too.”

  Andie followed him into the bakery and couldn’t help but smile as he eagerly looked at all the selections. The woman behind the counter introduced herself as Megs, then held a bakery box open as Beckett chose cookies and pastries. She tied the box with a red string. “Thank you for shopping at the Sweetheart. I didn’t think I’d get any more customers after the snow started, and I have a lot of inventory leftover.”

  Beckett added two large cups of coffee to their order. “If we hadn’t been snowed in, I’m sure we would have missed enjoying your bakery.”

  Megs looked at him, her head cocked to one side. “Do I know you?”

  “He won the home renovation contest in Detroit and appeared on a cable network special,” Andie said as she added creamer and sugar to her coffee.

  “That’s what it is.” Megs eyed him. “Do you ever do renovation work up here?”

  Beckett shook his head. “I work down state in Detroit.”

  Megs placed a hand on her apron near where it was tied at the waist. “Too bad. My husband, Adam, and I recently found out we’re expecting twins, and he came up with the perfect house for us, but it needs a lot of work.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find someone.” He paid for their purchases and ushered Andie out of the bakery.

  In the car, Andie placed their bags behind the seat and held the bakery box in her lap where Phoebe tried to get a good sniff. She watched as Beckett cleaned off the truck once again. He hadn’t seemed to be comfortable with the attention he received from Lizzie or Megs. And yet he’d entered a contest that got national attention. Had it been the money that appealed to him? After all, a quarter-million dollars went a long way to alleviate any misgivings about fame. She’d have to ask him about it sometime.

  Once they were on their way to the inn, Beckett drove slowly which she appreciated. She wasn’t a fan of driving in snow and ice despite living in Michigan her entire life. It was a fact of life that she had learned how to steer the car when the tires wanted to go in the opposite direction. But Beckett was an
expert driver, and they arrived at the inn with only minimal skidding.

  The Serenity Inn was a large Victorian house with a wraparound porch. Beckett followed the circular drive that bordered the house until he found the parking section. Two other cars were parked there, so they wouldn’t be the only ones at the inn. The thought both comforted and disappointed her. Not wanting to explore that reaction, she followed Beckett up the few steps to the porch. A woman in a thick Aran sweater greeted them at the front door. “Welcome to Serenity. Are you the couple Naomi sent?”

  They accompanied her to an antique oak desk to register for the evening. Once they’d paid for their rooms, the innkeeper handed them their room keys which looked antique also. “I put you in adjoining rooms at the top of the stairs, if that’s okay.”

  Adjoining rooms? Only a door away from sharing the room itself. Andie squirmed a little, but finally agreed. Since they had no luggage, they walked up the stairs to inspect their rooms. Andie turned the key in the lock and opened the door. A four-poster queen-size bed dominated the room that also contained a chifforobe and cheval mirror. A thick down comforter covered the bed that held a half-dozen pillows. It reminded her of something her mother would enjoy. She took a picture with her cell phone to show her once she returned home. Maybe her mother and aunt would like to take a road trip here someday.

  Turning, she found Beckett watching her from the doorway between their rooms. “I thought I’d take a nap. Will you be okay on your own for a little while?”

  She gave a nod. She’d seen a large fireplace downstairs that had a roaring fire. Sitting in front of it with a book if she could find one sounded heavenly to her. “I can entertain myself.”

  He gave her a short nod and retreated to his side of the door. Finding herself with time on her hands, she quickly texted her mother and sister to let them know the change of plans, then left the room to find some entertainment.

  * * *

  BECKETT OPENED HIS eyes and gave a start, sitting up in the large unfamiliar bed. Dusk had fallen outside, and it took a moment to remember that he was stuck in Northern Michigan with Andie during a snowstorm. He rubbed a hand over Phoebe’s face, swung his legs off the bed and placed his bare feet onto the wood floor. He turned on the lamp that rested on the nightstand and pulled his socks back on. Phoebe snuffled from under the covers of the bed before crawling out to blink at him. “Want to go find Andie?” he asked her as he slid his feet into the boots he’d been wearing.

  The dog wriggled out of the bed and ran to the door, waiting for him to follow her. He fastened the leash to her collar and opened the door. In the hallway, he could hear music drifting up the stairs from someone playing a piano. He followed the noise to the great room to find Andie wrapped in a blanket and seated in an armchair by the fireplace with a book. She looked up at him as he approached and smiled. Why did that sight cause his heart to stutter in his chest?

  “How was your nap?”

  “Good.” He looked around the room to find a couple sitting at the piano, the woman playing a song as the man leaned on her shoulder. “I see you found some company.”

  She shut the book and scratched Phoebe behind the ears before rising to her feet. “I did, but the loving couple is becoming a bit too much for my taste. Irena said they have board games in the dining room, if you’re interested.”

  “All right. I’m going to take Phoebe for a short walk. And then it’s game on.”

  Andie returned the book to a bursting bookcase. She motioned for Beckett to follow her and they walked down a hallway until it opened into a large dining room on the other side of the open fireplace. Games were gathered in a large wicker basket. After several moments of debating, they settled on a game that involved four colored sets of ten dice.

  Beckett took Phoebe outdoors, but returned quickly, ruffling his hair to get the snow out of it. He took a seat at the dining table where Andie waited. “I think it’s gotten worse out there. If that’s even possible. I’m glad we didn’t risk the drive home.”

  Phoebe found a spot under the table at their feet, and Beckett read the directions as Andie sorted the dice by color: red, green, blue and white. She chose the green set, so he chose blue.

  Andie kept score, but it quickly became clear that she was the better player. Whether it was rolling two sets of five matching dice or one set of all ten, she would beat him twice to every one round that he won. When he only had three matching dice to her ten matching, he said, “You have to be cheating. There’s no way you’re that good.”

  She shrugged and scooped the dice into her hands, shaking them so they clinked against each other. “Beginner’s luck, I guess.”

  He narrowed his eyes, not quite believing her. “And you swear that you’ve never played this game before.”

  She held up two fingers. “I swear.”

  “I think we need to find a new game so I can have a fighting chance of winning.”

  He walked to the basket to find another game while she stacked the dice back into their container. Finding a board game that he hadn’t played since he was a kid, he pulled it out and carried it to the table. Andie groaned when he placed it in front of her. “Really? As if working on houses wasn’t enough, you want to buy and sell properties too?”

  He removed the lid from the box and held up a silver game piece. “I get to be the top hat.”

  A couple hours passed in contented amusement as they played the game until Beckett had to mortgage his last property to pay rent to Andie having landed on one of her squares. He sighed. “You’re beautiful. You speak four languages fluently. And you massacre your opponents at board games. Is there anything you can’t do?”

  “Find a teaching job.” She winced. “That sounded bitter, didn’t it? It’s just frustrating to have a degree that I’m not using.”

  “I can understand that.” He tipped his top hat. “Wait here a minute. I have an idea of what we can do next.”

  He left the dining room and found Irena sitting in the great room with knitting needles and a ball of yellow yarn. She looked up as he walked toward her.

  “Mr. Beckett, are you finding everything okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am. But I was wondering if I could borrow your kitchen.”

  She raised her eyebrows at this request. “Planning on making something?”

  “I’d like to bake a cake. I don’t need a mix or anything, just basic items you’d find in a cupboard.”

  She seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded slowly. “If you make a cake, I’ll bring out my big coffeemaker. I’m sure we could all use some dessert on this cold snowy night. Let me know if you can’t find something.”

  He grinned and waved. Andie was petting Phoebe in the dining room. He pulled her to her feet and held her hand, leading her toward the kitchen.

  Andie glanced around the darkened room until he found the lights and turned them on. “What are we doing?” she asked.

  “Irena gave me permission to bake. You want to be my helper?”

  Andie nodded, so they first washed their hands at the industrial sink before Beckett started to look through cupboards. He found the ingredients he needed and searched further to find two round cake pans. After preheating the oven, he buttered the pans and set them aside. Andie had found aprons in a drawer and handed him one.

  He talked her through the recipe that he knew so well he recited it off the top of his head. Together, they creamed. They sifted. They stirred. Then Beckett poured the dark chocolate batter into the waiting pans. Andie set the timer while Beckett placed the pans into the oven to bake.

  While they waited for the cakes to finish baking, he showed her how to prepare a buttercream frosting from scratch with ingredients he found in the pantry. Beckett stuck his finger into the bowl then held it out tipped with frosting to Andie for her to taste. She took a step closer to him, her eyes meeting his, hesitating at first, but the
n licked the frosting from his finger. “Wow. That’s really good.”

  What was good had been the way her lips parted and her tongue had darted out to taste the frosting. He tried to calm the swirl of emotions that seemed to be banging inside his chest. He wanted to taste her lips. To lick the corner of her mouth where a bit of frosting remained. Instead, he used his thumb to remove it.

  Andie swallowed visibly, then licked her lips. His gaze fell to the quick dart of her pink tongue and then sank into her dark brown eyes. He started to lean toward her when the timer announced that they should check the progress of the cakes. He wanted to forget the timer, but a burnt cake wouldn’t make a good impression on Andie or the generosity of the innkeeper.

  He stepped back, the moment that might have happened lost as he pulled the cake pans from the oven and placed them on a set of marble trivets on the countertop. He found a toothpick and poked the center of each cake to test if it was done. It came out clean both times, so he left the cakes to cool.

  When he returned his attention to Andie, she had moved to the other side of the kitchen island, rinsing their dirty dishes in the sink. Maybe the moment confused her as much as it had him. But he wasn’t confused about the way he still yearned to touch her. To kiss her. It had been too long since he’d felt like this, and his heart of stone started to crumble a little at the edges.

  * * *

  ONCE THE CAKE was cooled, assembled and frosted, Beckett brought it out to the dining room where Irena had placed a large urn of coffee as well as a teapot with hot water for those who preferred tea. The other guests of the inn gathered in the dining room as Andie sliced pieces of cake and served them on dessert plates.

  A little boy with bright red hair that stuck up in all directions licked his lips as Andie handed him a plate of cake. “Thanks, ma’am!”

  “You’re welcome,” she answered and handed a piece of cake to the next person.

  Once everyone had been served and settled into tables around the dining room, Andie passed Beckett a piece of cake before placing one for herself on a plate. While she’d served cake, he had brewed a cup of tea for her. She wondered how he knew her preference, but then they’d been working together for almost a month on the window and she’d drank many cups of tea during those sessions. It touched her that he’d remembered such a small detail.