The Sea Glass Cottage

by RaeAnne Thayne

  She frowned again, reviewing her interactions with her granddaughter over the past few weeks. She had said much the same thing to Olivia the other day. Caitlin seemed to be waiting for something, but Juliet had no idea what that might be.

  Now she remembered that for some weeks and even months before her accident, Caitlin had been asking strange questions about her mother. Did her behavior have anything to do with that?

  “They’re both good kids. I guess we have to hang on to that. I can’t see anything wrong with them going to a church youth group, but if you notice anything else unusual or different in their behavior, I know you’ll keep me posted.”

  “This parenting thing is not for the faint of heart,” Henry said with another smile.

  Juliet told herself it was only the over-the-counter pain medicine that made her insides feel so fluttery and weak.

  “How’s everything with Olivia?” he asked. “Is she settling in okay?”

  “It’s fine. She runs in and out, trying to juggle everything. I worry she’s working too hard. Plus, she seems really jumpy these days. I’m not sure what that’s about.”

  “Maybe you need to stop worrying about everyone else and focus on yourself and your own healing right now.”

  Juliet made a face. “That, my friend, is easier said than done. I can’t help worrying about my girls.”

  They drove in a comfortable silence for several minutes. Juliet could feel herself relax, lulled by the rhythm of the vehicle, the dogs sleeping in the back seat, the sense of security she always felt in his presence.

  She could feel her eyes drift shut a few times and did her best to jerk them open again. Henry, glancing over, smiled softly. “Feel free to sleep, if you want.”

  She didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to enjoy every moment of this magical escape.

  “Tell me more about this job site before we get there. I looked over the plans you sent me and think I have a pretty good idea of the geography. What do you feel is your biggest challenge?”

  “Right now, it’s the owner. I think we’re close to a plan he agrees on. Most of the work is done—it’s one section we seem to be struggling with.”

  For the rest of the drive, they talked about landscape and his master plan for the other areas of the property. She was so engrossed in the conversation, she hardly noticed when he began to slow and finally pulled over.

  “Here we are,” Henry said.

  Juliet rolled her window down, completely entranced. Even studying photographs and drone footage and plat maps had not prepared her for the stunning beauty of the place.

  “Oh,” she whispered, completely speechless.

  “Right? It takes my breath away every time I come here.”

  The area was lush and green here, with thick forests that rose up the mountainside on one side of the road and groomed gardens that sloped down to the sea on the other. The inn itself was almost concealed by trees, an architectural masterpiece of glass and stone that seemed to merge with the landscape.

  “This is stunning,” she murmured.

  “It will be when it’s finished.”

  He punched in a code and a wrought iron gate slid effortlessly open.

  “We have the place to ourselves right now, from what I understand, and we can drive right to the spot where I’m having trouble so you can take a better look.”

  Up close, the structure seemed even more impressive, with massive sliding glass walls leading out to multilevel terraces overlooking the ocean. Already the gardens he had created seemed to flow right into the house.

  “I can’t imagine you need any help from me,” she said after she looked around. “Everything looks perfect.”

  “You’ll see it in a minute.”

  He drove a little farther from the house, to the end of the driveway. Finally she saw a spectacular infinity pool surrounded by several gardens that held only bare dirt.

  “Still plenty to do back here,” he said.

  “I’d love to take a closer look.”

  “All right. I should let the dogs out anyway.”

  He pulled the folding wheelchair out of the back of his pickup truck, set it up, then reached in to lift her down. After she was settled, he hooked leashes on the dogs and let them out as well. The dogs stuck close, sniffing at the dirt of the empty gardens, as Henry wheeled her down the long sidewalk.

  Henry paused every once in a while for her to look more closely at an area and offer suggestions of shrubs and perennials she thought might grow well there.

  “Wow. That’s perfect,” he exclaimed after she told him her ideas. “I knew you were the right person to help me out.”

  He didn’t really need her help. Both of them knew that. He was an accomplished landscape designer, while her expertise was only plant selection and a wide background in knowing which flowers and shrubs grew best in this area. Still, she appreciated him giving her a distraction for the day.

  Not that her contribution was meaningless. She was good at her job and loved running the garden center. It still sometimes shocked her, how far she had come from those early days after Steve died, when she had been completely clueless, a frightened, grieving widow with no experience at all.

  “You’ll have to bring me back after everything is in the ground,” she said.

  “Absolutely. It would be my pleasure,” he answered with so much sincerity that she couldn’t doubt him. “I’m hoping to finish everything within the next week or two.”

  “I would love to see it finished.”

  “Done,” he said with a smile. “Now, I brought a picnic lunch, if you’re interested.”

  “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “It’s not much, only a couple of box lunches I picked up at Ed’s deli. There’s a nice little spot overlooking the water where most of the workers eat.”

  “That sounds great.”

  He pushed her to a paved area that would be perfect for a couple of lounging chairs when the project was done, then returned to his pickup for the meal, taking the dogs on their leashes with him.

  Juliet closed her eyes, enjoying the sunshine on her face and the sound of the water below, ignoring the throb from her leg and the fatigue she could feel weighing down her shoulders.

  She had not overdone it. This was just the usual midday wall she tended to smack into.

  They ate with the dogs sitting at their feet while birds chirped in the trees and the waves crashed below them.

  Despite her less-than-ideal physical condition, it was a perfect afternoon and one she knew she wouldn’t soon forget.

  She sighed, setting the rest of her sandwich aside. She didn’t want reality to press in again.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Fine. Just fine,” she lied. She didn’t want to say she had overdone it, but she was feeling achy and tired.

  He seemed to see through her protestations. “We had better get you home now. I promised I wouldn’t keep you out long.”

  She wanted to argue but knew he was right. On the drive home, he put on soft jazz music. This time, she was unable to stay awake, no matter how hard she tried. She didn’t awaken until he was pulling into the driveway of Sea Glass Cottage.

  Oh. She had missed the whole ride.

  “You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long.”

  He shrugged. “You seemed comfortable. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “I’m so sorry I was terrible company.”

  “You might be surprised,” he answered obscurely.

  Henry again set up her wheelchair before opening the passenger door.

  “Thank you for a wonderful day,” she said before he could lift her out. “I had a great time. Hidden Creek is a beautiful spot and I know whatever you do with the rest of the landscaping will be perfect.”

  “Thank you for your help,” he answ
ered. He reached to scoop her out, but instead of lowering her to the wheelchair, he held her in his arms, her weight still on the passenger seat. He studied her for a moment. Then before she realized what he intended, he lowered his mouth to hers.

  She gasped a little, unable to process that Henry was really kissing her in her driveway. And then she stopped thinking altogether when he moaned low in his throat and deepened the kiss.

  Oh. She had ached for so very long to experience this heady, wild, completely impossible magic of being in his arms. She wanted to stay right here forever, cradled in the arms of the man she loved.

  It had been so very long for her. Around the time Caitlin started kindergarten, her friends had pushed her to get out there and start dating again. Reluctantly she had agreed to go out with a few perfectly nice guys they set her up with, but nothing had ever clicked. Finally she had gently told her friends to stop, that she wasn’t ready and wasn’t sure if she ever would be.

  Oh, but she had missed a man holding her, touching her, making her feel like the most important thing in his world. That the man in question was Henry Cragun only made everything more intense and she didn’t want the moment to end.

  Several things happened at once to yank her back to reality. A car drove by, the dogs barked, she jerked instinctively and her ribs gave a spasm of pain.

  Oh heavens. Was she really kissing Henry in her driveway?

  She met his gaze, then had to catch her breath at the look in his eyes.

  “I have been wanting to do that all day,” he murmured.

  The words thrilled her and broke her heart all at once. She was going to have to ruin their friendship. She didn’t know any other way to convince him they could never be romantically involved.

  “Now you’ve done it. You’ve gone and ruined a perfectly lovely morning.”

  He laughed, apparently unoffended by her cranky tone. “If that’s what you think just happened, you and I have very different definitions of the word ruin.”

  Why did he have to be so very wonderful and so very impossible at the same time?

  She was going to have to be harsh and she didn’t want to. “Can you help me down?” she said abruptly.

  His smile slid away and a muscle worked in his jaw, but he said nothing as he lowered her to the wheelchair, then let Otis out of the car. The dog trotted up the walk as if he had lived there forever. Henry pushed Juliet more slowly. By the time he pushed her up the ramp and opened the door to wheel her inside, her heart was aching at the impossible situation.

  “Look, Henry. Our friendship is important to me. You are important to me. But I have explained before that I don’t want any other kind of relationship with you. You’re my dear friend. Why can’t you accept that’s all we can ever be?”

  “I’m not some sixteen-year-old kid, Juliet, with no concept about what a woman is thinking or feeling. There’s more between us than friendship.”

  “There’s not,” she started, but he cut her off.

  “Explain to me, then, why you can say one thing but kiss me like we’re far more than just friends.”

  “You’re imagining things.” Even as she said the words, Juliet could feel her face heat. If he were to touch her again, kiss her again, both of them would know she was lying.

  “Why are you fighting so hard? You are the most important woman in my life. The only woman I’m interested in. I have feelings for you. You have to know that.”

  She wanted to argue with him, to tell him there were a hundred reasons why he couldn’t have feelings for her. Why, oh, why couldn’t things be different between them?

  “Maybe it has nothing to do with you,” she said quietly, trying to keep emotion out of her voice. She was going to have to implode their friendship. She couldn’t see any other way through this. He was persistent and would keep trying to wear her down. Eventually she would give in.

  She knew herself well enough, knew her own weaknesses. She did not have the strength to continue fighting him. Eventually, he would win and both of them would end up miserable.

  Not yet, though, she told herself. She didn’t have to end it yet. It was only a kiss, not a marriage proposal or anything.

  “Thanks again for a great day,” she said quickly, hoping she could change the subject and hold off saying things she would never be able to take back. “I loved seeing the project but I think I may have overdone things. I really need to lie down now.”

  He opened his mouth as if he wanted to argue, then closed it again. To her vast relief, he seemed willing to let the matter drop for now.

  Maybe if they both pretended hard enough, they could go back to the way things were, when he was her dearest friend and she could keep her feelings to herself.

  18

  CAITLIN

  Was there really a chance this dude was her father?

  Caitlin stood just inside the door to the Fellowship Hall of the church where Jeff Seeger was the pastor. He looked like an aging surfer, with a receding hairline and blond hair that he kept long and tied back in a man bun. He wore a bushy blondish beard and had brown eyes that seemed warm and friendly.

  Just your friendly neighborhood serial killer, she thought, then immediately felt guilty about it. Apparently she and Jake listened to too many true crime podcasts.

  “Hi. Welcome. Looks like we have a couple of new faces. We’re thrilled to have you join us.”

  He had a nice, comfortable voice and seemed genuine. But what did she know? Caitlin couldn’t think of anything to say. Finally, much to her relief, Jake stepped in.

  “I’m Jake Cragun and this is my friend Caitlin Harper.”

  “Welcome, Jake and Caitlin. What brings you here tonight?”

  Caitlin looked around, registering there were about twenty other teenagers there, most she recognized from school. A couple of cheerleaders, a student body officer, even a football player or two. Who would have guessed that so many of the cool kids would come hang out at a church thing?

  “Um, we’ve just heard kids at school talking about, um, how much fun they have here at youth group and, um, we wanted to check it out. I guess you could say we are kind of on a spiritual quest.”

  She should have stopped before that last bit. Beside her, Jake didn’t say anything. He didn’t even call her out for her bald-faced lie.

  That was one of the things she loved best about him. He always had her back, no matter how awkward she made things for them.

  Pastor Jeff beamed at both of them, buying up her story like discount Bibles at a yard sale. “Excellent. We welcome all searchers into our midst. You picked a good day to visit. We’ve got a fun activity tonight. We’re making fleece blankets from material that has been donated by members of the community. I don’t expect that will take us long. Then we’re all going to take them up the street to some of our friends who live in a residential home for adults with disabilities.”

  She supposed it could be much worse. At least they were doing something nice for someone, a service project, not holding hands and singing hymns or something. She wasn’t sure how far she could take this whole spiritual quest thing.

  Some of the students took charge of the activity, which surprised her. They were all separated into four groups, charged with making two blankets each. To her relief, she and Jake ended up in the same group. Maybe they wanted to keep the newcomers together.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t have a chance to talk to her prospective father, as Pastor Jeff was busy moving between the groups and helping them with the blankets. They didn’t really take much effort. All the groups did was go to work with scissors and cut strips around two pieces of fleece that were the same size, lay them back-to-back and tie the strips together. Since there were five of them working together, it only took about fifteen minutes to finish both of their blankets.

  They made a brown-and-blue one with circles on it that would work f
or a guy and a cute pink one with splotchy purple flowers.

  Everybody was nice to her and Jake, not making them feel weird or out of place at all. Caitlin didn’t consider herself one of the popular kids. She had plenty of friends in the band, where she played the clarinet and Jake was on percussion, but she didn’t usually hang out with jocks or student body officers.

  It was kind of nice, actually, though the whole time she was aware of Pastor Jeff talking to the other kids and moving between the groups.

  It might have been her imagination, but a few times she thought she caught him giving her a weird look, as if he knew her but couldn’t figure out how.

  “Okay, everybody. It looks like all the groups are done. Now it’s time to visit our old friends at Sunshine House and deliver them.”

  Everybody seemed actually excited about the errand as they moved outside and started walking as a group up the hill, away from the coast.

  “You guys do this kind of thing often?” she asked Andrew Allen, one of the football players who was in her Spanish class.

  “Not super often but we stop by maybe every three months or so. We did some yard work there in the fall, and then at Christmas we hosted all the residents at the church for a little party to bake cookies and gave them gifts. They’re all cool.”

  She wasn’t sure what to expect as they arrived at the building she had noticed before, a few blocks away from the church. It was larger than a regular house with a ramp out front and a couple of big wheelchair vans in the driveway.

  The residents of the house were gathered in a large room just inside the facility, some watching television and others doing what looked like a puzzle in the corner. They all got really excited when the youth group showed up.

  “Hey, everyone,” said a woman who appeared to be a worker there to the residents. “Pause the show and come over. Our friends have come for a visit again.”

  It really did feel like that, just a group of friends hanging out with other friends. The residents were delighted at the blankets and Caitlin even got a hug from a man who looked like he had Down syndrome.