The Sea Glass Cottage

by RaeAnne Thayne

  She knew where to find everything in the garden center before she even started, she was fantastic with the customers and she had more gardening knowledge than most of the part-time staff combined.

  With her help, there was a chance Olivia might be able to keep the garden center afloat long enough for Juliet to return to work.

  “Thank you for stepping in and helping Mrs. Palmer,” she said after Melody returned from helping a customer load new plants into her vehicle. “I didn’t have the first idea how to help her pick out those irises she wanted. You are straight-up amazing at this.”

  Melody’s features already seemed brighter, her eyes happier than they had been since Olivia had returned to Cape Sanctuary.

  “I have to tell you, I am loving this job. I had no idea how much I was missing adult interaction. I love my boys. Don’t get me wrong. But some days I’m afraid that if I have to pretend I give a darn about the Star Wars universe one more minute, my head is going to turn into the Death Star.”

  Olivia had to smile. “I’m so happy you’re enjoying it so far.”

  “What’s not to love? There’s nothing better than talking to other people with a passion for flowers.”

  Okay, she got the whole Star Wars thing, but had to admit that Melody lost her at flowers. She loved them, of course. They were gorgeous. Who didn’t? But she much preferred them arranged in a lovely vase than growing in a garden.

  In her perfect world, flowers grew abundantly without any care needed. Of course, then her mother’s garden center would probably be out of business.

  “How is Charlie doing with day care?”

  “It’s only a few days a week. My friend Penny, whose son is Charlie’s best friend, offered to take him when she can.”

  “Is that where he is today?”

  “Actually, Cooper had the day off today and offered to hang out with him.”

  She had not seen Cooper since the night of Melody’s birthday party. She had been doing her best to put him out of her mind, which was proving much more difficult than she had expected.

  “Is that right?”

  Did Mel hear how breathless her voice sounded, suddenly? Oh, she hoped not. This was ridiculous. She and Cooper had shared one silly kiss in the moonlight. There was absolutely no reason for her to obsess about it.

  Melody apparently did not notice her sudden distraction, much to Olivia’s relief. “He offered to pick up the other boys after school and then bring them here to go home with me when my shift is over.”

  “If you ever run into trouble with caregivers, we can certainly adapt around the boys’ schedule. I’m so happy to have you working here that I want to be as flexible as possible with your needs.”

  Melody flashed her a smile as she started rearranging some potted vegetables that had been moved to the wrong spot. “I so appreciate that, but so far things are working out. I’m struggling with the same issues every mom who works outside the home has to manage. How do I split myself into five different people so I can take care of everything?”

  She didn’t have children, but Olivia could certainly relate to that right now. This time in Cape Sanctuary was giving her an entirely different perspective.

  Since that conversation with Caitlin in the kitchen the other night, she had also begun viewing history through a new lens.

  She wasn’t sure she had ever fully acknowledged how angry and resentful she had been as a teenager at Natalie for the choices she had made and at Juliet for focusing all her attention on the garden center and Caitlin.

  She had swallowed everything in her quest to be the perfect daughter. But talking to Caitlin the other day and remembering that time had brought back all those feelings of abandonment. Juliet had worked from sunrise to past Olivia’s bedtime here at the garden center. There were days she didn’t even see her mother; they only communicated through notes and text messages.

  She had been a teenage girl, grieving the loss of her father and feeling as if she had lost her mother at the same time.

  From her point of view, any emotional reserves Juliet had left after pouring her heart and soul into Harper Hill Home & Garden by necessity had gone to Natalie, who had been so very troubled.

  Juliet had little left to give to Olivia—and even less after Natalie announced she was pregnant and keeping her baby.

  Now, after she had spent three weeks stepping into her mother’s shoes, Olivia was beginning to see things differently.

  Juliet had been doing the best she could under the circumstances.

  They had all been in crisis mode and Juliet had chosen the more urgent things to focus on, but that didn’t mean other things or people weren’t as important.

  Her mother loved her. Had always loved her. She had never doubted that, even then. No, Juliet had not been able to be the most attentive mother during Olivia’s high school years and had left her mostly to her own devices. But she had survived and had gone on to have a pretty good life, even if she was only now coming to acknowledge that she had always chosen the safer course.

  It was unfair of her to blame Juliet for leaving her rudderless in a stormy sea when her mother had been doing her best to keep her own head above water.

  She hadn’t realized how much resentment she had been clinging to all these years. Now that she did, Olivia knew she needed to work toward forgiving her mother.

  “So far, you’re doing great,” she said to Mel. “But if you’re ever scheduled for a time that doesn’t work, don’t hesitate to let me know. We can adjust.”

  “I hope you don’t think I expect or need special treatment because I happen to be the boss’s best friend,” Melody said.

  “That’s not special treatment,” Olivia protested. “That’s just good business sense. I don’t want to lose you and want to do everything I can to make sure the job works for you.”

  Melody smiled, but before she could answer, a customer came in asking about the best organic pest removal techniques and Olivia gratefully let her new hire handle the question.

  The rest of the afternoon was so busy, with a constant flow of customers, that she didn’t have a chance to talk to Mel again.

  Their conversation completely slipped her mind until she was busy restocking their fairy garden supplies and heard a sweet voice call out, “Mom! Where are you?”

  She instantly recognized Charlie’s lisp and turned to smile at him when suddenly her breath tangled as she spotted Cooper walking in, surrounded by his nephews.

  Oh. Right. He had the boys.

  “Hey, guys,” she said, hoping Cooper couldn’t hear the sudden pounding of her heartbeat.

  He was looking at her with an unreadable expression, making her wonder if he was also remembering that kiss along a moonlit path.

  “Hi, Livie,” the adorable Charlie said, pronouncing her name Wivvie.

  “Hello, Sir Charles. How are you this fine evening?”

  “Good. Hey, where’s your dog? Can I play with him?”

  “Oh, he would love to play with you, but I’m afraid he’s home babysitting my mom right now.”

  Charlie giggled. “A dog can’t babysit a lady.”

  “My amazing wonder dog can.”

  “Uncle Cooper has a dog, too,” Ryan, the middle boy, chimed in.

  “His name is Jock. He’s old and sleeps a lot.” Charlie said “sweeps” but she interpreted that to mean “sleeps”—unless the dog was some kind of neat freak, which would be odd but undeniably handy.

  “He’s earned a rest,” Cooper said. She still couldn’t get a read on the way he was looking at her. He seemed a little uncomfortable, but she couldn’t tell whether he was regretting that they had kissed or wishing they could do it again.

  “Why is that?” she asked, then cringed at the unnaturally high tone of her voice.

  “He is almost fourteen. That is pretty old in dog years.�
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  “Jock used to be a fire dog,” Will informed her. “He would ride in the fire truck and everything.”

  “I didn’t realize fire departments still had dogs.”

  “A few still do. He was kind of the mascot with the fire department at my last base in Texas. Then he got too old and had bad hips and couldn’t climb into the fire truck anymore, so I took him home so he could live the good life and take it easy. So far, he’s enjoying his retirement here, though he still perks up anytime we hear a siren.”

  Oh, the man was making it tough for her to remember all the reasons she couldn’t fall for him.

  First, he came in being so sweet with his three adorable nephews. Then she learned he had taken in an aging fire dog. How on earth could any woman resist him?

  “Do you know where my mom is?” Charlie asked.

  “I think I saw her in the next greenhouse over. Should we go take a look?”

  “You look like you’re busy here,” Cooper said, gesturing to the miniature toadstools, arbors and bridges on the cart next to her. “We can find her.”

  “This can wait,” she assured him, and led the way into the next greenhouse, where she found Mel deep in conversation with Henry Cragun.

  The two of them were filling a huge cart, loaded with shrubs and perennials.

  Henry must be working on a job and Melody was helping him fill the order.

  “Looks like she’s busy for a few minutes,” she said. “You guys are welcome to wait in my office, if you want. Or you can hang out at the sandpile.”

  In a strategy move Olivia thought was genius, between greenhouses her mom had constructed a sandpile filled with trucks and shovels, where kids could hang out and play while their parents shopped.

  “Maybe you could help us,” Cooper said.

  “Um. Sure,” she said, trying to keep the wariness out of her voice.

  “We’re on a quest,” Melody’s oldest son, Will, declared.

  “An important one,” his brother Ryan added.

  “Wow. Sounds serious. How can I help?”

  “We need to find some plants for Uncle Cooper to grow at the firehouse.”

  “He says this is the best place in town to buy plants,” Ryan said.

  “I can’t argue with you there,” Olivia said with a smile. “What kind of plants did you want?”

  To her surprise, Cooper looked uncomfortable, as if suddenly wishing he hadn’t said anything. “There’s a small plot of land along one side of the fire station. It’s south-facing and gets sun most of the day. Right now it’s kind of an eyesore, choked with weeds. I need to clear them away, and I thought instead of just filling that space with rocks or some other kind of ground cover to keep the weeds out, maybe we could plant some vegetables and herbs there that we could then use to fancy up some of the food in the station kitchen.”

  “That sounds like a great idea,” she said with a smile. “My mom always had an herb garden off the kitchen. You would be amazed at how a little snip of tarragon can enhance a chicken marinade. And pizza just isn’t the same without a few fresh basil leaves.”

  “That’s what I thought. Usually the food we get is pretty basic. It’s okay but nothing fancy. I figured a few herbs would be a good way to dress it up. Plus, it would turn an eyesore into something a little more attractive.”

  As he spoke, Olivia suddenly had a great idea. Here was Cooper, looking buff and gorgeous, and his adorable nephews. She could only imagine that people in Cape Sanctuary would love to see their new fire chief trying to beautify his space while providing some color and flavor to his firefighters’ meals.

  The mayor had asked her to highlight the fire department before the breakfast in a few weeks. The planting of an herb garden at the fire department seemed the perfect place to start.

  “I love this idea,” she said. “And I think members of the community who are on social media will love it even more. What if I take some pictures while you’re picking herbs and post them to the fire department page? I can even mention that some of the herbs might be used at the firefighter breakfast that you’re doing to benefit Chief Gallegos.”

  As she might have expected, Cooper looked vaguely horrified at the idea. “Who in their right mind would want to see photographs of me digging in the dirt to plant some herbs?”

  Only every female in town. And possibly in all the neighboring towns, too. And maybe across the entire state of California.

  “Think of the positive PR for the fire department, with very little effort on your part. And not much on mine, either, only a few photographs. I even have my good digital camera in my mom’s office, since I was shooting some of our new plant arrivals this morning for the Harper Hill website and social media properties.”

  He had an obstinate set to his jaw that told her he still wasn’t very enthusiastic.

  “This is a great idea. Trust me. Who knows? You might even get more donations for your fund-raiser. Plus, maybe some of the decent cooks in town will provide a few meals for your firefighters so you don’t have to take turns cooking.”

  “I’ll be in your pictures, Livie,” Charlie offered.

  “Me too!” his older brothers both said at the same time.

  She smiled down at all of them. “That would be terrific. I have to talk to your mom first to make sure it’s okay, though.”

  “Can we, Uncle Coop?”

  He still looked trapped, but as he looked down at the trio of eager faces, he sighed.

  “I still think no one’s going to care. But you’re the expert.”

  People would care. She would make sure of it.

  “What do I have to do?”

  “Nothing at all except what you came to do. Let me run and grab my camera and talk to Mel. Then I’ll take care of the rest.”

  Only after she hurried to her mom’s office in a small building her father had constructed between the buildings and overlooking the water did she realize this maybe wasn’t the smartest idea she’d ever had.

  It was hard enough hiding her growing feelings for Cooper. How would she conceal them when she had to stare at him for the next twenty minutes or so through her camera’s viewfinder?

  21

  COOPER

  This might be the most uncomfortable thing he had ever done.

  He wouldn’t want anyone taking pictures of him. He especially didn’t enjoy that it was Olivia, the woman he hadn’t been able to get out of his head since the night he had made the colossal mistake of kissing her after Melody’s party.

  It didn’t help that he drove past Sea Glass Cottage every day on his way to the fire station. Each time, he couldn’t help longing for a glimpse of her, wondering what she was doing, what she might be thinking about.

  Seeing her now, her hair pulled up into a messy bun and wearing a purple Harper Hill Home & Garden polo shirt, all he could think about was pulling her hair down, removing that expensive-looking camera hanging from a strap around her neck and devouring that delicious mouth again.

  He didn’t want to say he was the kind of man who could ever kiss a woman and then forget about it, but he couldn’t remember another kiss that had rocked him to the core like the one they had shared.

  Now he had to act like nothing had happened, like he was completely blasé about the whole situation, while she walked around him holding a camera and studying him from different angles.

  Right.

  She had quickly asked Melody’s permission to photograph the boys and use the images on the fire department’s posts. He heard her promise she wouldn’t identify them and would shoot the backs of their heads for privacy.

  “That’s great,” Melody had said, then had turned back to helping Henry Cragun, a neighbor and local landscape designer.

  He liked seeing his sister working so hard. She seemed to be enjoying her new job. She was obviously in her element,
happier than he had seen her since coming back to Cape Sanctuary.

  Olivia moved around him, the camera up to her eye.

  “I’m not sure what you want me to do,” he finally said, feeling stupid.

  She fiddled with some adjustments on her camera. “Exactly what you came to Harper Hill to do. That’s all. Shop for plants. Compare different ones. Maybe discuss with the boys which varieties you ought to select. Really, I want you to simply pretend I’m not even here.”

  He couldn’t quite stretch his brain that far. Olivia was unavoidable, the kind of woman who commanded attention, who wormed her way into a guy’s mind and stayed there.

  Not his, of course, barring the past few days. That was completely a fluke. He was working on it and expected to have a handle on this sudden fascination any minute now.

  “This is so boring. We’re just standing here,” Ryan complained.

  Yeah, he needed to focus on the situation here and bring his A game or he was about to have three little boys ready to go on a rampage through the garden center.

  “Okay, guys, we have a job to do. We need to find a plant called rosemary.”

  “Hey,” Will exclaimed, “our mom has a friend named Rosemary.”

  He knew, entirely too well. Mayor Rosemary Duncan was to blame for this whole fiasco. She was the one who set Olivia loose on the city social media properties. “In this case, we are looking for the herb called rosemary. It has pointy little leaves, kind of like a mini Christmas tree. Can you see if you can find that?”

  All the time the boys looked, he was aware of Olivia taking pictures, studying them like they were zoo exhibits. Every once in a while, she would have the boys turn a different way, probably so she could avoid taking pictures of their faces.

  Fifteen minutes later, their wagon was filled with a couple of tomato plants, some cucumber starts and some four-inch pots containing several different herbs that would likely never be used in the fire station kitchen except by him.

  “That was perfect. Better than I ever imagined,” Olivia exclaimed, her eyes bright and happy. “Everyone is going to love these pictures. Cape Sanctuary’s sexy new fire chief picking out plants with his cute nephews. Are you kidding me? It’s pure social media gold.”