Reluctantly In Love (Emerald Cove Romance Book 1)

by Siân James

  She waved off my apology and nodded towards the front of the hall. “Shh, things are about to get started.”

  I glanced to the front. She was right. Before she shifted in her seat, I caught her eye and noted deep purple shadows there. Her smile didn’t seem to reach them.

  Something was going on, and I didn’t think it was teacher fatigue after only two weeks of the school year.

  “Good evening, everyone.” The gravelly voice of Harold MacIntyre, the president of the Association and owner of MacIntyre Hardware and Botanical Nursery sounded over the microphone. “If we could all find our seats and settle down so we can start in a timely fashion?”

  “You settle down, old man!” A voice sounding suspiciously like Andy’s came from the back of the room.

  Harold put on a mock frown and glared towards the source of the vote. “Not so much of the ‘old’, thank you. I'll speak to you later, young Hughes.”

  Chuckles and the scraping of chairs followed as people found their seats and the meeting began.

  It dragged on to begin with, focussing on business things. Tash’s attention had been firmly held by a game on her phone five minutes after the meeting started, but now she was tapping her foot and sighing dramatically. “How much longer is this going to go on?”

  “It’s been less than an hour,” I hissed. “You can go snag a table at the Grape for us of you want?”

  She glanced back towards the exit. “I think I just might—”

  “And now we come to our final point on the agenda, the Sunflower Festival. Gladys?”

  My neighbour Gladys stood up. Despite her age and quickly deteriorating hearing, Gladys had been the uncontested Chairperson of the Emerald Cove Sunflower Festival for going on ten years.

  She stood and hustled her way to the front of the room to the microphone. I blinked and tried to take in everything I was seeing. Now that she was in front of me, I wasn’t sure how I’d missed her before. Gladys was, as ever, a fan of developing fashion trends. Where she found her trends, I had no idea. Tonight, she was wearing leopard-print leggings with white sneakers, a silky and billowy hot-pink blouse, and her white hair was coiffed and curled in what appeared to be an old white-lady ’fro.

  “Gladys!” Tash sighed with delight and settled back into her seat at the sight of her geriatric crush. She’d long vowed that when she grew up, she wanted to be just like Gladys. I could totally see that happening, right down to her hot pink nail polish.

  “Good evening, everyone. Let’s get to the point. The Sunflower Festival is a few short weeks away and our very own prodigal son has returned to renovate the Old cinema Building which we aim to mark the centre piece of the festivities.”

  A smattering of applause and a cheer went up at her words, and I glanced around surreptitiously to locate said prodigal son. I found him leaning against the back wall with a self-deprecating smile on his face, nodding at a few folks who stepped forwards to clap him on the shoulders.

  While I’d been struggling with my own issues with Matt’s return and his suddenly close and unrelenting proximity to me and my raging hormones, people had been stopping me in the street wanting to discuss how wonderful it was that someone had finally taken on the Old cinema Building. It would mean a lot for Emerald Cove for it to be renovated and set up as a beautiful town centre.

  They were right. When I wasn’t feeling frustrated with him, I could admit his vision and hard work was something this town really needed, and the finished product would provide an attractive and popular tourist destination. On a professional level, I was excited to be part of it.

  “We want to make this year bigger, better and bolder than any festival we’ve had yet. Emerald Cove is known in the region for the effort we put into our hallmark festival, and as such, the festival committee have come up with a few attractions we’d like to see at this year’s celebration.”

  She gave the room a stern glare as if anyone might object. Everyone seemed to shift uncomfortably in their seats both from Gladys’s scrutiny and the nervousness which had gripped us all at her words. Gladys was not known for her mainstream ideas.

  “It has come to my attention that this town is abundant in its young and virile male population, and as such we have decided to hold an auction for a date with ten of our most eligible. Proceeds will be split between the local hospital children’s ward and the Nippers Surf Lifesaving Club. Volunteers are welcome. However, we do already have five young men who have graciously put their names down for the auction, these are—”

  Whoops and cheers went up from the female contingent of the meeting while manly chuckles and wolf whistles sounded from the rest.

  Tash gave me raised eyebrows, an amused grin on her face while Camille clapped and hooted.

  “Settle, people.” Gladys gave us all a quelling look over her spectacles and we did as directed. “As I was saying, we have a few volunteers already—”

  “I don’t remember volunteering!” Luke’s voice carried over the crowd who chuckled at his remark.

  “Hold your tongue, Lucas Hunt,” Gladys snapped, then continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted.

  Beside me, Tash slid down in her chair, her face suddenly ashen.

  “Are you okay?” I whispered.

  She nodded. “Just tired and hungry.”

  I didn’t buy her response for a second, but Gladys was still talking.

  “A party with Lucas wouldn’t be complete without his best friend Andrew Hughes.” Andy stood forward next to Luke, cool as a cucumber with his hands in his pockets, nodding in acknowledgement at the crowd. “Brendon Jones has also kindly volunteered his time.” Great-Hair-Guy/Brendon Jones waved from his spot near the front of the room. “Jake Stone, who could not be here this evening because he has a business to run, which I expect many of us will favour with our presence when the meeting ends. And finally, none other than our very own Matthew Carter.”

  My heart thrummed in my chest at the thought of Matt being up for auction for any woman to bid on and take on a date. A flare of possessiveness swept through me as I imagined someone else sitting across from him, a candlelit dinner between them.

  No.

  I shook my head. I had no right over him, whether we wanted to kiss each other or not. This was for charity anyway. And building the town’s profile.

  Once the din of applause and catcalls had died down, Harold called the meeting to an end.

  Tash stood and grabbed my elbow, “Come on, let’s use the other exit and cut across the retirement village lawn.” She was already pushing Camille in the direction of the side door.

  I looked behind me through the swelling crowd where Luke, Andy and Matt stood. Matt was shaking hands with one of Gladys’s geriatric friends, who was eyeing him lasciviously while Andy was literally fending off the advances of another. I started to laugh but it died in my mouth when I made eye contact with Luke. He was watching us with a thoughtful frown. I shook my head, nonverbally asking what was wrong, and his frown turned to a grin and an answering shake of his head as if to say, “Nothing.”

  But it seemed like it was something. I just didn’t know what.

  Chapter 13

  The pub was heaving. Saturday was always a busy night at the Grape, but after an ECBA meeting, it had a familiar note of camaraderie as everyone came to socialize and talk shop. Subsequently, they tended to drink too much and flirt with each other’s spouses while teenagers who were supposed to be watching younger children snuck off to dark corners together and said younger children climbed trees in the garden. Despite all this, more deals were done at the Grape after an ECBA meeting than at any other time during the month.

  Raucous laughter sounded from the bar where business men and woman mingled, beers and wine in hand. The band had taken a break, but they’d been in fine form playing all the classics, drawing people to the dance floor much earlier than usual. The scent of hot chips and steaks mingled in the salty, humid air.

  I’d pinched a chip from Camille’s plate, m
y own meal of fish and chips long demolished. She was flirting with Brendon Jones again, and I wondered whether there was more there than just fun. Maybe Camille was truly interested.

  “Camille, darlin’, where’ve you been hiding lately?”

  Uh-oh.

  Camille turned happy eyes on Adam MacIntyre, Harold’s grandson, who pulled a chair from a nearby table, turned it around and straddled it, placing his beer on our table. Brendon glared at him from Camille’s other side.

  “How nice to see you again, Adam. You are back from zee mines then? For ’ow long this time?”

  Tash leaned in beside me, “She’s bringing her A game—her accent just got thicker.”

  I nodded and whispered back, “Now I see she was just having fun with Brendon, but I think she might actually want a date with Adam.” Tash and I eyed each other.

  “Or maybe just a quick snog,” Tash whispered back and we giggled.

  Watching Camille flirt was like watching the finals of an Olympic sport. She was really that good.

  She flicked her wrists, twirled her hair and fluttered her eyelashes. Touching her long fingers to her neck, she’d throw her head back and laugh, and somehow, in the space of a few minutes she had both men firmly back on her hook.

  Tash’s phone beeped with an incoming text. She checked it, frowning at the screen, and clicked her phone shut without replying.

  “Who was it?”

  She shook her head, “No one.”

  “Really?” I arched my brows. “When did No One get a phone?”

  She gave me a hard side-eye. “Smart arse.”

  “Babe, I know I haven’t had a lot of time to hang out lately, but something is going on with you. Is it school? Do you have a difficult class or something?”

  She blew out a breath and drew patterns in the condensation on the side of her glass of beer. “Or something.”

  When she wasn’t more forthcoming, I poked her arm.

  “Hey!” she rubbed at the spot.

  “This is me, Tash. What’s going on?”

  She took a sip of her beer, glanced at me then scanned the area before eventually giving into my silence. “There’s this guy.”

  A guy? Tash hadn’t dated anyone for almost a year. This was news! But why hadn’t she told me?

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Complicated? How complicated could it be?”

  She gave me an incredulous look as my mind started spinning, conjuring all sorts of scenarios. “Is he a parent? One of your student’s Dads? Or maybe he’s the principal? No, your principal is a woman. Are you gay? Lesbian I mean? No? Okay, is he old? Like really, really old? One of your parent’s friends? Or have you only met online? Maybe he lives in another country?” I gasped and grabbed her arm, “Is he married? Please don’t tell me he’s married?”

  She shook her head at me, amusement and disbelief warring in her features. “None of the above, you loon. And I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “So you won’t tell me who he is?” Hurt clouded my words. We always told each other everything.

  She shook her head, “No, not right now.” She heaved a sigh huge enough, it could have stemmed from her soul. “I don’t actually think it’s going to go anywhere, anyway.”

  “Oh, honey.” I pulled her into my arms for a hug and she wrapped hers around me. “You know I’m always here for you. Even if you don’t want to name him, you know you can tell me anything.”

  Tash pulled back, wiping at her eyes while not meeting mine. “I know, but you’re a hard one to pin down right now.”

  Suitably chastised, I vowed I’d make more time for my friends even if it meant compromising my business ventures. Friends were forever.

  “And don’t apologise!” Tash added as I opened my mouth to do just that. “That was a low blow on my part.”

  I pursed my lips. How I deserved such forgiving friends, I had no idea. “Okay but promise me you’ll call, text or tackle me if you need me and I don’t respond. It’s not because I don’t care, I literally just don’t think I have the brain space to answer all communication sometimes. But I promise to check in with you more often.”

  “Okay, deal, and I promise.” She peered over my shoulder. “I think you have more pressing matters anyway.”

  I checked behind me to the bar where Matt was pulling a beer for a customer. His eyes darted to mine before looking back down to check the beer again.

  I groaned and sat back in my seat. “I have no idea what I’m doing, Tash.”

  “You haven’t kissed yet, have you?”

  “No!” I leaned towards her and lowered my voice. “How would you even know that anyway?”

  “Because he’s watching you like you’re an ice cream and he’s hankering for a taste.”

  I shoved her arm and we both giggled.

  “Look, I know you’re into him, and he’s clearly into you, so what’s the issue? Your businesses and careers”—she accentuated the “s” on the end of the words, making her point that I had more than one thing on my plate, and I rolled my eyes—“are doing well, you can only use them as an excuse for so long before it just starts to sound like you’re chicken.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her, and she clucked for good measure.

  “It’s not like you have to marry him or anything. You could just, you know, have some fun. He’s leaving town after the Sunflower Festival anyway. You’ve got a month and a half, tops.”

  Leaving after the Sunflower Festival? My stomach dropped unpleasantly and my chest tightened. “How do you know for sure?”

  She shrugged. “Andy said he confirmed it the other day. He has a job to get back to—he got offered some big partnership promotion and before he started, he wanted to take some time out.”

  My ears rang with the knowledge that there was a definite time limit on Matt’s stay in Emerald Cove. Was I happy about this? I didn’t know.

  The idea of him leaving in … I counted in my head, six weeks, gave me at once a sense of calm and a sense of foreboding. Calm because if I took a chance tonight, maybe we really could have some fun for a few weeks, get this intense and distracting attraction out of our systems, then go our separate ways. The foreboding was because if I didn’t do something about it tonight, I was afraid I would have left it too long and his offer would be withdrawn.

  My desire to kiss him, and let him kiss me roared back to life. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, my mind on the man behind me. A glance over my shoulder to the bar told me he was focused on his task. It was barely nine o’clock, and Matt, Jake and his other three staff were still serving people two deep at the bar. My plans for an early night went out the window as I resolved to stay and see if I had a chance.

  Tash caught my attention. “Switch seats with me.”

  “What?”

  “You’re thinking very hard there, and judging by your not-so-subtle glances I’d say it’s about lover boy. Switch seats with me so you can keep an eye out for when he takes a break or when the crowds thin. He’s not getting paid to be up there—he’s just giving Jake a hand. He can take a break whenever he wants.”

  She waggled her brows at me and we switched places. The next hour was a painful one. Andy and Luke brought us another round of drinks. It had been my round, so I was saved from having to go to the bar and potentially interacting with Matt before I was ready.

  Luke didn’t stay long, he had an early surf lesson with some tourists the next morning, but Andy and Tash hung out, Camille eventually dismissing her admirers much to their annoyance and joining our conversation.

  It was closing in on ten o’clock, my third beer was long gone, and my foot was bouncing on the ground in anticipation.

  Over the last hour, three women had flirted with Matt, and he’d flirted right back. I didn’t know if he knew I was watching him and was doing it to make me jealous, or whether he was doing it as Camille did—for fun. I didn’t get the impression he was interested in any of the women, he dismissed them almost as smoothly as Cami
lle had dismissed her suitors an hour earlier, without a lingering look or the exchange of a number.

  Eventually the crowd had thinned until only a scattering of bar flies remained. Matt collected the empties on the bar near him, then wiped up the bench and threw the cloth into the sink. He turned to Jake and they clasped opposite hands and slapped each other’s backs in a man hug.

  I took a deep breath. It was now or never.

  I stood, looping my small handbag over my shoulder so the bag hit me on my bum.

  “Go get ’em, tiger,” Andy said.

  I glared from him to Tash, who held up her hands in defense.

  “Hey, I didn’t say a word.”

  I rolled my eyes but kept my focus and headed towards the bar. Matt was collecting his keys from a cupboard which meant I could catch him on his way out the door—

  “Izzie, hey.”

  I jumped as I was intercepted by my Silver Phoenix delivery man, Otto. “Oh, uh, hey.” I tried to sneak a peek around his tall frame, but he was blocking my way.

  “I didn’t know you were here tonight. Can I buy you a drink?”

  What … what?

  “Oh, um. Thank you for the offer, but I’m calling it a night.”

  I shifted to the side to squeeze past him and realised I couldn’t see Matt anymore. Had he left already? No!

  I shifted my eyes back to Otto. He didn’t hide his disappointment, and I felt awful.

  “I’m sorry, Otto. Maybe another time? I actually want to catch someone who just left.”

  He nodded, his hands in his pockets and curved his lips in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Of course, see you around.”

  Feeling like I just stomped on his heart but afraid if I didn’t act now, I’d be doing the same to my own I darted for the door, making a mental note to seek him out and see if he wanted to catch up for a friend date. I wasn’t sure how I was going to phrase it, but he was a nice guy and I didn’t want to miss out on something special.