“Yes. That’s fine. I’m not going anywhere. I can even come pick her up at Casa Del Mar, if that would help.”
“No. I can drop her off. Thanks, Bea.”
He paused and lowered his voice into what she knew he thought was Sexy Cruz range. “I had a great time with you tonight, babe. I’m so glad we could share that. You looked great. It was all I could do to keep my hands off you.”
She knew Shane couldn’t hear the conversation but he could probably guess at the topic. She was careful not to look at him but could feel tension radiating off him in waves.
“It was a fun night,” she said briskly. “Mari and her friend had a wonderful time. I think Stella and Dr. Clayton did, too. Thank you for thinking to invite us along.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad they had fun but I did it for you, to show you how perfect we still are together. I need you along with me.”
She was not going to have this conversation with him while Shane stood impassively, taking it all in.
“Good night, Cruz,” she said firmly. “I’ll see you tomorrow when you bring Mari home.”
She ended the call before he could continue, wondering what she had to do to get the message across to him that they didn’t have a future together.
Bea shoved her phone into her pocket, not sure what to say to Shane, who was watching her out of blue eyes that suddenly seemed remote and cool.
“I’m sorry,” she began.
“You’ll always answer when he calls, won’t you?”
“When he has my daughter, yes.”
Shane shook his head. “I get that part. But even if you didn’t share a child, Cruz would only have to snap his fingers and you would come running.”
His harsh words, especially after the tender kiss they had shared, drew blood, gouging into her skin like sharp claws. “Is that what you think of me? That I’m like Sally or Jojo, trained to heel when he gives the command?”
She was furious at the tears burning behind her eyes and did her best to keep them from falling free.
“I think you’ve been tangled up over Cruz Romero since you were sixteen years old. Maybe earlier. Even if I had found the nerve to ask you out back then in high school, you never would have gone out with me, no matter what you say now. All you could see back then was Cruz. He’s all you’ve ever been able to see.”
She wanted to tell him how very wrong he was, that Cruz was in her past and she was ready to move forward. Before she could choke down the hurt in her throat to get the words out, he picked up his tablet and papers and turned away.
“It’s late. I have practice in the morning. Good night, Bea.”
He whistled for Sally, who lumbered to her feet and gave Bea and Jojo an almost apologetic look, then followed him to the guesthouse, leaving Bea alone with her dog in the moonlight.
15
DAISY
“Thank you again for agreeing to host the meeting tonight at Pear Tree Cottage.”
Though her aunt smiled when she said the words, Daisy did not miss the tight lines around Stella’s mouth or the hollows under her eyes. Her aunt did not look well.
Worry weighed down her shoulders. Something was definitely going on with her aunt...and she didn’t think Stella was lovesick, despite what Bea continued to insist.
There was more to it. She just didn’t know what.
She had fretted all day, ever since Stella called her that morning asking if she could host the board meeting for Open Hearts. Her aunt had been evasive, only saying she felt under the weather and would be too busy all day getting her classroom ready for school to start.
There was more to it than that. Daisy just knew it. Yes, she knew she had a particular skill for horribilizing any given situation. Some of that was her personality and some came from the terrible weight of nursing a person she loved who had a terminal illness.
Her experience with James was probably the reason her mind immediately jumped to the assumption that Stella was suffering from some terrible disease. If not cancer, maybe she had multiple sclerosis or lupus or some other life-altering condition.
No. She wouldn’t go there unless she had some facts to back up her worry.
Her aunt was still young, barely forty. Stella maintained a healthy diet and exercised regularly. Daisy knew her aunt wasn’t invincible but she couldn’t believe the woman could be suffering from some ghastly condition without telling her or Bea.
What was going on?
She wanted to take her aunt’s hands in hers, sit down beside her on the sofa and interrogate her until Stella shared the truth. Now wasn’t the time, when the ten board members for Stella’s Open Hearts foundation would be arriving at any moment.
She forced herself to smile. “I’m happy to do it. I’m only sorry you weren’t feeling up to it.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m only tired and a little, um, queasy. It must have been something I ate. Will you excuse me for a minute?” Stella hurried to the bathroom without waiting for Daisy to answer.
Daisy stood uncertainly outside the bathroom, listening to the unmistakable sound of retching from within.
Stella should have just rescheduled the meeting when she was feeling better.
She wanted to storm in and tell her aunt that but the doorbell rang with the first arrivals to the meeting.
Louie hurried to the door first and gave one well-behaved bark. With a look back at the closed bathroom door, Daisy sighed and went to answer the doorbell.
When this meeting was over, she intended to force the truth out of her aunt.
The members of the Open Hearts board were all prompt, and several had ridden together to her house. Within ten minutes everyone was there, mingling in her kitchen and snacking on the vegetable plate and cookies from the Sweet Spot bakery in town.
“Where’s Stella?” Bea asked a few moments after she arrived.
Daisy frowned. She didn’t need someone else to worry about. Bea looked her usual self, wearing a perfectly fashionable tunic and leggings with her hair curled and wild over her shoulders and chunky charm bracelets on each wrist, but she had dark smudges under her eyes.
“In the bathroom,” she said in an undertone. “She said she doesn’t feel well.”
Worry clouded her sister’s eyes. “Should we cancel the meeting?”
“Let’s give her a minute.”
“You know, she spent a lot of time in the bathroom when we were on our little adventure to Southern California the other day. She said she thought she was a little bit motion sick.”
“Do you think that’s all it is?”
“What else could it be?” Bea asked.
Before Daisy could go into the whole grim litany of possibilities, Stella came into the kitchen with a bright smile for the other members of the committee.
“Hello, everyone!” Stella said. “Thank you so much for coming. I see Daisy has fed you all. That’s the important thing. We have a lot on our agenda with the picnic this week and the festival a few weeks after that, plus our exciting new headliner concert. Shall we get started?”
If Stella wasn’t feeling well, Daisy had to admire her strength. It wasn’t easy to be bright and bubbly when a person felt terrible. She had watched the heartbreaking efforts of James as he tried to keep up a positive attitude in those last months of his life, until the strain became too great for him.
Determined to ask her aunt later, Daisy turned her attention to the board meeting. She took her job as controller and treasurer of Open Hearts very seriously. The work they did here was important, providing support and help to foster families.
At last count Stella’s contacts at the state child welfare agency estimated an additional five hundred children had been placed in foster homes because of Open Hearts instead of being housed in temporary shelters.
She found fierce satisfaction in that, for purely per
sonal reasons. She didn’t like thinking about her own experience in foster care or the scars that time had undoubtedly left on her psyche. She had been powerless and afraid then but she wasn’t now. She had skills and connections and wasn’t afraid to use them to help children who often felt as if they had no one else on their side.
They were about halfway through Stella’s agenda when Daisy’s doorbell rang again.
Bea looked around the living room at the eight women and two men. “Are we expecting anyone else?”
Stella shook her head. “Everyone’s here who said they could make it. Maybe Carol was able to find someone else to babysit her grandchildren or maybe her daughter didn’t need her after all.”
Daisy rose and went to the door. Everyone had a clear view and she could feel the attention on her. When she opened it and discovered Gabriel Ellison on the other side, Daisy could swear she felt an electric current rush around the room, at least among the women.
She couldn’t blame them. He looked gorgeous, with that dark, wavy hair, piercing green eyes and sexy stubble.
Louie rushed to Gabe immediately and started dancing around as if he hadn’t seen him in days, instead of the day before when his rescuer had come to walk him.
Gabe came every day around this time. She had been so worried about Stella all day, she had totally forgotten to give him a call and tell him she would be occupied today.
“Is this a bad time?”
Yes. The worst. She could see the curious looks being sent her way from every direction.
“No. It’s fine. My aunt runs a charity to encourage foster families. I think I may have mentioned it to you. We have a couple of events coming up, so we’re working out last-minute details.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt. We can skip the walk today.”
Louie heard the magic W word and that only made him more excited. How could she disappoint the dog by depriving him of his favorite part of the day?
“No. It’s fine. Go ahead.”
Gabe knew right where to find Louie’s leash, hanging next to the door. He couldn’t have made it more clear this wasn’t his first time here if he’d walked into the kitchen and helped himself to a glass of water.
She didn’t dare look at Bea or Stella, knowing their speculative looks would be the hardest to avoid.
Gabe clipped the leash on the dog then gave a collective smile and wave to the room. “Sorry again to interrupt. You’re doing good work here.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as she closed the door behind the two of them, Daisy returned to her spot and picked up her pen. “Okay. Where were we?”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Bea said, eyes wide. “Do you know who that was?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t, but I’d like to.” Stella’s best friend, Cleo Tenaglia, grinned and Daisy could feel herself flush.
“That’s Gabriel Ellison!” Stella said.
“The documentary guy?” John Pearsey, the retired elementary school principal, looked stunned.
“That’s the one,” Bea said. “He’s staying with Cruz right now.”
“Oh! Is he the one who saved Cruz’s life? You never told me that was Gabe Ellison!”
“I used to love watching his dad’s adventures.” Gibb Lyman, the other man on their committee, looked nostalgic. “Man, that guy knew how to live!”
“Wow! I wonder if we could talk him into filming some kind of promotional spot for us,” Nancy, John’s wife, suggested.
“That’s a terrific idea,” Stella exclaimed. “He would do a marvelous job!”
“Daisy should ask him,” her friend Paula suggested. “They’re obviously friends.”
Paula looked a little put out that Daisy hadn’t told her she knew Gabe. How was she supposed to have done that? Just drop into casual conversation the fact that a gorgeous man knew all her secrets and had kissed her until she couldn’t see straight, then acted like nothing happened?
“He’s staying at Casa Del Mar while he recovers from his injuries. It doesn’t really seem appropriate to enlist him to make a promotional video while he’s on a medical break.”
“It doesn’t hurt to ask,” Cleo said.
She was quickly losing control of the conversation. “That’s not really why we’re here today, right? We still have a lot to do. Can we get back to the agenda?”
“You’re right,” Stella said. “I know you all have other things to do today. Let’s hurry through the rest of the agenda so you can be on your way.”
Daisy breathed a sigh of relief as her aunt turned the discussion back to the picnic the following weekend and the fund-raising events planned during the festival.
Gabe still had not returned an hour later, by the time they wrapped up the meeting. Daisy suspected a few of the others, like Paula and Cleo specifically, were lingering in hopes of seeing him again.
She really hoped he was okay. The man was still recovering from his injuries. He had no business traipsing around all hours of the day and night with a mischievous little dog who had an unfortunate tendency to fall down cliffs.
Finally, she was able to push the last board members out the door, until only Stella and Bea remained.
“That was a good meeting,” Stella said. “Thank you for keeping us on track.”
She wanted to think her aunt looked better. Still, Daisy couldn’t ignore the pinched lines around Stella’s mouth or the fatigue in her eyes.
She needed to get to the bottom of things.
“Stella. Honey. What’s going on? Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”
Stella’s eyes widened. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you threw up in my bathroom before the meeting.”
“And you spent a lot of time in the bathroom when we went to LA,” Bea added.
Stella busied herself organizing the papers in front of her. “I am just fine. Stop worrying about me.”
Daisy met her sister’s gaze and saw her own worry reflected back at her. Bea went to Stella and put her arms around their aunt.
“It’s our job to worry about you, honey. You spent years worrying about us. Now it’s our turn. If something’s going on, you need to tell us.”
Daisy thought for a moment her aunt would reveal whatever was happening in her world. She opened her mouth and Daisy could see the uncertainty in her eyes.
Stella quickly blinked it away. “Nothing is going on. You two are the biggest worrywarts. I promise, I’m fine. Now, Daisy. Tell us about this handsome man who shows up to walk that cute dog I had no idea you even had until I showed up here this afternoon. What’s the story there?”
Stella was obviously trying to distract them. Daisy didn’t want to let her, but Bea was so easily distracted, she let Stella lead her in a whole new direction.
“Yeah, Dais. What’s the story? I had no idea you even knew Gabriel Ellison.”
If Stella was going to continue keeping things back, why did Daisy have to be honest? She didn’t want to talk about her personal business but she had a feeling neither her sister nor her aunt would be content until she gave them some kind of answer.
“It’s a very long story. Last week Gabe rescued Louie—that’s the name of the little French bulldog—and came here looking for his owner. I ended up offering to keep him here. The dog, I mean. Not Gabe. He’s still staying with Cruz.”
She was rambling, something she never did. As soon as she realized it, she clamped her lips shut.
“So Gabriel Ellison rescued a stray, you agreed to keep the dog here and now a legendary documentary filmmaker just casually drops by to take the dog for walks?”
She didn’t like thinking of him as a legendary filmmaker. He was only...Gabe, who had somehow become her friend when she wasn’t looking.
“That’s about it,” she said.
Stella still looked con
fused and Daisy couldn’t blame her. She still wasn’t sure how it had all come about.
“It’s only temporary. I’m sure we’ll find his family soon.”
“Are you going to be able to give him back when that happens?” Bea asked.
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I know I would have a hard time with it. He’s just so cute. It’s hard to give up something you’ve handed your heart to.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” she said.
Bea didn’t look convinced. Daisy could guess what her sister was thinking:
Brisk, no-nonsense Daisy. She never lets anything or anyone too close.
If Bea only knew. The truth was oceans away from that image she projected, so far that it would be laughable, if it didn’t make her want to cry.
GABE
Apparently, her meeting was over.
Gabe stood on Daisy McClure’s front step, gazing out at the nearly empty driveway. What had looked like a parking lot when he stopped by earlier now only contained two vehicles, a late-model SUV and an older Volvo.
The dog bounded up the steps with more energy than he had demonstrated all evening, when he had plodded along reluctantly the whole walk.
“You are a rascal dog,” Gabe said to the little Frenchie. Louie gave him a sideways look, apparently not disagreeing.
After he rang the doorbell, it took a moment before Daisy opened it. Her hair was pulled up in that tight updo style she seemed to favor, but stray tendrils had slipped free, framing her face.
He had a vivid memory of their kiss, her arms around him, her mouth warm and yielding.
He wanted to take a picture. Stills, not video. He would frame her here in this beautiful garden around her house, with sunlight filtering through the trees and kissing her skin.
He didn’t expect he would be able to capture her particular mystique, but he would certainly love to try.
She had that funny look in her eyes again when she looked at him, the one that made him wonder if she was thinking about their kiss, too.
Daisy scooped up the dog. “How was your long walk, Louie? Are you completely worn out?”
“I didn’t mean to be gone so long. Sorry about that. We headed back to Casa Del Mar for what I thought would be a quick stop but I got distracted with a phone call from one of my producers discussing the press tour for the last film we made.”
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