Restoring Romance

by Tamie Dearen

“I’m sorry about that, Ryan. Adam’s my cousin, and he’s a little protective.”

  “He acts like that for a cousin?” Ryan blew out a low whistle. “If that man had had a sister, she would die an old maid.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  GROUCHY DIDN’T BEGIN to describe how Adam felt as he climbed into his truck Monday morning with Kujo taking his customary place in the back seat. Adam kept the heat on full blast to counter the freezing air whipping inside the open back windows, but Kujo loved the cold, bounding from one side to the other to hang his head into the wind.

  Three sleepless nights had taken their toll on Adam’s mood, which, as Erin had so deftly pointed out, already tended to be on the gruff side. Even two Benadryl hadn’t blotted out the pictures that flashed through his mind each night, tossing figurative sheep to and fro and leaving him bleary-eyed and exhausted. An image of Ryan Cooper, standing behind Ash with his arms draped around her, had permanently etched itself onto the back of Adam’s eyelids, elevating his blood pressure to pre-stroke levels.

  “Hi, Mom.” He answered his cell phone through the hands-free system as he barreled down the highway.

  “Did you get the message? Are you on your way into town?”

  “Yes, I got it. You’re the third family member to call me.”

  “Dad and I are on our way. We’re all so excited! Do you have any idea what Ash is planning to announce at this family meeting?”

  “None whatsoever. Maybe she got engaged to Ryan Cooper.” His tone was bitter, but he didn’t care.

  “Oh, I hope not. That boy doesn’t have the best reputation. Sheila Fields told me—”

  “Mom, I don’t want to hear the latest gossip about Ryan Cooper. I just want to get this announcement over with and get back to work.”

  “You’re not even slightly curious?”

  “Don’t you remember the old saying, curiosity killed the cat? On second thought, that might be a good idea. I wouldn’t mind killing that cat of hers.”

  “Adam, I know you don’t mean that—you love animals.”

  “Yes, but I don’t love allergic reactions.”

  “I thought you decided to take allergy shots.”

  “I did. But I just started a week ago, and it doesn’t work overnight.” He winced, remembering he had another allergy appointment that afternoon. I hate shots!

  “Does Ash know you have a thing for her?”

  Heat rose into Adam’s face. “Mom! I don’t have a thing for her.”

  “Don’t be silly, Adam. You can’t hide something like that from your mother.”

  “Mom—”

  “Don’t worry—I’m not planning to tell her. I just wondered if you ever mentioned it to her. If not, this might be a good time.”

  “Donna!” Adam’s dad used a reprimanding tone, but both men knew his mom had a mind of her own.

  “Okay, I won’t say any more about it.”

  Unconvinced, despite her assurance, Adam groaned as a steady throb set in behind his eyes.

  He ended the call and rifled through the center console for some ibuprofen. But when he pulled into town ten minutes later, his head still pounded.

  Perhaps that’s why he blinked hard, trying to clear his vision, when he drove up to his Grammy’s house. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Dressed in the conventional Queen Anne colors, with muted shades of beige, grey, burgundy, and deep green, highlighting her architectural beauty, she stood proudly in the morning sunlight. He had to force his jaw closed before he climbed out of his truck, crossing the street in stunned silence, his eyes fixed on the stately home.

  “Don’t you love it?”

  Erin’s voice startled him out of his astonishment as he climbed the stairs to join the rest of his family on the front porch. In typical fashion, his sister-in-law bounced on her toes, practically dancing with excitement.

  Not quite trusting his voice, he nodded, casting a furtive glance at Ash, who looked taller than usual, sporting tall-heeled dress boots. Her downcast eyes were fixed on the papers she clutched in her hands.

  He gulped a lump of cold air. “I think it’s beautiful.”

  Ash looked up, her sparkling blue eyes glistening with unshed tears. One corner of her mouth quirked up in an adorable lopsided grin. “I’m glad.”

  Her voice was so quiet, he wondered if he’d imagined her words.

  Did Ash do this for me? Could this mean she cares for me, after all?

  Adam knew he had a silly grin on his face, but he didn’t care. He didn’t mind that he’d gone seventy-two hours with hardly any sleep. He didn’t even give a flip if her cat sent him into a fit of sneezing and wheezing every day for the rest of his life. In a moment, he would take her face between his hands and kiss her, just as he’d been dreaming since he first set eyes on those pouty lips. He would gaze into her crystal eyes and see his own love mirrored in hers.

  Adam nodded, sending encouraging vibes her way.

  The papers shook in her fingers as she re-ordered them and cleared her throat. As she spoke, curly clouds of smoke floated in the cold air. “I know you’re all wondering why I invited the family here this morning. As you noticed, I painted the house.”

  Donna put a hand on her arm. “It looks lovely, Ash, but I hope you didn’t squelch your creativity just to satisfy the historical society.” His mother sent a meaningful glare his direction.

  A nervous giggled escaped her lips. “No, I didn’t squelch anything. The truth is I painted it in traditional Queen Anne colors because this isn’t my house.”

  “Ash...” Donna moved in front of her, dipping down to catch her eyes. “We’ve talked about this. There’s no mistake in my mother’s will. The house belongs to you, just as she wished.”

  “Not any more.” Ash smiled as she turned the papers around, holding them up where Donna could read them. “As you can see, I’ve signed over the house. It now belongs to none other than... Adam Walker.”

  “What?” With his tongue dry like he had a mouthful of saltines, he grabbed the papers from her hands. “What have you done? I don’t want to own a restaurant!”

  “Of course not.” Ash snatched the papers back and shuffled them, putting another page on top, with some sort of architectural drawings. “Look—these are the plans for your new orphanage, slash foster home, slash whatever you like. See? There are six bedrooms, plus a master bedroom suite. You’ll have room for as many kids as you want.”

  “Is this some kind of joke? Did my brothers put you up to this?” He turned to glare at his twin. “This stinks of Daniel Walker. Very funny, Dude.”

  Daniel made a strangled face, shaking his head. “Not me...”

  “You’re not happy?” Ash’s smile dissolved away, as her eyebrows bent together. “But your mother told me it was your dream.”

  “Mom?” Adam ignored the knot in the pit of his stomach. “You talked her into this?”

  “I only said it was your dream when you were a kid.” His mom’s eyes looked as wide and confused as Adam felt.

  “Ash? What’s going on? Why did you do this?” Adam reached for her, but she backed away, a single tear rolling down her cheek to splash on the house plans.

  “I thought it was what you wanted. I thought it would make you happy.” She looked around, glancing from one shocked face to another. “All I wanted to do was make him happy.”

  “Ash...” Adam tried to catch her gaze. “I don’t need the house to be happy.”

  Another tear appeared and tracked down her face. “It doesn’t matter, because I can’t stay here any longer. I’m flying back to New York this afternoon.”

  “Ash, no—”

  “The house is yours.” She threw the papers at his feet, scattering them on the porch. “If you don’t like the color, you can paint it white again.”

  Her hands came up to cover her face.

  “Ash, just tell me... Do you...” Adam’s chest walls squeezed like he was having a heart attack. He couldn’t believe he was going to ask this question in fron
t of his family. “Do you like me?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  ASH KEPT HER FACE BURIED in her hands to hide her flushed cheeks. She felt seven pairs of eyes burning into her flesh. Could she possibly be any more humiliated?

  With horror, she realized her subterfuge had failed—Adam knew the truth of her attraction toward him. But did he really expect her to confess it in front of their whole family?

  She dropped her hands. Fortunately, she so angry she didn’t have to fake outrage. “Of course I don’t like you! What did I ever do to give you that impression?”

  “Nothing, I guess.”

  Why did he look like a whipped puppy?

  She lifted her chin high, in a vain attempt to look down her nose at him. “You know what, Cousin? I’m going to leave now. The house is yours.”

  She pivoted away, mustering as much dignity as possible while marching down the steps, even when her heel got caught in a crack in the wood.

  “Where are you going, Ash?” Erin’s voice called after her.

  Ash paused on the bottom stair. “I’ll be back for Lucky before I fly out this afternoon.”

  “You’re leaving Romance today?” This time it was Aunt Donna’s voice, tinged with hurt. “But Thanksgiving is next week.”

  How did everything go so wrong? Now I’ve offended my entire family.

  Ash turned back, avoiding Adam’s gaze. “I’ll be back for the Christmas holidays, Aunt Donna. I promise.”

  With purposeful strides, Ash headed to her car, hoping she hadn’t ruined every relationship in her entire family. So much for her awesome plan to make Adam’s dreams come true.

  I’m such an idiot. I guess, being in love screwed with my brain... what’s left of it.

  As she opened the car door, she heard footsteps running behind her. She whipped around, ready to confront Adam, but found Erin instead.

  “Ash, were you really going to leave Romance without telling me goodbye? I thought we were friends.”

  “I didn’t plan to run off.” Ash sniffed. “But that didn’t go the way I thought it would.”

  “Let’s have breakfast.” Before Ash could protest, Erin climbed in the passenger door. “Want to go to The Good Egg? I’m dying for Mandy’s French toast.”

  To Ash’s great relief, Erin kept her usual steady chatter going throughout breakfast, never mentioning the embarrassing early morning scene. When the check came, she picked it up, refusing Ash’s offer of splitting the tab.

  “No. I owe you, Ash. Remember the day you adopted Lucky? I believe the bet was fifty dollars.” Erin looked her square in the eye and waved the paper in front of her face. “That is, unless you’ve fallen in love and haven’t told me. Well? Have you?”

  Ash opened her mouth, ready to spew a vehement denial, but she choked on her answer. It was hard to state a bold-faced lie. Erin continued to wait, watching her face with narrowed eyes.

  With blood rushing to her face, Ash grabbed the bill out of the air and slapped it onto the table. “Please, Erin. I’m begging you... don’t tell anyone!”

  Erin’s face broke into a rapturous grin. “It’s Adam, isn’t it? You’re in love with Adam?”

  “I don’t think that’s part of the bet,” Ash snapped. “I don’t have to say who it is.”

  Erin inclined her head to the side, scrunching her nose. “It has to be Adam—who else could it be? Unless you fell in love with Ryan Cooper over the weekend...”

  Ash fumbled for her credit card. “I’d like to drop the subject, if you don’t mind. I’ll give you the rest of your money before I fly out.”

  Unfazed, Erin continued her relentless pursuit as if solving a great riddle. “Considering you’ve experienced abuse, I understand why you’d be afraid to trust Adam. But I promise, even though my brother-in-law is gruff on the outside, he would never ever lay a hand on you.”

  “That’s not the problem.” Ash gave up trying to hide the truth, and went for logic instead. She lowered her voice to a hoarse whisper, glancing over her shoulder to check for eavesdroppers. “Have you forgotten we can’t be together? It’s illegal.”

  Erin’s eyes rounded like saucers, and her mouth made a big “O” before she clamped her hand over it. Ash mentally kicked herself for confessing the truth.

  “Erin, please don’t judge me. I tried to do the right thing.”

  “Ash...” Erin squeaked. “Don’t you know Donna and Mark adopted the boys while they were in Romania? All four of them?”

  “Adopted?” All the air whooshed out of Ash’s lungs. “Adam isn’t really my cousin?”

  “Nope.” Erin popped the last “p” so it almost sounded like a two-syllable word.

  Ash’s intestines tied themselves into knots with no hope of unraveling. “It doesn’t matter, Erin, because Adam doesn’t think of me like that. I’m just a sister to him—the same way he feels about you.”

  “Ha! I’m pretty sure Adam hasn’t been having sisterly thoughts about you.”

  Ash blinked back tears, shaking her head at Erin’s misplaced optimism. “No, there’s nothing more. I’ve already ruined any chance I might’ve had. I kept egging him on, suggesting crazy house colors, criticizing antiques and anything old, and poking fun at the great Romance love story between Georgina and Douglass Scott.”

  “Oh! That is bad.” Erin grimaced. “Why on earth did you do that, if you love him?”

  “Because...” Ash pushed her fingers through her wavy hair in frustration, knowing she looked a mess. “Because I wanted to give him Grammy’s house, and I figured, if he thought I didn’t belong in Romance, he wouldn’t argue about accepting it.”

  “Oh, fudge!” Erin banged her fist on the table, clattering the silverware. “I really wanted to be a bridesmaid.”

  And I might have enjoyed being a bride.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ADAM WATCHED THE RENTAL car drive away until it disappeared around the corner along with all his hopes. When he whirled back around, his expression must have been fierce, because his family scattered like roaches running from the light.

  After a quick glance to be certain he’d left the window down in the back seat for Kujo, Adam gathered the pages fluttering on the front porch and tromped into the house. As he wandered through the downstairs, he recognized what he should have seen weeks ago... Ash had stopped all the renovations. No real progress had been made since the first week of reconstruction.

  He perched on the front of the couch, his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands, wondering where he’d gone wrong. Was she running from some abusive ghost in her past? Or was it, as he feared, that she found his temperament too volatile? It hurt to think she might be afraid of him, but he knew it was the most likely answer. Her abrupt change in behavior a few weeks ago, criticizing everything he held dear, was a bit too deliberate to be real. He recognized her efforts to drive him away, though he refused to be dissuaded.

  A motorboat rumbled beside him, and he lifted his head to find Lucky perched beside him on the couch. Her tawny eyes regarded him with something akin to curiosity before she bent her head, butting against his arm.

  He let out a bitter laugh as he stroked her fur and she arched into his hand. “I’ve finally got enough antihistamines in my system that I can sit beside you without an allergy attack, and look what good it did me.”

  Lucky purred even louder.

  “I know you’re not worried about it. You’re the one who got chosen. You’ve got a home with Ash forever. I’m the orphan here.”

  On the side table, a buzzing noise caught his attention. A cell phone—Ash’s phone—was ringing. The word “Maggie” flashed on the front.

  Maggie—her best friend in New York!

  Adam dove for the phone. “Maggie? Is this Maggie?”

  “Yes.” The girl’s voice was coated in suspicion. “Who is this?”

  “This is Adam. Listen, Maggie... if you love Ash, you have to help me...”

  ASH WAITED AS LONG as possible before returning to the hous
e for Lucky and her suitcases, in hopes of avoiding an awkward confrontation with Adam. But as she turned on Scott Street, she spied his truck in front of her house, though it had moved into the driveway.

  Her palms started sweating, and she felt warm, despite the frigid November air.

  “I can’t very well go home without my stuff,” she muttered as she parked behind his truck.

  She didn’t notice the paint until she got out of her car. Someone had ruined the beautiful paint job on Grammy’s house. Jet black paint covered an entire lower section of the front wall. And the window trim in that section had been repainted as well... hot pink.

  She didn’t notice the painter until she climbed the steps of the front porch. Splattered from head to toe with black and pink paint, Adam stood in the open doorway, assaulting the front door with the same awful paint.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she shouted, belatedly remembering the house was his to ruin if he chose to do so.

  “Can’t you see I’m painting?” He kept his eyes on his task, painting a bright pink letters on the freshly blackened door. “There! Finished!”

  He stepped back, admiring his work.

  Great Scott

  New York Inspired Eatery

  “Why are you doing this, Adam?”

  He turned to face her, his humorless eyes regarding her with a steady stare that looked even more intense with splotches of pink and black paint accenting his face. The modern art on his face, however, did nothing to detract from his strong, masculine allure. On the contrary, he reminded her of a hunky soldier headed into combat.

  “You left your cell phone here.”

  “I know.” She swallowed, unable to drag her gaze away from his.

  He took a step toward her.

  “Maggie called, and we had a nice chat.”

  She took a corresponding step back.

  “What exactly did she tell you?”

  He smiled, displaying his pearly whites, and she felt a bead of perspiration on her neck, despite the cold.