by Sue Gibson
“How was Paul? They have kids right?”
So he remembered. Darn. She edged toward the stone steps. “Yes. They have two,” she supplied. “Jude, his wife, is a school teacher. Did I tell you that, before?”
He smiled indulgently. “No, I don’t think so, but my mother did, just last night.” Again, that smile. Like he knew something she didn’t. This new, confident Edward, one who elicited information about her from his mother, made her uneasy.
She twirled a section of hair in her fingers. “Sorry to have missed your fish dinner tonight. I hope you enjoyed your evening with Stan and his family…and Flo.”
“Apparently Flo is family, Stan’s twin sister to be precise.”
She stepped back. Really? A quick tally of their stature, coloring and personalities and it all made sense. And, it explained why Edward and Flo were sharing a dinner table.
“Surprisingly, I did enjoy myself. At first I was unsure, you know. I’m pretty reserved. But it turned out to be a good night, mostly. I’m more determined than ever to live in Ted’s shoes for the next few weeks.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Edward. Sorry …Ted.”
“And I owe it to you.” He was standing close, she could smell BBQ smoke and Cajun spice. “So what’s it going to be tomorrow?”
Things were moving too fast, including her heart rate.
She needed time to take in the change in her protégé.
She scanned the lower lot for her car. “I’m not sure. I’d have to check the schedule.” By the morning, she’d know how to handle him… and her feelings.
He looked away too. “Forget it. I’ll do that myself.” She dropped her head and studied their shoes, his large and shiny patented leather, hers small strappy
sandals. “Sorry. I guess I’m just tired.”
He’d done nothing but follow her advice after all and raced to the end of her program. She lifted her chin. “Why don’t you join my group tomorrow for brunch on Osprey Island? If the weather’s nice, I plan to take a small group over for a picnic. The chef supplies a fabulous hamper.”
He hesitated. She rested her hand on the back of a vacant chair. An eternity later he said, “Count me in.” “Excellent.” Her hand reached to pat his arm, but she pulled back. He wasn’t a school boy after all, he
was a man. She swallowed hard.
He edged incrementally closer. “Did you have a nice evening? It must feel good to escape this place once and a while.”
“You’re right. I love it here.” She nodded, acknowledging the candlelit terrace and the lake beyond. “I mean, who wouldn’t? But I won’t deny it feels great to hop in the car every now again and leave my responsibilities behind.”
He nodded as if he too felt that way occasionally. “You have no idea how much I look forward to
dinner with my brother and his family every Thursday. Every time their kids tell me that I’m their favorite aunt, I melt inside.”
He grinned. She dropped the strand of hair she’d been twisting. He was really handsome when he relaxed like this.
“Well, you’re definitely my favorite Recreational Director.”
Relieved her curt words hadn’t changed his perception, she smiled. “Come on, Ted. I think we’ve moved beyond that, I consider you a friend.”
He placed his hand over hers, warming her fingers. “Thanks Christy, me too.” She shivered in the cool air and turned for the sweater she’d slung over the chair back.
Intercepting her gesture, he draped it over her shoulders. “It’s late. Is your car here?” He tipped his head toward the parking lot.
In the way of friends who’ve known one another much longer than a few days, they crossed the patio and descended the stone steps. At the bottom, she pointed to her car. “Thanks Ted.” Although the name change was her idea, tonight she would rather have used his real name. It wasn’t always better to be a Ted. “I’ll be alright.” Buttermilk Falls’ crime rate was zero.
He walked on, his hand firmly centered on her back. “My mother would kill me if she knew I let you walk alone in a dark parking lot.” Affection for his mother tempered his words. And she remembered her own mother’s commenting that Edward was a considerate son to Pauline.
Keys in hand, she leaned against the driver’s door and glanced upward to a black sky. Stars pinpricked the canvas, depositing diamonds on the lake below. She stood transfixed, grateful for her good fortune. Perspective was underrated.
An owl hooted in the somewhere in the darkness. She sighed. Leaving Loon Lake was not going to be easy.
“This place is incredible,” Edward whispered. His
breath, warm against her cheek, reminded her that she wasn’t alone in the beautiful night.
They sank back against the car door, shoulder to shoulder. “Yes.” That single word expressed everything in her heart.
The lilac hedge trembled as a breeze whispered through its leaves. Edward pulled her snug under his arm. His protective instincts always held appeal, tonight more than ever.
She relaxed against his body, enjoying the intimacy without worrying where his hands would go next.
“Look,” he whispered, “over there, up above Osprey Island. “It’s the Urser Major.” His arms tensed with the discovery, his voice reflecting his excitement.
Anyone else would call it the Big Dipper. She giggled. “I see it too.” Old Edward clearly was not gone for good.
“I have a confession to make, Christy.” The gentle light of the moon encouraged intimacy. Moments like this shouldn’t be wasted on extraneous conversation. But what could Edward possibly have to confess?
“When I first arrived out here and even last evening….I didn’t like this place after dark. It felt big and empty. I missed the limits the city puts on the night. At home, you can only see as far as the next street light allows.”
She nodded, the back of her head bumping his chest. It made sense really. He liked living inside the box, day and night. “And now?”
“It feels better—good. Like I’m the only one who’s ever seen this particular moment in time.”
Exactly.
His voice thickened. “It’s the stuff that inspires
people to write songs… and poems. And make promises to others that they will keep forever.”
She loved the way he stumbled, searching for the words to describe his revelation. He laughed. “You probably think I’m an idiot.”
You’re brave to have said the words out loud. “No, Edward, that’s not what I think.”
Now there was no space between them at all. Her back rested easily against his beating chest and his arms wrapped around her shoulders, his hands locked together. His chin rested on the top of her head.
If she turned even a little bit in his arms, they’d kiss. Excitement pumped her heart rate, quickening her breath. Exquisitely aware of her body’s betrayal, she wondered, could he feel it too?
His arms tightened. His breath slid down the side of her face to trail across the nape of her neck. Edward wasn’t looking at the stars anymore.
A tiny kiss mingled into her hair, barely perceptible, yet impossibly perfect. If they chose not to acknowledge it, they could pretend it never happened. Just go on, as friends who’d once shared a moment under the stars.
But, his face lingered, her skin warming with his continued presence and she stopped breathing. Would there be more? Her hands crept up to cover his, still locked across her chest. Big and surprisingly rough, for a man who worked in an office, she traced a finger across their breadth.
A second achingly soft kiss smudged the skin just behind her ear. Oh, God. Her knees felt like jelly and her fingers tightened around his. As if her body had a will of its own, she twisted in his embrace, his arms loosening only enough to allow
the movement before retightening.
His head tipped down, hers lifted. Noses bumped, cheeks grazed in their mutual need to bring their lips together. Hers parted in anticipation as his traced a crazy, slow and seductiv
e path.
A brilliant yellow light flashed in her face and Edward’s arms sprung apart even as she leapt back from the glare.
“Christy! Christy?” She knew the voice. Of all people to find her, it’d have to be Trey Sullivan. Her heart pounded against her chest. The light dropped from their faces to pool around their feet.
“Yes, it’s me, Trey,” she said, sounding school girlish, even to her own ears. “Just heading home,” she added firmly. “Edward was kind of enough to walk me to my car.” Stop talking, offering excuses. You’re an adult woman allowed to be alone in the dark with a man. “Thank you, Edward.” She fumbled against the car door lock in the darkness.
“Don’t hurry off,” Trey said, his voice apologetic. “I didn’t mean to barge in on you two. Forget I was even here.” Like that was even possible. Her eyes readjusted, her heart thudded in her ears. Her boss, stood in the middle of the parking lot, flashlight in hand. “I was just heading down the trail by the lake for a walk when I heard something by the lilac hedge. Delaney’s in Toronto on a buying trip and I thought I’d stretch my legs before heading to bed. I had no idea…” his voice trailed off.
Edward hadn’t said anything to this point. She glanced to his face as she slid into the driver’s seat. He looked a lot like she felt.
“No, no, Trey. Really we were just saying goodnight anyway. I have to be getting home. Tomorrow’s a work day after all,” she added unnecessarily.
Trey walked closer to her car, his hand extended. “Good to meet you again, Mr. Shillington. I heard you had found a good fishing spot today.” No wonder Trey had advanced so quickly in his career, even with hundreds of guests he managed to remember Edward’s last name. “I hope you’re enjoying your stay at the Nirvana.” Heat flamed her face at his words. Stock stuff in the hospitality business, but tonight the phrase held a personal meaning.
Edward shook his hand. “The longer I stay, the more it grows on me.” She squirmed in her seat, the key in the ignition, waiting for a lull so she could fire the engine and escape.
“I guess I’ll head back up,” Edward glanced up at the candlelit Trillium Terrace. “Enjoy your walk, Mr. Sullivan.”
“Trey, call me Trey. Any friend of Christy’s is a friend of mine. We’re like family here at the Loon Lake Nirvana.” Trey stooped and peered through the glass, his smile, too big and bright. She would never here the end of it. Trey loved to tease.
She twisted the key in the ignition and dropped the car into reverse. Glancing to the rear view mirror, she watched Trey and Edward standing side by side in the darkness as her car crunched across the gravel parking lot. She sank against the cushioned seat, desperate to be home.
On autopilot, she maneuvered the road’s familiar twists and turns. With the lights of the Nirvana blocked by the trees that lined the road and nothing but darkness around her, the memory of Edward’s kisses traveling across the nape of her neck came alive. Her neck warmed in the cool night air. Held hostage by the memory, she revisited the kiss. She shook her head. Really? Edward?
If only Trey hadn’t come along. She blushed in the darkness, remembering his hands, strong, yet exquisitely gentle. His body, she blushed again, warm and solid.
A sigh escaped her lips, as she mourned the kiss that never really happened.
Chapter Fourteen
Edward sprang up the Trillium Terrace’s stone steps, taking care to be quiet. The moon was high in the sky now and he suspected that most of the hotel’s guests were asleep. This place was all about refreshing your body and soul, not partying till dawn. Crossing the terrace, he leaned against the stone half-wall and looked out across the lake.
The lake lapped a rhythmic melody against the hotel’s stony feet. A loon’s call, a winged night bird slicing through the darkness, the rustling of a squirrel scampering through the underbrush—he’d barely noticed this stuff before. Before Christy.
He shook his head. A lot had changed since he’d arrived, mostly him. A smile shot across his face. Another couple of seconds and he and Christy would have been kissing. The smile stretched into a grin. If the guys from the office could see him now they’d be shocked, their resident egghead gone loopy over a woman. And all thanks to Flo.
Only a few days ago, Flo’s flamboyant personality intimidated him so much he’d not seen past the flash to the substance. Under her flaming caftan beat the heart of a sympathetic and generous woman. Her advice had been bang on. The big winners in this life are the risk takers.
Straightening, he saluted the moon and stars and made his way through the upturned tables and stacks
of chairs. With the evening’s triumph under his belt, he no longer dreaded any of Christy’s activities. He was only sorry he had to wait as long as brunch to be with her again. He couldn’t wait to hear about her plans with the Weatherall Corporation. Maybe he could even help her in some way in her new administrative position. His chest swelled with just the possibility.
The elevator swept him to the top floor and he heard the soft burr of his phone as he slid his key card in the slot. Three long strides brought him to the phone. He grabbed for the receiver on the third ring, knocking the base to the floor.
“Hello, dear. I was just about to hang up.”
“Mom.” Of course it was his mother. Christy wasn’t the kind of woman that called a man. Men called her. “I just came in the door.”
“I hope that means that you were out with Pauline’s daughter again. Christy.” She said Christy’s name with a fondness and familiarity usually reserved for family.
“Yes and no.” They hadn’t been on a date. That milestone was next up on his agenda though. “I had dinner tonight with a family I met here at the Nirvana. It was kind of a celebration. I went fishing today—”
“Fishing? You hate fishing.”
“No, I’ve never gone fishing before. I’ve decided to branch out a bit. Try new things. I’m on vacation after all.”
“Edward. You sound different. Have you been drinking?”
He laughed. “No, Mom. I’m stone cold sober.” There wasn’t a drink in existence that could make him feel this good.
“Well, tell me more. You said yes and no. Was Christy at this dinner with you?”
“No, every Thursday night she has dinner with her brother’s family.” It pleased him inordinately that he knew intimate details of her life. He made a mental note to ask Christy the names of her niece and nephew.
“Oh, isn’t that sweet. Then she’s close with her family too.” She took a breath. “So, did you see her or not?” His mother could be like a dog with a bone when she was after information.
“I ran into her after dinner. She came back to the hotel afterwards.” Now he wondered why.
“So….”
“We spent a few minutes together…just talking…,” he felt compelled to explain. It was one thing to allow his mother to believe they were dating, but he wasn’t about to go into the details.
“I’m so happy you’ve found happiness, but I’m surprised it’s with Christy. Not that she isn’t wonderful, because she is, but she’s not like the women you usually date.”
“She’s not as different as you’d think. I found out today that Christy is up for a promotion. She’s being offered an executive position with the Weatherall Corporation, working out of their Toronto office.” A one-hour plane trip from Ottawa. Lots of professional couples coped with weekend commutes.
“That’s funny dear, her mother never mentioned her new job to me and we talked this morning.” She sounded troubled. “I get the feeling that Christy doesn’t confide all that much in her mother.”
He sat on the edge of the bed, the room still in darkness. “Better not say anything about that either, just yet.” His mother had a habit of blurting out
secrets. “She’s probably holding off until its official.” “My lips are sealed, dear. I’m sure you’re right.
Now that I think of it, Kathleen mentioned that she was having a family get together on Sunday. Maybe C
hristy will announce her promotion then.”
“Possibly.” Would he get an invite? He looked out the window toward the village.
He couldn’t wait for her announcement and the chance to offer her some business advice. “Well, it’s been a long day. Fishing and all, so…”
“Good night then, Edward. Keep in touch. And say hello to Christy for us please.”
“Will do. Love you.” The words fell out of his mouth, a habit he’d left behind years ago.
A pause, then, “I love you too, son.” He dropped the cordless phone on the bed and flopped backwards. His body sunk into the duvet and he pulled in a deep breath and slowly exhaled, the way Christy had taught him in Tai Chi class. Had it only been this morning? He’d lived a lifetime since McKay’s cow had crossed the road.
He glanced at the digits on the bedside clock. Only thirteen hours until the island brunch.
He pulled himself up and perched on one elbow, his gaze following the Loon Lake’s shoreline searching for the lights of Buttermilk Falls. Did the tiny village even have street lights?
If it did, the tree-lined shoreline hid all signs of civilization from his view. He stayed put, his gaze tracing the curve of the lake farther until it disappeared into the unformed blackness of Lily Weatherall’s original home, Greensly Bay.
He knew Osprey Island lay near the mouth of the bay, but in the darkness only the island’s lone tree was distinguishable. Ethan proposed to Lily at the
foot of the big spruce. He flopped back onto the bed.
Tomorrow he’d sit at the foot of the tree and find out if it still possessed the magic he’d need to win Christy’s heart.
Chapter Fifteen