by Loree Lough
Both forearms resting on the car’s roof, he nodded his agreement. “No wonder Holly didn’t want to leave it, even for a weekend back home.”
By the time Holly raced down the stairs and burst through the front door, her cousins had opened the SUV’s hatch and were depositing suitcases on the flagstone driveway.
“Hold on, Laura,” her dad teased. “Here comes Holly Folly… .”
But it was her oldest cousin whom Holly reached first. “I thought you guys would never get here!” she said, throwing her arms around Adam’s neck. She hugged Frank, then her dad, and. after embracing her mom, grabbed the handle of the nearest suitcase and led the way up the walk. “Let’s get your things into your rooms and show you around, and then we can relax.” She held open the screen door. “I’ll bet you’re all just exhausted. How was the drive? Not too much traffic, I hope. I read on the Internet that there was some construction on I-95 just outside of Richmond. It didn’t clog things up too badly, did it?”
“Down, girl,” her dad said, grinning as he wheeled a bag over the threshold. “We’re here, and we’re fine. Thanks for those last-minute directions, by the way. Got us around those bridge repairs easy as pie.”
“I can’t take credit for that,” she admitted. “Parker’s the one who—”
Her mom kissed her cheek on her way by. “I’ll be sure to thank him, then, first chance I get. Will he be here tonight?”
“Probably not.” He hadn’t said so outright, but Holly got the feeling that after checking on the progress Hank’s contacts had made in bringing Ben home, he’d spend the evening in Charleston, getting better acquainted with his new family. “But I’m sure he’ll stop by tomorrow. He’s eager to meet you guys.” She gave her mom a sideways hug. “You’re going to love him, I just know it. And I’m positive he’ll love you!”
“We’ll just see about that,” Frank said, winking.
“Right,” Adam agreed. “Do you have a 100-watt lightbulb?”
Holly laughed. “I was just upstairs, checking your rooms when you arrived, and all the lights were just—”
“Not for the lamps in our rooms, silly girl,” he said, tweaking her nose. “For the interrogation. If this Parker dude hopes to partner up with my little cousin, he’s gotta pass muster first.”
Laughing, Holly said, “You’re the silly one. He’s my boss. And… he’s becoming a friend.” If she’d known how much it would hurt to make a statement like that, Holly might have rehearsed it a time or two, to assure herself that it would sound more convincing. “There’s absolutely nothing romantic between us.” She half ran up the stairs, stopping on the landing to say, “Come on. Let me show you where you’re staying, and then I’ll put out the snacks I’ve made.”
She pulled out all the stops, explaining that Maude’s grandparents had raised her after her parents were killed in an accident and then willed the house to her. A single mother by that time, Holly added, Maude turned it into a B&B to provide for herself and Parker, naming the rooms after the characters in her favorite movie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
“She sounds delightful,” Laura said. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
“She’s still in rehab?” Bob asked.
“Yes, but she’s making steady progress, so I expect her doctors to let her come home any day now.”
“I hope so,” Laura said. “We’ll all help out any way we can.”
“It’s the least we can do,” Bob agreed, “since she refused to let us pay for the rooms.”
When Holly had told Maude that her family was considering a visit, she’d insisted that they stay at Coastal Cottage free of charge. But the poor woman had enough on her mind without worrying about how she’d pay the bills associated with her hospitalization, so once the decision about the trip was final, Holly took matters into her own hands. And because Hank had been keeping Maude’s books for the past few years, Holly was able to deposit a check that protected Maude’s ego while adding to her bank balance.
The tour ended in the kitchen. “So, are you hungry? I know it’s too late for a real meal, so I made some light snacks.”
“That’s a rhetorical question, I presume,” Frank said.
Adam patted his flat belly. “Lead us to it…then stand back.”
As they gathered around Maude’s kitchen table, talking and laughing, Holly was reminded of Sunday dinners at her parents’ house, with all her cousins and their wives and kids gathered around the long dining room table. Only one thing could make this scene better: Parker.
A quiet knock at the back door interrupted the happy banter.
“Is there room for one more?”
* * * * *
Her family was everything Parker thought they’d be, and the hours spent in their company before contagious yawns sent them upstairs were far more agreeable than he could have imagined. Would he have enjoyed the visit as much if he hadn’t so recently been welcomed into a family of his own?
Parker didn’t think so.
He hung around under the pretense of helping Holly clean up the kitchen. But the real reason he’d stayed was to test the waters. Hank had raised some excellent points during their prior conversations, and each had prompted additional questions in Parker’s mind.
“So what did you think of them?”
Parker dumped ice from the tumblers into the sink as Holly covered the snack plates with plastic wrap. “They seem like good people. I like ’em.”
“And they like you too.”
They seemed like the type of people who’d treat anyone well, especially during a first meeting. “Really. And you know that because…”
“Because,” she said, opening the fridge, “my family has made an art form of grilling my—”
Parker looked up from the dishwasher to see what had silenced her so abruptly. One glance at her blushing face told him that if she had ended the sentence, it would have been with a word like boy-friends. Is that how she saw him?
“So did you get a chance to visit your mom today?”
“I did,” he said. “But not for long. They took her down for X-rays, and she told me not to hang around for the results.” And he’d been only too happy to take her up on the offer.
Holly’s silence spoke volumes: in his shoes, she would have stayed. Well, he hated to disappoint her, but Maude had opened that can of worms, not him.
She fired up the teapot and pulled two mugs from the cabinet. “Are things any better between you two?”
If he could figure out how she always seemed to know what he was thinking, maybe Parker would have half a chance at keeping her out of his head. “They’re going as well as can be expected, I expect.”
She sent him a tiny smile. “Well, at least you’re trying. That’s more than most people would do in your shoes.”
“In my shoes?”
She put the mugs on the table, with napkins and spoons and the wooden box containing Maude’s collection of herbal teas. “I know it seems silly, sipping hot tea on the first of July, but the whole process, from brewing to pouring to sipping, has always soothed me.”
She shrugged, and he took it to mean that Holly hoped it would soothe him too.
“What I meant,” she said, filling both mugs with hot water, “was that under similar circumstances, most people would take the easy way out. Storm off in a huff, telling themselves they had a perfect right to feel betrayed and hurt, and then get busy settling scores.”
The teapot hit the burner with a tinny clank, and then Holly sat at the table and plucked a tea bag from the box. “I think I’m in the mood for something spicy tonight.” She read the label aloud. “ ‘CINNAMON DREAMS.’ I wonder who comes up with these names.”
He knew her well enough to understand that she’d get to the point in her own good time. And since he couldn’t think of a place he’d rather be—or a person he’d rather be with—Parker said, “Same people who choose street names, I reckon.”
She shoved the box closer so he could choose a tea bag too. “Wh
at’re you in the mood for tonight?”
Parker chuckled.
“What’s that smirk all about?”
What he was in the mood for was a hug. A big long one. And a kiss. Maybe even a couple of them. He grabbed a random tea bag. He unwrapped it and tossed it into the hot water. “If you ever tell anybody I willingly drank something called ‘Orange Mist,’ I might just have to punish you.”
Her quiet laughter echoed throughout the room. Echoed in his heart too, telling him that she didn’t believe for a minute that he’d ever hurt her.
“But you,” she said, picking up where she’d left off, “instead of behaving like a caveman, you exercised restraint. Serious restraint.” Holly covered his hand with hers and gave it a squeeze. “I know it isn’t easy, treating her with respect and kindness right now, considering that what she told you effectively turned your whole world upside down, but you’re doing it.” She gave his hand another squeeze then let go and stared into her mug. “That inspires a lot of respect,” she said quietly.
It felt good hearing that, especially from this woman who’d come to mean so much to him. “In a weird way, she did me a favor.”
He didn’t expect her to understand that and had started to explain, when she said, “Just one more reason to admire you.”
Parker didn’t get it and said so.
“You’ve chosen to dwell on the positives. All the good things she did before ‘the big confession,’ ” she said, drawing quote marks in the air. “That and the fact that if she hadn’t turned your world upside down, you’d never have found your father and, in the process, a whole big loving family.”
There were tears in her eyes. Tears of joy. For him. Seeing that touched a place inside him that Parker never even knew existed. To this point, he’d kept a safe distance from her, mostly for her sake. But the memory of holding her—especially that night on the beach—put him on his feet.
He scooted her chair away from the table then turned it around so that he could kneel in front of it. For a long moment he stayed that way, hands gripping the chair back on either side of her graceful neck, content to look into her eyes, at the way her brows lifted as she smiled nervously under his scrutiny and wondered what he was doing. He might have given more thought to what he’d done differently this time, to keep her from reading his mind…if she hadn’t lifted both dainty shoulders as she loosed a sweet sigh.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll tell me to hit the road.”
Her head tilted, one corner of her mouth lifting in a teasing grin. “Now why would telling you to do a crazy thing like that be good for me?”
“Because if you don’t,” he grated, “I’m gonna kiss you.”
Holly blinked and then linked her fingers behind his neck. “If that’s your idea of a threat, you’re sadly mistaken.”
He’d never been much of a praying man, but when she pressed her lips to his, Parker prayed. First, that Holly was the one he’d spend the rest of his life with, and second—that if she wasn’t, for the strength to live without her.
“Wow,” Holly said.
His sentiments exactly. If he’d known it would feel that good, that right, he might have summoned the courage to do this weeks ago. The book probably wouldn’t be almost finished if he had, but—
There you go again, he thought, putting the cart before the horse. What if her breathy “wow” meant something entirely different from what he hoped it meant?
But Holly had kissed him, not the other way around.
Right?
Hardly proof that his hopes—that she cared for him too—had any connection to reality, but it was something to look forward to.
For the first time in as long as he could remember, Parker was looking forward. And everything he saw out there on life’s horizon had a direct link to this amazing woman in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-One
The cookout had been more pleasant than he’d expected it to be, due in no small part to Holly, who’d flitted around like a little bird, making sure everyone had what they needed. While she and her mom cleaned up, Parker and Hank sat on the deck with Bob, Adam, and Frank. His guests had such an easy, friendly way about them that the time passed quickly, and before he knew it, Parker found himself side by side with Holly on the only available seat on the deck: a fifties-style metal glider.
Hank and the Leonards were no different than others he’d viewed fireworks with, oohing and ahhing as each colorful burst lit up the sky. Holly’s reaction? That was a first, and something told him that even as a boy he hadn’t reacted to the noisy displays with half her enthusiasm. If she enjoyed them this much as a full-grown woman, how had she behaved as a little girl?
The question made him smile and inspired a picture in his mind: Blond ponytails bobbing, tiny white sneakers skipping, as she clapped and squealed happily. It made him wonder what a child of their union might look like. Hopefully the spitting image of their beautiful mother, because—
“Oh, these are my favorites!” she said, pointing as big white dots flashed overhead, each accompanied by a rib-wracking boom. “Reminds me of parade drums. I love those too.” In the lull between explosions, Holly added, “Do you have a favorite?”
She’d asked a similar question before shopping for cookout supplies, and though he hadn’t told her that, given a choice, he’d choose thick pork chops to just about any other grilled meat, she’d bought a package…and made the best finger-lickin’ sauce to go with them that he’d ever tasted. How did she know these things about him?
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
She shoulder-butted him and, laughing, said, “Earth to Parker, Earth to Parker.”
“Oh. Right. Favorite firework. I guess—”
“Doesn’t that sound goofy, though? Referring to them in the singular, I mean?”
She laughed again, making Parker long for a way to guarantee that he could start and end every day hearing it.
“Yeah. Goofy.” You’re goofy, he thought, grinning, goofy about her… . “I like ’em all,” he said.
“Equally?”
“Sure. Why not?”
In place of an answer, Holly launched into an abbreviated lesson of the time and materials that went into the creation of pyrotechnics. “So the least you could do,” she said, “is choose at least one that’s—”
Adam moaned. “See what we grew up with?”
“And lest you think college made her that way,” Frank agreed, “think again. She’s always been this way.”
Parker was tempted to ask “What way?” when Adam said, “Keep that in mind, for, ah, for future reference.”
Her dad’s laughter echoed into the night. “Just a friendly little tip from the Leonard boys.”
Groaning, Holly hid behind her hands.
“What’re you doing?” Frank asked.
“Hoping that when I open my eyes, you’ll be upstairs sleeping.” She peeked between two fingers. “Quietly.”
Laughing, her mom chimed in with, “Here’s a friendly little tip from the Leonard family matriarch: they’re all this way and always have been. Keep that in mind for, ah, future reference.”
They all enjoyed a good laugh, including Parker. Especially Parker, because he’d taken their “for future reference” to mean that they approved…if things between him and Holly took a more serious turn.
Serious. The concept nearly induced another chuckle. Because he couldn’t get much more serious about her. And when he got back from Germany, he intended to tell her just that.
The reminder of his upcoming trip prompted him to lean close to her ear and whisper, “When they leave for the cottage, I need to tell you something.”
She leaned forward to get a better look at his face. “Ooh, sounds ominous.”
Laughing, he said, “No. It’s good news, actually.”
Then why, her wide-eyed expression said, couldn’t he share it in front of Hank and her family?
“It’s got to do with Ben,” h
e explained.
That stymied further questions but didn’t stop her from shooting “I don’t get it” and “What about Ben” looks his way for the remainder of the fireworks display.
It was nearly eleven by the time everyone left, and she wasted no time backing him into the deck rail. “I’ll only be a few minutes,” she called as they headed up the beach. “Just going to help Parker clean up a bit.” Waving, she added, “Don’t wait up…I know you’re tired.”
Once they were out of sight, she whirled to face him. “All right, mister, out with it. What’s this top-secret Ben-related news of yours?”
“He’s in Germany. All the paperwork has been approved, and he’s even got his very own passport. At least, that’s what Hank’s pal at the State Department tells me.”
Holly gasped. “That’s fantastic, Parker! Does it mean… Are you… When can… Oh my goodness, that’s just about the best news I’ve heard in—in—in I don’t know when!”
“I’m leaving tomorrow to go get him.”
Her smile wavered, but only slightly.
“And Dan—er, my dad—is flying overseas with me.”
She gasped again. “He is? That’s terrific!”
“It was his wife’s idea.”
“Wow.” She winked. “When you get absorbed into a family, you don’t fool around, do you?” And then she laughed. “I can hardly wait to meet him. Them. Ben. Your dad and his family. All of them,” she said.
“They already think the world of you.”
She’d leaned over the rail and looked down at the sand but straightened in response to his last comment. “They do? But—”
“I told them how you pitched in, from Maude’s heart attack right straight through to the news about Ben. They’re grateful.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Not as grateful as I am, but then, they don’t know you. Yet.”
When she blinked up at him, Parker wished he had a little of her talent for mind reading.