Sweet Success: A Candle Beach Sweet Romance

by Nicole Ellis

  “Wait, Parker? The married guy? You went on a date with a married guy?” Dahlia put down her takeout container and stared at her friend.

  “Parker. The unmarried guy.” Gretchen’s eyes twinkled. This was kind of fun.

  “I’m so confused.”

  “It turns out I was wrong. Parker wasn’t Charlotte’s husband. He’s her brother.”

  “Whoa. That’s like a soap-opera crazy turn of events.” Dahlia sipped her soft drink through a straw. “So, spill. What was he like?”

  “He was actually pretty great,” Gretchen admitted. “We went to Arturo’s in Haven Shores. The conversation was easy and he’s not hard to look at.” She stopped talking and frowned.

  “But?” Dahlia stared at her friend. “What could be bad about any of that?”

  “But he’s Parker Gray,” Gretchen finished.

  “I don’t understand. Who’s Parker Gray?”

  “Of Gray and Associates, the biggest real estate company on this part of the coast. They’re based in Haven Shores.”

  “Okay,” Dahlia said slowly. “I’m still not getting it. Isn’t that a good thing? You must have so much in common.”

  “Unfortunately, we do. Our parents hate each other. Something about a real estate deal that went south twenty years ago.”

  “Seriously?” Dahlia said. “Who can hold a grudge that long?”

  Gretchen shrugged. A napkin blew off the bench and Dahlia twisted around to pick it off the ground before the wind swept it away. When she looked up, consternation filled her face.

  “Uh-oh.” She closed her food container. “I think I see someone who can hold a grudge that long.”

  “What are you talking about?” Gretchen looked over her shoulder.

  “Gretchen Elizabeth Roberts,” Eliza Roberts scolded as she bore down on them.

  Dahlia scooped up her food. “I’ll see you later,” she called as she escaped the path of Gretchen’s mother.

  All too quickly, Eliza was standing in front of the park bench. Gretchen put down her own food and closed up the box. The teriyaki suddenly smelled cloyingly sweet and her appetite vanished.

  “Hey, Mom.” Her lips quivered as she smiled at Eliza. How much did her mother know? There was no way she could have found out about Parker already, right? Was this about the real estate sales position? She’d expected her parents to be upset about that, but not this furious.

  “Why am I hearing from Agnes Barnes that you were out with Parker Gray last night?” Eliza’s eyes blazed and her hands were planted firmly on her hips.

  Agnes Barnes? How did the most notorious gossip in Candle Beach find out about her date? Her fingernails dug into the takeout box. Was anything private in this town?

  Her mother noticed her confusion. “She heard about it from a friend’s daughter who ate at Arturo’s last night.”

  Gretchen groaned.

  “So, why were you out with Denise and Barry Gray’s son last night?”

  She had hoped to put this off for as long as possible and she certainly hadn’t expected it to rear its ugly head within twenty-four hours of their date. She squirmed in her seat as her mother’s eyes drilled holes into her skull.

  Gretchen, get it together. You can date anyone you like, she counseled herself.

  “Mom.” She stopped. How best to explain this? “I met Parker last weekend at the chocolate festival. We hit it off and went out on a date yesterday evening. I had no idea who his parents were before then.” In hindsight, she’d had a clue since she knew from the rental application that Charlotte’s last name was Gray, but she hadn’t put two and two together at the time.

  Her mother continued to look at her with disapproval. “His parents are not good people. Your father and I do not approve of this relationship.”

  Gretchen had had it with her parents interfering in her love and professional life. And it wasn’t like she planned to get married after only one date.

  “Mom, I’m thirty-two years old. This is my life. Respectfully, you have no right to choose who I do or don’t date. Parker seems like a nice man and I intend to get to know him better.”

  Until then, she hadn’t realized how strongly she felt about a future relationship with him. The memories of their date the night before flooded back. The easy conversation and romantic kiss in the moonlight. She narrowed her eyes at her mother.

  Eliza’s face was stony. “This is a bad idea. If Parker Gray is anything like his parents, he can’t be trusted. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. For the record, I don’t see this ending well.” She left Gretchen alone on the bench with her uneaten lunch.

  Gretchen sat for a moment, lost in thought. She hated disappointing her parents, but it was time that they realized she was an independent adult.

  But was she? She lived in a house she’d inherited from her grandmother and she worked at the business her parents owned. She’d even allowed them to pigeonhole her into the property management side of the business although her heart led her to the sales side.

  She walked over to a nearby garbage can and dumped the nearly full box of chicken teriyaki and rice into the gaping mouth of the metal can.

  Her parents didn’t spend much time in the office, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Another conversation with her mother was not high on her to-do list. She ducked into Candle Beach Real Estate and rushed to her desk. She told her co-worker she wasn’t feeling well and gathered what she needed to work from home for the rest of the day. Her laptop bag weighed heavily on her shoulder as she walked up the hill to her house.

  She stopped in front of her Gram’s house and stared at it. After next week, Charlotte would live there. It was weird to think about someone else living in Gram’s house, but renting it out got her one step closer to being out from under her parents’ thumb.

  Reilly woke Gretchen early on Sunday morning by licking her face. She opened her eyes, expecting to see rain. Instead, sunlight peeked through the window shades. She drew the shades and stared at the ocean. When Charlotte moved in, she’d no longer wake up to this view. Might as well enjoy it now.

  She brewed a small pot of coffee and took a cup outside to the porch. As she swung on the porch swing, she reflected on how glad she was that she’d be staying on the same property. She’d miss her neighbors and her gardens if she moved into an apartment in town. An icy chill shot through her. All of this would be lost when she moved to Seattle. You’ve got to try something new, she told herself. She couldn’t stay in Candle Beach forever without a change.

  One thing in her life had changed though—her budding romance with Parker. The unexpectedly beautiful weather gave her an idea. Although sunny, the March winds would be blowing fiercely down on the beach. She placed her coffee cup on the porch and dialed Parker’s number.

  “Hey,” she said, when he answered. “It’s me, Gretchen.”

  “Gretchen, hi.”

  She loved how her name rolled so smoothly off his tongue. She took a deep breath to settle her nerves. With meeting Parker and the upcoming interview for the sales position, she felt frazzled. But frazzled in a good way. At least that was what she told herself.

  “I was wondering if you were busy today. I thought I could meet you in Haven Shores and we could fly kites on the beach. I have two older kites that I haven’t used in a while.” She held her breath waiting for him to respond.

  “I’m not busy until early evening. Flying kites sounds fun,” he said. She could hear his smile through the phone. “How about we meet at the main beach entrance at eleven? We can grab lunch afterward.”

  Gretchen agreed and ended the call. She leaned back, pushing the seat against the wall and then letting the momentum carry her back and forth. It was nice to have someone she could call on at the spur-of-a-moment for a fun date activity. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken the kites out of storage.

  Gretchen got to Haven Shores thirty minutes early. On the drive down, she’d passed Oceanview Estates. Now, butterflies of doubt flew
around in her stomach. She wanted something hot to drink on the chilly beach, but coffee didn’t sound good. No point in fueling her anxiety with more caffeine.

  She stopped in at Starbucks for tea. Before ordering her drink, she visited the bathroom to freshen up before her date. Monkeys were dancing a jig inside her and she couldn’t stop thinking about her interview the next day.

  She peered at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. It’s going to be okay, she told herself. A worried face stared back at her.

  “Are you alright?” a woman in her late fifties asked. She wore tan linen slacks under a black sleeveless shift. Gretchen felt scrubby in comparison.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Sorry, I was talking to myself.”

  “It sounded like you were worried about something,” the woman observed. “Is there anything I can do to help? I have six kids of my own, so I have a lot of experience if you need a friendly ear.”

  Gretchen looked at her watch and then back at the woman. She didn’t usually befriend strangers, but there was still twenty minutes before she needed to meet Parker. The woman smiled pleasantly at her. Maybe it would do her some good to talk with someone impartial about her interview nerves.

  “I’d like that.” They exited the bathroom and the woman found them a table while Gretchen ordered a mint tea. As she approached the woman with her drink, she again wondered what she was doing. This woman was a stranger to her. In some respects, that seemed better because she’d most likely never see her again. She sat down at the table and sipped her tea.

  The woman smiled at her. “So what’s going on?” she asked.

  “I have this job interview tomorrow and I can’t get it out of my head that I’m going to screw it up.”

  “I’m sure you aren’t going to screw it up. Is it an interview for a position you have experience in?”

  “Yes, well, no. I don’t know how to answer that.” Gretchen slumped. “It’s for the sales position at a new development up the coast. Anyways, I have experience in property management, but not really in real estate sales.”

  Her companion opened her mouth to say something and then shut it before uttering a word.

  Gretchen noticed the woman’s hesitation and said quickly, “I’m a licensed real estate agent, I just haven’t had many opportunities to sell properties.”

  The woman nodded. “If this is something you’re interested in, you should pursue it. You can’t get experience in something if you aren’t actively doing it.”

  That made a lot of sense to Gretchen. She finished her tea, savoring the strong hit of mint from the bottom of the cup. What time was it? She glanced at the clock on the wall and pushed her chair away from the table. “I’ve got to go meet someone, but I really appreciate the advice. You’ve made me feel a lot better.”

  The woman regarded her with a contented smile. “I’m glad I could help. Hey, I never got your name.”

  “Gretchen Roberts.”

  The woman’s smile slipped for a moment and then reappeared. “Nice to meet you. Good luck with your interview.”

  Gretchen thanked her and hurried out to her car. She arrived at the beach parking lot just as Parker pulled up.

  He grinned at her and jogged over to her car, where he helped her retrieve the kites from her car. “This was a great idea. I’m glad you thought of it.”

  “Me too.” Between her conversation with the woman and Parker’s companionship, her spirits were rising as high as the kites being flown on the beach. Things were going to work out.

  8

  “Parker, are you there?” a woman’s voice called from the other side of the door to his condo. She knocked again. He’d tried to ignore the knocking, but she wasn’t going to give up. He turned off the TV and ambled to the front door.

  “I’ll be there in a second.” The knocking stopped.

  He opened the door. “Hi, Mom.”

  Denise Gray pushed past him into the kitchen, flipping on the lights as she went. “This place is so dark. I don’t know how you live like this.”

  He winced at the abrupt change in light. “I was watching TV.”

  “You need to get out of the house, meet a nice girl.”

  “Yes, Mom.” He certainly wasn’t going to tell her that he’d spent the day flying kites at the beach with a nice girl. He wasn’t ready to tell her about Gretchen yet.

  Even though he’d sworn off women, there was something about Gretchen that had immediately attracted him to her. The day they met, he couldn’t help asking her out to lunch at the Bluebonnet Café. Their romantic date at Arturo’s had solidified the feeling. She was different. If his mother got her hooks into his relationship with Gretchen, she’d make a mess of it.

  Denise sat down on a bar stool and tapped her foot against the metal rung.

  “What?” he asked. She had that look on her face like she was bursting to tell him something.

  “You’ll never guess who I met today.”

  “Who? Queen Victoria?” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the refrigerator.

  “No. Gretchen Roberts.” She regarded him with a smug expression on her face.

  “Gretchen Roberts,” he repeated. How had his mother found out already about them dating? To hide his stunned reaction, he turned and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and filled it from the refrigerator’s water tap.

  “Yes, Eliza and Daniel Roberts’ daughter. Apparently she followed them into the family business. Probably just as crooked as they are. She was in Starbucks this morning and was telling me about how she was in the running for the Oceanview Estates job.”

  “Really.” Her comment about Gretchen had caused his blood pressure to rise. She didn’t even know Gretchen and she was making assumptions about her. He wanted to defend her, but if he did so, it would reveal their relationship and he wanted to keep it quiet for a little longer.

  “Yes. And get this: she’s worried about not being a good candidate for it. You should try to get the position instead. You’d be perfect for it.” Denise pulled her phone out of her purse. “Your father and I met Martin Egglesby last month at a real estate developer’s conference. If you’re interested, I can call him now and let him know.” She stared at him, waiting for his response.

  His head spun with the news, but he tried hard not to let it show. At least she didn’t seem to know that Gretchen had been in Haven Shores to meet him. He sipped his water.

  “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t need you to arrange an interview for me. I can get jobs on my own.” He walked over to the door and opened it.

  Denise took the hint. As she brushed past him, she put her hand on his arm. “I know things have been tough for you with Graham lately. This type of opportunity could be a huge boost to your career—and for Gray and Associates. Just think about it.” She left, the scent of her floral perfume trailing after her.

  He returned to his seat on the couch and picked up the remote, but didn’t turn the TV back on. His mother was right. The position at the new development could thrust his career forward. But was it worth it to go head-to-head with Gretchen to achieve that goal?

  On Monday morning, Gretchen dressed in her most professional blouse and skirt, drank her coffee and forced herself to eat a piece of buttered toast. She normally ate a larger breakfast, but the churning in her stomach made her rethink that this morning. Her interview with Martin could be one of the most important events in her life. If she was hired to sell the properties, she would have the experience necessary to make it in a bigger city. Maybe he’d even hire her for another project. This was huge.

  At the thought of moving to another city, she flashed back to her date with Parker. If she moved away from the area, she’d be leaving Parker. She brushed the thought aside. Although her date with him on Thursday night had been magical, they’d only had one date, two if you counted lunch at the Bluebonnet Café after the chocolate festival. She’d worry later about how moving would affect her relationship with him.

  She rem
oved her suit jacket from the hanger and pushed her arms through the sleeves, then checked out her reflection in the mirror. Her wavy, dark hair was pulled back into a sensible bun, and no dog hairs sullied the gray suit jacket and skirt. The turquoise shirt highlighted the blue in her eyes and brightened her pale complexion.

  “You’re going to rock this interview,” she said confidently into the mirror. “You’re a professional.” The woman in the mirror smiled back at her.

  She recited positive affirmations while she drove the few miles to her interview. A business and self-improvement book she’d once read had advised visualizations and affirmations before important business meetings, and she’d found that they helped to center her.

  She parked in front of the sales office trailer and took a few deep, calming breaths. Then she checked her face in the mirror and stepped out of the car. Straightening her skirt, she picked her way across the graveled parking lot in her kitten heels. With another deep breath, she knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” a voice boomed from inside.

  The older man she’d seen when she met Maggie at Off the Vine sat behind a desk. He motioned to the seat across from him.

  “Gretchen, I presume.”

  She nodded. The scent of cinnamon air freshener filled the air and she fought the urge to sneeze.

  “Please, sit down.” He smiled at her. “Can I get you anything? A glass of water?”

  “No, I’m fine.” She sat, clutching a black portfolio. Her heart beat fast with nerves and she figured she’d be more likely to spill the water on herself than drink it.

  “Let’s get started then.”

  She released her tight grip on the portfolio and removed sales data from the properties she’d sold. She handed it to him. He flipped through the pages, but didn’t look impressed.

  “It appears that you’ve sold a few individual properties, but I don’t see any experience as the primary real estate agent on a new development.” He peered at her from over the top of his glasses. “I was under the impression that you had more experience. Your friend, Maggie, said you’d been working as a real estate agent at Candle Beach Real Estate for ten years.”