by Zoe Chant
Lydia applied it expertly, but made herself slow down and continue the conversation, making suggestions about the best things to do at the resort, and the foods not to miss. “Chef’s cinnamon brittle at the dessert table,” she said firmly. “If you like sweets or cinnamon even a little.”
A guest wanted to feel pampered and important, she reminded herself. That was her first job.
“No tip?” the guest said hesitantly, admiring her new nails as they dried.
“Oh, no,” Lydia said. “Everything is included. If you feel moved, you can leave a general tip on your way out, because everyone here pulls together and I couldn’t do my work without the handyman who keeps our plumbing going, or a dozen people you may never even see!” She thought tenderly of Wrench.
Finally, the guest left, and Lydia could wash her hands and go meet Ally.
Chapter 23
Ally was exactly as Wrench remembered, all pink cheeks and blonde curls, and nothing like his own dour, dark-haired self. She bounded off the plane into Wrench’s open arms. “Uncle WRENCH!”
“You know you’re going to have to be more quiet than that here,” he scolded her, enfolding her into a hug that lifted her off the ground.
“The plane was REALLY LOUD,” Ally protested. “My ears are all numb.”
Wrench held onto her longer than she wanted and Ally squirmed free and dropped back to the ground. “THANK YOU!” she hollered at the stewardess who was helping to fold up the stairs, waving enthusiastically.
While Wrench helped Travis load supplies into the van, she tripped back and forth with them, carrying the lightest items, sometimes with hilarious results.
She continued to be exuberant for the entire trip back, shouting over the road noise and exclaiming over all of the lush greenery and ridiculous road conditions.
Graham met them at the top of the resort. “Scarlet’s at the bar,” he told them briefly, and Ally came up from underneath the tarp she’d been crouched under. “You’re clear for now.”
“Are you the gardener?” Ally asked, looking at the wheelbarrow he’d been pushing.
“Groundskeeper,” Graham growled at her.
“Can you tell me what all the plants are?” Ally asked eagerly, pulling her purple speckled suitcase out from under the tarp and letting it fall down the steps behind her as she scrambled out from the van.
Graham glared down at her until Travis laughed at them. “If Wrench hasn’t been able to scare her, what makes you think you could?” he asked. “Come here, kitten, let’s get you down to Lydia’s.”
Ally tried to take point, even not knowing where she was going, and nearly led them into Scarlet’s office.
“No, no,” Travis and Wrench both said together.
“Never in there,” Wrench added.
“I’ll lead,” Travis said, and they shushed Ally as they passed above the bar to the spa.
She squeaked and then covered her mouth as they walked into Lydia’s courtyard. “It’s so pretty,” she whispered.
“Did you do this?” Travis asked in amazement.
“Had a few hours,” Wrench said, disproportionately pleased by their reactions. “Not done yet.”
The mosaic had grown. He had returned to the spot of his picnic with Lydia and gathered up the broken shells and rocks that had been collected and abandoned to add to his materials.
The first few butterflies were still awkward, but as the image moved from lower right to upper left, they had improved, and the addition of shimmering mother-of-pearl and dark lava rock had given Wrench the extra colors he’d wished for. He’d begun experimenting with size and rotation, and the effect, as he’d hoped, was that they gained life and motion as they spilled out of the original corner.
“Can I do some?” Ally asked eagerly, eyeing the bucket and the bag of thinset.
“Sure, kid,” Wrench said.
“It’s a good way to keep her busy while she’s lying low,” Travis said with approval. He was still appraising the mosaic. “Can you do one of these on that wall on the restaurant deck? That one that’s just painted cement? I’ve been thinking I’d tile it one of these days, but this would be better.
Wrench shrugged. “Sure.”
“Oh, maybe we could wrap a couple of columns with this stuff,” Travis suggested gleefully.
But the lynx shifter’s opinion had ceased to matter, because the one person he really wanted approval from came out of the spa drying her hands on her apron.
“You must be Ally,” Lydia said to the girl, then she looked up at the mosaic and her jaw fell open. “Oh, Wrench! It’s gorgeous!”
“Are you my uncle’s girlfriend?” Ally asked suspiciously.
Lydia looked at Wrench like a drowning woman. “I, ah…”
“She’s my mate,” Wrench said, in what he hoped was a squashing voice.
It was usually effective on grown men, but less so on little girls.
“Oh, are you an Australian?” Ally asked with interest.
Lydia smothered a laugh. “No, dear, I’m from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.”
Ally looked disappointed. “Well, I’ve always wanted to meet someone from Australia. Do I have to live with you?”
“I hope it won’t be as bad as all that,” Lydia said tolerantly. “Let me show you your room.”
Ally perked up at that. “I get my own room?”
“It’s technically my closet,” Lydia admitted. “But it’s big enough for a cot, and I’ve moved most of my clothes out so we can make it yours.” She offered Ally a hand, which was accepted after just a moment.
“It’s a good thing you’re doing,” Travis said, when the two had slipped into Lydia’s room.
“Not much else I could do,” Wrench grumbled.
“We’d better get cracking on those roof repairs,” Travis said. “After that big deal we made about getting the supplies in.”
Wrench grunted, and was kind enough not to point out the big deal had been all Travis.
Chapter 24
Lydia was relieved by Ally’s impression of her new bedroom. “It’s CUTE!” she said in glee. “Like a fort!”
Lydia had given the room a little extra glow with a string of Christmas lights she’d borrowed from the holiday supplies, and found a mosquito netting to drape the little spare cot in. Every spare pillow she could find went in to make the bed more homey, and she’d draped it with one of the fancier cottage quilts; they had plenty of extra bedding, at least. Her own hanging clothing had been mostly put in boxes under the cot, the few garments she knew she’d need were pushed to the back.
“Oooo, can I wear the dresses?” Ally asked.
Lydia hesitated. She didn’t want to say no, but… “Only when I’m here, dear. Some of them are tricky to get on and some are a little fragile.”
“They are PRINCESS dresses!” Ally said, not dismayed by Lydia’s decree. She pulled her little suitcase over and began dumping her clothes—scruffy jeans and t-shirts, mostly—willy nilly into the drawers that Lydia pointed out as hers. “Are you an actress?”
“I run the spa,” Lydia explained. “And I teach dance classes.”
“I was supposed to take ballet,” Ally said wistfully. “Can I take your class?”
“Yes,” Lydia said, then regretfully, “No. No one is supposed to know you are here, of course! But I can give you a special class.”
Ally gave an ear-splitting squeal of delight and threw her short arms around Lydia’s hips. “I’m so EXCITED!” she said.
Lydia shushed her, and Ally clamped a hand over her mouth. “THORRY!” she said, not at all quietly from between her fingers.
“I have to go work in the spa soon,” Lydia said. “I’m afraid I don’t have much here for kids, but we’ve tried to find some things for you that would be fun.” She opened up a drawer and shared the few treasures that the staff had scrounged together: Travis has brought a carpenter’s pencil and a notebook, Tex had supplied a pack of cards. Bastian had supplied a little bag of shells. Even Graham ha
d brought by a wholly unexpected stuffed kitten which looked quite well-loved.
“It’s okay,” Ally said softly, but she said it bravely. She lifted up the notebook and pencil, and sat down on the little bed. “Can I draw in this whole thing?”
Lydia failed her attempt to resist patting Ally on the top of her curly head. “The whole thing,” she assured her.
“Senora!” There was an anxious whisper from the doorway, and Lydia turned to find one of her assistants, Anna, wringing her hands. “It’s Senora Scarlet!”
“She must have heard about the ants! I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Lydia promised Ally in a whisper, and she pulled the closet curtain closed and rushed after Anna.
Sure enough, Scarlet was scowling at the product shelf.
“We’ve got the ants all cleaned up,” Lydia said with a broad smile that she hoped didn’t look too guilty.
A single lost ant, smaller than a fingernail, attempted to make a liar out of her by crawling up a bottle of massage oil.
Scarlet picked it up and let it flee around her finger in little ant terror. “Hmm,” she said, before she flicked it onto the ground out of the open door. “I was actually here to talk about which products you were running low on that were most critical. We’re going to have to airmail them over, so I want to make sure that we’re only ordering what we need for now.”
“Oh, ah, of course.” Lydia felt her cheeks heat. “Well, we’re nearly entirely out of the hair conditioning spray, and there are three key colors of foundation the Mr. Shifter competition ran us out of. We don’t have to restock all of the colors of polish right away, but we do need the clear coat rather desperately.”
Scarlet took careful notes as Lydia showed her each of the nearly empty bottles and cosmetic trays.
“We’ve got another week or two worth of most of the massage oils, we can do without as many choices as usual, and we’ve got the most important unscented oil in case someone has allergies.” Lydia hoped she wasn’t talking too quickly or nervously, and made herself take a deep breath and try to center. “Most everything else will last a few weeks, so we don’t have a lot of buffer, but it should get us through.”
“What did the ants get into?” Scarlet asked, giving Lydia a hard look.
Lydia knew that she was doing a terrible job of looking innocent, and wished desperately that she had a fraction of Wrench’s poker face now. At least she had a story to fall back on.
She sighed. “Someone left the honey facial treatment open. We had some sugar ants this morning, but I got them all cleaned up before the rush started.” They were standing far enough away from the guests being pampered that the sound of the dryer was enough to keep her careful words from carrying.
“Hmm,” Scarlet said, looking over the shelf.
“They do love the sweet things, you know. Just can’t resist it.” Lydia had to stop herself from babbling further.
“Speaking of things you can’t resist…” Scarlet trailed off, giving Lydia a skeptical sideways look.
She knew, Lydia realized. She didn’t know how, but Scarlet knew about Ally.
“I know what goes on in my resort,” Scarlet reminded her mildly, confirming her guess.
“We couldn’t do anything else,” Lydia said defensively.
Scarlet’s smile was unexpected, if a little exasperated. “You don’t generally get a lot of choice in the matter,” she said with amusement.
Lydia blinked at her in confusion. “I don’t mean to put you out,” she said apologetically. “And it’s only temporary.”
Scarlet’s smile cooled. “Temporary? Are the two of you planning to leave Shifting Sands, then? Or are you thinking of a honeymoon?” She looked as confused as Lydia felt.
“Honeymoon?” Lydia squeaked.
Scarlet raised an eyebrow at her. “With Wrench?”
Lydia stared, trying to put the pieces together. “Wrench,” she repeated.
“Your mate,” Scarlet reminded her.
She didn’t know about Ally, Lydia realized in a rush. She’d found out that Wrench and Lydia were mates, which, to Lydia’s astonishment, was so natural and perfect as to be unremarkable in her own head now.
She put a hand over her eyes and laughed weakly in relief. “It’s been a crazy week,” she admitted to Scarlet.
“I’m so happy for you,” Scarlet said warmly.
“We haven’t made long-term plans,” Lydia said faintly, remembering Wrench’s reluctant proposal.
Scarlet put a hand on her arm. “Are you happy?”
Lydia blinked at her in surprise. “So happy,” she blurted without thinking. “It’s been…” what word had Tex used? “Complicated.” The word failed to capture the nuance. “But I’m... really happy.” She laughed, and felt a little shocky. “Really happy,” she repeated, with emphasis.
And she was.
Wrench made her feel complete in ways that Lydia had never even known she was missing.
He hadn’t come with the romance that Lydia had expected, but she couldn’t imagine her life without him any longer. And the life she imagined for them together filled her with joy and contentment.
Scarlet gave her a swift, warm hug, a strangely familiar gesture for the resort owner.
“I’m glad,” she said simply.
“I’m sorry if it’s been any disruption,” Lydia said contritely, thinking of her several late classes.
Scarlet waved her off. “No one has complained. I’ll get this product ordered, and if you need time off, please give me some warning.”
“Of course,” Lydia agreed. “You’ll know my plans as soon as I do.”
As Scarlet left, Lydia heaved a sigh of relief.
A burly blonde man replaced her in the doorway. “I am here for a massage, yes?” Lydia recognized him as the Swedish hockey player, now tanned to a new shade of bronze.
“This way,” she said courteously.
Chapter 25
Wrench headed back to Lydia’s courtyard, drenched in sweat. Roof work was hot work, and it had been a sweltering morning of it. The pool, as he walked past, was as busy as he’d ever seen it, with many dozens of guests seeking relief in the cool water as the sun reached its peak. The conversation still buzzed with talk about the earthquake, which had apparently originated very near their little island.
“Another morning of roof repairs should do it,” Travis told Wrench cheerfully. “It goes pretty fast with two sets of hands.”
Wrench grunted.
“We’ll have new glass in next week and get the last two cottages back up and running. Scarlet says the boat she ordered should be ready by then, too, and we can start managing our own deliveries again. That’s a relief.”
Wrench grunted somewhat more positively.
“Bright and early tomorrow at cottage eight,” Travis told him, not at all bothered by Wrench’s surly silence.
Wrench managed an affirmative grunt.
“Say hi to Lydia and Ally for me!” Travis trotted off towards The Den as Wrench continued upwards towards the spa.
Ally. Wrench quickened his pace. Who knew what kind of trouble she might have gotten into if she was too bored. What if she and Lydia hadn’t gotten along?
He drew up at the edge of the courtyard, just beyond a screen of green hedge.
Lydia and Ally were standing together, and both of them were wearing colorful dresses with full, fluffy skirts. Ally’s was clearly too big, and pinned to fit, but the smile on her face was exactly right. A little boom box was playing tinny Latin music.
“Now we’re going to do the side basic,” Lydia said mysteriously. “Watch me first, then we’ll do it together.”
She did something simple with her feet that made her hips do something amazing, counting as she went. “One, two, three, pause, five, six, seven, pause.”
The second time, Ally mimicked her, watching her feet.
“One, two, three, don’t watch your feet! Seven, eight, fantastic!”
Ally squealed, clapping her han
ds and spinning. “This is so FUN,” she said in delight.
Something tight in Wrench’s chest released a fraction.
“Show me the back and forth again,” Lydia commanded, and she counted out, “One, two, three, heel, five, six, seven, heel.”
Ally scrambled to keep up, stepping forward when she should step back, but Lydia patiently led her through it again, facing her so that she could lead her through the movements.
“Everything else builds off these two steps, so once you’ve got them down solidly, we’ll move on,” Lydia told her.
“Can I wear heels like you?”
“It’s best to get the basics down before you get add the complication of heels,” Lydia advised.
Ally pouted dramatically. “How old were you when you got to wear heels?” she asked suspiciously.
“Your age,” Lydia said without apology. “But I had already been dancing for three years. Don’t rush your way to a broken ankle, dear. Let’s do the back and forth and I’ll show you how to go from one to the other.”
Ally’s pout vanished as they went through the steps together several times.
When they finished, Lydia turned towards where Wrench was watching. “You may as well come out,” she said in exasperation, voice carrying. “I know you’re there.”
It took Wrench a moment to realize that she meant him. She must have one of those keen shifter senses. He hoped it wasn’t smell, because he knew he was filthy from the hot work on the roofs.
He stepped out and gingerly accepted Ally’s enthusiastic hug. “Have you heard from Momma?” she asked quietly.
Wrench’s heart fell for her. “Sorry, kitten. But no news isn’t bad news in this case. She’s safe, and she won’t call unless there’s a change.”
Lydia’s soulful, sympathetic brown eyes met his over Ally’s curls.
“Let’s get out of that dress, sweetheart,” she said to Ally. “I’ll undo your safety pins.”
Subdued, Ally let Lydia unfasten the dress and went into Lydia’s room to change back into her shorts.
As Wrench was wondering if it would be appropriate to bend down and kiss her, someone behind him cleared a throat and they turned in alarm to find Scarlet standing at the courtyard entrance.