Her phone rang from the lounge chair nearby. Joselyn worked her way to the pool steps, got out, and slipped into her flip-flops. The phone stopped ringing for a few seconds, then started again. She hurried over and snatched it up to see Luke was calling.
She hesitated. Why was Gina there? The call went to voicemail and she put it back down in her bag with a sigh. There wasn’t an easy answer, but she wasn’t ready to talk. Her stomach began to growl, and the scent of grilled steak wafted by her nose from the nearby bistro. She was famished and ready for dinner.
Snatching up her things, she rushed back to her hotel room to change. She put on a casual dress, blow-dried her hair, and threw on some makeup. She grabbed sandals and swiftly went back downstairs. A good steak was sounding better and better.
Luke leaned back on the soft cushion of one of the long couches flanking the firepit. Josie wasn’t answering, and on his second try he left a short message asking her if they could get together and talk. It sounded so lame; he was certain. He almost called back to leave a second voicemail.
The phone rang and Gina’s number popped up. He groaned and answered.
“Hello?”
“Luke, we have to go out tonight.”
“Gina, we talked about this.”
“If I stay in tonight on my own, Mom’s going to ask why we aren’t going out. I’ll have to tell her.”
Luke massaged his aching forehead. “Would you really have to tell her? She may not notice.”
“She will absolutely notice, you know it.”
“Well, Gina. It’s not ideal, but it probably is time to be honest. That’s actually why I called you earlier. Did you get my voicemail?”
“This is so you can be with Joselyn, right? That’s really why, isn’t it? You both deny it, but I see the way you two look at each other.”
Luke’s neck muscles tightened. He could see how this would go down. Gina would tell Victoria he wanted to be with Josie instead and then Josie would be fired along with him.
“Okay, why don’t we discuss this over dinner? Meet me downstairs by the pool. There’s an entrance to a bistro that overlooks the beach.”
“Sounds terribly romantic. I’ll be down in ten.” With that, she ended the call.
Luke grunted and laid the phone on the cushion beside him. Spending a dinner with Gina would be painful. Was there any chance at all he could convince her to go back home and not take revenge on him via Josie?
He walked over to the entrance to the bistro, then watched the time tick away on a clock hanging on the wall. He hated feeling so stuck and dreading what was coming.
Gina certainly was taking her time coming down here. Twenty minutes passed. Then thirty.
All at once, Gina stepped in front of him, wearing a tight red dress, sparkling with sequins and sporting black feathers. It was a bit over the top, to say the least. Was she going for a shiny rooster look?
“Why do you look so surprised to see me?” Gina planted her hands on her hips and scowled.
Luke stood and held up his hands. “I’m sorry, I was lost in thought.”
“Thoughts about Josie? I’m sure I have no idea what her appeal is.”
“She’s my colleague and my friend, Gina.”
“You keep saying that.” She groaned and rolled her eyes. “Are you buying me dinner?”
“Why don’t we go Dutch this time? I want to be clear this isn’t a date. We’re meeting to talk…right?”
Her eyes were like lasers cutting through him. “The least you could do is pay after breaking my heart.”
“Okay, have it your way.” He waved his hand over toward the door. “After you.”
Gina narrowed her eyes and looped her arm through his. “Come on, be a gentleman.”
He breathed in sharply and led her into the restaurant.
The crowded bistro didn’t deter Joselyn. She was determined to get a steak no matter how long it took. But hopefully it wouldn’t take long to at least get some rolls. She waited in line to be seated, fortunately only for a few minutes.
“How many?” asked the host.
“One.” It was getting easier to say it.
“Right this way.” The host grabbed a single menu and led her to a table in the center of the packed restaurant.
As she took her seat, the host laid the menu on the table in front of her.
“Your server will be with you shortly.”
“Thank you.”
As the host departed, she thought she saw Luke. Wait…
She craned her neck and sure enough, Luke and Gina were seated not far away. Only one table with a noisy group was between them. Gina was covered in sparkles, looking as if she’d gone crazy with a BeDazzler from the eighties. Luke’s muscles were rigid. He couldn’t seem to extricate himself from this situation. But maybe they would talk things out and find a way to make their relationship work. He had apparently agreed to have dinner with her.
She quickly got up and moved to the seat across from her, facing away from Luke. She should be relieved that he wasn’t a possibility, shouldn’t she? If she wasn’t starving, she’d leave, but at least she didn’t think they’d seen her.
A man in a white uniform walked over to her, holding a notepad. “Hello, my name is Kent and I will be taking care of you this evening. What would you like to drink?”
“Ice water.” She was parched after her swim.
“Very good. For appetizers, we have specials on shrimp cocktail, coconut shrimp, grilled pineapple shrimp…”
Her stomach twisted. Victoria’s shrimp cocktail palooza had her sick of the shellfish altogether.
“No shrimp, thank you. Bring me plenty of bread, a garden salad, a medium-well steak and a loaded baked potato.” It was time for a carb overload.
“Coming right up.” He took down her order and left.
Chairs shuffled behind her and she glanced to see the noisy group between her and Luke was wrapping up their conversations and getting ready to leave. What rotten luck!
She faced away from them again, hoping they wouldn’t notice her there.
There was still a lot of conversations going on all around her, but once the group between them was gone, she could hear Gina talking about how much she loved the beach.
She didn’t want to hear what they were talking about. Nope.
Okay, so maybe she was a little curious…
Soon Kent brought out her drink and a bread basket. Good. She needed to focus on food and stay out of Luke’s business.
She devoured the bread in no time and drained her glass.
Chapter Twenty
Gina droned on about her love of everything beach related, and how much she now thought it would be amazing to buy a beach house in Serenity Shores.
Luke clenched his teeth and forced a polite smile, listening while he pushed the lettuce leaves in his salad bowl around with his fork.
“You could sell real estate down here, couldn’t you?” Gina batted her eyelashes at him.
“I don’t have plans to leave my grandmother alone in Atlanta.”
“Why? She has people taking care of her in the home, right?”
Luke squeezed his hand under the table into a tight fist. “Why don’t we talk about why you’re here?”
“All right.” She placed her hands in her lap and sat up straight. “I’d like us to give it another try, as I believe I have already mentioned.”
“I’d like to move on, Gina.” He stabbed a piece of lettuce with his fork. How many times he would have to tell her he wanted to stay broken up before she would let it go? “I think it would be best if you went home.”
She placed a hand over her heart. “But I just got here and Serenity Shores is amazing so far.”
“There’s someone out there for you, Gina, that you truly deserve. But it’s not me.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“Gina, what can I say to convince you that it’s over? We aren’t right for each other.”
“No, that’s not it.” Gina
shook her head and eyed him incredulously. “We are perfect for each other, but you can’t see it now because you’ve found someone else.”
“It really doesn’t matter if I found someone else or not.”
“This is about Joselyn Bell.” She stabbed a finger in his direction. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Luke.”
“This has nothing to do with Josie.” Luke rolled his eyes, then spotted the back of Josie’s head only two tables away. His heart plummeted and fear creeped through his body. “Please leave her out of this.”
“You never made up a cute nickname for me. Why is that? Josie must really be something special.”
Gina’s voice was too loud; Josie might overhear them talking about her. “Would you lower your voice?”
“Am I embarrassing you?”
As Gina started to turn her head, Luke grabbed her hand to distract her. The last thing he needed was for Gina to realize Josie was there.
She stared at his hand on hers and then laced her fingers through his.
“I am sorry, Gina. I’m really, really sorry I hurt you.”
She put her other hand over the top of their joined fingers. “I’ve missed this.”
Luke withheld a moan, but only barely. “I…”
How on earth could he break up with Gina and make her understand without making her angry enough to cause a scene?
“Just admit you have feelings for this woman. Say you made a mistake, and that you’ll walk away from her for good.”
Luke was perplexed. She had far too much of a jealous nature to let it go that easily. “Would that really be good enough for you?”
Her eyebrows knit together, but she said nothing.
“I’ve made plenty of mistakes. It wasn’t fair for me to get involved with you when I worked for your mother. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry, huh?” Her voice was getting louder.
If Gina made a scene and got up to storm out, she’d really lose it if she saw Josie.
“I am sorry, Gina. Why don’t we talk about it?” He clenched his teeth and breathed in deeply.
“You’re in love with Josie, aren’t you?” Gina snatched up her cloth napkin as tears spilled down her cheeks.
“We’re only friends.”
He wasn’t expecting tears. He was only hoping she wouldn’t scream. He couldn’t let himself look at Josie too long or Gina would turn to see who he was staring at. But he couldn’t help glancing her way every time Gina said Josie’s name. Was she somehow not hearing this? He didn’t see Josie turn around to look over at them. There was still hope.
“I thought we had something special,” Gina moaned.
“We…did have…something,” Luke managed to say. Gina took his hand again and nearly crushed it while she cried.
The server arrived with their entrées, but Gina didn’t let go of his hand to make room for the server to place their plates in front of them. The guy worked around their arms stretched across the table. Luke stared at his food while Gina sniffled into the napkin. He had lost his appetite.
Should he apologize again? He’d lost track of how many times he had. “Gina, there is someone out there who can make you happy.”
“I guess you don’t have to worry about finding someone, huh?” She slapped his hand away, jostling her water glass.
Luke swallowed hard and eyed Josie again, who still didn’t turn around. “Let’s just talk some more about how you’re feeling.” He would have rather been back in the kayak with the shark coming at him. Or in the water with the shark.
“I feel…lied to. Betrayed. Heartbroken.” She dabbed her cloth napkin at the corners of her eyes.
“I care about you, Gina, and I want you to be happy.”
“Why is it that you and my mother both think you know what I need to be happy? Shouldn’t I be telling you that?”
Josie turned her head to the side as she signaled the server for something. Was she asking for the check? Maybe he only needed to buy a little more time.
He faced Gina again. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
She then sniffled through a short history of their time together, beginning with the house he’d sold for her and going through her list of their best dates.”
Josie had apparently only been asking for a refill. The server filled her glass with a water pitcher. He was stuck.
“I’ve never been happier than when I was with you.”
Luke hoped that wasn’t true. She had done a lot of yelling while they were together, so it hadn’t seemed like she was particularly happy with him at least half the time. He couldn’t keep listening for too much longer. How long would Josie be there?
“I want you to remember that I want happiness for you. As much as we might wish things were different between us…”
Gina’s lip twisted and her brown eyes narrowed. “Things can’t be different, can they? I have tried everything I can think of, Luke.”
“So have I, Gina. I’m trying to listen to you, but you aren’t listening to me.” Luke shook his head, completely out of ideas of what to say to her.
“I’m done.” Gina stood, smoothed down her dress, and glowered at him.
“Really?” Luke didn’t believe it.
“Yes, you clearly don’t want to get back together because of Josie. So, you are right. It is time to be honest. Time for you to admit it.”
“Once again, this has nothing to do with Josie. Please don’t take this out on her.” He forced himself to unclench his fists. “But it is time to be honest with your mother. I appreciate you keeping our split a secret for a while.”
Gina folded her arms over her chest. “Are you ready to be fired by my mother?”
“Do what you need to do, Gina. But this is between you and me. It has nothing to do with my colleague. Josie and I are friends and that is all.” Unfortunate as it was, it was the truth. He was surprised by how much it hurt to keep saying it.
“Okay.”
Luke wasn’t sure what else to say. “Okay?”
She grumbled under her breath as she snatched up her clutch from the table.
Please, don’t turn around…
“I’ll have a chat with my mother then. Goodbye, Luke.” Then she spun on her heel and marched out of the bistro.
He watched Gina go out the door and breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t seen Josie. It was a miracle. But his relief didn’t last long. Dread filled him from head to toe. Gina was on her way to get him and Josie fired.
Josie turned around slowly and studied him. Gina had made a lot of noise stomping out and banging the door open; of course, no one in the restaurant would have missed that.
He breathed in deeply and gestured for her to join him at the chair Gina had vacated.
Joselyn picked up her cup and sucked on her straw, draining the last drop from her drink, then went to him without thinking twice. She sat across from him and waited.
“Hey,” was all he said with a grim look on his face.
“I’m sorry to intrude like this. I saw Gina storm out and…”
“I don’t know why she came here thinking we could work things out. I was very clear, at least—I thought I was—when we broke up. She may finally believe we are over once and for all. But I don’t know if you heard any of her ranting.”
“Ah…” Joselyn rubbed the back of her neck. “Some of it, yes. Gina thinks you don’t want to get back together with her because of me.”
“I can’t seem to get through to her that we were never getting back together, no matter what or who came along.” Luke leaned his elbows on the table and clasped his hands together in front of his plate. “Josie, I am really sorry about this, but Gina is on her way to Victoria right now.”
Joselyn’s stomach tied itself into a knot. “We’re both about to be fired, aren’t we?”
“I really don’t know how to express how sorry I am.”
“She’s really going to tell her mother that you’d rather be with me? She doesn’t seem convinced we are
only friends.” Joselyn folded her hands in her lap and concentrated on her fingers. Calling them only friends sounded fake. She knew there had certainly been more going on.
“Are you convinced of that?”
Their eyes locked for several heartbeats. Her rustling thoughts had her frozen. She wanted to take his hand and run off into the sunset, but also felt the fear of trusting again keeping her in place.
“I don’t know, Luke. We can’t think about that right now. We have to figure out what to. We’ll lose all our listings, and then who will hire us after being fired by Victoria Verratti?” She clenched her hands into fists, resisting the sudden urge to chew on her nails. “Gossip will spread like a crazy alien virus.”
“Try not to panic.”
“Too late.” She inhaled slowly, trying to bring down her pulse. “Why are you so calm about this?”
“I’m not feeling calm at all, trust me. We do have options to consider, Josie.”
“What options? Convincing Victoria not to fire us?” There was no way she would believe that was a possibility. “It’s more likely we’ll have to get out of the real estate business or move somewhere no one has ever heard of Victoria.”
“You can partner with me on this house I’m flipping. We could finish it together and split the profits. That listing I showed you may be gone by then, but I’m sure we could find another one.”
A tiny wave of excitement threatened her anxiety. Could we really do that?
“Flipping is such a risky venture, Luke,” she said instead.
“It’s true.” Luke nodded, holding her gaze. “But the potential payoff is huge. Even if we break even, we learn things along the way for the next one.”
“It sounds like you’re talking about starting a whole business together.”
“I think we’d make a great team.”
She hesitated. Working with him would be risky. She already knew she couldn’t trust herself around him. His gaze had her muscles melting right now. How long would her resolve to protect herself last with him around so often?
“I don’t know, Luke. Would this be a purely professional venture together or something more?”
Resorting to Romance Page 12