by SUE FINEMAN
It was absolutely the best day Laura had ever had, and her first dinner date. Corbin had taken her to plays and movies, but never out to dinner. Before she moved away from Kingston, there had been times when her friends from high school came into Queenie’s with their dates and she felt left out of something important. Dating Corbin left her disappointed, but Luke made her heart sing.
They walked on the beach that night, talking and laughing, wading in the warm water, and stopping every few steps for a kiss. They gathered sea shells to take home, little treasures to remind them of this blissful time. As if she’d need a reminder.
She gazed into his eyes and knew they could never go back to the tentative friendship they’d had before. Things had changed between them.
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Barbara and Jay arrived Saturday morning. Luke put hamburgers on the grill for lunch and the women made a big salad. They ate outside on the deck, in the shade. Laura said, “I love this place. I could stay here forever.”
“Aw, c’mon girl,” said Jay. “You’d love anyplace you didn’t have to work so hard. You keep sluffin’ off like this, you’ll lose your sass.”
“Hey, don’t pick on my girl,” teased Luke.
“Why not? She’s with the wrong man. She needs somebody who’s older and wiser, somebody who’s been around.”
Laura stabbed her finger at Jay. “You’re the one who needs someone older and wiser, someone who’s been around, someone who can make you behave yourself.”
“Someone as sassy as you?”
“And someone to take care of you.”
“Will you listen to that? She loves me.”
“If only you were a little younger.”
Barbara didn’t look away from Jay’s face. Laura smiled knowingly at Luke. If Barbara and Jay weren’t lovers yet, they would be before the weekend was over.
After lunch, Luke said, “Something came up and we have to get back this afternoon. Looks like you two will have this place all to yourselves.”
Barbara glared at Luke, but Jay was looking at the pool. “That pool looks real invitin’. Too bad I didn’t bring a bathin’ suit.”
“I didn’t either,” said Laura, “and you’re right. It’s wonderful.”
Jay’s head whipped around. “You two went skinny-dippin’ without me?”
“It’s not a group sport, Jay.” Luke grabbed their luggage and headed for the door.
Laura called, “Have fun,” and followed him to the car.
“Oh, we will.” Jay grinned at Barbara. “We definitely will.”
Chapter Sixteen
Luke and Laura spent the weekend at the ranch, playing with Molly, walking along the creek, and making love in Luke’s bed. She was loving and responsive and generous with her body, and she made him feel like the most important and cherished man on the planet. Seeing her change from a girl to a woman was like watching a tender young bud open into a magnificent flower. He couldn’t get enough of her sweet smile or her laugh, or her sexy body.
One evening after they made love, Laura asked, “How much would a generator cost for the café?”
“Don’t you have one?”
“No. Every time the power flickers, I worry about losing all the food in the freezer and refrigerator. Queenie never worried about it, but she didn’t have that much food on hand. If the power went out, she used ice from the motel and packed it around the food, but I can’t do that, Luke. We have too much food, and the ice machine doesn’t work.”
“We’ll buy a generator.” No sense in taking a chance on losing anything. “The stove is propane?”
“Yes, but not the coffee pot. I bought new candles for the tables, just in case, but my customers, especially Charley and Jay, depend on their coffee in the morning.”
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They drove to the café and motel on Monday to check on things. The roof on the café was finished and the motel roof was over half done. Laura loved the multi-hued blue roof, the color they’d picked out together, but it made the dirty stucco outside look even worse. The disappointing part was the parking lot. It was such a mess. They had the old asphalt torn up, but most of it was still sitting there, waiting to be hauled away. “Why on earth didn’t they take out a section at a time, then replace it? Didn’t you ask them to do the part around the diner first?”
“I thought I did. We can’t open this week. We can’t even get near the place.” Luke motioned to Stan Brown, the man in charge, and asked him how much longer it was going to take.
“At least two more days to haul it all away, then we’ll start paving.”
Laura asked, “Can you do the part around the café first, please. I have to re-open soon or I won’t have any business left.”
Stan ignored her and asked Luke, “You want all this paved again?”
“Not necessarily,” Laura replied. “Why don’t we leave a little area in front of the motel for landscaping?”
“Can we see the plans?” asked Luke.
Stan walked to his truck to get the plans.
Luke looked at Laura. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“Well, don’t act so surprised. I’m not stupid.”
“Of course you’re not. What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing. Not a thing.”
Stan walked up with the plans for the parking lot and spread them on the hood of Luke’s car. The two men studied it together, hogging the space in front of the plan.
Laura looked on from the side. “Where was Jay going to put that covered parking?”
“At the ends. In front of the office and between the motel and café, here and here, but we’ll want a few more spaces for guests, won’t we?” Luke pulled a pencil out of his pocket and marked a line across from one end to the other, closing the bottom of the upside-down U. “Stop the pavement right here.” Luke sketched another line across. “We can put a raised planter here, to separate the guest parking area from the lawn, maybe two or three feet wide.”
Laura liked it, she loved it, but she was steaming inside. Luke was taking over again, talking to Stan as if she had no part in the decision, as if she was too stupid to have an opinion. She felt insignificant and angry. Luke ran the conversation without once asking her opinion and that jerk from the asphalt company ignored her completely.
Stan nodded. “Sure, we can do that. We should be finished by the end of the week.”
“Around the motel, too?”
“Everything in the front.”
Luke wasn’t the only one giving orders. Laura said, “Take all that paving out in the back.”
Stan looked at Luke, eyebrows raised.
“Why don’t we put in a little landscaping back there, maybe a gazebo.” Laura hated the way she sounded, as if she were begging for him to notice her.
“Take it all out back there. We’ll call you if we build more apartments,” said Luke.
“We’ll have to come back next week to get all that out,” said Stan, speaking directly to Luke again.
“Forget it. Just finish the front,” she said firmly.
Luke looked at Laura as if seeing her for the first time. “Just finish the front, Stan,” he said, his eyes still on Laura.
“Thank you, Stan,” she said. “Do the part around the diner first, so I can open. Can you handle that?”
Stan looked at Luke for confirmation.
Laura turned away. She’d had enough.
When Stan went back to his crew, Luke asked, “Did I do something wrong?”
“Nothing unusual. You just took over again, without including me. I could have been on the moon for all you cared.”
“You were standing right here.”
“I didn’t think you noticed. That jerk sure didn’t.”
“You could have jumped in at any time.”
“Jumped in the middle of your conversation?”
“Our conversation.”
She slowly shook her head and walked away, avoiding Luke while she paced off her anger. She looked at the work they were d
oing on the motel and, in spite of her anger over the asphalt, was pleased with the progress. She loved the new roof. When they got the parking lot done and the buildings painted outside, the place would look better than it ever had. If Luke had waited for her approval on this project, she might have talked him out of it. He was just trying to do what was best, so why did it bother her so much? Maybe it was the way Stan ignored her. The man obviously didn’t want a stupid woman sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong.
Luke appeared at her side. She said, “I guess I’d better make another sign for the window.”
“Leave that one in for another week. I didn’t mean to leave you out, Laura.”
“I don’t like that man. Every time I said something to him, instead of talking to me, he turned to you. That’s rude. Then you talked to him and ignored me. Maybe I’m not as smart as you, but I own a piece of this and my opinion should matter.”
“It does matter, honey.”
“When he’s finished with the front, I’ll never deal with that man again. If there was anyone else around who could handle the job, I’d fire him right now. You can find someone else to do the back, because I don’t want to deal with Stan Brown again. Ever. Would you do business with anyone who treated you like that man treated me?”
“No, of course not.”
“Let him finish the job he started, then get him out of here. No one treats me like that, Luke. No one. I had enough of that when I worked for Queenie. I will not put up with it again.”
Luke wandered off to look at something and Jay yelled, “Hey, Laura.” He came strolling over looking relaxed, happy, and sunburned.
“How did you like the beach, Jay? Are you sunburned like that all over?”
“Wanta see?” He reached for his pants.
“No. Did you seduce her?”
“Didn’t have to. Barbara forgot her suit, too.”
Laura watched him walk away, a big grin on his face. Something was going right.
She wandered in and out of the apartment units. They looked so good she couldn’t believe this was the same rundown motel her father used to run, the same dingy rooms she’d cleaned since she was twelve years old. The per night rent would be less, since they’d be rented by the month, but the money they took in would exceed the best month Dad had ever had when he was running the motel. The bathrooms had new fixtures, fresh paint, and new vinyl floors, and the kitchens were small, but functional. But the best part was that she no longer had to clean them.
Laura found Luke out by his car, talking on his cell phone. He ended his call and turned to Laura. “Billy bought Earl’s last two loans.”
“What about the other three? If they’re losing money, why does Earl keep them open?”
“Pride. Stupidity.” He shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Or maybe he’s doing another business on the side.”
Luke had an Aha! look on his face. “There’s a locked room in the back corner of the warehouse in Vero Beach. No one’s allowed in there but Earl, but I’ve never seen him go in there.”
“A private office?”
“No, the offices are all on one side. This is a separate little room. No windows. Big padlock on the door. Someone needs to check out the other locations and see if they’re set up the same way.”
“Not you,” said Laura. “If you go, he’ll find out.”
“I’ll ask Billy to hire a private investigator.” Luke shook his head. “I don’t think Earl could handle another business, Laura. And if he’s got something else going, what’s he doing with the money? He’s not paying his bills on time.”
“Florence said Earl had a criminal past. He could be letting someone use his business as a cover.”
Luke unlocked his car and held the door open for her. “Now that wouldn’t surprise me. I wish we could get in there and get a look at the books.”
After Luke sat beside her and started the engine, Laura asked, “Are all Earl’s businesses near the coast, or does he have some inland, in Orlando and Ocala and Gainesville and places like that?”
“They’re all near the coast. Every one of them.”
“Drug smuggling?”
“Could be. That would explain how he could afford to expand as fast as he did.”
“But he has loans.”
Luke pulled out on the highway. “His loans are only on the property. He owns the business free and clear, but you can’t start a business without money. He had to stock the merchandise and get started. No bank would loan him the full amount on the land and buildings, either.”
“What did he do before? Did he have another business?”
“No, and that’s another thing. He had no experience running his own business and no money, yet within three years he had eleven locations. People work for years building their business before they get to that level.”
Laura didn’t tell Luke that Earl was the one who’d pushed Florence into selling her body. He and Hank had turned a young girl into a prostitute.
What else had Earl done?
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Luke had a long talk with Billy the next day and laid out all their suspicions about Earl’s business. “We don’t have anything at this point but speculation, so hire a private investigator to check things out. If we find something, we can take it to the authorities.”
“When do you want to start foreclosure?”
“Hold off on that until we see what the authorities want to do.”
“All right. We have his house loan now, too,” said Billy. “The bank couldn’t wait to get rid it. He’s so far behind they were about to foreclose. Did you see the news last night?”
“No.”
“Channel four did a piece outside Earl’s house. He’s still trying to avoid the press.”
“Does he know we own the loans?”
“He was notified, but I’m not sure he knows who’s behind the corporation.”
“He’ll find out soon enough.” When he did, Earl would be furious.
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Laura moved into Luke’s room at the ranch. They slept together every night and made love in the stillness of the early morning and again before they went to sleep at night. Luke’s tender love made her feel cherished and adored. Their intimacy strengthened the growing love between them, but Laura was so insecure she wasn’t sure it would last. Luke had been with other women in the past, but he was her first. She didn’t want to appear needy or clingy, but the thought of him leaving tore her up inside. Yet, she couldn’t picture a happily-ever-after with Luke. Her life was at Queenie’s, and his life... wasn’t in Kingston.
One afternoon in the living room of the ranch, Luke wrapped his arms around her. “I’m falling in love with you, Laura.”
Her heart wanted to sing, because she loved him, too, but she had to know something before she could tell him she loved him. “What happens when all the work is done at the motel and café? Are you going to move on to another project?” Her voice dropped. “To another woman?”
He pulled back to gaze deeply into her eyes. “To another project, but not to another woman, not unless you don’t want me around.”
Ivy came in the back door with a plate of cookies, interrupting their conversation. “Oops, sorry.”
Laura backed away from Luke. “Come on in, Ivy. Luke and I can talk later.”
Luke was glad for the interruption. He loved Laura and wanted to marry her, but this wasn’t the time or place to ask her. He wanted to get this mess with Earl behind them and the renovations finished at the motel before he made that kind of commitment. And he had to talk with his mother about the corporation. If he and Laura married, he didn’t want to be gone from her all the time. He either had to work from home or she had to go with him. He didn’t want them to be separated for weeks at a time. It was no way to begin a marriage.
“That baby is really growing,” said Laura.
Ivy rubbed her tummy. “Barbara says I have another two months to go. I’ll explode by then.”
“Are
you keeping your baby?”
“I can’t keep it, but I don’t want to give it to someone I don’t know. Are you guys getting married?”
Luke glanced at Laura and back at Ivy. “Why do you ask?”
“I didn’t mean to pry. I just thought...”
“Are you looking for someone to take your baby?”
Ivy nodded.
Laura sat on the sofa with Ivy and took her hand. “Ivy, I’m honored that you’d think of us. I’d love to have a baby someday, and I’d love to have your baby, but I’m not ready to be a mother any more than you are. This baby deserves parents who are ready to be parents, and I can’t take care of a baby right now. I can barely take care of myself. Why don’t you ask your doctor? Or Billy? He probably knows someone.”
Ivy stood. “I’d better get back.” She rushed out the back door, leaving Luke alone with Laura again.
It was a good time to ask. “Do you want kids someday, Laura?”
“I don’t know, Luke. What do I know about being a mother? I grew up without one. Dad did his best, but I always felt like there was something missing in my life.”
Luke grew up with one parent, but he didn’t miss what he didn’t have. He had a great mother, and no kid needed a father like Earl.
He wanted kids of his own, but he didn’t want his kids to grow up without the love and support of both parents. If Laura didn’t want kids, maybe she wasn’t the right woman for him.
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Laura and Luke went to check on things at the café and motel late Saturday afternoon. Stan Brown and his crew were just finishing the paving. He ignored Laura, as usual, telling Luke he’d be back Monday or Tuesday to paint the parking stripes.
Laura spoke slowly and firmly. “You’ll have it done Monday or you won’t be paid.”
For the first time, Stan Brown looked at her as if she had some authority. “I’ll do my best.”
She stared him down. “Then we’ll do our best to pay your bill.” She’d found that jerk’s soft spot.
The new paving still smelled, but it looked nice, smooth and even and slightly sloped so the water would run off. No more Lake Whitfield. He’d left a space for bushes down by the street, as they’d asked, and that space in front of the new apartments was left unpaved, too. He’d also left room for the sunroom and another big space along the back of the café. She pointed. “Luke, what’s that for?”