by Elks, Carrie
She shifted in her chair, her fingers still drumming. “I like working,” she said. “I don’t believe in doing anything half-baked.”
Yeah, he could see that about her. And it only made her more attractive. Another good reason for her to take two weeks off so he could concentrate on getting the latest Déjà Brew up and running, without being distracted by those lithe, tanned legs.
He cleared his throat. “You won’t be doing anything half baked,” he reassured her. “Once we’re up and running I’m going to need all of your energy and concentration. I won’t have the ability to be spending a lot of time here, so I’m going to need to trust you. That means that when we start training in a week’s time, I need you well rested and ready to learn. So go home, relax, and enjoy your break.”
He stood up and waited for her to do the same. When she did, he walked slightly ahead of her, gesturing to the door. She followed silently, opening it up, still unlocked from when Jeff had made his speedy escape, and turned back to look at him.
“Go on,” he said, giving her an encouraging nod.
Nate had spent most of his life surrounded by women in one way or another, but he’d never quite understood them. Chuckling softly, he walked back to the counter and rolled open the plans the building contractors had couriered over, making sure everything was ready for the construction team.
* * *
Later that night, Nate lifted a whiskey glass to his lips, taking a moment to smell the aroma of the warm grain before tipping his head back and letting the liquor coat his tongue. He’d been working since the early afternoon, setting up his office at the back of the house, chairing two video conferences with his staff in Seattle, and making phone call after phone call to try and trouble shoot some zoning issues.
He’d stopped at seven, long enough to ask Riley if she wanted something to eat, to which she’d shrugged and slumped down on the sectional sofa, closing her eyes as though to make a point.
He’d ordered pizza. She hadn’t come when he called, but when he went out to pour himself a drink twenty minutes ago, he noticed three slices had disappeared. At least she was eating – that was one thing to be grateful for.
Nate glanced at the framed photograph on his desk. It had followed him from office to office for years, starting in the cramped room above his first coffee shop, before moving on to bigger rooms as his business grew. For the past four years it had been on his large polished oak desk in downtown Seattle, where he’d had the best view over the city.
It was a photograph of a small child with a huge gap-toothed smile. That’s how he remembered Riley as a little girl – she laughed so much and so loudly you couldn’t help but join in. He could have closed his eyes and picked her out just from hearing her chuckles. When was the last time he’d heard those?
In those days he’d only seen her on the weekends and during the holidays. He’d leave the coffee shop early on Friday afternoon and make the drive north to Mount Vernon, where Riley lived with her mom, and pick her up before turning right around to take her back to Seattle. On Saturday she’d help him open the shop, laying out the pastries with concerted effort, remembering not to lick her gloved fingers in between each one.
She’d long since stopped coming with him to work. In the past couple of years, she’d barely wanted to come and visit with him in Seattle at all. He’d understood her reluctance – all her friends were in Mount Vernon, along with the gymnastics studio she trained at four times a week. What thirty-something old father could compete with that?
And then suddenly, shockingly, they were forced together. Two people who had only ever spent short periods of time with each other. Along with this massive grief that his daughter carried with her and Nate had no idea how to deal with.
Nor did Riley. So she did everything she could to show the world she was angry at it. And now they’d moved almost a thousand miles south to California. It had felt like a good idea swapping the city for the beach. Taking Riley to a much smaller town that had less crime and a lot more fresh air. But his daughter clearly disagreed. He should be used to that by now – they disagreed on pretty much everything. And yet he couldn’t help but feel frustrated at their lack of understanding.
He drained his glass, standing up and carrying it out of the office to the kitchen, where he put it in the dishwasher drawer. Then he closed the pizza box, sliding it into the refrigerator in case Riley decided to creep down for a midnight snack. He shook his head at the contents of the fridge – everything in there looked unhealthy. A trip to the grocery store was in their very near future.
He might be failing her in every other way, but he could at least look after her nutrition.
Flicking the lights off in the hallway, he set the alarm for the doors, softly padding down the hallway to his bedroom. Riley’s room was two doors down from his – he’d deliberately given her that room so she could have some privacy. He stopped outside it, breathing softly as he wondered whether to knock on her door or not.
Then he heard it. A loud sob followed by a shuddering breath and it cut right through him. Nate swallowed hard, his chest aching. He knocked on the door and pushed it open. Riley was curled up on her bed, her body shaking as she cried, her hands covering her face in an attempt to muffle the sound.
This time he didn’t hesitate for a moment. He walked right over and scooped her up, holding his daughter against his chest, stroking her hair as she wept. He dropped his face into her hair, whispering that it was okay, that she was okay, mumbling little tiny words that didn’t seem like enough at all.
And right then she was the same little girl he’d once known. The one who clung to him when she was scared, and jumped into his arms when she was happy. And right now, she was desperately sad and he had no idea how to make things better.
But he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t stop trying.
4
Ally pulled up short on the sand and bent in two, her lungs working overtime as she gasped for air.
Three days. That’s all it had been since she’d last worked at the café, and yet it was long enough to feel like she was going crazy. She’d cleaned her condo from top to bottom, and the local Goodwill had been the lucky recipient of six huge bags full of clothes and accessories she’d managed to clear out in her desperate attempts to keep herself busy.
Her whole body ached, not only from the constant activity at home, but also from the grueling runs she’d been going on, each one longer than the last. Yet none of them had managed to remove the constant fizzing from her veins. That’s how she used to try and describe it to her mom when she was little. It was as though somebody had removed all the blood from her and replaced it with bottles of soda, the liquid making her limbs feel jittery and desperate to keep moving.
She’d been eight when that feeling first started. Her pediatrician had run test after test before referring her to the child psychologist, suggesting it may be a psychosomatic response to her parents’ then recent divorce. But her mom had baulked at the psychologist’s suggestion of putting Ally on medication, choosing instead to try and help her daughter with a combination of exercise and meditation. For the most part she’d succeeded, too. Though Ally had been more active than the average child, her energy had been manageable.
It was only in recent years that it had gotten worse again. And right now it was almost excruciating to stand still for too long. She had to keep moving or she’d explode.
Her phone ringing was a welcome distraction. She grabbed it immediately, a warm feeling washing over her when she saw Ember’s name on the screen.
“Hey.” She couldn’t help but smile. Ember did that to people.
“Hey. Are you okay?” Ember asked. “I thought I’d give you a call while I have a break.” Ember worked as a Kindergarten teacher at Angel Sands Elementary School. A glance at Ally’s watch told her it was lunch time there. “I stopped by at your place after work last night but you weren’t there.”
“I was probably at Goodwill.” For her t
hird visit. “Or maybe I was running.”
“You can’t have been running. You went out yesterday morning, remember? Lucas said he saw you on the beach.”
And that’s exactly where she was right now. Unlacing her shoes ready to run all the way over to Silver Bay and back again to feel the rush of air through her lungs. “I’ve been running twice a day,” she admitted. “It’s too lovely out here to be cooped up indoors all day.”
Ember laughed. “Tell me about it. The children are driving me crazy. I could barely get their attention this morning. They were too busy looking out of the window to listen to me.”
Ally knew exactly how they felt. She could remember the agony of having to sit still at school, completely unable to concentrate on what the teacher was saying at the front of the class. No wonder she’d had to work so hard to keep up her grades. And thank goodness for athletics club. Not to mention gymnastics and swim team.
“Have you heard how the renovations are going at the café?” Ember asked.
Ally glanced to her left. Okay, so she just happened to run past the café at least twice a day. And if she peeked in through the windows to see how they were going? Well that was just natural, wasn’t it?
She pulled her socks off, stuffing them into her brand new running shoes, then carried them over to Lorne’s surf shop – her latest hiding place, which happened to be very far from any trashcans. She was still upset about that. Still upset about everything really. In just a few days it felt as though her life had been turned upside down. And though she’d spent half of them running as fast as she could, she couldn’t get over the thought that in reality she’d just been going backward.
“They’ve ripped everything out,” Ally said, her throat aching at the thought. “All the old tables and chairs were taken away in a dumpster.” Along with all those years and memories. Those booths, lined with tattered benches, had been a staple of her childhood. She’d sat there and watched as her dad served customers as a child. As a teenager he’d let her stand on the other side of the counter, filling up mugs with hot coffee and taking orders for Jeff to cook up in the kitchen.
“Oh sweets. That must be hard,” Ember clucked sympathetically. Even though she’d been through her own troubles in the past few years – first with her fiancé, Will, leaving her after years of living together, followed quickly by Ember’s beloved father dying so suddenly – she still worried more about other people than she did for herself.
That was one of the reasons why Ally was so happy her friend had found love again with Lucas Russell, a lieutenant in the fire department. He took care of her, the way Ember took care of everybody else, and it was a beautiful thing to see.
“It’s okay,” Ally said, swallowing hard. “It needed a makeover anyway. I would have done it years ago if I could’ve afforded it.” She took a step back, her feet sinking into the warm sand, and glanced over toward the café. Not that you could tell it was that anymore. Along with the furniture and the kitchen equipment, the signage on the front had also met its fate in the dumper truck. Now the building was bare, the old white paint half-peeled off where the signs had been removed.
It was hard to believe that in another few days the Beach Café – or Déjà Brew as it was now – would be ready for training to begin, before opening to the public.
Just a few more days. That’s all she needed to get through before she’d be working again.
From the corner of her eye she saw the door open, and a loud cacophony of banging and drilling spilled out. Nate Crawford walked through the doorway, his phone held to his ear, his hand pressed against his other one in an effort to hear what the caller was saying. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and dress pants today. In their place were a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that seemed to cling to every ridge of his body, and for a moment she couldn’t help but stare at him.
“I guess I’d better go,” Ember said down the line, bringing Ally’s attention back to their conversation. “I need to get the classroom ready for this afternoon’s lessons. Hey, did you want to meet up this weekend? We should take advantage of the fact you won’t be working for once.”
“Yeah, sure.” Ally’s reply was half-hearted. She was still staring at the man who had turned her life upside down. He’d walked away from the café and was leaning against the wall between the beach and the parking lot.
There was something about him that drew her in. Every time she looked at him she felt a little rush of pleasure, followed by a warming sensation that flooded her veins. And for a moment she didn’t feel restless at all. As though she could have stood in the same place all day watching him.
Ugh. Stalkerish much? She shook her head at herself. Maybe it was seeing a man running the café again that was unsettling her. Reminding her of when her father was constantly behind the counter. Yeah, better not to delve down into that too much. The last thing she needed was a daddy-complex.
After Ember ended the call, Ally slid her phone back into the band fixed with Velcro around her bicep. Then she glanced back at her boss for one final time, leaning down to stretch out her leg muscles. But this time his head was up and he was looking right at her. The shock of their gazes connecting was like an electric prod to her skin. Her heart started to hammer in spite of the fact she hadn’t moved at all.
Unlike Ally, Nate didn’t look embarrassed to be caught looking. Instead he gave her a nod and walked in the opposite direction, as if he’d barely noticed her at all.
Licking her dry lips, she turned around and began to stretch, the soles of her feet pushing against the rough sand as warm gusts of air caressed her skin. Within moments her mind would be beautifully, achingly blank, and not full of Nate Crawford and the new café. And that was just the way she wanted it, because she was thinking about him way too often for her own good.
* * *
“She’s sick?” Nate repeated, his brows pulling down into a frown. “What’s wrong with her?” He had to shout to make himself heard. Until he’d taken this call he hadn’t realized how loud the construction work was – he’d become immune to it after days of banging and drilling. He made a mental note to apologize to all the other business owners surrounding him. They’d been more than understanding about all the mess surrounding the café.
“Yes, Mr. Crawford,” the school nurse replied. “She says she has a headache and feels dizzy. We’ve given her some pain medication and let her rest for the past half hour, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Hopefully taking her home will help.” She sounded more sympathetic than Nate felt right then. Riley had been perfectly fine when she’d left for school that morning. Well enough to have a shouting match with him when he’d told her that he still wasn’t getting her a car and she’d have to catch the bus home for the foreseeable future.
Nate sighed. “Okay, I’ll come over and pick her up.” He ended the call and glanced at his watch. He had an hour before the building inspector was due to take a look at the work they’d done so far. Just enough time to pick Riley up and drop her off at home. Not enough for them to get into another screaming match. That was a win at least.
All the while he’d been talking, he’d been staring out at the beach. Well, not the beach exactly. If he was honest, his gaze was firmly on the woman warming her muscles up on the sand about twenty yards away from him. She was leaning forward, her hands clasped around her ankle as she stretched out her quadriceps.
Christ, she was flexible. Her entire body was perfectly formed. From her long, lean legs that led up to the flare of her hips, dipping into her small waist that was only accentuated by the spandex shorts she was wearing.
What she wasn’t wearing, he noticed, were shoes. A flash of guilt went through him again as he remembered throwing her last pair away. He wondered where she stashed them now? Not anywhere near the café, he was sure of that.
She looked up at him, her eyes widening as her gaze caught his. His breath caught in his throat, and for a moment nothing else registered. Not the sound of the constructio
n work in the café, nor the softer splash of the ocean as it kissed against the shore. It was just the two of them alone on the beach.
Dear God, he was seeing things that weren’t there. And even if they were, they shouldn’t be. He gave her a quick nod, trying to dismiss the heat that was rushing through his veins. Turning away, he began to walk toward the parking lot, ready to drive to the high school and pick up Riley.
By the time he turned back, Ally had started to run, the muscles in her thighs tensing as she made her way down to the water’s edge. He watched her for a moment, impressed by her strength as well as the form of her body.
Shaking his head at himself, he turned back to the car. He wasn’t some hormonal teenager. And he had enough things to worry about, with Riley and the café, not to mention being thousands of miles away from his growing business. The last thing he needed to be doing was admiring Ally Sutton’s muscles.
And with that thought, he tried to push her straight out of his mind. Whether it worked, remained to be seen.
* * *
Ally loved this part of the beach, where the buildings and the tourists gave way to nature. She ran past the dunes and skipped over the rocks, heading toward the tiny cove where she used to come for picnics with Brooke and Ember. The three of them would stuff themselves full of whatever they’d managed to grab from their parents’ kitchens, barely able to eat because they were all talking too fast about whatever the latest school gossip was, or more often, about their crush of the month.