Finding Love

by Natalie Ann

  “It’s the doctor that treated me at the ER. He lives on the island too. Nice guy. I had a great time with him.”

  “A doctor?” her mother asked. “They tend to be the worst. Always so cocky and full of themselves.”

  Ms. Negativity. Wow. Sheldon hated that she thought like that at times, but never this much. “He’s not like that.”

  “And how do you know?”

  “I don’t,” she said, grinding her teeth. “We had one date. We had a lot of fun. We’re having another one. I’m just looking for someone to go out and do some things with. Someone who has a few things in common with me. I’m not looking to get married.”

  Her mother sighed. “I’m being nasty and I know it. I’m sorry, Sheldon. It’s just your father has been trying to call me lately and I’m ignoring his calls. It’s bringing up old bitter memories.”

  “He called me the other day too,” she said. This was odd.

  “What did he want?” her mother asked.

  “No clue. I didn’t answer. Why would he be calling both of us? Do you think there’s something wrong?” Her father hadn’t made much of an attempt to contact her in her teen years. Not much as an adult either. He pretty much stayed out of her life other than sending child support back then and maybe a few token holiday visits and gifts. That he started to call her in the past year was odd.

  She talked to him a time or two, just brief calls to see what he wanted. He wanted to apologize and she said fine. Then she went on her way. It was too late in her eyes. She wasn’t looking for a father figure this late in her life. Not interested.

  He hadn’t called back for months and then lately, just started again.

  “Is he leaving you any messages?” her mother asked.

  “Nope. Any for you?”

  “No,” her mother said. “If he isn’t, then it can’t be that important. I’m just going to keep ignoring them. You should do the same.”

  She didn’t need her mother dictating her life at this stage of the game. She’d never told her mother that she actually talked to her father almost a year ago and that her father apologized. It would just set her mother off. No use rocking an already unsteady boat.

  “Unless you’ve got anything else to talk about, I want to get back to work,” Sheldon said. She needed to lose herself in her created worlds again. It helped block out her mother’s words, and her father’s calls. Even some of the past she wished she’d never experienced.

  It was better and much easier to live in these worlds she made up in her mind. No stress that way. Because, as she told Erik, she could write the stress out of her stories and often did.

  “No, nothing else,” her mother said. “Just wanted to make sure you were taking care of yourself.”

  “I am. No worries there.”

  “When is your next date with this doctor?” her mother asked. So much for her hanging up now.

  “I’m sorry, Mom, I’m losing you. You must have moved out of range.”

  “I hear you just fine, Sheldon. I’m not falling for it. But I’ll let you go anyway.”

  Sheldon laughed and hung up the phone. It still worked.

  Not Sorry

  Sheldon pulled into Erik’s driveway. His house was much bigger than hers, a little older, and had a huge manicured lawn. She wondered how he found the time to care for it.

  She got out of the car and was going to go to the front door when Erik walked around from the back in shorts and a cotton shirt. He sure did fill his clothes out nice.

  “Hey,” she said, walking forward.

  He pulled her in and gave her a kiss. Yeah, that was nice. Really nice. She didn’t know if she’d ever been with someone who did that when they first saw her. Imagine that, guys did it in real life too. Or at least she could say in her life now.

  Since he was holding her, she was going to just take advantage of it and pulled him in tighter, then kissed him deeper and was slightly disappointed when he moved away a minute later.

  “Why don’t we head down to the water before we give my neighbors even more to talk about,” he said.

  “You started it,” she said, poking her finger at his arm.

  “I did. I’m not sorry either.”

  They walked closer to the water, but his house was set back pretty far. He had a lot more land than her. Most of the houses did around here, it seemed. “How do you care for all of this land with your schedule?”

  “I pay for a service. It’s easier that way. I feel a little guilty, but most of the people around me are retired and have all the time in the world. Those that aren’t tend to pay for a service too.”

  “Lots of retired folks in my area too. Or vacation or rental homes. Do you have many vacation rentals here?”

  “A few. I think it’s more vacation homes that people rent out a few times for some income, but mostly they sit empty.”

  “This is such a nice little island, but I get that not a lot of younger couples want to be this far out.”

  “I don’t think we are old by any means,” he said, “but I agree. All my friends think I’m nuts.”

  “Where are you from?” she asked, sliding her flip flops off and helping him put one of the kayaks in the water. She was glad he’d told her he had an extra and not to bring hers over.

  “Connecticut. Bridgeport. I grew up on the water there. I guess it’s just where I feel the most comfortable.”

  “Not a lot of water in Baltimore. Not unless there’s a storm and the drains back up.”

  He laughed. “You’re telling me. What about you?”

  “Just over the bridge in Annapolis.”

  “Are your parents still there?”

  She quickly slid into the kayak without looking at him. “My mother.”

  “What about your father?” he asked.

  “Not sure where he is. I take it your parents are still in Bridgeport.”

  He paused and then seemed to get the hint. “Yep. Still on the water. They come here and love it. Say they might buy a vacation home here, which I find funny.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they live on the water now.”

  “But it’s warmer here,” she said, pushing away from his dock once he was in his kayak.

  “True. I’ve got a younger brother that’s in college. I don’t see them doing anything until he is settled and they’re closer to retirement anyway. Neither one of them is showing any signs of slowing down.”

  “Would it bother you if they moved closer to you?”

  He looked at her funny. They were gliding across the water side by side now. “Not at all. Why?”

  “Some people like to get away from their parents.”

  ***

  He nodded at her and decided to change the subject. Obviously it wasn’t a good one in her eyes. “Do you leave the island often?” he asked her.

  “Not like you do every day.”

  “We both know Queenstown isn’t really leaving the island. At least from people outside of Queen Anne County’s point of view.”

  “That’s very true. No. I don’t leave often. I visit with my mom once a month maybe. Depends. We talk a lot, but she’s got a fairly busy social life and likes to travel with some friends when she can. All my friends from school moved away and I was never really close enough with anyone to stay in touch after college.”

  “Same here. I have a few friends from back home, but I only see them when I visit. Most of the people I talk to now are from college or in Baltimore. Other doctors.”

  “Not too many people on the island our age, huh?” she said. “Or if they are, they’re married. I was reminded this morning by my mother that there aren’t many single men on the island.”

  “Does she want you to leave?” he asked.

  “Doesn’t matter what she wants. I’m my own person. But the answer to that would be no. She knows how I feel about relationships.”

  Hmm. This could get tricky, but he wanted to know. “And how is that?”

  “I don’t bel
ieve in them.”

  “Meaning staying exclusive?” he asked, not liking the sound of that. Could he have been that wrong about her?

  “No, not that. If I’m dating someone I’m always exclusive. There’s no room in my life for cheaters, liars or fakers.”

  “Then what do you mean? Maybe we should be clear here.”

  “I’ve been in a few relationships. I’ve found it’s just better to go in with no expectations of one. Being friends is much better. Takes the pressure off.”

  “So all you’re looking for is a friendship? Because I can’t tell you the last time I kissed a friend like we were earlier.”

  She stopped paddling and he did the same, the two of them just floating next to each other. She smiled at the boyish grin he was sporting. “I’m not being very clear here. I like to date. I date exclusively. But I’ve had a few relationships and it’s soured me. I’m just not looking for it right now.”

  “Right now? Or ever?”

  “I really don’t know. I always thought ever, but I often wonder if I’m doing myself a disservice by holding off everyone because of a few. At least that’s what Melissa keeps telling me. Then I talk to my mother and she reminds me why I feel the way I do.”

  He hadn’t really planned on having this type of a conversation with her today. Not this early either. Maybe not this in depth for a long time. But it came up and he wanted to know. Because he liked her a lot. And he had a feeling she felt the same way but was holding back. Getting her to admit anything might be tricky or a turn off.

  “How about we take the pressure off then? I date exclusively and we can call it that, if you want to try for another date after today. We can see where it goes from there. But maybe we both keep our minds open for any possibility.”

  “Sounds fair,” she said, starting to paddle again, moving faster and making him keep up. He’d take it for now and vowed to find a way to change her mind. He didn’t need another date to know he was falling for her. To know that she might have been the woman he’d been waiting for.

  A woman who made him laugh, who made him happy, who made him watch the clock waiting for when they could talk again.

  Someone who shared the same loves as him. Someone who enjoyed the same lifestyle he did. Who was independent and didn’t need him around nonstop. She did well on her own, he knew that, but why couldn’t they be together more too?

  He wasn’t sure what he would have said if she didn’t agree with him. Or if she decided she didn’t want another date after this. He wasn’t going to stress about it now. He’d make a plan if he needed to.

  They’d gotten a little further out when it started to pour. It’d been cloudy, but there hadn’t been any chance of rain that he’d noticed when he’d checked his weather app. Guess the weathermen were wrong.

  “Yikes,” she said, giggling. “Race you back.”

  They both turned and took off for his house. Neither of them had their suits on. She was wearing shorts and a tank top under her life vest, him just shorts and a T-shirt under his. Normally they didn’t get wet kayaking.

  By the time they got back to his dock, got out and pulled the kayaks out and up on the grass, then ran for his back porch, her hair was dripping in her face, his not much better. She was laughing like a loon, drawing him in to do the same.

  Once they were out of the rain, she unzipped her life jacket and took it off, her shirt plastered to her torso, not doing much in the way of covering some chills on her body. She looked down and said, “Guess white wasn’t the way to go today.”

  He grinned. What more was he supposed to do? It’s not like he could pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about when his eyes had gone right there and a crowbar wouldn’t be able to pry them away.

  “Let me get us some towels. Come on in.”

  “No, you go. No reason two of us should drip all over your floors.”

  “It’s fine,” he argued.

  “I’ll stay here. Seriously, I’m fine.”

  “Your chattering teeth are telling me otherwise.”

  “Then stop yapping and get me a towel,” she said waving her hands at him and laughing the entire time. How many women did he know would think this whole situation was hilarious? Not too many.

  He ran into the house and then up the stairs into his master bath, and pulled out two towels. He yanked his T-shirt off, dropped it in the hamper, and grabbed another before he ran back down to her. “Here you go,” he said handing over the towel. He tossed the shirt over a patio chair and started to dry off his hair.

  “Why didn’t you change when you were up there?”

  “And leave you down here to shiver? That wouldn’t be very gentlemanly.”

  “No, it wouldn’t have been, but I would have survived,” she said, drying her hair and wiping down as much water off of her body as she could.

  “Let’s go in the house. You can put that shirt on and we can toss your clothes in the dryer. I’ll go change.”

  “You want me to undress and slip your shirt on. Nothing else on under it?” she asked, tilting her head.

  “Do you have a better idea? You could drive home in wet clothes for a change.”

  “Your idea sounds like my best option since I wasn’t smart enough to bring more clothes with me.”

  “You can change in the hall bath.” He led her up the stairs and pointed to the bath while he went down the hall to dry off more and change himself. Then he had to figure out a way to get control of himself knowing she was going to be walking around his house wearing only his shirt.

  What the heck did he just get himself into?

  Character Builder

  Sheldon stood in the bathroom at the end of the hall shivering and thinking. Thinking about the fact that she was going to be putting Erik’s nice soft worn-in T-shirt on her naked body.

  Sure it was long enough to cover her to mid-thigh, but there was something extremely intimate about this. About wearing an article of his clothing with nothing of her own under as a buffer.

  If she put it up to her nose and inhaled his scent first, she wasn’t admitting.

  Nor was she admitting she was extremely turned on and trying her hardest not to just jump him.

  She opened the door to the hallway and saw him coming out of his own bedroom. Athletic shorts and a T-shirt, nothing else. She’d have asked for a pair of his shorts but figured they’d just fall right down anyway, so that would be a waste of breath.

  “That’s a nice look on you,” he said and she felt her body heat up even more. Was he trying to turn her on more than she already was? She needed to take some notes right now. What a good scene this would be in one of her books.

  Nope, who needed notes when she could just think back to how this all felt. She was sure as heck not going to be forgetting any of these thoughts or feelings any time soon.

  “I could say the same to you.” His shorts were riding low on his hips, the shirt snug on his chest and arms. She didn’t need his T-shirt on to warm her up. She was thinking her clothes might have been sizzling if she still had them on.

  “So... awkward?”

  “What do you think?” she said, wrinkling her nose.

  He got points for throwing it out there. I mean geez, was she supposed to say, “Sure, I love being naked in a sexy guy’s presence that I’ve been out with twice. It’s a character builder.”

  “You know, you might have the best personality of any woman I know.”

  That shut her up fast. “Huh? You’re joking, right?”

  “Afraid not. You’re funny. You’re honest. You like the outdoors. You take direction well from your doctor,” he said smirking. “And you take my breath away standing there right now looking stunned that I’m voicing these words out loud making me feel like a fool and wondering what corner I could run in and hide. Maybe I’ll just put my hands over my face and you could walk out of the room and I’ll pretend I haven’t been talking.”

  She burst out laughing. He thought she had a great persona
lity. “You could be a pretty phenomenal hero in one of my books.”

  “Really? I’m open for any role playing you might want to do.”

  Okay, he was pretty awesome if she did say so herself, but she wouldn’t tell him that. No need to inflate his ego. Because her mother might be a tad right. Erik seemed to have a good-sized ego, but it didn’t necessarily go to his head.

  “Maybe we’ll save that for another day when I’ve got my notebook and can take some proper notes.”

  He grabbed her hand and led her down the stairs, him being a gentleman and going ahead of her. “So have I relaxed you enough yet?”

  “So that’s what this was about? You trying to make me feel less self-conscious about standing pretty much exposed while you had layers of clothing on?”

  “I can remove a few layers if you want,” he said when he reached the bottom and turned, waiting for her.

  There was no need to look down. She knew her nipples were pebbling through his shirt. She knew he knew too. Might as well go with it. “That would take away my imagination. Got to leave me a little something to dream about tonight.”

  “You aren’t leaving much for my imagination right now.”

  Her face flamed up to match the heat in her body. She was good at teasing, but she wasn’t so good at flirty teasing. He was getting the upper hand on her. Probably because she’d never been a tease. Not with a man like this.

  Teasing to make someone laugh and smile? Sure, she enjoyed that.

  Teasing a man and turning him on, or getting him worked up and walking away? No. Never. “I hope you don’t think I’m playing games right now.”

  “Not at all. You’ve already explained that you didn’t want to be in a relationship. Not many would say that upfront.”

  “Does that bother you?”

  “What? That you’re honest?”

  “No. My opinion about relationships?”

  “Nope.” She was still standing two stairs up, him blocking her path at the bottom. They were eye level now and he reached out and put his hands around her face, then brought his lips to hers. “Because now I’m going to do everything in my power to change that opinion of yours.”