An Ordinary Love (A Christian Contemporary Romance) (Sidney's Sanctuary Book 1)

by Tina Bustamante

  She tipped her head to the side. Some of her red auburn hair fell over her shoulder. He wanted to reach up and grab it, push it out of the way or something.

  “What exactly do you think might confuse me?” she asked.

  “You know how kids are. It’s just that no matter what he told you, I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m not even looking for someone to date, despite what Jake might have said to the contrary.”

  She put one hand on her hip. He noticed that despite how thin she was, her hips curved out from her small waist in a roundish sort of way that made his throat close up. Again. What was wrong with him? Maybe he was coming down with a cold.

  “I realize this is awkward and uncomfortable,” he added, clearing his throat,“but I figured it would be better to be forthcoming at the beginning if we’re going to be neighbors and all.”

  She smiled. A great smile that lit up her face and made him raise his eyebrows. It took him off guard. Well, good, he thought. She was going to be nice about this and accept his boundaries, accept his desire to remain neutral.

  “Thank you, Dr. Kellen. I appreciate your forthcoming nature.”

  “No problem,” he said, with a curt nod.

  She smiled again and took a slight step toward him.“And just so we don’t add confusion upon confusion, perhaps I should clarify a few things myself?”

  His eyes widened.“Sure.” His voice sounded parched.

  “First of all,” she said,“I realize I’m new on the island and people are probably wondering who I am, but just because I’m a single woman in my thirties, does not mean I’m desperate for a relationship. My goodness, it’s not like I’m trying to marry the first man who comes my way.”

  She took another step toward him. He backed up.“You have a really nice son and your dad seems like a nice man. I’d like to get to know them.” Her voice rose with every word.“But not if you think it’s because I’m trying to weasel my way into a relationship with you.” He backed up another step.“Quite frankly,” she added,“I’d rather gut fish.” She lifted her latest catch to his eye level.“Now if you’ll excuse me. Have a good day, Dr. Kellen.” She turned her back on him and shut the door in his face.

  He stood in front of her red door, its brass doorknob shining at him with a smug triumphant shimmer. All of a sudden, the door seemed large and foreboding. That hadn’t gone as he had planned in his mind. Her eyes had turned intense. His face warmed. He stumbled down her porch steps. That woman was direct. And she’d completely misunderstood him.

  Kell should have felt glad it was settled, glad she wasn’t interested in him. Then, why did he feel such a strange sense of humiliation, like he’d just lost something important? He rushed into his own yard, wordless and red faced.

  ~

  Kell kept his experience with Sidney to himself. He didn’t want his father to scold him, which he certainly would do if he had any idea he’d had made such a mess of things. At dinner, Jake relayed every moment of his adventure with the new neighbor. It made Kell squirm. He was glad to answer his phone when it rang. Dan Holberg.

  He walked outside to the porch to answer it.

  “Kell. I’m in a crisis,” Dan said.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Betty left me. Packed her bags and took off. She hit me with her blow dryer. Hard, even.”

  “Dan, what did you do? She wouldn’t just up and leave without a good reason.”

  “She thinks I strayed.”

  “Oh, good Lord. Where’d she get that idea?”

  Dan remained silent.

  “So, she has a good reason to think you strayed?”

  “You gotta help me, Kell. You gotta help me find her. She wouldn’t even tell me where she was going.”

  “She was probably too busy telling you where you could go.”

  “How’d you know?”

  “Listen Dan, you need to wait until the morning. There’s nothing we can do right now. Try to get some sleep. Nothing’s going to get fixed tonight. I’ll meet you for breakfast at the cafe and we can talk.”

  “So, you’ll help me? Betty will listen to you.”

  “You’re my best friend, Dan. Of course I’ll help you.”

  He put his phone down and sighed, exhaling slowly. What kind of a mess had Dan made?

  When Kell had come back to the island, depressed and overwhelmed right after Chelsea’s death, Dan had been a persistent friend. He took Kell hunting, out for drinks, even on a road trip to buy new dairy cows. Now he needed to be there for Dan, despite what he thought about infidelity.

  Kell shook his head and stepped back inside. His dad was warming something up in the microwave.

  “What’s wrong with Big Dan?” Matt asked.

  “Betty left him.”

  “What for?”

  “Dan cheated on her.”

  “I was afraid of that.”

  The microwave beeped.

  “How’d you know?” Kell asked with a raised eyebrow.

  Matt opened the microwave and pulled out his mug.“I had my suspicions.”

  “He doesn’t know where she is.”

  His dad lifted his head just enough to make Kell follow his eyes to where he was looking. Betty’s silver Tahoe was driving into Sidney’s driveway right then.“Looks like our new neighbor’s about ready to have her first guest.”

  “Damn,” Kell said.

  “Kell, what is wrong with you?”

  He shook his head.“Nothing.” He left the kitchen and climbed upstairs.

  He sat down on his bed, pulled off his boots, and almost like a delayed reaction, realized what a complete ass he’d been. That woman was going to hate him. How could he have been so stupid? He’d never been so rude to anyone. He was known around the island for his gruff exterior,but also had a reputation for being a kind, considerate man. He’d treated her like a petty high school girl. His stomach hurt. And now, he’d have to get through her to talk to Betty.

  Chapter Five

  An Unexpected Guest

  Sidney stood in the upstairs hallway trying to decide where to hang the new signs she bought at the farmer’s market. She had three of the five bedrooms ready for visitors. Her master bedroom, with its own bathroom suite, stayed on the main floor and there was one more room in the attic that she hoped to use for hiring a live-in housekeeper. It had a full bathroom and a small kitchen. She needed to get it furnished, but the carpenters had done a remarkable job on the remodel.

  Of the five guest rooms, three now offered a personal shower or full bathtub. The large kitchen gave room for her to work with other people, a dining hall fit for a king, a large spacious living room where she had a few tables set up, some bookcases, and a brick fireplace she dreamed of using during a snowstorm. All in all, the home was coming together.

  She set the sign down when she heard a loud knock at her door. Oh dear. If it was any more neighbors trying to explain her low chances of future matrimony, she might actually scream. Every time she thought of how horrible that neighbor had been, her hair curled even tighter.

  Sidney came around the hall. A large hipped woman with a round face peered through the window. Sidney opened the front door. The woman wore a trench coat that covered red and white checked flannel pajama pants. A monstrous suitcase stood on one side of her, and in her left hand, she gripped a blow dryer with the cord hanging down to the floor.

  The woman shrugged. “I brought my own blow dryer. Just in case you didn’t have one in the rooms yet.”

  Sidney didn’t know what to say—she stared at the woman before her—speechless.

  “This is a bed and breakfast right?” the woman asked.

  Sidney nodded and brushed back the hair from her forehead.“It’s going to be. However, it’s not open yet.”

  The woman held up her blow dryer and squinted her eyes, leaning toward Sidney.“I’d take a closet at this point. I don’t like the woman who runs the other inn on this island. Besides, I’m looking for a bit of anonymity, if you get my drift
?”

  “How long do you need to stay?” She opened the door wider.

  “As long as it takes.”

  “As long as it takes for what?”

  “As long as it takes for my lying, cheating husband to realize he’s messed around with the wrong woman.” She shook her blow dryer in Sidney’s face.“Does he think I made his oatmeal every morning at 5:00 a.m., cleaned his underwear, which I might add is no small undertaking when you’re dealing with a fat man plagued with irritable bowel syndrome, bore him four sons all weighing more than nine pounds each, just so he can take up with some skinny blond girl who can’t even get her legs around him? I’ll die before I sit in my house and take one more minute of his shit. He can get his own damn oatmeal.” She pushed herself through the entryway, dragged her suitcase inside, and slammed the front door behind her.

  Sidney backed up and crinkled her brow.“Is your husband going to take a long time realizing his grave error?”

  “He’s pretty big. He’s got a lot of reserves before he’ll have to worry about good cooking.”

  “Are you a good cook?”

  “Good enough, if I do say so myself. I’ve won the county fair pie baking contest ten years running.” She puffed up her chest.“It’s all in the crust, my dear, all in the crust.”

  Sidney decided they’d get along just fine.“It’s $120.00 a night, but I hadn’t thought of people who wanted to stay longer than a few days. I could work out a discount, especially if you were to give me some cooking lessons before we really open up for guests?”

  The woman held up a black American Express card.“Let’s charge the bastard as much as we can.” She flashed a wicked smile.“I’m good for it. And I’d love to teach you how to cook. It’ll give me something to do besides going over and shooting that lying cheater in the head.”

  Sidney gulped and silently told herself not to make the blow dryer lady mad. She held out her hand.“My name’s Sidney Franklin. It’s nice to meet you.”

  The woman shook her hand.“I’m Elizabeth Holberg, but everyone calls me Betty. Have you met your neighbors? The pastor and the doctor? Don’t tell them I’m here.”

  Sidney raised an eyebrow.“We’ve met. I liked the pastor.”

  “That probably means Kell was an ass, right?”

  “How did you know?

  Betty slapped her on the back.“I’ve known Matthew Kellen, the son, since we were kids. I’m a few years older, but I know what kind of a man he can be. He’s my husband’s best friend. I have to say, though, he’s one of the kindest, most generous men on the island and a damn good doctor. But you’ve got to get through the cold exterior first.”

  “He’s like a blizzard in Minnesota.”

  Betty laughed.“They say the ice fishing’s nice in Minnesota, though, don’t they?”

  Sidney chuckled and led Betty to her room. Betty’s eyes took in her surroundings and Sidney could tell by her slow nods of approval she liked the house.

  “Would you like to have a cup of tea, or perhaps some hot cocoa after you get settled?”

  “Oh, isn’t that nice.” She leaned close to Sidney like she needed to tell her a secret.“You got anything stronger?”

  “A glass of wine?”

  “Perfect.”

  “White or red?”

  “Wet, my dear, wet.”

  “Sure.”

  ~

  An hour later, the two women sat at the kitchen table with a freshly opened bottle of red wine, two glasses, and a small plate of crackers and cheese to nibble on.

  “The house is amazing,” Betty told her, biting a cracker. A few crumbs fell down her face.“Beautiful. We’d all been waiting to see what would happen to this place. I’ve always thought it would make a great bed and breakfast.”

  Sidney sipped her wine.“Thank you,” she said.“It’s not finished. I don’t even have a name for it, yet. But I hope to open in time for Thanksgiving and the holidays.”

  “What brought you this way?”

  Sidney took a deep breath, trying to decide how much of her private life to divulge.“I inherited the house last spring and at the same time, a few things in my life fell apart. It was such a mess, I finally decided to go somewhere new and make a fresh start.”

  “What happened?” Betty took a sip of her wine and tried to hide her interest in another bite of cheese, but Sidney could see her curiosity.

  “It’s complicated. Or, maybe not.” Sidney stared at her fingers gripping her glass.“My husband found someone else, and decided she was worth more than ten years of marriage.”

  “Oh honey, I’m so sorry.” Betty reached her hand across the table.

  Sidney lifted the glass to her lips, but before taking a sip, she said“So am I. Hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.” She took a gulp.“But, it’s over and I’m determined to start over. I can’t let it destroy me.”

  “You’re so courageous coming here. I wish I had your gumption. I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

  Sidney wasn’t sure. On first impressions, Betty seemed like she was oozing gumption.“I hardly think that’s true. You definitely seem like a courageous woman. Whatever you’re supposed to do will become clear, I’m sure. For starters, you’re going to teach me how to cook.”

  “You really can’t cook?” Betty asked.

  “Not at all. I was too busy teaching high school English, and helping my husband with his training. He runs marathons, and was training for the Iron Man when everything fell apart.” Sidney held out her hand and gave her a sly smile.“I make great salads.”

  Betty laughed and took a bite of cracker.“He’s missing out, I tell you. Ten years is a long time. You have a lot of history with that man. Do you think he’ll come back?”

  Sidney shook her head.“I doubt it. He’s with the ladies track coach at the high school where I worked. She was my friend. Much prettier and more athletic.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Look at you! You’re stunning. You have hair most of us dream of and you’re curvy. I’m just big, none of my curves are in the right place. I hardly fit through the door.”

  Sidney set back her head and laughed. She took a sip of her wine. The wine felt good, warming up her insides and loosening her tense muscles. Despite her desire to keep her past life a secret, she felt comfortable telling Betty about her failed marriage.

  Betty took her hand and squeezed it.“There’s someone out there for you.”

  “I’m not interested in a relationship right now. I’d love to have children, though. It was a sore spot for us.”

  “Of course you want children. There’s nothing wrong with that.” She gave her hand another quick squeeze and let it go, grabbing a cracker.“So, tell me how you ended up with this house? Rumor has it, old Victor left it to his sister?”

  “Yes. My grandmother. She wasn’t able to take it. My mom, who was the next in line to receive the house, gave it to me. At first, I wasn’t interested, but after a few months of pressure, I finally took a second look at the long list of impossibilities, and decided to take a risk. I loved teaching, but I also felt like I was always helping other people live their dream, and it was time to do some of my own. Besides, I needed to get away from everything.”

  “I know what you’re talking about. In some ways, I think that’s exactly what I need to do.” Betty leaned in. She propped her chin on her hand, which rested on the table. Her lip quivered. She looked down.

  Sidney gripped Betty’s hand, trying to shake her out of her nostalgia.“I’m so glad you came tonight.”

  Betty patted Sidney on the arm.“I like you. You’re going to be good for this island. I can feel it.”

  Sidney sat up and took a deep breath.“Thanks, Betty.”

  “You said you don’t have a name for the bed and breakfast?”

  “No. I’ve been thinking and thinking. Nothing seems right. If you come up with a good idea, I’d love to hear it.”

  “Maybe it could be part of the grand opening…a free night’s stay to who
mever comes up with the best name.”

  “Not a bad idea. Maybe I could make it a contest.”

  ~

  The next morning Sidney’s mouth tasted like cotton balls had been shoved in it. She rolled out of bed and pitter-pattered to the kitchen. She needed a strong cup of coffee. She set the pot to percolate and headed toward the bathroom when someone knocked on her front door.

  She stumbled to see who it was. Dr. Kellen stood on her porch with his back to the door. She flew behind the window to make sure he couldn’t see her. She looked frightful, dressed in a tank top, an old pair of shorts, with her hair frizzing out everywhere. Oh Lord, what kind of remark would he make this time? Sidney ran her hand over her hair, pressing it down and opened the door with as much confidence as she could muster.

  “Good morning, Dr. Kellen,” she said.“Did you forget to say something else that I needed to be forewarned about?”

  He stared at the wood deck, shaking his head. It took him a moment to speak.” I was hoping to talk to Betty.” His voice was hesitant.

  “I don’t know anyone named Betty.” Sidney started to close the door in his face.

  He pointed to the silver Tahoe sitting in front of her house.“Her car is sitting in your driveway.”

  “Oh that Betty! She’s asleep.” She started to shut the door again.

  He leaned over, talking into the closing door.“Do you mind if I wait for her?”

  Sidney opened the door again with a sigh.“Yes, I do mind. My guest has her right to privacy no matter how invasive and rude some of my neighbors are. Besides, I need to get my coffee. I’ll tell her you called.”

  He lifted his eyes to meet hers.“Could I wait on the porch? I promised I’d make sure she was okay.”

  Sidney didn’t want to offend Betty by letting this neighbor near her, but she was also new in town and didn’t want to make assumptions about relationships. Betty said they were old friends. She shook her head in disbelief.“Why don’t you wait in the kitchen and when she wakes up I’ll tell her you’re here. If she doesn’t want to see you, you’ve got to leave her alone.”