“Where have you been since then?” he asked.
“I was working at a restaurant in Atlanta,” she said. “But then my mother died and I ended up coming back to the family business.”
“I’m glad you did,” he said looking at her with warm brown eyes.
She looked down shyly at her drink, then looked up at him and said, “Thanks.”
She asked him why he was in Luna Bay. He told her that he was an oceanographer for Gulf Coast Marine Labs. He had a house on the beach, paid for by the company. He had been there for about a month.
“I’ve seen you in here before,” Serena said, then blushed.
“I’ve seen you, too,” he said. He laughed and she laughed too.
“I think we need to have a dance. You can’t let that dance with that jerk be your last dance tonight,” he said.
He stood and took her hand. She glanced briefly at the bar and saw Sandy looking at her. He looked concerned. Poor Sandy had already witnessed one bad dance. Serena nodded her head at Sandy to let him know that it was okay and followed Steven to the dance floor. The light from the flickering candles reflected off of the Tuscan gold walls as they danced. Serena’s wavy brown hair flew behind her as Steven turned her. He caught her and they laughed. Serena had not laughed in so long she had forgotten what it felt like to feel light and carefree. To laugh. This must be what her mother felt like, her mother who had been so full of life. Adrianna, who had danced Serena around the room when she was small. Adrianna who had danced at Rossetti’s after hours. A memory of her mother at an outdoor party filled Serena’s mind. Her mother, wearing a white halter dress, her dark hair flowing behind her as she danced with her latest boyfriend. Adrianna, whose dance on earth was over.
After a couple of dances Serena and Steven returned to the table.
“Would you like to take a walk?” Steven asked. “You can tell Sandy where you’re going.”
Serena’s face was still flushed from the dancing. Her eyes sparkled. She felt pretty and flirty.
“Yes. I’ll let Sandy know.” She walked over to the bar and told Sandy she was taking a walk with Steven. “I don’t want you to be worried,” she said.
“He’s okay,” Sandy said. “I’ve talked to him a few times. It’s that other guy that was in here that had me worried.”
“Hopefully, he won’t show up again,” Serena said.
She and Steven walked down to the bay. The moon’s light sparkled on the water. Steven took her hand and held it as they walked. He talked about his work, the Gulf waters, the creatures in the ocean. He had grown up on the coast of South Carolina and he always knew that the ocean would be his career. Even as a young boy, he knew that.
“The shore on South Carolina is different from the Gulf,” he said. “The sand is yellow and the ocean is blue. Here, the ocean is turquoise and the sands are white like sugar. I like it. I feel a little disloyal to say that I like it better than my old seaside stomping grounds.”
“I love it here, too,” Serena said. “I sort of wish I’d never left it.”
“Why did you leave it? I know you went to culinary school, but why?”
“Since I’ve come back home, I’m beginning to realize that I was fulfilling someone else’s dream by leaving. My mother and grandmother wanted me to have an option in my life. They thought that was the best way—to send me to culinary school. Of course, at the time, my mother was going to inherit Rossetti’s. When she died, everything changed.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent. My father died three years ago and I thought I’d never get over it.”
He stopped walking then and put his hands on her arms before leaning down to kiss her. She put her arms around his neck and he pulled her close. She wanted him, right there beside the bay. She wanted him as the moon shone down on them and the water lapped at the bay’s shore. She wanted to open herself to him in a way she had never been with any man before.
Chapter Seven
Serena walked up the steps to the front door of Steven’s house. The sea’s turquoise waters beckoned on the horizon, the white waves crashed against the shore of the narrow island. She saw a school of porpoises out in the deep water, their backs going up and down, up and down, in and out of the water. That was a good sign. This was her first visit to Steven’s house and might be the first time they were really together. He had come into Rossetti’s every night since that first night, but they had never been truly together. She wanted that, more than anything. When she was with Steven, she felt herself come alive. Her whole body vibrated when she was near him.
Steven opened the door and led her into his living room area. The room was surrounded by large windows, framing the ocean as a never-ending painting. She sat on the couch and he brought her a glass of wine. She was a little nervous, knowing they were probably going to take a major step in their relationship that night.
“Something smells good,” she said to Steven. He was standing in the kitchen, which was open to the living room.
“I can’t believe I’m cooking for you, a chef,” he said. “I hope it’ll be good.”
“What is it?” Serena asked.
“It’s Reuben sandwiches. My father used to make them all the time when I was growing up. It was his specialty and not too hard to do. Even I can handle it,” he said laughing.
“It’ll be a few more minutes,” he said, sitting beside her on the couch with a beer.
“Do you cook a lot?” Serena asked.
“Not really. I know how to cook this and a few other things, but just enough to get by.”
The sandwiches were gooey with melted Swiss cheese and thick with pastrami. Steven put a bag of potato chips and a jar of dill pickles on the table. It was an unpretentious and delicious meal.
The dusk turned to night while they were eating. When they were finished, they sat on the couch looking out at the black, star-filled sky, the nighttime surf, and listening to the sounds of the waves as they hit the shore and pulled back out again. The rhythm was hypnotic. Steven was sitting very close to her when they started kissing. His hands stroked her arms. He gently grazed his hands across her breasts. Serena was on fire for him.
“Do you want to get more comfortable,” he whispered in her ear.
That’s all she’d been wanting since the night she met him. She wanted to tear his clothes off and her own. She wanted to feel his smooth naked body against her. She was ready. She was a burning ember.
The blinds were open in the bedroom and the moonlight offered enough light to see each other. A window was cracked and Serena could hear the waves. She could smell the salty air from the sea. Steven began to unbutton her blouse and it fell loosely to the floor. He kissed her freed breasts before unzipping her jeans. They slid to the floor along with her panties. She reached out and undressed him and together they fell on the bed, kissing and rubbing and licking each other. Serena was barely conscious that she was panting. Steven spread her legs with his knee, then got on top of her. She felt him begin to enter her, tentatively, teasing. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him in.
When she woke up she glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was two-thirty a.m. She looked over to the other side of the bed. It was empty. She jumped up and put on her clothes, which were still on the floor. Steven was sitting in a chair in the living room, staring out one of the big windows. He turned when she came into the room.
“Hey,” she said. He held his cell phone loosely in his hand. “Did somebody call?”
“Huh?” He looked down at his hand. “Oh,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep. I was looking something up on the Internet.”
She walked over to him and he put his arm around her, pulling her down into his lap. He kissed her.
“I need to get back home. I told Nonna I might be late, but I don’t think she thought it would be this late.”
“I’ll walk you to your car,” he said. She got off of his lap and located her purse, which she had put on the flo
or beside the couch. Together, they walked down the steps of Steven’s gray house on stilts. He kissed her again at her car. “I’ll see you soon,” he said.
When Serena got back to the cottage, she tiptoed inside and up the stairs to her room. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful in the house and she fell asleep thinking about her evening with Steven. Thinking about the feel of his body next to her, inside of her.
She woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee. Nonna was at the stove when she walked into the kitchen. She motioned for Serena to sit at the table.
“I guess I got in a little later than I planned to,” Serena said.
Nonna turned to look at her, a spatula in her hand.
“It’s okay, cara. We come from the land of amore. I understand.”
“I went out with one of our customers that I’ve been sort of seeing after work.”
“I know,” Nonna said.
“How do you know?” Serena asked.
“Heard it through the grapevine,” Nonna said giving her a knowing grin.
Nonna put their plates of eggs and bacon on the table and sat down.
“I’m really proud of you, cara,” she said. “You brought new life to Rossetti’s. I know that when I meet my maker, I’ve left it in good hands.”
“Don’t say that, Nonna,” Serena said. They looked at each other and laughed.
“Don’t worry. I’ve still got a lot of life left in me,” Nonna said.
“I’ve been thinking,” Nonna continued. “I’d like to add something to the menu—at least try it out.”
“What’s that?” Serena asked.
“Remember how much your mother loved spaghetti puttanesca?” Serena nodded.
“I want to put it on the menu, but I want to call it Spaghetti Adrianna.”
Serena felt tears well in her eyes.
“I think that’s brilliant, Nonna,” she said.
“It’s one of the famous dishes from our region of Italy, you know. The Campania area.”
“I know. Didn’t it used to be on the menu?”
“When I was growing up, it was a favorite. I can’t remember why we stopped serving it. Maybe peoples’ tastes changed or something. I don’t know.”
As Nonna was leaving the kitchen to get ready for work, she said, “Don’t worry about staying out late. I know you’re a grown woman.”
“Thanks, Nonna.”
Steven came to Rossetti’s every night for dinner and stayed afterward to sit with Serena. Some nights they went back to his house, and other nights they walked by the bay. But every Saturday night, they definitely went back to Steven’s house and Serena stayed all night. Nonna had come to expect that.
On Sunday morning, Serena would get out of bed early and make breakfast, the same way that Nonna always did for her. It felt good to make breakfast for Steven, and she realized that making breakfast was an act of love. Something you did for someone you really cared about. And she definitely cared about Steven. She was already in love with him. She could hardly concentrate at work, thinking about his touch, thinking about how he would be there soon and she would be kissing him.
One Sunday in late June, Steven suggested they go out on the water in the company boat. He packed a cooler with beer and wine and a big bag of green grapes. Steven drove the boat, which was moored behind the institute, out through the sound and toward the horizon. After a while, he turned the engine off. They sat in chairs, drinking their drinks, looking at the endless blue sky and water. Serena was so happy she had returned to Luna Bay. It seemed her world had opened up. She felt the sun caress her arms and shoulders. The sea brought its familiar salty fragrance, but it was like a new perfume to her new self.
She and Steven talked about their former lives often. He was telling her about his years in college one day on the boat when his cell phone rang. He looked at it and put it back in his pocket. “It’s my coworker,” he said staring out at the water. He seemed distant in that moment.
“Oh?” she said. What kind of coworker would put him in this mood?
“He’s having problems with his girlfriend. He calls me all the time, but I’m getting pretty sick of hearing about it,” he said sitting back down.
“That’s sad,” she said.
“Let’s not talk about him,” Steven said. “He’s a downer.”
When they got back to Steven’s house, he said he guessed he should call his coworker. “Do you mind?” he asked her. “It’ll just take a few minutes. If I don’t call him, he might come over here or something.”
“Okay,” she said. She sat in the living room while Steven was on the phone in the bedroom. When he came out, he seemed agitated.
“Is everything all right?” she asked him.
“Yeah. Just more of the same.”
“What’s his name?” she asked.
“Carlos. He’s Cuban. Well, his parents are from Cuba. He grew up in Florida.”
“How old is he?”
“He’s in his early twenties. I’m not sure how old. He was already working here when I got here.”
Serena was curious about Carlos. She was curious about anything that had to do with Steven.
“What kind of trouble is he having with his girlfriend?”
“Oh, you know. The usual. He caught her in bed with some guy who works on a shrimp boat. Carlos got into a fist fight with the guy.”
“Is Carlos still with his girlfriend? I mean, he must be if he’s still having trouble.”
“He’s been trying to work it out with her, but it’s not going well. He started talking to me about it. I guess he thought an older man could offer him some advice. But he never likes my advice.”
“What advice is that?” Serena asked.
“I told him to dump her. I keep telling him to dump her, but he doesn’t.”
Steven’s cell phone rang again. He looked at it and turned off the ring. He sat down beside Serena, but he was distracted.
“I need to get home,” she finally said. Steven clearly needed to work something out, and Serena felt she was somehow stopping him from doing that.
“I’m sorry, Serena,” he said as he reached for her hand. “It’s been a long week.”
“It’s okay,” she said giving him a light kiss. “I need to spend some time with Nonna. We’ve got some work to do in the garden and this is my only free day.”
They walked downstairs to her car and he opened her door. He kissed her before she got in, then closed her door. He didn’t linger. Serena definitely got the vibe that he wanted to be alone.
Over the next several days, Serena stayed at Rossetti’s after the dinner hour expecting to see Steven. She turned expectantly whenever anyone came in the door, but he never showed up. What was going on with him? They had been seeing each other almost every night for several weeks. But she refused to call him. If he wanted to see her, he would have to come to Rossetti’s.
After an excruciating week of sitting and drinking and waiting and hoping, Serena decided she would not sit there another night. Sandy was beginning to look at her with pity. She would not be there on Saturday night, when she and Steven always saw each other. If he came to Rossetti’s on Saturday to find her, she would not be found. After dinner was finished and the staff was cleaning the kitchen, Serena went home.
Nonna was sitting in her recliner drinking brandy and watching television. “Is that you, Serena?” she called.
“It’s me, Nonna. Who else would it be?”
“I don’t know. I’m not used to you being here on Saturday.”
Serena realized she still had her chef’s apron on and pulled it off. She got a glass of brandy for herself and sat down on the couch.
“Is everything all right?” Nonna asked.
Serena couldn’t hold her tears back any longer. She didn’t want to worry her grandmother, but she couldn’t keep herself from crying.
“What is it?” Nonna asked with concern. She turned off the television. “What is it, cara?”
“I’
m not out tonight because I haven’t seen or heard from Steven all week. He hasn’t come to Rossetti’s, he hasn’t called, he hasn’t texted. I think it’s over.”
“Have you called him?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know what’s going on if you haven’t even tried to call him?”
“I guess I have too much pride to do that,” she said.
“That’s silly,” Nonna said.
“Then I’m silly,” Serena said. The ringing of her cell phone from her purse broke into her conversation with Nonna. Serena got up and fished the phone from her purse. It was Jeff. He hadn’t called her in months. He had texted, but not called.
“Is that him?” Nonna asked.
“No, it’s Jeff. I can’t talk to him right now. Not when I’ve been crying.”
“He might be just the person you need to talk to,” Nonna said.
“I’m going to bed,” Serena announced. She took her glass of brandy and walked upstairs. She undressed and got into bed. A few minutes later, Nonna called through her door. “Goodnight, cara. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Night,” Serena said sullenly.
When she woke up at nine she checked her phone. Nothing. She went downstairs where Nonna was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee.
“Good morning,” Nonna said. “I was letting you sleep late. What can I get you?”
“I can get it,” Serena said. She poured herself a cup of coffee and put two pieces of bread in the toaster.
“That’s not going to be enough,” Nonna said. “Let me make you some eggs.”
“I just want toast today, Nonna. Thanks.”
“I’ve made plans to go to lunch and to the movies today with Bea,” Nonna said. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here. You’re welcome to join us.”
Serena considered it. “No, that’s okay. You have fun. I’ve got some laundry to catch up on.”
After Nonna left, Serena wandered through the cottage. She felt at loose ends, like she didn’t know what to do with herself. Why had she given all of her free time over to Steven? Now that he was gone, she was left without much of a life. But what kind of life had she had before Steven came along? Just Rossetti’s, not much else.
Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series Page 7