The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge

by Stewart, Mariah

  “LuLu,” he whispered between kisses. In his voice she heard longing, desire. It was like fuel to the flame, and she moved closer, wanting to feel his body next to hers.

  “Hey, Uncle Clay!” She heard the childish voice at the same time as she heard the rap on the passengerside window. She lurched backward, startled.

  “Great,” Clay muttered as he disengaged himself. “He has his mother’s sense of timing …”

  Clay rolled down the window. “What’s up, buddy?”

  “What are you doing? Mom made cupcakes. She let me help. Are you gonna come in and eat them with us?”

  “Sure.” Clay sighed. “Where is she?”

  “In the kitchen.”

  “Yours or mine?” Clay asked.

  “Yours, silly. That’s where the cupcakes are.”

  “Get your head out of the window, Logan.” Clay looked at Lucy apologetically as he closed the window. “Looks like we’re going to have to share. Which was not, by the way, in the original plan.”

  “It’s okay.” Lucy grabbed her bag from the floor of the front seat where she’d dropped it.

  “No, it isn’t.” Clay squeezed her hand. “But maybe we can pick up where we left off later. Assuming my sister leaves …”

  Lucy laughed and opened her car door. “Hi,” she said to Clay’s nephew. “I’m Lucy.”

  “I know. My mother told me.” Logan seemed to be studying her.

  “All right, cupcake eaters.” Clay came around the front of the car. “Let’s head on in and see what your mom made for us.”

  “Chocolate raspberry, like you asked.” Logan led the way to the porch, up the back steps, and into the house.

  “Hello, Brooke.” Clay focused a laser beam on his sister, who was getting coffee cups from the cabinet. Three coffee cups. “Nice of you to stop by.”

  “Hi, Lucy. Good to see you.” Brooke flashed a smile. “I thought you might like coffee with dessert,” she said brightly. “I hope decaf is okay?”

  “It’s fine for me,” Lucy told her.

  “How was your flight?” Brooke asked as she prepared the coffeemaker.

  “Early.” Clay pulled out a chair from the table for Lucy and she sat.

  “You must be exhausted.”

  “I’m a little jet-lagged,” Lucy admitted, suddenly feeling more tired than she had before Brooke inquired.

  “So, Brooke,” Clay said as he took the seat next to Lucy. “Shouldn’t Logan be in bed by now?”

  “Nope.” Brooke grinned as she measured coffee grounds. “Teachers’ in-service day tomorrow. No school.”

  “Brooke, can I do something?” Lucy offered.

  “Oh, no, thanks. There’s really nothing to be done.” Brooke poured water into the coffeemaker and hit the on button.

  “Does that mean you’ll be leaving?” Clay asked pointedly.

  Brooke ignored the question.

  “So, Lucy.” Brooke pulled up a chair at the table. “How’s the Magellan wedding coming along?”

  “I’ll know better after I meet with Susanna tomorrow,” Lucy told her.

  “Clay says you’re going to be home for at least a week,” Brooke said.

  “At least a week, yes.”

  “I’m sure your mom is happy about that.”

  Lucy nodded. “She is.” Lucy glanced at Clay. “I’m happy about it, too.”

  “Looks like Lucy is going to be around even more over the summer,” Clay said.

  “Really?” Brooke turned to Lucy. “Why’s that?”

  “A few more events were scheduled at the inn that I’ll be handling. One in July, one in September.”

  “I see.” The coffee finished dripping and Brooke got up to pour. “So I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of you.”

  “Bet on it.” Lucy met Brooke’s eyes.

  Brooke brought a plate of cupcakes and some small dessert plates to the table.

  “Uncle Clay, I can’t find the Power Rangers channel,” Logan called from the living room. “Will you find it for me?”

  “I’ll be right back.” Clay touched Lucy’s shoulder as he stood, and she reached up to touch his hand. Their fingers entwined for just a second as she looked up into his eyes.

  As he left the room, he told Brooke, “Behave yourself.”

  “Not to worry.” Brooke poured coffee and placed the cups on the table. “Cream and sugar?” she asked Lucy.

  “Please.”

  Brooke stood with her back against the counter. “I saw the way you looked at him,” she said. “You care about him.”

  “Why do you sound surprised?”

  “I was all ready to put you on the spot, play the big-sister card for real this time, and here you like him.”

  “Guilty as charged.”

  Brooke obviously had been caught off guard in her attempt to protect her brother, which in itself was okay, as far as Lucy was concerned. She might find herself called upon to defend one of her own brothers’ heart one day. Neither Daniel nor Ford had ever been all that astute where women were concerned. Would she be similarly protective if she thought one of them cared too much for someone who didn’t appear to care for him? Or would she shrug it off as none of her business and stand by and let him potentially make a fool out of himself?

  Lucy liked to think that she, too, would stand up for her brothers, especially the younger one, who’d always been so idealistic.

  Clay came back into the room and Lucy followed him with her eyes. He caught her gaze, and she couldn’t help but smile.

  “On second thought, I don’t think I want coffee after all.” Brooke stood and called into the next room. “Logan, come on. We’re going back to our house now.”

  “Noooooo,” he called back. “Power Rangers just came on!”

  “You can watch it at home,” she told him.

  “You don’t have to leave.” Lucy beckoned Brooke back to the table.

  “I’m interrupting your evening,” Brooke protested.

  “Wasn’t that your plan?” Clay asked drily.

  “Yes, it was,” Brooke readily admitted. “Before it wasn’t.”

  “Was that code for something?” Clay stared at his sister.

  “I understood.” Lucy laughed and patted the back of Brooke’s chair. “Sit with us. I won’t be staying that much longer.” She looked at Clay. “I’m more tired than I thought I was. I’ve been up since three this morning.”

  “Then you are due for a crash.” He passed her the cupcakes. “Eat. Drink your coffee. And then I’ll drive you back to the inn.”

  The atmosphere lightened, and by the time Lucy left the farmhouse, she and Brooke were planning a party to celebrate Jesse’s being named senior partner in Enright and Enright, Attorneys-at-Law. With the retirement of both his grandfather and his uncle Mike, the only thing that stood between Jesse and the firm was Curtis, his grandfather, who had come to the conclusion that no one was more capable of carrying on the family name than Jesse.

  “I want to invite his entire family,” Brooke had confided. “I want it to be a night he’ll never forget.”

  “Where are you going to hold it?” Lucy asked.

  “I’m not sure. My first choice would be at the Enright house, but I’m afraid that might be a little pushy on my part. I’m going to have to give it a little more thought. But I have plenty of time. Neither Jesse’s grandfather nor his uncle has officially announced their retirements yet.”

  “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” Lucy told her as she slipped into her jacket.

  “I’ll do that.”

  Lucy and Clay stepped out into a clear night with a sky crowded with stars.

  “If we drive out to the point, I’ll bet there won’t be as much competing light,” Clay noted. “We’d be able to see them better.”

  “You’d be able to see them better.” Lucy yawned. “I’m sorry, but I am fading very quickly.”

  “Then I’ll take you home, and you can get some sleep, and we’ll do the stars anoth
er night.” He reached across the console for her hand and gave it a squeeze, and he drove back to the inn holding her hand.

  “So I guess you’re going to be pretty busy these next few days.” Clay stopped at the double doors behind the inn.

  “I have a list a mile long.”

  “Can we grab dinner one night, or lunch one day?” he asked.

  “Yes, to both. And maybe coffee in the morning at Cuppachino if I get up early enough.”

  “I’m usually there by eight,” he told her.

  “Save me a seat.” She leaned across the console and kissed him. “Thanks for a great night, Clay.”

  She could have added, And thanks for reminding me how good it is to laugh, to trust, to care …

  The receptionist was still at the desk when Lucy entered the lobby, and there were still some guests milling about, some early arrivals for a long weekend, some looking as if they’d just come back from an evening stroll from town. Lucy passed them all and went right up the stairs to her room, and managed to change into a sleep shirt before practically passing out on the bed.

  She’d passed a milestone that night, she knew: her defense mechanism, her inner siren, hadn’t felt the need to shriek inside her head when he’d reached for her. There’d been no panic rising in her, no fight-or-flight response, no cold fear in the pit of her stomach. There’d just been Clay, and kisses that had been heartbreakingly sweet and crazily erotic at the same time. Her last thought as she drifted off to sleep was that it was going be a very interesting summer.

  Chapter 16

  Clay had looked up from his usual table, where he was reading the newspaper, when he heard the door open—an automatic response he’d developed after months of regular morning visits, one he’d once compared to Pavlov’s dogs. The door opens, you look up to see who is coming in. Someone you know? You smile, wave, call a greeting, invite them to sit, or not. A stranger or someone you’re avoiding? You go back to your coffee and your conversation or whatever it was that you were reading.

  This morning, he watched Lucy follow a party of three through Cuppachino’s door and go straight to the counter, where she ordered her morning coffee.

  Clay was waiting for Wade, who could always be counted on to be at least fifteen to twenty minutes late, depending on whether or not Steffie had gotten Austin ready for his day before she left for Scoop. His partner’s chronic tardiness was annoying as hell, but this morning—seeing Lucy stroll in unexpectedly, her red hair pulled back in a ponytail, her legs bare in shorts, running shoes on her feet, and a sweatshirt tied around her waist over her gray T-shirt—Clay was grateful that Wade had ignored his pleas to be on time just once this week.

  “So what news is in that paper that I should know about today?” she asked as she approached his table.

  “Well, let’s see.” He scanned the section he’d been reading—sports—and read through the headlines. “The Orioles are celebrating back-to-back wins, the Ravens are gearing up for the draft, and the high school lacrosse team was defeated in the second round of a tournament over in Annapolis.”

  “Those are just the sort of things I need to know. Thanks for sharing.”

  “Can you sit?”

  “I have a few minutes. Thanks.” She pulled out the chair closest to his and sat.

  “Nice to see you up and about early. Is this part of your normal routine when you’re back in L.A.?”

  “I wish. I don’t have a normal routine back there, unless you count staying up way too late working so that the next morning I am crawling out of bed, rushing to get dressed and out of my apartment to make an early morning meeting.” She took a sip of coffee. “Carlo brews a mean cup. I really look forward to coming here when I’m home.”

  “He does,” Clay agreed. “So you’re not really a runner, then, you’re just—”

  “I am so a runner. At least, I am when I’m here.” She looked around the coffee shop and waved to a few familiar faces. “Mornings are so peaceful here. No thousand cars to dodge, no incessant honking of horns. No clouds of pollution to run through. No eight A.M. meetings. It’s quiet and the air smells good. I like to see all the changes the town has undergone between visits. The houses, the landscapes—it’s all new to me every time, even though it’s still all familiar.”

  “As tired as you looked last night, I didn’t think we’d see you until Saturday, at the very least.”

  Lucy laughed. “I did hit the wall of fatigue headfirst last night. Sorry for crashing on you.”

  “You get a pass for jet lag.” He sliced off half of his muffin and offered it to her. “Whole wheat, raisins, pecans, and cranberries.”

  “Oh, yum.” She slid the piece of muffin onto a napkin. “Thanks. I will have a healthy breakfast when I get back to the inn, but this should tide me over nicely.”

  “So what’s your schedule for today?”

  “Well, on my way back to the inn, I’m going to stop next door to see Olivia because I have a question about flowers for the wedding.” She nibbled at the muffin. “This is delicious. Did Brooke bake this?”

  He nodded and handed her the knife. She grinned. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “Go right ahead. There’s another one over there,” he told her. “But I should probably claim it before someone else does.”

  Clay got up, walked to the counter, and returned with the muffin. When he got back to the table, he noticed she’d already eaten all of hers. He put the plate down in front of her, handed her the knife, and said, “Have at it.”

  “Thank you. I won’t eat much more of it, I promise.”

  “Eat whatever you want. So you’re going to meet with Olivia about flowers for Susanna.” He sat back to watch her take little bites of the muffin. Just watching her eat—hell, watching her do anything—was a pleasure. Just having her there with him—drinking coffee, chatting—elevated what had started out to be a very ordinary morning to a very good one.

  “Then,” she was saying, “it’s back to the inn to get cleaned up. My mom and Susanna should be back by eleven or so. I thought my mother had driven herself to Robert’s house the other day, but Daniel told me this morning that Robert sent a car to pick her up. Wasn’t that nice of him?”

  “Mm-hmm.” Clay nodded.

  “So anyway.” She took another slice of muffin. “Susanna is driving back with Mom. We have so much to accomplish today.”

  “I can see that all those excuses I was thinking up for being late this morning weren’t necessary.” Wade seemed to appear out of nowhere. Clay had been so focused on Lucy that he never saw his friend come into the shop until he was there, pulling out a chair.

  “Good morning, Lucy. Good to see you.” Wade sat opposite Lucy at the table.

  “Hey, Wade. How are you?” she returned the greeting.

  “I’m good.” Wade looked from Lucy to Clay. “Am I interrupting something?”

  “We were just chatting.” Lucy spoke before Clay could. “I stopped in for coffee to take out, but I saw Clay here and decided to stay and help him eat his breakfast.”

  Wade looked over the remains of the muffin.

  “Whole wheat, raisin, pecan, and cranberry?” he asked.

  “Got the last two,” Clay told him.

  “Damn. Wonder if they have any in the back.…” Wade got up and went back to the counter.

  “I should get going. It’s getting late.” Lucy pointed to the clock on the wall.

  “You might want to make a stop at the table up by the window and say hello,” Clay suggested.

  Lucy turned around in her chair to take a look.

  “The ladies Mom has coffee with every morning. Yes, I should do that.” She looked over the group. “Oh, there’s Vanessa.” She finished her coffee in one gulp, then started to push back from the table. “I guess you and Wade have business to discuss anyway, right?”

  “It is time for our daily morning meeting. Past time, actually.”

  “Then I won’t feel as if I’m abandoning you.” She
rose from her chair. “Thanks for sharing your breakfast with me.”

  “Anytime.”

  “Oh, would you ask Wade if a beer for the Magellan wedding is even a remote possibility? I’d love to be able to tell Susanna.”

  “Sure. I’ll let you know.”

  “I’ll see you later, then.”

  “Call me if you find yourself with some free time,” he said as she started to walk away.

  “If I have any free time at all, you are the only person I’d call.”

  She walked to the front of the coffee shop, where she was greeted warmly by the ladies there. Clay watched her until Wade came back and sat in the chair he’d claimed earlier.

  “You’re right in my line of vision, you know,” Clay told him.

  Wade looked over his shoulder, saw Lucy six tables directly behind him, and turned back to Clay.

  “Got it bad, don’t you, sport?”

  When Clay didn’t respond, Wade said, “You want to know something I learned about women?”

  “Not really.”

  “I’m going to tell you, anyway.” Wade took a sip of coffee and added half a raw sugar to the cup. “Accept no substitutions.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that when you find the right one, you pull out all the stops.” Wade peeled the paper from the cupcake he’d brought back with him. “No more good muffins. I had to settle for a chocolate orange cupcake.”

  He took a bite. “Of course, stalking is out. I mean, sometimes a guy might think she’s the one, but if she doesn’t agree, he has to back away. However, if she’s interested—and it’s pretty clear that Miss Lucy is—then you have to go for it.”

  “I have all intentions of going for it,” Clay told him.

  “Make the most of your time, then, since I hear she’s only here for a couple of weeks.”

  “She’ll be home for the summer,” Clay said. “Well, for much of it, anyway.”

  “Hey, that’s good, right?” Wade took another bite. “Your sister can really bake. I don’t know why you don’t weigh eight hundred pounds.”

  “I could say the same to you. Your wife makes the best ice cream in the state.”