Lavender Beach

by Vickie McKeehan

  For those brief few minutes, he made her feel like a runway model. If only she’d been better dressed and wasn’t wearing tattered jeans and a top leftover from the nineties.

  Cooper looked around and adjusted the lens again taking snapshots of the cliff and the surrounding landscape.

  She watched him zero in on his target like a trained sniper. But instead of a weapon, he used the camera as a natural extension, capturing this one special moment in time, documenting the project like no one else had thought to do.

  Eastlyn spread her arms out wide. “The train store owner slash photographer in his element.”

  That brought him back to where he’d started. One more time, he aimed the lens at her sitting on the bench among the plentiful lavender. “What to know what I think? This is your element right here. That smile on your face says Pelican Pointe agrees with you.”

  He sat down next to her, stretched out his long legs. “Drea tells me she plans a big kick off-to-summer bash at her place this Friday night. She’d hoped it would be her engagement party to Zach. My guess is she’s trying to put on a brave face after the split.”

  “Really? Those two broke up? How long had they been dating?”

  “About a year. I want you to go with me.”

  How could she possibly get out of going to his sister’s first party after a bad breakup with her boyfriend? “Of course,” she heard herself say.

  “Do me a favor.”

  “Okay.”

  “Do you own a dress?”

  She tilted her head, considered his motives. “Is that a snotty way of saying you don’t like what I wear?”

  “I’m saying I’d like to see you in a dress. There’s no need to be self-conscious about your prosthesis, none at all. You’re beautiful exactly the way you are. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  “Except what I wear,” she pointed out in a huff.

  “My motives are entirely selfish. I’d like to get you out of your clothes. There, I admitted it, honestly and without malice.”

  She chewed her lip. “What you’re really saying is you want to see my leg.”

  “Okay, that, too.”

  She turned in his arms. “You think you’re ready but I guarantee you won’t be. No one is.”

  “I’m fairly certain I’m ready to see all of you. It’s you who I haven’t convinced. You’re still not quite ready to trust me yet. I’ve made it clear I want to take you to bed, Eastlyn, and that’s a little hard to do if you’re constantly afraid I’ll somehow act differently the minute I see your prosthetic. And since I don’t intend to make love to you in the dark…”

  “Ever? What do you have against the dark?”

  “Not a thing. But when we make love for the first time I’ll want to explore every inch of you.”

  “Cooper…”

  When she tried to protest, he simply cut her off with a soft press of his lips to hers. It was as if they were the only two people who existed, right then and there, looking out to sea. At that moment, they shut out the hum of conversation behind them. All the people gathering to eat nearby didn’t exist. That left them alone to drop into the kiss. In their own world, nothing else mattered but the two of them.

  A flock of squawky seagulls broke the moment.

  His eyes danced as he stood up and held out a hand to help her up. “Let’s go get something to eat before I strip your clothes off right here.”

  “That would definitely headline Myrtle’s newsletter,” Eastlyn quipped.

  “The woman’s smarter than that. Myrtle’s learned to utilize email. It’s faster than waiting for a newsletter to print.” He glanced up to where the grills were going. “The line’s thinned out quite a bit. You must be starving.”

  Eastlyn got to her feet, ran a seductive finger down his throat. The gesture had nothing to do with food. “You know what? I just realized I’m a lot hungrier than I thought I was. You make me hungry, Cooper.”

  His smile curved wide, showing a pair of dimples in his cheeks. “I knew I’d eventually beat down your resistance.”

  Before they could make it over to the buffet of food, Cooper’s cell phone suddenly came to life on vibrate. Out of habit, he glanced down at the digital readout and set his jaw. His face became a mask of disappointment mired in anger.

  Sliding the arrow to the right to take the call, he listened to what turned out to be a recording. But he put an end to the spiel before it had time to finish and crammed the device back into his jeans pocket. To reassure himself, he reached out to touch Eastlyn’s hand.

  “Who was that?” she wanted to know.

  “No one important.”

  But Eastlyn wasn’t buying it. “Don’t give me that. You look like you could break someone in half without even trying. I know what frustration looks like.”

  He shook his head, lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “Some telemarketer who won’t take no for an answer.”

  And with each step he did his best to push the rage he felt back where it belonged—deep into his past.

  Fourteen

  For Eastlyn, the luncheon at Promise Cove proved a true eye opener, a window into the female mindset that made up the town.

  She’d been there only a few minutes when she scanned the dining room where most of the women in town gathered around Jordan’s long dining table. Young and old, women of all ages snatched up delicate little finger sandwiches from fancy trays lined with lacy paper doilies and drank tea poured from sterling silver pots.

  Eastlyn had heard of such things but never once had she ever gone to an afternoon tea. She stood in the entryway in her bland gray pantsuit feeling about as frumpy as a Muppet while everyone else around her wore spring dresses in bright colors or stylish skirts and tops. Her drab wardrobe made her feel out of place and awkward.

  “There’s plenty to eat and drink,” Jordan sang out in cheerful greeting, giving her reticent guest a little nudge toward the action.

  Eastlyn took the hint and moved toward the buffet.

  “Try the quiche,” Emma Colter suggested. “Personally, I never make the stuff, but Jordan’s got it down to an art.”

  A skeptical Eastlyn nodded and surveyed the other tasty-looking appetizers. But after perusing the table, she came back to the mini spinach quiche. Nibbling the crusty edges, she decided this tea thing might have its own merits.

  The fact that for most of her life Eastlyn had struggled to make girlfriends tended to affect the way she looked at social events like this. She’d found out at an early age she had little in common with most of her girly classmates. They seemed to want different things out of life than she did. They wanted to become wives and mothers, or ballet dancers, or beauty queens, or bankers. At sleepovers her friends often preoccupied themselves with Barbie dolls, played dress up, experimented with makeup. Later, during the awkward teen years, it would become girl talk that bordered on obsession with getting dates out of boys and planning future weddings.

  Not Eastlyn Parker.

  Even as a kid, Eastlyn had wanted to fly. Her daydreams, more often than not, consisted of trips to the moon and back. Somewhere around the age of thirteen she realized becoming an astronaut might not be practical, so she aimed her sights on something closer to reality, something more attainable—flying for the army, just as her father had, became her goal.

  So while this coffee klatch might not be something she would have ever put at the top of her must-do list, today she was enjoying herself. The party allowed her the opportunity to talk to some of the women in town she had yet to meet on her own.

  Women like Cord’s wife, Keegan Bennett, the other veterinarian in town. Eastlyn decided that Keegan, with her long red hair tied back in a sleek ponytail, looked far younger than Cord and told her so.

  Keegan roared with laughter. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell him that. I’m surprised you’re even speaking to Cord after the way he and Nick dragged you here.”

  “It’s strange but I don’t hold that against him, at least not like I did when I fi
rst got here.”

  Keegan patted her arm. “Oh, I’m so glad to hear it. I know he appreciates the way you’ve taken such good care of our furry patients at the clinic undergoing surgery. You’d be surprised how difficult it is to find people who care enough about the animals to go the extra mile for them the way you do.”

  “I adore the animals. By the way, we spent an amazing three hours walking through your rescue center on Sunday. It’s a wonderful thing you do for the animals.”

  Pleased with the praise, Keegan’s mouth curved up. “It’s a testament to my grandparents and their devotion to saving marine life. I just try to keep it going, with Cord’s help, of course. What was your favorite part?”

  “We loved the sea otters.”

  “Who’s we?”

  “Uh, Cooper Richmond showed me around the place.”

  “Cooper’s a sweetheart. Last fall he donated giveaways, a slew of toys, to our annual fundraising effort. The event gets bigger every year. And the philanthropy from the town makes me proud to call this place home.”

  “I’ve noticed the businesses here are very supportive that way.”

  “Oh, they are. From the bank to the florist we take care of our own. And now that the old tightwad Joe Ferguson’s left town, his son Tucker seems to have finally gotten the message. Even Tucker’s stepped up his game.”

  When Kinsey Donnelly, the legal eagle, walked up, Keegan nodded to the lawyer. “And if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need an attorney, don’t hesitate to call this one. Kinsey’s a whiz at drawing up estates, trusts, wills, that sort of thing.”

  “You’re making me blush,” Kinsey said faking a southern drawl. “Although there’s an element of truth in what you say.”

  “Do you handle divorce?” Eastlyn asked with a serious face.

  That question all but stopped Kinsey’s clowning around. She became all business-like. “Uh…sure I can… I represented Greg Prather and Archer Gates with theirs. But I thought… Um, Cooper told Logan you two were… I didn’t know… I had no idea you were married and needed a divorce attorney.”

  Eastlyn bumped the lawyer’s shoulder in a playful gesture and grinned. “Gotcha. I don’t. I’m not. Never have been. Married, that is. I just wanted to see the look on your face.”

  Kinsey snorted out a belly laugh then bumped Eastlyn’s shoulder right back. “Well, you certainly had me going. You’re all right. I like a woman who isn’t afraid to show she has an offbeat sense of humor.”

  “In the army, you learn to develop thick skin, or the ability to laugh at yourself. If you can’t take a joke, you might as well put a sign around your neck that you’re ripe for all the punksters in the unit.”

  Bree Dayton overheard the comment and leaned over to grab a helping of crab salad. “I can’t even imagine being in a combat zone. If Troy were somehow shipped off to war, I’d worry myself sick. Nick says you saved his life.”

  Eastlyn had crossed paths with Bree Dayton a time or two while she’d been a guest at the bed and breakfast. But she had yet to talk to Bree one-on-one. “I just did my job and flew him out of the hot zone. The medics on my team were the true heroes. They’re the ones who started the IVs that probably saved his life. They’re the ones who patched him up enough before I dropped him off at the field unit.”

  Principal Julianne McLachlan sat across the table and recognized a reluctance to accept credit for saving a life. She’d seen it before. “I’m sure all that’s true. But you flew the chopper that got him there. My husband, Ryder, was in Afghanistan with Cord. Ryder is like you. He refuses to talk about his time over there.”

  When Eastlyn remained silent, Julianne studied the ex-pilot. “I just had a brilliant idea. I’d love it if you’d agree to speak to the kids at school during our year-end assembly. I’d be able to offer you punch and cookies in return.”

  Eastlyn was too dumbfounded to get the humor. “Me? Why me?”

  “You’re a hero.”

  A pained look crossed Eastlyn’s face. “I don’t know where you got that impression but…”

  “Oh, that idea rocks,” River chimed in with an amused look on her face as she got up to help herself to the dessert tray.

  When Eastlyn tried to object, Julianne rolled right over the attempt to protest. “That way, you could talk to the various grades all at the same time as one of the motivational speakers, a headliner.”

  “Wait. Slow down a minute. How would I be able to motivate anyone? I’m not a hero.”

  “Nick and Cord think differently,” Julianne stated.

  “Yeah, well, did they mention I had to spend six weeks in rehab before getting to town? I went to detox for six weeks.” Eastlyn noted the look on Julianne’s face. “They left that part out, didn’t they? It’s okay. I won’t hold you to the invite.”

  Unmoved, Julianne dug in, determined. She waved off the protest. “Rehab’s pretty common these days.”

  Panic started to knot in Eastlyn’s stomach at the idea of standing up in front of the whole school. She turned to their hostess, sent Jordan a pleading look to say something. “If you don’t believe me, ask Jordan. She’ll tell you the circumstances in which Nick and Cord brought me back here. Go ahead, tell them, I don’t mind. Tell them I couldn’t possibly be a role model for kids.”

  While pouring more tea into one of the fancy teapots, Jordan stopped long enough to lay a hand on Eastlyn’s arm. “Don’t be silly. When Nick first came here, he felt just like you do. He didn’t want to talk about the war. You’ll see, it’ll be fine.”

  Sympathetic, Julianne came around to pat Eastlyn’s shoulder. “Don’t worry you won’t be up on the dais alone. I drafted Ryder to show up and give a little talk, too. And just so you know, the school district in Santa Cruz features former drug addicts as speakers all the time as a deterrent. Talking to the older students, fifth graders and above, we’re hopeful by doing that we prevent kids from starting drugs in the first place. But what I’m really hoping for is that you’ll say a few words about your recovery time from the serious injury that took your leg.”

  Eastlyn’s face turned ashen at the thought. She was so upset she stood up to pace. “But I… I wouldn’t know what to say. How long do I have to prepare?”

  “It’s nothing to be alarmed about. The assembly is next week, the last day of school. I’m sure you’ll come up with something brilliant to talk about.”

  “Don’t count on it,” Eastlyn muttered before chugging down an entire cup of Darjeeling tea. Or for all she knew, it might’ve been Oolong.

  River came up to her then, gave her a little hug. “I once gave a lecture at a seminar in Minneapolis. I was so nervous I didn’t sleep a wink the night before.”

  “What happened?”

  “I got up there on stage and went blank, forgot everything I wanted to say.”

  “Gee thanks. That really cheers me up.”

  River let out a deep laugh. “No problem. You strike me as a woman who has the ability to think on her feet. You’ll be fine.”

  Eastlyn looked around at the faces of the guests. “You guys act like this is a foregone conclusion.”

  Understanding moved through Lilly Pierce. “I’m not sure I’ve met anyone able to say no to Julianne. You’re not the only one she’s roped into doing this type of thing. Wally made an appearance early last fall to talk to the kids about surfing. Even though it’s been months, kids still show up on our doorstep at seven o’clock Saturday mornings wearing wetsuits hoping he’ll give them lessons.”

  Eastlyn had seen Lilly around town, especially whenever she’d filled up her car at the gas station. This was the first time she’d had a chance to do more than passing chitchat. Her mind whirled with the prospect. But before she could slide into another topic, she realized River still had something to add.

  “Brent’s slated to appear at that same end-of-school event. He got drafted some months back into saying yes. His little presentation is meant to elevate law enforcement as a career choice.”r />
  Eastlyn frowned. “But that means he’s had plenty of time to prepare. That’s exactly my point, there’s not enough time for me to adequately...”

  River cut in. “You have a week, that’s seven days to work on your speech. Piece of cake.”

  Eastlyn wasn’t so sure. But she realized she needed to let this go for now and stop freaking out. Lilly provided that distraction, the break she needed. “Since you and Wally own the Pump N Go, is it true your husband has a way with engines?”

  Lilly beamed with pride. “Absolutely. Wally’s a genius with a motor.”

  “I’ve heard there’s really no engine he hasn’t tackled.”

  “He’s had a wrench in his hand since he was old enough to walk. If you’re having trouble with that Bronco, bring it in on Monday and I’ll see that he fits you in.”

  “That’s sweet. Other than the occasional carburetor issue now and again where I have to jam a screwdriver into the butterfly valve to keep it open, it’s running fine. I was thinking more along the lines of having him give me his opinion about a Bell helicopter, specifically the Sioux model H-13, military version.” Eastlyn went into the details about its sad shape. “I might need some help locating a new engine for it. And if Wally found one, do you think he could help me install it?”

  Lilly chuckled. “That’s a new one. But I’m sure Wally would give it his best shot. That man loves to tinker with anything mechanical.”

  “Great. I’ll run it by him the next time I fill up.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you get your name?” Lilly asked. “You’re so tall and gorgeous.”

  Eastlyn let out a little laugh. “I was just thinking the same thing about you minus the tall part. How is it tall women most often prefer to be short and short women prefer tall?”

  “It’s the way of life I suppose. The grass is always greener thing. Did you ever want to be petite?”

  “All the time. But I grew out of it. Having height in the army proved a plus. As for my name, Eastlyn was my mother’s maiden name. Elizabeth Eastlyn Parker.”

  “It’s lovely.” Lilly leaned in to where no one else could hear and in a whisper added, “Don’t tell anyone, but Wally and I are thinking of having a baby. Now that things have smoothed out for us, we’re thinking of giving Kyra and Joey a sibling.”