Love on the Sound

by Matthews, Jamie

  Still, he sat for a long time at his computer, staring at the blinking cursor, the words blurred in front of him. Letting Amy go had been the right thing to do. He knew that, deep down.

  And maybe, he thought, giving up hope on work and burying his head in his hands, if he told himself that about a trillion more times, he’d start believing it.

  Chapter 28

  Three months later

  “So.” Amy peered at the spreadsheet on her computer screen. “You’re saying I can start working on the third floor rooms now, open them in time for the summer season, and expect to turn a profit?”

  Lucas let out a pained sigh on the other end of the phone. “Or, you could save the money for one more year.”

  “Nope.” Amy smiled when he sighed again, even more dramatically. “Please. You know when I saw these numbers that’s what I’d want to do.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you must, then you can make it work. You know, I’m an accountant, not a financial planner.”

  “Sure, that’s why you called me in January and started offering me free financial advice,” Amy teased.

  She knew damn well Ben had talked him into it, and after initially resisting, she realized it was foolish to refuse. Lucas gave her the outside perspective she needed to figure out if it was a good time to expand. While she’d initially balked at his suggestion that she raise her rates, as she’d crunched the numbers on her expenses, Amy realized she was in fact providing guests a bargain. So far, no one had complained or even seemed to notice that the prices were higher.

  “The last guests loved the free bottles of wine, by the way,” she added. “Great idea.”

  “I’m a genius,” Lucas agreed. He’d suggested she develop more partnerships with local business owners. First she’d negotiated discounted prices for artisan soaps from a business on Friday Harbor and included business cards in the On the Sound guest bathrooms. Most recently, she’d scored a deal on bottles of wine from a winery on Orcas Island and was able to offer guests their choice of red or white upon their arrival.

  “Did Maddie’s checkup go well?” she asked after they wrapped up business.

  “Hm? Oh. Right. Yep, clean bill of health,” he replied, referring to his infant daughter. He’d asked her to delay the call until afternoon so he could schedule around that appointment, even though that meant she had to reschedule her weekly shopping trip to Friday Harbor—Amy had offered to just call him the next day but he’d been insistent. “Thanks for being flexible. I’ve been swamped.”

  “Thanks for the free advice.” Amy paused for a moment. “I sure appreciate it, Lucas. I’ll check back in during the remodel.”

  “Think frugal,” he advised, but she heard the smile in his voice.

  They hung up, and Amy congratulated herself for once again not asking about Ben. Lucas never mentioned him, not even a casual name drop.

  She closed out of the spreadsheet and stared out the window at the gray, gloomy afternoon, cupping her chin in her hands. Rain dripped down the glass, but she didn’t mind. It suited her mood, just as gray as the day. It had been weeks since she’d woken up thinking about Ben, but today he hovered in her thoughts.

  Stop it, she told herself, pushing out of her chair. No moping around. Amy decided to start the remodel right then and there by tackling the mess in the third floor rooms. Soon she found herself elbow deep in cobwebs, dust, dilapidated furniture and sagging boxes.

  All in all, she thought she’d done pretty well for herself the last few months. Sure, there’d been lots of tears, pints of ice cream, glasses of wine, and girls-only nights out—or pajama nights in—but Amy thought she was entitled after having her heart broken. She’d allowed herself two weeks of misery before she forced herself back into her routine. She’d limited the obsessive Google searches of Ben’s name—mostly—and when Artie and Lisa came to On the Sound to stay for a romantic Valentine’s Day weekend, she hadn’t asked them one single question about Ben, but laughed, joked and chatted with them just like they were any other guests, not letting on that their visit sent her into a brief rebound into depression.

  Amy ran downstairs for trash bags and cleaning supplies, then trudged back upstairs. Within an hour, she was covered in dust, but had managed to clear out the room facing the Sound. She stretched, then gave in for a brief moment, rested her forehead against the panes of the now-clean window. She loved her life. It was a good one, one she’d built for herself and was damn proud of.

  But, was she fated to go through life with pieces of her heart missing? First, Kevin. Now, Ben.

  Suck it up, she reminded herself. You knew what you were getting into.

  She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror propped against the wall and had to smile at the sight of the cobweb stuck in her hair, the streak of dirt across her forehead and cheek. Time for a shower, and then she’d text Nell and Hannah to see if they wanted to meet up in town for pizza and beer.

  She was halfway to her apartment when the doorbell rang. She hesitated, not expecting any guests. Maybe a delivery? Shrugging, she used the hem of her shirt to wipe the dirt off her face as best she could, and tried to comb the spiderweb out of her hair with her fingers—ewwww—as she jogged down the stairs. Slightly out of breath, she opened the door.

  And, there he was. Ben. Standing there, the rain dripping down his face, his hair disheveled as if he’d run his fingers through it, thumbs tucked into the pockets of sexy dark jeans.

  For a long moment, Amy could only stare at him, while her emotions ping ponged all over the place, from wanting to leap in his arms and plaster herself against that hard, muscular body to wanting to slam the door in his face after she gave him a good kick in the ass. It took everything she had to muster up a warm smile and turn on her innkeeper vibe.

  “Ben! What a surprise!” She stepped back. “Come in out of the rain.”

  His eyes never leaving her face, he stepped just inside the doorway, but didn’t go any further.

  “Did your new assistant forget to send me your reservation?” she teased, all the while trying to figure out what the fuck, what the FUCK he was doing there. Did he think it was okay to just book a room like any other guest? It was too soon. It would always be too soon.

  “Nope.” He smiled tentatively. “Still don’t have an assistant.”

  “Oh.”

  They stared at each other for a moment. Ben shook his head, as if remembering, and pulled a key from his pocket.

  “I don’t need a room. Just bought a house.”

  “Um. Congratulations.” Amy looked at the key, then back at him. Had he traveled all the way up from L.A. to tell her he’d bought a house? Maybe he’d lost his mind in the last three months. She narrowed her eyes, studying him. Had he been drinking?

  He grinned then, as if he could tell exactly what she was thinking, and held out his hand. “Come on, I’d like to show it to you.”

  He’d definitely lost his mind.

  “I can’t just fly off to L.A. to look at your house.” She stopped as his grin got even wider and then smacked the side of her head. “Duh. Brain not working today. You meant, show me pics.”

  “Nope.” Ben kept his hand outstretched. “It’s not in LA.”

  Amy took a step back, her heart pounding. “Where exactly is this house?”

  Ben shoved his rejected hand back in his pocket but kept the hopeful smile on his face. “You just need to see it. I promise I won’t take up much of your time. I could use your advice—you worked wonders on this place.”

  Amy stared at him—dammit, he looked so sexy—and then sighed. She had two choices: tell him to go the hell away because he was breaking her heart all over again standing there so sexy, vibrant and unavailable, or indulge him, with the hope he would go the hell away soon. He couldn’t possibly have bought a house here on the Island, right? Unless…it was a vacation home? She felt nauseous at the thought of seeing him around town during the summer with his latest flavor of the month on his arm, or worse, his wife. S
urely he wasn’t that oblivious or cruel? Maybe he thought she didn’t really love him, and her feelings would disappear.

  “Amy?”

  She jolted out of her thoughts and realized she’d been glaring at him in silence for several long minutes.

  “Okay. But I have to get back soon to….” She trailed off, literally unable to think of a single excuse. “To get back,” she finished lamely, tilting her chin up and squaring her shoulders.

  “You need to get back,” he agreed solemnly and smiled when she shot him a look.

  Amy grabbed her raincoat from the peg by the door and followed him out to his car in silence. He held the door open for her, then ran in the rain to the driver’s side. He slammed the door and sat for a moment, looking at her, rain beading in his hair.

  “It’s good to see you, Amy.”

  Despite her resolve to stay strong, she found herself melting a little. “You too,” she said quietly.

  He started the car, and Amy wondered what they were going to talk about during the drive to…wherever. Was he taking her to Seattle? That might make marginally more sense. He shot out of the driveway and turned right onto the road. She was just about to thank him for asking Lucas to help her with her books when he turned right almost immediately into the next driveway.

  She sat speechless when he screeched to a halt in front of the house next to On the Sound. He held up the key and smiled.

  “Here we are.”

  Amy stared at the two-story house, surrounded by overgrown grass, weeds and bushes. If possible, it looked even worse up close than it did from the Sound. Rain fell in sheets through the gaping holes in the porch roof, and the front gutter sagged, overflowing with leaves and debris, water sleeting down onto the siding. Half the windows were boarded up, the paint peeling and faded.

  “Needs a little work,” Ben said, seemingly calm, but his fingers drummed on the steering wheel. “Come on, let me show you inside.”

  Her mind spinning, Amy followed him up to the porch, skipping the rotted step, and waited while he struggled to turn the key in the rusty lock. Inside, it smelled musty and damp, and half the living room had been stripped down to the studs. The ceiling sagged. The fireplace, however, was huge, and surrounded on either side by deep built in bookshelves. The view out the back windows to the Sound drew Amy’s eye immediately.

  She turned to face Ben.

  “What the hell is going on here? You can’t possibly be moving in next door.”

  He eyed her. “I signed the papers this morning. I’m going to tear it down to the studs and remodel it—well, I’m going to hire Tom to do that, but I wouldn’t mind getting my hands dirty. As to whether I live here when it’s done, that depends on you.”

  Amy met his eyes, which were focused intently on her. Her mouth felt dry, her head spun. “What do you mean?” she asked carefully.

  Ben moved closer to her, reached out and took both her hands in his. “When you left, it was the sensible thing to do. The right thing, even. You knew that; I knew that. But the last few months have been the most miserable in my life. I miss you, beyond reason.

  “So,” he continued, when she didn’t say anything, just watched him. “I decided I’d fly up here and convince you to stay with me.”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but he shook his head.

  “I sat down to make a list of all the reasons it made sense for you to live in L.A. with me, at least for part of the year. And, for me to live up here the other half of the year. You know what I realized?”

  She shook her head. He smiled.

  “That’s a dumb-ass idea. I couldn’t come up with a single reason for you to move to L.A. More, I couldn’t come up with a single reason for me to stay. I hate it there. I can’t fucking breathe. I hate my house. I hate the clogged freeways, the phony show biz people, the smog, everything.”

  “What about your career?”

  “I got funding for my movie. And, offers to act in it, even some suggestions to direct that or other projects. I’m done with that. I had my time in front of the camera. I did the parties; I traveled around the world going from movie to movie. Now, I realized, I just want to write. I can do that anywhere—maybe I might go to L.A. for a few weeks now and again, but for the most part, I can conference in online. I don’t need to be on set 24-7.”

  Amy felt a sliver of hope brighten around her heart but was afraid to let it widen. “Are you sure about that?”

  He nodded. “100%. I already contacted the kid’s theater, told them I was making a sizeable donation. They hardly let me finish talking before agreeing I could take over. So, I’m going to own it—or rather, the foundation I’m going to start to help disadvantaged kids get access to theater is going to own it. We’re going to rebuild that theater, hire a staff person. I met with some folks with the theater program at University of Washington in Seattle, and they’re willing to partner with us to do some workshops.”

  He grinned now, gripped her hands. “All because you nagged me into covering for Jonah. Those damn kids roped me in, just like you said they would.”

  Amy felt tears come to her eyes. “Softie,” she said, letting go of his hand and reaching up to cup his cheek.

  He leaned down to rest his forehead on hers. “So, there’s just one thing left. You.”

  “Me?” Amy closed her eyes, breathing in his scent, feeling the world right itself.

  “I don’t want to do it without you.” He pulled back, eyes very blue and intense on hers.

  “So, you’re telling me that you have no job lined up after this movie is done. You bought this piece of shit house that is basically uninhabitable.” Amy held up her fingers one by one to tick off the items, keeping a straight face, even though she wanted to turn cartwheels and dance. “You’re ‘working’ for the kids’ theater that consists of you throwing all your money at them and not getting paid.” She shook her head. “What kind of plan is that?”

  “A fucked up one.” He grinned. “Isn’t it great?”

  She grinned back at him, and he pulled her close, kissed her softly on the lips, then deeper, as she twined her arms around his neck.

  “I forgot one thing,” he whispered in her ear as he pulled back.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  Her eyes widened when he let go of her and got down on one knee on the dusty, creaky floor.

  “Oh, my God.” She wiped at sudden tears, her heart racing.

  “I love you, Amy. You brought the light back into my life. I want to live here with you, in this god-awful house, with our kids racing up and down the hallway. Maybe a dog?”

  She shook her head, laughing through tears.

  “Hmm. We’ll talk about that later. But, definitely kids. I want to keep holding Thanksgiving at On the Sound. Kayak and sail and hike and have all kinds of adventures together.”

  Ben pulled out a box from his coat pocket, flipped it open. A silver ring sparkled, a large stone diamond inset in the middle, two smaller diamonds on either side.

  “Three stones for the past that made us who we are, the present that brought us together and the future we’ll create.” He held the ring up to her. “Amy, will you marry me?”

  Amy took the ring and pulled him up to his feet, then threw her arms around him.

  “Yes. I love you, Ben.”

  “Oh, thank God.” He pulled her close, and Amy laid her head over his heart. They stood for a long time, holding each other while the rain pattered overhead on the roof of their future home.

  “I’m going to be Mrs. Ben Morrison,” she marveled, holding out her hand and enjoying the way the light danced off the diamonds.

  “I think it’s more like I’m going to be Mr. Amy Malone,” he replied.

  “Don’t you forget it.”

  She kissed him, reveling in the feel of his arms around her after the months apart, their tongues twining, breath mingling. His arms tightened, the kiss deepened, and soon they were both breathless.

  “I might need a room after all,�
�� Ben told her. “There are no beds in here.”

  “We definitely need to fix that,” she said, lightly nipping his bottom lip. “I’ve got lots of beds, you know.”

  Laughing, they headed hand in hand out the door. As they drove back to On the Sound, Amy looked up at the sky, thinking of Kevin, remembering his sweet, shy and awkward proposal, flashing back to their wedding vows. She closed her eyes, wished him well wherever he was in the universe, felt a deep peace within her heart.

  She’d found her happily ever after at last.

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading Love on the Sound. It’s my debut novel, and I’m so happy to tell Amy and Ben’s story. If you enjoyed reading it, please take a moment to leave a review—like I said, I’m a newbie, and it really helps me out.

  Stay tuned for Lopez Island Series #2. I can’t wait for smart-ass Nell to fall headfirst in love.

  Oh, and say hi sometime, why don’t you? You can find me on Facebook, Twitter or at www.writerjamiem.com.

  -Jamie

  Acknowledgements

  To my husband, for supporting my work and being understanding the many, many times when he asked me to hang out, and I said, “I’m going to work on my book tonight.”

  To fellow author Luna David, who nagged, cajoled, bullied and encouraged me to get off my ass and write. Thanks for reading, editing, brainstorming and educating me on the ways of e-publishing. And, thanks for sending your guy Cooper with Custos Securities to guard Ben in his time of need. Your own determination to keep writing through stomach flu, potty training, a swarm of bees in the attic and the other various demands of daily life inspired me to keep going. This book literally would not have been written without you.