Seaside Romance

by Mia Ross

  “Great job.”

  His unexpected praise settled nicely over Lauren’s badly bruised ego, and she took a minute to admire her handiwork. One window held all manner of Easter things: baskets, stuffed animals and a sampling of the unique toys the shop kept in stock. The other window framed a miniature version of Holiday Harbor, complete with early nineteenth-century buildings and gardens. In the model town square, tiny children held even tinier baskets filled with packing pellets that resembled eggs.

  Even in still life, it was so charming, Lauren easily understood why Julia had chosen to settle here. Maybe someday, she thought wistfully, she’d find a place like this where she could restart her life.

  “You okay?” Ben asked, hauling her back to reality.

  “Sure.” To prove it, she met his concerned gaze with a steady one of her own. With his solid frame and weathered appearance, he made her think of a tree sturdy enough to weather a good old-fashioned hurricane. Pushing the fanciful impression aside, she asked, “Why?”

  “You sighed.” As if he’d just caught on, he gave her a wry grin. “You want to handle this errand yourself, don’t you? So Julia will know you can manage running the shop while she’s gone?”

  That wasn’t quite it, but she’d just met him and confessing that he made her irrationally nervous didn’t seem like the right way to go. “No, it’s fine. Really,” she added with a smile to smooth out the creases in his forehead.

  “If you’re sure.” When she nodded, he motioned her ahead of him. “Then ladies first.”

  More than once, he’d referred to her as a lady. Not only that, she mused as she started walking, he actually made her feel like one. She couldn’t recall the last time someone had done that for her, and despite her lingering misgivings, she had to admit she liked it.

  * * *

  Lauren Foster was like a Thoroughbred, Ben quickly realized. Beautiful to look at but skittish as anything.

  Dressed in conservative gray trousers and a navy blouse, she appeared to be ready for work in an office somewhere. When she turned her head to look across the street, he noticed the way her ponytail caught the sunlight in a cascade of honey-gold curls. It was an intriguing contradiction to the all-business outfit, more suited to a picnic than a job indoors.

  Women usually took to him right away, so her standoffish manner baffled him. Then again, he amended as they strolled along, maybe it wasn’t him. The idea that someone in her past had done something to make her so timid riled his protective nature, and he had to remind himself it was none of his business. She was Julia’s friend, nothing more. Still, he wouldn’t mind getting to know her better, figure out what was going on behind those amazing blue eyes.

  “Isn’t that the church in Julia’s model village?” Lauren asked, pointing to the old-fashioned white chapel tucked into the town square.

  “The Safe Harbor Church. Pastor McHenry is Julia’s future father-in-law, and he’ll be doing the ceremony.”

  “I couldn’t believe it when she told me Nick’s the son of a preacher. I’ve read his Kaleidoscope magazine online, and in his picture he looks more like the dark, dangerous type.”

  “Oh, he is,” Ben assured her with a laugh. “Except with Julia. She doesn’t let him brood too much, which is why she’s perfect for him.”

  “That’s nice.”

  Ben sensed she was less than impressed by his buddy’s religious background, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to nudge her a little. “Our pastor’s really great, and not intimidating at all. If you wanted to come to Sunday service with Julia, we’d be glad to have you.”

  Lauren gave him a suspicious once-over. “You go to church?”

  “I met Nick in Sunday school.” Recalling the early days of their friendship made him grin. They were both twenty-eight now, and they still rarely agreed on anything. “When we were kids, we got in a fight over the best way to build the walls of Jericho.”

  “Weren’t those the ones that came down?” she teased.

  That he’d finally gotten this very somber woman to lighten up a little made Ben feel like he’d scored a touchdown. “To be fair, God had a hand in that. It wasn’t the masons’ fault.”

  “I guess.” Her brief moment of humor evaporated into a frown. “I appreciate the invitation, but religion’s really not my thing. We used to go when I was a kid, but now I’m more the sleep-till-noon-go-have-brunch kind of girl.”

  Ben suspected she could use some of the warmth he always found in the old chapel, but he’d learned long ago that it’s impossible to convince someone of something they don’t half believe already. You could try, but in the end, you were just wasting your breath.

  “That’s fine,” he said as he pulled open the door to the bakery. “If you change your mind, you know how to get there.”

  Once inside, Lauren paused and took a deep breath. “Mmm...something smells delicious. What is it?”

  “Carolina’s snickerdoodles, runner-up at the state fair last summer.”

  “Carolina? Are they named for the state, or is that someone’s name?”

  “Carolina and her sister Georgia are from Alabama, but they’ve been here ever since I can remember.” Affectionately known around town as the Bakery Sisters, they were two of Holiday Harbor’s favorite residents. “They came up for a vacation with their husbands and never left. Kinda like Julia.”

  Lauren gave him an odd look. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

  “Great minds and all that.” Her eyes narrowed, and he tried not to take her reaction personally. Judging by her rapidly shifting moods, something was going on with her, and he opted to cut her some slack. For better or worse, he’d had a lot of practice with that kind of thing. “If you wanna try the snickerdoodles, we should get ’em now. They won’t last long.”

  “That would be great. If they were second place, I can’t imagine what came in first.”

  “Mavis Freeman’s gingerbread. She’s our lighthouse keeper, and she wins every year.”

  “I thought all those beacons were automated these days,” his guest commented as they joined the line.

  “Not the Last Chance Lighthouse,” he informed her. “Mavis would strap herself to the tower if we tried to change anything out there.”

  “Let me guess. It got its name because it’s the last chance a boat has to change course before it crashes on the rocks.”

  Grinning, he pointed at her. “You got it.”

  “There seems to be a story for everything in this town. It’s interesting.”

  That was a nice way of putting it, he thought. Growing up, he’d enjoyed living in his quirky hometown, with its salty character and down-to-earth people. Now that he was getting older and still right where he’d started, the age-old traditions were starting to wear on him. Nothing ever changed here, and he knew the villagers inside and out. Maybe that was why Lauren had snared his attention so quickly. Tired of the same old, same old, he was dying to experience something new.

  That was it, he decided, relieved to discover the reason for his fascination with her. She was pleasant company, but nothing more than that.

  When they arrived at the counter, Georgia Bynes greeted them with a bright, grandmotherly smile. “There’s our favorite fix-it man. And you must be Lauren.” She reached across the counter to shake hands. “We’ve heard so much about you. It’s wonderful to finally meet you in person. Carolina—” she called out “—Julia’s friend is here!”

  A slightly younger version of Georgia bustled through the swinging doors, wiping her hands on her flour-dusted apron before echoing her sister’s greeting. “Good to see you both. Your trays are ready, so I’ll just go get them.”

  “Don’t bother,” Ben said, strolling over to the antique cooler that occupied half of the back wall. “I got ’em.”

  While Lauren signed the delivery receipt, he slid the three trays free and closed the door with his boot. When she appeared behind him with her hands out, he was confused. “What?”

  “I can
carry at least one.”

  “They’re all balanced and everything. If you just get the door, I’ll be fine.” She didn’t respond, but she didn’t drop her hands, either. After a brief standoff, he relented and let her take the top tray from him. “Stubborn, aren’t you?”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “Not always.” Chuckling, he backed into the entry door to open it for her. “Guess it depends on the situation.”

  She slanted him a curious look. “What kind of situation makes it bad?”

  “Like if you insisted on going into a burning building to save your clothes, I’d have to stop you.”

  That got him a derisive snort. “Do I look like a moron?”

  “Not a bit,” he assured her, and was surprised to find he meant it. Normally, he took his time sizing up new people, but this enigmatic woman with the tentative smile had impressed him from the moment he met her. It wasn’t just her looks, either. Gorgeous as she was, he sensed there was a lot going on behind those forget-me-not eyes. Not all of it good, either. “I was just giving you an example of when being stubborn is bad. Which you asked me for, by the way.”

  “Fair enough.” A few moments later, she said, “For the record, I’d only go into a burning building to save people or puppies.”

  “How ’bout kittens?” he teased, getting a laugh for his trouble.

  “Okay, anything breathing. Does that cover it for you?”

  “Sure.”

  Their trip back to Toyland went a lot quicker than the walk out, and he was sorry to see it end. Now that she’d opened up a little, he wished he could have a few more minutes to talk to her. Then again, he cautioned himself as they offloaded their goodies, that could only lead to trouble. He wasn’t a superficial guy, but experience had taught him to be extremely cautious about relationships. Getting too attached set you up for a lot of heartache when things didn’t work out. It was safer to keep some distance in case things went south.

  Because, from what he’d seen so far, they always did. It was just a question of how long it took and how much it hurt when you hit bottom.

  Chapter Two

  The cookies were no problem, but Lauren quickly realized the sandwich platter would never fit in the small fridge Julia kept in her office for cold drinks.

  “Come on.” Angling her helper toward the door marked Private, she headed up to Julia’s apartment. “We’ll put them in the kitchen upstairs.”

  When she was about halfway up, a high-brow English accent called out, “Brevity is the soul of wit!”

  Giggling, she looked back at Ben. “You probably know Shakespeare.”

  “Oh, yeah,” he replied with a chuckle. “The Bard and me, we go way back. I thought Julia was just bird-sitting, though. Is she keeping him for good?”

  “His owner, Liam, will be at the wedding,” Lauren explained as they continued up. “He’s an interpreter, and his last assignment will be over then. After that, they’re on their way back to Wales.”

  When they reached the top, a huge blue-and-yellow macaw nodded at them with what struck Lauren as a regal bow. “Greetings, fair maiden.” Eyeing Ben, he skidded to the side of his perch and adopted a more modern pose. “Wassup, dude?”

  Ben laughed, and she shook her head at him. “You taught him that, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah. You can only take so much classic literature.”

  “Between that and the kids teaching him nursery rhymes, it’ll take Liam months to retrain him.”

  “Who knows,” Ben said as they went into the galley kitchen at the back of Julia’s apartment. “Maybe he’ll appreciate some variety.”

  “I’d imagine he’ll be glad to be home for a while,” she said while she opened the fridge and moved things around to make room for the platter. “He’s been going from one post to another for most of the last year.”

  “Kinda cool, being able to travel around like that,” Ben commented with more than a hint of envy. “You get sick of one place, you just pack up and check out somewhere else.”

  Lauren had done that, leaving a quiet Philadelphia neighborhood for the sparkling Big Apple she’d always longed to explore. In the end, she’d discovered it wasn’t where you were that mattered. It was who you were with. “It’s not as fun as it sounds. If you’re not with the right person, you could be living in a castle, and it’s still awful.”

  As he handed over the sandwiches, Ben frowned. “You sound like someone who has some personal experience with castles.”

  And princes, Lauren added silently. The problem was, the ones she kissed kept turning into frogs, instead of the other way around. She used to believe there was someone for everyone, but lately she couldn’t help wondering if that philosophy needed some fine-tuning. “Let’s just say I’ve done my time in the tower and I’m not in a hurry to go back.”

  Her attempt at humor had the effect she was after, and he grinned. “Rapunzel. Ever since she saw the movie, my niece Allie is crazy about that story. She always says if that was her, she’d never have let them put her up there in the first place.”

  “Good for her,” Lauren approved. “I wish I’d thought of that.”

  He gave her an encouraging smile. “We all make mistakes, Lauren. It’s what we do afterward that really counts.”

  The simple wisdom in his words touched her deeply. In the brief time she’d known him, she’d gotten more warmth and understanding from him than she had in a year with Jeremy. If only she’d known more guys like Ben, she might have caught on to Jeremy’s scheme in time to save herself a lot of heartache.

  Shoving the past into the back of her mind for now, she closed the fridge and smiled up at Ben. “Thanks for your help. I should get back down there to help Julia set up for the party.”

  He cocked his head like he’d just heard something unusual. “You don’t sound thrilled with that.”

  “Well,” she hedged then decided she might as well come clean. “I’m not used to kids, so I’m not sure what to expect.”

  “You’ll do fine,” he assured her with a confidence she wished she could tap into. “Kids love making Easter eggs and eating snacks, so there’s not much for you to do except make sure they don’t dye their friend’s hair purple or something.”

  “You almost make it sound like fun,” she said as they went back through the apartment.

  “It is if you let it be. Like most things, if you let it feel like a chore, then it’s no fun at all.” Pausing beside Julia’s enormous dollhouse, he made a face. “Like this beast. Nick wanted it to be a Christmas Eve surprise, so he shanghaied me to put it together and bring it up here while Julia was gone. Not my favorite kinda job, but since it was for her, I went along.”

  “She absolutely adores it,” Lauren told him sincerely. “It was really nice of you to help out.”

  “Well, I couldn’t leave Nick to do it himself. He doesn’t know a screwdriver from an impact wrench.”

  Neither did Lauren, but she kept that to herself as they went back downstairs. Closing the door behind them, she looked up into those bright blue eyes as they crinkled in a smile. For her, she realized. He was trying to build up her confidence, to drive away some of the uncertainty that had dogged her every step since leaving New York. Who did that for a stranger? she wondered. She’d given him no encouragement whatsoever, and yet he’d still been so kind to her, she couldn’t help wanting to spend more time with him.

  Bad idea. Very, very bad.

  “Thanks for the advice about the kids,” she said politely. “Have a good day.”

  “You, too, princess.”

  With that, he sent Julia a quick wave and headed for the door. Lauren tried not to stare after him, really she did. But she couldn’t help herself, and was mortified to realize she was still watching him when Julia glided up next to her and bumped her shoulder.

  “Earth to Lauren.”

  “Hmm?” Her old friend laughed, and Lauren realized she’d been set up by a pro. Glaring over, she asked, “What were you thinking,
tossing us together that way?”

  “That you need to meet a nice guy who would treat you the way you deserve.” Nodding at the view outside the front window, she added, “I think Ben fits the bill nicely, don’t you?”

  She wanted to deny it, but that would be transparently stupid, so she shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Oh, come on! There’s not a single woman within a hundred miles who wouldn’t kill for the kind of attention you’ve gotten from him today.”

  “I’m sure,” Lauren replied primly. “He looks like the cheerleader type.”

  “You were a cheerleader,” Julia pointed out, blue eyes twinkling merrily. “I think you two look fabulous together, but there’s more to it than that. He’s a real sweetheart, and you could use some of that in your life. You don’t have to marry him or anything. I was just hoping you two might hit it off and enjoy spending some time together while you’re here.”

  “But when you get back from your honeymoon, I’m leaving,” Lauren reminded her.

  Julia responded with a cryptic smile. “We’ll see. I came for a two-week vacation and realized this is where I was meant to be. Maybe you’ll do the same.”

  “I’m not sure where I belong, but it’s certainly not here.”

  “We’ll see,” her friend repeated, going to the door when the bells above it announced the first of their egg-coloring guests.

  Lauren was a little baffled by her debate with Julia, but one thing was certain. She had no intention of getting attached to this tiny fishing village or the very appealing Ben Thomas. She’d left behind the life she’d once been convinced she wanted, and she simply didn’t have the heart to open herself up for any more disappointment.

  As she crossed into the crafts section of Toyland, she saw there were about ten kids of various ages scattered around while a handful of parents clustered near the coffee and Danishes Julia had set up for them. The boss was her usual brilliant self, chatting up parents and kids with equal enthusiasm. At a loss for what to do, Lauren took a few minutes to assess the situation before jumping in.

  To her surprise, a little girl in a pink T-shirt and denim capris approached her. Giving Lauren a quick once-over, she offered up an adorable gap-toothed grin. “You look like you need a friend.”