She’d called Harry the exact same thing one or two times. Okay, so more like fifty times, but who was counting?
Amy walked away, saving Leah from having to comment.
He’d planned out the entire weekend under the assumption the weather was going to be nice. At least when he’d checked it Wednesday night there hadn’t been a single rain cloud or thunderbolt on his weather app until the middle of next week. The app was telling him a different story now. If it was correct, there was a 60 percent chance of rain starting at five o’clock tonight. Sunday’s weather looked even worse. Since the weather was out of his control, he wasn’t going to stress about it. Instead he’d focus on making sure they had an enjoyable weekend regardless of whether he had to make some last-minute adjustments.
Shoving the device back into his pocket, Gavin answered the door. He’d waited months to be able to kiss Leah, and now that he finally could, he did it every chance he got. Like now. Before Leah crossed the threshold into the condo, he pulled her in close and lowered his lips to hers.
“I missed you,” he admitted when he pulled his mouth away. “I hope you’re ready to have me stuck to your side for the next two days.”
She smiled up at him and not for the first time he wondered how his half brother could’ve been so stupid.
“Looking forward to it.” She kissed his cheek and then slipped from his embrace so she could enter. “You’re never going to believe who I bumped into on my way up.”
Gavin opened his mouth to comment, but she waved a hand dismissively in his direction. “Your neighbor Amy. You know, the woman I caught Harry with.”
He’d run into Amy once since then. She’d offered up a polite hello but had otherwise avoided eye contact and remained silent during the elevator ride up. He hadn’t bothered to coax her into a conversation either.
“She looked embarrassed once she realized where she recognized me from. And she insisted she didn’t know Harry was seeing someone before apologizing.”
Leah never brought up what had transpired, so he avoided the topic too. Since she mentioned it, he figured it was safe to tell her what happened after she left. “I don’t think she did. By the time I got back inside, she’d dressed and then she stormed out after tossing a few insults Harry’s way. She never came back while Harry was living here.”
“Smart woman.” With a slight shake of her head, Leah dropped onto the sofa. “Did you know he tried to get me to take him back? Seriously, what woman or man would take back someone they caught cheating on them? If a person does it once, they’ll do it again.”
He knew more than one woman who’d done just that. Harry was a charmer. He always had been. People, especially women, had trouble telling him no. The size of his bank account certainly helped too.
Joining her, he slipped an arm over her shoulders. He found it next to impossible to be in the same room with her and not be touching her. “Yeah, I knew he tried. And to answer your question, you’d be surprised how many times he’s gotten a woman to give him a second chance. He, unfortunately, takes after our father when it comes to getting what he wants.”
“I actually hung up on him during one of his many tries,” Leah admitted with a cheerful smile. “Anyway, enough talking about him. I know the two of you are related, but I’d rather forget I ever met Harry.”
If he’d dated the female equivalent of his half brother, he’d share Leah’s sentiments.
“Harry who?” he asked.
“My thoughts exactly.” She leaned in and kissed him before asking, “Okay, I’m dying to know what you have planned for us. Are you going to share or do I need to guess?”
He’d intended to tell her what he had planned as soon as she arrived, but having her guess wasn’t a bad idea. It’d give him some possibilities of things she would enjoy doing in the future.
“How about we head out and you can guess on the way,” he suggested.
The last time he traveled out to the recreational complex located in West Orange, New Jersey, had been back in mid-April. Erin had been staying with him for spring break, and he’d taken the entire week off so they could go on some day trips together. Before she came, Erin made a list of all the things she wanted to do and places she wanted to see while with him. As always when she came to the city, the place she wanted to visit the most was The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Erin loved art and had for as long as he could remember. The number two activity on her list, however, had been visiting the complex in New Jersey so she could try the zip line and ropes obstacle course there and play a round of mini golf. During their visit, they’d done both and made a quick visit to the zoo, which was also part of the complex. While not as large or, in his opinion, as nice as Roger Williams Zoo, it made for a nice addition to their day. A stop at the Six Flags amusement park located about two hours from New York City had come in third on that visit. Unfortunately the day they visited the park had also been during opening weekend, and the lines had been longer than usual. The only upside had been at least it was a cool day so they hadn’t melted while waiting for the rides.
Going through the obstacle course wasn’t on his agenda today. Instead he envisioned them playing a round of mini golf at the best mini golf place he’d ever visited before taking out one of the swan boats for a relaxing trip around the lake. If Leah spotted the Above The Trees Adventure obstacle course and wanted to add it to the day, they could. Although he genuinely hoped it didn’t appeal to Leah. In general he wasn’t afraid of heights. He could ride the ski lift up to the top of any mountain and ski down without a second thought. The obstacle course was a different matter entirely. The idea of being more than ten feet in the air with nothing between him and the ground except a rope and a nylon harness made him break out in a cold sweat. But he’d suffered through the experience for Erin. If Leah asked, he’d suffer through it again for her.
By the time they reached their destination, Gavin had a nice list of future outings tucked away in his memory. And although she hadn’t guessed his plan for today, her first theory before leaving his condo had been a baseball game, which was actually what he hoped to do tomorrow. Eventually she gave up and their conversation turned to the novel Fatal Deception. She managed to surprise the hell out of him when she slipped up and mentioned her brother had written the book. He didn’t know the guy well, but he couldn’t picture Curt sitting at a computer for hours writing about fictional characters. Then again, Gavin had a hard time imagining Leah’s brother remodeling houses, and he knew it had been Curt’s hobby for some time.
“Essex Recreational Complex,” Leah read aloud as they passed though the entrance. “I’ve never heard of it, but unless it’s for work I don’t visit New Jersey.”
He navigated his way through parking lot A before finding a spot with some shade. It wouldn’t prevent the car from warming up, but it would keep it a few degrees cooler than most of the other spots.
“What’s on the agenda while we’re here?” she asked.
“Anything you want. But I thought we could play a round of mini golf to start.” He took her hand as they moved away from his car. “I’ve never visited a better mini golf facility than Paradise Fairway.”
“Then you’ve never been to Pirate’s Cove in Newport,” Leah replied.
Gavin shook his head. He’d taken Erin to the popular mini golf park. While he agreed the place was nice and had excellent ice cream, the facility here topped it. “Pirate’s Cove is okay, but this place is better.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Just wait, you’ll see. After, I thought we could rent one of the swan boats. But if you see anything else you want to try, say the word.” He paused before a sign listing the various activities inside the complex and where to find them.
“I’m up for anything here except this.” Leah pointed toward the listing for the Above The Trees Adventure. “Sounds like one of those obstacles courses where they expect you to walk on ropes and zip line from one platform to another. Between you and me, I
am not a fan of heights. I think it’s one of the reasons I don’t like skiing. Riding those ski lifts always freaks me out.”
They turned down the path leading to the mini golf course. “I’ve been though it once and have no desire to go again.”
In his opinion, calling Paradise Fairway a mini golf course was doing the place a disservice. The facility actually consisted of three separate courses. The one labeled bronze was a basic nine-hole course with silly cartoonlike animals placed throughout it, and for the most part relatively easy shots. It was the perfect course for young children, especially those who got bored easily. A much longer eighteen-hole course labeled the silver course was his daughter’s favorite and the one they went through most of the time. The shots tended to be more challenging yet not impossible. At the same time, the course contained those obstacles people expected to find on a mini golf course such as windmills and barn doors that opened and closed in an attempt to stop a player from getting the ball in the hole.
But his favorite here was the gold course. The twenty-four holes were spread out through a maze of trees and flowers. A small stream flowed past several of the holes and sometimes even though many of the greens. On countless occasions he’d had a ball land in the water. Sometimes he managed to fish it out before it washed away and other times he didn’t. The facility kept small buckets of extra balls at many of the greens so if you lost one you didn’t need to walk all the way back to the customer service booth for a new one.
A teenager with a bad case of acne looked up from his cell phone, a look of pure annoyance on his face when Gavin greeted him. “Bronze, silver, or gold?” he asked in a tone bordering on rude.
Policing someone else’s employees wasn’t his job, so he refrained from suggesting the kid get a better attitude if he hoped to keep his job. “Two for the gold course,” he replied, handing over his credit card.
The employee gave Gavin a scorecard as he ran the credit card. “The balls and clubs are behind you. Return them here when you’re done.” The teen handed him back his credit card and then started typing on his phone again.
When he played mini golf, he always used the dark blue ball. Erin always went for the bright yellow, and if Piper was with them, she picked the pink one. This afternoon when he reached for the blue one, his fingertips landed on it the same time as Leah’s.
“If you want this one, I’ll take another color,” she said, moving her hand away.
He didn’t much care what color he used. They all did the same job. “Doesn’t matter to me, I just thought you’d go for the pink or purple one.”
Leah selected a black one instead before removing a blue ball and handing it to him. “Dark blue and red are my favorite colors. They always have been. Purple is okay, but pink ranks down near the bottom unless we’re talking about nail polish.”
Gavin stored the detail away. A guy never knew when it might be useful to know his girlfriend’s favorite color.
***
They managed to make it through the whole course without losing a ball, a feat he couldn’t remember happening in a long time. After, they both attempted the final extra shot of the course, an impossible shot that if anyone made earned them a gift card for three free visits. He’d brought Erin to the course numerous times and he’d never seen anyone make the shot.
Until today.
Like a pro, Leah hit the ball with just enough power to send it up the ramp and through the narrow opening, where it then landed in the hole instead of the gap surrounding it—which was where his ball ended up.
“I still cannot believe you made that last hole,” he commented as they waited in line for ice cream. “Are you secretly a mini golf pro?”
In addition to making the impossible shot at the end, she’d successfully made all but two holes under par. According to the employee at the customer service booth, Leah’s score was the second-best ever for the course and the employee added their scorecard to the Wall of Stars.
“Is that even a thing?”
They moved forward as the customers in front of them received their orders. “I don’t think so, but who knows. People play video games for a living, why not mini golf too?”
Ice cream in hand, they headed out for a leisurely stroll along the walking path. Although parts of the path took them through wooded areas and around the lake, it also led them past the entrances to the antique carousel and to the Above The Trees Adventure. Today the place appeared packed as both adults and children made their way across ropes and down zip lines.
“Yeah, that’s definitely not the place for me.” Leah pointed at a woman as she zip-lined from one wooden platform to another.
“Erin couldn’t get enough when we went through it. She’s bugging me to come back when she comes and stays with me.”
She raised her ice-cream cone to her lips, but rather than take a bite she said, “Between snowboarding, skiing, and that,” Leah pointed toward the course, “she sounds like a bit of an adrenaline junkie.”
Anyone who spent an hour with his daughter knew she had the energy of two children her age. “She doesn’t like to sit still, and she’ll try anything once.”
“Sounds like my brother Brett. There’s nothing he won’t do. He made more trips to the emergency room than all my cousins, Curt, and me combined. I think half my mom’s gray hairs were caused by him.”
His daughter might be adventurous, but at least she hadn’t required any hospital visits because of it. At least not yet. Considering how active the girl was, it wouldn’t shock him if she found herself there eventually. “So far the worst Erin’s got was a bloody nose at soccer. Fingers crossed it stays that way.”
The path rounded a corner leading them past the south entrance of the mini golf course before it again disappeared into the woods, providing them with some much-appreciated shade. His weather app still claimed it might rain tonight, but the sky said otherwise. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. Unfortunately, it had been right about the record high temperature today. The high humidity level wasn’t helping either.
“Time to be honest. Was I right?” He gestured over his shoulder in the general direction of Paradise Fairway.
Rather than answer immediately, she took a large bite from her ice cream. “Maybe,” she admitted. “But Pirate’s Cove has much better ice cream.”
“You won’t get any disagreement from me there, but if you want some incredible ice cream, you need to go to Ludlow Farm. It’s in Pennsylvania. A Mennonite family owns it, and everything in the store is homemade. I don’t think I’ve ever had ice cream anywhere that comes even close to what they make. I stop in whenever I’m in the area.”
She popped the last of her cone in her mouth and licked off the ice cream still clinging to her thumb. “If the ice cream they make is better than Pirate’s Cove, I need to plan a trip there. What do you say? Are you up for a little weekend getaway soon?”
With the exception of his once-a-year weekend trip to Maine, he didn’t go on weekend gateways. Last Saturday and Sunday aside, when he traveled overnight, it was for one of two reasons: work or to see his daughter. But if Leah wanted to spend a weekend sampling every ice cream stand in and around Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, he’d sample right along with her.
Chapter Seven
“Make yourself comfortable while I get started on the rest of my surprise,” Gavin said, following her inside the condo.
Up to now, the day had proceeded with only a single interruption when he received a call from his mom. Although she lived in Rhode Island with her husband, Clark, they didn’t get together as often as either would like. Instead they spoke about once a week or so. Today he kept his conversation as short as possible without being rude and then invited her and Clark to visit when Erin was with him at the end of the month.
He hoped the call was the first and only interruption. He intended to prepare them a meal to rival anything they’d get at their country club, and he didn’t need work or family bothering him while he cooked.
; “Rest? You’ve got me intrigued.”
Stepping up behind her, Gavin wrapped his arms around her waist. “Good,” he whispered against her neck before kissing her. “Make yourself at home while I start dinner.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. Her expression echoed both curiosity and surprise. “As in cook a meal?” Leah turned in his arms.
“Yep.” Her lips called out to him, but if he gave in to his desire now, he’d never want to stop, and his well-thought-out meal would never happen. After kissing her on the forehead instead, he took a step back. “If we want to eat at a decent time, I need to get started.”
Leah followed him into the kitchen, and he could feel her eyes on him as he moved to the refrigerator and started taking out ingredients.
“I can handle the basics—pasta, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches—but not much else. And it’s not that I haven’t tried. I even had Gray’s wife give me a few lessons, but I can’t seem to master it.”
Cooking was one skill he’d mastered at a fairly young age thanks to his grandmother. “Some people have a knack for it.”
She made herself comfortable on a barstool near the counter and asked, “You really know how to cook?”
Gavin left the steak tips and portobello mushrooms on the counter before returning to the refrigerator. “I don’t do it as much as I’d like because I’m not home for meals. But my grandmother, Dad’s mom, and I used to spend hours cooking together.”
“I used to spend hours shopping with my grandmother. Even now we’ll go when she comes to the city. I usually get tired and call it a day before she does,” Leah admitted with a slight shake of her head. “I don’t know how she does it, but I hope I’m half as energetic when I’m her age.”
He added the butter, cream, and shallots he needed for the sauce to the ingredients already out. “Sounds like she’d get along well with my grandmother. Gigi’s still a whirlwind in the kitchen.”
“Anything I can help with?”
The Billionaire's Heart Page 9