Loving Pursuit Read online

  8

  Little Talks

  Marie

  “Tell me everything,” Andrea said the next day as soon as I arrived at the shop.

  “Can I finish my coffee first?” I asked, holding up the cup from the coffee shop across the street. I needed the caffeine boost after the sleep I’d missed out on last night. Not that I was complaining.

  “No. What happened with your lover boy yesterday? Did he make a move?”

  “I think that showing up here demanding a tour guide was him making a move,” I said, purposefully driving her crazy by not spilling the beans.

  “You look different,” she said with narrowed eyes.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Yes, you do,” she gasped. “You had sex!”

  I looked around the shop quickly to see that we only had one customer and she was at the very back. Hopefully she couldn’t hear us.

  “No, I didn’t,” I lied, keeping my eyes averted.

  “God, you’re a terrible liar. Good for you, girl.”

  “Can we stop talking about this, please?” I asked, as the customer came toward the front of the shop.

  I recognized her as Lilian Howard, the owner of the local beauty shop. Great. If there was anyone that could spread gossip quickly, it was her. But Andrea didn’t care.

  “I can’t believe that’s the guy you met in Hawaii,” she continued. “You didn’t say he was a gorgeous dreamboat.”

  “Are you talking about that blonde hottie staying at the bed and breakfast?” Lilian asked, seemingly unable to resist butting into the conversation.

  “Yep,” Andrea replied, while I glared at her.

  “I heard that he was seen with you,” Lilian said to me with a smile that suggested I’d given her the juiciest news she’d heard in a while. Maybe since Greg had called off the wedding.

  “His name is Lewis,” I said, not knowing how else to respond. I didn’t like that they were giving him nicknames based on his looks. It awakened a possessive monster inside that I never knew existed.

  “I’m so glad to see that you’re getting back out there,” Lilian said.

  My impulse was to deny such a thing. I still didn’t even know where Lewis lived, but it wasn’t here, and we hadn’t talked about what we were to each other. Not really.

  Then, I remembered the way that he’d stroked my hair in the early morning hours after our second round of sex. And the way that he’d helped me find my grandmother. And the way his eyes stayed on me all the time, never straying.

  Yeah, there was no denying that we were an item. I wasn’t sure why this rich, handsome man that could probably have anyone he wanted was interested in me, but I wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. So far, he made me happy.

  Lilian bought a striped blouse, and left quickly after that, probably eager to go and tell everyone that came into her beauty shop that the town pity case had landed herself a “hottie.”

  “So, tell me what happened yesterday,” Andrea said once again.

  “Grandma was lost.”

  I knew that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but it was what I needed to talk about. Things with Lewis were great right now, but my situation with her was getting grimmer by the day.

  “What? Is she okay?”

  I nodded. “We found her, but she’d walked right out of the house in her slippers, going all the way to church.” I swallowed thickly. “She was so confused. She didn’t know what day it was. What if she’d hurt herself? She could have wandered right out into the street and been hit by a car or something.”

  “Oh my god. Why didn’t you call me? I would have helped look.” Andrea’s concern touched me.

  “Sheila called the cops, and Lewis was with me. Honestly, it happened so fast, and I was freaked out. One minute, Lewis and I were making out at the covered bridge, and then, I get this phone call…”

  “Making out at the bridge?” she repeated, an excited grin on her face. I shot her an impatient look. “Right, sorry. Continue.”

  “My point was, I wasn’t prepared for this. I knew she was having more frequent memory episodes, but…I don’t know. Maybe I was in denial about it. I convinced myself she was safe at home.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “My neighbor, Sheila, the one that called, offered to sit with her today while I’m at work. But that’s just a temporary solution. I need to make some hard decisions soon.”

  Andrea reached across the counter and pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around my best friend. The edge of the counter was digging into my ribs, but I appreciated this gesture.

  We broke apart and I came around the counter to sit on the stool that I kept back there and finish my coffee.

  “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you, okay?” Andrea asked.

  “Okay.”

  There was a beat of silence. Then, “So, you did sleep with him, right?”

  That afternoon, I was thinking about Lewis. There was no denying that I was falling for him. It was fast, but it felt right. In fact, I couldn’t remember ever feeling this way about anyone, not even Greg.

  I had been planning to marry Greg, but now that I had a sweet and caring man in my life, I could see that those were qualities Greg was always lacking. He was selfish, in life and in bed. I wasn’t sure why it took me so long to see that. I supposed it was true what they said about hindsight being 20/20.

  As if my very thoughts conjured her to the boutique, I looked up just in time to see the other woman walking through the door.

  Avery Michaels, the blonde, barely-legal bombshell that Greg had been sleeping with the whole time we were engaged entered the shop. The woman he called off his wedding for. She knew damn good and well that this was my shop.

  I seethed, rage building inside of me like an inferno.

  I was over Greg. In fact, every day I found myself glad that I wasn’t married to the jerk, but for her to waltz right into my business and start browsing the shelves like any other customer was just insulting.

  I was glaring daggers into her back when Andrea got back from her lunch break. She walked in the door, her attention on the phone in her hand. She was halfway across the shop when she finally looked up and saw Avery. Shock flickered across her face, followed by an anger that nearly matched my own. The sight of it almost made me smile. That was one of the best things about great friends: they hated the people that hurt you.

  Andrea was gritting her teeth when she came around the counter, dropping her purse on top and whispering into my ear, “Why don’t you kick her out?”

  “I don’t want to give her the satisfaction,” I replied in a low voice that wouldn’t carry. “Then she’ll think I still want the asshole or something.”

  “You and your stubborn pride,” Andrea rolled her eyes. “At least take off. You shouldn’t have to deal with her.”

  “I can’t do that to you. I just left early yesterday.”

  “You can if I say you can. Now, go. I’ll take a few days off next month or something. Maybe I’ll take a vacation and find my own sexy man.”

  I smiled, despite my lingering anger. I really hoped that Andrea did find a good man. She deserved one.

  Grabbing my purse, I kept my head held high and my gaze straight ahead as I passed Avery and walked out the door. I had just let the glass door close behind me when I spotted him.

  Greg was sitting in his SUV outside, waiting for Avery to come out. What was this, some kind of mind game?

  It was bad enough that she might come in on her own, but why would he bring his new girlfriend to his ex-fiancé’s boutique? It was twisted and made my blood boil. I took one step toward the SUV, where Greg hadn’t even noticed me yet, ready to approach him and make one hell of a scene that I would probably regret later, when another car pulled up right next to him.

  My eyes met Lewis’s through the windshield, and I felt myself relax. It was amazing the calming effect he had on me. Suddenly, I just wanted to get out of there. Going to his pas
senger side door, I ripped it open and practically threw myself inside.

  “What’s wrong?” Lewis asked, as I slammed the door shut behind me.

  “Nothing,” I replied automatically, but that wasn’t fair to him. I really liked Lewis and he needed to know about my cheating ex baggage if we were going to keep seeing each other. “Actually, something is wrong, but I don’t want to talk about it here. Can we just go? Anywhere?”

  Lewis put the car in gear and backed out of the spot. Once we were on the main street, he asked, “Where do you want to go? I can take you anywhere in the whole world. Seriously,” he glanced over at me so that I could see that he meant it. “I can charter a plane for any destination.”

  God, that was tempting. I love Bayville, but sometimes it felt suffocating. Knowing that you’re the center of gossip was disheartening. Running into my ex and his new girl was annoying. How wonderful would it be to hop on a plane to Greece or something amazing like that? Just leave the real world behind for a little while.

  But I couldn’t do that. “I can’t leave town on a whim,” I said. “I have Grandma to think about.”

  Maybe it was because I had just seen Greg, but a small part of me expected Lewis to get mad. Greg would have. If I cancelled plans because Grandma had an episode, he was always angry.

  “You’re right,” Lewis said. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  I searched his face as he drove for any sign of insincerity but found none. He meant it.

  “Take me to the bed and breakfast,” I said. I just wanted to be alone with him.

  Making a U-turn, Lewis drove in the other direction until we reached the bed and breakfast. He parked and we both got out. It was a nice day. The springtime temperatures were holding on for now, but summer would be here soon, and the days would get hot.

  “Can we go for a walk?” I asked, nodding to the walking path that led into the woods. I was wearing jeans and tennis shoes today, so I should be okay walking the wooded trail.

  “Lead the way, milady,” he said, making me giggle.

  I did. Lewis followed along at my side as we walked into the woods. The air was cooler in here and we were in shade, so it was comfortable. Lewis reached out and took my hand, interlacing our fingers together.

  “You know, when I was little, Grandma used to bring me to these woods to mushroom hunt in the spring. She’s old friends with Miles and Donetta, so they always gave her permission to enter the property.”

  “Mushroom hunt? How do you hunt a mushroom?”

  I laughed. “Morel mushrooms. They grow wild in the wooded areas around here. Usually you see them in the springtime, especially if there’s been a lot of rain.”

  “What’s so special about them?” he asked, sounding genuinely interested.

  “They’re delicious and hard to find,” I explained. “But Grandma had a knack for it. I swear, she could spot a mushroom from twenty feet away. We used to go hunting for them in the morning, and then she’d clean them, flour them, and fry them up in Crisco to eat with dinner.”

  I was lost in my memories for a moment, but Lewis’s next question reminded me of the present.

  “Did she raise you?”

  “Yeah,” I stepped over a fallen tree branch, “after my parents died when I was eight. She’s the only family I have left.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, squeezing my hand.

  “It’s so hard to see her going through this, losing her memory. I swear, she’s losing pieces of herself every time. I just wish that I could do better for her, that I could somehow help her.”

  “You’re doing everything you can.”

  “No, I’m not.” I let out a sigh. It was finally time to admit the truth to myself. “I think I might have to put her in a nursing home.”

  Lewis was quiet for a moment. “You know, before she gave up working to raise me, my mom was a nurse in a nursing home.”

  “Really?” That sounded depressing.

  “Yeah, she did it for almost ten years. She really cared about those people.”

  “Sounds like a good woman.”

  “She is, but my point is, it doesn’t have to be a bad experience for her. She’ll have around the clock care, and the people that work in those places do it because they really give a damn about the patients. It’s not easy work. You don’t do it if you don’t care about it.”

  That did make me feel a little better, but I still hated the thought of not sharing a home with her anymore. I would visit her all the time, but it wouldn’t be the same.

  “Thank you,” I said. “You must have been raised by some pretty great people yourself to be such a good guy.”

  “My mom’s the best,” he said, an affectionate smile on his face. “We’ve always been close.”

  “And your dad?”

  Lewis turned to look out at the woods for a moment, and I had the feeling that he was hiding his face from me. He was usually so open, and I didn’t like this change.

  “My relationship with my dad is…complicated.” He finally said. “I don’t know why exactly. We’ve just never been close. I feel a lot of pressure from him to be exactly who he wants me to be, and it’s hard to accept that I don’t measure up.”

  He didn’t measure up? Was his dad crazy?

  “You have to be your own man,” I said. We’d come to a fork in the path and I randomly picked the left. It didn’t really matter. Either way led back to the bed and breakfast.

  “I am,” he said. Then, added under his breath, “that’s the problem.”

  I struggled to find a way to comfort him. I wanted to make him feel better, the way he had done for me, but I couldn’t relate to the problem. My dad was great, and I didn’t have to worry about inheriting a massive family business someday. I’m sure the money was great to have, but I didn’t envy Lewis’s responsibilities.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened today?” he asked. “Because you seemed pretty pissed off when you got into the car.”

  “Oh, that.” I’d calmed down so much that it seemed silly now to have been upset. Who cared what Greg and Avery did? “It was about my ex.”

  “The guy in the picture?”

  It didn’t surprise me that he asked about that. I didn’t exactly play it cool.

  “Yeah. We were engaged.”

  Lewis frowned. “What happened?”

  “Turns out, he found a younger woman and was screwing her behind my back for a while before he called off the wedding.”

  “Son of a bitch,” he mumbled.

  “Yes, he is. At least he didn’t leave me at the altar. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I had a couple of months to cancel everything.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “Less than four months ago.”

  Lewis tensed. “Wow. That’s really recent.”

  I stopped, pulling on his hand to make him pause as well.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked. I’d never seen him like this. He seemed discouraged.

  Lewis tried to avoid my eyes, but I cupped his chin and looked straight into those captivating grey orbs. “What is it?”

  “I’m just thinking that you’re on the rebound.”

  Understanding dawned, and I popped up on my tiptoes to plant a big kiss on his lips. Lewis froze for a second, surprised, but it didn’t take long for him to wrap his arms around me and mold his lips to my own. By the time I pulled away, my heart was racing.

  “You’re no rebound,” I told him confidently.

  He gave me a breathtaking smile, and I knew in that moment that I was going to lose my heart to this man.

  9

  Looking to the Future

  Lewis

  I dropped Marie off back at the shop to get her car before returning to the bed and breakfast. Today had been eye-opening. I understood now why people in the town kept alluding to Marie needing a good man and not needing more heartbreak. I didn’t know what was wrong with her ex, but he must not be right in the head to toss aside a woman like her.


  His loss was my gain.

  I would never wish any pain upon Marie, but I couldn’t help thinking that things had worked out for the best. Greg had hurt her, but that led to the two of us finding each other, despite the geographical differences in our homes.

  She told me that she’d gone on that vacation to Hawaii to get out of the funk that she’d been in after the wedding was called off. It was that entire reason we’d met, so I guessed that I should thank Greg for that.

  I walked into the bed and breakfast, and Donetta was in the foyer organizing the brochures. She greeted me warmly.

  “Good afternoon, Lewis. Have you been enjoying the weather?”

  There was a twinkle in her eye that told me she knew exactly what I’d been up to.

  “As a matter of fact, I have. I took a walk along the path in the woods outside.”

  “I thought that was you. I saw you walking into the trees. Tell me, was that Marie Anthony at your side?”

  After kissing me and reassuring me that what we had was far more than a rebound, Marie had admitted that the worst part about what happened with Greg was the public stage that she was on, simply because she lived in a small town. She was well aware that she was the subject of much gossiping and pity.

  “Yes, it was, and don’t worry, as I’m going to make her very happy,” for as long as I possibly could.

  Donetta smiled with an understanding look. “A lot of people have been checking in on your intentions, huh?”

  “Since the moment I arrived.”

  “Well, you’ll have that. Most of us aren’t just looking to dish about her love life, I promise. We care about Marie. That poor girl. First her parents dying, and then Greg making a fool out of her, and now everyone saying her grandmother’s mind is going. It’s enough to break your heart.”

  “Don’t forget the most important thing – she’s strong.”

  Donetta’s eyes got watery. “You really are a good match for her,” she said. “I do hope you’ll consider sticking around.”