Finding Promise (The Promise Series, A Small Town Romance) (16 page)

When she handed Luke his beer, he pulled her closer,
planting a kiss right in front of everyone. “Hello, darling, you read my mind.
Thanks.” He lifted the beer, took a sip and bent to kiss her again. Caught off
guard, she responded instinctively, curling her arms around his neck. 

John cleared his throat loudly, making her jump away from
Luke. She was sure that she was as red as a tomato, highlighted by her white,
strappy summer dress. This evoked a round of laughter. 

“It’s about time.” Nate chirped eliciting a chorus of “hear,
hears” from everyone else including a beaming Laurel and Patsy, approaching
with the meat.

A cacophony of squeals shifted the focus from her. Heading
towards them were two squabbling children, a young couple and a tall, blonde
man. Luke and Nate went up to the man, slapping him on the back in typical male
greeting and shaking hands with the other man.

“Matt, when did you get here?” Luke asked the young man.

“We picked him up in town. He was busy heading towards the
inn.” The attractive young woman answered, exchanging kisses with Luke and
Nate. She looked so much like Nate that she had to be his sister. “Hi, I’m
Sandra, or Sandy, Nate’s sister. I’m so glad to finally meet you. Mamma and
Laurel have told me so much about you.” She ignored Caroline’s outstretched hand
and gave her a hug instead. “This is my husband, Jim.” She beckoned to the man.
“And those two ruffians are my two children, Amy and Robert.” The children had
said very quick hellos and promptly left to play at the jungle gym.

“I could see that you were Nate’s sister right away. You
look just like him.”

“Nope, she looks just like me,” Nate responded. “She’s
fortunate that she I came first and paved the way for her to inherit my good
looks.”

“The last time I checked, children inherited their looks from
their parents and not from each other, moron.” Sandy soundly thumped Nate in
the belly.

“Your sister is right, Nate.” Laurel interrupted the
sibling’s exchange. “And she happens to be the only one of you sorry bunch that
settled down and got married. Plus she’s given Patsy and me some grandbabies to
play with.” Laurel and Patsy beamed at Sandy, who smirked satisfyingly. “Now if
only the rest of you would follow suit. Maybe it won’t be long now,” Laurel
looked pointedly at Luke who expertly avoided her gaze while pretending to
inspect the meat on the barbeque.

They had lunch at two picnic tables under the shade of an
enormous cherry tree, its flowers just turning to fruit further enhancing the
idyllic setting with a view of the ocean and the smell of the barbequed feast
laid out in front of them. Conversation was filled with teasing, joking and
laughter. Faith mentioned Caroline’s plan to start a baking goods business.
Caroline saw Luke’s surprise but he didn’t say anything. Everyone thought that
it was a good idea and gave her a lot of encouraging tips, which she duly
noted, valuing their knowledge of the town’s residents.

“If you’d like, I’d be mighty pleased to have a standard
order with you for some of your pastries and cakes.” John offered and seeing
Caroline on the brink of protest, pressed his point, “Now, now, you’d be doing
me a favor. We’ve been thinking of offering afternoon tea for some time at the
inn but our chef is just too busy with the morning and evening service to find
time to bake a selection of suitable items. And you’ll know, as he’s informed
me, baking fancy cakes take time. Even if he found the time, the reality is
that he is a great chef but only an adequate pastry chef. He does well enough
with the breakfast and dinner serving but I fear that he lacks the capacity and
skill for the type of tea I want to offer.”

Intrigued, Caroline asked, “What type of tea were you
thinking of? I imagine that you’d serve it in the hotel restaurant but how
would that impact the preparation and setting for dinner service?”

“I was thinking of having it on the balcony instead. It’s
just off the restaurant, so there’s easy access to the tea and coffee stations
and it’s covered so even if it rains, we’d be able to use it. Furthermore, it
will give a lot of tired parents a break while their kids play on the
playground or splash in the pool. They could easily see them from there and we
could hire a local teenager, to start off, to keep an eye on them. During low
season, we could get one of the housekeeping staff to take over. So, I’d want a
variety of things. Some of those fancy pastries and tarts you make as a special
treat for the moms and some things that will appeal to the kids too. I’d also
like, if you’re willing, to serve a few savories for those who don’t have a
sweet tooth.”

“I think that’s a great idea. I’ve seen a lot of parents
coming into the hotel for an afternoon break from the sun and then leaving
their rooms for dinner looking even more tired than when they arrived.” Faith
agreed with her father. Caroline noticed that it was the first time that Faith
had spoken during lunch. By the looks that she saw Faith giving Matt opposite
her, instinct told her that he was part of the reason for her silence.

“Thank you for the opportunity. Should I put together a few
menus for you two to look at? If you like the menus, we could rotate between a
few and then the inn’s guests won’t get bored of the same selection every day.”

Both John and Faith agreed. Caroline was excited and itching
to get started on the menus. There’s nothing she liked better than
experimenting and baking in the kitchen and she was touched that at their
support. She appreciated it even more because it was a mutually beneficial
arrangement that did not make her feel like a charity case.

--------

After clearing up, she saw that Matt and Faith had gone off
to talk in a corner of the garden. It looked like a time for pairing up as she
watched Nate tentatively approach Rachel and they shouted that they were going
for a walk.

“Has anyone seen Rob or Amy?” Sandy called out to them and
everyone split up to look for the children. There was a short, picket-style
fence at the edge of the cliff and whilst it served as a warning, it didn’t
prevent curious children from taking a peak. Suddenly fearful, Caroline went to
go have a look. There was nothing to indicate that the children were there or
had fallen over. Thank goodness! Then she heard giggling coming from a shed
that she hadn’t seen before. It was a white structure half hidden by the cherry
tree and a collection of blueberry shrubs. Caroline peered inside and the
children were laughing at some paintings that were stacked up against one wall.
Going to investigate, she saw that it was a painting of a younger, goofy
looking matt. He was lying flat on his back on the sand, wearing only a smile.
Oh, my. This must be Faith’s painting and she must have had something going on
with Matt to have painted him like that.

“Now that is an interesting painting.” Caroline searched her
mind for to say something to remove their attention from the nudity. Deciding
that not making a big deal out of it was the best approach, she asked, “Don’t
you think Matt looks happy in the painting?” She pinched herself to prevent
herself from laughing at her slip. Quickly, she searched through the paintings
looking for as many seascapes as she could, hoping the monotony would drive the
kids away from the shed. She had no idea if there were further nudes lying
around. “Oh, look at this.” She pointed to the first one, deliberately going
into raptures about the technique and style, using big words purposefully. It
worked like a charm. She wasn’t even through with the first seascape before
they excused themselves to look for their mother. 

Caroline breathed a sigh of relief as she put the Matt’s
nude at the back of the others. There were a large number of paintings. With
time and no audience present, she looked at each one. It was like looking at an
album of someone’s youth. The paintings were exceptionally well executed,
Faith, and she was now sure that it was Faith’s work, had captured the
emotions, the playfulness of their group of friends. There were paintings of
them as children right through to their early twenties. Faith’s love of the
town was captured in a number of landscapes of the nearby forests, seascapes
and caricatures of the town folk and holiday makers. There must have been over
forty paintings stored in the shed. In one painting, there was Matt, hunched
over a laptop, typing away in what looked like a desk in a messy room. She’d
captured the focus and dedication well. What had happened to Faith and Matt and
to her painting? The shed didn’t look as though it had been used for some time.
It was filled with jars of paint and brushes carelessly left in bottles. From
the various conversations she’d had with artists at their exhibitions, she knew
that artists would never treat their equipment with so little regard. An easel
stood to the one side of the room, in front of the window overlooking the
cliff. A canvas stood on the easel, looking incomplete.

In another stack of paintings, Caroline saw one of Luke as a
teenager, hinting at the rugged handsomeness to come; he was standing with his arm
draped around a pretty blonde girl. He looked so young, carefree and happy and
the same expression showed in the girl’s face.  She felt a twinge of
jealousy even though she knew it wasn’t rational. This had obviously been
painted a long time ago.

“There you are.” And speaking of the devil, the man himself
entered the shed, carrying mischief in his eyes. “I saw the kids come from here
and guessed that you’d found them peaking at Faith’s paintings. I’ve been
meaning to put a lock on the shed. My dad doesn’t know of the content of some
of these paintings.” Luke came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her,
pulling her close. When she resisted, he looked enquiringly at her and then
noticed the painting. “That was Lizzy. She and I dated in high school. She was
my first steady girlfriend and it happened a long time ago. Sweetheart, as much
as it pleases me that you’re jealous, there’s no need. Since I’ve met you, I
haven’t had the time or the inclination to look at another woman. All spare
time has been taken up with you.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not a very mature reaction, I know. You
just look so happy and in love.”

“Young love. That’s far from the real thing and not even
close to what I’m feeling for you.”

Feeling contrite at her childishness and pleased at his
words, she leaned in to kiss him. Heat flared making her mind buzz as she
poured what she was feeling into that kiss, tugging at his shirt and running
her hands along the muscles rippling his stomach to the silky hairs on his firm
chest. She didn’t know what had come over her. All she felt was an overpowering
need to have more… more of him.

Her passionate initiation of the kiss shook Luke. He’d
always had to make the first move with her and was content for that to continue
until she was ready to relax more around him. To trust him. He unleashed the
desire that he’d been withholding, pushing her against the shed wall and
driving his tongue into her mouth. She tasted so good. Losing all sense of time
or place, his hand traced her arms that had so enticed him and he kissed her
neck, allowing one hand to cup her breast. She moaned at the touch, arching
into his hand.

The sound brought him abruptly back to reality. Laying his
head against her, their breath panting, he looked down at her, “Not here. Not
now.”

Embarrassed and unsure of what to say, Caroline looked away.
She had no idea what had come over her. She had never reacted like that before
– ever. Not even with James. Because of her experience with James and his
constant rejection, she interpreted Luke’s behavior as rejection too.

Luke was still caught in the desire their kiss had evoked
that he didn’t notice. “I don’t think that I’m in a state yet to go back.” He
was thinking of the bulge showing through his shorts. That was something he
definitely did not want to advertise to his parents and Patsy. “Why don’t you
go up ahead and I’ll see you in a bit.”

--------

It took Luke longer than expected and a lot of nasty,
ridiculous thoughts of swimming in the cold ocean to get his lust to be less
obtrusive. By the time he’d got back to the house, the parents were chatting at
the picnic table and Sandy and her family had left. He found Nate and Matt in
the kitchen. Nate was holding an ice pack to his one eye. “What happened?” Luke
propped himself onto the kitchen counter next to them.

Eyes dancing with unreleased laughter, Matt sombrely stated,
“Rachel decked him.”

Luke didn’t have the grace not to laugh, allowing Matt to
join in and making Nate scowl. “I just kissed her for Pete’s sake. She seemed
to be enjoying it well enough and then out of nowhere, she gave me this.” His
bafflement resulted in even more laughter.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Luke asked, “We only have
ourselves to blame. Remember, we thought them how to fight so that they could
protect themselves against pushy boys. Never thought you’d see it being used on
you, though, did you?”

“She does have a fine right hook.” Nate reflected.

“Nate, you’ve known Rachel your whole life and familiarity can
be as much of an obstacle as it can be an advantage. In your case, I’d guess
that the former would apply.” Luke contained his laughter well; purposefully
ignoring Luke’s twitching lips. “You’ve got to go slowly with her, woo her.”

“What the hell is this, the nineteenth century? Men don’t
woo anymore.” Nate was disgusted at the suggestion.