Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (47 page)

I
kept my movement
s
slow, lowering
myself onto a chair
. “What if
Samantha
doesn’t walk away?
”

“Can’t go there.
Any
stress
and Liz could have another
stroke.
You can’t
even
imagine
what it’s like
to get old and
riddled with regrets—when all you ever wanted was to take care of your family.
Anne
never looked me in the eyes again after
she
walked away
.
I suppose in her own way she paid me back
.
I didn’t g
ive her a say about the baby—s
he di
dn’t give me a say about this
farm
. I worked hard my whole life. Shouldn’t I have had a say?”

I leaned forward
resting my arms on my knees
.
“What would
you have done with your land
?”

“
G
ive
n
it to Betsy. Her no-account
father charges her rent to live
in her grandmother
’s house. Betsy has
helped us
like a daughter since Liz
’s illness
.”
His voice softened
.

“Do you want
Samantha
to give it to Betsy?”

“She isn’t going
to
g
ive it up
.”

I looked him in the eye and nodded.
“Yeah.
I think she will.
John, all Samantha wants is a chance to get to know her grandparents.
”

He looked ti
red and defeated. T
he years were visible
o
n him. I’d never considered the past
from his point of v
iew. That he’d tried to
protect
his daughter
,
had done
what he th
ought was best for his family
.
There is d
efinitely a lesson in there someplace.

“I said more than I should’ve.”
He used the
arms of the c
hair to
push himself up and shuffled
into the house.

What had I done? I
’d
put myself in the position of being the one
to deliver another blow t
o
Sam
—her grandfather had
n’t want
ed
her to inherit his
property.
Would
she cons
ider
it
an opportunity to reach out to
John
?
O
r would
it be the final fury
,
send
ing
her
full-
throttle
back to Stone Valley?

Chapter Forty

The
blazing
inferno
has
left a
husband and father
in
th
e hospital fighting for his life
. If I open my heart to possibilities—am I willing to chance failure?
To chance heartbreak?
How do I let go of past
hurt
s
and believe in a
future and a hope?
~
Journal e
ntry

I wiggled into a little
black number
, the one I kept
in the back of
the
closet for special occasions.
I p
ulled my hair up into a clip, a
pp
lied makeup and stroked on a mauve
blush.
I fluffed Goldie’s fur and
w
e were out front waiting when
Logan
arrived.

He parked and
hurried around to where I stood
. “W
ell. H
ello
. G
orgeous
.
”
I didn’t need to hear
the tone of his voice—
his eyes
said it all
. I had wowed him.

“H
i
yourself.”
I flashed him a
seductive
smile as I
tried to modestly get
myself
into hi
s truck—not
an
easy
feat in
a tight dress.

I didn’t miss his grin as he
settled behind the wheel.
“How was your day?”
I tugged at the hem of my dress.

“On my way here
,
I dropped
off
a huge bag of dog f
ood to
Maggie
. Wolf consumes
more
than she can tote into the house.”

“It’s a good thing he’s so
loveable
.
”

“
On the serious side
,
I had
to deal with the Thompson boys. Luckily, Judge Donaldson has agreed to a closed session in his chambers. He
’s
going to meet with the parents ahead of time and come up with a plan. Looks like the boys will be working with the shop
owners for a while—helping clean up.”

“It’s a good thing no one was killed.
T
he impact on their lives would have been devastating.”

“The parents bear
some responsibility,
leaving fireworks in the garage
.
Awfully tempting for kids.
”
He
turned the key and
reached for my hand as he inched
away from the curb.
I took
it
as a sign
he wanted to lighten the mood.

I enjoyed
the
scenic
stretch of the old coastal road
. And
soon
we
pulled into the
i
nn
’s valet parking
for the Chantilly Rose restaurant
.
Inside, a warm glow
from the raised hearth filled the room. W
e were seated
along the wall of glass
, with
a spectacular view of the roaring waves spla
shing on the rugged coastline below
.
The restaurant held a
magic
ambiance all its own.

Abby
strolled
to our table.
Side slits on her red
silk dre
ss showed off her long
,
shapely legs
.
Her
soft
bro
wn h
air
gently swayed
as she walked.
“Welcome.” She
placed her hand on my shoulder.
“
Samantha
, is this your first time to
experience our main dining room?
”

“Yes. I
t
’s fabulous
.”

“I’m glad you like it
.
It’s good seeing both of you.
Enjoy your dinner.
”
Abby had the same warmth she had created with the room
’
s decor
.
“
Y
our waiter will be right over with menus.”
S
he slipped Goldie a treat
, the
same homemade ones Julia kept on hand at the coffee shop.

We ordered and I gazed
out at the water
. “
Stone
Valley
is more inland. W
e do
n’t have the luxury of
restaurants with
a view of the
waves.
”
T
h
e vastness of the sea
filled me with hope—a message I desperately needed.

He laid his arm on the table, playing with my fingertips. “Were you interested in working with
deaf
children because of your own hearing loss?”

“I
t
was the
catalyst
, but
I
lik
e to think it was much more
.
I was blessed with a lot of advantages. I was hearing until my mid-teens, so I already knew a world not defined by my deafness. That’s what I want for the deaf children at our center.”

Our appetizers were
delivered
. H
e dipped a fried zucchini stick
in
to
a
small dish of
t
zatziki
sauce.
“Had you ever considered a different field?”

“
Not seriously.
My first degree was in business administration
. Then I
made a huge shift and
went on to get my masters in special education.
I
n all honesty
,
at the time the direction
made
sense
. If
I’d chosen a field based on heart wishes
,
my passion is
painting
. A day with my easel and paints is a day in heaven.”

“
I
lear
ned something new about you. D
idn’t know you
painted.” His look made me feel as if I
were
the only person capable of such a feat
.

“I’ve never spent eno
ugh time with it to see if I have real
t
alent
.
I could also see myself writing a novel someday. Growing up
,
I spent more time with the stories an
d characters
in my imagination
than I did
with
actual people.”

“So w
hy wouldn’t you want to reopen the bookshop yo
urself?
”

“I
love
books
, but I don’t think I’d like
selling them. I keep hearing stories about
Anne
, how
she interacted with the children and while I admi
re her for i
t—it’s not for me.” I
glanced up at Logan
, and
flutters danced inside me
,
stirring f
eelings I didn’t even know I possessed
.
“Okay, it’s your turn.
You mentioned you finished your law degree because your grandfather wanted you to. What would you have chose
n
?”

“Considering
my choice
to enter
the police academy
,
this one is
way out there.” He pa
used,
looked out the window
and
turned back. “
My
maternal
great-
gran
dfather
’s
family
owned large vineyards in Valle de Parras
, the oldest wine-making region in Mexico
. If I’d followed my dr
eam
,
I would’ve
been planting, building
,
and planning a
vineyard right here in
Serenity
Cove.”

“
What’s
stopping you now? You own enough land to start a small vineyard.”

We
were
talk
ing and laughing
so much I was barely
conscious
of eating.
I
t
surprised me when
suddenly
our
empty
plates
were being cleared away
.

The waiter served us
two
of
the
i
nn
’s signature latte
s
, Chantilly R
ose
. “Compliments of Abby,
”
he said.
Lattes were one of my favorite things abou
t coming to the inn. Julia
ground her own beans and had perfected the art of brewing—
but literally refused to serve
designer coffees.