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As the two women went inside, Luke gestured for Seth to remain behind. “You okay? You look a little dazed.”
“She’s not exactly the woman I thought she was,” he admitted.
“Meaning?”
“Remember she was in a bathing suit when we met. Her house is a mess. Then I find out she’s developing Blue Heron Cove herself and that she was a successful businesswoman, who was married to a minister, for heaven’s sake. Does that sound like anybody who’d ever look twice at a guy like me?”
“Seemed to me she was looking at you with interest,” Luke said. “She directed just about everything she said toward you. Hannah and I might as well not have been here.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “Settle down. This is just about dinner. Nobody, least of all Abby, is looking for anything more tonight.”
Seth gave him a wry look. “You sure about that? I think there are at least a couple of people around hoping this will turn into something else. Are you denying that you and Hannah have an agenda?”
“Not me. I’ve already told you I have reservations about you jumping into a relationship with Abby. It doesn’t really matter what Hannah or anyone else might be after,” Luke insisted. “You and Abby are the only ones who get to decide what, if anything, comes next.”
“I suppose,” Seth conceded. The problem was, as intimidated as he’d been feeling for the past half hour or so, he was still attracted. And that, given the obstacles he saw ahead, was more disconcerting than all the other expectations combined.
* * *
Over a delicious dinner that Hannah sheepishly admitted she’d bought at a specialty store on the mainland, Seth finally relaxed, especially once the conversation turned to old memories. Shared right along with laughter and plentiful wine—beer for him—the evening ended on an upbeat note.
As things were winding down, he and Abby agreed that neither of them had any business driving home. Once again, he found himself walking her back to her house in Blue Heron Cove.
“You do know those two just hoodwinked us,” Abby said as they strolled along the beachfront.
“You mean naming us co-chairs to raise the money for that rescue boat?” Seth asked, laughing at the very neat trap that had been laid, some of it his own doing since he’d suggested getting Abby involved in the first place.
“Exactly.”
“Well, I hope you know something about fund-raising because it’s a long way out of my area of expertise.”
“But you know why the boat’s a critical necessity for the community,” she countered. “And I can plan bingo nights and bake sales with the best of them. A minister’s wife excels at creative ways to raise money.”
“You do know how much that boat costs, right? It’ll take a lot of bingo and baked goods to raise that much,” he said, his skepticism plain.
She winked at him. “Not the way I do it,” she said.
They walked along in silence for a few minutes before she turned to him again. “Were you the one who came up with the idea for asking the developer of Blue Heron Cove for a major donation?”
He nodded. “At the time I had no idea that might be you.”
“But isn’t it lucky that it is me?” she said. “And all your arguments were completely valid. The people who buy those houses are going to expect reliable access to medical care on the mainland. Plus it will be wonderful PR for me to support this. I’ll need that going for me when those permits come up for review.”
Seth wasn’t sure how he felt about her pragmatic thinking. It seemed a little sneaky to him. At the same time, a donation might mean the difference between getting that boat and not. He had to remember the goal. And he’d been well aware of those benefits to the developer when he’d first suggested the idea to Luke. It hadn’t bothered him until that person turned out to be Abby. Why was that? It was something he needed to think about.
“So you’re in?” he asked now.
“I’ll get you a check by the beginning of the week to kick off the drive to raise the money,” she promised, then held his gaze. “Will it offend you if I do it in a very public way? Maybe hold a little press conference?”
“That is the way the game is played, isn’t it?” he said.
She studied him. “But you don’t like it, do you?”
He sighed. “Actually I totally get it. The community needs that boat. I’m not going to do or say anything that might undermine the prospects for that happening.”
They reached her front porch then.
“Would you like some coffee or a glass of tea before you head home?” she asked.
Seth told himself he ought to leave, ought to avoid anything that might lead to the two of them getting any more involved. Despite the stern mental lecture, though, he said, “I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee, if you’re sure you’re not anxious to get to sleep.”
“I’m a night owl,” she assured him. “That’s what it takes to run a restaurant and I’m still not out of the habit. But I’ll make the coffee decaf, in case you’re not.”
“Decaf’s probably a good idea,” he said, following her inside.
Though she’d made good progress in airing out the house and cleaning it up, there were still enough signs of the years of neglect for him to guess that the task had been monumental. That she’d been tackling it on her own didn’t seem to fit with the woman wearing those expensive linen slacks, a silk blouse and diamond stud earrings, and shoes that no doubt cost as much as his weekly take-home pay.
“Can I ask you something?” he said when they had their coffee and were back on the porch with a light breeze coming in off the water.
“Sure.”
“Why didn’t you hire a cleaning crew to tackle this place? It would have been finished in a day.”
“I needed a project,” she said simply. “More important, I think maybe I needed to remember who I used to be.”
“Since I doubt you were ever a maid, you need to explain that one.”
“You asking for a history lesson?” she quipped.
He nodded. “I’m trying to figure you out,” he admitted.
“Okay, here’s the short version. When I was a kid, my parents owned this land, but we didn’t have a lot of money. My grandfather had settled on Seaview Key when it was still just a mostly inaccessible fishing village. He fished, but he also invested in land, which my parents inherited. They were determined to keep it, to keep the island as unspoiled as it had been. Back then I didn’t fully appreciate that, especially since I had to get a job in high school to help out and needed scholarships for college.”
“If that’s true, where’d you get the money to start that restaurant? Did you sell off an acre or two back then?”
“No way. The land wasn’t mine then and my parents would never have agreed to sell. I’d worked hard and saved every extra penny. It turned out I had a head for business. I made a few investments with my savings and they paid off. It gave me enough of a nest egg to start the restaurant.”
“How old were you then?”
“Twenty-four.”
“Holy mackerel!” he said, impressed.
She smiled at his reaction. “Step one in the evolution of Abby Dawson,” she agreed. “Then I got married. My husband was pastor to a very wealthy congregation. I told you earlier that my restaurant caught on. It catered to a very upscale clientele. I got used to keeping up appearances. That completed the evolution to Abby Miller.” She wrinkled her nose as if she found that Abby distasteful.
“What was so terrible about her?” he asked. He knew that having money could change people and not always for the better, but she still seemed pretty down-to-earth to him. In fact, that’s why he remained so intrigued. If she’d been a rich snob sporting a moneyed, entitled attitude, it would be easier to ignore these sparks that kept flaring between them.
“I don’t want to come off trying to sound like some poor little rich girl, but that wasn’t who I am,” she explained simply. “I had a lot of time on my hands after the divorce to think about that. I realized I’d truly been happier back here with a family that didn’t have much except the land around us.”
“In that case, I’m surprised you want to develop it,” Seth told her.
“Believe me, I gave it a lot of thought. Seaview Key needs something if it’s going to thrive. I’m in a position to make that something happen in a responsible way.” She regarded him earnestly. “I’m going to do this right, Seth. There wouldn’t be much point in coming back for the serenity I remembered and then seeing it ruined.”
“So, scrubbing floors has gotten you back to basics,” he suggested, trying to put what she’d said in perspective.
She nodded. “And I’m hoping that raising the money for this rescue boat will be one way to be part of this community again. A donation might be great public relations, but putting in an effort will probably do more for me in the long haul. I want to be accepted, Seth, not as some benevolent outsider, but as a local who cares about what happens around here.”
He was surprised by the hint of yearning in her voice. “Being accepted really matters to you, then?”
“Sure. Doesn’t it matter to everybody, when you get right down to it? Don’t you care about being a part of the community?”
Seth honestly hadn’t thought about it. He’d come for a visit. Luke had persuaded him to stay. The town had been eager to hire someone with his background as a medic. He’d felt accepted from the beginning.
“I guess I thought if I did my job, that would be enough,” he said.
“That’s because you didn’t burn a lot of bridges when you left,” she said, a rueful expression on her face. “I need to make up for some of the things I said about this town. I couldn’t wait to get away. Other than Luke and my friendship with Hannah, this place held nothing but bad memories for me.”
“And yet you came back.”
“Perspective,” she said. “Maturity. I’m the first to admit I didn’t see the big picture back then.”
He admired her honesty, but he wondered if she wasn’t deluding herself, just as Luke had warned. Had she really changed so much?
“Are you sure Seaview Key is what you’re looking for?” he asked, trying to reconcile it with the sophisticated woman sitting beside him. Was it possible for her to forego the lifestyle she’d obviously had in the Florida Panhandle?
“Can I say it with absolute certainty?” she asked. “No, but I’m hoping I’ve gotten it right this time. I liked the person I was back then a whole lot more than the person I’ve become.”
“You seem just fine to me now,” he told her in all honesty.
She smiled at that. “You’re sweet to say that.”
Sweet? Seth nearly groaned at that. Women didn’t call men they were interested in sweet. Recognizing that made this desire he had to seduce her about as wildly inappropriate as anything that had ever occurred to him before. He really, really needed another one of those annoying lectures from Luke before he did something incredibly stupid.
* * *
Abby saw the expression in Seth’s eyes and immediately regretted her candor. She could practically see the distance growing between them. Maybe it had been a mistake to admit the truth to him. She’d gotten used to having money. Marshall had had oodles of it, thanks to family investments, and she’d made more when she’d sold the successful restaurant she’d started before she’d met him, enough to invest in developing Blue Heron Cove.
In her opinion, money was nice, but she’d realized very recently that other things mattered more. Not everyone saw it that way, though, especially men whose pride kicked in and wouldn’t let them see past the dollar signs that separated them. She’d really hoped that Seth wouldn’t be one of those men. Based on his shocked expression, though, it seemed that he was.
Of course, the alternative, which she’d experienced a time or two, was worse. She’d known men who were interested in her only because of her money. Right after the divorce, a few had hovered, hoping to get her attention. Some had even been audacious enough to mention investment schemes on the first or second date, pretty much giving away the reason for their interest.
“I should be going,” Seth said, getting to his feet.
“Already?” she said, disappointed and not doing a very good job of hiding it.
“I’m on call first thing in the morning.” He gave her a grin that emphasized an appealing dimple. “Never know when someone might take an early morning dip in the water and find herself in over her head.”
“It won’t be me,” Abby assured him. “Lesson learned. Two near drownings in one lifetime have convinced me that my swimming should be confined to a pool.”
“Still, maybe I will see you on the beach. I usually run about the same time every morning. Of course, now that I know the owner’s around, maybe I ought to be avoiding this area. It is posted with No Trespassing signs.”
“Those are meant to keep the kids away, though I doubt they pay much attention. I certainly wouldn’t have, back in the day,” Abby said. “You’re welcome anytime.”
He nodded. “Okay, then. I enjoyed tonight, Abby. Welcome back to Seaview Key.”
She watched him take off, his pace slower than the jog a few days before, but the view every bit as excellent. He was a man who looked as sexy in khakis as he did in swim trunks, a claim too few men could make, in her opinion. She sighed as he disappeared from sight.
“Stop it,” she ordered herself as she went inside to wash their cups and shut off the coffeemaker.
Working with him was going to be incredibly uncomfortable if she kept thinking about hauling him off to her bed. And if there was one thing she knew with absolute certainty about Seaview Key, it was that it was no place to have a careless fling. Gossip was plentiful and the ramifications could last for years.
* * *
“Abby looks great, don’t you think so?” Hannah asked Luke as they cleaned up the kitchen after their dinner party.
“I suppose,” Luke replied distractedly.
“I don’t think she’s aged a bit,” Hannah persisted, determined to press the point, though she wasn’t certain why she felt compelled to get an honest reaction from her husband.
He put the last of the leftovers into the refrigerator, then turned slowly. “Hannah, what’s going on? Are you thinking I’ll say something and give away some secret lust that Abby’s stirred in me?”
She winced at the direct hit. He’d voiced the fear that nagged at her. “Well, it’s always possible,” she said defensively.
Luke stepped closer, put his hands on her shoulders and gazed directly into her eyes. “No, it’s not. You’re the woman I love. Abby’s an old memory.”
“Who’s very much back in our lives.”
“As a friend,” Luke said. “But if even that’s going to worry you, we can keep some distance between us. You’ve done your duty. You’ve had her over. We can let it go at that.”
She frowned at his reasonable, accommodating tone. “And have everyone think I’m an insecure, mean-spirited shrew?”
He had the audacity to laugh at that. “Name one single person who’d ever think that about you. Everyone in this town loves you.”
“I’d think it,” she admitted. “That’s exactly what I’d think of me if I cut Abby out of our lives.” She sighed. “I’m such a mess.”
“But you’re my beautiful mess,” he said, pulling her close. “We’re solid, Hannah. What we’ve found is real and good and lasting, okay?”
She rested her forehead against his chest. “Okay,” she murmured softly, relieved to have it all out in the open, even if her insecurities didn’t speak well of her. “I love you, Luke. And though at times like this I can’t imagine why, I do know you love me.”
“Just hang on to that.”
She really intended to try. She pictured Abby with her perfect body, her stylish clothes and gorgeous hair and regretted that God had given her quite such a test of faith.
6
During the off-season when things were quieter, having Sunday lunch at The Fish Tale after church had gotten to be a habit for Luke, Hannah, Grandma Jenny and Seth. When Kelsey and Jeff were around, they came along with the baby. This week, with the three of them still on vacation, Seth escorted Grandma Jenny to the restaurant.
