Sherryl Woods - Seaview Inn

“No. I haven’t been back in years.”

“Well, what on earth are you doing here now?” She heard how that sounded and quickly amended, “Not that I’m not glad to see you.”

“I just came back for a visit.”

“Well, isn’t that an amazing coincidence?” Amazing and a whole lot more, frankly. It was troubling to discover that Luke still had the same ability to rattle her and make her tongue-tied. Forcing herself to remember the way things had been—Luke and her best friend madly in love, rather than Luke at least noticing her—she deliberately asked, “Do you ever hear from Abby?”

He shook his head. “You?”

“Not since college. So, where are you staying?”

“Here, actually. I moved in about an hour ago.”

Hannah, who’d been about to lean down and give him a friendly peck on the cheek, backed up so fast, it was only luck—and a sturdy railing—that kept her from sailing right off the edge of the porch.

“Here?” she said incredulously. “You moved in here?”

He chuckled and raised his glass of lemonade again. “Surprise!”

“But we’re closed. Who said you could stay?” she asked, though the answer was obvious. Grandma Jenny wasn’t taking any chances. Obviously she figured frugal Hannah wouldn’t turn away a paying guest.

“I made the reservation with your grandmother a couple of weeks ago.”

Hannah directed a sour look toward the house. No doubt her grandmother was sitting right beside a window to get a perfect view of this encounter. “Really. For how long?”

Luke shrugged. “Hard to say. I have some things to figure out. I told your grandmother I’d help the two of you get this place spruced up a bit.”

“Really,” she said again. This must be the help Gran had said was on the way. “She never mentioned you. Did you and my grandmother make any other plans without sharing them with me?”

“Not me,” he claimed. “I can’t speak for her.”

Hannah bounced up. “I think my grandmother and I need to have a talk.” She was about to walk away, when her intrinsic manners kicked in. She turned around. “It really is good to see you again, Luke, but one word of caution.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t get too comfortable. In less than two weeks, this place will be closed, I’ll be back in New York and my grandmother will be...” She faltered on that. “Well, she’ll be somewhere. Right this second a psychiatric facility sounds like just the place.”

She was about to storm inside and have it out with her grandmother when Luke stopped her.

“Hold it, Hannah. If me being here is going to be a problem, I’m sure I can find somewhere else to stay. I noticed a couple of new motels when I drove off the ferry.”

She was about to take him up on the offer when she realized she was being absurd. There was no reason he couldn’t stay in one of the guest rooms, even if having him underfoot was going to dredge up a whole lot of old memories of unrequited longing. It was only the fact that her grandmother had done this behind her back that grated.

She sighed and sat down in the rocker next to his. To buy herself a couple of minutes so that she didn’t sound totally irrational, she poured herself a glass of the ice-cold lemonade and took a sip.

“Sorry about sounding so inhospitable,” she said eventually. “You just caught me off guard. We’ve been closed since before my mother died a month ago. I had no idea that my grandmother had started taking reservations again.”

Luke looked genuinely shocked. “Your mother died? I didn’t know. I’m so sorry, Hannah. She was a wonderful woman. I always enjoyed talking to her. She really listened to all us kids.”

Hannah blinked back a fresh batch of tears. For a woman who’d always prided herself on keeping her emotions in check, since coming back here, she was turning into a regular waterworks.

“She was a good listener, wasn’t she?” she said, a catch in her voice. “I remember how often you or one of the other kids would sneak off to the kitchen to spill some secret to her. I swear she always knew stuff about my friends before I did. I was halfway jealous of that.”

“Your grandmother didn’t say anything about her dying when I called. I thought your mom must just be away on a trip or something.”

“Don’t feel bad. I know she’s dead and I feel the same way. I can’t quite believe I won’t turn a corner and bump into her.”

He hesitated, then studied her with a gaze filled with compassion. “Do you want to talk about it or should we move on to another topic?”

“To be honest, I’m not ready to talk about it yet. She had cancer and things didn’t go well, practically from the beginning, and...” She couldn’t bring herself to say the rest, that she was terrified her own future was destined to follow the same path.

“It’s an awful disease,” he said quietly. “And it’s really difficult to watch a loved one suffer.”

“You have no idea,” she said softly, then stood up abruptly. “Look, I have to catch the four-thirty ferry to the mainland and I really do need to talk to my grandmother about you staying before I go. Not that you being here is a problem, because it’s not, Luke. Really. I just have to be sure you’re not the tip of the iceberg and that hordes of other guests aren’t descending without warning. There’s a lot going on around here right now and, believe me, more unexpected visitors are not a complication I can handle.”

“My offer to find another place is still good,” he said. “I don’t want to add to whatever stress you’re under. I get what it’s like when things start piling up. Big or little, it doesn’t matter. Sooner or later, it’s just too much.”

Hearing the real sympathy in his voice, she fought back tears again. She shook her head, this time with more certainty. “No, stay. Please. Just be prepared for anything to happen. Once my daughter, Kelsey, gets here in a few hours, we may give new meaning to the phrase ‘dysfunctional family.’”

He smiled at that. “You’re not scaring me, if that’s what you’re trying to do. As it happens, I know quite a lot about dysfunctional families. I’ve recently taken a crash course.”

She studied him curiously. “Do you want to talk about that?”

“Nope. I want to forget about it, at least for a little while.”

“You realize we might not have much to say if we keep putting topics off limits,” she said.

“Oh, I suspect we’ll think of something. The weather’s always safe enough.”

She grinned. “At this time of year? The Chamber of Commerce brochures claim it’s always sunny and mild.”

“Except when it’s wet and chilly,” he countered.

“I’m pretty sure they never mention that.”

“But you and I don’t work for the Chamber of Commerce. We can be candid.” His expression sobered. “You can be honest with me, Hannah. You’re sure this is okay, me staying here?”

“I’m sure,” she said, this time without hesitation.

The truth was that the more she thought about it, the more she wanted him to stay. She had a feeling that having another rational adult around might be the only thing that would keep her from going off the deep end before all these family crises were resolved. All she had to do was make sure her already prancing hormones didn’t get any crazy ideas. Falling for Luke Stevens for the second time in her life—especially right now—would be so far beyond stupid there wasn’t even an adequate word to describe it.

Chapter 4

Instead of peace and serenity, Luke concluded he was smack in the middle of some Matthews family drama. He’d heard Hannah’s raised voice not two minutes after she’d left him on the porch. Whatever she’d said, though, hadn’t especially daunted her grandmother. Jenny Matthews had held her own. He couldn’t hear the words, but they’d matched each other in heat and determination. He had to admire the feistiness in both of them, but especially in Grandma Jenny. Too many of his senior patients were cowed by family members. Clearly that wasn’t the case here.