Love on a Spring Morning (22 page)

“Tiny break! And I had to see you. You sounded so sad when we talked.”

They hadn’t talked, just exchanged some text messages, but that didn’t seem worth pointing out now that her best friend was here.

“I won’t stay long, just the weekend. Emmett says you’ve got two days off! I’m so excited! I love you!”

Holly laughed at the quiet stream of words in her ear and squeezed Liana all over again. “I love you, too.” She stepped back and pointed at Emmett. “Wine me up. I’m going to take a two-minute shower, then we can catch up.”

She pulled her iPhone out of the armband holder as she trudged up the stairs.
Came home from my run and found a surprise visitor. My friend Liana. Might be able to sneak out later, but not any time soon
.
Heart heavy, she hit send, then clicked on Ryan’s name so his photo would pop up. She’d taken it on Wednesday. Two days earlier, and all of a sudden it felt like a lifetime. He was scowling because he wasn’t ready for the picture, but a ghost of a smile played at the corner of his lips and his eyes were all soft. The sexiest scowl ever.

No worries. Bedtime tantrums here. Might fall asleep in a pile of kids, but I’ll wake up if you end up getting away.

She didn’t get away.

When she woke up, slightly hung over from too much wine and too much Liana, there was a sleepy selfie of Ryan sent at half past six, Maya photobombing him over his shoulder.

OMG, so much cuteness
she sent back.

I know, I’m adorable.

I meant Maya.
She grinned as she climbed into the shower, then hopped out again and grabbed her phone.
This is what I’m doing right now.

Rule number one of being a celebrity—no naked selfies. So she covered up the good bits and went for mood over content, taking a picture of her bare shoulder and smiling lips, barely parted, with the steaming shower in the background.

Her phone rang immediately. “Yes?”

“Okay, that was good. Great, even. I feel suitably punished for being cheeky.”

“What are you doing?” She reached into the shower and turned off the water, then crawled back into bed.

“Making breakfast.” He sighed. “And I just got a phone call from my in-laws. They just crossed the border at Port Huron. They’ll be here in four hours.”

“Oh.” Damn double damn. “Well, that’s sucky timing.”

“At least we’re both dealing with visitors at the same time. And I think they’re going to only be here for a few days, then they’re going to go visit Lynn’s sister until the movie’s done filming.”

That was something. “Well, I’ll miss you this weekend.”

“Maybe we can steal some kisses.” Like they had been until the week previous.

“Definitely. I’ll meet you by the woodpile.”

He rumbled a warm laugh in her ear at the same time as someone knocked on her door.
 

“I gotta go. Hostess duties call.”

“Okay. I…I’ll text you later.”

“Can’t wait.”

She hung up the phone and pressed her hands over her face. The knock sounded again. “Hang on!”

Grabbing her robe off the hook, she covered up and opened the door. When she saw it was Liana, she waved the tiny brunette into her room.

“Who were you talking to?”

“None of your darn beeswax.” She threw herself onto the bed. She actually wanted to tell her best friend every last detail, but she’d keep the sharing to an acceptable-for-everyone level. “It doesn’t matter, he’s going to be busy this weekend anyway.”

“He?” Liana joined her, sliding onto her side and giving Holly a gleeful look. It wasn’t fair how pretty her friend was after a night of wine, although maybe the latter had only been Holly’s burden to bear. “You didn’t tell me about a
he
last night.”

“I know. I was hoping he’d stay a secret,” Holly said pointedly.

“We have no secrets, silly.”

”Okay. I’ve met a boy.” She could feel her face softening as she said it. “And he’s lovely, and not really available, not for the long-term, but he’s just…nice and handsome and
good
. He’s a good guy, not in the industry at all, and I can’t get enough of him.”

“A local?”

Very local. A few hundred feet away.
“Yep.”

“So why isn’t he available? He’s not married, is he?”

Heavy emotion lurched through Holly’s gut. “No. But it’s complicated in other ways. He’s not comfortable dating someone famous, with the scrutiny that brings. Plus he’s got kids, so traveling to L.A. or wherever I’m filming isn’t an option. And I get it. But I wish things were different.”

“Do planes only fly in one direction?” Her friend scooted closer and wrapped her arms around Holly. “Anyone who puts that look on your face is probably worth flying back to Pine Harbour for, at least between movies. You hate the city.”

“I don’t.” It sounded weak, because yeah, she did. She loved big skies and coyotes in the distance. Her heart skipped a beat. She loved plaid shirts and work boots. But they didn’t love her. They liked her—a lot—for a safe, guaranteed-to-end private fling. “And even if I didn’t like it, that’s where a lot of my work is.”

“That’s what the Internet is for. I’ve been on tour for almost a year, and I’m still able to do deals and collaborate with people, from wherever I am in the world. It’s the same as when you’re on a film set. You don’t feel like you need to be in Los Angeles then, right?”

That was true. But Emmett lived in L.A., and while he was happy to travel with her, he wouldn’t move to Pine Harbour… “Oh my God,” she groaned. “I just thought, ‘But how would I convince Em to move here?’ How out of touch with reality am I?”

Liana laughed and squeezed her tighter. “You can hire a local assistant, honey. I’m sure there’s a miracle worker here who can coordinate with him. He can be your California boots-on-the-ground warrior.”

“I don’t need an assistant.”

“Now you’re just talking crazy. Do you think Emmett will make us smoothies?”

“Yep. I’m going to have a shower, I’ll be down in a few.” She grabbed her best friend’s hand as Liana slid off the bed. “Don’t tell Maggie, okay?”

“Of course. You just remember that life is too short for regret, got it?”

Holly totally got it. She just wasn’t sure what she’d regret more—not taking a chance, or overstepping the bounds of her relationship with Ryan.

— —
 

Ryan watched his kids pile on their grandparents, then he moved in and gave big, welcoming hugs to Mike and Gloria Fenich. If he was only half-way happy to see Lynn’s parents, he buried that deep.

“Mom, Dad, glad to have you back.”

“We’re happy to be back, although we had a wonderful time down south. And we brought so many presents, our suitcases are
bulging
,” Gloria said loudly, winking.

Ryan just laughed and shook his head. His kids didn’t get spoiled that often. His parents loved them, but they had half a dozen other grandkids as well, and were four hours away. His three kids were the only grandkids Mike and Gloria had, and all five had missed each other something fierce.

“Come on in, I just put on a pot of coffee. Tell us about your trip. I’ve shown the kids some of your pictures on Facebook…”

An hour later, the conversation finally turned to the cottages. Gloria had taken the kids upstairs to put Maya’s new stuffed animal down for a nap, and Mike gave Ryan a stern nod. “Everything okay with the movie people?”

“Yes, sir. They seem happy with the accommodations. They’ll be gone in a few weeks. You can sleep in Maya’s room until then, when you’re here.”

“We’ll try to stay out of your hair as much as possible. The Minellis invited us to stay with them, if you’d rather.”

If it was Gloria, Ryan would have protested, worrying the question was a trap, but Mike was always straight with him. “Stay here tonight. But you might find it a little less noisy over at Anne and Alessandro’s after that.”

And if Ryan wanted his own privacy…well, there was that, too.

“I might just take a walk down to the house, do you think they’ll mind?”

“Um…” There was no good reason for his father-in-law not to visit the lake house.
His
house. “Probably not.”

Mike stood and clapped Ryan on the shoulder. “I’ll take the kids.”

Oh fuck.
“They’re probably having fun with Gloria…”

It was too late. Mike strolled to the bottom of the stairs. “Who wants to take a walk down to Grandma and Grandpa’s house?”

A chorus of “Me!”s came blasting down the stairs, followed quickly by a herd of excited children.

Ryan barely had time to send a warning text to Holly before he was following his family down the secret path between the houses, a terrible sense of impending doom twisting his guts into knots.

The boys were walking on either side of their grandfather, and Maya was hanging onto Gloria’s hand, skipping along in excitement.

Of course she’s excited, she’s going to see Holly, who is made of light and magic because she’s a fairy
. He couldn’t disagree with his daughter’s assessment, either, but the thought of his in-laws scrutinizing how close his kids were to the woman he was secretly sleeping with made him want to blow something up as a distraction.

If only his demolitions certification hadn’t lapsed.

And all the nearest C4 explosive was at the base in Meaford, a solid hour away.

Toss in the live grenade of being a criminal act, and it wasn’t his best coping strategy.

So he grit his teeth and hung back as their little parade came out into the clearing…and stumbled onto a tea party.

Jesus Christ.

Holly gave him a wide-eyed look as she glanced up from her phone, obviously just getting his text message right now. She was sitting on a blanket spread out on the grass with two other women, Parvati on her left, and he assumed the smaller, dark-haired woman with big lips and an even bigger voice on her right was her friend Liana.

“Hi folks,” Mike said in that booming voice of his, honed from decades spent running his own construction company. “Mike Fenich, nice to meet you. No, don’t get up, sorry to interrupt. We’re just going for a walk with our grandkids. We’re the property owners, actually, but we’re happy to stay out of your hair while you make your movie. The wife and I were just down south for a while, and our son-in-law there says all has been quiet here, which is great. We just missed the place a bit, thought we’d walk around.”

Holly got up anyway, because she was awesome that way, and she could probably tell that Maya was four seconds away from joining them. “Would you like to join us? We could move onto the deck. I’m Hope Creswell, by the way, and this is Parvati Spencer, and—”

“Liana Hansen on a blanket in my backyard, oh my word,” Gloria breathed, fluttering her hands. “I have to tell you, Ms. Hansen, I am just such a fan, and your newest album is a work of art.”

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief as his mother-in-law and the country music singer started talking. Good. Maybe the veil of celebrity would mask the inappropriate level of heat that simmered between him and Holly.

“Hope’s secret name is Holly,” Jack said not so quietly to his grandfather, and Holly laughed.

“That’s true. You can call me whatever you want. Would anyone like tea, or can I get you beer or wine?”

Maya tugged Gloria over to the blanket. “We want tea, right Grandma?”

“Well, yes, I think I’d love a cup of tea.”

Like he’d been watching all along, Holly’s assistant Emmett appeared with a tray. More mugs for tea, and two bottles of beer. He handed one to Mike, and the other to Ryan—with a look that said he knew this must be awkward. Great. So that made Olivia and Emmett and probably their respective spouses who knew their secret. Add in Ryan’s kids, who probably hadn’t guessed the kissing part but definitely knew Holly was a special friend, and their secret didn’t feel so safe anymore.

Ryan downed half his beer right away, then took a slow turn around the yard, keeping an eye—and an ear—on his kids. His initial assessment of Holly’s friend was that she was lovely and gracious and more than a little overwhelming. Plus obviously high-maintenance, which didn’t matter to him, but it was quite the contrast to Holly’s natural appeal. As the impromptu party continued and everyone moved onto the deck for munchies, he had the misfortune of being trapped in conversation by the woman.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that
she
knew their secret as well. And she was very excited about it.

Holly rescued him, somehow conjuring Joshua Pearce from thin air, and Liana moved on to bat her false eyelashes at the actor. After making the introduction, Holly drifted back in Ryan’s direction. He watched as she did it, with subtle misdirection, talking to Gavin about Minecraft as she backed up against the railing right next to Ryan.

This woman can do anything she puts her mind to
, he thought. He was a lucky asshole that she put her mind to him.
 

“Having fun?”

“Kill me now.”

She just smiled, looking out over the gathering of people. She watched her best friend like he watched the kids. “You don’t like her.”

“I don’t know her.” He wanted to choose his answer carefully. “She loves you, and so I like that about her. But she’s…intense.”

Holly laughed quietly, her shoulder shaking against his biceps.
 

He resisted the urge to turn and just watch her be happy. “You’re very different.”

“I had a lot of different influences in my life. I’ve learned to look below the surface of people. Under all of that, Liana has a heart of gold. And when I met her, I realized…this is what it is to have family. To be loved, unconditionally.”

With a start, Ryan realized that for all the
poor me
sobbing he’d done to Holly about his kids not having their mother, she’d never once pointed out that she’d done just fine without a father, and really, without a caring mother, too.
Shit
. “I think you should get a lot of credit for finding her and making yourself a family. You probably should get credit for raising yourself,” he said gruffly. “You’re pretty amazing.”

She didn’t say anything, just smiled again, but her shoulder pressed against his arm again, and this time she didn’t move away.