Love Believes (Sully Point, Book 5) (13 page)

"What?" Maggie said.

"William Christopher?" Julia asked.

"Does Beth know?" Anna said. "Dad,
you aren't trying to get them together are you?"

"Girls! Pay attention. Julia, I'm going to
need plenty of tossed salad from you. Maggie, I want you to prepare the fruit
for the shortcake dessert. Blackberries and strawberries. Anna, you do a great
mac and cheese so I'm leaving that up to you."

"But Dad, seriously. You invited Mr.
Christopher?" Anna asked.

"Yes, I did. The man's all on his own. Plus
everyone will be here so he can report on the Playhouse to them. This has
nothing to do with Beth."

Maggie tilted her head and stared at him. Frank
couldn't withstand that stare for long. Something about Maggie's violet
eyes... "Okay, okay. I think he has a thing for Beth."

"He's ten years older than her!" Maggie
said. "Don't you go matchmaking, Frank."

Julia pursed her lips and tapped one oval
fingernail on the table. "I don't know. I've been around them more than
you guys have been. There is a spark between them. But I think they're both
fighting it. The thing is, you can't just spring him on her at the gathering.
You have to tell her he's coming so she'll be prepared."

"I thought it would be a nice surprise,"
Frank said, innocently.

"Oh please," Anna said. "You're
terrible. If you don't tell her he's coming, then I will."

"Fine, you tell her," Frank said.
"So we'll have the baked stuffed apples with the pork roasts and apple
cider gravy. Got the recipe off the Food Network and it's very good. I'll do up
some fresh roasted green beans and with what you all bring, we should be set."

"Is Holly bringing anything? She's the best
cook of all of us," Anna said of her sister.

"She said she'd be bringing something. I
asked for pigs in the blanket," Frank said.

"You know, William spent the night at Beth's
apartment, night before last," Maggie said, quietly.

Dead silence fell at the table, and then they were
all talking at once.

"Hang on! Just wait and I'll tell you,"
Maggie said, waving her arms. "She says he stopped by with script notes
for her. Then they decided to watch a movie. And ended up watching three and
falling asleep on the couch sitting next to each other. That was it. I was
thinking it was nice of him to stay since she'd probably been a bit scared her
first night back there."

"Well, it was nice of him," Julia said.
"Doesn't mean they aren't developing feelings."

"Hmph. See, I'm not so wrong," Frank
said.

"Enough gossip!" Anna said. "We're
as bad as Maelynne. Now we're going to leave these two people alone to figure
out for themselves if there is anything between them. Okay?"

Everyone nodded. Frank thought his daughter's
stern face could frighten anyone into good behavior.

"I'll tell Beth about William coming to the
thing. But don't go talking about this anywhere in town...Dad," Anna
continued.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

He gave his best sincere look to his daughter.
"I'd never spread a word. Promise."

She looked at him for a long minute. "We'll
see. I'd better get back to the babysitter. Josh always seems to find their
weaknesses in no time."

* * * *

Beth and William entered the Diner talking about a problem
with getting the curtain for the stage in time for the play's opening. She had
been having trouble dealing with the company that provided the curtain.

"Mention my name," William said, as he
slid into the booth by the window. "They know me, and I have a bit of
clout in the city."

Beth laughed and sat down. "Of course you do.
I should have thought of that."

Mary Jo approached them with menus. Beth thought
she looked rather dejected. "You okay, Mary Jo?"

"Just wish I'd gotten a part in the
play," she mumbled. Then the waitress turned to William. "You need to
have a play with more people in it."

He nodded. "You're absolutely right. I had no
idea how much talent was in Sully Point until we did the auditions. The second
production we put on at the Playhouse will have a large cast, so that we can
use as many townspeople as possible."

Mary Jo smiled. "Specials today are corned
beef and cabbage, or the turkey club sandwich with homemade tomato soup."

"I'll have the sandwich without the soup,
please," Beth said. "And a cup of hot tea."

"I think I'll have the sandwich and the soup,
but put the mayo on the side. I like to put that on my sandwich myself,"
William said.

Mary Jo left to turn in their order.

Beth shrugged out of her jacket. "I didn't
realize you had already decided on a second production."

"As soon as I saw all those people at
auditions, and once I'd seen some of them at work, I knew we'd need to do a big
cast number. Not sure yet which. Might even be a musical. Tell me, can you
sing?"

"I can. I had voice lessons growing up. My
parents were always really good at getting lessons for all of us kids in
whatever we were interested in."

Mary Jo brought Beth's tea and a large glass of
ice water with lemon for William.

"How did she know what to bring you to drink?"

William chuckled. "The Diner has been my home
away from home. I eat here enough that they know my preferences. How was your
visit with your parents yesterday?"

"Good, it was good," Beth said.
"They're going to stay for a while at Sam and Anna's."

"Oh, so they'll be at the family gathering
this weekend. I look forward to meeting them."

"I'm sure they'll be glad to...wait...you're
going to be at Frank Grainger's this weekend?" Beth's voice squeaked a bit
at the end.

William raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes...is
something the matter?"

"No, no, everything's fine," Beth said.
As she unrolled her silverware from the cotton napkin, she thought frantically.
Her parents meeting William? Particularly her mother? Did she want them to meet
him? Would her mother pick up on the attraction Beth felt for him? She was so
rattled she dropped her knife and fork on the floor.

"Oops," William said. He made a small
motion and Mary Jo came running over with new silverware.

"Thanks," Beth said, face flushed.
"How do you happen to be coming to the dinner anyway?"

"Frank and Betsy had me over for dinner, and
Frank thought it would be a good time to update everyone on the progress of the
Playhouse. I'm looking forward to it."

"Great, that's great." She told herself
to stop being silly. "So, William, you never married?" She almost
gasped as the words came out of her mouth. They weren't what she'd meant to
say.

William stared at her for a moment, blue eyes
squinting a bit.

"I'm sorry, that's too personal a
question."

"No, it's fine. And I actually was married,
very briefly, at the age of nineteen. She was an actress and we fell for each
other during a play we were both in. I was too young to know it was just
something that happens sometimes during a production. She asked for a divorce
three months later. After that, I never thought about getting married again. I
was so busy with my work, and I had no time to meet anyone. Now I'm set in my
bachelor ways."

"You make it sound like you're an old man.
You're not," Beth said, rather forcefully.

"You're right, I'm not. The theater, not to
sound overly dramatic, has been my life. I'm not sure I'd have anything left to
give to another person outside it. What about you? No boyfriend waiting for you
back in L.A.?"

"No. I was pretty wrapped up in trying to
find acting work. The last boyfriend I had got fed up with he called my
'obsession' with acting. He saw it as a hobby. After that experience I decided
to go my own way for a while."

Mary Jo set their sandwiches and William's soup
down on the table. "Here's your mayo," she said and set down a small
dish of mayonnaise. "Need anything else?"

"We're good," William said, and gave the
waitress a smile.

After she had left, Beth shook her head and said,
"You shouldn't do that to her."

"Do what?"

"You know. The smile, the eyes, you are
leading her on."

"What? I am not," he said, and cleared
his throat. "Seriously?"

Beth nodded. "She's totally smitten."

"Ah...should I...do something about it?"

"No, just leave it alone, but stop smiling so
much at her. You're supposed to be this grumpy director, but you smile at
her."

"But she gives good waitress service. I
appreciate good work."

"You're really clueless aren't you? About the
effect you have on women?"

"What on earth are you talking about?"
William said, clearly exasperated. He took a big bite of his sandwich, chomping
hard on bacon, lettuce, tomato and turkey.

Beth looked at him for a moment. "Never mind.
Just trust me that when you are nice to people, you have a kind of charisma and
leave it at that."

He swallowed and took a sip of water. "You
seem to have resisted this effect of mine admirably."

She felt her eyes go wide as her hand froze with
the sandwich halfway to her mouth.

William ran a hand through his hair. "Did I
say that out loud?"

"Uh...yeah." Beth set the sandwich
carefully back on the plate.

"Well...that's embarrassing."

Beth took a breath. "I've not been as immune
as you think."

He looked up from his plate quickly.
"Really?"

"Just what are you saying, William?"

"What are you saying?"

They both sat silently staring into each other's
eyes. Beth felt as if a very important conversation was happening between them
in a bubble of silence that throbbed with intensity.

Mary Jo startled them when she asked, "Can I
get you guys anything? Chef wants to know if you don't like the sandwiches
'cause you aren't eating."

"It's delicious," Beth said and took a
bite from her food.

William sipped soup from the mug it was served in.
"Great soup. Tell him the texture is perfect."

Mary Jo beamed and left to go back to the kitchen.

"You didn't smile at her that time,"
Beth said.

"No, I didn't," he said and slowly
smiled at her.

"We should finish lunch and get back to
work," she said.

"I'm not hungry anymore."

"Me either."

"You think Mary Jo would wrap this stuff
up?" he asked.

"Yes. Where will we go? At my place...you
never know who might..."

"My place. Let's go there," he said with
a deeper voice than usual.

"Okay," Beth said, her stomach full of
butterflies.

They had their lunch wrapped to go within minutes,
explaining to Mary Jo that they had a theater emergency. They'd taken Beth's
car to the Diner, and she drove them to his house.

The house the Foundation has provided for him was
down a long drive, sitting by itself near the beach. It was a modern design,
and one wall was all windows that faced the trees and water beyond them.

They walked in and William took their food into
the kitchen and put it in the fridge. He called out, "Do want anything to
drink?"

"Some water, please," Beth said, and
berated herself for her shaky voice.

He came back into the living room and handed her
the glass. After she took a sip, he reached for her other hand and gently
tugged her over to the dark brown leather couch to sit down. "Now, let's
talk."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Okay."

He smiled at her and kept holding her hand.
"I've been attracted to you since the first moment I saw you."

"You have? You gave a great imitation of not
liking me much at first."

"It threw me, how beautiful you were and how
young. I'm ten years older than you."

"And?" She chuckled. "That doesn't
matter, William. You're the most exciting man I've ever met. I've been drawn to
you right from the start. I just kept saying to myself that nothing could come
of it, because, you know, you're my director."

"I know," he said with a frown. "I
swore I'd never get involved with an actress again...but you're different,
this...feels different." His blue eyes seemed deeper, darker in color, as
he moved closer to her. "You know we probably shouldn't do this."

"Do what?" she whispered.

He leaned in closer to her, and said,
"This." Suddenly they were kissing, tentatively at first, but then
with rising passion.

Beth felt her pulse racing, as she was folded into
his arms, melting against him. The kiss was an invitation, a revelation, and an
awakening of desire. She moaned against his lips and he pulled away, kissing
her neck up to her ear.

"And this," he whispered into her ear as
she shivered.

* * * *

Maggie walked into Julia's Place and waved to
Julia. "Hey! Just going up to see Beth for a minute."

"Wait. She's not up there," Julia said.

Maggie walked across the hardwood floors to
Julia's desk. "Where is she?"

Julia sighed. "Frankly, I don't know. I got a
call from William telling me that they had a 'theater emergency' and wouldn't
be back today. I'm assuming they had to make a run to the city. His car is
still here, but they'd taken hers to lunch, so I guess they took her car to the
city as well."

"They went to lunch together?"

"Yes. But they were talking all business as
they left. There was no sign of anything between them."

"Maybe everyone is wrong about them then. He
is a bit old for her."

Julia shook her head, black hair flowing across
her back and shoulders. "I think they'd be good together. But we don't
want to be like Maelynne assuming things. We should leave it alone."

"I guess you're right," Maggie said.
"It would probably freak out Mom and Dad if she were involved with him.
I'm not sure they trust anyone in the theater world, especially after that
awful Benton man."