Seaside Dreams (Love in Bloom: Seaside Summers, Book One) Contemporary Romance (18 page)

“Hey.” She hoped she sounded casual. “I think I’ll take off.”

“Bella, stay.” Caden came to her side.

“You don’t have to leave,” Evan said from the steps.

She had no idea if she should leave or stay. They both sounded sincere, but she didn’t want to take Caden’s attention away from Evan when he needed him most.

“I’m sorry,” Caden said.

He might have wanted her to stay, but she knew that a bigger part of him needed time alone with Evan.

“It’s okay. Evan needs you more than I do right now. Thanks for dinner. It was amazing.”

He touched his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry, babe,” he whispered.

“Don’t be. I’m a big girl. Besides, I had you all to myself today.” She kissed him and felt his disappointment tangle with hers on the way out the door.

BELLA PULLED INTO Seaside still nursing her disappointment. She was happy to see everyone hanging around the fire pit in the quad. She could use a few laughs.

“Bella! Tony made Talking Monkeys.” Jenna hurried over to Bella with Pepper on her heels. She looked like a teenager in her purple hooded sweatshirt, jeans rolled up at the ankles, and purple flip-flops. “Where’s your man?” She looped her arm into Bella’s and pulled her across the grass.

Pepper clawed at Bella’s legs, and she knelt to pet him. He rolled onto his back and Bella scratched his belly.

“Evan needed a little daddy time.”

“Well, good.” Jenna touched Bella’s back with her knee. “I needed a little Bella time.”

“That’s why I love you.” Bella kissed Pepper’s fluffy head and rose to her feet.

“C’mon, Pep.” Kurt’s stern voice had Pepper bounding back to him.

“Remember when he used to sneer at Pepper?” Jenna whispered.

“Love changes everything.”
Everything is an understatement
.

“How’d it go today?” Jenna’s eyebrows jumped. “Did you break him of his goody-two-shoes ways?”

Bella laughed. “Actually, I think it was the other way around.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “Yeah? Mr. Straitlaced Sexy Uniform has a bad-boy side?”

Amy jumped up, sending her chair to the ground. “Bells!” She was wearing a pair of flannel pajama pants and a long sleeved T-shirt and ran with her arms open wide, nearly toppling Bella over when she fell against her.

Amy stumbled back a few steps, and Tony caught her in one strong arm. She swayed on her feet and ran her finger along Tony’s chin. “Well, helloooo there, sexy.”

“Okay. I think I’d better take our little girl home.” Tony wrapped an arm around Amy’s shoulder, and she melted against his side.

“Holy crap, Jen. You let her get two sheets to the wind?” Bella glared at Jenna.

“Hey, it’s Tony and his Talking Monkeys.” Jenna poked Tony’s side. “We were just hanging around eating dinner, and he came out with a couple pitchers and, well, you know Amy and drinks that taste like candy.”

“I’m taking care of her, aren’t I?” Tony scooped Amy into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, closed her eyes, and sighed.

“She’s going to hate us if we let you carry her home.” Bella put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Jenna? What’s the vote? Let him bring her home and we tuck her in?”

Amy patted Tony’s chest. “Sexy man can tuck me in.”

Tony shrugged, and the right side of his mouth quirked up.

Bella poked his chest as she spoke. “Tony Black, if you take advantage of this situation, I swear I will cut your balls off in your sleep.”

Tony looked down at her finger and shook his head. “I didn’t take advantage when she
wanted
me to. Do you really think I’d take advantage of her now?” He disappeared into the darkness between Vera and Leanna’s cottages with Amy safely in his arms.

“Do you think that means he’s never going to be interested in Amy in that way?” Jenna asked.

Bella sighed. “I’m not sure, but she’s going to be furious with herself, and with us. And I really wanted to go chunky-dunking tonight.” Chunky-dunking is what Bella and her friends called skinny-dipping.

“We can still chunky-dunk. We’ll get Leanna, and the three of us will enjoy a little moonlight nakedness.” Jenna dragged her over to the fire, where Leanna and Kurt were cuddling on a bench, kissing between whispers.

Just watching them kiss made her long to be cuddled up in Caden’s arms, kissing his lips, smelling his masculine scent. God, how could she miss him so much already?

“Good evening, smoocheroos,” she said to Leanna and Kurt.

Leanna rested her head on Kurt’s shoulder, turning the knot of longing in Bella’s stomach a little tighter.

“You’re back early,” Leanna said.

Bella shrugged. She wasn’t in the mood to talk about her date being cut short.

Jamie sat in a beach chair on the other side of the fire, wearing a pair of faded Levi’s and a sweatshirt. He used his bare feet to push a chair toward Bella. The fire reflected in his dark eyes as he handed her his plastic wineglass full of Talking Monkey.

“How’s it going, blondie?” Jamie asked.

She didn’t know why she thought she’d keep the night’s happenings to herself. She wasn’t very good at it, and if she didn’t answer, then her friends would think something awful was going on. She guzzled Jamie’s drink.

“Damn, that is good. Let’s see…Poor Ev had a teenage moment tonight, so I’m here instead of kissing my hunky boyfriend. Amy’s being tucked into bed by her dreamboat, but she’s too shnockered to realize it, and I can’t go chunky-dunking tonight because Amy will be
really
upset if she misses out on both Tony
and
our midnight sneak into the pool.”

“Speaking of which, anyone seen Theresa?” Bella asked. She shifted her eyes away from Leanna and Kurt as they nuzzled against each other’s cheeks.

“Yeah. She’s in bed.” Jamie nodded toward her house. “She reminded us to put out the fire, yadda, yadda, and turned in.”

She took another sip of Jamie’s drink and handed it back to him. “One day we’ll have to drag her butt out here to join us. I think she has a side that we haven’t seen yet.”

“We’ll liquor her up,” Jenna suggested.

“We’d have to sneak it into her. She never drinks, and I would worry about slipping anything to anyone, so we’ll have to find another way to loosen her up. We’ll think of something. Did you guys have fun tonight?”

“Always,” Jamie said. “Kurt read us the first chapter of his new manuscript,
Deadly Thoughts
.”

“Ugh. I can’t believe I missed that.”

Kurt pulled his lips from Leanna’s long enough to respond. “Don’t sweat it. I’ll let you and Caden read it anytime you want.”

She loved how her friends included Caden as one of their group.

“Thanks, Kurt. Did Leanna tell you about how well the new pitch worked? I have three new signups, and I’m meeting with the school board this week. I think I might just be able to pull this off after all. Now, if only my house would sell.” She’d checked her message from the Realtor, and she was hopeful about the three showings she had scheduled this week.

“Fantastic.” Kurt reached down and petted Pepper. “I guess if you and Caden decide you’re really serious, then you’ll definitely want to be here. If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is.”

“I think we’re pretty serious.” She grabbed Jamie’s drink and finished it, hoping it would quell the ache of missing Caden. Jenna dragged her chair next to Bella’s, and Bella took her drink and finished it, too.

“Where’s the pitcher?” Bella asked.

“Why? Do you want Tony to carry you to bed, too?” Jenna asked.

“I like him, Bella. I’m glad for you. He seems like a good guy,” Kurt said.

“Thanks. I think so, too, Kurt.”

Jenna spun around and looked in the direction of Amy’s cottage. “Why isn’t Tony back yet?”

“As a matter of fact…” Bella grabbed Jenna’s hand and dragged her to her feet. “You’re coming with me. You should have been watching out for her.”

Jenna hurried along beside her. “What are you doing? If she is with him, you can’t barge in there.”

“He’s not going to be with her in
that
way. It’s Tony, for heaven’s sake. But what if she’s puking? She would be mortified if he saw her like that.” Bella slid open Amy’s glass door. The cottage was silent. Bella and Jenna tiptoed into the bedroom clutching each other’s hand.

“Oh my God,” Jenna whispered.

“Shh.” Tony held a finger to his lips. He was sitting on Amy’s bed with his back propped against the headboard and Amy snuggled beneath his arm. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she looked a little green.

“What happened?” Jenna lifted her knees up high as she tiptoed overdramatically around the bed.

“She got a little sick, so I pulled her hair up. Every time she lay down, she felt sick again.” Tony shrugged.

Bella’s heart melted. He was so compassionate, but come morning, if Amy remembered that he’d taken care of her, she’d want to run away as far and as fast as she could.

“We’ll take it from here. Thanks, Tony. It was so nice of you to stay with her.” Bella climbed onto the bed. “And if by the grace of God she doesn’t remember you taking care of her when she wakes up in the morning, you have to promise to take this to your grave.”

“I hear you cut off people’s balls. I’ll never tell a soul.” He kissed Amy’s forehead and held her up while Jenna climbed into his spot. With Bella on her other side, they wedged Amy between them. “I’ll get you guys her barf bowl just in case.”

Tony went into the other room, and over Amy’s head, Jenna mouthed,
Barf bowl?
Bella shrugged.

Tony came back with a big plastic bowl that Amy kept on top of her refrigerator and set it on the bed next to Bella. Bella turned it over in her hands. She’d never known Amy to throw up in this particular bowl, but Tony having tied back Amy’s hair and designating the bowl as a barf bowl were such compassionate gestures that she went along with it.

“Thanks, Tony.”

“If you need me, you know where I live. Take good care of her.” He looked thoughtfully at Amy before leaving through the sliding glass door.

“What was
that
all about?” Jenna whispered.

Bella shrugged and brushed Amy’s hair from her forehead. “Look at her. How can he not fall for her? It kind of pisses me off, actually. She’s everything a man could want. Why can’t he see that?”

“Because he’s all a woman could want. Why would he ever tie himself down to
one
woman?” Jenna leaned back and kicked off her flip-flops. “Besides,” she whispered. “She can’t get hooked up with a man before me. I’ll be all alone, and I hate that.”

Bella sighed and reached for Jenna’s hand. “We’ll always have each other.” The comfort she took in knowing her friends would always be there was exactly the comfort she knew Evan drew from his father. She closed her eyes, and the disappointment she’d felt earlier in the night subsided.

“Jenna?”

“Yeah?”

“I feel a little guilty because when Evan needed Caden, I was bummed to lose out on spending time with him.”

Jenna squeezed her hand. “That’s okay, sweetie. That’s because you care. If you weren’t bummed, it would be a bad sign.”

“But it was a selfish thought. Of all people, I know how much teenagers need their parents, and I’d never want to come between them.”

“Bella, honey, you weren’t competing for Caden’s attention or trying to take him away from Evan. You have to honor your feelings of missing the man you’re involved with and separate that from the rest. There’s no guilt involved with missing someone. I would bet that Caden’s feeling the same way.”

She smiled to herself. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I wasn’t mad or anything, just a little sad to leave.”

“It’s okay, Bell. Close your eyes. Barfy here will be up every hour.”

Bella curled onto her side and draped an arm over Amy. “I hope she doesn’t remember how she got here.”

Jenna curled around Amy’s other side. “I hope you guys still make time for me when you’re both in serious relationships and I’m alone.”

They heard the sliding glass door open and then close. Leanna peeked into the bedroom. “Do you have room for one more?” she whispered. “I miss you guys.” She climbed onto the bed behind Bella.

“What about your man?” Jenna asked.

“My man knows how important you guys are to me. He loves me no matter where I sleep.” She draped her arm over Bella.

“We do, too,” Bella said. “You guys?”

“Hm,” they mumbled in unison.

“I think I love Caden.”

“We know,” they said at the same time.

“We do, too,” Jenna said. “He makes you too happy for us not to, even if I’m green with jealousy.”

Bella drifted off to sleep, feeling safe and happy and on the right track.

CADEN RAN AT a fast pace along the beach. It was only six o’clock Sunday morning, far too early to call Bella, but he’d been up half the night worrying about Evan—and his relationship with Bella—and he needed to blow off some energy. Evan hadn’t given him any insight into what was bugging him beyond having played a PC game
with a group of assholes.
He’d tried to get Evan to open up more, but Evan had clammed up, and Caden didn’t press the issue. He was glad Evan had told him as much as he did. They’d watched
The Replacements,
and by the time Evan went to bed, he seemed more like himself again. It had been a while since they’d spent any quality time together, and he realized that as Evan spread his wings of freedom, the opportunities to spend time together would become few and far between.

Caden felt horrible about Bella leaving early, and he’d called her before he’d turned in for the night, but he still hadn’t heard back from her, which made him worry that she was upset about their evening being cut short.

Bella’s comment about Evan not wanting to share him had also nagged at Caden. He’d asked Evan last night if he had an issue with him dating Bella, and Evan had been adamant about being fine with it. He’d gone so far as to say he was glad Caden was finally
getting a life
and that Bella was
cool
. But Caden couldn’t help worrying that adding his relationship with Bella to Evan’s list of stresses—moving from Boston, having to make new friends, going to a new school—might be too much. That reality cut like a knife, and rather than contemplate what it would mean and what the remedy might be if it
were
too much, he pushed the awful feeling away.

As he headed home, feeling no less confused than he had at the beginning of his run, the sun burned through the gray morning and smiled down on the beach with a promise of a glorious day. Caden could think of a hundred things he wanted to do with Bella today, and the truth was, even if they did nothing at all, it would be more than enough.

BELLA AWOKE TO the smell of eggs and coffee Sunday morning. Amy was sprawled across the center of the bed with her arms and legs splayed as if she’d fallen face-first and hadn’t moved since. Jenna was curled up along the headboard hugging a pillow, and Bella was so close to the edge of the bed that if she rolled over she’d tumble to the floor. How many mornings had they awoken in a similar fashion since they were little girls? Bella smiled at the familiar scene.

She padded softly out of the bedroom and was not surprised to find Amy’s counters covered with flour, sugar, eggshells, and other accoutrements of Leanna’s morning meal. Bella was greeted by the homey scent of warm baked goods. She put her arm around Leanna, who was busy cooking omelets.

“I think I love you.”

Leanna smiled. Her hair was still damp from a shower, and she smelled of soap and floral shampoo. “Because I’m messing up Amy’s kitchen instead of yours?”

“No. Maybe,” Bella teased.

Leanna pulled a tray of muffins from the oven.

“You are a goddess. I hope you know that.” Bella reached for a muffin, and Leanna slapped her hand. “I take it back. Meanie.”

Leanna laughed. “Can you get the jams from the fridge?” She put the muffins on a decorative plate. “Kurt’s down at the bay running, but he should be back soon. I thought we could eat out on the deck.”

Bella tried to sneak a crumb from the pan, and Leanna pointed a finger at her.

“Okay, June Cleaver,” Bella teased.

Jenna came out of the bedroom with her hair askew, blinking the sleep from her eyes. “Something smells delicious.”

Bella pointed to the muffins, and Jenna reached for one. She got slapped, too.

“Aw, come on, Mom. Just a taste?” Jenna stuck out her lower lip.

“You guys always eat the tops and leave the rest. Can’t you wait just until Kurt comes back? Then you can tear them apart.” Leanna carried the muffins outside.

As soon as she was outside, Jenna turned to Bella. “She slapped my hand.”

“Mine, too. She just wants to do something nice for Kurt.” Bella grabbed coffee cups and plates, wishing she had woken up in Caden’s arms and made him coffee and muffins. She wondered what he was doing and how things had gone with Evan.

Jenna snagged jam and butter from the refrigerator, then gathered utensils and napkins. They brought everything to the table on the deck in front of the cottage, and Jenna went back in to check on Amy. She came back out with the coffeepot and creamer.

“Sleeping Beauty is totally zonked.” Jenna poured coffee for each of them. “Where’s Pepper?”

“Kurt took him with him on his run. I’ll get sugar.” Leanna went inside and returned a few minutes later. “I slept like a baby last night. Did Amy get up at all?”

“Not that I remember,” Bella said as she fixed her coffee.

“She kept grabbing my boob in her sleep and mumbling.” Jenna pulled off her sweatshirt from the night before. She tugged at the tank top she had on beneath.

“There wasn’t much room. It’s not like she could avoid them,” Bella teased.

Jenna put her hands under her boobs and pushed them up. “Jealousy will get you nowhere.”

Speaking of jealousy…
Seeing Leanna and Kurt last night had twisted all sorts of jealous twines in Bella’s stomach. She knew she’d done the right thing by leaving Caden and Evan alone, but that didn’t stop her from
wanting
to be with them.

Jenna leaned across the table and squeezed Bella’s hand. “Your face is all pinched, so either you need to get laid or you need to get something off your chest, and given that you and Officer Hottie nipped that first one in the bud, what’s going on?”

Bella sighed and shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but I noticed it, too.” Leanna kicked her feet up on the chair beside her. “And you’d better spill soon. I have to be at the flea market early today.”

“By early you can only mean nine thirty instead of ten, right?” Jenna snuck a piece of a muffin. “Like
late
early?” Leanna would be late to her own wedding for sure. She arrived everywhere late, no matter how much she tried to be on time.

Leanna pointed to the muffins and glared at Jenna, but her smile told of her softening resolve. “Ha-ha. I want to get there by eight. Remember Carey?” Carey sold records at the flea market, and the previous summer he’d had the booth next to Leanna. Booth placement changed often at the flea market, and Leanna was glad when he’d texted and said he was going to be beside her again for the next few weeks.

“He’s that hot young guy, right?” Jenna asked.

“He’s not that young. He’s twenty-five,” Leanna said. “He has the booth next to mine this week, and we were going to try to catch up this morning before the crowds come in.”

“How does Kurt feel about you and Carey?” Bella picked at the muffin she’d snuck when Leanna was inside.

Leanna rolled her eyes. “You’re kidding, right? Remember last year when Carey kissed me? I told Kurt, remember? He trusts me. Besides, Kurt’s coming, too.”

“That’s another thing I don’t get.” Jenna kicked her feet up on a chair and leaned back. “How come you get a guy who changes his whole life to be with you, and Bella gets a cop who finally, after a million years, takes her up in the fire tower—which, by the way, I’m totally jealous of—and I can’t get Pete to look at me like a woman?”

“I thought he was coming fishing with us next weekend,” Bella said.

“He is. But you know what he said?” She lowered her voice. “Fishing? That sounds great. It’s been a while since I hooked a big one.”

Leanna and Bella exchanged an eye roll.

“You’re the queen of innuendos, Jen. How can you be so blind to Pete’s?” Bella shrugged.

Jenna drew her brows together. “You think…” Her eyes widened. “No.” Her face grew serious again. “Maybe you’re right.
Oh my God
. You see? Now not only can I not speak around the man, but my brain goes all wonky, too. Maybe I should just forget him altogether.”

That incited another eye roll from Leanna and Bella. Jenna would never forget Pete.

Bella turned at the sound of Caden’s voice. He and Kurt were jogging up the road from the entrance. His bare chest glistened with sweat, and when their eyes met, his easy smile sent her to her feet.

“Caden.” She hurried off the deck.

“I found him on the access road to the beach and we got to talking,” Kurt explained. Kurt joined the others on the deck, leaving Bella and Caden alone.

Caden went to Bella, and when she opened her arms, he held his hands up.

“Sweaty,” he warned.

“Don’t care.” She hugged him close, and when he leaned down and kissed her, her world righted once again. He was dripping with perspiration, but he still smelled like Caden, and that was a smell that she couldn’t get enough of.

“How’s Evan?”

He wiped his forehead with his arm. “He’s good. He didn’t tell me much, just that he played a game with a group of assholes and it pissed him off. I’m sorry about last night, babe. I didn’t want you to leave, but he needed me.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

Caden lowered his voice. “Were you upset?”

“No.” It was a gut reaction, and she realized, not a completely honest one at that. “I wasn’t upset, but a little disappointed. I know that’s stupid and childish of me. I don’t begrudge Evan for needing you, or you for being with him, but I did miss you.”

He touched her arm, and his eyes warmed. “Me too. I missed you like crazy, and when you didn’t return my call, I thought…”

“Oh God. I’m sorry.” She shot a look at her car, where her phone, and her purse, were probably still on the passenger seat. “I’m still not used to carrying my phone. I got home and everyone was by the fire. Amy was hammered, and the girls and I slept here last night.”

“Here?” He glanced up at the others on the deck.

“Yeah. Like a litter of puppies on Amy’s bed.” She stepped closer and touched the waistband of his running shorts. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

He moved her hand from the fabric. “So am I, but if you do that, everyone will see just how happy.” He kissed her again and checked his watch.

“Do you have to get back home?” she asked.

“I promised Evan we’d go boogie boarding at the ocean today. I would really love it if you’d go with us. I know it’s not a very romantic date with a teenager around, but at least we’d be together.” He reached for her hand.

“Do you think I’d miss a chance at going to the beach with you? I’d love to, but if Evan would rather have time alone with you, that’s totally fine.” She suddenly realized that despite how she was feeling last night, she really was okay with being excluded. She’d miss him, but how could she feel anything but good about the man who was doing right by his son?

“I’m sure he won’t mind, but if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll check with him when I get home. But you’ll need to find your phone if you want to know the answer.”

“I’ve got muffins,” Leanna called from Amy’s deck.

Caden waved. “Thanks, but I’ve got a long run back.”

“I can drive you home,” Bella offered.

“That’s okay. Enjoy your friends, and I’ll text you when Ev gets up.”

He kissed her goodbye, and before she joined the others at Amy’s, she retrieved her phone and listened to Caden’s message from last night.

Hey, babe. Sorry about tonight. I miss you, and I wish you were climbing into bed beside me and falling asleep in my arms. Call me when you get a chance
.

She texted a response.
I would have given anything to fall asleep in your arms, but we did the right thing for Ev, and that’s what matters most. One day it’ll be our turn. Xox
. She read the message again, then deleted
One day it’ll be our turn
before sending it. She didn’t want to seem too eager, even if her heart was already hoping for a future.