Seaview Inn (17 page)

Luke shot Hannah a grateful look. “Okay, then, we’ll take everything inside when we get back.”

At the edge of the road, he pointedly stopped and hunkered down to look directly into his son’s eyes. “No running across the road until what?”

“Until we’ve looked both ways,” Nate said dutifully.

“Okay, and here’s one more rule,” Luke said firmly. “You only go to the beach if an adult is with you.”

That one surprised Hannah, until Luke added, “Neither of you has much experience with swimming, so I don’t want you going in the water unless you’re with a grownup. Got it?”

Nate sighed dramatically.

“Got it?” Luke repeated, still gazing into his son’s eyes.

“Yes, sir,” Nate mumbled.

The four of them crossed the street, but the second their feet touched the sand, Nate kicked off his shoes and ran straight for the water’s edge. Gracie trailed along behind, but unlike her brother she stayed well back from the gently lapping waves.

“She’s still unhappy with me,” Luke confided to Hannah. “She barely spoke all the way down here and she’s taking every opportunity to let me know she’s furious.”

“Give her some time,” Hannah said. “All of this is so new to her. Her mom with Brad. You away from home.
This place. It’s bound to be unsettling and she’s expressing her confusion the only way she knows how.”

“That’s just it. She’s not expressing it. If she’d yell at me, we could talk things out. Instead, she’s just punishing me with silence. I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but Gracie’s always been the one with the bright smile and easygoing nature.”

“She was Daddy’s girl, I’ll bet,” Hannah said, regarding him sympathetically.

Luke nodded.

“Well, it’s tough to be Daddy’s girl when Daddy hasn’t been around. I was the same way. I adored my dad. When he left, I took it really hard. For a long time I blamed my mom, but eventually I turned the blame where it belonged, on him. I’m not sure what I would have done if I’d ever seen him again, but I suspect I wouldn’t have run into his arms first thing. I would have made him
earn
back my love.”

“But I never abandoned my kids,” Luke protested. “I was in touch every single day I was away. I was always coming back. I thought they got that.”

“They’re kids. A few weeks is an eternity. A year is almost incomprehensible, especially when their mom is turning to someone else. And then you were injured and a year turns into eighteen months. I’m sure they thought you’d never be back, no matter what you said. Now it’s just going to take some time to prove to them that they haven’t lost you, that you will always be back, that you will always be their dad, no matter how often you’re separated or for how long.”

Just then Nate came running across the beach toward them. “Dad, can we go swimming?”

“Not tonight,” Luke said. “It’s getting too dark, but we’ll go first thing in the morning.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Luke said solemnly.

Nate studied him closely, clearly trying to gauge the worth of the promise, then finally nodded. “Okay.”

“We’d better go back now,” Luke said. “Gracie, come on, honey. Let’s go see your room and get you settled.”

Once again, Gracie dragged her heels about coming with them, her scowl still firmly in place. Hannah saw Luke frown at her, but wisely he kept silent.

Grandma Jenny, Kelsey and Jeff were waiting for them on the porch.

“My goodness, look at you two. You’re the spitting image of your daddy,” Grandma Jenny declared when she saw them. “And I imagine you both could use some cookies and milk after such a long trip.”

Nate’s expression brightened at once. “Cookies?”

“Chocolate chip, baked fresh this afternoon,” Grandma Jenny told him, then instinctively turned to Gracie. “Maybe you’d like to help me bring them out here, so we can enjoy them on the porch.”

For just an instant, Gracie looked as if she might balk, but then she sighed dramatically. “I guess so,” she said.

“Kelsey, why don’t you come along, too?” Grandma Jenny suggested. “Jeff, you could take their bags inside.”

“Sure thing,” Jeff said eagerly. “I’ll set ’em in the hallway so they can choose which room they want when they come upstairs.”

Luke turned to Hannah. “What’s she up to?” he whispered after they’d all gone.

“Forming allegiances, I guess,” Hannah said. “She always could recognize when someone needed extra attention.”

“Your mom did that, too, didn’t she?” Luke recalled.
“She always knew when one of us wanted to talk but didn’t want to do it in front of other people. She’d come up with some excuse to ask for our help in the kitchen.”

Hannah grinned. “Worked like a charm, too, didn’t it? You leave Gracie to Grandma Jenny. My mom learned from a master.”

“Dad, can I go see where they went?” Nate pleaded. “I’m really, really hungry. I can help, too.”

“Go,” Luke said. “Just remember—”

“I know,” Nate said impatiently. “No running.”

Hannah grinned as the screen door slapped shut behind him. “Want to bet how long he remembers that?”

“Until he’s halfway across the dining room, I imagine,” Luke said, then slowly faced Hannah. “I missed you.”

Her breath caught in her throat at the heat in his eyes. “You hardly had time to miss me. You were only gone two days.”

“But that kiss right before I left was pretty memorable. Maybe we should try it again to see if my memory did it justice.”

Hannah felt herself swaying toward him, but in a belated attempt to be sensible, she jerked herself back. “Bad idea.”

“Oh? Are you having second thoughts about where that kiss might lead?”

“No, I’m just very much aware that there are two already confused children on the premises.”

His gaze narrowed. “So what? No more kissing till I take them back to Atlanta?”

“Seems prudent to me,” she said.

“You don’t sound very disappointed about that.”

Hannah thought about his analysis. “Let’s just say I have mixed feelings.”

“Meaning?”

“The part of me that wants to throw myself into your arms is very, very disappointed,” she admitted. “Another part of me thinks we probably need this time to let common sense weigh in.”

Luke laughed. “Would it matter if I said to hell with common sense?”

“It would be a huge boost to my ego,” she assured him. “But it wouldn’t change the decision.”

“You always were the sensible one,” he said. “I suspect Abby and I would have gotten into a lot more mischief without you along to point out the pros and cons of anything we were contemplating.”

Hannah winced. “Was I always that much of a wet blanket?”

“No, it wasn’t like that. You were smart and cautious and both of us respected you enough to listen.” A smile tugged at his lips. “Most of the time, anyway. Sometimes I was persuasive enough to overcome the voice of reason whispering in Abby’s ear.”

“Too much information,” Hannah protested, not wanting to think about exactly what Luke might have persuaded Abby to do.

He reached over and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “Are you still that same sweet, cautious girl, Hannah?”

Not when he was touching her, she thought as a shiver ran through her. “Pretty much,” she insisted, anyway.

His gaze locked with hers. “That’s good,” he murmured, his fingers trailing along her cheek.

“Good?” she whispered.

“Maybe it’ll keep us from getting in way over our heads here,” he said. He rubbed the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip, practically daring her to run the tip
of her tongue over it. He smiled slowly. “Then, again, maybe it won’t.”

Hannah’s knees were so weak she was surprised she could remain standing without reaching out and clinging to his broad shoulders. Only the sound of little feet thundering across the dining room floor amid peals of laughter kept her from reaching for Luke and breaking every rule she’d just set.

She smiled as Nate skidded to a stop just inside the door in a last-second attempt to avoid being caught misbehaving. He cast a guilty look toward his dad as he came outside holding a fistful of cookies.

“Want one?” he asked, giving Luke and Hannah an appealing grin as he held out the cookies.

“I would love one,” Hannah said, accepting the offer.

Nate handed it over with obvious reluctance, then looked to his dad. “There’s one more.”

“You keep it,” Luke told him. “I’m sure there are more on the way.”

“Grandma Jenny’s bringing a whole big plate of ’em,” Nate confirmed.

Luke gave him a stern look. “Did I hear you running a minute ago?”

“I started to, but I stopped,” Nate said. “Because I remembered what you said.”

“Good for you,” Hannah said, trying to prevent a lecture the boy obviously didn’t need. He understood the rules.

So did she, she thought ruefully. But apparently Nate wasn’t the only rule-breaker at the inn. She was on the verge of breaking a few herself, and in her case the consequences could be devastating.

“M
y dad is going home to live with my mom,” Gracie announced the next morning, her chin jutting out. Her dark eyes, so much like her dad’s, sparked with defiance. Even at ten, she was already showing signs of the strong-willed beauty she would become. In temperament at least, she reminded Hannah of Kelsey at that age.

From her place beside her on a blanket that had been spread on the sand, Hannah regarded Gracie evenly, not rising to the bait. “Really?”

“You can’t stop him,” Gracie continued, her tone a warning, or maybe a challenge.

“I would never try to stop him, if that’s what he wants to do,” Hannah assured her.

She had no idea why Gracie felt the need to confront her. Maybe she had sensed some of the undercurrents between Luke and her, despite their best efforts to avoid any intimate contact in front of the children.

Although she’d vowed to stay out of the family’s relationships, Hannah decided perhaps she could help to smooth things over between Luke and his daughter. She justified it by reminding herself that Gracie had been the
one to approach her, choosing to sit beside Hannah, rather than joining her dad and Nate in the water.

“I imagine you missed your dad a lot while he was away,” she said casually.

Gracie regarded her suspiciously but nodded.

“I know he missed you, too. He told me how much the e-mails and pictures you sent meant to him.”

“Yeah, sure,” Gracie said, her skepticism plain.

“It’s true,” Hannah confirmed. “You know, you and I have something in common, Gracie. A very long time ago, my dad went away and I was really, really angry at him.”

Gracie’s eyes widened. “You were? Did you tell him?”

“I never had the chance to tell him, because he didn’t come back, so for a very long time I just had to keep all that anger bottled up inside.”

“Did he die?” Gracie asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“No, he just left, and I never saw him or heard from him again. You’re so lucky that your dad is back home. You can tell him how you’re feeling and work things out. I would have given anything for a chance like that.”

Gracie sighed. “It’s not the same. He’s not really back. He’s down here and we’re in Atlanta.” As if she realized what she’d just admitted, she added, “But he
is
coming home.”

“And, just as important, you’re together right now,” Hannah pointed out. “That’s something you should enjoy, but I know it’s hard to do that when you’re still mad. But there is a way to get rid of all that anger.”

Gracie looked interested but perplexed. “What is it?”

“You could tell him everything you’re feeling,” Hannah replied.

“I don’t think so.”

“Why? Because it’s hard?”

Gracie nodded. “And I’ll hurt his feelings.”

“He’s your dad. He can take it. But if it will help, you can tell me first. Just say whatever you would say to your dad if you could.”

Gracie hesitated, her expression uncertain.

“It’s okay,” Hannah said. “I won’t tell him.”

“You promise?”

“Of course. This will be between you and me. It’ll be
your
decision about when you tell him.”

Tears welled up in Gracie’s eyes. “He…he could have
died
in Iraq,” she said, her voice choked. “He went there and he could have
died.
He almost
did
die. Stuff about Iraq was on TV all the time and Nate and I saw it. Every single time a soldier died and they showed it on the news, I thought that could be my dad, but—” her voice broke “—he didn’t think about that at all. Or about what we’d do if he didn’t come back. We didn’t even
matter.
”

Hannah wanted to reach out and enfold Gracie in her arms, but she sensed the girl wouldn’t welcome the overture. She also had a hunch Gracie was saying something she’d heard her mother say, probably more than once. The suggestion that her dad didn’t care about any of them had clearly made an indelible impression. Hannah felt heartsick.

“Oh, sweetie, I can imagine how scary that was for you, but please don’t ever think your dad didn’t worry about how his decision would affect you. There is nothing that matters more to your dad than you and Nate. Nothing in the whole world.”

“Then why did he go?” Gracie asked.

“Because he knew he could help some of those soldiers who’d been injured. That’s what he was trained to do, to help people with serious injuries. He couldn’t
turn his back on them. You should be proud of him, Gracie, for being so brave, for putting himself on the line for his country.”

“I guess,” Gracie responded. She leaned against Hannah, clearly needing whatever comfort Hannah had to offer, after all. “Do you really think he missed us?” she asked, her expression hopeful.

“I know he did,” Hannah said emphatically, putting her arm around Gracie and giving her a reassuring hug. “Maybe you need to focus on the fact that he’s back home. That’s something to be very grateful for, don’t you think so?”

“Yes.” Gracie sniffed.

“You know what, though? I think it would be okay for you to tell your dad how upset you are about everything that’s happened. Tell him exactly what you told me about how angry you are and how scared you were. I know he feels really bad that you’re mad at him, and if you talked about it, just the way you did with me, you’d both feel better.”

“He doesn’t love us,” Gracie said miserably. “If he did, he’d come home.”

“You’re wrong about how much he loves you, and you’re old enough to understand why he can’t come back home,” Hannah told her. “He does love you, Gracie. He loves you and Nate more than anything, and he wants you to be happy.”

“I don’t believe it,” Gracie said stubbornly. “If he did, he’d come back to our house.”

“I’m afraid there are a lot of reasons why that might not happen, but it has nothing to do with you and Nate. Wherever he is, you will still be the most important people in the world to him.”

Gracie gave her a look that was entirely too knowing. “More important than you?”

Hannah smiled. “Way more important than me. Your dad and I have known each other since we were kids. We’re friends.”

“He doesn’t look at you like you’re a friend. He looks at you the way Uncle Brad looks at our mom.”

Hannah was rapidly getting out of her depth. When had ten-year-old kids gotten wise to the nuances of a look between grown-ups? She needed to get the focus back on Luke’s relationship with Gracie and Nate. “Just talk to your dad, okay? Don’t spend this whole week being mad when the two of you could be having so much fun together. Will you at least think about that?”

Gracie heaved another dramatic sigh. “I guess.”

Hannah bit back a grin. “Good. Want to race me to the water? Looks to me as if your dad and Nate are having a great time without us.”

Gracie stood up, then regarded her hesitantly. “Are there really sharks in the water?”

“Sometimes, but they’re usually way offshore. If any have ventured in closer, I imagine your dad and Nate have scared them away with all the noise they’re making.”

“They’re just being guys,” Gracie said with world-weary resignation. “That’s what mom always says.”

“And guys can be a nuisance,” Hannah replied. “But all in all, they’re pretty nice to have around.”

Gracie grinned shyly. “Especially if they chase away the sharks.”

“Definitely if they chase away the sharks,” Hannah agreed.

Luke finally got the children settled down for the night, then grabbed a beer in the kitchen and headed for the porch, anticipating some quiet time with Hannah. After
four days of nonstop activities to keep the kids entertained, he was coming to treasure these brief late-night encounters, even if they never discussed anything more important than the next day’s plans.

“Hey, you,” he said, dropping a chaste peck on her cheek, which was the most she’d permitted since the arrival of the kids.

“Hey,” she said, glancing up at him. “Kids tucked in?”

“Finally. I had to read two stories to Nate, then Gracie wanted to talk.”

“About?”

“She finally admitted how mad she’s been at me.” He glanced sideways at Hannah. “How’d you convince her to do that?”

“What makes you think I had anything to do with it?”

“I saw the two of you talking on the beach. You looked very intense.”

“I just told her it was okay to be mad, but that she should talk about it to you so you could make it right.”

“Anything else?”

“Nope. That pretty much sums it up.”

“Really? Because I got the feeling from her that she might have told you that I was off limits,” he said, watching Hannah’s face closely. She smiled.

“Yeah, she did warn me off. She said you were going home to her mom.”

“Wishful thinking,” he said, then frowned. “You didn’t listen to her, did you?”

“I recognize wishful thinking, Luke.”

“Yet I hear a
but
in there somewhere.”

“The truth is, neither of us knows what’s going to happen, not between you and your ex-wife or between you and me.”

“Oh, I know the answer to part of that. There is no going back for Lisa and me, period.”

“Because you’re hurt and angry,” Hannah said.

“No, because it’s over. She’s moved on. So have I.”

She gave him an anguished look. “I’m not sure either of you have the right to move on without doing more to save what you had. Those kids in there deserve better. They love you to pieces, Luke. And they need you in their lives.”

He stared at her in shock. “What are you suggesting?”

“That you go home and try to make things right with your wife and your family. It’s not like you to walk away from anything without a fight. Don’t you owe at least that much to your kids?”

“You want me to go back to a woman who’s fallen in love with my best friend and intends to marry him?”

“I don’t want any of this,” she retorted. “But I’m trying to make you see what’s for the best. Earn your way out of the marriage, Luke. Make Lisa earn her way out of it, too. You’ve made it too easy for her, and neither of you has thought about what it’s doing to your children.”

“The outcome will be the same,” he insisted. “The marriage is over. Why prolong it and put the kids through even more heartache? Giving them false hope would be cruel.”

“Well, sure, if that’s the attitude you take into it, it
will
be a waste of time. But what about going in with an open mind and an open heart? Give the wounds some time to heal.”

Luke studied her, trying to figure out what was behind this sudden pep talk for his marriage. “What’s this really about, Hannah? Are you scared of what’s happening between us? Are you worried about the complications that lie ahead?”

“I’d be a fool if I weren’t,” she admitted. “But when I was talking to Gracie earlier, all I could think about was how I felt when my dad left all those years ago. I don’t want that for Nate and Gracie.”

“But you lost your dad forever. You never had contact with him again. I’m still going to be around,” he said. “I will never abandon those kids.”

“You just won’t go back and fight for the one thing they want more than anything.”

“Because it’s too damn late,” he said heatedly. “That ship has sailed, that train has left the station. It’s over, Hannah. Brad’s living under my roof now.”

She almost smiled then. “And he’s too big and tough for you to kick out?”

“No, actually he’s a wuss, but you’re missing the point. I don’t want to go back, not to that house, anyway. Not to Lisa. I get all the stuff about forgiveness and second chances, but some betrayals are just too huge to be forgiven. What happened forced me to take a hard look at our marriage. It was broken before I even left, Hannah. Fixing it is out of the question.”

She leveled a look into his eyes. “If you don’t want to fix your marriage, then what do you want?”

Luke started to answer, then sighed. That was, indeed, the million-dollar question. One of these days very soon, he was going to have to stop drifting and figure out the answer. He had a hunch that Hannah was going to turn out to be part of the equation. Right this second, though, he had to wonder if she’d be pleased about that.

Kelsey stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room and studied the layout of the room. It had
been bothering her for days, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what seemed out of place.

Though she’d never waited tables in her life, she didn’t think it had anything to do with the access the waitresses would have between the tables. The aisles were wide enough, even if someone had a chair sitting too far back from a table.

Most of the room’s dozen or so tables had a clear view of the beach. Each seated four people, though they could easily be pushed together for larger groups. The linen tablecloths and matching napkins were striped in blue and sage-green, almost the exact shades of the sea glass collection she had started in a large glass vase on a table in the foyer. Next week each table would have a small green or blue vase on it with fresh flowers. She’d already spoken to the florist about delivering long-lasting blooms once and possibly twice a week, at least during the busy winter season.

Slowly she walked around the perimeter of the room, trying to figure out what was bothering her. When she almost bumped into an old oak sideboard in which they stored extra table linens and clean flatware, she got it. The heavy piece fit perfectly with the room’s decor and was great for storage, but it was totally inconvenient. The staff had to cross the entire width of the dining room if they needed to replace napkins or a fork during a meal. If it were across the room, closer to the kitchen, it would not only be more accessible, it could also be used for pitchers of ice water and tea, which would save the staff from having to go back to the kitchen to refill glasses.

She took another survey of the room and saw the perfect spot for it. She started moving tables and chairs out of the way and was just about to shove the awkward piece across the room when Jeff walked in.

“Kelsey, what are you thinking?” he said, sprinting to her side and nudging her away from the sideboard. “This thing is too heavy for you to move. And who shoved all those tables around?”