Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series (11 page)

“
Then I’m silly,” Serena
said. The ringing of her cell phone from her purse broke into her
conversation with Nonna. Serena got up and fished the phone from her
purse. It was Jeff. He hadn’t called her in months. He had texted,
but not called.

“
Is that him?” Nonna asked.

“
No, it’s Jeff. I can’t
talk to him right now. Not when I’ve been crying.”

“
He might be just the person
you need to talk to,” Nonna said.

“
I’m going to bed,” Serena
announced. She took her glass of brandy and walked upstairs. She
undressed and got into bed. A few minutes later, Nonna called through
her door. “Goodnight, cara. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“
Night,” Serena said
sullenly.

When she woke up at nine she
checked her phone. Nothing. She went downstairs where Nonna was
sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee.

“
Good morning,” Nonna said.
“I was letting you sleep late. What can I get you?”

“
I can get it,” Serena said.
She poured herself a cup of coffee and put two pieces of bread in the
toaster.

“
That’s not going to be
enough,” Nonna said. “Let me make you some eggs.”

“
I just want toast today,
Nonna. Thanks.”

“
I’ve made plans to go to
lunch and to the movies today with Bea,” Nonna said. “I wasn’t
expecting you to be here. You’re welcome to join us.”

Serena considered it. “No,
that’s okay. You have fun. I’ve got some laundry to catch up on.”

After Nonna left, Serena wandered
through the cottage. She felt at loose ends, like she didn’t know
what to do with herself. Why had she given all of her free time over
to Steven? Now that he was gone, she was left without much of a life.
But what kind of life had she had before Steven came along? Just
Rossetti’s, not much else.

And then she heard her phone
ringing, faintly. Dammit, she had left it upstairs. Hope filled her
heart as she sprinted up the stairs and answered the phone without
looking to see who it was.

“
I’ve missed you,” Steven
said.

“
Where have you been?” she
asked, out of breath.

“
Are you all right? You sound
weird.”

“
I’m fine. I wondered where
you were.”

“
I had to leave early Tuesday
morning. There was an oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. Didn’t
you get my text?”

An oil spill? She hadn’t heard
anything about an oil spill.

“
No, I didn’t get your text,”
she said.

“
I sent you a text because it
was so early in the morning. I didn’t want to wake you up. I had to
go very suddenly.”

“
Oh,” she said. She had
suffered through a whole week because she didn’t get his text.

“
Well, why didn’t you call
me?”

“
We didn’t have cell service.
I thought you had gotten my text, so I wasn’t worried about it.”

“
Okay.” She couldn’t think
of anything else to say. She felt foolish.

“
Can you come over?” he
asked. “I really miss you a lot.”

“
I guess so,” she said. She
wasn’t ready to open herself back up to him.

“
Don’t sound so excited,”
he said, laughing.

She laughed then. She was being
silly, just like Nonna had said.

“
I’ll be right over.”

When Steven opened his door he
pulled Serena to him and hugged her. They kissed more deeply than
they ever had. He moved with her to the bedroom where they
frantically took off their clothes. Her open blouse still hung from
her shoulders as he pushed her back on the bed and lifted her knees.
He pushed himself into her. He drew himself out of her almost all the
way, then plunged deeply back into her. Over and over until she threw
her head back and cried out loudly. He grunted and moaned with her
until they were spent, lying panting on the bed.

The ceiling fan pushed a breeze
across their wet bodies. Steven reached for her hand. “I love you,
Serena,” he said.

She wasn’t expecting that. But
she knew that she loved him. She had been loving him for a while. “I
love you, too,” she said moving closer to him. He cradled her next
to his chest and eventually they fell asleep, the fan whirring down
on them.

When they woke up it was already
dark.

“
How long did we sleep?” she
asked Steven.

“
Several hours. I guess we were
both pretty tired.”

“
I’ve got to go,” Serena
said putting her clothes on. “We’ve got the Fourth party and I’ve
got to get up early to work on that.”

“
What Fourth party?”

“
We decided to have a barbecue
at Rossetti’s for the Fourth. You know. It’s Tuesday. It’s
going to be out back.”

“
Am I invited?”

“
Of course you’re invited! I
want to introduce you to Nonna.”

Nonna was already in bed when
Serena got home. She crept to her room and got into bed, placing her
phone on the table. A few minutes later she heard the text signal.
She pushed the button. “I love you,” Steven had texted. “I love
you too,” she texted back.

The next evening, Monday, Steven
came to Rossetti’s as usual. He sat with Serena at the bar. Sandy
brought him a beer.

“
Where you been, man?” he
asked Steven.

“
Oil spill,” Steven said
simply, as if that’s all that needed to be said.

“
Oh,” Sandy said. “I didn’t
hear anything about that. Guess I need to pay more attention to the
news.”

“
It might not have been on the
news,” Steven said. “They try to cover that stuff up.”

“
Oh,” Sandy said. Serena
wondered how they could cover it up after the big oil spill in the
Gulf a couple of years earlier. She didn’t think things like that
could be hushed up anymore. But she kept her thoughts to herself.

After a couple of drinks, Serena
followed Steven back to his house. They made love once, then again.
But Serena left soon after that. The next day was the Fourth of July
and she needed to be fresh for that.

She and Nonna got up early the
next day and headed to Rossetti’s without making breakfast. They
had a lot to do. Brittany was already there, baking bread loaves and
focaccia. Nonna had already made the Italian potato salad the day
before, a mixture of boiled potatoes, cauliflower, boiled eggs, and
green onions dressed with Rossetti’s house dressing. Serena sliced
tomatoes and mozzarella and layered the slices with fresh basil.
Right before the party, she would drizzle it with olive oil.

Serena took out the big bowl of
white beans she had cooked yesterday. She drained the beans before
adding tomato sauce, onion, garlic, brown sugar, and molasses. She
poured the mixture into several casserole dishes and put them in the
oven. The baked beans would be ready by the time the party started.

Lottie and Nonna had made the
tiramisu and ricotta cheesecake the day before; the cheesecake would
be covered with fresh strawberries and blueberries and a cloud of
whipped cream when the party started. An hour or so before the
celebration, Jimmy and Olive cooked marinated chicken pieces on the
inside grill, then placed them in baking dishes to stay warm in the
oven. It was an ongoing process. Then they switched to grilling
Italian sausages. When all was ready, they transferred the pans to
the tables outside. Serena took out the baked beans and potato salad,
while Brittany brought out the bread in large baskets. People had
already started to arrive. They were Rossetti’s best customers and
this party was a thank-you to them for their loyalty.

Serena kept her eye on the
platters and plates of food, making sure they were replenished when
they got low. She was picking up an empty platter when she looked up
and saw Steven come through the back door. His hair was blonder now,
with days spent in the sun on the ocean. He was tall, tan, and
good-looking. Serena noticed a group of girls looking at him. He was
something to look at and Serena was proud he was hers.

“
This must be the place,”
Steven said walking toward her.

“
Yes,” she said laughing.
“Let’s get you something to drink.” They walked to the back of
the garden where several coolers chilled beer and wine. She handed
him a cold bottle of beer.

“
I want to introduce you to
Nonna,” she said. She peered around people on the crowded patio,
looking for Nonna. Finally, she spotted her, near the back door
sitting in one of the garden chairs. Someone was leaning down to talk
to her. Someone familiar. She groaned inwardly. Why had Nonna invited
Jeff to this party when she knew Steven would be coming? Why would
Nonna do that to her? It just made everything so much more
complicated than it needed to be.

She and Steven walked over to
where her grandmother was sitting. Nonna and Jeff smiled at her, but
Serena was a little peeved.

“
Nonna, this is Steven
Calloway,” she said. Nonna held out her hand and Steven took it.

“
It’s good to meet you,” he
said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“
Thank you. It’s good to meet
you, too,” Nonna said. She looked up at Jeff who was standing there
looking at Serena.

“
This is my friend Jeff
Richardson,” Nonna said. Jeff put out his hand and he and Steven
shook. Not a sight Serena ever thought she’d see in her wildest
imagination.

“
Have you gotten something to
eat yet?” Nonna asked.

“
Not yet,” Steven said. “Can
I bring you something?”

“
Thanks. Jeff brought me a
plate,” she said gesturing at a plate of barbecue on the table
beside her.

“
I guess we’ll go get some
food now,” Serena said, eager to get away from Jeff.

She and Steven walked over to the
tables laden with food and filled their plates.

“
Let’s go sit back there,”
Serena said pointing at a table in the corner of the garden. They set
their plates on the little round table and sat down. Serena took a
big sip of her white wine.

“
Did I sense a little tension
back there?” Steven asked. A smile twitched around his lips and
Serena was irritated to see he found it so humorous.

“
I don’t know what you’re
talking about,” she said, looking away.

“
Aww, come on Serena. Is that
another one of your boyfriends coming out of the woodwork?”

He was still smiling when she
looked at him. “That’s not funny,” she said.

“
Well, is it?”

“
He’s not a boyfriend. He’s
just someone I dated occasionally in Atlanta. It wasn’t serious at
all.”

“
That’s good,” Steven said.
“I’d be jealous otherwise.”

She smiled for the first time
since she realized Jeff was there. Steven reached across the table
and took her hand. “I love you,” he said.

“
I love you, too,” she said
back.

“
Do you want to go back to my
house after the party? I’ve got something I’d like to show you.”

“
What?” she said.

“
I don’t want to say, but
it’s something that comes out whenever you’re around.”

She slapped him playfully on the
arm, laughing.

“
Don’t talk like that when my
grandmother is around,” she said laughing.

“
Sorry,” he said smiling.
“Couldn’t help it. That’s what you do to me.”

They started to eat, looking at
each other and smiling. Steven reached under the table and rubbed her
leg. Serena laughed. “Don’t let Nonna see you doing that,” she
said.

When they were finished eating,
Serena said she needed to check on the party. She got up and felt
Steven’s eyes following her as she walked away. She glanced back at
him once, and he winked at her. She had completely forgotten about
Jeff.

But then there he was, standing
right in front of her. She almost ran into him.

“
It’s good to see you,
Serena,” he said.

“
Good to see you, too,” she
said lightly, lying. It was not good to see him. She wished he would
go away. She wondered if Nonna had invited him to stay at the
cottage. That was going to be awkward.

As if reading her thoughts, Jeff
said, “I’ve got to get back to Atlanta. We’re working on a big
case and I have to be in court first thing in the morning.”

Relief flooded through Serena.
“Oh, I’m sorry you have to rush off. Thank you for coming. I know
it meant a lot to Nonna.”

He just smiled at her, then he
reached out and hugged her. “Goodbye,” he said.

“
Bye,” she said.

She watched him go in through the
back door and waited a minute before she went inside herself. She
didn’t want to risk running into him again. When she did go in,
Nonna was in the kitchen putting food up. She seemed a little
misty-eyed.

“
What is it, Nonna?”

“
Oh, I’m just sorry Jeff had
to leave so soon. He came all this way and then he had to turn around
and leave. I wanted to spend more time with him.”