The Chesapeake Diaries Series (179 page)

Lucy liked to think that she, too, would stand up for her brothers, especially the younger one, who’d always been so idealistic.

Clay came back into the room and Lucy followed him with her eyes. He caught her gaze, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“On second thought, I don’t think I want coffee after all.” Brooke stood and called into the next room. “Logan, come on. We’re going back to our house now.”

“Noooooo,” he called back. “Power Rangers just came on!”

“You can watch it at home,” she told him.

“You don’t have to leave.” Lucy beckoned Brooke back to the table.

“I’m interrupting your evening,” Brooke protested.

“Wasn’t that your plan?” Clay asked drily.

“Yes, it was,” Brooke readily admitted. “Before it wasn’t.”

“Was that code for something?” Clay stared at his sister.

“I understood.” Lucy laughed and patted the back of Brooke’s chair. “Sit with us. I won’t be staying that much longer.” She looked at Clay. “I’m more tired than I thought I was. I’ve been up since three this morning.”

“Then you are due for a crash.” He passed her the
cupcakes. “Eat. Drink your coffee. And then I’ll drive you back to the inn.”

The atmosphere lightened, and by the time Lucy left the farmhouse, she and Brooke were planning a party to celebrate Jesse’s being named senior partner in Enright and Enright, Attorneys-at-Law. With the retirement of both his grandfather and his uncle Mike, the only thing that stood between Jesse and the firm was Curtis, his grandfather, who had come to the conclusion that no one was more capable of carrying on the family name than Jesse.

“I want to invite his entire family,” Brooke had confided. “I want it to be a night he’ll never forget.”

“Where are you going to hold it?” Lucy asked.

“I’m not sure. My first choice would be at the Enright house, but I’m afraid that might be a little pushy on my part. I’m going to have to give it a little more thought. But I have plenty of time. Neither Jesse’s grandfather nor his uncle has officially announced their retirements yet.”

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” Lucy told her as she slipped into her jacket.

“I’ll do that.”

Lucy and Clay stepped out into a clear night with a sky crowded with stars.

“If we drive out to the point, I’ll bet there won’t be as much competing light,” Clay noted. “We’d be able to see them better.”

“
You’d
be able to see them better.” Lucy yawned. “I’m sorry, but I am fading very quickly.”

“Then I’ll take you home, and you can get some sleep, and we’ll do the stars another night.” He reached across
the console for her hand and gave it a squeeze, and he drove back to the inn holding her hand.

“So I guess you’re going to be pretty busy these next few days.” Clay stopped at the double doors behind the inn.

“I have a list a mile long.”

“Can we grab dinner one night, or lunch one day?” he asked.

“Yes, to both. And maybe coffee in the morning at Cuppachino if I get up early enough.”

“I’m usually there by eight,” he told her.

“Save me a seat.” She leaned across the console and kissed him. “Thanks for a great night, Clay.”

She could have added,
And thanks for reminding me how good it is to laugh, to trust, to care …

The receptionist was still at the desk when Lucy entered the lobby, and there were still some guests milling about, some early arrivals for a long weekend, some looking as if they’d just come back from an evening stroll from town. Lucy passed them all and went right up the stairs to her room, and managed to change into a sleep shirt before practically passing out on the bed.

She’d passed a milestone that night, she knew: her defense mechanism, her inner siren, hadn’t felt the need to shriek inside her head when he’d reached for her. There’d been no panic rising in her, no fight-or-flight response, no cold fear in the pit of her stomach. There’d just been Clay, and kisses that had been heartbreakingly sweet and crazily erotic at the same time. Her last thought as she drifted off to sleep was that it was going be a very interesting summer.

Chapter 16

Clay had looked up from his usual table, where he was reading the newspaper, when he heard the door open—an automatic response he’d developed after months of regular morning visits, one he’d once compared to Pavlov’s dogs. The door opens, you look up to see who is coming in. Someone you know? You smile, wave, call a greeting, invite them to sit, or not. A stranger or someone you’re avoiding? You go back to your coffee and your conversation or whatever it was that you were reading.

This morning, he watched Lucy follow a party of three through Cuppachino’s door and go straight to the counter, where she ordered her morning coffee.

Clay was waiting for Wade, who could always be counted on to be at least fifteen to twenty minutes late, depending on whether or not Steffie had gotten Austin ready for his day before she left for Scoop. His partner’s chronic tardiness was annoying as hell, but this morning—seeing Lucy stroll in unexpectedly, her red hair pulled back in a ponytail, her legs bare in shorts, running shoes on her feet, and a sweatshirt tied around her waist over her gray T-shirt—Clay was
grateful that Wade had ignored his pleas to be on time just once this week.

“So what news is in that paper that I should know about today?” she asked as she approached his table.

“Well, let’s see.” He scanned the section he’d been reading—sports—and read through the headlines. “The Orioles are celebrating back-to-back wins, the Ravens are gearing up for the draft, and the high school lacrosse team was defeated in the second round of a tournament over in Annapolis.”

“Those are just the sort of things I need to know. Thanks for sharing.”

“Can you sit?”

“I have a few minutes. Thanks.” She pulled out the chair closest to his and sat.

“Nice to see you up and about early. Is this part of your normal routine when you’re back in L.A.?”

“I wish. I don’t have a normal routine back there, unless you count staying up way too late working so that the next morning I am crawling out of bed, rushing to get dressed and out of my apartment to make an early morning meeting.” She took a sip of coffee. “Carlo brews a mean cup. I really look forward to coming here when I’m home.”

“He does,” Clay agreed. “So you’re not really a runner, then, you’re just—”

“I am so a runner. At least, I am when I’m here.” She looked around the coffee shop and waved to a few familiar faces. “Mornings are so peaceful here. No thousand cars to dodge, no incessant honking of horns. No clouds of pollution to run through. No eight
A.M.
meetings. It’s quiet and the air smells good. I like to see all the changes the town has undergone
between visits. The houses, the landscapes—it’s all new to me every time, even though it’s still all familiar.”

“As tired as you looked last night, I didn’t think we’d see you until Saturday, at the very least.”

Lucy laughed. “I did hit the wall of fatigue headfirst last night. Sorry for crashing on you.”

“You get a pass for jet lag.” He sliced off half of his muffin and offered it to her. “Whole wheat, raisins, pecans, and cranberries.”

“Oh, yum.” She slid the piece of muffin onto a napkin. “Thanks. I will have a healthy breakfast when I get back to the inn, but this should tide me over nicely.”

“So what’s your schedule for today?”

“Well, on my way back to the inn, I’m going to stop next door to see Olivia because I have a question about flowers for the wedding.” She nibbled at the muffin. “This is delicious. Did Brooke bake this?”

He nodded and handed her the knife. She grinned. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Go right ahead. There’s another one over there,” he told her. “But I should probably claim it before someone else does.”

Clay got up, walked to the counter, and returned with the muffin. When he got back to the table, he noticed she’d already eaten all of hers. He put the plate down in front of her, handed her the knife, and said, “Have at it.”

“Thank you. I won’t eat much more of it, I promise.”

“Eat whatever you want. So you’re going to meet with Olivia about flowers for Susanna.” He sat back
to watch her take little bites of the muffin. Just watching her eat—hell, watching her do anything—was a pleasure. Just having her there with him—drinking coffee, chatting—elevated what had started out to be a very ordinary morning to a very good one.

“Then,” she was saying, “it’s back to the inn to get cleaned up. My mom and Susanna should be back by eleven or so. I thought my mother had driven herself to Robert’s house the other day, but Daniel told me this morning that Robert sent a car to pick her up. Wasn’t that nice of him?”

“Mm-hmm.” Clay nodded.

“So anyway.” She took another slice of muffin. “Susanna is driving back with Mom. We have so much to accomplish today.”

“I can see that all those excuses I was thinking up for being late this morning weren’t necessary.” Wade seemed to appear out of nowhere. Clay had been so focused on Lucy that he never saw his friend come into the shop until he was there, pulling out a chair.

“Good morning, Lucy. Good to see you.” Wade sat opposite Lucy at the table.

“Hey, Wade. How are you?” she returned the greeting.

“I’m good.” Wade looked from Lucy to Clay. “Am I interrupting something?”

“We were just chatting.” Lucy spoke before Clay could. “I stopped in for coffee to take out, but I saw Clay here and decided to stay and help him eat his breakfast.”

Wade looked over the remains of the muffin.

“Whole wheat, raisin, pecan, and cranberry?” he asked.

“Got the last two,” Clay told him.

“Damn. Wonder if they have any in the back.…” Wade got up and went back to the counter.

“I should get going. It’s getting late.” Lucy pointed to the clock on the wall.

“You might want to make a stop at the table up by the window and say hello,” Clay suggested.

Lucy turned around in her chair to take a look.

“The ladies Mom has coffee with every morning. Yes, I should do that.” She looked over the group. “Oh, there’s Vanessa.” She finished her coffee in one gulp, then started to push back from the table. “I guess you and Wade have business to discuss anyway, right?”

“It is time for our daily morning meeting. Past time, actually.”

“Then I won’t feel as if I’m abandoning you.” She rose from her chair. “Thanks for sharing your breakfast with me.”

“Anytime.”

“Oh, would you ask Wade if a beer for the Magellan wedding is even a remote possibility? I’d love to be able to tell Susanna.”

“Sure. I’ll let you know.”

“I’ll see you later, then.”

“Call me if you find yourself with some free time,” he said as she started to walk away.

“If I have any free time at all, you are the only person I’d call.”

She walked to the front of the coffee shop, where she was greeted warmly by the ladies there. Clay watched her until Wade came back and sat in the chair he’d claimed earlier.

“You’re right in my line of vision, you know,” Clay told him.

Wade looked over his shoulder, saw Lucy six tables directly behind him, and turned back to Clay.

“Got it bad, don’t you, sport?”

When Clay didn’t respond, Wade said, “You want to know something I learned about women?”

“Not really.”

“I’m going to tell you, anyway.” Wade took a sip of coffee and added half a raw sugar to the cup. “Accept no substitutions.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that when you find the right one, you pull out all the stops.” Wade peeled the paper from the cupcake he’d brought back with him. “No more good muffins. I had to settle for a chocolate orange cupcake.”

He took a bite. “Of course, stalking is out. I mean, sometimes a guy might think she’s the one, but if she doesn’t agree, he has to back away. However, if she’s interested—and it’s pretty clear that Miss Lucy is—then you have to go for it.”

“I have all intentions of going for it,” Clay told him.

“Make the most of your time, then, since I hear she’s only here for a couple of weeks.”

“She’ll be home for the summer,” Clay said. “Well, for much of it, anyway.”

“Hey, that’s good, right?” Wade took another bite. “Your sister can really bake. I don’t know why you don’t weigh eight hundred pounds.”

“I could say the same to you. Your wife makes the best ice cream in the state.”

“She does her best work at Scoop. Sometimes she does bring home a new flavor for testing, though.”

Clay watched Lucy head to the door, then turn to wave at him before she left. He waved back.

Wade looked amused.

“What?” Clay asked.

“Nothing.”

“What was that look for?”

“You smile every time you look at her, you know that?”

“So?” Clay shrugged. She did make him smile. No big secret there. “She’s beautiful.”

“So I guess that makes my next bit of advice irrelevant.”

“What bit of advice was that?”

“That maybe you should play it just a little cool. But it’s obviously too late for that.”

“That was going to be your advice? To play it cool?” Clay smirked. “How cool did you play it with Steffie?”

Wade shook his head. “I’d known her for too long. She wouldn’t have bought it.”

“Lucy and I have known each other since we were five years old, Wade.”

“Oh, well, then.” Wade took a sip of coffee. “How ’bout this, then? Just tell her how you feel.”

“I can’t believe I’m getting tips about my love life from Wade MacGregor.” Clay looked to the ceiling. “What is wrong with this picture?”

“Hey, am I not married to one of the hottest women in town?” Now Wade looked amused and smug.

“I can’t argue that,” Clay conceded. “Though how you pulled that off is still a mystery to me.”

“Yeah, well, it is to me sometimes, too.” Wade dropped his “Dr. Love” persona. “The thing is this: Steffie is sheer magic. She’s brought magic into my life. And that’s the bottom line: when it’s right, it’s magic. So if the magic’s there, go for it.”

“Slow down, I’m taking notes.” Clay tried to brush off Wade’s comments, but in his heart, he knew his friend spoke the truth about the right person bringing magic into your life.