Walking on Sunshine: A Sweet Love Story (Seasons of Love Book 1)

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

About This Book

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Epilogue

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About the Publisher

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T
here aren't enough hours in the day, and struggling single mom Jes just can't make it alone. Fortunately, a fantastic nanny just became available. Stacey is the perfect candidate: Young, college educated, glowing references.

Trouble is, the nanny is a manny!

The last thing Jes expects is a tall, muscular, handsome stranger on her porch looking for work as a nanny. The last thing Jes wants is a new man complicating her life.

But Jes needs the help and there's no one better for the job than Stacey "Cee" Cook. So she takes a chance and brings Cee into their lives. From beach trips to special meals to lacrosse games, Jes starts to feel like she has a family again. Soon sparks begin to fly and she feels like she's walking on sunshine whenever Cee is around. But when his secrets threaten everything, can their love survive or will it be nothing more than a summer fling?

***

B
efore I knew it he, was pulling me into his arms, closing them around me, the warmth in them spreading through my body. I looked up at him, and then he dipped down, his lips capturing mine.

He stole my breath with that kiss, and I lost all sense of time and place. I tried to steady myself, but he was there, holding me. Keeping me steady, making me fall at the same time. I hadn’t had this feeling in years. It left me breathless and aching for more.

He pulled back to look at me. The only traces of the light violet in his eyes were on the outer edges. I felt like I was looking at the eyes of a wild animal, ready to take its prey. I wanted to be taken.

“I've been wanting to do that since you slammed the door in my face on that first day.” He smiled at the memory, waiting for my reaction. I hadn't moved yet. The smile slowly started to fade.

“Cee...” I couldn't find any words to say. I was still shaking from the kiss, still lost in a whirlwind of emotion.

His own smile faded as he seemed to finally realize what was happening, what he had gotten caught up in. “I'm so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He shifted from confident and lustful to unsure and respectful. “You're my employer. I don’t want to mess anything up with Ben.”

Every muscle in his body was tense. I gently grabbed his hand, to make sure he wouldn’t run away. My head was still swimming from his kiss. I opened my mouth and could only make an inaudible grunting sound. My legs felt like Jell-O, and my insides were starting to burn with desire. That kiss had awoken in me something, a hunger that I let starve for years. Before I had time to let my thoughts cloud things, I let my body make my decisions for me.

I stood up and grabbed his head, pulling his lips down to mine. His body was stiff at first, his brain still trying to process what I was doing. He pulled back one more time to look me in the eyes. They had finally clouded back to that dangerous stormy color I yearned for so much.

“Cee...” I begged.

Before his name had finished escaping my lips, his mouth was back on mine...

***

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M
y six-year-old son was missing.

I nearly dropped the phone on the restaurant table, my hand suddenly sweaty and weak as I tried to process what the babysitter was telling me.

“I- I can’t seem to find Ben,” Charlotte repeated. Her voice was shaky across the cell phone connection. She started out slowly but her voice rose to panic midway through, and I knew she was back on track for a meltdown. “He asked me to grab a game from his bedroom and when I came back down he was... he was gone. I've been looking everywhere trying to find him.”

I took a deep breath, telling myself that this wasn't a disaster. If I stayed calm, everyone else would too. That was how things worked. Ben was fine. I swallowed hard against the lump quickly rising in my throat and the sour bile attempting to escape my stomach.
Stay calm.

“It's okay, Char, I'll be there in a minute. Just keep looking and let me know if you find him. I'll start calling around, too.” Ben had tried to run away before, but I usually was able to catch him before he got past the yard, curtailing his plans. This was first time he took off when someone else was watching him.

“Thank you, Ms. Jes. I’m so sorry.” I could hear her sniffling back tears.

“No, no, honey, it's fine. Stay calm and keep looking.” I tried to keep my voice from wavering with worry. I didn’t want to upset her even more. She needed to go out looking for Ben and if she was weepy, she couldn't do it. Ben was fine. He had to be.

Click.

I knew my son was usually responsible. He was a very bright six-year-old boy when he wanted to be, but I was scared more about the world around him. What if he had fallen and gotten hurt? Or worse, been taken? What if someone kidnapped him and was forcing him to do terrible things?

Breathe,
I told myself.
He's probably just down by the old playground. He's fine.

I almost believed myself.

I kept my head down, my eyes on my closed phone and cleared my throat. I knew I was about to ruin the night out for my friends, but I knew they'd understand. They always did. “Ben’s missing. I have to go find him. I'm sorry, ladies, I have to leave.” My ears reddened from embarrassment. I always felt like I was the one everyone had to take care of like a child.

There was a silence as my three friends paused in their friendly banter and absorbed my words. This was supposed to be a fun evening where the four of us could sit and chatter about Tricia's fancy job, Melissa's latest hot date, Cindy's kids, and my horrible divorce.

But now my kid was missing.

“We'll come help,” Cindy said without hesitation. “I'll call Ray, he'll get the kids together and start looking around their neighborhood.” She began dialing her phone.

“I'll go grab the car right now,” Tricia added as she pushed away her bar stool.

“I got the tab,” said Melissa, already standing and heading to the bar with her wallet.

I took a shaky breath in, trying to absorb the strength of my friends and keep from panicking. I wasn't alone in this. Divorced, but not alone. I didn’t know what I would do without the three of them. They became my friends seven years ago when I first moved into their neighborhood, and they had never let me down since.

I called the phone that Ben's father and I had given him after the divorce. We had wanted to make sure he could always stay in contact with both of us, and now I prayed it was going to work. I knew it was pointless, though. Ben never picked up the phone. My heart skipped a beat with every ring, and when it went to his voice mail, I sighed, wishing it had been that easy.

Melissa, her jet black hair pulled neatly up and looking cool as a cucumber, touched my arm. I wished I could mirror her calm. She motioned to the door where Tricia had pulled up the car. They were waiting on me now. I grabbed my keys and hopped into the car with the other two women. With shaky hands, I nervously combed through my hair, fretfully pulling it into a bun as we drove home in silence. I could feel the panic bubbling up in my stomach as all of the worst-case scenarios started to pop up in my head.

Each minute that ticked by without a phone call from the babysitter saying she had found him made me realize this was not one of his normal escapes. He had never been gone for this long. My son was the center of my world and I could feel him slipping through my fingers. He had to be okay. For both of us.

***

W
e turned into our neighborhood and rolled down the car windows. Warm, almost-summer evening air rushed in, carrying the scents of freshly cut grass and flowers. If I hadn't been looking for my son, it would have been a beautiful evening.

“Ben? Ben, where are you?” I yelled, trying to keep my voice from cracking with fear. There was no response. Just my voice echoing across the dark, empty yards. He wasn't here, or if he was, he wasn't answering.

Fear rose up and took over my mind as I imagined his face on a side of a milk carton, lost to me forever. I could feel the salty tears start to well up in my eyes, my composure slowly slipping away.

“Jes, Ray and the kids are coming down the other side of the street. They will let us know if they see anything,” Cindy said, trying to distract me. I nodded, but my heart just kept sinking.

We continued to zig-zag back and forth through the neighborhood, making our way down the rows of identical houses. Every moment was agonizing.

Was that him? No, just a forgotten sweatshirt by a tree. Every misplaced toy, lost shoe or roving cat caught my eye. I noticed every movement, and at every inevitable discovery it wasn't him, my heart would sink just a little bit further.

Bicycles sat in driveways and I could see the children inside at kitchen tables eating dinner or watching just one more episode of TV before bed. That was where Ben should be. Not outside, running away from home.

The sun was long set and the world lit by streetlamps when I finally saw him walking on the sidewalk with his bike. Relief washed over me and I let out the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding in.

“Ben!” I screamed, jumping out of the car before it had time to stop. “Ben, are you okay?” I practically flew over to him.

He turned toward me. “I'm fine, mom,” he whispered. I wrapped him in my arms, his head hitting my chest. His bike clattered to the ground. I was sure he could feel my heart pounding through my light jacket. I clutched him in a tight grasp. Relief flowed through me, clearing my head of worry and replacing it with anger at the fear he caused me.

“What were you doing? You know it's dangerous to be out at night, and you don’t even have a helmet. You should have told someone where you were going.” I scolded him in a voice that wavered between anger and relief. My voice always gave away my feelings.

“I wanted to see Dad. I tried to text him, but he said he was too busy to stop by. So, I thought I could go to his house and say hi to him instead,” he explained. His small face crumpled as he looked up at me, the question written all over his face even before he said the words. “Why doesn’t he want to see me anymore?”

I released him from my grip, and gently pointed his head up towards me so I could look into his eyes. The redness above his cheeks built up into a mask of anger and grief, bringing out the blazing emerald of his eyes. Richard's eyes. His father's eyes.

His father who was never there.

The trail of one lonely tear made it’s way down his face and dropped onto his t-shirt in a little wet splash. It was proof of his pain, and it left me devastated.

I tucked the stray blond hairs behind his ears in an attempt to give myself time.

How would I explain to my son that his father had to leave because he broke my heart? How could I tell him that his father had found a new love and forgot everything else in the world?

“It's not that he doesn’t want to see you, it's just that he's really busy.” I released his face, and grabbed his hand as I slowly guided him to the car. I avoided his gaze as I told him the lie. It was a grown-up problem that he shouldn’t have to understand. “We'll call him tomorrow, and then you'll be able to see him.”