Chapter 16
WALKER
The top buttons of my shirt aren’t fastened, but I tug at it anyway as I push the shop door open and walk in. The Mason jar of flowers is cool against my sweaty palms.
Coming into her shop is different today. I’m not the guy with a piece of paper with a list from my sisters of things I don’t understand, trying not to say the wrong thing or look too out of place.
No. I’m not that guy today. I know exactly why I’m here.
Naudi stands behind the counter, her head bent over something in her hands. For a second, I watch her. The way she moves, the way she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, the quiet focus she always carries when she thinks no one is looking.
It’s been three weeks and four days since she left Colley Point. That’s a long time of too much space in that big house. Too much silence. Too many insecure hours of hoping she’ll understand what I can’t say outright.
She looks up and freezes, her hand halfway to her hair. “Walker.”
Too many days of not hearing her say my name in that adorable slight accent that she fights against.
“Hey.” I step closer, setting the jar overfilled with flowers on the counter between us. They aren’t perfectly arranged. Just gathered the way they grow out in the fields, colors mixing without trying too hard. I did have enough sense to put water in the jar.
The way her eyes drop to the flowers, I suddenly wish I’d gotten a professional arrangement instead of DIYing it myself.
She looks up at me. “You picked these.”
Insecurities I’ve fought most of my life try to surface. “Yeah.”
A smile teases at her mouth before she can stop it. “They are beautiful, Walker. I love them. Thank you.”
Good. She doesn’t hate them. Silence settles for a second. I rest my hands on the counter, giving her space while still being close. “I came to ask you something.”
Her fingers curl lightly around the edge of the counter. “Okay.”
I hold her gaze. “Go out with me? On a date.” I stick that last in to clarify.
Her breath catches. “For real this time?”
“Yeah.”
She considers it long enough that I start to sweat. This is her choice. She can accept or turn me down flat.
She looks at me through her long, dark lashes and smiles. “Yes, Walker. I’ll go out with you.”
Finally, I can breathe and the rolling that has been going on in my stomach subsides. She not only agreed to a date, she also gave me hope that she wants more. And I’m going to run with it.
“I’ll pick you up after you get off work.”
I pull up to the back alley behind her store at exactly five minutes after six. She’s already sitting on the bottom step of the stairs going up to her apartment.
I kiss her cheek and take her hand as we walk the few steps to the passenger side of my truck. “You look lovely,” I manage to get out without stumbling over the words.
She’d changed clothes from earlier. She had on jeans and a dark blue blouse then, now she’s wearing a swirly orange and teal sundress with sandals on her feet.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“You’ll see.” It hadn’t been hard to arrange. Everyone in town knows about our lie and what happened. Hell, most of the town was at the engagement party. I guess people feel invested in our relationship and want to see us find our way back to each other.
All it had taken was one call to Patti Taylor to make this date happen.
“The museum?” She asks as I pull into the first parking spot and cut the engine.
“I thought it would make a good first date. They have real textile pieces from the pirate days. Since you’re a clothing designer and all, I thought you might enjoy it.”
“But don’t they close at five?”
“They do. I have special permission from the curator for an afterhours tour.”
“Patti gave you the key.”
I chuckle. “Yeah.” I fish it out of my pocket and hold it up. “Ready to go?”
“Am I ever.”
The museum isn’t anything special. It’s on the smallish side but packed with our island’s history. The kind of place you can walk through in an hour if you don’t stop and study everything, but then if you walk back through, you’ll see totally different things.
We don’t rush, and I let Naudi take the lead. We move slowly, stopping when something catches her attention, listening when she asks questions. I don’t always have the answers.
At one point, she stands in front of an exhibit about the island’s early settlers, reading a plaque with total concentration.
An hour later, as we’re walking out, she stops and turns to me. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
“You’re welcome.”
“This was the first date we made up,” she says quietly.
“Yeah.”
“You remembered.”
I look at her and want to say a lot more, but it isn’t time yet. I need her to believe without a doubt that what we are is truth. Our future is real.
She doesn’t say anything else, but her fingers brush mine as we walk to the truck and neither of us pull away.
“I’d planned dinner, but it’s late. Do you want to go home or are you game for more?”
“Dinner. I can’t wait to see what you have planned.”
My friends, the Murphys, own the marina and a restaurant. They close at five, but Patti from the museum mentioned to Blake Murphy that I was taking Naudi on a date there. Blake called me to propose dinner on their rooftop deck with Shyanne Caldwell providing the meal. Shyanne is an incredible chef.
I pull into the marina parking lot and cut the engine. Naudi turns to me. “We have to fish for our dinner?”
“No. At least I hope not.”
“You are full of surprises.”
We meet in front of the truck and she reaches for my hand. That makes me all kinds of happy. We climb the outdoor stairs to the deck on top of the restaurant. Blake has done me well.
A table for two is waiting for us near the railing. It’s covered in a white cotton cloth and has eight of those candles that look like real ones but aren’t flickering on top.
Candlelight and moonlight are our only light sources which makes it all the more romantic. According to the romance books I deny reading. Regularly.
“Oh my, Walker. You did all this?”
I can’t lie. “No. I mean, I booked it, but the table and the food is all Shyanne.”
“It’s amazing,” Naudi says as I pull her seat out and she sinks into it.
I take my seat across from her at the small table. There’s an ice bucket on a stand with several options of beverage. “Would you like white wine, sweet tea, or water?”
“I think I’ll go a little crazy and have a glass of wine, please.”
The meal progresses naturally. No awkwardness or forced conversation. Just two people catching up after not having seen each other for a while, figuring things out as we go.
We stay longer than I’d dared to hope for, but all too soon I’m walking her up the stairs to her apartment.
She pauses at the top of the steps. “You’re doing this on purpose,” she says, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“Doing what?” I know what she’s talking about.
“Making this real.”
“Did the date feel real?” I touch her cheek and she looks up into my eyes and nods.
“Will the kiss I hope I get feel real?”
She licks her lips, and I want to growl. Then with a teasing grin, she kills me. “A kiss on the first date? I’m a good Indian girl, sir.”
“A second date, then? Tomorrow is Sunday, want to go out on my boat?”
She tips her head in confusion. Then I remember the only boat she knows about is the small sailboat I have on the beach back home. “Sure. But I’ve never sailed before.”
“Good to know. Be sure and wear sunscreen, bring a bathing suit, and I’ll pick you up at ten.”
Her eyes flash with excitement as she says goodnight and walks inside. I wait until I hear the lock click before I head home.
The boat rocks gently beneath our feet as I help her on board. She hesitates just slightly. “This is a big boat.”
It isn’t that big. Just a mid-thirty feet of clean lines and a deep hull built for real water instead of show.
It’s the kind of boat that can handle a rough day offshore but looks good easing through the calm coastal waters.
Dad and I mainly use it for fishing, but I’ve been known to spend nights out on the water over the years.
“Not that big, but it fits us. Mom used to love going out to spend the day on the water.”
“Growing up on an island must have been wonderful. You got to do the coolest things.”
“It was. I’m not sure my mom would agree. The four of us gave her many of the gray hairs on her head.”
We push off slowly, the motor low and steady as we move away from the dock and out toward open water. The sun is high overhead as I set course toward the north side of the island.
“Tell me some of the things you got into.”
“Well, we used to pack peanut butter sandwiches and spend the day exploring the caves on the island.”
“There are caves?”
“Yes. Supposedly pirates stored their booty in them. My sisters and I looked for years, but all we found was a button and bugs.”
“A pirate’s button?”
“Nothing as exciting at that. Just a plain plastic black button. Probably came off someone’s swimsuit on the beach and the tide brought it in. The caves often flood.”
I cut the engine and let the boat drift for a second before dropping anchor. It’s a perfect place to get wet.
“Want to take a swim?”
“I’m not a very good swimmer. Are there sharks?”
“You’ll be safe. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
We swim for a bit, but I end up inflating a couple of floats that my sisters liked to use. We bob around the boat and talk. Or not. We don’t need to have constant conversation going on. We’re just as comfortable enjoying the sun and the rocking motion of the water.
Late afternoon, I move us to the west side of the island. It’s more secluded and has the best view of the sunset. After our swim, she’d changed into a cute coral sundress. I bet she made it herself.
I’d grabbed food at the restaurant uptown. Nothing elaborate, just chicken pie, broccoli, scalloped potatoes, and sourdough bread. The boat has a small galley so I’m able to heat the food up.