Chapter 20
Twenty
“ A re you ready to go?” Lauren asked as she finished wrapping the loaf of Nutella bread she was going to deliver to Skyler before she and Cannon took a walk along the beach.
“I am,” he said, looking up from his phone, then clicking a couple more times before he turned it off and shoved it in his pocket.
“I can carry that,” he said.
He’d finished putting the security system in the day before, and she’d allowed him to sleep on the couch that night. But that wasn’t where he wanted to be.
“How do you feel about calling Josiah and seeing if he’ll let us take a look at the house? I was thinking that we should grab it while it’s available, because it’s so close.”
“Really?” she asked, sounding surprised.
“Unless you wanted a place further out? But then there would be a longer commute for you to come here.”
“I guess we could rent out the apartment upstairs.”
“Yeah. Or we can keep it for out-of-towners who want to visit, or we could even add to the bakery, have a sitting room upstairs where people can take their baked goods and read or something.”
“That would be perfect if Matteo was still opening a bookstore. ”
“He’s not. He’s got a buyer for his books already, and he’s shopping around for exercise equipment. He actually asked me if I would give him a hand putting something together tomorrow.”
“That’s nice,” she said, seeming surprised.
Maybe she didn’t realize that in the time he had spent outside putting the security system in, he and Matteo had developed a bit of a friendship.
He’d even asked Matteo for some tips on beginning a workout routine, and Matteo had offered to give him some one-on-one training.
He wasn’t going to tell Lauren about that, unless she specifically asked. It wasn’t that he was hiding it, it was just…he was a little embarrassed to admit that he even needed to. He wasn’t sure why. It just…was a subject he was kind of touchy about for some reason.
He pushed the door open, held it while she walked through, and allowed it to shut. He’d already engaged the alarm and felt satisfied and at peace that he was doing a good job of taking care of things.
Probably because he owned a security company, but it was extra important to him.
“It’s a beautiful day,” she said as they walked along the sidewalk toward Skyler and Homer’s house.
There were a bunch of kids playing in the yard, and Skyler and Homer sat on the front porch.
It looked so cozy and quaint, like a fun, all-American family and something he might have expected to see in the sixties.
That was one of the draws of Raspberry Ridge. It was just one of those small towns that didn’t seem to age.
He had mixed feelings about the rumors that they were going to have more tourists this year. On the one hand, it would be good for Lauren’s bakeshop, on the other, he wanted Raspberry Ridge to stay the way it was. Because it was pretty much perfect.
“It is. I can’t wait to see the beach you keep talking about.”
“I can’t believe we’ve been together for more than a decade and you’ve never been on the beach in my hometown.”
“We’ll remedy that today.”
“But first, banana bread for the neighbors.” She held it up. And then waved to Skyler. “Hey there!” she called .
“Lauren!” Skyler jumped up and hurried off the porch and to the sidewalk. “You look so happy. What a beautiful day for a walk.”
“Yeah. My husband’s never seen the beach, so I’m taking him to show it off a bit. But I wanted to deliver this to you. I appreciated your advice. It was spot on.”
Skyler smiled and slid a glance at Cannon. Cannon had the uneasy feeling that somehow her advice had pertained to him.
“Hey there,” Homer said, coming over and holding his hand out.
Cannon shook it. “It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard a good bit about you. I’m Cannon.”
“Yeah. I’ve heard a good bit about you as well. I know that my wife has invited you guys to the Bible study that we typically have here on the porch, but I understand that Lauren thinks it might interfere with her business opening. Still, you’re invited and welcome any time.”
“I’d really love to come. I’ve heard lots of good things about it. My neighbor, Matteo, has been there a couple of times, and as much as I’d love to attend, I’m afraid we probably can’t unless it gets moved to the shop.”
“I’m fine with moving it there, but I don’t want Lauren to have to provide food every time, because that’s not fair.”
“I know she wouldn’t mind, but it probably would be bad for the bottom line.”
“Yeah. That’s my thought.”
“Why don’t we do it on the porch in the summer and then move it to the shop in the winter? She still wouldn’t be required to provide food every time, but it would give us a sheltered place and maybe give her a little bit of extra business, if people bought coffee and whatnot from her then.”
“We could have a special discount, just for the Bible study people in the morning,” Lauren added.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Skyler said.
Homer put his arm around her, and she looked up into his eyes, and they smiled the smile of people who knew each other well and liked each other anyway.
Their kids played in the background, squealing and yelling and sounding like they were having a great time, not paying any attention to the adults at all.
“All right. We’ll let you guys get back to your family time. But I just wanted to say a little thank you.” To his surprise, Lauren took hold of his hand as they walked away.
He loved the way her fingers felt in his and tried to recall the last time they’d held hands.
To his shame, he couldn’t remember.
“I’ve missed this,” he said, holding up their linked hands.
“Me too,” she said, smiling over at him.
They went a little farther until she said, “Instead of going into the healing garden, you take this path right here. It does get a little steep, and it’s probably best to do it single file.”
“All right. Do you want me to go first?”
“I can. It’s not very far.”
She was right. It was a short path, maybe fifty yards or so, although there was a switchback, and it was definitely steep.
Once they hit the bottom, there was a little bit of a grade until they reached the pebble beach, but the waves were louder, and the view of the lake was beautiful.
The deep blue sky and the slightly more mysterious blue of the lake complemented each other, accented by the white of the breaking waves.
“Wow. There really is no sand.”
“No. I told you. Now, it does get sandy up that way, but this is probably my favorite beach anywhere.”
“The pebbles are all smooth, worn away by the waves, and it would be a good beach to go barefoot on.”
“Why not?” she asked, kicking off her flip-flops.
He had been wearing socks and shoes, and it took a little bit until he got them off. He’d rather walk with his shoes on, but it seemed more in the spirit of things for him to go along with the carefree nature of his wife.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you walk anywhere barefoot,” she said, watching in disbelief as he took his shoes off.
He was glad he had, just so he could see that look. Like she didn’t think he was going to, and he’d just proved her wrong .
“I’ll get used to it,” he said, winking at her.
She laughed outright at that.
He set his shoes beside her flip-flops and deliberately took her hand again, looking into her eyes as he did so.
She smiled up at him, and he felt content. Like…maybe things were going to work out.
He had ordered her something, and it was supposed to come that afternoon. Maybe it would be there by the time they got back. He had been checking on it on his phone before they left.
He thought that it would say to her that he was thinking of her and cared about her. At least, he was hoping it would.
“So George is unable to get the money to buy my company.”
“That’s too bad. But I wasn’t sure I wanted you to sell it anyway.”
Did she really mean it? Half the time, he thought maybe she was just saying it, but Lauren wasn’t the kind of person who just said things, so she must have been sincere.
“Why not?” he finally settled on. The beach was beautiful, the breeze felt good on his face, but even better was the feeling that he and Lauren were right with each other again. He couldn’t believe how much he’d neglected her trying to build his business.
“It just represents a lot of years of work for you.”
“And I’ll get that back in money. It might be enough that it won’t matter whether or not your bakery is successful. We might be able to do it just for fun. You know?”
“So basically we retire?” she asked, wrinkling up her nose.
“Sure. Why not?”
“I don’t know. We’re kind of young.”
“We could do something. I don’t know, have a little business on the side along with the bakery.
Something online maybe, or I could put in security systems up here, just not on the biggest scale.
I don’t think I have any interest in trying to build another company.
” It had been a lot of work. He didn’t want to get sucked into it again.
“I’m happy to hear that, although I am proud of you for building something out of nothing. I do want you to know that.”
“You made a lot of sacrifices in order for me to do that.” Maybe it was just getting away from the business finally, but he felt completely detached from it, and he really wouldn’t care if someone made an offer tomorrow. He didn’t even think he’d feel bad when he signed the papers.
“I want to talk about kids.” That was something that was important to her, and he’d been giving it a lot of thought.
“Okay,” she said carefully. As though she knew that was a bit of a minefield for both of them.
“I know you talked about the miscarriages and how much they hurt. And we never really talked any more about that. Do you…want to look into medical reasons why we might not be able to have a full-term child? Or would you rather look into adoption? Or something else?”
“Well. I don’t know. I…guess I hadn’t given it any more thought.”