Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Layla
I supposed I shouldn’t have been the least bit surprised when Emily showed up unexpectedly at my door. Her hair was neatly plaited into a French braid, and she was wearing a new shade of shiny red lipstick. I could smell her perfume long before she stepped inside.
“Oh, hey, I was bored, so I thought I’d drop by and see my very best friend in the whole world.” She plastered on a big smile.
I rolled my eyes. “Drop the act, Emi, I know you far too well to fall for it. Come inside. Ella and I are making some salads. Do you want one?”
“Salad, ew, no, you know I don’t like green foods.” Emily patted her purse. “I brought my Moonstone CD collection for some autographs.”
I stopped and turned to her. “Emi, I told you I’d have to talk to him and set something up. We can’t just walk up to his door and knock. We’re not going to do that. It’s rude.”
She waved off my statements. I loved Emily, but sometimes she could be annoying. “I’ll just hang out. Maybe we’ll see him out on the beach. I mean, it’s a public beach, so anyone can walk along down there, including me.” She walked to the kitchen window, which gave the best view of the cove but only half of the sandy beach.
Ella smiled down at the chopping board as she sliced celery. “You’ll have to go out on the patio to see all of the beach below.”
I shot her a “gee, thanks” look, and she shrugged.
Emily swung away from the window. “She’s right. What was I thinking?” She glanced at the bowls of salad and wrinkled her nose. “Do you have anything cold to drink? Oh wait, never mind. I don’t want to mess up my lipstick. What do you think?” She’d told me about the bold shade of red she bought online.
“Very nice, but if you’re thirsty, I’m sure you could sip some tea gently.”
She shook her head. “No, I’ll wait until after we?—”
I raised a brow. “Until after we?”
“Well, you never know.” She walked to the purse she’d dropped by the sofa, pulled out a stack of CDs and headed out to the patio.
The glass door was open, and there was only a screen between us, so I lowered my voice considerably. “I told her I’d set something up, but here she is. I’m not going to walk her over there, no matter how much she begs and pleads.”
Ella handed me my salad and a glass of tea. “How did the dog walking go?”
“It was a blast. He’s very cute and funny.”
Ella looked over at me. “The dog?”
“Yes, him too, but the owner—he’s really charming.”
“And incredibly good-looking,” Ella added.
We stepped out onto the patio. Emily was on her tiptoes staring down at the beach. “No sign of him yet, darn it.” She stomped back to the table and sat down with a plunk. I busied myself with the tasty salad, even knowing full well that she was staring at me so hard, she might have drilled holes through the side of my face.
“Did Rhett find that clawfoot tub he was looking for?” I asked Ella, deciding to ignore the harsh gaze coming at me.
Ella was finishing a bite of salad, but she nodded. She took a sip of tea to wash down the bite. “It’s an antique that’s been restored. He’s trying to buy mostly antiques from the era when the house was built, so that the restoration is authentic.”
“That’s a great idea. That house is going to be so beautiful. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll be mistress of the manor.”
Ella laughed. “That does sound like a position I’m well suited for, doesn’t it? Me and my striped socks and sweatpants. I guess you could call it casual elegance.”
“Well, we could get you a corset and bustle to wear under your sweats.”
We had a good laugh and continued with our salads. Emily grunted in frustration and got up from the table. She walked to the end of the patio and hopped up on tiptoes to keep watch over the beach.
Ella leaned closer. “She’s really obsessed with him, isn’t she?”
I nodded. It wasn’t her first obsession, but it was certainly her fiercest.
Emily squealed as I took a bite of salad. She spun around and clapped quickly and lightly. “He’s down there. First, I saw the dog and then I saw him and—” She raced over to me and grabbed my hand.
I dropped the fork into my salad. “Jeez, Emi, you’re going to take my arm out of the socket.”
“We need to go down there now before he goes back to the house since my best friend won’t take me next door for a proper introduction.”
“It seems we’re overusing the whole ‘best friend’ label these days and for nefarious, almost blackmail-style purposes.” I got up reluctantly. In a way, this was good. I could get the introduction over with, and we wouldn’t have to show up at Nash’s door.
Ella was a little too amused about the whole thing as she chewed her salad behind a big, smirky grin.
“Fine, let’s go,” I said.
Emily pulled me along to the trail that cut down the hillside and led to the beach below.
Halfway down, I stopped. “What about your CDs?” I didn’t want her to come up with an excuse to bother him again.
Emily bit her lip in indecision. She looked up toward the patio and then down at the beach. Nash and Rocky were walking down by the water. The sun was just starting to set. The dying light highlighted the man beautifully. Emily released a soft sigh. “Forget the CDs. I just want to meet him.” She gave me a pleading look.
“Since he’s out on the public beach, I guess it wouldn’t be too much of an invasion of privacy.”
We continued the trek down to the sand. Strangely enough, I felt a slight surge of nerves as we reached the sand. I was sure it had only to do with me being fretful about bothering Nash when he was out on a walk. Even out on the public beach it felt intrusive.
We were only a few steps across the sand when Rocky spotted me. He barked wildly as he raced toward us.
Emily backed up in fear. “That’s a big dog. And he’s soaking wet.”
“It’s all right. He’s friendly.” I held out my arms. Rocky bounded up to me and hopped up on his back legs. He braced his front paws against me like he’d done with the tree. “You big, wet sweetie.” I rubbed his head.
Emily had been so taken aback by the dog; she hadn’t noticed that Nash was heading toward us until he called Rocky.
“Rocky, get over here.” Nash reached us. He looked down at the wet, sandy paw prints on my shirt. “I’m sorry about that, Layla. He’s such a clown around you.”
I rubbed the sand off my shirt. “You know I love that about him.”
Emily nudged my arm. The dog was no longer a concern, and her entire focus was on the man standing in front of us. I could swear she’d stopped breathing as she stared longingly at him.
“Nash, this is my best friend, Emily.” I added in the “best friend” qualifier to make sure he knew this wasn’t just any acquaintance but the woman I’d been telling him about.
Nash’s smile flashed white in his tanned face. “Nice to meet you, Emily. I hope Rocky didn’t scare you too much. He tends to get a little wild when he sees Layla.”
Emily finally released that breath, and it came out as a laugh that was edged with hysteria. I sensed that she was barely holding it together. “No, no, he didn’t scare me at all. I love big dogs.” She reached toward Rocky and then rethought it and retracted her hand. Emily had been bitten by a dog when she was four, and so it naturally followed that she was never a dog person. She stood with the oddest smile plastered on her face, and I knew there were a hundred questions she wanted to ask him, but she’d been stunned into silence by his nearness.
“So, you’re out for a sunset stroll, eh?” I asked, since it seemed my normally loquacious friend had forgotten how to speak.
Nash glanced toward the ocean and the horizon line that was now being muted with splashes of pink and orange. “Since I grew up landlocked and a good four-hour drive from any ocean, I love to come down here just before sunset. Everything, the sand, the water, the sky and even the birds, morph into this incredible watercolor canvas at this hour.”
“I agree. When we were young, my sisters and I would hike down here with our paper pads and paint sets and paint the sunset. None of us were Van Gogh, that was for darn sure, but we still had a blast.”
I hadn’t meant for it to turn into a conversation between just the two of us, but Emily was still standing like a starstruck, lovestruck fan. I knew just how to bring her into the conversation.
I took her hand. The gesture startled her out of her trance. “Now, Emi is an amazing artist. I used to be so envious of her in art class. The teachers always used her work as an example, and her art won ribbons at the county fair.”
Nash smiled at her. “That’s so cool. I’m like Layla. I envy people who can draw and paint.”
Emily practically melted into a puddle. “But you’re so talented on the guitar, and I love your original song ‘Without You.’ I tear up every time I hear it.”
“That’s kind of you to say.”
Emily had regained her composure. “Is it about someone in particular, or do I want to know? Because if there’s a girl behind it, I’ll be positively heartbroken, both for you and for me, because I like to pretend it’s about me.” (She’d really regained it.)
Nash laughed. “It’s not about anyone. Just came up with the melody, and to be honest, Ronnie helped me write the lyrics. She’s the true poet of the group.” His gaze flicked my direction for a second, and it felt like something caught between us, something that was significant, intimate almost. It sent a shockwave through me, and I felt it keenly after he pulled away his gaze. Was I falling for Nash? Ugh, that was the last thing I needed, especially with the way Emily felt about him. I pushed away the thought. It was pointless to even consider.
“I’ll be at your show on Wednesday night,” Emily told him. “I’ve got some CDs that I would love for you to sign. Maybe I could meet up with you backstage.” (And my occasionally pushy and always determined friend was entirely back.)
“Uh, yeah, I’m sure we can manage that.” Nash raked his fingers casually through his short, dark hair, and Emily stared at him with such adoration it was hard not to laugh. “I’m going to head back up. I’ve got a frozen pizza in the oven,” he said.
Emily’s eyes sparkled. “I love frozen pizza.”
“Yes, well, we’ve got one up in the freezer,” I told her with an admonishing look. “It was good seeing you again, and I’m going to take Rocky out tomorrow, if that’s all right?”
“Of course. He’d love that.” Nash looked at me once more, and there it was again, that moment that felt far more intense than it should have given the context and casual conversation.
Emily and I stayed on the sand for a few more minutes, mostly so that Emily could catch her breath before climbing back up to the cottage.
“I think he was inviting us to pizza,” she said.
“I think you were hearing what you wanted to hear.” I took her hand, and we started back to the path.
“He’s even dreamier than I imagined, and trust me, I imagined a lot of dreaminess. Do you think he liked me?” she asked.
“Oh my gosh, Emily, how could I possibly know that after a short conversation on the beach?” I stopped and looked at her. “Just remember, Nash has a ton of fans who are all just as crazy about him as you are.”
She smiled slyly. “Yes, but they don’t have direct access to him like I do.”
“And that is where you are wrong. There is no direct access. Spotting him on the beach is one thing, but that’s where the intrusion on his privacy ends. Got it?”
I didn’t like that she was still wearing that plotting smile. “Right. Got it. Does that mean you don’t have a frozen pizza?”
I pulled her along. “C’mon, I think we’ve got one.”