Holiday in July (Tarrin’s Bay #7)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

L acie Appleby was no stranger to keeping secrets. As a beauty therapist and make-up artist, clients often told her all about their lives; sometimes mundane, sometimes fascinating… but often with the odd secret slipping out during waxing, brow-shaping, or a foot spa. Whether it was something as innocent as pretending not to be home when an uninvited visitor turned up, or something not-so-innocent as a regretful fling with an ex after starting a promising new relationship, Lacie had heard it all. The lies, the confessions, the truth, the regrets, the marital dissatisfactions, and the wild dating adventures. But now, she had a secret of her own to keep.

Lacie stepped off the train and though she would normally walk the flight of stairs up to the crossbridge, even with luggage, she got in the elevator and rubbed her lower back. When she got out, the salty scent of the sea warmed her senses and woke her up from the travel fatigue.

Tarrin’s Bay. Home. Well, the home she used to know.

She stood by the station entrance and scanned the drop-off zone and the lamp-lit street. A sedan drove in, and she sheltered her eyes from the glare. The lights switched off and Lacie squinted at the figure stepping out. ‘Penny?’

‘Lacie!’

Penny dashed towards her, arms outstretched, and Lacie flung her arms around the sister she hadn’t seen in almost two years. ‘Ohh,’ she sighed. ‘It’s so good to see you.’ She held on tightly for longer than a usual hug, and Penny sighed too.

‘Can’t believe you’re here.’ Penny pulled back but held Lacie at arm’s length, her eyes slightly glossy. ‘Wow, your hair is different again. Is that a touch of… pink?’

Lacie smiled and nodded. ‘You know me. I get bored with the same do all the time.’ She patted her tousled hair.

‘Yep, and I have the same shoulder-length blonde bob I’ve had since high school.’ She turned to the car and rubbed her hands together. ‘Let’s get in, I’ve got the heating on.’ She popped open the boot and helped Lacie load her bright pink luggage; Lacie keeping hold of her small shoulder bag as she got into the passenger seat. ‘The kids are so excited to see you, they wanted to come and greet you as well but it was too late for them, they fell asleep an hour ago.’

‘Oh, can’t I wake them up when I get to the house?’ Lacie missed her niece and nephew and had brought them some surprises.

‘Hmm, that could be a big mistake as then they’ll be up half the night and grumpy tomorrow.’

‘It’s okay, they can wake me up bright and early… that’s if I can get any sleep after snoozing on the plane, it’s morning back in the States now.’ She rubbed the back of her neck, sore from leaning against the window on the plane where she had propped her travel pillow.

‘Ah, give it a few days and you’ll be used to your native country’s time zone again. It’s in your DNA.’

‘Hope so. Is everyone else still up?’

‘Of course. Mum never sleeps as you know, and Chris and Matt were playing cards when I left. And my darling husband is on night shift.’

‘And Ellie?’

‘Earbuds in, tapping her foot to whatever ridiculous music she’s listening to while using her laptop.’

Lacie smiled. She couldn’t wait to see her siblings, even more so now, as they hadn’t had their annual Christmas in July family reunion last year. This year we’ll make up for it , her mum had said via text a week ago, when confirming flight details with Lacie. It would be different without Dad, but hopefully they’d be able to keep each other’s spirits high this year, just as their father, ever the optimist, had always done in difficult times.

When Penny drove the car up the hill on the other side of the highway, through the rural landscape of one of the most prized locations in town that overlooked the distant but expansive ocean, an increasing swell of emotion rose higher with each breath that Lacie took. She sniffled.

‘Hope you don’t have a cold? Last thing we need is a bug to go around the family like that gastro catastrophe four years ago.’

Lacie flicked her hand. ‘Nah, I’m fine. Just…’ She sniffed again. ‘It’s just, good to be home, that’s all.’

Penny turned her head a moment and smiled. And when her sister drove into the C-shaped driveway of South Haven, the Appleby family guest house, Lacie swallowed a large lump in her throat. She hadn’t expected to feel this emotional, but apparently her body was responding with a mind of its own.

No tears, no tears.

‘Here we are, home sweet home.’ Penny stopped the engine.

Gravel crunched underneath Lacie’s tan suede boots when she eagerly stepped out of the car, wanting to dash into the warmth of the grand sandstone house and sit around the fireplace with her mother’s best hot cocoa.

Penny yawned. ‘Bed is calling me, I’ve been up since the crack of dawn, but I’ll stay up a while with you first.’ She placed her arm around Lacie’s waist as they walked to the front door together, each tugging a piece of luggage along the bumpy driveway until it reached the smoothness of the path.

The door opened before they got to it.

‘Lacie!’ Her mother, Martha, stood in the doorway with a soft but welcoming smile, and fluffy white dressing-gown-covered arms out to her sides like angel wings.

‘Mum!’ Lacie smiled and softened against her mother’s embrace, another swell of emotion rising up. She was glad her flight had arrived at night, so she would have some time to settle in and think on her own for a while, before talking too much and catching up with everyone. She didn’t know if she could even hold a proper conversation yet, with so much on her mind. So much she couldn’t discuss.

‘Now, how was the food on the plane? Do you need a proper home-cooked meal? What about a hot cocoa?’ Martha got to work, checking on every little detail as they went into the house.

‘I’m fine for now, Mum, thanks. Let me just see… Chris, hi! Good to see you.’ Her oldest brother walked in, followed by Matt. ‘Matt, you too.’ She gave them each a hug, noticing that Chris felt more ‘cuddlier’ than usual.

‘How was the flight?’ they both asked at the same time, then chuckled.

‘Not too bad,’ she said first to Chris, then repeated her answer to Matt.

‘Looking great, Lace.’ Matt touched her pink-highlighted strawberry-blonde hair, the subtle curls of which had probably flattened out from the headrest on the plane.

‘After a whole day of travel, yeah I bet!’ She rolled her eyes. When they resumed normal position, a flash of grey caught in her peripheral vision. ‘Ellie, there you are! Come here, girl.’

Her youngest sister, perpetual student of literature and philosophy, seemed stuck to the door frame. Her grey hoodie loose and bulky over her petite frame, she ambled over slowly at Lacie’s request and sunk into her embrace. ‘You okay?’

‘Just tired, too many late nights on the computer.’

‘You should have some fun too, you know.’

‘But there’s so much to learn and so little time.’

‘El, you’re twenty-nine, you probably have a good sixty years in you yet.’

Her sister shrugged. ‘Anyway, nice to see you, did you bring goodies?’

‘Oh yeah, any more of that ready-to-eat cookie dough you got us last time?’ Chris asked.

Lacie put her hands on her hips. ‘Do you guys only care about the presents I may or may not have brought you?’

‘What do you mean, may not have ?’ Matt nudged her.

‘You can all wait until the present opening ceremony after our Christmas in July dinner,’ Lacie instructed. ‘Only the kids get an early gift now.’

‘Okaaay,’ Ellie said.

‘Now, who’s going to help Lacie take her luggage to her room while I make a batch of cocoa?’ her mother asked.

‘Me,’ said Chris.

‘That’s only because you’re losing at cards,’ Matt teased.

‘Again?’ Lacie said.

‘I may be losing ,’ he said in a dramatic voice, ‘but I have not lost. ’ He picked up the handles of her two bags and rolled them behind him as he walked from the entry foyer into the living room.

Hadn’t her dad said something like that before he died?

Martha paused in her busyness for a moment, her gaze distant, as though she wondered the same thing.

Every now and again, words he used to say would pop into Lacie’s mind at weird moments. Or she would say them herself, as though he was watching over her, reminding her of things, and keeping her spirits up… Oh well, there’s always tomorrow … and Nonsense, there’s no such thing as a ‘bad day’ if you’re alive … and the one that haunted her time and time again: It’s okay, Lace, I’ll see you at the next reunion.

But she never did.

His presence, though, was as much in her life, and in this house, as it ever was. Memories of his voice echoed through the rooms as she walked through the living room with Chris, expecting her dad to spring out of nowhere and say ‘Boo!’ as they entered the hallway, and then, wondering if he’d left a secret note on her pillow as she entered the ground-floor guest bedroom allocated to her for the next two weeks… Always end your day with a happy thought , or, sweet dreams , they would say. Her siblings would get them too, but hers always seemed so appropriate, as though her father always knew what was troubling her or what she was thinking on any given day.

She wished he had words of advice for her now, when she needed them the most.

Instead, she had her brother’s more practical words of advice: ‘If you get cold, just give the window a bit of a shove.’ He demonstrated. ‘It comes loose a bit from the side right here.’ He pointed.

She nodded. ‘Thanks.’ But she was used to the cold, having lived in Chicago for so many years now.

They made their way back to the living room and sipped their warm beverages in front of the fireplace, while Penny yawned for the umpteenth time, Martha asked more questions, Chris ate muffins, Matt texted his girlfriend, and Ellie had one earbud in and one out; contributing occasionally to the conversation.

Lacie yawned too.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be wide awake at this time?’ asked Penny.

Lacie shrugged. ‘Guess I’m more tired than I thought.’

‘Right, off to bed while you’re feeling drowsy, then,’ said her mother. ‘Otherwise, when you try to sleep you won’t be able to, and it’ll be good to get into a routine as soon as possible.’

Lacie stood, grabbing hold of the armrest of the upholstered chair when a wave of dizziness surprised her.

Her mother held on to her arm. ‘You look a bit pale, are you all right?’

‘Yes, yes, totally fine. Just been a long day, Or night. Or whatever time it is.’ She gave a wide ‘I’m fine’ smile and said her goodnights. ‘Are we decorating the tree on Friday?’ She turned to her mother.

Martha clasped her hands together. ‘Indeedio.’

‘Yay. Can’t wait.’ Lacie always looked forward to the family tree decorating tradition. And it was her turn to put the angel on the top this year.

She made her way to the bathroom adjacent to her room for a quick shower, then fell onto the soft and comforting bed. ‘Ahhh…’ She exhaled in relief, and that was the last thing she remembered before waking early to the sound of a lawnmower.

‘Huh?’ She sat half upright, not used to the sound as she lived in an apartment building with no grass in sight. Why is Chris up so early mowing the lawn? Or is it Matt, or… no, it wouldn’t be Ellie.

She got up and put on a dressing gown, opened the French doors to her private patio and stepped outside. Sheltering her eyes from the morning sun with her hand, a lawnmower came into view, along with the broad back of a man.

As he turned around in readiness to do the next strip of grass, she caught his eye, at the same time as a twinge caught her stomach. Her mouth salivated suddenly and she gulped, her belly fluttering… but it wasn’t from the sight of the man with the well-built frame and tanned face, it was…

Oh God.

Her stomach heaved. She held her hand over her mouth, looking side to side. The man stopped cutting the grass just as she turned to dash back inside to the bathroom, but she couldn’t make it through the patio door in time. With an almighty heave and a loud retch, she leaned forward over the nearest pot plant and emptied her stomach contents.

Her legs wobbly and a headache forming, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and tried to stand upright.

A hand gripped her arm. ‘You okay?’

She turned her head and looked into the concerned eyes of the lawnmower man. She closed her eyes a moment and sighed. ‘Oh, man.’ She shook her head and covered her face with her free hand.

‘Here, sit down.’ He gestured to the wicker chair on the patio. ‘I’ll go get someone? And some water?’

Lacie straightened up suddenly, then grasped the armrest as she almost fell onto the chair. ‘No!’ She tucked a wet strand of hair behind her ear. ‘I mean, thanks. But no, I’m okay.’ She managed an embarrassed smile. ‘It’s just… jet lag, and… alcohol,’ she lied. ‘Never again.’

The man’s posture loosened a bit and he put his hands in his pockets. ‘Ahh, I see. In that case, maybe a shower, some water, B vitamins, and a big fat cheesy pizza?’

Lacie’s stomach spasmed at the thought and she gulped down hard.

‘Perhaps not,’ he concluded. He turned and gestured to the front of the house. ‘You sure you don’t want me to get someone?’

‘Definitely not. Don’t want Mum to see me like this, I’ll never hear the end of it.’

‘You’re Martha Appleby’s daughter?’

‘One of them, yes.’

‘I know Penny and Ellie, but it appears I haven’t met you.’

‘You have now,’ she said, ‘and what a wonderful first impression I’ve made!’ She managed a laugh and he let one out too.

‘I’m Nathan, your mum hired me to do the gardens and odd jobs around the house.’

‘I’m Lacie. And I’m usually only in the country once a year for our family reunion.’

He smiled and placed a finger over his lips. ‘Well, your secret’s safe with me. We’ve all been there, done that,’ he said with a wink.

She nodded thanks, but he definitely did not know her secret, and he definitely had not been there and done that. And she definitely hoped that every morning for the next two weeks would not be exactly like this. Because then she would have a damn hard time keeping secret from her family the fact she was pregnant following a should-never-have-happened trip down memory lane with her ex-boyfriend, who just so happened to be one of Hollywood’s rising stars. And with her successful life and career in Chicago, his in L.A., and the fact she had definitely not planned anything whatsoever to do with motherhood in the near future, she had absolutely no idea what to do.