Chapter Ten - Kenya
Chapter Ten
Kenya
T hough Lu had left detailed instructions, Kenya had filled in at the inn on many occasions on the weekends or some evenings when she had time. The property was secluded and only drew a particular type of vacationer—not the touristy ones, so there wouldn’t be many people walking in off the street. Most were vacationers who had standing annual commitments at the property or referrals from her regulars.
She recognized the award-winning author the minute she walked through the inn doors. Phoebe Cashay was dressed in a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt. A pink baseball cap on her head and a pair of sunglasses on her face. If she was trying to be inconspicuous, she was certainly accomplishing just that, but Kenya recognized her the moment she removed the shades from her face.
“Good afternoon. I’m looking for Lu,” she said.
“I’m sorry, she’s not here now. I’m Kenya. How can I help you?”
“I have a reservation for the week. Phoebe Cashay.”
Kenya smiled, starstruck. “I know who you are. I’m a huge fan.”
“Wonderful.” She stood there waiting for Kenya to get past her moment and check her in.
“I’m sorry. I’ll just need to see your identification and credit card, please.”
“Really? You need my ID?” Phoebe teased and smiled.
“I do. I mean, I trust you are who you are, but I just need to take a picture of it.”
“Of course.” Phoebe slid her driver’s license and credit card from their compartments, handed them to Kenya.
She took a picture of Phoebe’s driver’s license and then slid the credit card into its compartment of the computer.
“Lu has you in the Vintage Hollywood suite. She said it’s the one you prefer.”
“I always stay in the same room.” Phoebe leaned in for a whisper, “It’s my favorite.”
Kenya whispered back, “Truth be told, it’s everyone’s favorite.”
Both women giggled.
“I can see why.”
“Great! Then you know where it is. Here’s your key.” Kenya handed her a gold key. “You’re all set. Dinner is served in the dining room at four. That is, if you’d like to join us. And I’ll have someone bring up your luggage.”
“Fantastic, Kenya,” Phoebe said. “I won’t be eating in the dining room, but when Lorenzo gets here, if you could have him bring up a bottle of Chianti, that would be great.”
“Will do. When he arrives, I will.”
“Fabulous.” Phoebe grabbed her computer bag and made her way upstairs to her room.
* * *
Kenya opened her own computer and began typing. Though she was on vacation, she took every moment possible to get in some work. She needed to build her defense for Deacon Charles. After that video footage fiasco and the discrepancy in his timeline, she needed a new strategy for his defense.
When she heard the door to the inn chime, she looked up from her computer. Lu’s place was a rare hidden gem, so when the tall, dark, handsome stranger walked into the lobby wearing a tailored navy business suit, Kenya knew he hadn’t walked in off the street. He had the most beautiful set of eyes she’d ever seen, a perfectly trimmed beard, and a smile that lit up the entire room when he used it.
“Hello.” He smiled.
“Good afternoon. May I help you?” she asked.
“I’m looking for Lu or Zach.”
“I’m sorry, neither of them is here right now. Can I assist you?”
“I spoke with Lu over the phone last week about a room. I’m a good friend of Zach’s.”
“And your name please?”
“Gideon Harper.”
Kenya checked the reservations list. “Ah yes, here you are. Looks like she has you in the Cherry Blossom suite. For two weeks?”
Why was he staying for two weeks?
“Yes.”
“Great. I just need your ID and a credit card, please.” Kenya took his American Express and identification, checked him in. “You’ve missed lunch, but I can have Max, our chef, make you a sandwich if you’d like.”
“No, thanks. I grabbed something at the airport.”
“Very well, then dinner is at six. You can eat in the dining area with the other guests or on the veranda, if you prefer some alone time.”
“The veranda sounds nice, but I wouldn’t want to eat alone. Will you be joining me?” he flirted.
“I’m sorry, but no.” She did her best to avoid eye contact as she handed him his identification, credit card, and the key to his room.
His presence unsettled her. It made her nervous and giddy all at the same time, and she wondered how she would ever survive until Lu’s return. No man since Glen had made her blush, but here she was, blushing. Though she pretended to mask her attraction to him, this stranger, this friend of Zach’s, began to awaken things—in just that short encounter—that had been dormant for a long time.
He gave her a quick glance and the smile again before grabbing his bag and heading to his room. She stood there for a moment after he was gone, attempting to regain her composure. What was happening to her?
“Girl, get yourself together.” She thought she’d whispered it in her head but literally heard the words come out of her mouth.
She breathed in deeply and then went back to what she was doing before Gideon Harper had clearly interrupted her entire afternoon.
* * *
She didn’t realize just how long she’d buried herself in the prep work of Deacon Charles’s trial until the smell of something delightful tickled her nose. Max was gone and Lorenzo had arrived and started cooking dinner. She had forgotten to have him deliver a bottle of Chianti to Phoebe’s suite and made her way to the kitchen to tell him. She heard the loud and boisterous conversation before she even made it down the hall, and the laughter that bounced against the walls. Lorenzo was fully engaged in a conversation with Gideon—the two men behaving like old friends, swapping stories and laughing uncontrollably.
Gideon was the first to catch her eye when she appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. His face lit up and he gave her a smile.
She looked past him. “Good evening, Lorenzo. Something smells awfully good in here.”
“It’s my carbonada criolla. It’s a beef stew of sorts, but with an Argentinian twist. It’s made with sweet dried fruits, sweet potatoes, and winter squash. It’s perfect for a chilly evening like this one.”
“Sounds scrumptious.” Her eyes just happened to veer toward Gideon after she’d mouthed the word scrumptious .
He raised his eyebrows and gave her a wicked smile.
“It will be ready soon.” Lorenzo wiped his hand on his white chef’s coat, leaving traces of red sauce behind.
“Phoebe Cashay is in the Vintage Hollywood suite. She’d like you to bring her a bottle of Chianti.”
“Absolutely.” Lorenzo stepped over to the wine cooler and grabbed a bottle from it. “It’s perfectly chilled. I’m going to run it up to her now.”
“I can run it up there if you’d like,” Kenya offered.
“Oh no, no, no. I’ll take it.” Lorenzo grabbed a long-stemmed wineglass from the shelf, then held it in the air to observe it. He walked out of the kitchen, leaving Kenya alone with Gideon.
She could’ve walked away, gone back to working on her case, but she stood there.
“Is your room okay?” she asked to break the awkwardness of the silence.
“It’s perfect.” He’d changed out of his tailored suit and now wore a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeved Howard University T-shirt.
“Is Howard your alma mater?” She pointed at his shirt.
“Yes. I was born and raised in the DMV. Maryland mostly. What about you?”
“I attended NYU, both undergrad and law school.”
“Ahh, you’re a lawyer. Civil law, I presume?” Gideon said.
“And why would you presume that?” Kenya asked, “because I’m a woman? Because I look like I might be fragile?”
She was used to men being surprised that she was in criminal law, as if women didn’t have the ability to practice good criminal law.
“I . . . um . . .” he stumbled over his words.
“I’m actually a criminal attorney, for your information. And a damn good one!”
“My apologies. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You didn’t.” Kenya walked over to the commercial refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water.
“Let’s start over. I’m Gideon . . .”
“I know that. I saw your driver’s license.”
“And you’re . . .”
Kenya exhaled deeply. The truth was, he had offended her, and she was turned off by his arrogant disposition. “I’m Kenya.”
“Kenya, it’s a pleasure meeting you. Would you please do me a favor? Let me make up for my rudeness. Do me the honor of having dinner with me on the veranda this evening?”
Not this again.
Lorenzo walked back into the kitchen. He had heard Gideon’s proposition. “I think that’s a wonderful idea. If you want, you can both go out there now and I will bring a bottle of wine. I think an Argentinian Malbec would pair nicely with the carbonada criolla.”
“I don’t know. I have a lot to do this evening. . . .”
“I don’t see an overflow of guests waiting to check in,” Gideon said.
Kenya had plans of spending the evening working on her case. “I have other work to do.”
“But I’ve made such a huge pot of criolla.” Lorenzo smiled.
“We certainly can’t let good food go to waste . . . there are children starving in the world . . .” Gideon interrupted.
“Oh my God, not the starving children line.”
Both men laughed heartily. Kenya giggled, too.
“Well, what do you say?” Gideon asked. “You have to eat, don’t you?”
Kenya groaned, then exhaled. “Why not?”
He stood near the door of the kitchen and stretched out his arm, giving her that award-winning smile. “Ladies first.”
She breathed deeply, gathered herself, and then walked past him. “Just dinner.”
She wondered if he was watching her walk, observing her rear end. She’d chosen an old pair of jeans that day, not the cute ones that made her butt look good. She wore a yellow fitted T-shirt, the one she loved, with the word MELANIN plastered across the front. Had she known she’d be bumping into Gideon Harper today, she’d have worn those cute jeans, though. Not that she cared anyway.
Kenya chose one of the tables on the veranda, the one that offered the least wind on a somewhat chilly evening. She took a seat and watched as Gideon pulled out his chair. He had to be much more than six feet tall, she thought as he plopped down into the chair across from her, stretching his long limbs across the wooden porch.
“It’s so beautiful out here.”
“Yes, it is.”
Though Lu’s inn had so many little nooks and crannies, the veranda by far had always been Kenya’s favorite. The flowers were always fragrant in the spring and summer, and it provided one of the best views of the ocean that she’d ever seen. Even with partly overcast skies, it was still quite a beautiful afternoon on Cape May.
“So, you’re an attorney—a criminal attorney —but today you’re an innkeeper?”
“I’m filling in for Lu. She had to leave town for a while to handle some personal business.”
“I know. I spoke with Zach earlier. After I got here and they weren’t here, I called him. He’d forgotten that I was coming in today.”
“Bummer,” Kenya said sarcastically. “Two weeks is a long time.”
“I’m on vacation.”
“And what is it that you do back there in . . . Maryland . . . to be on vacation from?”
“I’m a physician. Orthopedic surgeon.”
“Okay, like Zach.”
“Yes. We’ve been friends since medical school. Did our residency together.” Gideon leaned back in his chair and said proudly, “I’m his best man.”
“I see.” Kenya placed her elbows on the table and her hands beneath her chin. How did she not know that Gideon was Zach’s best man? “Well, I’m Lu’s maid of honor.”
“Maid of honor, not matron of honor, meaning you’re single.” He said it emphatically.
Kenya held both hands in the air. “No rings.”
“That’s good to know.” He smiled.
“And why is that?”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to be having dinner with someone’s wife.”
“There’s no harm in dinner.”
“I wouldn’t want to be having dinner with someone’s wife and having the thoughts that I’m thinking about her.”
Kenya blushed. She could literally feel her cheeks turning red. Why was she blushing?
“Why is someone so beautiful, single?” he asked.
“Widowed.”
“I’m sorry.”
Kenya shook her head. “It’s okay. No need to be sorry; life happens. Besides, it’s been three years.”
Not that the time since Glen’s death mattered; it still felt like yesterday. She’d only recently stopped feeling numb when she heard a song or saw a photograph. She was happy to see Lorenzo approach with a bottle of red wine and two long-stemmed wineglasses. He placed one in front of each of them and poured a bit of wine into Gideon’s glass. Gideon picked up the glass, swirled the wine around, and gave it a sniff. Then he tasted it.
“It’s perfect,” he told Lorenzo.
Lorenzo smiled and filled Gideon’s glass the rest of the way, then hers. “I’ll be right out with dinner.”
“So, you live in the city or here on Cape May?”
“I live just up the stretch of the beach from here.”
“And where’s your law firm? Or . . . are you in private practice? I certainly don’t want to make assumptions and offend you again.”
“I work for a firm, in the city.”
“I bet that commute is pure torture.”
“It has its disadvantages. It can really weigh on you after a while—the traffic, the rat race—but I deal with it. Truthfully, I love the city, but I also love living on Cape May, so it’s worth the sacrifice.”
“I can see why you love it here,” Gideon said. “It’s a beautiful place. I see why Zach loves it. I see why he loves Lu. He’s found his soulmate.”
“And what about you? Have you found your soulmate?”
“I thought I had. A couple of times.”
“You’re divorced?”
“Two years. We have two children. Mia is twelve and Ethan is eight. They spend most of the year with their mother and most of the summer with me. I also have the weekend after Thanksgiving and spring break. It works out fine for all of us,” he said. “What about you? Do you have children?”
“No children. I have a golden retriever who is my child.”
“Really? What’s his or her name?”
“Ralph. And he’s spoiled rotten.”
Lorenzo appeared with two bowls of beef stew and placed a bowl in front of each of them. “Bon appétit,” he said.
They both thanked him and savored the meal together. They finished off the bottle of Malbec and Lorenzo brought another one. The ambience and wine had gone straight to Kenya’s head. Every time the wind blew, she took in Gideon’s scent. It was intoxicating. She was enjoying the evening with this man, this stranger, this friend of Zach’s of whom she’d never heard. Why hadn’t she ever seen him on Cape May before, at the inn? She’d have remembered him.
Gideon was easy to talk to. She could’ve spent the entire night just shooting the breeze with him. He felt like an old friend—like they’d known each other their entire lives. The ease of conversation reminded her of Glen, and that scared her. Actually, it unnerved her. She loved the way he touched her hand when he talked, when he really wanted to drive home a point. His laughter made her smile. She could’ve sat there and stared into his eyes for the rest of the night. He was handsome, charming, and everything warm and fuzzy, but she knew better. As nice as dinner was, she would never let Gideon Harper into her bubble—her sacred space—no matter how hard he tried.