Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
“ F ive…four…three…two…one.” Serenity blew out a long breath and flipped the switch to turn her sign to “closed.” Today had to be one of the longest days in history.
Every noise had her jumping, and that included each time her front door opened and the bell jingled. Her customers probably thought she was crazy, but Serenity couldn’t quite bring her nerves under control.
Luca had checked in several times, for which Serenity had been grateful. His constant calming words kept her sane, but when she’d sent him out the door this morning for the second time, she’d had no idea just how agitated she would feel all day.
For the first time in a week and a half, her wingman had been gone. Luca’s presence was large and soothing and had been noticeably absent. Admitting such a thing, however, made her feel like an idiot.
“How can I be that dependent on him after only a few days?” Serenity scolded herself. “What’s wrong with me?”
A knock came from the back door, and Serenity jumped before she caught herself.
“Ugh!” Clenching her fists, she stormed into her new backroom, not taking the time to appreciate the new floors or the wonderful organizing she and Luca had done over the weekend. Her shop had never been this clean. Pushing open the door, she finally relaxed. “Luca.”
Stepping toward her, Luca came in, letting the door fall closed behind him and swept Serenity into his arms before he even said hello.
Her breath caught at his sudden hug, but it didn’t take long for Serenity to relax into his hold, wrapping her arms around his chest and snuggling in. Now things were right. She couldn’t believe how much her independent self had missed him.
“I missed you,” Luca whispered, bending down so he could kiss her cheek. “I think the day was twice as long as usual.”
Serenity laughed breathlessly. “I was just thinking the same thing,” she admitted. Okay…if he was willing to admit it, she wasn’t going to hide her feelings either. After her own break in and the subsequent one at Gemma’s, it was perfectly natural for a person to be on edge. Right? Perfectly natural.
“Can we just stay here all night?”
She laughed harder. “Don’t you think you’ll get hungry? I don’t have any food here. Wait…” She tilted her head back to look at Luca. “I might have an apple. Will that tide you over?”
Luca scowled. “Dang it. I should have brought something with me.” Grinning, he stole Serenity’s breath with a sweet kiss. “Come on, beautiful. Let’s get food.”
In that moment, Serenity would have followed Luca anywhere, but she kept those thoughts to herself. She was already so far gone over this man. How had he made his way back into her good graces so quickly?
It all seemed like a strange dream. Years of hurt and anger and only a few days for love to take it away like it had never happened. Someday her feet would come back to Earth, and Serenity wasn’t sure what she’d do when reality slapped her in the face.
“Where do you want to go?” Luca asked. “Wait…are you ready? Your shop just closed…” He glanced at his watch. “A couple minutes ago.”
“I need to do a little clean up and close down the till,” Serenity said. “You can figure out where we’re going to eat while I do that, okay?’
“Or, I can help.”
“You want to run the vacuum? Really?” Serenity smiled.
Luca shrugged. “I’ve used one…one or twice.”
Laughing, Serenity headed to her cleaning closet. “Then come on, Soldier. You can take charge of all the sand and dirt on the floors while I run numbers.”
Half an hour later, they were locking up the back door.
“Come ride in the truck,” Luca insisted. “We’ll get your car later.”
Serenity frowned. “You want to make a trip all the way back here?”
He gave her a look. “It’s Lighthouse Bay. Everything is within ten minutes. It’s not like it’s out of the way.”
“True enough.” Smiling, Serenity let him open the passenger door, and she slipped into the seat, buckling up as she waited for him to walk around. “Did you decide where you want to eat?” she asked.
Luca hopped into his seat and buckled before pressing the button to start the truck. “Is Pie Hole still around?” he asked. “I haven’t had a good marionberry pie in ages.”
“You were in Portland, not Nova Scotia,” Serenity said with a laugh.
“Might as well have been,” Luca grunted. “No one makes a better pie than Granny George.”
“Well, I’m happy to report that Granny George is still rolling out her famous crust and stuffing it with too much filling.” Serenity leaned back against the seat, suddenly exhausted from the events of the day. Her emotions had been on a roller coaster ride, but she was with Luca now. Everything would be fine.
“I think she might be a vampire,” Luca said.
Serenity frowned and her head jerked up. “What?”
“Granny George,” Luca mused, pursing his lips. “She was old when I was in elementary school. How is she still alive? And how is she still making pies?”
“A pie making vampire,” Serenity said slowly.
Luca nodded, glancing her way before going back to the road. “Yeah. It makes sense.”
“How? How does that make sense? Vampires don’t eat pies.”
“That’s what makes it the perfect cover,” Luca explained. “No one suspects her of being one because vampires don’t eat pies.”
Serenity shook her head. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m just saying,” he continued. “Something’s odd about this.”
Serenity grinned. “So you haven’t been to the cafe since you got home, right?”
Luca shook his head. “Nope.”
“This’ll be the first time you’ve seen her in years?”
Luca’s smile faded, and he gave Serenity a concerned look. “Yeah…why?”
“Nothing.” Serenity couldn’t hide her smile, but she kept the laughter back. Granny George was a force of nature, and if Luca thought he could get away with slipping in and out…he needed to think again.
This was the worst idea Luca had had since coming home.
“What in the ever-loving world happened to your head?” Granny George screeched, her fisted hands on her hips as she shouted up at Luca.
Luca rubbed his head self consciously. “I shaved it?”
Her bushy eyebrows shoved together. “And the eye? Did you lose it, honey?”
Luca looked at Serenity, who was trying to hide her smile with her hand, but refused to help him out of this. Why had he ever wanted to come here?
“Your eye.” Granny George pointed to her own as if he hadn’t understood the question. “What happened? Who took it?”
Serenity snorted, then coughed. “Sorry,” she whispered.
“I was wounded,” Luca explained. “The doctors couldn’t save it.”
“Maybe it’s sitting in some jar somewhere,” Granny George muttered, shaking her head. “I’ve heard soldiers keep mementos of battle.”
“What?” Luca croaked.
The elderly woman waved a hand in the air. “Nothing to do about it now. I’ll feed ya whether you have one eye or three. Don’t matter to me.” She shuffled into the restaurant. “It’s about time you came out of your cave, Serenity Michaels. Thought you was gonna die of heartache.”
Serenity rolled her eyes. “I've been here several times, Granny George. You see me.”
The older woman stopped and turned, pointing to her forehead. “This cave, honey. Keep up.” She tsked her tongue and faced forward again. “Young people. Can’t tell which way is up.”
It was Luca’s turn to hide a smile, which he didn’t do a good job of if Serenity’s scowl was anything to go by.
“Sit here.” Granny George patted the back of a wooden chair. “We gotta get some meat on those bones. So chicken soup first. Pie comes later. If you’re good, I’ll add on some Tillamook ice cream.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Luca said, pulling out a chair for Serenity.
“Don’t let a gentleman pass you by, Serenity,” Granny George said as she left. “They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.” Pausing, she looked over her shoulder. “A little hair would have been nicer though, but we’ll forgive Luca just this once. The twins on the other hand…” The grandmother shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Only heaven knows what to do with those toddlers. Their wives are gonna need all the help they can get.”
Luca waited until Granny George had disappeared back into the kitchen to let go of the snorting laughter he was holding back. “I need to bring Tate and Jett in and let her at ‘em. In fact, I think I’ll record the whole thing.”
“She’s a spitfire,” Serenity grumbled.
Luca’s grin grew. “Are you sore she didn’t just peck at me the whole time?”
Serenity’s scowl softened, but she worked to hold onto it. “Maybe.”
Leaning over the table until they were almost nose to nose, Luca responded, “I’ll make it up to you later.”
Serenity laughed softly and turned her head away slightly, her cheeks flushing. “You’re making me blush.”
“Mission accomplished.” Luca straightened, but took her hand, holding it gently. “How did your day go? Was your sale a hit?”
She took a long breath in, nodding. “Yeah. I think it went well. It was long, but I’m glad I decided to take on today myself. I have a high schooler who helps out in the afternoons and she’ll come in tomorrow, but with the first day back open, I wanted to be the one at the front.”
Luca nodded. “Understandable.”
“How about you? How did things go at the station?” Her lips lost their curled up edge, instead drooping into a frown as she waited for him to answer.
Luca shrugged and took a sip of water. “Nothing remarkable. Told them what I saw and went to work.”
“Do you know anything about Gemma?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. Do you want to go by after we’re done and check on her?”
Serenity’s blue eyes flared. “Really? You wouldn’t mind?”
“Why would I mind?” Luca frowned.
Serenity shook her head. “I don’t know, I just…we’re both tired, and it’s one more stop, I guess.”
“Just because I don’t remember her from school doesn’t mean I’m not worried about her.”
Serenity smiled. “I didn’t mean that. But I’m sure you’re ready to drop into bed now.” She used her free hand to brush a finger under his eyes. “I can hide my black bags with make up. You…not so much.”
Luca coughed. “I slept pretty good last night,” he said, trying to move things along. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but his own that stress about Serenity and his lack of a career was keeping him up at night.
And it was true. After he and Serenity figured things out for sure last week, Luca had slept much better. He was looking forward to not feeling like a wrung out hand towel all day.
“We’ll try to get you home early, then.”
Luca waved her off. “No biggie. I can handle it.”
“Eat.” Granny George seemed to appear out of nowhere with two steaming bowls in her hands. “I’ll send Priscilla with rolls.” After setting down the bowls, the cafe owner nudged Luca’s shoulder. “Use extra butter. Works every time.”
Luca tried to hide his confusion. “Thank you?”
Granny George nodded. “Listen to your elders. We know a lot.” Tapping her temple, she was gone again.
“I’m telling you,” Luca whispered, leaning toward Serenity. “Vampire.”
Serenity slapped his shoulder. “Be nice.”
“I am! I could call her something much worse than an apex immortal creature of the night.”
Picking up her spoon, Serenity began turning over her soup and blowing on it. “I usually get the salad. I haven’t had her soup in forever.”
“My mom used to say Granny George’s soup was the only known cure to the flu.”
Serenity’s hand dropped a little. “I’m sorry about your parents,” she said softly. “I don’t know if I ever said that.”
Luca kept his focus on the bowl and nodded. “Thank you. It was hard losing them both at the same time.” When a drunk driver had run a red light and lost his life along with Luca’s parents, it had forced Luca to realize that protecting others wasn’t only something done on foreign soil. Loss could happen anywhere and anytime. He glanced up when Serenity patted his knee under the table.
“I’m glad you’re back,” she said with a soft smile.
Luca hoped she couldn't tell how tight his returning grin was. “Me too.” He was glad to be back, but that urgent feeling was hitting him again, causing him to want to run Serenity straight to the church.
He cleared his throat and took a bite of soup. It was just as good as he remembered. His mother would have loved it. He looked over and watched Serenity eat. His mother loved Serenity as well. Elana McCoy had been devastated when Luca stopped talking to his high school sweetheart.
But now…at least one of those situations was fixed. Luca wouldn’t rush Serenity to the altar, but he was here with her. He’d come home, he’d made amends, and now he just needed to figure out how he was going to support them before he took things further.
His mom was probably smiling like crazy, and that, in turn, made Luca smile. Things were going to be okay. He’d make sure of it.