Chapter 19 Linc #2
I held up a finger to her lips. “I know your bakery is important, Sunny. And for now, yes, I will be there with you as much as I can. We will talk and text every day. I won’t even address the ‘have enough sex to tide us over,’ because there will never be enough with you.
But as the future becomes now, we’ll figure it out. ”
“You don’t ever want to live in Mission Cove again.” It was a statement, not a question.
“It was never in my plans, no,” I admitted, running my knuckles down her cheek. “But I didn’t know you were there.”
“And now?”
“Now that I found you again, I’m not letting you go. Ever. So, whatever we have to do, we’ll decide it—together. Here. There. Somewhere in between. But it will be us, Sunny. Not a summer of us, but a lifetime of us. Understand?”
She regarded me in silence, then turned back in my arms and sank down in the water again. “Fine,” she huffed. “Bossy man.”
She pushed away a mound of foam.
“Possessive bastard,” she added, muttering under her breath.
I hauled her up my chest and bit her neck. “Damn right, I’m possessive. Don’t forget it.”
I heard her muffled giggle. I tightened my hold. “We’ll work it out, Sunny. Trust me.”
“I do.”
I liked those two words. I planned on her saying them again—in a totally different setting and with witnesses.
And soon.
Iliked waking up with Sunny beside me. Even more, I liked being able to make love to her in the early dawn, listening to her low moans and feeling her clench around me as I took her from behind, holding her leg over my hip and slowly thrusting into her until she cried out my name.
I followed not long after, with my face buried in her neck, her light scent filling my senses.
We showered, ate the biscuits she’d made the day before, then left for Mission Cove. On a whim, I took a detour, and we stopped at the old summer camp. The camp had closed and the land sold, but Gerry and Cindy retained a small piece of the property and still lived there.
I followed the road that led up to the old dining hall. Gerry and Cindy had converted it, and it now looked like a comfortable home.
I stepped out of the car as Gerry opened the front door, stepping out on the porch. He was older, his hair gray, but he still walked tall, his shoulders straight. He approached the edge of the porch.
“Can I help you?”
Sunny opened her door and she slid out. “Hi, Gerry.”
He beamed at her. “Hey, Sunny.” He indicated me. “Who’s your friend?”
I pulled off my sunglasses. “Hey, Gerry.”
His eyes widened. “Well, son of a bitch.” He hurried down the steps, shouting over his shoulder for his wife, then grabbing me in a bear hug. “Linc.”
Cindy came out the door. She hadn’t changed, although her hair was white and her face had a few more wrinkles. But her warm smile was the same, and her hug was firm.
They insisted we come in. Cindy bustled around getting coffee, Sunny offering to help her. Gerry showed me around, explaining how they’d remodeled the large building. “Cindy had knee surgery a while back, so we needed one floor. This is perfect for us.”
“It’s great, Gerry.”
We sat on the porch they had added, facing the lake.
“I often wondered about you, kid,” he mused. “Your father—he made you disappear?”
“Yeah,” was all I could get out. Memories of that summer, that perfect summer Sunny and I spent here, were overwhelming me.
“I should have done something.”
I shook my head, facing him. “There was nothing anyone could do, Gerry. My father was too powerful and determined to keep me away from Sunny or anything that made me happy.” I slouched back in my chair, staring at the water. “But he’s dead now, and his control is gone.”
Sunny and Cindy joined us, a tray of coffee and cookies sitting on the table. I grinned around a mouthful of the oatmeal raisin cookie. It was another memory come to life. “So good,” I murmured, reaching for another.
“We use Cindy’s recipe at the bakery,” Sunny informed me. “They are one of our biggest sellers.”
I grabbed a third, not at all embarrassed.
Cindy chuckled. “I see your appetite hasn’t changed.”
“Nope. I was denied all the things I loved for so long. Now, I have them anytime I want.” I met Sunny’s gaze with a subtle wink, causing pink to spread across her cheeks.
Gerry caught me and chuckled. “Nice to see the two of you together.”
I lifted Sunny’s hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “It feels nice. Really nice.”
We all laughed, and Gerry and Cindy caught me up on their life.
“About four years after you disappeared, we decided to close the camp,” Gerry mused. “We were getting on, kids didn’t want to be counselors anymore, and our numbers were dwindling.”
I nodded, already knowing what he was about to say.
“We put the land up for sale, with the stipulation we keep a small piece for our retirement.” He sighed. “It was a hard decision, but we knew it was our nest egg.”
He rested his arm on the chair. “Imagine my shock when we got an offer—a really good offer on the land—that allowed us to keep, in what was my opinion, the most valuable piece of the property. I was given a free lease that expires when both Cindy and I are gone.”
I took a sip of my coffee, not meeting his eyes.
“A further shock has been that the land has never been developed. A crew shows up twice a year, cuts back trees, makes sure it’s clean, even does the same work on my property, then leaves. No surveyors, no real estate people, no developers have ever been here.”
“Hmm,” I muttered. “Odd, I agree.”
No one would ever develop the land around them—I’d made sure of that. They had been good to me. Treated me well. It had been one of the first things I had bought when I put my plan into place. I was determined to look after them.
“It’s amazing,” Gerry mused. “Same thing seems to be happening in Mission Cove. Unexpected gifts of property. Houses being rebuilt and sold at a fraction of their value. Almost gifted, some say.”
Sunny looked between us, putting the pieces together.
Gerry rested his elbows on his knees. “What are you doing these days, Linc?"
I waved my hand. “This and that. Finance mostly.”
“Uh-huh. Any property investments?”
“I have my fingers in a lot of pies, Gerry,” I said smoothly.
“I bet you do,” he said with a smirk. “I bet you do.”
I let his remark pass.
Cindy and Sunny got up and took the tray inside. They were talking about recipes and a new cookie for the bakery for Sunny to try.
“She’s become a lovely woman,” he stated.
“Yes.”
“She part of your future, Linc? Or only for now?”
“My future,” I stated firmly.
“Good. She suffered greatly when you left.”
I snorted. “I didn’t do so well myself, Gerry.” I shut my eyes. “I was locked up, no way to contact anyone, and scared most of the time.”
“But you survived.”
“I survived,” I agreed.
He was quiet for a moment. “Are you living in your father’s house?”
I shuddered at the thought. “No. I’m having it destroyed.”
“Going to rebuild?”
“I haven’t decided,” I said honestly. “Maybe nothing.”
“That would be a waste.”
“As long as the monument to his stranglehold on Mission Cove is gone, I’m happy.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, rubbing his bottom lip. “Maybe you need to think again, Linc.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are obviously rebuilding this town, Linc. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that all the improvements that have happened are in some way connected to your past.”
I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t looking for thanks or glory.
“I get you want to destroy the legacy of your father.”
I snorted. “Legacy isn’t the word I would use. Reign of destruction, more like it.”
“Fine. Then think, Linc. Destroying your father’s house—fine. But leaving the land empty? You’re missing an opportunity.”
I faced him fully. “An opportunity?”
He nodded. “Your father was all about keeping everyone down. Being king. He never reached out his hand to help people—he liked to keep them beneath him. You want to purge his memory? Then do something positive with the land.” He grinned evilly. “Something your father would hate.”
“Do you have an idea?”
He leaned forward. “I do.”
We shook hands goodbye. “Don’t be a stranger,” Gerry said and waved his hand toward his house. “And I know, kid. I know this was you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He clapped me on the shoulder. “Okay. Keep your secret. But I am forever in your debt. It broke my heart, thinking I would have to leave this place.”
“That will never happen,” I vowed, then snapped my mouth shut.
He winked. “It’s okay, kid. Your secret is safe. Remember what we talked about. Think hard.”
“I will.”
I slid into the car, and we headed for Mission Cove. I knew Sunny was already thinking of the list of items she had to take care of. My head was swimming with Gerry’s idea. It was simple but perfect.
“It was you who bought his land.” Sunny’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“Yes.”
She reached over and squeezed my hand. “Linc, you have so much good in you—even if you refuse to see it.”
“Gerry had an idea about the land that will be left when the house is gone.”
“Oh?”
I turned my head and met her gaze briefly. “He thinks I should build a library and community center. A place where kids could hang out after school, have access to computers, maybe someone to talk to if they need it.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“My father would have hated it. He never wanted to help kids. Not those less fortunate, anyway,” I added. “In fact, no one else less fortunate, regardless of their age. He thought it was his place, his right, to keep them down, not help them up.”
“That’s where you’re so different.”
I ignored her remark.
“The library in town is pretty small. I could triple its size. The whole top floor could be the library. The main floor, a place for kids to hang out. Play games, do their homework.” I thought of how often I went home to an empty house and hated it. “Have other people around.”
“That would be awesome. It would benefit someone like Michael. He’s always juggling to make sure his kids have a place to go to after school—even in a small town like ours.”
I warmed to the idea. “We’d have a shuttle bus. I bet I could get Gerry to help plan it. He knows kids and what they need. Maybe Cindy would want to hold some baking lessons. We could add a kitchen at the back.”
Sunny sealed the idea for me. “You could call it the Amanda Webber Community Center after your mother. Have her picture on the wall when you walk in. It would be hers then, not your father’s.”
My heart warmed at her words.
“Perfect.”