Chapter Eighteen #2
“Hang on to that thought. I’ll be right back.” Jake set his bottle on the table and got up to grab their order.
He was halfway back to the table when the smell of smoky BBQ brisket, jerk chicken, and french fries wafted past her nose. She moaned. Jake looked around as if embarrassed the other diners might have heard her.
She motioned for him to hand her the bag. “You’re acting as if none of Smoke Shack’s customers have ever moaned over the smell of their food.” She opened the bag and moaned again.
“Seriously, Sage, you need to stop moaning like that,” he said, sending an apologetic glance at the table behind theirs where a mother sat with her three children as he took a seat.
“Stop moaning like what?”
He leaned across the table and lowered his voice. “Like you’re having sex.”
She laughed. “I do not sound like…” She caught the mother of three’s eye, and the woman nodded as if commiserating with her, pointing at Jake and then shaking her hand in the universal gesture of that man is hot .
Sage gave the woman a look while casting a pointed glance at her children. Then she handed Jake his BBQ brisket burger and fries without meeting his gaze.
At his amused snort, she took an aggressive bite of her jerk chicken sandwich.
Of course he’d seen her staring down the woman.
He didn’t miss much. They ate in silence for five minutes with Sage trying to contain her moans, but the fries did her in.
She raised a hand to her mouth and uttered a quiet moan.
“Next time we order from Smoke Shack, we’re eating on the beach. Better yet, at home. I mean, the farm.”
She was embarrassed about her moaning, and Jake seemed embarrassed that he’d referred to the farm as home. She took pity on them both and changed the subject. “So, like I was going to tell you, I think Kendra has cured my boredom problem, and yours too.”
“I don’t have a boredom problem. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy.”
“Well, unless you want to tell the fifty people who have emailed, and that’s not including three senior homes and two day-care centers, that we will not be opening the lavender farm at the end of June, you’re going to be even busier.
” She took another bite of her jerk chicken sandwich, savoring and swallowing before continuing.
“We also have twenty-five online orders from the lavender shop that need to be fulfilled, and Kendra has been fielding phone calls too.”
“We have a lavender shop?”
She took a sip of her beer and nodded. “We do. You know the cute little weather-beaten shed? That’s the physical shop, and there’s one online.”
“Huh, and what do we sell in our shop?”
“A lot.”
“And where do we buy this stuff that we sell?”
She picked up a french fry and shook it at him. “You’re adorable.”
“Thank you.”
“I was being facetious.”
“I figured. So you’re telling me we’re supposed to make the stuff we sell in the shop?”
“Unless we want to disappoint hundreds of people and have our bottom line look bottomless when we put the farm on the market, I am. But don’t worry, I’ve figured out a way to deal with our lavender-product problem and my family-feud problem.”
“I thought you said your visit with your grandmother went well.”
“It did, and she credited the smell of lavender for making her chillmellow.”
“Chillmellow?”
“Chill and mellow. I’ll invite my family over this weekend. They’ll spend the day making our line of products with us and bonding, and then we’ll end the day with a Sunday family dinner.”
“We have a line of lavender products?”
Interesting. She’d thought he’d focus on the Sunday family dinner part, but maybe he thought she’d learned to cook in the intervening years.
“We do, but we’ll cut down to just a few items. Kendra found a book of recipes and a box of ingredients to make the products.
We’ll go with the easiest ones. Plus there’s always YouTube.
And my mom. She knows a ton about aromatherapy and the benefits of lavender. So we’re all good.”
“You sound more hopeful than positive. Are your sister and aunt still upset about your mom and Flynn?”
“According to my mom, they are, and she’s still mad at them too. At least she was this afternoon. She’d planned to stop by to give me an update, but we had Alice’s thing. She’ll stop by tomorrow to give me the lay of the land.”
“Do you really think it’s a good idea having them all under the same roof?”
“I checked the weather. It’s supposed to be nice Sunday. Well, according to my sister it is. I’ll call Amos and ask him.” Willow’s grandfather was a weather whiz. “I thought we’d set up tables under the trees in the back. It will be all nice and—”
“Chillmellow?” he asked, a rumble of laughter in his voice.
“Why are you laughing?”
“You’re the least chillmellow person I…” His voice trailed off, his eyes narrowing on something behind her. Then he smiled at her—but it seemed a little forced, and she didn’t understand why.
“Don’t look over your shoulder. We—” He reached over the table, placing his hands on either side of her face, preventing her from looking behind her. “I should have told you to look over your shoulder.” He groaned when her head automatically started turning.
“I can’t help it. I’m a curious person,” she said, her eyes straining to look behind her.
He stood and leaned across the table and kissed her, hard.
She had a feeling he was putting on a performance for whoever he didn’t want her to look at, but then the kiss changed.
His lips softened, and the kiss felt all too real and good and deep and hot, and she wished they weren’t sitting on the Smoke Shack’s patio with the mother and her three kids looking on.
That reminder alone was enough for Sage to break the kiss, which had the added benefit of her synapses snapping into place.
“Is it Spicy Eggplant?” she whispered, so close she could count his eyelashes. She hadn’t realized how long they were.
“No. Spicy Eggplant is a seventy-year-old woman who lives in a retirement home in Iowa.”
“You talked to her?”
He nodded, his eyes on something behind her.
“Just as I was leaving to pick you up to go to the funeral home. I got distracted and forgot about it until now. She’s a nice woman who’s having fun with her online persona.
She loves Carmen, Eva, and Gia and didn’t realize her comments might be crossing the line or causing them concern.
She promises to rein it in.” He trailed his lips across her cheek and brought his mouth to her ear.
“We need to get this guy out of the vehicle so I can get a look at him. Let’s go. ”
“Where are we going?”
“For a romantic walk along the beach, and you’re not going to look behind you. Right?” He laughed when her head started turning, and he gently nipped her earlobe. “Do you ever do as you’re told?”
She held his gaze. “Rarely, but I’ve been known to make exceptions.”
He cleared his throat. “Maybe we should save that conversation for later.” He straightened, gathering up their empty containers and putting them in the bag. “What are you doing?”
“Taking a selfie.” She smiled at her phone, fluffing her hair while angling the screen to get a look at the cars lining the road. She spotted creepy guy’s vehicle two down from her BMW. “You’re right. Let’s go for a walk.”
She took off her heels when they reached the sandy path bordered by seagrass. “Can you see him?” she murmured to Jake, who was walking backward, pretending to take a photo of her.
“You need to pose or smile so this looks real,” he said quietly, laughing when she did a series of what she thought of as runway poses. “He’s getting out of the car.”
They walked across the warm white sand to the shoreline.
Jake took off his shoes and rolled up his pant legs.
Then he took her hand, and they walked along the water’s edge.
The white foam topping the waves covered their feet as they kicked water in the air, the sun shining on the water droplets giving it a magical quality.
“That’s a great picture,” Jake said, and jogged ahead. He turned to face her, smiling at her, encouraging her to kick the waves higher, shaking his head when she got him wet.
She laughed, forgetting for a minute that this was for show.
Not really surprised to discover there was a part of her that wanted it to be real.
It was a silly thought. She and Jake wouldn’t work long-term.
They wanted different things in life. For one, he wanted to live in Sunshine Bay, and she wanted to live in Boston.
“Did you get him in the shot?” she whispered when Jake rejoined her, reclaiming her hand.
“No, but I got a great picture of you,” he said, holding up the screen. “You look beautiful.”
She frowned, wondering if he meant it or was acting for their audience of one. She thought she had her answer when he put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her against him, resting his head on hers. He raised his phone. “Smile.”
He took several more, then let her go to look through the photos.
“Gotcha. Now to figure out who you are.” He turned the screen to her.
“He fits the description of the guy Alice was seen talking to. And see that right there.” He drew his finger along the man’s jaw.
“He knows we’ve made him, which means he’ll either go to ground for a while or make his approach in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
I have the feeling it will be the latter. ”
“Do you think he’s dangerous?”
“My gut says no, but I’ll have my friend run photo recognition on him and see what pops. You can send the photo to your family. Maybe someone will recognize him.” He glanced over his shoulder. “We can take off now. He’s gone.”
“Great,” she said, hoping he didn’t catch the hint of disappointment in her voice. So much for a romantic sunset walk. It really had been all for creeper guy’s benefit.
“Just say the word if you want to keep walking. I don’t mind. It’s a nice night.”
She needed to be more careful around him, or a much better actress. Maybe Cami could give her some tips. “No. I’m good, thanks.”
“You sure? You sounded disappointed.”
“It’s just that I really wanted to try one of those smoked-bacon-wrapped Oreos the woman behind us was eating.” It was as good a cover for her disappointment as she could come up with on short notice. And they had looked really good. She smiled, remembering his reaction to her moaning.
“Sure. I’ll run ahead and get you some. I’ll meet you at the car.”
Sage sighed as he took off across the beach. It was as if he couldn’t wait to get away from her. She decided he must have picked up on her romantic feelings and vowed to do a better job keeping them in check, reminding herself why romance and men sucked as she walked back to the car.
Okay, so Jake didn’t suck, she thought as she sat in the car, watching him walk toward her fifteen minutes later. He’d stood in the long line with the hot sun beating down on him while she waited in the air-conditioned car.
“Thanks,” she said when he tossed her the bag.
“You’re welcome. They said they were one of Alice’s favorites.” He smiled as he put on his seat belt.
She held one up. “Do you want one?”
“Sure. I’ll save it for when we get home, though,” he said as he pulled back onto the road and headed in the direction of the farm.
Sage bit into the bacon-wrapped Oreo. It was so good that she’d describe it as orgasmic, and that’s exactly what her moan sounded like. She smiled around the cookie. And this time she only had an audience of one.
Jake swore, jerking the wheel. “Sage, you almost made me drive off the road.”
“How? All I’m doing is eating my cookie.” She wiped crumbs from her chest. “I finished mine. Can I have yours?”
“No.”