Chapter Fourteen #2
She didn’t seem too enthusiastic about answering. “It’s just admin, really.”
He frowned. “You know that tells me nothing, right? What kind of admin, and who do you do it for? What kind of clients?”
She let out a short laugh. “Nothing interesting. My clients are all former colleagues of Simon’s.
In the early days of his career, I took on a lot of his social calendar and networking and…
” She waved a hand dismissively. “All the boring stuff. General life things, really. It made his life easier and left him free to focus on the business.”
She looked out through the windshield as she went on.
“The rest of it started by accident, I suppose. We were at dinner with a group of friends one night and someone asked how Simon was always so organized. He revealed me as his secret weapon. One of his friends had recently divorced and was hopelessly struggling to keep up with everything. He joked—or at least I thought he was joking—that he’d pay me good money if I could do the same for him.
Simon didn’t take it as a joke. He thought it was a good opportunity for me. ”
Blane scowled. “Did you think it was a good opportunity?” He glanced over at her, but she immediately grabbed the door handle.
“Keep your eyes on the road, please, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
He chuckled. “You’re gonna have to get used to these roads, Bea. And I know it’s about the road, not me. You trust me to drive, right?”
She laughed. “Of course I do. I’m just nervous, that’s all.
Sorry. And honestly, no, I didn’t think it was a good opportunity, but I did like the idea of making a little money of my own.
Especially since, to me, it’s not really work.
It’s just common sense. You organize a calendar, schedule appointments, keep notes about people’s likes and dislikes, birthdays, things like that.
” She let out a breath. “I didn’t really enjoy doing it for Simon, but it made life easier. ”
“If you didn’t enjoy doing it for him…” Blane pursed his lips, then nodded. “No, I can see why you’d do it as a job. If you wanted to earn your own money, that makes sense, but…” He glanced at her again before remembering himself and looking back at the road. “Do you still need the money?”
She sat up a little straighter.
“Shit, sorry. Am I being a crass American to your classy Brit?”
She laughed out loud. “No, nothing of the sort. And I’m sorry if I bristled a little at the question. The honest answer is that no, I don’t need the money. It’s just…” She fell quiet for a moment. “I feel rather foolish admitting it, but I’ve never considered before that I could just stop.”
She was quiet again, and when she spoke, there was wonder in her voice. “I could, couldn’t I? I could just stop doing it.”
“Course you could. You could fire all your clients right now if you wanted to.”
She laughed again. “Oh my goodness, that sounds rather wonderful, but I couldn’t really.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Well, because they rely on me.”
He nodded slowly. He could see why that felt like a reason to her. He didn’t like it, but he could see it, so he let it go. It wasn’t his place to push.
She turned to stare out the window at the rugged hillsides as the road wound down toward the southern coast. The landscape was much drier here, the olive groves giving way to scrubland, and as Blane looked out over it, he realized that in a way it almost reminded him of Montana.
~ ~ ~
As they drove down into Plakias, the sight of the sea was enough to help Bea push all thoughts of her work and Simon out of her mind. She didn’t need to make any decisions today, although she’d be forever grateful to Blane for helping her see that there was even a decision she could make.
“Look.” She pointed through the windshield. “The sea is at the end of here. You can go that way, and then we can drive all the way along the front. There’s a little car park behind the big supermarket.”
She knew she shouldn’t feel as ridiculously proud of herself as she did, but the way Blane followed her directions without question meant more than she could say. Not that she would say anything at all.
Once he’d parked the SUV, she patted its roof before they walked away. Blane shook his head at her with a smile.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s been a wonderful little friend to us, and I’m sure it’s grateful to be parked in the shade.”
He chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go see this beach. The SUV will be fine parked here.”
The road ran alongside the beach, with the sea on one side and a row of shops and businesses on the other. Everywhere was much quieter than Bea had seen it before, but then she’d never been here this early in the season. Half the shops were still closed, which worried her a little.
“You all right?” Blane asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just hoping the little restaurants over by the harbor wall will be open. It looks as though a lot of places aren’t yet.”
“It’s all good. If they’re not, we’ll find somewhere else. Or we can pick something up from the store and I’ll make us something when we get back home.”
Her breath caught, and she knew he’d heard it too—home.
She was starting to think of the house that way herself, but for him to call it that… No. There was no point in examining that thought. She peered ahead along the walkway and then pointed. “Look, it’s okay. The restaurants are open, look. You can see the menus set up outside.”
He looked to check, and she was a little disappointed that they somehow managed to avoid each other’s gaze.
Still, the house was her new home, and Blane was here for now.
If she knew anything about life, it was to be grateful for the good things while they were there and not dwell too much on the rest.
“But,” she said, turning a smile on him, “I don’t think we should go straight there.”
“You don’t?”
“No.” She pointed back the way they’d come. “There are some steps down to the beach a little way behind us. I’d love to put my feet in the water. Would you?”
She had to laugh at his expression. “All right, the eyebrows are telling me that’s a no. So, my next question is, would you mind waiting while I just go and dip my toes in?”
His frown turned into a full-blown scowl. “Yeah, Bea. I would mind.”
“Oh. I… uh…”
He shook his head with a smile. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I’m not gonna lie, it’d never have occurred to me to take my shoes off and walk in the water, but if that’s what you want to do, that’s what we’re gonna do.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to just because I—”
“Bea.”
She swallowed as she looked up at him. “Honestly.”
His hand came down on her shoulder. “I know I don’t have to. I’m saying I want to.”
“But you don’t… I…”
“I said it wouldn’t have occurred to me as something I wanted to do. Now that you want to do it, I want to do it. Okay?”
She smiled. “Okay. Thank you.”
“Not doing it for you.”
She laughed. “Yes, you are.”
He chuckled as he took her hand and started walking them back toward the steps that led down to the beach. “Told you before. Seeing you happy makes me happy, so I’m doing it for me. Okay?”
“Okay. Whatever you say.”
They sat at the bottom of the steps to take off their shoes. Bea was wearing capri pants, but Blane muttered to himself as he started turning up the legs of his jeans.
She batted at his shoulder. “I told you, you don’t have to do this.”
“We already settled that one, Bea. I just feel like a damn fool rolling my pants up like this.”
She laughed. “You could take them off.”
He stood and towered over her. “You want me to?”
Her eyes widened. “I’d love you to, but not necessarily—”
He was already reaching for his belt buckle.
“Blane!”
“What?”
“You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because…”
He laughed out loud, and that was a sight to behold. “Don’t look so worried. I’m only teasing.”
“Oh, you.”
He shrugged and reached for her hand again. Her first step into the water made her shiver, but she waded in a little farther and soon got used to it. Blane didn’t even seem to notice the cold.
“You want the water side or the sand side?”
It took her only a moment to understand what he meant as he held his hand out to her. “Oh, water side, please.”
And then they were walking hand in hand along the water’s edge. Bea had to close her eyes for a moment against the emotion that welled in her throat and behind her eyes.
“You okay?”
She nodded and sniffed. “Wonderful.”
“Shit, Bea. I’m sorry. I didn’t think. Is this somewhere that holds memories for you? I—”
“No. Blane, no. It’s nothing like that.” She squeezed his hand tighter and looked up into his eyes. “This was a dream of mine when I was a girl.”
“What was?”
“This.” She looked down at their joined hands and then out at the sea. “My idea of romance was walking hand in hand with a wonderful man at the water’s edge on a beautiful day like this.”
His brows drew together, and his jaw worked as he stared at her. “Did I mess it up?” he asked eventually.
“Oh God, Blane, no. Not at all. What I’m saying is…” She drew a breath. “Actually, I’m going to use the same excuse you did. This is unfiltered. It’s the truth, so it might be too much.”
He waited.
“What I’m saying is, you made my dream come true.”
He stared at her for another moment and blinked. Then, before she knew it, her face was pressed against his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her and his chin resting on top of her head.
She chuckled into his shirt. “Thank you.”
“No, Bea. Thank you.” His arms tightened around her. “That means the world to me. I don’t…” He blew out a breath. “Hell, I don’t know what to say.”
She tipped her head back to look up into his eyes. “I don’t know what to say either, other than thank you.”