Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
C ora had planned the whole day out. She had Kyle agree to take them to the lighthouse so they could hike to the overlook, which, in Cora's opinion, had one of the best views of Blueberry Bay and all of Maine. Then she’d take him to the tavern for some real chowder. Afterward, she’d show him the cottage and the blueberry fields. Later, her mother invited Brandon for dinner for Lobster pie with the rest of the family.
“You came!” she said as he got out of his car. She skipped up to him, delighted to see him, and immediately gave him a big hug. “I can’t believe you did it.”
“Did what?” he asked, laughing as she squeezed him.
“Took a vacation.” She couldn’t believe he actually took her up on her offer, but she was glad he did. “I missed you.”
He smiled as she let go of him. “I’ve missed you, too.”
As they stood there, something happened as he looked at her. She didn’t know what, but something fluttered in her belly as he kept his eyes on her—those dazzling blue eyes of his. Why hadn’t she noticed the tiny specks of gold before?
“Come in, come in,” she said, breaking the stare and guiding him toward the house. She turned away so he wouldn’t see her blushing.
“This place is unbelievable,” he said, walking into the cottage. “The whole town could be a setting for a movie.”
“Isn’t it beautiful,” she said, closing the door behind him.
He stepped into the cottage and looked around.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, looking for the rest of her family. Her mother would be around there soon.
“You’ve always told me how beautiful it was, so I thought I’d finally check it out. Plus, I heard there were these really cool linens I should check out.”
Her face lit up. “Wait until you see my lobster!”
She ran into the dining room and came back, holding a swatch of fabric.
“Oh, wow,” he said, touching the linen with his hands. “This is yours?”
“Well, sort of,” she said. “The fabric is produced here in Blueberry Bay at a local mill, but I created the design, made the dye, and painted it on the fabric.”
Brandon put his hand around her shoulder and squeezed her into him, and Cora felt a warm feeling come over her, like a wave covering her body under his arm. She felt safe and protected under it.
Calm.
“Look at what you created! It’s amazing! Is that an apron?” he asked, picking up an apron she had started sewing. “You have to sell these to the restaurant.”
Brandon stepped back from Cora as Meredith came into the room and introduced herself. “Welcome to Blueberry Bay.”
Brandon held out his hand. “You have a beautiful place. I’m a big fan of your father’s work.”
He gestured to the large oil painting on the mantel, which was done by Cora’s grandfather.
“My grandfather always painted a mermaid in the corner of his paintings because of my grandmother,” Cora pointed to the small mermaid in the corner.
“Like the statue in the park,’ he said, walking over to the painting to get a closer look.
“You saw it?” Cora asked.
“I saw it when I arrived.” He walked up to the painting to get a closer look.
“My grandmother would do the same thing in her paintings, but her own mermaid.” Cora picked up a piece of fabric with her mermaid design. “And now I do the same thing.”
Brandon’s eyes locked onto hers again, and the whirling feeling came back when he said, “That’s great, Cora.”
“Where’s the rest of your stuff?” he asked.
She pointed to the piano room. He walked to the table where all her samples were laid out. With his finger, he traced one of the squares she had made with the large mermaid design in the bottom right corner. She had used the raw linen color as the background and the blueberry dye as her mermaid. She stood next to him as he finished tracing her tail.
“It’s beautiful, Cora,” he said, looking up at her.
And that was when something rushed through her like a wave crashing over her this time, but with it, a deep sense of calm.
She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “I’m glad you’re here.”
He squeezed it back. “Me too.”
She didn’t let go until Gordon came walking into the room, but she could feel his touch linger on her hand. Something had happened right then, right?
“I’m going to head to the market, do you need anything?” Meredith asked.
Cora shook her head, stepping back a bit, but by the look on her mother’s face, she noticed something, too.
“Are these all of your designs for your collection?” he asked, moving around the table as he studied her work.
She nodded. “Are you going to let me read your book?” she asked as he continued to examine her stuff.
He glanced up from the grass sample. “Not until I’m done.”
A while back, after weeks of begging, she’d gotten him to share what he was working on during his breaks. The story had been so raw and real that she had cried and laughed at the same time. A story of a murder that was really a story of a young man losing himself when his father died. Something about the grief in the main character had triggered her own kind of grief about the divorce and losing the father she had known.
“What I read was incredible,” she said.
As he stared back at her, she swore he was looking into her soul, his deep blue eyes penetrating her.
“You want to go for a hike to a lighthouse?” she asked him.
He nodded. “Yes, definitely.”