Ginny arrived at the home that Mrs. Travis was staying at on time, knowing how the woman liked punctuality. She expected to have a quick visit, which meant doing nothing more than saying hello, taking the check and saying goodbye.
But it appeared that Mrs. Travis had other plans. When Ginny arrived, she found the old woman in the sunroom sitting before a large breakfast spread.
“Please sit,” Mrs. Travis said, “have breakfast with me.”
She really needed to get back to the café, but she couldn’t say no. So she sat across from the older woman and answered the questions that she was peppered with.
“Do you like Sugar Cove?”
“Very much.”
“What made you move there?”
Here, she hesitated. “A life change,” was the best answer that she could manage. “My family was ready for one, so that’s what we did.”
Mrs. Travis studied her closely when asking, “Do you like going up into the tower?”
Ginny picked at the fluffy scrambled eggs on her plate. “Honestly, I didn’t at first. But I do now. I like it better. I felt very claustrophobic at first. But now it’s calmed down.”
The old woman nodded in approval. Tired of being asked so many questions that seemed to have come out of nowhere, Ginny said, “Are you all by yourself here?”
“I have Sam, and my assistant is back helping me with day-to-day activities. She’s out now,” Mrs. Travis explained.
“But what of your things? Did you bring anything from home with you?”
“You mean added luxuries?”
“Yes. You’ve been here for much longer than a two-week vacation. Where’s your family?”
Mrs. Travis smiled wistfully. “When I’m in Sugar Cove, this place is my family. I prefer to come alone.”
“Do you bring mementos? Pictures? This house is beautiful, but there don’t seem to be many personal touches to it.”
In fact, the home felt more like a movie set or a condominium than a place that was lived in. There weren’t any family pictures or even knickknacks that suggested the owners’ tastes.
Mrs. Travis waved dismissively toward the front of the house. “A few things, but nothing valuable. I prefer to travel light.”
The women talked for a few more minutes before Mrs. Travis announced that their meeting was over, and she was ready to hand over payment for the luncheon.
“It was a very nice event,” the older woman assured her. “It was good to be back in the lighthouse again.”
“When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow morning. I’ve been here long enough. It’s time for me to get back to the city. Now. Where did I put that check?”
She searched the table but couldn’t find it. A bell sat beside her plate. She rang it, but Sam didn’t come.
Mrs. Travis frowned. “He must be busy with something. I’ll be right back.”
She rose, as did Ginny. “Can I help you?”
“No, no. Meet me in the foyer. I’ll return in a moment.”
Ginny did as she was asked, taking her time as she made her way back to the front of the house. Though there weren’t any knickknacks, beautiful vases and antique porcelain statues dotted the house here and there. Ginny admired them until she reached the door, where a sofa table was butted up against the wall. Sitting atop it was a small wooden statue that looked glaringly out of place.
Curious, she picked it up and turned it around, admiring the lines. Her gaze roved over it, and when it reached the backside, she was so shocked by what she saw that she dropped it, scrambling to catch the statue before it hit the floor.
Her fingers shook as she placed it back atop the table.
“Everything all right?” Mrs. Travis asked, leaning heavily on her cane as she made her way over to Ginny.
“Y-yes. Everything’s fine. Thank you.” She took the check and smiled. “Tomorrow? That’s when you’re leaving?”
“Yes. Right after breakfast.”
“All right. Have a safe trip.”
“Thank you. I would open the door for you, but the cane makes it difficult.”
“I understand.” Ginny’s fingers still trembled as she grabbed the knob and turned it. “I’ve got it just fine. Travel well.”
She had the door open and was about to step through it when Mrs. Travis’s voice stopped her. “Thank you again, for everything. Your meal made this trip special.”
“You’re welcome.”
She gave one final nod and stepped out of the house, softly shutting the door behind her. As soon as she was outside, Ginny exhaled a staggering breath before regaining her composure and heading home.
* * *
“Are you sure?” Aiden asked later that afternoon.
Ginny sat on his couch, her feet curled up under her, drinking a cup of hot tea that he had made. No, he hadn’t made her chocolate soufflé this time.
But in some ways Ginny almost wished that he had, given that she’d enjoyed their kiss so much. When she thought about it, she could feel his lips on hers, and she wondered when they would share their next kiss.
He sat beside her with a cup of coffee between his hands. The leather couch dipped under his weight, and he sipped his drink before setting it on the table in front of them.
He lifted his brows, silently repeating the question he had asked. Oh, right. He’d asked her something.
“Yes, I’m sure. There’s no mistaking it.”
He pursed his lips and draped one arm over the back of the couch. “What are you going to do about it?”
She sighed before taking another sip of the herbal tea. “I’m not sure, to be honest. Do you think that I should give it to her?”
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
“You’re right. I’ll do that.”
She set her tea down, and they stared at one another. They hadn’t talked about the kiss. In fact, they’d barely spoken since Saturday. But that was because they were both busy, not because they were avoiding each other.
Right?
“Ginny, I wanted to talk to you about the other night.”
Her stomach quivered. Oh no. From the sound of his voice, it seemed like Aiden was about to drop some sort of bomb. Was he going to say that he regretted the kiss? That it wasn’t as good as he’d been expecting? That he’d made a mistake?
She felt her face heat as he stared at her. Was there a bed she could dive under? A plant that she could hide behind so that she wouldn’t have to deal with his rejection?
But she was a big girl, one who was used to facing life and taking it by the horns. “What did you want to talk about?”
His blue eyes flicked to hers. “When we kissed. I know that you’re not ready for anything, and I hope that I didn’t overstep any boundaries.”
Her stomach dropped before settling. “Boundaries?”
He nodded.
And then she understood. Aiden felt like maybe she’d regretted it.
Her gaze dropped to her lap. “Well, I hope you didn’t regret it.”
“I don’t,” he answered quickly. “Do you?”
She shook her head and slowly lifted her gaze until his eyes locked on hers. “Not at all. It was unexpected, but I liked it.”
“I know that it’s very soon after your husband’s death.”
She placed her cup of tea on the table near his and slid over on the couch to be closer to him. Aiden opened his arms, and she slipped her hands around his waist as he tugged her close.
“It is soon after Jack’s death, but there’s something I’ve learned about that relationship, something that only hindsight could have shown me.”
“What’s that?” he asked, pressing his chin to the top of her head.
She murmured the words into his chest, using his body as armor to barricade her heart. Because if Aiden rejected her, it would be painful, and she wasn’t sure that she was ready for that. But sometimes in life you had to leap and hope that you’d be caught. In this case she hoped Aiden would be the one doing the catching.
“I’ve learned that I didn’t have a relationship with Jack. He gave all the best parts of himself to Savannah and their child. He didn’t leave anything for me, and I got used to it. I thought that relationship was the best that I would ever have. Little did I know that there were other fish in the sea, even at my age.”
He hugged her tight. “I was worried that the kiss scared you off.”
She tipped her head up to stare into those sea-blue eyes. “The last thing it did was scare me. If anything, it made me realize what a drought I was living in. So no, I don’t regret it. If anything, I want more.”
His eyes widened. “I don’t want to give you more than you can take.”
“How about I’ll tell you when it’s too much. And if what you give me is more than I can handle, I’ll say so. Then we can pull back.”
“You sure?”
His voice was so tender when he asked that her heart ached. How Ginny wished that she’d been given this earlier in her life, that Jack had been more like Aiden. But at the same time, if Jack had been like him, she never would’ve met Aiden, and she was grateful for their relationship, for how he was teaching her to trust again.
She smiled at him. “I’m sure. I’ll say when it’s too much.”
With that, he dipped his head and kissed her. The kiss was so deep that she forgot about everything except him—all her worries, all her fears. They vanished.
It was only when he pulled back that she came up for air. He pressed her hair from her head and smiled. “Looks like we’ve got that solved.”
She laughed. “We do.”
“Now all you have to figure out is what to do about Mrs. Travis.”
Ginny scraped her teeth over her bottom lip. “I think I’ve got that solved, too.”