“It’s starting to look really good out here,” Natalie observed a couple of weeks later as they stood together in the garden and looked over what they’d accomplished so far.
Today they were working together to dig a small irrigation channel, and Morgan knew it would go well, especially since both of her interns’ confidence had grown tremendously during the time they’d worked together. That wasn’t the only thing that had grown during the past couple of weeks, however. Every day as the two teenagers worked to shape and tend the garden, Natalie would constantly stare at Tad when he wasn’t looking, while he stole just as many secret looks at her.
It was so tempting to try to give Natalie advice. But how could Morgan do that when she had been doing her best to keep her distance from Brian, working the jobs that put her farthest from him in an earnest attempt to keep their relationship from progressing in a dangerous direction?
“It really is looking great,” Morgan agreed. “In fact, I think it’s finally time to start pulling together some samples to show to the press. Would you like to work with me on that?”
Natalie nodded eagerly. “Mr. Russell’s going to be there, too, won’t he, since we’re going to use the school labs?”
Apparently, keeping away from him wasn’t going to be that easy after all. Not that Brian had been making it easy anyway. Every day, he’d brought down a picnic for them to share, or picked out flowers that he knew Morgan would like, or came by with a delicious container of homemade sorbet made from the island’s own berries. They were all small, sweet things…just like he always used to do for her when they were a couple in high school.
At the same time, he hadn’t tried to kiss her again or insisted that they have another big talk. Maybe it was crazy, but that only made it harder for Morgan. He’d told her that he was going to fight for her, but she should have known better than to think she’d be able to predict his tactics and then sidestep them. Especially when he’d always known exactly how to knock her walls down and touch the deepest parts of her.
And, honestly, today it really didn’t help that he’d taken his shirt off to work on the irrigation ditches he and Tad were digging, Brian’s muscles well defined and shimmering with sweat in the sun. Of course, that was right when he stopped digging and caught her drooling over him. His slightly cocky grin had her breath catching in her throat…and her entire body tingling head to toe.
No. She needed to keep her wits about her. Needed to keep her focus on her career and fulfilling her dreams of having her own makeup line and TV show. After all these years, she was so close that she couldn’t be derailed now.
A few minutes later when the men had put away their tools and come over, Morgan said to Tad and Natalie, “You both have done really great work with the irrigation. What do you say we head into the lab for our final hour today?”
“Morgan is going to let us help her make some samples!” Natalie informed Tad in an excited voice.
His smile for the girl was so warm, and so sweet, that Morgan’s heart melted as he said, “That’s really great news, Natalie.” He turned to Morgan. “Thanks again for including us in everything.”
“I honestly couldn’t have done this without you. All of you.”
But even as she said it to mean Natalie, Tad and Brian, she couldn’t quite bring herself to look directly at Brian…not when she was afraid of just how sweet and warm his gaze at her would be.
And how it would likely melt away what was left of the walls she was trying to keep up around her heart.
* * *
After they had each filled a small bag with wild flowers and berries, they went into the school’s science lab, where Morgan explained, “Most of the time, chemistry lessons are about creating reactions. With makeup, though, we want to avoid those as much as possible, because we certainly don’t want ingredients reacting once they hit the skin. Well, except in things like fake tans, where the active ingredient—”
“DHA,” Natalie supplied helpfully.
“Yes, DHA is designed to react with the skin. For things like lipstick and eye shadow, though, we want the results to be as inert as possible, while looking, smelling and feeling wonderful.” After she spent a few more minutes talking them through the most important elements of creating makeup, she said, “Now you try,” then let them loose with a handful of ingredients and the science lab’s equipment. Since her own efforts with the ingredients she’d been using as an example were currently nothing more than multicolored goop, she wasn’t expecting them to come up with perfect sticks of makeup. That was what the professional scientists would take care of later. The point was to get them to understand the process.
“You’re good with them,” Brian said as they watched the kids work.
“Thanks.” She was surprised to find how much she enjoyed it. “So are you.”
Their gazes held, and she forgot how to breathe, forgot everything except how hard her heart was beating, and how much she wanted Brian to pull her into his arms to kiss her again, and how—
“Morgan?”
“Brian?” She was already moving closer, could practically feel his arms around her again, when she finally realized why he was saying her name…and looking down at her bag.
Her phone was ringing.
Feeling like an idiot for practically jumping into his arms in the middle of his science lab with two of his students just feet away, she turned away as she put her phone to her ear.
“Juliet, hi.” God, she needed to stop sounding so pathetically out of breath from nothing more than just being near Brian. Focus. She needed to focus. “How’s everything going at the office?”
“Very well. And how is everything going on your end?”
“The new seeds are sprouting, the legacy wild berries are tamed, and the wildflowers are blooming like crazy.” She paused, realizing as she said the words aloud just how far they’d come. And how much she’d enjoyed working outside with her small but very enthusiastic crew. “It’s looking amazing, actually. In fact, our setup is pretty much done.”
How had the last weeks flown by so quickly? Too quickly…
“Perfect,” Juliet said, “because I’ve had several reporters tell me that they’d like to get down to the island this weekend to grab interviews with you in the garden and take photos.”
“This weekend? They already want to come see the garden?”
“I thought you’d be thrilled with this news,” Juliet said.
Juliet was a great assistant for a whole host of reasons, among them that she could read Morgan’s tone even when the words themselves shouldn’t have meant much. Only, Morgan wasn’t sure that she wanted her assistant to read between the lines today.
“I am thrilled,” she replied. “It’s just that I had been thinking we had another week before we got to that point. Maybe even two.” Panic set in at the thought of leaving the island so soon, even though her whole life, up until now, all she’d ever wanted to do was leave Walker Island behind.
“Why would you want to wait? If everything is ready and in bloom, we should be putting in the big marketing push, especially while the journalists are so excited about it.”
Juliet was right. Moving on to the next step made perfect sense. It was just that she’d thought she’d have more time to try to figure out things with Brian. To see him smile. To hear him laugh. To sit with him beneath the warm sunshine. And to pretend that it wouldn’t all have to come to an end the way it had before.
Only, how could she explain that to Juliet? Especially when she could hardly explain it to herself, this incredible longing for Brian when she knew that things could never work out for them.
“This weekend is fine. I’ll be ready.”
Brian was watching her carefully as she disconnected the call then worked on getting photos of Natalie and Tad working over a Bunsen burner, their heads close together to post on her social networking channels.
After graduation, Natalie would likely go off to one of the top universities in the country and Tad would likely head off on a football scholarship to play for one of the best college teams in the country. Now that they’d finished setting up the garden, Morgan would hire local workers to keep it going and to ship the ingredients to the cosmetics research labs. As soon as she returned to the city to film her new series, these weeks on Walker Island would be nothing but a sweet memory of sunshine and the sea…and a man who would always know, better than anyone else, how to make her smile.
And feel.
She looked up and realized that Brian was staring at her with concern. “Is everything okay? It seemed like that phone call upset you.”
For a few seconds she couldn’t get her brain to work, not when she truly was upset at the thought of leaving him so soon. “Thank you for helping me, Brian.”
His eyes darkened further, and she knew why. Because her thank-you sounded like good-bye.
“I would do anything for you, Morgan. You know that.”
She wanted to say: Come with me to New York. I don’t want to live without you. Not again. Not ever again.
But she’d never forgive herself for taking him away from the island and the school and the students he adored and who needed him, just so that she wouldn’t have to be alone while she chased her dreams. So she simply said, “I know,” before turning to Natalie and Tad and saying, “You’ve done so much to help me with this project. It wouldn’t have worked nearly as well, or been anywhere near as fun, without you.”
“I’ve really enjoyed working with you, too,” Natalie said. “I learned a lot.”
Tad nodded. “I have, too.”
“That means so much to me,” Morgan said, and it did, enough that her throat was starting to clog up at the thought of having to say good-bye to all three of them soon, not to mention her sisters and Ava. “I’ve been wanting to find a special way to say thank you to all of you.”
“You’re already writing us letters of recommendation,” Natalie pointed out.
“You’ve earned those recommendations with your hard work, but I want to thank you personally by taking everyone out to celebrate the garden’s success. How does the Waterside Room sound?”
It was the most expensive restaurant on the island. One that, growing up, Morgan would have killed to get into. It seemed like the only place good enough to show just how grateful she was to her two interns, and besides, she wanted to give them an occasion to remember.