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“Maeve! Would you please put this on the table?” Emory Harrison, Maeve’s mother, held out a bowl of salad.
“Got it.” Maeve grabbed the bowl and walked to the dining room, setting it down in the middle of the table. “Hey, Dad,” Maeve said softly. Her father was sitting, waiting, in his usual seat at the table, but instead of his large presence taking up the room, his illness made him appear older and less...just less.
Antony Harrison smiled and raised a couple of shaky fingers. “Hello, my lovely daughter. How was the office today?”
Maeve shrugged. “Easier than dealing with the front desk,” she said. “Numbers always behave the way they're supposed to.”
He chuckled, just as intended. “People might not behave how you want, but that doesn’t make their behavior wrong.”
Maeve made a face. “Life would sure be easier if they all did what I wanted them to.”
“Easier, yes. But then how would we learn and grow?”
Maeve turned back to the kitchen. This conversation was getting deep and she wasn’t looking for a lecture at the moment. “I gotta help Mom. We’ll have dinner on in a jiffy.”
There was no answer behind her and Maeve felt the stirrings of guilt as she walked away. Her father wasn’t well. Parkinson’s was stealing him from them. If she was a good daughter, she would sit at his feet and soak up all the wisdom he was willing to impart. But Maeve was already feeling torn inside and the direction of their conversation would only make it worse.
No one in her family understood her struggles. Mostly because she’d never shared the truth with them. They didn’t know about her near death experience. They didn’t know that Ethan had broken his promise. They didn’t know that her aloofness was all an act.
And they especially didn’t know that she was still desperately in love with him and longed to let go of her anger and fear.
Then why don’t you tell them?
Maeve shook off her inner conscience. What was she supposed to tell them? Oh, by the way, eight years ago, I nearly drowned when Ethan was teaching me to surf and now I can’t bring myself to trust him or even give into my attraction because when he broke my trust, he also broke my heart.
“Yeah, that’d go over well,” she muttered as she spooned mashed potatoes into a bowl.
“Let’s eat!” Maeve’s mother hollered.
Footsteps above their heads let Maeve know Estelle was on her way downstairs. Their family seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. It had all started a few years ago when Antonio, Maeve’s older brother, had left for the military. Now Aspen was married and the table simply looked...empty.
Her heart pinched slightly. Life was changing, passing her by, and there were times when Maeve felt she had nothing to show for it. She had gone to college, she now had a career, but had she really lived?
“Shall we say grace?” Dad asked, reaching out his hands to his wife and Estelle, who was seated on his right.
Maeve took Estelle’s other hand and closed her eyes while she waited for her father to say the blessing. Once done, they all began to grab dishes, though Maeve’s appetite was far from hearty.
“How was the shop today?” Mom asked, raising her eyebrows to Estelle. Mom picked up an extra piece of chicken and began to cut it into small pieces on her plate before transferring it to her husband’s.
The weight on Maeve’s shoulders grew heavier at the gesture. The love between her parents was enviable and something Maeve craved. Aspen had found it, Maeve was positive Estelle would eventually find it as well, she was too beautiful not to...but Maeve knew if she couldn’t get over this stupid infatuation with the next door neighbor, she’d never find it herself.
“Busy, as always,” Estelle said easily, dishing potatoes onto their father’s plate. “No one seems to be able to get enough of Aspen’s cookies and cream cake lately. It’s being sold as fast as she can make it.”
Dad chuckled. “It’s in her blood,” he said with a nod. His wife fed him a bite and he gave her a grateful smile.
“What about your wedding cakes?” Mom pressed. “Any more orders?”
Estelle glanced at Maeve. “Actually, I was hoping to talk to Maeve about that.” Turning more fully, she addressed her sister. “Can we go ahead and hire someone, then? I’ve got an opportunity to do three weddings this fall, but I can’t unless I have help.” Estelle quirked an eyebrow. “Unless you’re willing to run the counter?”
Maeve put her hands in the air. “I think we can all agree that would not be a good idea.” Maeve wasn’t shy, but she definitely didn’t like crowds. Dealing with large groups of people drained her energy faster than pulling the plug in a bath. Shy? No. But introverted? Absolutely.
Her dad chuckled again. “I think you missed the Italian genes,” he teased. “No one in my family is as quiet as you.”
Estelle snorted. “Except she looks more Italian than any of us,” she said with a grin.
“Except for the curves,” Maeve shot back, rolling her eyes. “Some people took those genetics and left the rest of us with nothing.”
Estelle groaned. “Those people would gladly hand off some of those curves, just for the record.”
Maeve leaned into her sister’s shoulder, laughing lightly. “Deal. You can hand them over after dinner.”
The family laughed, lightening the mood, which always seemed a little heavy these days. It seemed to Maeve that each meal was simply a reminder of things they were losing. Whether it was family members moving on with their life, or the ability of their father to take care of himself, it all seemed to be slipping through Mave’s fingers and she didn’t like it, not one bit.
“So?” Estelle pressed.
Maeve blinked herself back into the present. “What?”
“A helper? Can we get a teenager or something to come work in the afternoons so I can work on the wedding cakes?”
Maeve took a breath. She hated spending money, but it would make Estelle happy and in the end, could actually help the cafe make more money, so... “Yeah, sure. We can do that.”
Estelle beamed. “Thanks.” She turned back to their parents. “I’m so excited to take on those clients! Their wedding cakes are going to be stunning!”
Emory smiled proudly. “Just like the decorator,” she said.
Maeve rolled her eyes. “Mooom, cheese doesn’t go with the meal tonight.”
“Jealous,” Estelle said behind her hand as she pretended to cough. Once done, she batted her eyelashes at her sister. “Sorry. Had a tickle in my throat.”
Maeve mock-glared. “I think you’ve been spending too much time with Aspen. That was totally something she would have done.”
Estelle shrugged and went back to eating. “Maybe so, but you’re half Italian. There’s something you need to learn.”
Maeve made a face. “And what’s that?”
Estelle smiled sweetly. “Cheese goes with every meal.”
*****
ETHAN PUNCHED THE NUMBERS into his calculator for what seemed the tenth time. “Come on,” he muttered. There had to be a mistake. Surely his bank account wasn’t really that low. The numbers on the screen proved him wrong and he made a face.
Sighing, he scrubbed his hands over his face. The end of the season was coming up. In only a couple more months he would set aside his shop and step into the world of construction to get him through the winter when his paycheck from the surf shop was nonexistent, but with what he was seeing in front of him, he needed to make quite a bit of extra money this winter if he was going to be able to reopen the shop next spring. He had to have cash in reserve because the money from the shop always took a few weeks to start flowing in.
And right now, there was nothing in reserve. He was literally living from invoice to invoice. He could definitely feed himself this winter, but unless something changed very soon, he wouldn’t be able to spend his morning cruising the waves and teaching others to enjoy the finer things in life.
He swiveled his chair, gazing out into the dark night. He couldn’t see his beloved ocean, but Ethan could hear it. Even with the chilly night air, he had left the window open. The sound of the waves hitting the shoreline were like a siren call to him. He couldn’t imagine his life without it.
The thought of working a nine-to-five job for the rest of his life nearly gave Ethan hives. He would die a slow death if he ended up stuck behind a desk for the rest of his life. He’d gone to college. He’d created a “back up plan” as his mom had called it, but nothing had ever called to Ethan the same way the salty spray of the Pacific did.
If he could figure out a way to make money during the winter, he wouldn’t even bother with construction, but with Oregon’s weather, the surf crowd during the colder months was only made up of the die-hards who didn’t need rental equipment or lessons.
Ethan tapped his fingers against his desk. “Maybe I can build up my custom board business?” If he could get a few extra orders during the off season, then perhaps he could make up his deficit. Making custom boards was time-consuming and very lucrative, but few people actually wanted a custom board, making the trade difficult to break into. If he lived in California or Hawaii, he would have a better chance since that’s where the competitions were, but he liked Seagull Cove. He lived in the house he was raised in and wasn’t eager to leave.
His parents were both gone, and this was where Ethan’s friends were...and this was also where Maeve was. Much as he wished he could move on, he couldn’t bring himself to move away from the Italian beauty.
Standing from his desk, he began to gather his stuff. It was time to go home for the night. His brain needed a break and he needed to do something that would take his mind off Maeve. It never served him well to get caught up in the mystery of their relationship.
There were times when he was sure she felt the same pull that he did. It seemed as if the very air around them vibrated when they got close, warming him from the inside out, and at other times he was sure he got a cold just from being in the same room.
He knew he’d screwed up all those years ago, but he’d been a kid! It was so frustrating that she wasn’t willing to give him any mercy on the subject. He was a teenage boy! His brain hadn’t been fully developed yet! Why couldn’t she understand that?
Shaking his head, Ethan got in his car and headed home. “This is useless,” he grumbled. Maeve frustrated him and enticed him all at the same time and like the sucker he was, he kept coming back for more.
With that constant stress sitting on his shoulders and his worries about his business starting to weigh him down, he knew he needed to do something drastic. Making a turn at the last minute, he headed down to Main Street. A dark and cold home wasn’t what he needed right now. He needed to be around people and let someone else’s problems overcome his own.
A hit of Aspen’s cookies or cakes would go a long way, but he knew the cafe would be closed at this time of night. But there was one place that never closed and Ethan just happened to know that the woman who ran it was always there past visiting hours.
Pulling into the animal shelter, Ethan threw the car in park and walked up to the front. He cupped his hands around his face and looked through the glass door. A light in the back let him know his hunch was correct. He knocked hard. “Riley! Are you there?”
A strawberry blonde head with her signature messy bun peeked around the corner. “Ethan?”
He grinned and shrugged before pointing to the locked handle. “Need some help?”
Riley laughed and shook her head. She came over and unlocked the door, letting him in. “What in the world are you doing here so late?”
Ethan slung an arm around Riley’s neck. He’d known her for almost as many years as he’d known Maeve, yet the only pull he’d ever felt between them was one of sibling fondness. Riley was like the little sister Ethan never had. “I needed something to keep me busy tonight. Are you still cleaning out kennels?”
Riley elbowed him in the ribs. “You’re the only person I know who asks to help clean out poopy cages.”
He chuckled. “Then I suppose you should say, ‘Why thank you, Ethan. You’re the best big brother ever!’.” He said the words in a high pitched tone, completely butchering Riley’s soft soprano tone.
She covered her ears. “If I ever sound like that, someone please put me out of my misery.”
His chuckle grew stronger.
Elbowing him one more time, Riley slipped out from under his arm and headed to the back. “Come on, Superman. I can certainly put you to work. We just had a couple of puppies be dropped off and I’m trying to settle them and get them to eat.”
Ethan shook his head. “What happened?”
Riley shrugged. “Not sure. They’re thin, but not starving. I’m guessing they were abandoned, but not too long ago.”
“Can you tell what breed they are?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Mutts.” She grinned. “But oh, so cute.”
Ethan grinned. “You think all animals are cute.”
Riley put her back to a swinging door and shrugged. “They are.”
“No, they’re not,” Ethan corrected, following her through the door. “But that’s an argument for another time.” He followed Riley to a room, past all the barks and meows of the animals still waiting for someone to take them home. As usual, he wished he could be that person, but Ethan didn’t feel like he had the time for a pet. In the future, when he had a wife and a family, maybe it would all work out, but right now? Right now he needed to focus on saving his business. Then he’d worry about saving a puppy.
“Here they are,” Riley said in her soothing tone. She bent over and made cooing sounds at two tiny fluffballs who were curled into a corner. “Aren’t they darling?”
Ethan stood still. He could barely tell one puppy from the other, but when a pair of light brown eyes met his...he knew he was in trouble.
Riley carefully walked to the corner and lifted one of the mutts up. She held it close to her chest and brought the wiggling bundle to Ethan. “Here. See if you can calm him down. Then we’ll try to feed them together.”
Ethan took the puppy and brought it close to his chest to help it feel secure. The puppy whined for a moment longer, then curled up and rested against him.
Riley’s smile widened. “He likes you!”
Ethan couldn’t seem to stop petting the tiny head. The soft hair slipped through his fingers like fine silk.
“Uh-oh,” Riley sang.
Ethan jerked his head up. “Hm?”
She smiled and shook her head. “Oh...nothing...”