Blue Moon Haven, page 6
He walked over and took the box of jars from her. “It’ll be tomorrow before I can fill these. I just tied the hives down in preparation for the storm that’s coming.”
A gust of wind lifted her long hair and splayed it over her shoulders. She shoved it back and glanced at the sky. “Yeah, I heard it was headed our way, and no rush on the honey. Just thought I’d get a jump start on this refill, since I’ve had a surge of interest in my honey taffy.”
He carried the box of glass jars toward his house, asking over his shoulder, “Oh, yeah?”
“Yep.” Tully followed him to the front steps, and Patch, who’d been napping on the front porch, sprang up and clambered down the steps to rub against her legs. “Hey, ol’ Patch.” She scratched his head, then said softly, “The little girl who’s moved in next door . . . named Daisy, I think? She took quite a liking to it yesterday evening when she and her brother stopped in for supper.”
Seth froze midstep, one boot on the porch landing and the other on a lower step. The girl’s name drew forth a fresh welling of guilt within him. He’d been unable to shake the memory of her frightened expression and tearstained face . . . or the realization of how badly he’d behaved in front of her.
“They weren’t alone.” Tully’s voice drew nearer to his back as she ascended the steps behind him. “A woman was with them. Her name’s Kelly Jenkins. She mentioned you two may have already met?”
He closed his eyes, a chill creeping over his skin that had nothing to do with the cool whip of spring wind. Great. Just great. No telling what Kelly had already told Tully about their encounter. Whatever Kelly had said, given the tone of Tully’s voice, he imagined it hadn’t shown him in the best light.
Huffing out a breath, he walked across the porch, entered the house and headed for the kitchen.
Tully continued to follow him into the kitchen, with Patch padding along behind her. “Have you met her?”
“Yeah.”
“And how did it go?”
Seth dropped the box on the counter. The glass jars clanged together, rattling the peaceful stillness of the house. “I’m guessing you already know how it went.”
“Not well, from what she said.”
“Then why are you asking?”
“Because if I don’t ask, you’ll never tell me.” She released a heavy sigh behind him. “You never tell me anything anymore. We never talk. I miss you. I hardly see you, and I’m running out of excuses to swing by and check on you without the risk of exposing myself to one of your lectures on giving you space and not prying.”
He started removing the glass jars, one at a time, and setting each on the table with a thud. “Then don’t. I’m fine and don’t need checking up on.”
“Kelly said you were rude. That you made Daisy cry.”
He ducked his head and continued removing the glass jars from the box.
“Did you?” At his silence, her voice grew quiet. “That’s not like you—”
“I saw Daisy running through the orchard and thought she was Rachel.” He slammed the last jar on the counter and spun around to face her. “I actually thought, for just a moment, that it was her. No matter how desperate or illogical or crazy that sounds. I was okay with finally breaking with reality as long as it meant I could see her again.” His chest heaved and he stopped to catch his breath. “And when I caught up with her, I saw Kelly cutting down Rachel’s tree.” His chin quivered and he looked away, clenching his jaw. “So I lost my temper. I offended Kelly, ticked off that temperamental boy of hers and, yes, I made Daisy cry.”
The kitchen was silent for a moment; then Tully’s shoes shuffled across the floor, and she touched his arm. “Seth . . . there’s nothing wrong with asking for help, you know? I’m a good listener. I could come stay with you for a while if—”
“I’m not a kid, Tully.” Swallowing hard, he forced himself to face her. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I just have bad days now and then.” He gently nudged her chin with his knuckle and managed a small smile. “Besides, what would Cal say if I took his wife away from him just to come baby her big brother?”
“Cal would be just fine.” Her expression brightened. “Maybe he’d learn to do his own laundry while I’m away.”
“Thank you for the offer—I mean that—but I’m okay.”
She reached up, took his hand in hers and squeezed. “You’ll call me if you aren’t, won’t you? You’ll tell me if you need me? Promise?”
“I promise.” He kissed her forehead, turned back to the table and started removing the lids from the glass jars. “You better head home before it gets dark. The storm will be here before you know it.”
She hesitated, but after a moment, she patted Patch’s head once more, then walked toward the front door and paused on the threshold. “You know, I drove past Mae Bell’s lot on the way here. I didn’t realize Kelly and the kids were staying in the trailer. From the road, it certainly doesn’t look as though it’d weather tornado winds if they spring up. And here you are in this great big house with all this extra space . . .”
Seth looked over his shoulder. “What are you suggesting?”
“That you should consider inviting Kelly, Daisy and Todd to sit out the storm here.”
He scoffed. “It’s supposed to last all night and into the morning hours.”
“All the more reason for you to be neighborly and extend the invitation. Prove you’re a considerate, mature man and not a temperamental kid.” Tully grinned. “Oh, and Kelly, by the way, might have a teeny tiny soft spot for you somewhere deep down inside, considering she did say you were easy on the eyes.”
* * *
If mortification had a picture in the dictionary, Kelly felt sure her face would be the accompanying illustration.
She leaned back against the sofa cushion in the trailer, turned on the built-in wall lamp and flipped to section M in her pocket dictionary. Ma, me, mo . . . There it was: mortification. She read the definition and variations, then slapped the book shut.
Mortified. Yep, that’s exactly how she felt after wasting an entire day yesterday scouring Blue Moon for a device that had ceased being manufactured around six years ago (according to Todd’s research on his cell phone), making no progress whatsoever on Mae Bell’s priority list and insulting the first kind person she’d encountered in Blue Moon—completely mortified.
After her complete boneheaded blunder with Seth’s sister in Tully’s Treats yesterday, she’d been so taken aback by Tully’s admission that she’d had no idea how to respond. All she could focus on was what she’d said about Seth. What was it she had called him? A Neanderthal? Rude? Horrible?
Oh, good grief! She buried her face in her hands. Why couldn’t she have just kept her mouth shut? It didn’t matter how poorly Seth had behaved. Hadn’t she just recently chastised Todd for his insults regarding Seth? And then, there she’d gone, running off her mouth to his sister simply because she’d had a bad day. There was no telling if Tully would decide to share what she’d said with Seth.
Last night, after the kids had finished eating their mountain of junk food, it had taken all she had to walk up to the register, seek out Tully and apologize for insulting her brother. Tully had been very gracious about it all—had even given them a discount on their meal—but for some reason, Tully’s additional kindness had only made her feel worse.
On top of it all, she’d spent the majority of last night consoling Daisy, who’d developed a honey taffy bellyache, as Kelly had anticipated. Todd and his cast-iron stomach, however, had slept soundly—had even snored—the entire night. After spending the night nursing Daisy, Kelly had overslept this morning, then spent most of the day on the phone attempting to enroll Todd and Daisy in the local school and have their records transferred from their previous school in Birmingham.
After scheduling an appointment to bring Todd and Daisy to Blue Moon Central (the only school and K–12 campus in the small town) and enroll them officially on Monday, she’d spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, washing clothes and cleaning up the car. And as the sky had grown darker each hour, she’d been more and more tempted to curl up on the sofa and take a nap . . . which had been difficult to do, with Todd blasting music from his phone and Daisy attempting to climb every surface in the trailer.
A rumble of thunder rolled over the Mansion, shaking the sofa beneath Kelly.
Daisy sprang onto the sofa beside Kelly, poked her toes into Kelly’s belly and climbed over her shoulders to reach the blinds above the sofa.
“Ow!” Kelly lifted Daisy by the waist as the blinds clacked behind her head. “Daisy, please stop climbing on everything—including me, okay? You barely weigh as much as a feather, but your toes are like daggers.”
Daisy climbed down and whispered in Kelly’s ear, “Lightning outside.”
A second boom of thunder sounded, and Daisy jumped into Kelly’s lap and buried her face in her T-shirt. Fat raindrops pelted the roof of the trailer, the low-toned dings echoing throughout the living room and kitchen space.
“This thing’s made out of aluminum, you know,” said Todd over the steady pulse of his music as he removed his earbuds. A devilish grin appeared as he stared at Daisy. “All it’d take is one good strike and pop, sizzle, fry, baby! We’d be like strips of bacon on a frying pan.”
Kelly shuddered and cuddled Daisy closer. “Stop it, Todd. That’s not true, and you know it.”
He frowned. “How do you know it’s not true?”
“Because of that . . . that . . . ”—she snapped her fingers as the words came to her—“cage effect. I forget the guy’s name—it started with an F. But he says aluminum roofs and frames will protect you just fine from lightning, like cars. There’s that cage effect thing. I got an A in high school science, so I know that much, and if I know it, then I know you know it.”
Todd made a face. “Technically, Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea first. Michael Faraday just honed it.”
Kelly smiled. “But I was right that time, wasn’t I?”
Todd turned his music back up and stuck his earbuds in his ears.
Another booming clap of thunder rattled the trailer, and the rain drummed the roof more heavily.
Daisy whimpered, huddling closer, but grew still when a heavy knock sounded on the door. She stared at the door, then looked up at Kelly with a questioning expression.
“I don’t know who it is, sweet pea.” Frowning, Kelly eased Daisy off her lap and onto the sofa cushion beside her. “Wait here while I find out.”
Todd, eyes closed and nodding to the beat of his music, was completely oblivious.
Shaking her head, Kelly walked to the door, turned on the outdoor light and peeked through the round window. All she could see was a lean, muscular male back encased in a black T-shirt. Please, Lord, don’t let it be an ax murderer. With the past few days she’d just had, she didn’t have the energy to fight one off.
“Who is it?” she called.
The male back turned, a broad chest dipped and Seth Morgan’s face appeared in the window. His blond hair was slicked to his skull with rain, bringing his sculpted cheekbones and strong jaw into stark relief. “Your neighbor.”
She met his eyes, her pulse kicking up a notch at the sight of him. It’s better him than an ax murderer, she supposed. “That would sound a lot less intimidating if you smiled when you said it.”
He returned her stare, then slowly . . . ever so slowly . . . his sensual lips stretched into a small, somewhat-insincere smile. “I’m your neighbor.”
The smile was kinda charming, even if it was fake. “Thanks, I guess.” Kelly bit her lip. “What do you want?”
He held up a clear jar filled with something gooey and raised his voice over the increasing pound of rain. “I brought Daisy a gift. And I”—his lean cheeks flushed—“came to apologize for the other day.”
Kelly’s jaw dropped. “In the storm? You came with a gift in the storm?”
He gave a jerky nod. “Well . . . there’s another reason I’m here. You mind if I come in for a minute? It’s pouring out here.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You promise to behave in a civilized manner?”
He stopped smiling. Even looked a bit ashamed. “I promise. Now, do you mind opening this door before I get struck by lightning?”
“Oh, yeah. Yes”—she fumbled with the lock—“sure. Come on in.” She opened the door and stepped back, allowing him inside.
She’d forgotten how tall he was. So tall he had to dip his head slightly to fit inside the trailer. Water dripped from the hem of his T-shirt and jeans, creating a soggy puddle on the faux-hardwood vinyl floor.
He lingered by the door, glanced around the room and issued another tight smile. “This is nice. Much nicer than the last time I visited Mae Bell here. She told me she had it renovated recently.”
She followed his gaze, then hesitantly returned his smile. “Thank you.”
“This model trailer is incredibly rare in today’s market.” He met her eyes, his smile widening a fraction more. “It’d be worth over, say, three hundred thousand.”
Kelly took in her surroundings again, her eyes widening. Sure, the trailer had impressed her far more than she’d expected when she’d first entered, but three hundred thousand dollars? Who’d have thought this thing would be worth that amount of money?
“Really?” Her smile grew, too, as she looked at the kids. Todd, having removed his earbuds, glared up at Seth from his booth seat, and Daisy had scooted to the farthest edge of the couch, her eyes following each of Seth’s movements. “Well, what do ya know, guys? We actually do live in a mansion.”
Seth nodded. “It’s a retro classic. You could get more than that for it, if you played your cards right.”
Kelly’s gaze snapped back to his as she glared. “I’m not selling Mae Bell’s trailer. And if that’s why you came—”
He held up a hand. “It’s not, I promise.” He looked down and dragged the toe of his right boot across the floor. “It was just an observation.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, observe something else.”
He looked down at her, his deep green eyes traveling over her face and lingering on her mouth before he jerked away from her and faced Daisy.
Daisy’s wide eyes blinked up at him, and he shifted awkwardly from one boot to the other, then lifted the jar in his hand.
“This is for you,” he said, stepping toward her hesitantly.
Todd scrambled off the booth, stalked across the room, sat beside Daisy and threw an arm around her shoulders. “We don’t want anything from you.”
Seth stilled, holding Todd’s stare. “Look. I’m sorry about the way I approached y’all the other day. It wasn’t my best moment and I’m . . .” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m trying to make it right, okay?”
Todd remained unimpressed. Daisy, however, eyed the jar with interest.
Seth lifted it closer to her. “It’s honey. My sister owns Tully’s Treats downtown. She said y’all stopped by the other night and that you took a liking to the honey taffy. She uses the honey my bees produce to make it, so I thought you might like the actual honey, too.”
Kelly cringed. So his sister had mentioned she’d met them. How much of what she had said had Tully told him?
“You have bees?” Todd asked, a tiny hint of interest entering his tone.
“Yeah. I have several hives.” Seth lowered himself to his haunches, meeting Daisy at eye level, and said gently, “I’m sorry for scaring you the other day, Daisy, and I’m very sorry I made you cry.”
Daisy studied Seth’s expression, then the jar of honey. She licked her lips as she focused on the honey, reached out slowly then, apparently thinking better of it, drew her hand back and stuck her thumb in her mouth.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Seth murmured, easing closer and setting the jar on the sofa beside her. “I understand. I’ll just put it here for you, okay?”
Kelly held her breath, the warm soothing tone of Seth’s voice stirring unexpected flutters of pleasure in her middle. For such a brawny man, he could be surprisingly gentle . . . and tender, even.
Daisy eyed the jar of honey for a minute. Then she picked up the jar, clutched it to her chest and rose on her knees to whisper something in Todd’s ear.
Todd’s lip curled, but he nodded, then pursed his lips at Seth. “She said thank you.”
Seth grinned at Daisy, the action brightening his features. “You’re welcome.” Rubbing his hands over his thighs, he stood slowly and turned back to Kelly. A boom of thunder rattled the windows of the trailer and he grimaced. “That’s the other reason I came. According to the weather report, this storm’s gonna get worse tonight, and this time of year, it’s always hard to tell exactly what we’re in for. It could be just another spring thunderstorm, or it could be worse.” He glanced back at Daisy and Todd. “Thing is, I have extra bedrooms and plenty of space, if you’d like to bring the kids over and hunker down at my place until it passes.”
“Hunker down”? Kelly’s gaze roved over the wet clothes clinging to his muscular frame. At his place? She rubbed her arms to still the completely unwelcome shivers of excitement coursing through her. “I don’t think that’s a g—”
“You got a TV?” Todd asked, his glare easing just a bit.
Seth nodded. “Two of them.”
“And internet access?”
“Yep.”
Todd sprang off the couch. “Let’s go.”
“Wait a minute.” Kelly frowned as Todd jogged to the bedroom, grabbed a bag and started throwing clothes in it. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Going to his place.” Todd headed for the bathroom. “I’ll grab y’all’s toothbrushes.”
“Wait, Todd!” Kelly glanced at Seth and lowered her tone. “Excuse me, please.” She race-walked down the hall and squeezed into the small bathroom with Todd. “I haven’t accepted his offer yet, and whatever happened to your outraged indignation on behalf of my and Daisy’s honor? Your demands that I kick his shins and slap his face? All that no longer matters because he has a TV?”
