Cottage by the Sea Read online

  Annie seemed to need time to mull over her feelings. He didn’t blame her. She’d never seen this side of him, and she didn’t know what he was capable of.

  He noticed that she no longer held on to his hand and she’d stopped playing fetch with Lennon. By now Keaton knew her well enough that he could almost read her mind. Her body language told him she wasn’t happy with what he’d done, and at the same time, she was grateful Carl feared the consequences.

  When she spoke, it was in the form of a question. “Are you going to tell me what you did?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’d rather not involve you.”

  “Keaton, I’m already involved.”

  If Carl decided to press assault charges against him, the less Annie knew, the better. It was highly unlikely Carl would contact the law, though.

  “I wish you hadn’t threatened Carl.”

  He nodded, growing silent. He missed her touch, had grown addicted to it. Nothing terrified him more than losing her because she was afraid he was a violent man. Yet, given the option, he wouldn’t change a thing. Carl needed to know there would be consequences if he ever tried to get close to Annie again.

  She looked prepared to say more when her phone buzzed. She glanced at it with an irritated look, but once she read the name her features relaxed.

  “Trevor…hi.”

  Trevor. Who is Trevor? Keaton wondered.

  Holding the phone to her ear, Annie walked away from Keaton. If she wanted to keep him from listening to the conversation, that didn’t help. He could still hear, albeit only one side of it. He caught the gist of the call right away. Trevor appeared to be someone she knew from when she’d lived in California.

  An old boyfriend?

  “You’re coming to Seattle?” Annie repeated. She frowned and didn’t look overly pleased with the information. “When?”

  Keaton wasn’t a jealous man, but then he’d never cared about a woman as strongly as he did about Annie. His mind started spinning with doubts. Unfamiliar with these feelings, he did his best to hide them. Annie was new ground for him, caring for someone the way he did, and the uncertainty twisted his gut.

  Annie ended the conversation after only a few minutes. She looked over at him.

  “That was a friend of mine from California.”

  “Trevor.”

  “Yes, Trevor.”

  She didn’t offer any other information, so he mentioned what he’d heard. “He’s coming to visit?”

  Looking uncomfortable, Annie nodded. “He’s been talking to my cousin, Gabby. She’s worried about me. I made the mistake of telling her about what Carl did to my tires. She wants me to take my next free weekend and come back to Seattle.”

  His stomach clenched. His biggest fear when it came to Annie was that she’d grow bored with life in Oceanside and would eventually move back to either Seattle or Los Angeles. He knew from previous conversations that Annie and her cousin were close. At some point, he would need to let her go. But at least he had this year, and he was determined to treasure each day.

  “So Trevor is coming to Seattle?” he said, hoping to sound casual and unconcerned. “I suppose you’ll want to get away for a weekend while Trevor’s in town.”

  “Probably not. Dr. Bainbridge needs me on standby for the weekends I don’t work.”

  This must be a recent development. “Standby?”

  “It’s complicated…He’s working more hours than he wants already.” She didn’t elaborate, and Keaton didn’t press for an explanation.

  They walked along the beach for several moments, the silence stretching between them. The tightness in his chest didn’t ease. He felt Annie stealing looks at him, which he chose to ignore.

  “You’ve gone quiet,” Annie commented.

  “I’ve been silent for a good portion of my life,” he reminded her, keeping his eyes trained on the ocean waves as they slid against the smooth, glistening shore, leaving a foam trail in their wake. Being close to the water soothed him. He couldn’t get the thought of Annie moving away out of his mind. His gut clenched just thinking about it.

  “You don’t have a problem talking to me, though. What are you thinking, Keaton? You look like you’re carrying the weight of the world. Is it Trevor?”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. He forced himself to smile and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “All is well. No worries.”

  He doubted she believed him, but she didn’t press the issue, and Keaton was grateful. When the time came, he’d have to steel himself and let her go, and be grateful she had been in his life, no matter how limited the time.

  They continued walking, farther than usual. The tide was going out, and Annie bent down to retrieve a starfish.

  “Have you ever been in love?” he asked, wanting to know.

  She took her time answering, tossing the starfish back into the water. “I thought I was.”

  “When?”

  “In college.”

  Maybe he shouldn’t pry, but he was curious. Annie had shared very little of her life with him, which left him wondering, even if it didn’t matter. But love. This was important, and he hoped she would fill in the details. “What happened?” he asked.

  She shrugged, acting like it wasn’t a big deal. “He broke up with me.”

  Keaton snickered. “He broke up with you? The man must have been nuts.”

  Annie leaned in to him the way she did when he said or did something she especially liked. Keaton treasured those little shoulder bumps of hers. Actually, he treasured everything about Annie.

  “It hurt at the time. I was devastated, but in retrospect it was for the best. We weren’t right for each other.”

  “Did he give you a reason?”

  “None that made sense. We’d grown apart, I suppose, although I didn’t realize it at the time. If I had, I might have noticed he’d fallen for someone else. What hurt most was seeing him with another girl just a few days after he broke it off.”

  Pain leaked into her voice. She’d downplayed how difficult this time had been for her. Reading between the lines, Keaton recognized this had been a pivotal moment for Annie. This college relationship had changed her.

  “What about you?” she asked, in what he believed was an attempt to steer the conversation away from her.

  “In love?”

  “Yes, silly. Have you ever been in love?”

  “Don’t know.”

  She laughed. “You don’t know?”

  “Don’t know,” he reaffirmed. “There was a girl in high school once that I liked.”

  “What was her name?”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Does too,” she countered, smiling. She apparently was enjoying this. “I want to know her name.”

  “Shelly.”

  “Shelly,” she repeated. “Does Shelly still live in Oceanside?”

  “No. She moved after high school and went away to college. I haven’t seen her since.”

  “Okay, tell me about you and Shelly.”

  This made him uncomfortable, but because Annie asked, he would tell her. “I thought she was pretty. She was kind to me, when others weren’t.” The less said about the teasing and name-calling, the better.

  “Did the two of you date?”

  “No.” He’d barely said more than a few words to her the entire time they were in school. Those early teen years had been painful ones for Keaton. His one outlet had been wrestling, and he’d been good. Good enough to earn the right to compete at state. Then he’d got in trouble by defending Preston, and lost the opportunity to play sports.

  “Did you ask her out on a date?” Annie wanted to know next.

  “No.”

  “Never?” she asked, shocked. She shook her head in disbelief.

&
nbsp; “Never,” he repeated, although he’d wanted to ask her in the worst way until he overheard someone mentioning how Shelly had a soft heart. After hearing that, Keaton figured she was being kind because that was her nature. In their senior year, she dated one of the popular guys and he realized she was out of his league.

  “In other words, you loved Shelly from afar?”

  “I guess.”

  “She’s the only one?”

  Keaton locked eyes with Annie and held his breath for a moment before he confessed. “Until you.”

  “Me? Oh Keaton,” she cried, her face full of emotion, “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you.”

  He was the lucky one. Turning to her, he captured her face between his hands and lowered his mouth to hers. Even now, he found it hard to believe that someone as perfect and as beautiful as Annie Marlow would ever be interested in him. It’d taken a single phone call to Annie from a California friend to remind him that he shouldn’t let his heart get too attached to her.

  CHAPTER 23

  With her grocery cart at hand, Annie headed to the checkout section and stood in line, waiting her turn. She glanced at the headlines of a bunch of magazines in front of the cash register and rolled her eyes at the latest rumors of divorces and infidelities. While living in California she had occasionally caught glimpses of celebrities. It’d become a game with her friends to talk about celebrity sightings. Once, Stephanie had dragged Annie to a location site for a television series, wasting an entire afternoon, hoping for a chance to see the actors. It’d been fun and a little crazy. That was the silly way she’d spent her time before the tragedy. It all seemed frivolous and a waste now.

  As she set her items on the conveyer belt, she looked at the cashier and discovered that the woman looked vaguely familiar. Then she remembered: It was Becca, the desperate young wife who had come to the clinic, convinced she was pregnant.

  From the way her eyes widened, Becca recognized Annie, too.

  Not wanting Becca to be self-conscious or embarrassed, Annie started a friendly conversation. “I see the blueberries are on sale.” She set two boxes on the conveyer belt.

  “Yes, they’re a popular item,” Becca said as she slid the box of blueberries over the barcode reader. She kept her eyes down as she scanned. “I’m glad to see you again.”

  “You too,” Annie returned.

  “I saw you in the store shopping before but didn’t have a chance to thank you for being so kind and patient with me that day.”

  “There’s no need,” Annie said, as she slid her debit card through the machine. “I understood your frustration.”

  “You were wonderful and calm, when I was nearly hysterical.” She bit into her lower lip. “I want to be a mother so badly, but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me and Lucas.”

  The pain in her voice touched Annie’s heart. With everything in her, Annie wanted to help, but there was nothing more she could do.

  “My husband and I decided to apply with an adoption agency. We were told it might take a few years.”

  Becca did her best to sound positive, but Annie could feel the other woman’s heartache as clearly as she had that morning in the clinic.

  “That’s wonderful. I hope you don’t need to wait long.”

  “Me too. We’ll be good parents,” she continued, as she bagged Annie’s purchases.

  Annie collected her groceries and set them in the cart. “If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”

  Becca nodded. “I will. Thank you again for being kind and for understanding.”

  Annie felt the strongest urge to hug Becca but didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. She lingered for a moment, unsure what more she could say, before pushing her cart out the door and to the parking lot.

  Once she was home, Annie couldn’t get Becca out of her mind. She put away her groceries and took the extra box of blueberries and washed them. She’d bought them for Mellie, thinking her landlord might enjoy fresh blueberries. Without giving Mellie warning, Annie carried the bowl over to the big house.

  Over the last week Annie had spent quite a bit of time with Mellie. Despite her dour mood, Mellie didn’t seem to mind her infrequent visits. With each visit, Annie found an excuse to bring up Teresa’s name, although she doubted that her friend appreciated her less-than-subtle hints.

  Annie knocked and then let herself in the house. “Mellie,” she called out.

  “In here.”

  “In here” turned out to be what had once been the living room. It was hard to tell what it was, with the mess collected all about the room. Annie found her landlord sitting in a recliner with her feet up and a book in her hands.

  “Come right in,” she muttered sarcastically. “Feel free to make yourself at home.”

  Annie looked around her. “I would if I could find a place to sit.”

  “Ever think that might be the reason I keep those boxes on the chairs? I don’t welcome company, not that you’ve taken the hint. And don’t you use this as an excuse to bring up that housekeeper again.”

  Seeing that Mellie had made her point, Annie said, “I brought you some blueberries. They were on sale. I set them in the kitchen.”

  Mellie’s look soured, trying to act like those berries were a major inconvenience.

  “Your grandmother grew blueberries,” Annie reminded her.

  “You think I don’t know that?”

  “I didn’t think you remembered.”

  “Of course I remember. Now Keaton’s out there, digging through those brambles, cutting away years of thorny vines on a search to find those bushes again. He’s so head over heels for you, he’d do just about anything you asked.”

  Annie couldn’t hold back a smile. Together, Annie and Keaton had worked tirelessly clearing the area. Annie had the scratches and cuts on her arms to prove it. Keaton, too, even though he wore gardening gloves and long sleeves. It was a hellish task, but they’d been rewarded to find the bushes. With a little TLC, the bushes might have a chance to bear fruit again the following year.

  “I suppose he did most of that work.” Disapproval dripped from her words like melting wax.

  “I helped.” Annie had spent nearly every available minute outside in her garden and trimming away those pesky vines. Keaton, however, had done most of the work.

  Mellie studied her. “Don’t suppose you know it’s his birthday this week.”

  “Keaton’s?” Annie asked. He wasn’t one to mention something like that. It surprised her that he would let Mellie know. “He told you?”

  “No. Saw it on his driver’s license. Not telling you how I happened to look inside his wallet, either. That’s none of your business.”

  Telling Mellie that it wasn’t her business wasn’t something Annie felt she should mention. The only way Annie could think that Mellie had pulled it off was if Keaton had left his wallet behind and she had snuck a peek.

  “Let’s surprise him,” Annie suggested, an idea quickly taking shape. “I’ll get him a cake and balloons.”

  At first Annie thought Mellie would put up a fuss and object. “He likes ice cream. Vanilla.”

  “Of course, ice cream. I’ll take care of all that, too. You can make up an excuse to get him to the house, and we’ll surprise him.”

  From Mellie’s surly look, Annie was afraid she was going to refuse to get involved. “You’d do that for him?” she demanded.

  “Totally.” Throwing him a surprise birthday party was minor compared to everything he’d done for her.

  “Sit down,” Mellie ordered, waving her arm in the general area. “You make me nervous standing over me like that. Move that stack of magazines off the ottoman.”

  It took Annie a minute to find the chair and ottoman among all the accumulated boxes and things Mellie had stacked about the room.

 
; “Why do you keep all these old magazines?” she asked, lifting away one box after another.

  “They belonged to my grandmother.”

  “She’s not going to read them again,” Annie pointed out with a huff. The magazines were downright heavy.

  “I know that. Cleared out all her stuff a long time ago, just haven’t had time to do away with it.”

  “If you had help…”

  “I told you not to mention that housekeeper again.”

  “All right, all right.”

  Shifting another box to the floor, Annie heaved a sigh. If the kitchen was crowded, the living room was twice as bad. The only clear space was the overstuffed chair where Mellie sat. A protective wall of boxes surrounded her. She felt like she was sitting in a grotto. Annie guessed that was the way Mellie liked it.

  Once she found the ottoman, Annie sat down, ignoring the dust that was stirring the air. This was the first time Mellie had invited her to stay and chat.

  Mellie set the book down on her lap, spine open. “I didn’t like you much when you first moved here,” she said.

  “I sort of guessed as much,” Annie replied, doing her best to hold back a smile.

  Mellie snickered. “Don’t be sarcastic. I’m trying to tell you something important. Like I was saying, I wasn’t thrilled with you living in the cottage. Didn’t like the idea of anyone being there. Keaton changed my mind, which wasn’t easy. Against my better judgment, I gave in. In the short time you’ve been here, I’ve noticed some things.”

  “Oh?” Annie hoped it was for the good.

  “Never saw Keaton smile until he met you. Don’t think he had much reason. I remembered him from school. Always tried to remain in the background, which was nuts, seeing how big he is. He never said much. He hated being called on in class. His face would get as red as raspberries. The kids teased him unmercifully. He used to get into fights, lose his temper, but all that changed after the incident with Preston.”

  “What incident?”

  “Not my story to tell. You can ask him about it.”

  “Okay.” Annie listened intently, happy to know more about his earlier years. He hadn’t said much, so she was left to speculate.