“You’re welcome.”
“I hear you fired Sam.”
“I hear you gave my brother beer.”
She sighed. “You and I both know that was Sam.” But because he’d been so kind, she didn’t want to argue. “I’m having a glass of wine. Want one?”
“Sure,” he said.
She took two glasses from the cabinet, opened the bottle, and poured.
The weather report came on, and since Bob and Lily were sprawled on the sofa, Eva went over to her little nook with the two cozy chairs by the windows overlooking the lake. She turned on the stained glass lamp, its pool of light reflecting in the windows.
Daniel sat next to her, checking out the room. “You’ve got a good eye.”
“Thanks,” she said. His house had felt a little austere. Bryman was a product of the Arts and Crafts period, he liked built-ins and clean lines. Daniel’s house reflected all that was most cold and comfortless about the style, at least in Eva’s view. She liked built-ins and clean lines just fine, but also warmth, texture, color.
“I hope that girl is really eighteen.” Daniel studied Lily.
Eva sipped her wine, looked toward Bob and Lily, their feet tangled together on the fat velvet ottoman.
“I checked her license,” Eva said. “She’s legal.” They sat quietly for awhile. It was so peaceful not to hear the sounds of construction. She could hear the roar of waves and the patter of hard rain falling.
Life was good. Almost perfect. The problem was that she needed Daniel and he knew it. Needed him as her crew foreman, as her builder, not as her lover. The problem was obvious. She had to see him every day and keep her hands—and her lips—to herself.
“You can have the original blueprints and the photos and letters and things for the museum. I’m having the blueprints framed with archival materials. Your friend from the shelter magazine sent an email to tell me about that. So I guess I’m already starting on the museum.” She smiled.
Stop babbling.
“Thank you,” he said. “But I will only accept the blueprints if you let me oversee this project.”
Her relief was huge. “Yes, please. As long as we can still do a barter. You do this for me, and I put your museum together this winter.”
“It will be a labor of love, believe me.”
For a minute, Eva’s heart skipped. Love for her? But then she quickly realized it was love for all things Bryman.
“So you’re done at the bank?”
“Just about.” Daniel sipped his wine and smiled a little half smile. “I don’t know if this is a coincidence or what, but my life has been changing dramatically since you’ve come to town. My empty nest. That’s weird. And the job at the bank. I’ve only been part owner since the crash. Old man Augustine needed an investor, so I took it on. Better me than Bank of America, right?”
“So practically your last order of business there was to try to block my loan.”
“Busted,” he said, finishing off his glass of wine and standing up. “I knew you were the new owner of Blue Heaven and I had to see what you were up to with the property. It’s my…”
“I know,” Eva interrupted, getting up as well. “Your heritage.”
Chapter Twelve
That night, after Daniel went home and Bob and Lily left for their cottages, Eva moved the rest of her things into Peach, styled for a photo shoot. Lily had swiped Mama and the kittens, who she said would just get in Eva’s way.
The cottages consisted of one big room, with big being a relative term. Three tiny areas for sleeping, eating, and living. The bathroom was too small to hold a tub and even the shower stall was dinky, but it was cozy and clean.
She plugged in her phone, iPod, and laptop. Then she took a shower, missing her bathtub with an ache that made her feel weepy and silly. By the time she got to bed, it was already morning. She didn’t sleep much and popped up with the sun, which, as the weatherman promised, dawned bright and shiny, quickly burning off the dew and drying up the mud puddles outside.
She flung open the curtains, turned on a few lights, and snapped some interior shots. She opened the door to get more natural light and a wider shot, only to see Daniel standing there. He ignored her surprise and kissed her right on the lips, in front of Bob and Frank, and who knows who else. She wasn’t sure, because she pulled Daniel quickly inside and shut the door without checking who had seen what.
“Cozy,” he said, scanning the room but keeping both his arms tight around her waist. She took his hands and gently pried them from her body. Then she dropped his hands and moved back a step.
“Listen, Daniel. If this is going to work—if you and I are going to work together—we need to…” She wasn’t sure how to put it. “Be professional. And not kiss. Or anything.”
“Oh.” He seemed surprised. “What about at my house? And in your bedroom? Something’s happening between us. How can you erase it? Because I sure can’t.”
“It was nice.” She remembered the feel of his lips on hers with a pang, but she had to be clear with him. Not that he had to know everything, but she had to tell him something. Give him a reason. Something true.
“Nice?” He looked hurt. “Was?”
She knew if she looked at him, she’d let him lay her down on the twin bed right here in Peach at eight o’clock in the morning. Not gonna happen, and not just because her curtains were wide open.
“Okay, it was better than nice, but help me out here.” She struggled to put the right words together.
Daniel stood very still, a puzzled look on his face. “Help you out? Isn’t that what I’m doing?”
“I know. With the addition. But what I mean is…” She really didn’t want to go into it. “Sit down for a minute.”
She moved her laptop from the center of the tiny table in the kitchenette and poured him a cup of coffee. He sat, but didn’t touch the coffee.
“I don’t want to make a big deal out of this,” she said. “I like you. You’re nice, you’re sweet, you’re sexy.”
He perked up with those words and took a sip of his coffee.
“But I can’t do this. My last boyfriend, we lived together five years, he, uh, well, was older.” She took a breath to stop her stammering. It didn’t help that Daniel was staring at her over the rim of his coffee mug with those Clark Kent glasses and lake blue eyes. “He had kids. Grown kids. But he promised me we would have a family one day. Together. He strung me along during my most fertile years and dumped me just when my biological clock got a lot more important.”
“Whoa.” Daniel set his coffee cup down. She didn’t know how to interpret that whoa, but after a few beats of silence he started talking again. “Ah, so that means we can’t go out. Ticking clock. Time to get serious and settle down. I’m not your man.”
He said it so boldly, with no apology, which was better than lying like Marcus, but it still punched a hole in her heart.
She let out a whoosh of held in breath. “Thank you.” She was being silly to want more so soon. “I appreciate the honesty.”
“Same here. I like you. You don’t play games.”
She wasn’t sure she could say the same about him, but of course he was not going to promise her a lifetime of devotion after a couple of make-out sessions. He didn’t know her middle name. He didn’t know her birthday or her favorite flavor of ice cream.
He drained his coffee and got up from the chair. “No harm, no foul. Friends it is. Gotta get to work.” And he left, carefully closing the door on his way out.
She sat there, stunned with relief and something else she didn’t want to think about. After a few minutes, she let it go, immersed herself in work. The most important element to success in her venture was paying customers. How would they reach her? Hear about Blue Heaven? She went into work mode and didn’t come up for air until well after dark.
The week passed that way, she in her cottage hammering at the keyboard while Daniel hammered her dream house. She’d seen a few new faces, younger guys Daniel’s age. She didn’t question him going over her budget and obviously paying them out of his own pocket. His choice. Plus she was too busy adding to her website and riding the first wave of advertising.
She tried not to let it bother her too much that Daniel treated her with distant respect. The sort of politeness reserved for a co-worker with whom he had little in common, but had to work closely with on a project.
That wasn’t how she wanted it to be, but she figured he’d eventually warm back up. He’d see it was better to be friends than lovers when work was the main objective, and she could get the whole silly idea of making a family with him out of her system. Even though it hurt to remember, she couldn’t forget: he’d heard her proposal, and turned her down flat.
****
On the way to Blue Heaven, Daniel called his editor friend at
Discovery Architecture
. Truth was, Daniel had been pestering this guy for years to do a story on Bryman. He’d humored Daniel without ever committing. Just in time to prove his worth to Eva, the press was finally interested.
“I’m looking at the website now,” the journalist said. “It’s nice. I like the angle of the two great-grandfathers working together to be flexible during the Depression. Detroit’s in a bit of a depression itself, so she’s repeating history. And you’re helping. Great hook. Bit of a downer though, rough economy brings back Depression era architect.”
“But it’s a good thing. The whole less-conspicuous consumption idea.” Daniel thought fast. He needed to get this spot in
D.A.
for Eva. She would be so happy, she’d forget about that stupid “all work, no play” rule of hers. “We’re bringing something back to Michigan that people forgot about. Our lakeshores. Our heritage. Bryman.”
“You could do a video, drive around town, film the houses, film the progress at the resort, etcetera. You could read from some of the old letters. Put it on an internet. Create a buzz.”
“That’s a great idea, thanks.”
“And I’ll pitch the story to my editor. Not saying she’ll buy it, but we have been meaning to do something in the Midwest.”
“Let me know what you need.”
“Don’t worry, I will. Got your number. Mind you, it will be a year probably before this hits an issue, so this friend of yours—she is only a friend, right?”
“For now,” Daniel said. They both laughed. Why was it so easy for another guy to understand that sometimes it was okay for friends to come with benefits?
“Well, your
friend
is going to have to build her clientele by word of mouth, at least this season. If I get the go-ahead, it would see print next spring, March or April. I’m not sure. Like I said, I have to get approval from MY boss.”
“I’m just glad to finally get some interest.”
“I’ve been interested, I just couldn’t find an angle. Now you’ve handed me one.”
They shot the breeze for a bit and then got off the phone. He wouldn’t tell Eva about the article until it was a for-sure thing. But he could talk to her about the video. That would be fun. They could do it together. As he pulled off the highway and into Eva’s long driveway, he saw the roofers shingling the airplane roof.
****
“Hey, little girl, want to go for a ride in my car?”
If Eva lived to be one hundred fifty years old, she would never understand men. After barely speaking a word to her all week, here was Daniel looking way too happy about working all day right under those thundering hammers.
She thought about saying something to him about being ignored, but then she dropped it. With Lily living at Blue Heaven, she’d gotten good at holding her tongue and picking her battles. Why bring up his week-long sulk when it would just remind him that she’d stopped the physical part of their relationship?
“Come on. The website’s done. The roof is on. The ads are out. The brochures are being printed in Port Huron. You’re moved back into the bungalow. Let’s do something fun. Let’s make a video.”
“Really?” The idea thrilled her, actually. She’d have done it herself except she couldn’t shoot video for crap.
“My buddy at
Discovery Architecture
actually thought of it.” The minute the words were out of Daniel’s mouth, he clamped his jaws shut like he’d said too much.
Daniel seemed torn about saying anything else, but Eva knew, also from her close contact with Lily, that sometimes, you just wait and the rest of the story will eventually come out. Not that she’d gotten Lily’s full story. Yet.
“No promises, but he checked out your website, and he’s going to talk to his editor.”
“Wow!” Happiness bubbled inside her.
“I know!”
Man, she was glad he had finally gotten over the ignoring her routine!
“So you ready?” he asked.
“We should take the Mustang.” Eva checked her pockets for car keys. “We could put the top down.”
Perfect. A beautiful day, a gorgeous woman, what more could a guy ask for?
“It’s warmer than it’s been all spring.” The only bad thing about early May was that the days were moving way too fast. She was only half-booked for the summer. Maybe the video would get her reservation numbers up.
Before they could fire up the Mustang, Lily rushed out of her cottage yelling “No no no!” She almost collided with Daniel. When she saw him, she shuddered and turned to Eva, who stood frozen, unsure what was happening.
Bob walked out of Lily’s cabin, looking pained. The four stood in an uneasy circle as hammers and saws stilled.
“Back to work,” Daniel called out.
The noises of renovation resumed.
Chapter Thirteen
“What happened?”
“What’s wrong?” Daniel’s and Eva’s questions overlapped.
Daniel put a hand on Bob’s shoulder; Eva was afraid to touch Lily, who wrapped both arms around herself and muttered, “Nothing.”
“Let’s walk,” Daniel said, his hand, still on Bob’s shoulder, guiding Bob toward the empty park next door.
When Lily followed, her head down, not meeting Eva’s eyes, Eva, more confused than ever, trooped after everyone toward a bench facing the water at the far end of the park. Nobody sat.