Finding Promise (The Promise Series, A Small Town Romance) (8 page)

Sunday lunch at the Edwards’ place was worlds apart from the
family gatherings she had had with her or James’ family. Those were always
formal. China and crystal vied for attention on elegantly laid tables and food
was served rather than dished up, like at the Edwards’, from the centre of the
table. The Edwards sure could teach her family a thing or two about dining
en
famille
. She never felt as though she belonged as she did now, after just
one meal at the Edwards.

Leaving the house, Laurel called after her, “See you next
Sunday for lunch again. Even if you’re not at the inn anymore, I doubt you’d be
ready to cook in your kitchen at the house and I know you’d be happy for the
company and meal again. Come early and you can make dessert here so I can learn
your secrets,” she said as she winked at Caroline.

Thanking Laurel and John again for the lunch and the
invitation, Caroline was only too happy to accept.

“Now what are you up to, sweetheart?” John wrapped his arms
around his wife.

“Did you see the way they looked at each other? She’s a
lovely girl, but seems scared. She’s friendly enough but you can pick up that
she’s holding back. Isn’t that always the case?” she said thinking of her Faith
and her art and Rachel and the poor self-image she hid under that uppittyness.
“It’s always the lovely, pretty ones that are insecure”. Laurel hadn’t raised a
family without developing keen observation skills. “That girl has been hurt and
if our boy has any sense in his head, as I’ve raised him to have, he’ll nab her
and get going on giving me grandbabies. I’m just making sure that he gets a
fair chance to get to know her, that’s all.” She smiled, returning her
husband’s embrace.

“Well don’t interfere too much, sweetheart.” John had learnt
to use the endearment to soften the blow when he disagreed with his wife. His
wife had been talking a lot about grandbabies lately. He felt sorry for the
pair because he knew that when she got hooked on something, she didn’t let go until
it was done just as she’d planned. So he cautioned her, “Just tread carefully.
She looks like she needs some healing.”

“I know, but I think our boy and the girls can help her with
that.” After being married for so long, Laurel understood what he was trying to
say. “How about we do some healing of our own?” Winking seductively at him over
her shoulder, she led him up the stairs to their room, as she had for the last
thirty-five years.

--------

“Here it is” Caroline indicated towards the house as they
parked their cars on the side of the road. The driveway was too overgrown to
get its gate open despite Luke giving it a good tug, cursing a blue streak.

“I know it doesn’t look like much yet but it has potential.”
She ushered her friends into the front garden.

“We’ve all seen the front of the house. So, I’m dying to see
the inside of the house and the back. Old Mr Whittlesea pretty much kept to
himself and all the news I got was second-hand from the nurse.” The others
laughed at Bess’s customary nosiness. She grabbed a willing Ronald by the arm,
dragging him into the house, while beckoning Faith and Rachel. “You two go
ahead and chat about what needs to be done. I don’t think I can stand to hear
Luke go on about beams and gutters, though. The rest of us will just go ahead
and to some exploring on our own.”

Bess had also seen the way the normally suave Luke, acted
goofy around Caroline and decided to give him an edge, some time alone with
her. She liked both of them and being a happily married woman, thought that all
her friends needed to be too.

Nervous at being alone with Luke, Caroline enquired, “Should
we start inside? The power hasn’t been turned on yet. I can only arrange that
once I have the deeds. Perhaps we should make use of the light while we have
it?” The view, from where she was standing, showed orange glow of the sun
starting its descent behind the ocean.  Luke was standing against that
backdrop and her mouth went dry. My word, he was stunning! When he nodded, she
led him inside.

Following her, Luke noticed that she was as skittish as a
kitten. A pretty little kitten. That brought out his protective instincts even
more. Grabbing her hand, which she reluctantly allowed, they went through each
room of the house.

Now and again, Luke would stop and jot down something in a
notebook he took out of his back pocket. The act drew her attention to his
behind and her hands itched to grab it. Caroline could no longer deny that she
was attracted to Luke. And no wonder. She had not had sex with a man in months.
The last time she slept with James was one night when he performed the
obligatory act after a night out together to an art exhibition. The exhibition
was raunchy, which must have put him in the mood, or else she doubted they
would have made love even then. After that one night, he had never touched her
again, preferring the delights of his personal assistant. This served as
evidence that she was not a very sexual woman and certainly not the type of
woman to attract and keep the interest of a man like Luke Edwards engaged. She
noticed his attentiveness but had also seen his familiar protectiveness over
the other women in his life. She’d seen that flirtatious smile directed at
other women at the bar the other night too. It was obvious that he was used to
the attentions of the opposite sex. He was a player and that, she did not need.
Not that she thought he even wanted her in that way. He was just being his
normal friendly, flirty self and this time, to the newest addition to the town.

Unaware of her thoughts, Luke could barely keep from
touching her. Lord, the woman was driving him nuts. She was either deliberately
obtuse or she had no idea of what she was doing to him. From what he’d seen,
she didn’t strike him as the type that played games. He enjoyed a good game or
two from time to time but with her it just didn’t fit. He knew she was a widow
and little else. Faith’s lips were shut as tight as a clam, making him
suspicious. What was Caroline hiding? Why was she holding back? He thought he
was being pretty obvious about his interest in her. He hoped that she wasn’t
still holding a torch for her late husband; he didn’t think he could hold out
that long. He didn’t understand why, but he wanted her as he had no other woman
before. Yes, she was beautiful but there were many beautiful and available
women out there. There was something else about her. It was her eyes. They held
an odd mix of fragility and determination. Luke planned to find out more about
that. Hell, he hadn’t even looked twice at any of the bikini clad tourists or
hip-swaying local girls at Waves since he’d clapped eyes on her a week ago.
Luke was a man that liked a plan and liked the predictability of following it
through – with work and women. Not knowing what was going on with her and the
interest she was starting to stir in him, intrigued him even more. It motivated
him to throw them together to see what happens. He’d never chased a girl before
but there was always a first time.

“The good news is that so far it looks like most of the work
required is cosmetic. To get the house to the condition you want it to be in,
the entire inside and outside would need to be scraped, cracks filled and
re-painted. The same applies to all the wood in the house; the cupboards, to
doors to window frames.”

Cosmetic seemed like a lot of work to Caroline, “What about
the floors?”

“For such an old house, the floors are in good condition but
also require a good sanding and re-varnish.”

Following him upstairs to inspect the bathrooms, there was
yet more work to be done, indicating the chipped enamel on the big Victorian
bath, Luke explained, “These baths, while beautiful, are a pain to maintain.
We’ll need to re-enamel it and once we do that you won’t be able to use harsh
cleaning products on the bath as it will eat it off. The bad news is that the
hardware shop stocks cleaning products for this. There’s not a lot of demand,
so it’s expensive.” Seeing the look on her face, he continued, “Now don’t be discouraged.
The good news is that a regular dishwashing liquid works just as well. You’ll
also have a genuine antique bath that’s a real beauty and it’s made of metal so
it’ll retain the water temperature a lot longer than its modern counterparts.”

Caroline looked at the soiled ceiling boards that Luke was
pointed to, continuing to educate her on the required renovations. “That shows
me that there are a few leaks in the roof. It’s easy enough to repair. But the
ceiling boards are goners. We’ll have to replace them, so expect dust, loads of
it! I’ll also give the roof a thorough check and see if there are any further
leaks. It makes sense to fix it all at once.”

It seemed that when it came to buildings, Luke had a crew
that enabled him to just about help with anything required. “I can see that you
have a multi-skilled staff.” Leading him to the library, she showed him the
empty walls flanking the fire place. “I’d love to put up floor to ceiling
library-styled bookshelves in here. The one’s with a portable ladder. I’ve been
looking for it when I went furniture shopping but haven’t been able to find
what I’m looking for. Do you think you could help?”

“That’s a great idea and it is easy enough to do but the
cost depends on the type of wood you want in here.”

She found that his praise warmed her. She hadn’t been sure
of the shelves, thinking it a bit ambitious. Encouraged, she shared her vision
for the barbeque area in the backyard.

“I agree. It seems a waste of such a lovely space to not cater
for the outdoors. The deck is old but it’s solid, which is nothing that a good
scraping and bit of weather-proof varnish won’t fix. I hope I get invited to
one of those barbeques you’re planning here.” Luke’s teased her.

Unused to the flirtatious behaviour, she could only stammer
an inaudible, “Of course”.

“I can see that you’ve thought about the place a lot over
the last week and can imagine that you’re itching to move in.” At the expected
nod from her, he continued, “I’m busy finishing up a vacation lodge we’ve been
building a bit further outside of town, just after the exit from the highway.
We’ve been at it for a while, so the job is nearly done. If you’d like I could
work out a quote for you and drop it off at the inn in a day or two?”

Eager to get things started, she looked enquiringly at him,
“The deed to the house should be in my hands sometime this week and I’d really
like to get started on fixing the place up. When do you think you could start?
Do you have an idea yet on how long it’ll take?”

Watching her bite her lips, an eager expression on her face,
Luke didn’t want to disappoint her and he wanted her to stay away from that
slime ball, Brady. No doubt, Brady would’ve recommended that she put up a whole
new roof. He could tell that Caroline was a novice at this. That made her ripe
for picking by swindlers like Brady. “I’ll probably be able to start in a
week’s time if I put in some extra hours on the lodge. That means that I can
get to you quicker and that will please owners of the lodge too. Because of the
size of the house, it should take about a month to completely finish it but
you’d probably be able to move in here within a few days, maybe a week. We can
start in the main bedroom, kitchen and get the bath done. Those rooms will just
need a good cleaning and some furniture then and you can move right in. It does
mean that when we’re busy, you’d be inconvenienced. There’ll be dust and dirt
and loads of rowdy men around. Does that work for you?”

“That would be great. Thanks. I appreciate you putting in
the extra time to get to me quicker. Thanks for the prep talk. I appreciate it.
I just want to be here so much that I think that a bit of inconvenience is a
fair trade-off.” Smiling at the progress made, Caroline shook his hand to seal
the deal. There was that buzz again. 

“In the meantime, you could make things go quicker by
picking out the paint. The hardware store in Main Street carries a good
selection of the type of paint you need.” He went on to describe the types of
paint that would work best for each room and different types of varnish and the
effects they had on the final look. Seeing the bewildered expression on her
face, he asked “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?” Feeling
protective again, he softened the question with a smile.

Not feeling criticized and warming to that smile, Caroline
acknowledged, “Nope, no idea, I’m afraid”

“That’s okay. I tell you what. I’m going to the hardware
store tomorrow morning anyway after I check out the site and crew at the lodge.
Why don’t I pick you up on my way there? We could look at the paint and varnish
together.” And I could spend some more time with you, he thought, giving
himself a pat on the back at this clever twist of fate.

“That will be great. Thank you.” She looked at him so
appreciatively, Luke felt like a million dollars. For something this small, the
woman positively glowed at him. She obviously wasn’t used to the friendly help
that was always available in a small town like Promise. Luke made a mental note
to look for ways he could help her again, hoping to create a good impression on
her. They agreed that he’d pick her up at the inn at 11am the next morning.

Caroline waved goodbye to her friends as they drove away
from the house. They were all supportive and optimistic about the house and
that gave her extra hope and motivation to see this through. Feeling as though
she’d had a good day, Faith drove back to the inn.