Unplanned Love (Savage Love) (2 page)

     Kevin hadn’t introduced her to any of his friends, so there wasn’t any one she could call. She had always thought that was a little odd. But then her only friend that Kevin had met was her roommate. Usually they hung out just the two of them when they had the chance to hang out at all. Their class schedules were quite different. Some of Kevin’s classes were at night and Seanna had a part time job waiting tables at a local twenty four hour café. Though she only worked about sixteen hours a week, with both of their classes it didn’t leave much time to spend together.

     It was pretty much a miracle that they had even met. Kevin doesn’t like the food that they serve where she worked, but happened to be there one day with his cousin eating lunch. Seanna had stopped in to get her check and decided to grab lunch while she was there, saving a few bucks with her employee discount. She couldn’t help but notice the hot guy in th
e booth in front of her. He had dark hair that hung past his dark brown eyes. His lips were a little full and his lashes quite long, giving him a ‘pretty boy’ look. Sitting across from him was a curvy blonde, definitely a salon color, nothing natural about it, dressed in the kind of clothes that Seanna could never afford.

     They were in a deep conversation and never even noticed her. Not that people ever really did. She just wasn’t one of those people that everyone noticed when you walked into a place. About halfway through her burger and fries her phone rang. Normally she didn’t like to talk while in a public place, but it was Bryce. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she still panicked when he
called. A leftover reflex from when his uncle Daffyd had been so sick. So she always took his calls, no matter what. Of course it wasn’t an emergency, unless you considered to tell or not to tell a future girlfriend that your uncle was a rock star and emergency. Seanna had cautioned him about sharing too much too soon, reminding Bryce how Daffyd felt about his privacy.

     By the time her phone conversation was over, the blonde had left and Mr. Hotty was sitting alone in the booth staring right at her.
She quickly looked away and pretended that she didn’t notice. A few minutes later she was relieved to see that he got up to go and pay his bill. She couldn’t help wondering what he had been staring at.
Had she spilt ketchup on her shirt?
She did a quick glance down and when she looked up, he was sliding into the seat across from her. His smile showed all of his perfect white teeth.

     “Excuse me…are you Sarah, John Carpenter’s little sister?” he asked.

     Seanna swallowed her last big bite and quickly wiped her mouth on her napkin. “No, sorry don’t know a John Carpenter,” she answered with her cheeks flushing.

     “Wow, you look just like her. Granted I did only meet her once and I had had a few drinks, but if I remember right, you two could be twins,” he replied looking her full in the face.

     “No cousins and definitely no twins,” Seanna said with a shrug.

     “Then it was probably very inappropriate for me to have just paid for your lunch.”

     “That’s ok, I work here. I’ll get your money back,” offered Seanna.

     “No wonder it was so cheap. I thought maybe you were on one of those starvation diets,” he laughed.

     “Nope, not me. I don’t know what that word even means,” she said gesturing to what was left of her double cheeseburger and large fry.

     That made him chuckle and he put his elbows on the table and leaned towards her. “I’m Kevin Spade.”

     “Seanna Shepperd.”

    
He mentioned that the girl he had been with was his cousin and that normally he wouldn’t have chosen to eat there. Seanna felt a little thrilled that he said it as if he was happy that he had come that day. They ended up talking for about an hour and he asked her for her phone number when he walked her to her car. When he hadn’t called the next day she tried to put in all out of her mind, but she couldn’t help thinking about his dreamy eyes and that smile.

     It was almost a week later that she had a message from a number she didn’t recognize after work one day. Her heart skipped a beat as she
speed dialed her voice mail. Then it almost stopped when the voice at the other end said “Hi Seanna, its Kevin. Do you remember me?”
Like she could forget!
They met that night for coffee and cheesecake at a quite little coffee shop a few blocks away from campus. This time they talked for hours, Kevin asking all about her life. It wasn’t until she got home that night that she realized that he hadn’t shared much about himself at all.

     To her surprise, he continued to call and after a few weeks they were hanging out on campus and off.
Seanna loved the way he grabbed people’s attention when he walked into a room. Suddenly she felt like she was being noticed. Not that she ever minded being in the background. She was comfortable with who she was, but the extra attention wasn’t bad either. The way Kevin seemed to want to keep her to himself also flattered her ego. She was starting to think she might be falling for the guy.

     And now here she was panicking because he hadn’t called.
Maybe I’m just not cut out to be girlfriend material.
Finally she decided to head to the library to finish up her paper. She was so looking forward to spring break. Her class load seemed to be more of an issue now that she’d been spending so much time with Kevin. Apparently he didn’t have to work so hard for his grades. As soon as she had her stuff scattered all over a secluded table in the library, her cell rang. Grabbing as quick as she could, she gave her nearest neighbors an apologetic grimace as she tried to quietly answer the phone.

     “Hi beautiful,” Kevin drawled.

     “Kevin, where are you?” she asked relieved to finally hear from him. “I waited for you at lunch.”

    
“I know, I’m sorry. Some of the guys kidnapped me for a game of basketball and the time just got away from me.”

     “Why didn’t you just text or call? I’ve been worried,” she said.

     “You were worried about me, aw that’s cute,” he chuckled.

     “It’s not funny, Kevin,” she said wearily.

     “Let me make it up to you. How about I pick you up and let’s go paint the town.”

     “I just sat down at the
library, I have to finish this paper. That’s why we were meeting for lunch, remember?” she replied.

     “
That’s right…so you’re gonna be busy all night, huh?” he said sounding disappointed.

     “Sorry, I’ve got to get an
‘A’ on this paper. My grades have been slipping lately. Somebody had been keeping me busy,” she chuckled.

     “Well, don’t let me interfere with your GPA. How about we grab lunch tomorrow, I promise if
anyone tries to kidnap me I’ll fight them tooth and nail,” he joked.

     “It’s a date,” she laughed.

Chapter 3

Paradise

     When Bryce got to the Island he was greeted by white sandy beaches and beautiful crystal clear water. His Uncle Daffyd and Seanna’s mom, Samantha met him at the boat dock. Bryce couldn’t help thinking how much Daffyd had changed since this time last year. A year ago, Daffyd had looked like a concentration camp survivor. The cancer and subsequent treatment had left him hairless, emancipated and frail. Now he was the picture of health! His hair had come in darker after he lost his long blonde locks to chemo treatments, and now it had grown out to his shoulders.
Thank you Lord, for healing him,
Bryce
thought.

     Samantha was an older image of Seanna. Both women were on the shorter side. Though not exactly petite, no anorexic thinness there, they portrayed healthiness. Samantha had shoulder length wavy brown hair and green eyes. She had lighter skin than her daughter and a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Seanna was a tad taller than her mother and her hair darker and much curlier. Both were attractive women and Bryce thought Daffyd was a blessed man.

     After the enthusiastic greeting they ended up joining the others for lunch in the open dining area. Trisha stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. Her husband Leal gave Bryce a bear hug that literally took his breath away. Leal’s Grandma Sally stayed in her chair motioning for Bryce to come and give her a hug. Sally was a tall African American woman who always managed to look regal and composed. The family had adopted her after spending a couple of weeks with her in Oregon while Daffyd was out of the country. Though she had reached her seventieth birthday, she was still healthy and got around like a much younger woman. Once they were all seated and their food ordered he realized that Seanna wasn’t the only one missing.

     “Where are Grandma and Grandpa?” he asked.

     “They had something come up unexpectedly. They should be here later this afternoon,” Daffyd answered.

     “It’s too bad Sea couldn’t come until Wednesday,” Bryce said as he took a big bite of his seafood wrap. “So what do you think of her boyfriend, Samantha?”

     “I guess I’ll know soon enough,” she answered.

     “You haven’t met him yet,” Bryce’s brows drew together as he chewed.

     “No, the last time I went to visit he was out of town,” Samantha replied.

     “Don’t worry, Seanna’s
a smart girl. She wouldn’t date someone who didn’t treat her right,” offered Daffyd.

     “I am sure people thought that about me once too,” said Samantha.

     “You were much younger than Seanna, babe,
and
you raised her completely different than your parents raised you,” said Daffyd patting his future bride on the knee.

     “So…are you too tired to go snorkeling, Bryce?” Leal jumped in impatiently. “What?” he said looking sheepishly at his
wife. Leal was a tall muscular man with skin the color of creamed coffee and short curly chocolate colored hair. His wife was just the opposite, small petite woman of Asian descent with jet black straight as a board, chin-length hair. They had worked for Daffyd for years and were two of Bryce’s favorite people.

     “I told you not to ambush him as soon as he got off the boat,” she answered sternly.
Everyone laughed at the guilty look on Leal’s face.

     “I can’t help it, you made me promise to wait until Bryce got here before we went and it’s been almost
twenty four hours!”

     “I’ve been looking forward to it! Let me get my swim trunks on,” Bryce said with a grin.

     “How about you two…going?” Trisha asked Daffyd and Samantha.

     “Can you guys take it easy on me?” asked Samantha.

     “It’s just floating around with your goggles on, you can keep up,” laughed Trisha. Samantha looked at Sally with her eyebrows raised.

     “Not gonna happen…” she deadpanned. “You all go on and I’ll take a little nap in that hammock in front of my cabana.”

     Forty-five minutes later, they all had on snorkel gear. Samantha had issues with her flippers at first, but was getting the hang of it finally. The water was so clear that they could see all the way to the bottom. They swam in a shallow lagoon and stayed close to one another, pointing out any interesting thing they found to one another.
Bryce was amazed at all of the bright fish. There were dark blue fish the color of the midnight sky and bright fish with yellow fins and tails. Plants and sea creatures mimicked the colors of the beach cabanas. Some of the leaves were as big as his head and delicate as lace.
I will have to take Seanna when she gets here. She’ll love the starfish.

     Time went too fast while they explored their underwater paradise. All too soon Daffyd was standing in shallower water and removing his gear. “Mom and Dad will be here soon. We better get back.”

     “Wow…that was so…cool. Thanks for talking me into it, Trisha,” gushed Samantha. “Seanna will go crazy over all the fish.”

     “That’s what I was just thinking,” laughed Bryce.

     “Where did all the time go?” said Leal shaking the water out of his curly hair.

     “I’m starved! Let’s go get Bryson and Lucille settled and get some food,” said Trisha.

     “Are you missing your kitchen yet?” joked Daffyd.

     “Um…no!” she laughed.

     Now that Bryce wasn’t being rushed to get into the water, he took the time to check out his cabana. His happened to be bright orange with a veranda across the front. There were two dark blue wooden deck chairs and a hammock handing on
one end. Every cabana was facing east so that the sunset could be enjoyed every morning. Bryce had the whole place to himself. There was a king size bed, a nice bathroom and a couch and a table. Before he jumped in the shower to wash off the saltwater, he grabbed his phone and sent a quick text to Seanna. “
You’re gonna love the snorkeling! Hurry up and get here!”

     When Bryce, Daffyd and Samantha went to meet the boat bringing the next two wedding guests, they were surprised to see three people step up to the dock. Bryce was a little confused knowing that his Uncle had booked the whole Island so that they would have the whole place to themselves. While staff grabbed bags and set them up on the wooden boards, Lucille reached and grabbed the arm of the third person and pulled her along. The stranger was thin and shorter than his grandmother. Blonde hair cut so that it landed right at her chin and big sunglasses covering her eyes. She pulled loose from Lucille’s grasp so that they could all exchange hugs, while she stood a few paces behind them all.