The Guestbook (12 page)

Jude fumbled with her keys, her unsteady hand making it difficult to get the key into the lock of her front door. “Almost!” she giggled drunkenly as she bent to pick up the keys that had slid out of her hand.

Lily bent over to help retrieve them, banging her head into Jude’s. “Ouch!” she cried, rubbing her forehead. “I guess sometimes two heads are
not
better than one.”

Kyla groaned. “All right, ladies. Let me handle this. After all, I only had two glasses of wine and you two had…I don’t know how many.” Kyla confiscated the keys from Jude, unlocked the door, turned on a few Tiffany lamps, and led the way into the expansive living room. She immediately claimed Jude’s burgundy velvet antique fainting couch and made herself comfortable.

Lily slipped off her boots and left them at the front door.  The polished wooden floors and the lush oriental rugs felt luxurious against her bare feet. She walked across the parquet wood floor to gaze out the oversized picture window that seemed to be floating on air above the water. “What an amazing view you have, Jude. There are so many stars out. If I lived here, I would never leave this window.”

“It is hard sometimes. It’s an even better view up here than from the café. You can see the Cascade peaks on a clear day. I was sold on this place the minute I walked into this room.”

Lily followed Jude into the kitchen and watched as she began the process of making Mexican coffee. Jude added cocoa powder, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, then retrieved the Kahlua bottle from the wet bar. “The coffee will be ready in a few,” Jude said.

Lily inhaled the aromatic smell of fresh brewing coffee. “May I see the rest of your place, Jude?”

“Sure, I’ll give you the grand tour.”

Jude led Lily down the hall and into one of bedrooms. “Here’s the master suite,” Jude said as she flipped on an overhead chandelier.

“Looks like a true boudoir where secret trysts are enjoyed.”

“Right,” Jude sighed. “The procession of gentlemen coming to my door is never ending.”

Lily ran her hand over the satin duvet cover and fingered the delicate lace pillows on the bed. “These are gorgeous.  When I think of my flannel sheets and bulky down comforter in its woolen duvet, I feel like a tom-boy next to you.”

Jude draped an arm over Lily’s shoulder. “If Prince Charming shows up at your door,
or for that matter a hot one night stand-in prince, my boudoir is at your disposal.”

Kyla called from the living room, “Are you two coming back out here to keep me company before I fall asleep? I thought we were having a party.”

“Hold your horses, Kyla,” Jude said as she returned and pulled some tall mugs down from the kitchen shelf. She poured generous amounts of Kahlua in each cup, topped it off with spiced coffee, then plopped a mound of whipped cream and a dusting of Dutch chocolate before handing them to her guests.

Lily curled up in a well-cushioned wicker rocker next to the couch and sipped her Mexican coffee. “Ian is quite a talented artist.  I was very impressed by his work tonight,” she said.

“Are you sure you mean his work and not his bod!”

“Jude, I didn’t say that, I didn’t mean, I mean…”

Jude laughed. “Girl, it’s all right, you didn’t have to
say it
, your eyes never left him.”

“Was I that obvious?”

Kyla sat up and leaned in closer to Lily. “To us women who don’t miss much, yes, it was obvious. But to Ian, I doubt it.”

Lily squirmed in her seat. “I’m not really looking for love right now; I mean, I’m not even divorced yet.”

“So what?” Jude said taking a big gulp of her drink. “When did that ever stop true love?”

Lily turned to Kyla. “You seem to know him pretty well.  He appears to like you.”

“We’re just friends, nothing more,” Kyla said.

Jude stood up and changed the subject. “So, does anyone have any juicy town gossip? Or shall we start the party with some true confessions.”

“I vote for true confessions, but only if you go first, Jude,” Kyla answered.

“Okay, okay, I
do
have a secret to share. You know how my cook, Karen, is pregnant and about to go on permanent leave? Well, I’ve been thinking about bringing on a more ‘gourmet’ chef. Someone to jazz things up a bit. And I think I may have found someone.”

“And…” Kyla prodded.

“Well, he’s smokin’ hot, a little mysterious, and
single
.”

“But can he cook?” asked Lily, grinning.

Kyla laughed, “Possibly that doesn’t matter!”

Lily blushed, “Oh right, right.”

“Not so fast, you two. It happens he’s Cordon Bleu trained and apprenticed at a three-star Michelin restaurant in Spain. And he’s currently the executive chef at the Grand Hotel in Seattle.”

“So why would he want to come here to such an isolated place like Madrona Island?” Kyla asked. “Your café, as wonderful as it is, is not exactly an upwardly mobile career move for a guy like him.”

Jude sighed. “That’s the question I’m trying to get answered before I make up my mind to hire him and tell Karen. He says he just wants a change. Maybe you could do a tea leaf reading for me, Kyla, help me figure this out?”

“You do tea leaf readings?” Lily asked with surprise.

“For some people I do. I would do it for you if you wanted one.”

Jude clapped her hands. “Yes, Lily, you have to try one.”

Lily paused. “I’ll think about it. You know, possibly the chef just wants a change of
scenery, a fresh start somewhere new…like me.”

Both women stared intently at Lily, waiting for her to reveal more. Lily warmed her hands on the porcelain mug. “As you know, Jude, I left my marriage to Brad. I guess you could call him an arrogant, overbearing, self-centered jerk.”

“That’s letting it all out, Lily,” Jude said, nodding her head in approval.

Lily paused and smiled. It was nice to have girlfriends she could talk to and not have to always be the “nice girl,” overwhelmed by Brad telling her day and night what to do, what to wear, what to say, how to act. She continued, “Unfortunately, Brad doesn’t like to lose his possessions, and I was his prized possession–he’s making it extremely difficult for me to negotiate a divorce and a fair settlement.”

Kyla leveled her green-eyed gaze on Lily, then spoke softly. “Is he threatening you?”

“Not exactly, not yet, anyway. Just lying, withholding money, manipulating everything to try to force me to come back.”

“That’s more than enough threat.” Jude shook her head sadly.

“Stay true to yourself, Lily,” Kyla said. “True freedom always has a price, but it is so worth it.”

Lily looked into Kyla’s piercing green eyes. Shadows of grief played along the dark-rimmed edges, and it occurred to her that the cost of Kyla’s own freedom, whatever that was, still weighed heavily upon her. Lily’s heart went out to her.  She wished this woman would open up to her, just a little more.

Jude went to get the coffee pot. “Okay, let’s lighten up, ladies. Ex-husbands and their wonderful attributes and charades can be quite amusing viewed from a distance.”

She refilled their cups with coffee and Kahlua, then relaxed into the plush sofa. “Take my ex. He marries me, promises eternal love, then, when our daughter is just three years old, he freaks out and starts whining about wanting his freedom.  And you know how I found out he meant what he said…in the headlines of our local newspaper!”

“What, you’re kidding!” chimed Lily and Kyla.

“No, ‘Mr. I–want-out’ was cheating on me with the young and gorgeous wife of our neighbor. The two lovebirds took our boat out in the lake, got drunk, got in an accident, and almost killed someone.”

“That’s how you found out?  How humiliating!” said Lily.  “At least I found out in the privacy of my own home when I found over a hundred racy text messages on my husband’s phone to a gorgeous blonde. Pictures too!”

Jude raised an eyebrow. “Not too discreet, that soon-to-be-ex of yours.” She continued, “Well, I divorced mine, and he took off with the neighbor’s wife to who knows where and never paid a dime of child support. But I got him good.”

A sly grin crossed Kyla’s face. “Tell us more.”

“I went to court and put a lien on his assets for the child support. Quite a bundle had accumulated over the years, and when his last living relative, his mother, passed away, his inheritance was attached. It was a tidy sum, just enough to send my daughter, Lindsay, to college.”

“Wow,” Lily said. “Where’s your daughter now?”

“She’s finishing up her business degree at Duke. I’m very proud of her.”

Jude and Lily turned their attention to Kyla. “Your turn,” they said in unison.

Kyla’s eyes darted around the room nervously, resting on the front door then back again to the floor beneath her. “I guess it’s not too hard to guess from my looks, but my
mother and grandmother were both Irish. They were gypsies, of sorts, and healers. The authentic kind from a long family line.”

“Really!” they both said.

“When I was growing up, we had medicinal herbs growing in our backyard, from lavender to garlic. The windowsills were filled with mint and sage in rainbow colors. People would line up at our door to wait for an appointment to get help with their various ills–arthritis, indigestion, impotence, insomnia–there wasn’t much my family didn’t have a natural remedy for.”

“And now you own
Tea & Comfort
. It’s perfect,” said Lily. “Turning your heritage into a successful business.”

Kyla looked at Lily. “I do love my work
now
, but in high school I was so embarrassed by my family that I never brought anyone home. I was always alone and wanted to escape to a different world, one where I would fit in.”

Jude prodded, “So, what did you do before you came to the island?”

Kyla took a deep breath; her eyes distant, obviously filled with a memory somewhere far away. “Suffice to say, it was the complete opposite of my life now, but that’s a long story I’ll save for another night.”

“Oh, c’mon,” said Jude. “I always tell you everything.”

“That’s just your way, Jude, not mine.”

Kyla folded her arms across her chest and leaned back. She was finished talking.

Jude broke the silence. “Are you ladies ready for sleep, or would you prefer a quick batch of fudge brownies?”

“Brownies!” Lily said, rising from her chair. “I’ll even help make them. Where’s the flour and …?”

“Whoa,” said Jude. “I have a box of brownie mix that I throw a few eggs and water into and we’ll have some chewy treats in no time.”

“I can see this is going to be an all-nighter.” Lily followed Jude into the kitchen; she didn’t feel much like sleeping anyway.

Ian looked out the back door window and craned his head to see if Lily’s car was coming down her drive yet. Where the heck was she? It was almost eleven o’clock in the morning.  Obviously, she had not come home last night. Flashes of a car accident set his heart racing. Not another Denise. His breath came faster, and he needed to sit down. A warm hand took his arm and guided him to the couch.

“I know what you’re thinking son, and I’m sure she’s fine.” His grandfather guided him to a chair and took a seat across from him at the kitchen table. “She probably stayed in town with Jude. Good idea, too, with all the wine drinking going on at those openings.”

Ian looked into his grandfather’s eyes and felt a calmness settling in. “You’re right, we would have heard if anything went wrong. I just don’t like her not coming home or calling…” He stopped himself abruptly, amazed by what he had just said.  She didn’t owe him a call. She really didn’t owe him anything at all.  And yet he already felt so attached. Ian pushed himself from the chair and started for the door. “You’re right, Gramps, thanks for the reminder. I think I’ll go out to the studio and get some painting done.”

“Hold on, Ian. How about we talk a bit, have some coffee?”

“You always could see right through me. Am I that obvious?”

Ian held fast at the door. He wanted to run out to the old barn that held his studio, bury himself in his work, drown out the feelings that fought to resurface from the depths where he had banished them after his wife’s death. John laughed. “I’m afraid when it comes to women, the men in this family fall pretty hard, once they finally fall. And Lily is the kind of woman who comes along very rarely.”

Ian started a fresh pot of coffee, then joined his grandfather in the den. “The timing is just so bad. She’s not even divorced yet.  I don’t want to scare her off.” Ian remembered the look in Lily’s eyes when he’d moved in for a kiss. It looked a lot like terror. That soon-to-be-ex-husband of hers must have really caused some damage.

John nodded his head in agreement. “Sometimes you just have to stand firm with your feelings, be patient, and let the tide turn toward you. Fear can be contagious, you know.”

Ian knew about fear of getting involved. For the last few years the minute any woman started to get close, he’d taken off running. His head perked up at the distant sound of a car rolling down the gravel drive next door. His eyes met his grandfather’s, and they both burst out laughing and headed for the window. John put his arm around Ian with a tight squeeze. “See, I told you she was fine. Why don’t you head over there just to be sure?”

Ian’s eyes glimmered. “Wouldn’t it seem like overkill,  like I was pouncing on her the minute she got home?”

John gave him a nudge. “Stop thinking so much and get going.”

✦✦✦✦

I’m getting too old to pull all-nighters, Lily thought. Exhaustion was setting in after staying up half the night. She walked down the driveway to check the mail, hoping it would be filled with something besides bills and divorce papers. She was surprised to see Ian walking across the field, waving at her. Memories of him flirting with the women at the gallery reminded her to remain cool and distant.

“Good morning, Lily.”

He looked awful cute this morning, she had to admit. “Morning, Ian.”

“I thought I’d thank you in person for the desserts,” he said. “They were a big hit at the opening.”

“Thanks, that’s good to hear.” She reached in, pulled out the mail, and started back toward the house.

He followed close on her heels. “Did you enjoy the show?”

“Actually, Ian, I’m pretty tired. Jude, Kyla, and I had quite an evening after we left the gallery.” She saw his face drop and knew she was not being kind. A chilling wind blew off the Sound and a piece of mail flew from her hands.

Ian caught it in mid-air and handed it to her. “Alright, sure. Would you like to take a walk later, when you’re rested, if the wind dies down?”

“Possibly. I am out of kindling and need to cut some.”

“My specialty,” Ian said. “Point the way, I’m at your service.”

“Thanks, Ian, the wood is out by the back porch. I’m going to change, then I’ll meet you out there.”

Here he was being so nice again. Did she read him wrong last night?  She didn’t trust her judgment when it came to men, particularly now. She brought the mail in and went out the back door to see how Ian was doing with the wood.

Lily watched Ian chop kindling for a while and thought about all the things she should be doing instead, like looking for the brownie recipe or taking a nap. How can one man make me feel so darn uncomfortable? she wondered. It’s those eyes. It should be illegal for them to be so blue. He was obviously trying hard to be helpful. Not interested, walk away, Lily, the voice in her head said. Don’t you see the red warning light over his head?

Just as he finished chopping the stack, the sun broke through the clouds.

“Feel any better? Up for a walk now, Lily?”

She felt that sinking feeling again in her stomach. Before she could stop them, words came out of her mouth. “Sure, just a short one. I have to get back soon.”

The tide was out and the wet beach stretched for miles. Her fatigue dissolved as she watched each foamy wave retreat.  Wisps of pink crossed a pale sky and set off the Olympic Mountains in the distance.

Ian picked up a small iridescent shell and rinsed it in the waves. “A shell for your thoughts,” he said as he handed it over to Lily.

She held it in her hand. “A pretty one, too, delicate, unique…good taste.”

“So, does that mean I pass inspection?” he said, standing straight at mock attention.

Arms folded across her chest, Lily stared up at the man standing at attention before her. Despite herself, she had to admit the shaggy dark hair blowing across the olive-skinned face framed a handsome and seemingly thoughtful man.

“I suppose, but only time will tell.” Jaded, crossed her mind. That is how she sounded. After Brad, any man was suspicious until proven otherwise, no matter how hard
her heart pounded when she stood beside him.

As they meandered along the shore, it crossed her mind how they made a striking pair. He tall and dark, long, lean arms; and her, slim but strong frame and straw-colored hair reflecting sunlight and playing with the breeze.

A gnarly piece of driftwood suggested the perfect seat to watch the sun drifting in and out of the clouds. The tide rolled ashore, edging away grains of sand, turning it into foaming mud.

“Let’s sit here awhile. Couldn’t find a better view,” he said.

Lily sat, curled her legs up to her chest, and hugged them close. The quiet passed between them, but with a marked comfortableness, like a married couple after years of being together.

“I love this spot. Thank you for showing it to me, Ian.”

“I know it well. I’ve taken many photos here and brought my easel on a few occasions.”

“I’d like to see the new pieces you’re working on.” There it was again, words coming out of her mouth that she didn’t mean to say. Lily, get a grip, she thought. Yes, he is very good-looking, and yes, it is hard breathe or think straight around him, but he is, remember, a man.

She looked away, afraid to hear his next comments, hoping it would not be some awful line about coming over to his place sometime.

“Whenever you would like, Lily, stop by my studio. Or I could drop by your place sometime and bring a few.”

Hmmm, a safe, polite answer. Possibly more points for him.

The water was just beginning to reach their toes when they realized the tide was definitely coming in.

Ian jumped up. “How stupid of me not to notice the tide. Come on, Lily, before we have to climb out over the cliffs. Let’s head back.” He took her hand and brought her to her feet.

Lily looked back at the steep, sandy, unstable cliff behind them. Hiking out was not an option.

Running hand-in-hand, they took for the higher beach area, jumping old logs and heading for the path leading back to the steps bordering John’s property. The bottom step had just started to fill with water. Ian hopped up a few steps and reached a hand out to guide her up to the dry plateau. He pulled her in close for a moment and pressed his face into her hair. Almost visible sparks flew between them. He gently touched her cheek, leaning in for a kiss, but the terror she knew was showing through her eyes must have stopped him. Releasing her, he stepped back, eyes resting softly on her face. 

“When you’re ready, Lily, I’ll be here.”

Before she could answer, Ian started for his house.

She watched him walk across the field. Melancholy filled her heart. He seemed so perfect. Why couldn’t she at least give him a chance?