Defy the World Tomatoes (27 page)

“Do I have any choice?”

“No, but I will call you when I get home.”

He swung the door open and walked out before she could tell him that she’d heard that one before, but this time, she felt truly abandoned.

Chapter Fifteen

Christy Joy had requested a couple of days to sleep before they had dinner together, but by Friday afternoon, Jeremy couldn’t wait any longer to see her. He was surprised to find the sandbags gone from the front door, the shop open and Mary Beth behind the counter. If he hadn’t known better, he would have believed the week had been as balmy as any other.

“Hi, Captain,” Mary Beth called as he entered. “I’m glad to see you didn’t go down with your ship in the storm.”

“Impossible, I float like a cork. Where’s Christy Joy?”

“She went to the market, but she’ll be back in a minute. Want to leave a message?”

Jeremy couldn’t think of a thing he’d care to say or write for Mary Beth to pass along. “No, thanks, just tell her I stopped by.”

He wandered on out to the nursery, where Darcy and the men were stacking pots outside the shed. “Need another hand?” he asked.

“Thanks, but what I really need is to call the carpenter who built the arbor up at Griffin’s. He’ll be expensive, but he’ll be able to really repair the shed, while all we can do is prop it up.”

“Won’t Griffin foot the bill? After all, you are his tenants.”

Darcy glanced away. “He’s leaving for France, but I’ll try to find a time to discuss it with him.”

“Come on, he’d do just about anything to please you,” Jeremy offered with a ready grin.

After the scene they’d suffered through that morning, Darcy harbored no such romantic illusions and promptly redirected their conversation. “I’m going to mark everything down and have a gigantic clearance sale out here. Do you have time to help change prices?”

“Sure, just show me where to begin.”

Darcy put him right to work. She was grateful to be able to keep busy rather than dwell on the mess she’d made with Griffin. They hadn’t known each other long, so despite Jeremy’s optimistic assurance, she doubted she’d built up enough good will to win his forgiveness. Especially when in his view she’d carelessly jeopardized the security of the free world. But at least she could whip the nursery into shape.

Jeremy was relieved to have something useful to do so he wasn’t just hanging around until Christy Joy arrived home. When half an hour later she parked in the back, he hurried out to help her carry the shopping bags upstairs.

Once they had everything inside, she began fumbling through her groceries to sort them and put them away. “We were lucky the power came on before everything I had in the freezer was ruined. Not that Twink and I eat a great deal, mind you, but I seemed to have run out of everything.”

Jeremy reached for his wallet. “Let me pay for some of this. After all, Griffin and I ate more than our share while we were here.”

“No, I wouldn’t think of it,” she insisted, “not after all the hard work you put in.”

He slid his wallet back in his pants, but he still felt he owed her. “Thank you, but it was my pleasure. Now we talked about having dinner, would you rather wait until tomorrow night?”

Christy Joy stacked the soup cans in the cupboard before answering. “I know we talked about going out, but
—
”

Jeremy’s heart fell. “You’ve changed your mind?”

“No, not at all, and it would obviously be easier to go out while Twink’s with her dad, but she called me last night before she went to bed, and I don’t want to miss talking with her.”

Relieved she hadn’t just shown him the door, Jeremy reined in his grin before it became reckless. “The restaurants are all open late on the weekends. We could go out after Twink calls.”

“Thank you, that’s so sweet of you, but would you mind terribly if we just ate here tonight?”

“I could bring take-out, then you wouldn’t have to go to any trouble.”

“You’re no trouble, Jeremy, and I’d really like to cook for you. Not that it isn’t fun to cook with Twink, but it’s been ages since I fixed dinner for a man. I’m sorry, does that sound pathetic?”

“Not at all, although when you consider how long it’s been since a woman invited me to dinner, I’d say we’re even in the pathetic department.”

Christy Joy laughed with him, then looked up at the clock. “How does seven sound to you? If it’s too early or too late
—
”

“Seven is fine. Isn’t there something I can bring?”

She thought for a minute then shook her head. “No, I have everything I need. Now I have to get back to work.”

“Yeah, me too, I’m marking down plants for the sale Darcy’s planning.” He walked her down the stairs and with each step regretted missing a chance to kiss her.

Mary Beth watched Jeremy’s cool salute as he cut through the shop for the nursery and was too intrigued to keep still. “Looks like I missed more than a leaky roof here on Wednesday. What’s up with you and Jeremy?”

Certain there had to be a few things to mark down, Christy Joy scanned the shop. “Don’t rush me, I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

“What’s to figure? He’s a hunk and owns his own boat. That makes him quite a catch in Monarch Bay and, from what I’ve seen, he’s already caught.”

Rocked by that possibility, Christy Joy had to swallow hard. “Right now, I’m too worried about getting Twink back home to obsess over a man.”

“Well, you needn’t obsess over him,” Mary Beth scolded. “Just enjoy him because it’s plain he’s set his sights on enjoying you.”

Christy Joy just shook her head and got busy looking for items to put on sale. But when she opened the door that night and found Jeremy standing there in his white uniform holding a big bouquet of pink roses, he looked so good it was all she could do not to burst into tears.

“My God,” she sighed. “I can’t help but pity those poor tourists you wouldn’t…well…entertain?”

Jeremy was amused by how quickly she’d censored what had obviously been her first thought. He handed her the roses. “They got over it, but there is something about a man in a uniform, isn’t there?”

“Well, you look awfully good in yours.” Christy Joy had always thought him nice looking, but the dazzling white uniform accented his deep tan and sun-streaked hair, while it also brought out the vivid green of his eyes. Desperate for a distraction, she showed him where to set his hat, quickly found a crystal vase and carried the roses into the kitchen.

“But the real question is, are you comfortable?”

Jeremy tried not to laugh. “Isn’t it the woman who’s supposed to excuse herself to slip into something more comfortable?”

Christy Joy was wearing one of her favorites, a pink gauze dress in a tiny floral print liberally trimmed with lace. “I’m as comfortable as I’m likely to get, thank you, but if you want to remove your jacket, go right ahead.”

Jeremy had debated long and hard before donning his uniform, but seeing as how it had obviously had the desired effect, he planned to stay in it. “No, thanks, I’m fine. Need me to toss the salad or something?”

“I swear you’re the most helpful man I’ve ever met.” Christy Joy carried the roses into the living room and set them on the coffee table. “Thank you so much for these. They’re just spectacular. Darcy is landscaping a yard up on Ridgecrest with plenty of roses for a June wedding. Somehow I let her talk me into doing the flowers for the ceremony, but roses are so pretty by themselves, that I may just tie ribbons on a dozen for the bridesmaids and use them in crystal vases for the reception.”

“What about the bride’s bouquet?”

“That’s going to be another challenge entirely, but Darcy knows how to wire flowers, and she’ll help me.”

“You two are a good team.”

“Yes, we are, aren’t we?” Christy Joy risked glancing toward him again, but as the resulting heat flooded her veins, she wished she were holding a lace fan. “Is it too hot in here for you?” she asked.

“Not at all, but I’ll open the window if you like.”

“Yes, thank you.” Christy Joy wiped her palms on her skirt and wondered how she was going to survive the evening when he looked good enough to eat, and she knew precisely where to begin nibbling. Amazed by how tempting that thought truly was, she hurried back to the kitchen.

“Would you like some wine?” she called.

“If you’re having some,” he replied.

“Oh no, I don’t dare drink while I cook, or I’ll end up tipsy for sure.”

Jeremy leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn’t recall the last time he had heard anyone even mention the word, and it sounded delightfully old-fashioned coming from her. “Then let’s wait and not risk it.”

“Would you like a soda then, or water?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He was too damn fine in her opinion, but she managed to remove the potstickers from the oven, slide them onto a plate and carry them back out to the living room. She placed them atop a neat stack of
Victoria
magazines on the coffee table.

“I buy these frozen and they’re absolutely delicious. Please try one.”

Jeremy waited for her to sit on the sofa, then slid in beside her. He speared a potsticker with a toothpick, rested it on a napkin for a moment and then popped it into his mouth. The delicate shrimp-filled hors d’oeuvres were incredibly good, and he quickly took another.

“These are terrific,” he agreed.

Pleased he was so appreciative, Christy Joy took two herself. “Other than to drive to the market, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to sit all day. I love owning my own business, but this week has been even more exhausting than most.”

“Do you have any vacation time planned?”

“Are you kidding? Our whale-watching trip was my vacation for this year. At least we won’t have to relocate in September, but if Highway One doesn’t reopen soon, I don’t know what we’ll do.”

“I know what you mean. I had a group cancel a charter for tomorrow because they can’t get through from LA. They rescheduled, which is great, but I hate to just sit on the dock and twiddle my thumbs.”

“I can’t imagine your ever being idle.”

Jeremy took another potsticker and chewed it slowly. “Well, I do a lot of running in place.”

“Is that good exercise?”

Jeremy waited until she’d swallowed a bite of potsticker before he replied. “It was a metaphor, Christy Joy. I’m thirty-seven years old and I captain a boat that’s never out of port for more than a day or two. Sometimes it’s difficult to convince myself that I’m making much progress.”

Christy Joy was mortified not to have understood him, but she was relieved he was in such a relaxed mood and apparently didn’t care. “I thought you loved your boat.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I do, but sport fishing is just that, a sport. I’m not making any sense at all here, am I?”

“No, I understand completely. You sense something’s missing, that there ought to be something more to life.”

“Exactly.” Jeremy drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Is owning Defy the World all you’d hoped it would be?”

“It’s a lot more work than I’d anticipated, but mostly it’s what I expected. Still…”

She glanced toward him and found him studying her as closely as she’d regarded him earlier. “Twink is such a special little girl, and I feel guilty for wanting more.”

Jeremy knew precisely what he wanted and leaned forward. This wasn’t the first time they’d kissed, but it felt just as tentative and sweet until she melted against him. Then all he could think of was how good she tasted and smelled. He kept right on kissing her as he pulled the bobby pins from her hair and sent her curls tumbling all around them.

Christy Joy was so lost in him she could scarcely breathe let alone think, and when the telephone beside the sofa rang, she jumped as though she’d been stung.

She gasped. “That must be Twink.”

Jeremy reached around her to lift the receiver and handed it to her. He got up then and took a few paces away. The apartment wasn’t large and, believing she would like some privacy, he walked into the kitchen. He opened the oven door and peeked in at the chicken breasts baking in a rectangular pan.

A bottle of rosemary and thyme marinade sat on the counter, and if the chicken tasted half as good as it smelled, it would be the best he’d ever eaten. There was a pot of brown rice on a back burner and a plate of asparagus ready to be steamed in the microwave.

He’d known Christy Joy would be a good cook from the attention she lavished on detail in her shop. She was a treasure in every way, but he was smart enough to realize she might be looking for more than a Popeye clone in a man. He could taste how much she liked him in her kiss, but was that enough?

Ten minutes passed before Christy Joy came breezing into the kitchen. “Twink and her dad are going to the zoo tomorrow. I’m glad he’s giving her some much needed attention, but I couldn’t pin him down as to when he’d bring her home.”

“If you want to go up and get her, I’ll be happy to go with you.”

Christy Joy pulled on a pair of oven mitts, removed the pan of chicken and set it on a trivet. Then she remembered the asparagus and slid it into the microwave. “Thank you, but for the time being, I don’t want to upset J. Lyle any more than he already is.”

“You’re a beautiful woman. He has to know other men will appreciate that fact.”