Love Redone in Hidden Harbor (Island County Book 2) (26 page)

I walked out onto the sidewalk and began rolling in my carts of flowers, but an overwhelming sensation rolled through me. I stopped and glanced up and down Seaview Avenue. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but something told me Cole was back in town.

Or maybe this time, I only wished he was lurking at the drycleaners or something, but he was actually firmly tucked into the hills of LA.

This was exactly what happened last time, thinking I caught glimpses of Cole at every turn. It was one thing to have it happen when you’re college age, but completely another to be seeing and hearing things eight years later.

But I kind of liked it. I glanced over my shoulder one last time and rolled in the last of my flowers.

“Hey, sweetie,” my mom called after me.

I turned around and sure enough there she was.

“So you haven’t returned my texts?” she asked breathlessly.

“Since when?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips.

“Since this afternoon. What’s the point of having a phone if you don’t answer your messages?” My mom’s hair matched mine in color, but she’d had it cut short recently. It was cute.

“Believe it or not, I work and you’re not the only one who texts.”

She closed the door and wandered over to the espresso bar, noticing a brownie.

“Do you mind?” she asked.

“Do you want me to heat the brownie?”

She shook her head. “It’s just fine how it is.”

I plopped the last brownie of the day onto the plate and handed it to my mom.

“So what did your texts say?” I asked, taking a seat at the table with her.

“Just wondering if you heard from Cole yet?”

I groaned. “No, mom. Haven’t heard from him since the last time you asked.”

“I feel awful.”

“You shouldn’t. I managed to do this one all by myself.”

“I’m sure you two will work it out.”

“We’ll see, but I did write him a letter and there shouldn’t be anyone to intercept it.”

She grimaced. “Point taken. Did you want me to proofread it or add my thoughts before you send it?”

“I think I can handle writing to an ex on my own. Besides, you haven’t had the greatest track record.”

“So what did you tell him?” She ignored me.

“That it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be to let him in my circle again.”

“Makes sense.”

“And I was willing to risk getting hurt again.”

My mom’s brows furrowed. “Why are you so certain you’re going to get hurt.”

“The odds haven’t worked in my favor yet, and things aren’t looking so hot for the future either.”

My mom sat quietly for a few minutes eating her brownie.

“I think most of the hurt you hold in your heart is misplaced,” my mom finally said. “Cole didn’t do it to you. I did.”

“I can’t go around blaming my mom for something that happened over eight years ago. I’m thirty years old.”

“And I was over forty when I made a huge mistake involving my daughter. You know…this might come as a surprise but sometimes parents are wrong. We make mistakes. We screw up our kids. We screw up ourselves.”

“Well, don’t be too hard on yourself. I think you did a great job of raising Jewels and me.”

“Speaking of Jewels, has she gotten hold of you yet?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t talked to her for a week or so, why? What’s up?”

My mom’s expression fell.

“What?”

“She’s getting a divorce.”

It felt like the ground underneath us moved, and I grabbed the table to steady myself.

“She’s never mentioned a thing,” I said, completely in shock.

“Things aren’t always as they seem.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“What’s she going to do?” I asked.

“I think she might come back to Fireweed, but it’s too soon to know.”

I shook my head, feeling even more discouraged about the idea of love. I had at least held onto the idea that my sister had found it.

Was our generation just doomed? I needed to call Jewels.

“Did you hear that the old Warren place is up for sale?” my mom asked, bringing me out of my fog.

“Really? Why? I thought the Warrens were lifers.”

My mom chuckled. “They visited their daughter in Arizona and realized that the idea of sunshine in March wasn’t that bad of an idea.”

“The nerve. It’s a pretty place. Little out of my budget though,” I laughed.

“Great view.” I caught something in my mom’s expression, but I couldn’t place it. “You always loved that house. Remember?”

“I do. I used to think I’d make millions and buy them out of their place.”

“But I love my little place.”

“As do I. It’s perfectly you. I’d call your sister tonight. She hasn’t wanted to bother you and just keep me posted on this Cole situation. I feel absolutely awful.”

She stood up and hugged me.

“Don’t. Life’s too short. Besides, Sophie explained to me that I was lucky to have experienced that love at least once in my life since some people have never experienced it at all.”

“Smart woman.” My mom’s smile widened as she turned around and let herself out the door.

I sat staring at the empty brownie plate, hoping the crumbs would read like tea leaves. It wasn’t like I necessarily waited for Cole for the last eight years. I was busy building a business and enjoying friends. I did, however, know that what I had with Cole would be impossible to create with anyone else and spending twenty-four hours in bed with him only solidified that presumption.

I went to check my inbox.

Still empty.

 

“Someday, we’ll look at this situation and laugh,” Nick said, glancing at Sophie. “I mean a sex tape scandal? Come on. How great is that?”

“Imaginary sex tape,” Sophie chimed in before she took a bite of her burger.

I glared at them both and sat stewing in my corner of the booth.

We were at Norma’s having dinner, and I hadn’t heard one damn thing since I sent my email to Cole and that had been over a week ago.

But that was fine. I’d let him in my bubble, and apparently, I was too much to handle.

“At least the relationship went out with a bang,” Nick said, cracking himself up, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“How long have you been waiting to use that line?” I asked, taking a sip of my wine.

“Too long,” Nick confessed.

“Well, I don’t think this thing between you two is over,” Sophie said.

“Well, I have absolutely no idea. I think after a couple weeks of not hearing anything, all signs do not point to moving forward.”

“Do you have any regrets?” Nick asked, squeezing ketchup onto his plate.

“You know? Not a single one.” I was surprised by my own admission, but it was true. I’d enjoyed every single second of having Cole back in my life over these last few months. “It has been a wild ride.”

“What if I said it wasn’t over?” Nick asked, dipping his fry into the puddle of tomato goop.

“What do you mean?” I asked, not following where he was going.

Granted, I was on my second glass of wine, and I’d taken an antihistamine so we were lucky I was even upright at this point.

Pickles had been a lot sweeter since this last incident with Cole. I think it was because she’d seen my side while I wrote the email. I think Pickles finally understood where I was coming from. She recognized the crazy in me and finally embraced it. However, that just meant my nose was plugged eighty percent of the time now, and my eyes wouldn’t stop tearing up because she demanded pets, but it was worth it to have a happy cat.

I sniffed in and glanced at Nick. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m just asking what if it wasn’t over?”

“What part?” I asked

“You and Cole?”

“I’d say it would take an act of God.”

“Or two best friends.”

I narrowed my eyes at Sophie and Nick, who both looked too giddy for their own good.

“Actually, it wasn’t really us. Cole reached out.”

We’d already paid and our server came over and took away the change.

“With what?” I whispered, leaning across the table. “And you’ve kept this from me, while I tried to make the best of things?”

Nick gave me a look like I’d lost my mind and shook his head, grinning.

“What you two have is special,” Nick continued. “Cole knows it, and he wasn’t about to let you get away from him again.”

I propped my elbows on the table and stared at Nick, feeling that familiar sensation of being watched.

“Then why haven’t I heard from him over the last couple of weeks?” I glanced around Norma’s and didn’t see Cole.

“Just promise me you’ll keep an open mind,” Sophie said. “I know you’re not the best with surprises…”

“What is going on?”

They remained silent, but I felt his energy. I knew Cole was here.

“You okay?” Sophie asked as I stood up.

“Totally. I just thought I heard someone.”

“Cole?” she whispered.

“Yeah. I guess I can only hope so long before my condition turns clinical and hospitalization is required. Now if one of my best friends would only tell me what was going on, it might not come to that…”

The front door of Norma’s opened and in walked Cole. The sight of him was enough to do me in. Sophie followed my gaze, followed by Nick. I was frozen in place, and it wasn’t until Cole took a step forward that I knew he wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

Cole looked drop-dead gorgeous.

And he was here.

And for once, I was
going
to get my hopes up.

“Why are you still standing here? You should be over there,” Sophie whispered.

I almost fell forward, catching the look of Nick, who flashed a big grin in my direction. He knew. How did he know? Nick gestured for me to continue forward, but I couldn’t.

It felt like high school all over again, but this time my heart filled with anxiety about where we would go from here. I didn’t want to read too much into this, but I already was.

I sucked on the inside of my lip to hide the smile that threatened to reveal every single emotion charging through me.

Our very first date had been at Norma’s. It had been planned as a group date so my parents allowed it, but everyone took off the moment Cole walked inside.

Just like now.

Nick and Sophie both gave me quick hugs and left the table vacant as Cole walked slowly in my direction, his eyes boring into mine.

With every step closer, I knew something was about to change. For better or worse, I would know where I stood.

“There were a few things I had to take care of,” Cole said, his eyes taking me in.

He held out his hands, and I found myself drifting into his arms.

“Like what?” I looked into his eyes.

“This time is different, babe. I’m not leaving and there’s nothing that will come between us. I want to be in your bubble.”

I smiled.

“So you did get the email?”

He nodded, hiding a smile. “And it took everything I had not to come rushing over.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I heard the pain in your voice, I knew I had to make life changes, Natty. I knew where I wanted to be. Where I was meant to be.”

I looked into his eyes, trying to understand what all he was telling me.

“We’ve screwed this up before with distance, and I took care of that problem.”

“I thought you were mad at me for not answering your messages,” I told him.

He shook his head, his hands sliding into mine. “Not at all. It just made it crystal clear where I needed to be.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Do you want the clean version or the messy version?”

“I say go big or go home… so messy,” I chuckled, thinking back to Sophie’s advice to always take the clean version.

Oh, well.

“I had two clients who both got themselves into trouble. I assigned my two best reps to the tasks, and then I got an email from my attorney. He’d been contacted by Charlotte’s people.”

I glanced around the restaurant. There weren’t many people inside, but maybe we shouldn’t indulge their fantasies. I eyed Cole and he grinned.

“Right. We’re on Fireweed.” He led me outside to his car.

I climbed in and took a deep breath smelling everything Cole. A light scent of his cologne lingered in the air, and I let it wrap around me.

He shut the driver’s door and looked at me.

And here we were so many years later sitting in the parking lot of Norma’s.

“Anyway, I’d only met Charlotte once and it was through Cynthia. First I had the task of convincing my attorney that there was no sex tape. And yes, that’s where we’re at today in LA. People are more inclined to believe you have one than not.”

I chuckled, feeling slightly better.

“When I explained things about Cynthia, and Charlotte’s people confirmed we’d only met once and no tape existed, my attorney was on it. Obviously, Cynthia wanted one last blaze of glory and she got it.”

“The magazines retracted the stories, but Cynthia got what she wanted. A temporary wedge between us.”

“Why would she care? It’s not like she was faithful.”

Cole let out a deep breath. “I think she was jealous. It’s always been about that with her. This time, she happened to be right.”