Page 25 of A Room By the Sea

“I can make anything,” he said, a touch defensively.

“I have no doubt about that,” she said, and her smile was so warm his stomach did a somersault.

“I’ll get that form,” he said, his tone more of a mutter than he meant it to be.

He stood up and went to retrieve the form for her. He kept all the papers necessary to run his business in a little cupboard under the display counter. As he reached for the order forms, he realized that his hands were sweaty, and he quickly wiped them on the legs of his trousers.

He grabbed an order form for Elaine and hurried back to the little table where she was sitting. He saw that she’d packed up her notebook, and he realized with surprise that he was disappointed by the sight. It meant that she was about to leave.

What on earth is wrong with me? he thought. I hate social situations of any kind. This meeting has been a major inconvenience to my day. Why would I be disappointed that it’s over?

He felt a warm sensation in his stomach again and he decided not to try to answer that question.

“Here you are,” he said, handing the paper to Elaine. “You can drop it off whenever it’s finished or fill it out here if you want.”

“I’ll bring it home so I can ask the girls what they think we should put on the menu. I think we’ll go along with those suggestions of yours, though. Great ideas.”

Shep grunted and nodded, pleased by her compliment. Elaine folded the piece of paper and tucked it into her purse. “Thank you for meeting with me, Shep,” she said, standing up. “Next time I need to talk with you, I’ll be sure to schedule a meeting with you first. I’ll refrain from barging in on you in the future.”

“Very kind of you,” he said, his tone a touch dry. “It’s very considerate of you to check with me about my availability.”

She chuckled. “Would this coming Saturday work for you?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “That will be fine.” The truth was, he seldom had any real conflicts. As long as she didn’t want to meet before dawn, when he did most of his baking, he wouldn’t really be busy any day of the week.

“Splendid.” She flashed another radiant smile at him and took her leave, still moving as confidently as a queen in her own castle.

Shep watched her go for a few heartbeats, shaking his head and still feeling dumbfounded by her behavior.

Her spunkiness is rather attractive, he thought, unable to stop himself from thinking it.

He hurried back into his kitchen, feeling suddenly jittery. As he stepped inside his quiet space, he didn’t feel the sense of solitude that he usually experienced there. Instead, his head and heart still felt flooded with images of Elaine. He tried to tamp down the admiration he could feel growing within himself in reaction to her grit, but he felt as though he was doggy-paddling helplessly against a strong current.

Sighing, he returned to working on the batch of sugar cookies he’d started before Elaine’s arrival. The work soothed his jitters a little, but try as he might, for the rest of the day he kept thinking about Elaine.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Elaine dipped her spoon into her dish of ice cream as she laughed over a joke Audrey had just made. She was sitting in the parlor with Audrey and Michelle, and the three of them were celebrating the fact that they had completed the interior design of The Birchwood House. Soon, all the rooms would be available to guests.

“I’m serious, somebody give me one of those mountaineer outfits,” Audrey said, laughing at her own silliness. “I’ll even put on a big gray beard. I feel like I just scaled a mountain using mostly my bare hands.”

“We sure did use our hands a lot,” Michelle said, holding hers out in front of her. “I didn’t dare get a manicure for weeks since we were doing all that cleaning. And I’ve gone through like four bottles of hand lotion. But now that we’re done, I get to have fancy hands again.”

Elaine chuckled. “Your hands look beautiful, Michelle. I love that polish.”

“Thanks.” Michelle grinned. “Normally I go with something subtle like light pink or white, but this was a special occasion. Teal is my favorite color, and they had this slightly shimmery polish at the nail salon. I’m just obsessed.”

“Your nails look like summer,” Audrey said, smiling affectionately at her daughter.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but don’t forget we’re still going to have to do a lot of cleaning,” Elaine said. “We are running a hotel after all.”

Michelle laughed. “Don’t worry, I know. But we’re not going to be dealing with ten years or more’s worth of old dust anymore. I can put on some cleaning gloves and do some basic scrubbing, no problem. The cleaning extravaganza we all just went through is officially over.”

“Here, here,” Audrey said, lifting her bowl of ice cream in a kind of toast.

Elaine laughed, feeling happy and excited. They’d made sundaes using all kinds of fun ingredients like caramel sauce, hot fudge sauce, candy pieces, and marshmallow fluff. They’d all been giggling together for the past hour like a bunch of teenagers.

It’s always exciting to reach a new step in life, Elaine thought. But it’s especially nice when you worked hard to get there. I think we’re feeling so happy not only because we’re excited, but also because we’re so proud of ourselves.