Chapter 14

Ash’s chest continued to pinch through her late lunch with Burke. But at least the tension in the very air around them had dissipated. Still, she didn’t like how she had to work so hard to convince herself that he liked her. Did it matter what the reasons were? Or when the attraction had begun?

“How’s your mom doing?” he asked as the waiter brought their check.

“She looked really good this morning, actually.” Ash saw the golden sun haloing her mother in her mind’s eye. “She loves to work in the garden.”

“I’m surprised she still does it.”

“If it’s been several days since her treatment, it’s usually okay.”

“When’s her next one?”

“Friday.” Four more days. These were usually the best days of the month for her mother—and for Ash too. “Should we go get her ramen bowl?”

“Sure.” He picked up the check and threw down some cash before they left. Their walk back over to the other bay so he could collect his board and she could get back to her office was easy, leisurely. The afternoon crowds on the beach had started to thin as locals took their kids home for dinner and tourists concluded their day under the sun so they could get ready to enjoy the nightlife in Getaway Bay.

“Want to shower and meet me at my place?” she asked as he picked up his board from where he’d leaned it against the Manni’s building.

“Sure.” He met her eye and glanced around, sweeping one arm around her and pulling her further behind the mobile home that now served tacos and burritos.

“Burke.” She giggled and kept a tight grip on the plastic bag containing her mother’s soup.

“I just want to kiss you,” he murmured. “So you’ll know.”

“Know what?”

He answered with a slow, heated touch of his mouth to hers. “How I feel,” he said, his breath drifting along her chin. He kissed her again, and Ash felt the last whispers of her doubt melt away.

By the time he pulled away, the temperature in the shade had doubled, and Ash’s heart felt like it was about to burst.

“All right?” He tucked her hair behind her ear and watched her.

She kept her head ducked for another few seconds, tasting him on her lips and enjoying this sensation of being liked.

Sure, other men had kissed her, but Milo had never kissed her like this. Not even once. Not even the first time.

Burke didn’t want to own Ash. No, his touch testified that he cherished her. She looked up and met his eyes. “All right.”

He smiled a soft, lazy smile that she rarely saw as he only pulled it out when he was alone with her. “So does take-out with your mom require formal clothing? Or can I wear shorts?”

“Whatever’s fine. I’m wearing this unless you take really long showers.” Which she knew he didn’t.

They separated after that, and she walked the last half-mile to her cottage alone. Her grass looked a little on the dry side, so she set the sprinklers to run before dashing inside with the ramen so she could at least tame her hair back into submission.

The wind off the bay always tied her curls in knots, and she worked them out as quickly as she could. She’d just stepped into her closet to change when she heard Burke call, “I’m coming in.”

“I’m changing! Be out in a sec.” Ash pulled off her work clothes and slipped into a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt the color of pumpkins. Her mother had bought it for her for Christmas last year and would appreciate seeing it. Ash tried to get the ribbing to lay flat, but she’d need an iron to do that, and she didn’t have time.

After touching up her makeup, she found Burke in the kitchen, standing in front of the open fridge, peering in. “We just ate,” she said.

“And walked like a mile,” he said, glancing at her. “Wow, you look great.”

He did too, wearing gray slacks and a bright blue polo. “Those are not shorts,” she said.

“It’s your mom,” he replied, abandoning the fridge and coming toward her with a slightly predatory look on his face.

“I just redid my lipstick,” she said, holding up her hand. “The kissing has to wait.”

“Wait?” Burke’s face scrunched up like he didn’t know what that word meant.

Ash cocked her head and grinned at him. “Come on. Mom eats early.” Ash didn’t mention that her mother would be asleep by seven p.m., especially as she’d found her in the garden so early this morning.

But then there’d be plenty of time for kissing after that. She gave Burke a smile she hoped conveyed all the things she was thinking and reached for his hand. They chatted about this and that as he drove her up the hill to her mother’s house.

He was easy to be with. Fun to talk to. Ash laughed at something he said as they mounted the steps, and she opened the front door. “Mom, we’re here.”

“Come in,” she called from further in the house, and Ash exchanged a final glance with Burke before leading him toward the kitchen. She lifted the bag containing her mother’s ramen bowl onto the counter just as her mother pulled a tray of sweet buns out of the oven.

“Mom, I told you I was bringing dinner.”

“I know. There’s nothing better with ramen than fresh bread.” Her mom smiled at her, and Ash immediately saw the exhaustion in her eyes. Dark eyes like Ash’s. Of course, her father had had dark eyes too, but Ash liked to think hers twinkled like her mother’s when she laughed.

“Mom, you didn’t need to bake.”

“I had nothing else to do this afternoon,” she said, slipping the oven mitts off and looking past Ash to Burke. “Hello, Burke. My, don’t you look handsome and so grown up.” She hugged him like they were old friends and reached into the plastic bag to take out her soup.

Burke filled his plate with bread and joined them at the table, where her mother proceeded to dip a corner of her bun into her soup. “So, Burke. How are your parents?”

“Just fine, Mrs. Fox. Well, my mother was sick for a week or two last month, but she seems to be doing better.”

“That’s good.” Her mom smiled, and Ash took a bun from Burke’s plate, the nerves in her stomach demanding she quell them with carbs.

“Yeah, my father is drawing up papers to turn Petals and Leis over to me on January first.”

Ash swung her attention to him. “Really?”

“Yeah. Didn’t I tell you?” His blue eyes danced as he reached for the butter and added a healthy amount to his roll.

“That’s great,” Ash’s mother said. “That farm has been in your family for such a long time.”

“Yes,” Burke said, all formal and proper. Ash glanced at him again, a giggle forming in her throat. She pushed it down with another bite of bread.

“I hope one of my children will keep this house.” Her mom’s gaze landed on Ash, and Ash felt like someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the air.

“Mom.” She reached across the table and covered her mom’s hand with both of hers. “Leo said you willed it to him.”

“But he’s just built that big place on the bluff. What with his new technology something-or-other being sold for so much.” She pulled her hand away and waved it. “He won’t want this place. And you love your cottage on the beach. And Davis won’t come back to the island.”

Her mother saddened at that, and Ash did too. She hadn’t thought of her younger brother in a while. He’d had a falling out with their father a decade ago, left Getaway Bay, and never been back. Not even for the funeral.

Ash had tried to find out from Leo what the disagreement was about, but her older brother didn’t know. Or at least he acted like he didn’t.

“Why’d Davis leave?” Ash asked her mom.

“He….” She looked up and met Ash’s eye. “Something happened. If he wouldn’t come back for the funeral, he won’t come back to this house after I die.”

“Mom.”

“So,” she said loudly. “Burke. Tell me about yourself. What have you been up to the last twenty years?”

A week passed. Then two. July melted—literally melted—into August, and Ash enjoyed every slow summer night with Burke she could get. Sometimes they laid on the beach in each other’s arms. Sometimes he drove her around the island until they found a good vantage point to watch the sun set. Sometimes they went to restaurants and movies and up into his flower fields.

She liked those field trips the best, as Burke became a different man among the rows and rows of carnations, or out under the branches of the plumeria trees. He was born to run that farm, and though she’d never run into his father on their evening jaunts around the flower fields, she’d recommitted herself to making sure Burke got his inheritance.

They hadn’t talked about the fake engagement again. Nor had they gone to pick out a ring. She didn’t want to continue a false relationship with him; she was quite happy with the real one she and Burke were currently experiencing.

She sat at the sewing machine one morning, the needle flying along the pale blue satin to get the straps on before Zara and her sisters showed up. It had only been a month, but she’d managed to get the other four dresses ready for fittings. She just had this one left.

And thirty minutes before they all showed up.

So she sewed and unpicked a seam that didn’t lay right, trying again with the delicate fabric. She’d just pulled it out of the machine and clipped a thread when the bell on her front door rang.

Feminine chatter sounded, and someone laughed as Ash moved to greet them. She grinned at Zara, who led the women into the shop. They all had dark skin like hers, their Indian heritage bringing with it stunning beauty and deep, almost black eyes.

“Hi, Zara.” Ash embraced her friend, feeling the tension in her shoulders. “I’ve got all the dresses ready for you ladies.” She stepped back, her purely professional face in position. She flashed Zara a quick smile first and turned back to the other women.

“Who wants to go first?”

“I will.”

“Abish, right?” Ash asked, sure she’d butchered the name.

“She goes by Abi,” Zara said. “Second oldest. Married to Bill Henney.”

“Oh, right. Of course.” Ash had not made any of the dresses for the Reddy sisters, as they’d all had a traditional Indian wedding. She’d attended the last one with Zara, her rented saree one of the most beautiful pieces of clothing she’d ever worn. She’d thought about sewing one for herself, but in the end, she hadn’t had time.

She helped Abi into the dressing room while the other women migrated toward the lemon water and cookies Ash had set out for this fitting. She worked for the next hour and a half, never happier that she’d learned to turn down the air conditioning during a fitting. That extra three degrees helped keep everyone cool, including her, as they went in and out of the dressing room, made notes and pinned fabric into place.

One by one, all the sisters got their dress fitting, until only Zara remained. She was the slimmest of the sisters, and her dress shone like the morning sky against her skin. “It’s not bad,” Ash said.

“Are you kidding?” Zara cupped her hands over her chest. “This has to be taken way in.”

Ash made the adjustment, wrote down the notes she needed, and glanced at the tray to see there were two cookies left. Thank goodness. She’d earned them, and she really wanted to stuff them both in her mouth and collapse as soon as the sisters left.

“So I’ll get to work on these,” she said. “As I can, in between my weddings. We’ll have another fitting before Christmas, so I can make sure they get done in time for the April wedding.”

“Thank you,” one of the sisters said, wrapping Ash in a tight hug. They walked out, leaving Zara alone with Ash, who puffed out her cheeks and exhaled.

“They’re a handful,” Zara agreed, though Ash hadn’t said anything.

“I’ve handled worse, trust me.” In fact, Zara’s sisters were nothing compared to some of the bridezillas Ash had worked with over the years.

“My mother’s already started in on me about my lack of a boyfriend,” Zara said. “And then comes the job lecture, blah blah blah.”

Ash set her notebook on the desk and took a seat behind it, her heels digging into the top of her right foot uncomfortably. With just Zara in the office, she kicked them off. “Oh, how’s the new show? When can I come?”

“It’s great.” Zara grinned and took a seat across from her. “Come anytime. I can get some tickets for you if you want.”

“Two tickets? I’ll bring Burke.”

Zara’s eyebrows went up for a split second before she made a face. “You think he’ll like synchronized swimming?”

“It’s more than that.” Zara was always selling herself short. She was an acrobat, a dancer, and a synchronized swimmer and had managed to find work in half a dozen of Getaway Bay’s most popular shows. “We can come anytime. Just tell me when.”

“On Tuesdays, you get half-price drink tickets at The Straw with the show.”

“Great. Next Tuesday.” It was only a few days away, and it would give her and Burke something more to do than lie around and make out—though she liked that just fine too. In fact, her face heated as if Zara could see what she was thinking about.

“Thanks, Ash. You’re the best.” Zara stood. “I better go catch up to my sisters.”

Ash waved and Zara left. Ash sat in her now-quiet office, absorbing the silence and reviving herself with it.

Her bells rang again, and a measure of exhaustion pulled through her. Before she could get up, Burke framed himself in the doorway. “Hey, beautiful.” He grinned at her and folded his arms. He wore jean shorts and a T-shirt with a rainbow-colored surfboard on it. “You look like you could use something to eat.”

“Desperately.” She stood, leaving her heels under her desk. “But can we get it and go home? I’m tired.”

“Sure.” He glanced around. “Smells like cookies in here.” He took a step toward the nearly empty platter, and Ash had just enough energy to lunge in front of him, planting both palms flat against his chest.

“Don’t even think about it. Those are mine.”

He blinked at her and then burst out laughing. “I’ll buy you more cookies,” he said once he’d sobered.

“I want the peanut butter cheesecake from Daria’s,” Ash said, deciding on the spot. She wasn’t a huge sweet lover, but on busy days like today, she sure did enjoy something with chocolate and peanut butter. Or chocolate and caramel.

“Daria’s is on the other side of the island,” Burke said, putting his hands on her hips and bringing her closer.

“Better get going then,” she said. “I don’t want to be out too late. I have a meeting with a bride in the morning.”