Seaview Inn. Sherryl Woods

who was she kidding? The real issue wasn’t whether or not Kelsey remained at Stanford, but what she was going to do about the baby. Her daughter was pregnant! The thought still boggled her mind, at least when it didn’t make her angry. Of all the careless, irresponsible things Kelsey might have done, this was one that Hannah had never even considered.

      Sure, college kids in lust took chances, made mistakes, but Kelsey had always had a rigid, almost puritanical set of values. They’d talked about sex being best in a committed relationship. They’d talked about precautions, just in case a situation got out of hand. Dammit, it was the one subject about which they’d always been on the same page!

      As close as she and Kelsey were, Hannah thought she knew everything there was to know about her daughter’s life at school. She’d never mentioned any special young man, not even in answer to Hannah’s direct questions about her social life.

      “Sure, I go out, Mom, but it’s nothing serious.”

      Hannah could recall her precise words. Well, she’d call a boy responsible for an unplanned pregnancy serious enough to qualify for a mention.

      Spilt milk, she reminded herself sternly. She needed to stop thinking about all the dreams that might be going up in smoke. She needed to be calm and rational by the time she picked up Kelsey at the airport. The last thing her daughter needed was a barrage of judgmental, unanswerable questions the instant she stepped off the plane. Nor did she need her mother stepping in and trying to fix things, the way Hannah was always inclined to do.

      Crossing the street from the beach, Hannah spotted someone sitting in a rocker on the porch, a very masculine someone who looked vaguely familiar and very much at home.

      “Hey, Hannah,” the man said, lifting a glass of lemonade in greeting. “Care to join me? Your grandmother left an extra glass.”

      She gave him another hard look, took in the dark brown buzz cut, the angular features on a face that was almost gaunt, the broad shoulders, the lips threatening to curve into a grin. It wasn’t until she looked into his brown eyes, though, that she recognized him.

      “Luke?” Her expression brightened. “Luke Stevens? How long has it been?”

      “More than twenty years,” he said, his gaze sweeping over her with the kind of masculine appreciation she wasn’t accustomed to, from him. “You look good, Hannah. How’s life treating you?”

      “Don’t ask. How about you?”

      “Don’t ask.”

      “You’re not still living in Seaview Key, are you?”

      “No. I haven’t been back in years.”

      “Well, what on earth are you doing here now?” She heard how that sounded and quickly amended, “Not that I’m not glad to see you.”

      “I just came back for a visit.”

      “Well, isn’t that an amazing coincidence?” Amazing and a whole lot more, frankly. It was troubling to discover that Luke still had the same ability to rattle her and make her tongue-tied. Forcing herself to remember the way things had been—Luke and her best friend madly in love, rather than Luke at least noticing her—she deliberately asked, “Do you ever hear from Abby?”

      He shook his head. “You?”

      “Not since college. So, where are you staying?”

      “Here, actually. I moved in about an hour ago.”

      Hannah, who’d been about to lean down and give him a friendly peck on the cheek, backed up so fast, it was only luck—and a sturdy railing—that kept her from sailing right off the edge of the porch.

      “Here?” she said incredulously. “You moved in here?”

      He chuckled and raised his glass of lemonade again. “Surprise!”

      “But we’re closed. Who said you could stay?” she asked, though the answer was obvious. Grandma Jenny wasn’t taking any chances. Obviously she figured frugal Hannah wouldn’t turn away a paying guest.

      “I made the reservation with your grandmother a couple of weeks ago.”

      Hannah directed a sour look toward the house. No doubt her grandmother was sitting right beside a window to get a perfect view of this encounter. “Really. For how long?”

      Luke shrugged. “Hard to say. I have some things to figure out. I told your grandmother I’d help the two of you get this place spruced up a bit.”

      “Really,” she said again. This must be the help Gran had said was on the way. “She never mentioned you. Did you and my grandmother make any other plans without sharing them with me?”

      “Not me,” he claimed. “I can’t speak for her.”

      Hannah bounced up. “I think my grandmother and I need to have a talk.” She was about to walk away, when her intrinsic manners kicked in. She turned around. “It really is good to see you again, Luke, but one word of caution.”

      “Oh?”

      “Don’t get too comfortable. In less than two weeks, this place will be closed, I’ll be back in New York and my grandmother will be...” She faltered on that. “Well, she’ll be somewhere. Right this second a psychiatric facility sounds like just the place.”

      She was about to storm inside and have it out with her grandmother when Luke stopped her.

      “Hold it, Hannah. If me being here is going to be a problem, I’m sure I can find somewhere else to stay. I noticed a couple of new motels when I drove off the ferry.”

      She was about to take him up on the offer when she realized she was being absurd. There was no reason he couldn’t stay in one of the guest rooms, even if having him underfoot was going to dredge up a whole lot of old memories of unrequited longing. It was only the fact that her grandmother had done this behind her back that grated.

      She sighed and sat down in the rocker next to his. To buy herself a couple of minutes so that she didn’t sound totally irrational, she poured herself a glass of the ice-cold lemonade and took a sip.

      “Sorry about sounding so inhospitable,” she said eventually. “You just caught me off guard. We’ve been closed since before my mother died a month ago. I had no idea that my grandmother had started taking reservations again.”

      Luke looked genuinely shocked. “Your mother died? I didn’t know. I’m so sorry, Hannah. She was a wonderful woman. I always enjoyed talking to her. She really listened to all us kids.”

      Hannah blinked back a fresh batch of tears. For a woman who’d always prided herself on keeping her emotions in check, since coming back here, she was turning into a regular waterworks.

      “She was a good listener, wasn’t she?” she said, a catch in her voice. “I remember how often you or one of the other kids would sneak off to the kitchen to spill some secret to her. I swear she always knew stuff about my friends before I did. I was halfway jealous of that.”

      “Your grandmother didn’t say anything about her dying when I called. I thought your mom must just be away on a trip or something.”

      “Don’t feel bad. I know she’s dead and I feel the same way. I can’t quite believe I won’t turn a corner and bump into her.”

      He hesitated, then studied her with a gaze filled with compassion. “Do you want to talk about it or should we move on to another topic?”

      “To be honest, I’m not ready to talk about it yet. She had cancer and things didn’t go well, practically from the beginning, and...” She couldn’t bring herself to say the rest, that she was terrified her own future was destined to follow the same path.

      “It’s an awful disease,” he said quietly. “And it’s really difficult to watch a loved one suffer.”

      “You have no idea,” she said softly, then