Close to Her Heart (16 page)

Dani picked up the lavender and inhaled deeply. Such a lovely scent. Her mother had grown lavender in her herb garden behind the house at the Circle C. Dani remembered how the bees had loved it, buzzing drunkenly over the deep purple flowers on the hot summer days of early July.

After washing up, Dani changed into her sleeping T-shirt, then opened all three of the windows in her room. Soon a salty sea breeze was freshening the air, and she pulled back the covers to the bed looking more forward to her nap than she’d expected.

Her eyes were just closing when she heard the three-note tone from her phone signaling a message from Adrian.

Suddenly alert, she pulled her phone from her purse so she could read the message.

“We just got back to Seattle. Any chance I can see you tonight?”

*

Dani awoke to the sounds of seagulls and crashing waves. And voices, disjointed bits of conversation.

She rolled over, brushed the hair out of her eyes and listened.

“—not the same—”

A female voice. Probably Miriam.

“I’m just saying,” the same voice continued.

A deeper rumble followed, Dani assumed it was Eliot. But this time she couldn’t make out any of the words.

She eased her way out of the lavender-scented sheets, then pulled off her T-shirt. God, her stomach was huge. She smoothed her hands over it, imagining the baby inside. “You okay in there?”

Dani had been tested enough in her life to know that her IQ fell in the top one percent of the population. She suspected Adrian’s was at least that high. With those kind of genes, her baby had to be smart, right? Even if she wasn’t as smart as her parents, that would be fine. As long as she could live a normal life.

Eliot had left her suitcase on a bench so Dani didn’t even need to bend over far to open it. Quickly, she unpacked her meagre clothing into an empty bureau drawer and hung her dresses in the closet. One of them, a pretty white cotton eyelet shift, she decided to slip on now, along with a pair of flip flops.

She brushed her hair, put on a hat, then went to join her friends on the back deck, stopping first to get a bottle of iced tea from the fridge.

The first thing she saw was Miriam on a lounge chair, wearing a cinnamon-red bikini. Eliot, in swimming trunks, was relaxing in the chair next to her. The bottle of bubbly was empty and they were both drinking from clear plastic water glasses that Dani doubted contained water.

“Here you are!”

Unless he was pretending, Eliot looked happy to see her. Miriam, less so. She gave Dani’s outfit a derisive once-over. “You should have let me take you shopping for some beach clothes last week when I offered.”

“I can’t get motivated to buy clothes I’m only going to wear another month. I have enough to get by.” She smoothed her hands over the shift. “This is comfortable and cool.”

“Perfect for the cottage,” Eliot declared. He set down his glass and eased up from the cushioned lounge chair. “Ready for that walk?”

Dani nodded. She could sip her drink at the same time. Right now she needed to get her circulatory system in gear. She glanced at Miriam to see if she would join them, but the other woman was already absorbed in the fashion magazine that had been face-down beside her on the chair just half a minute earlier.

A series of wooden stairs led down about fifteen feet to the beach. The cottage had been built on the point of a bay, where at least five hundred yards separated them from the next property owners. She and Eliot automatically fell into step beside one another.

“How was the bubbly?”

He shrugged. “I only drank two glasses of the stuff to prevent Miriam from downing the entire bottle herself. I don’t know what’s gotten into her lately. Does she seem—edgy to you?”

Edgy was the perfect word to describe the change in Miriam. “I feel like she’s mad at me for getting pregnant. For changing the dynamic of our group.”

Eliot gave her a long, unreadable look. “Maybe that’s it.”

The humidity of the sea air had brought out the curl in his hair. The effect was quite charming, giving him a slightly roguish appearance that wasn’t hurt at all by his broad muscular shoulders, well developed pecs, and ridged ab muscles. Had he been this well-toned last year, too?

She kind of thought he had. Yet somehow, last year, his build hadn’t really registered with her.

But she had to stop thinking of Eliot this way. He’d no doubt laugh at her right now if he could read her mind.

She took a sip of her iced tea, then looked out at the ocean view again. “I can’t believe your brothers don’t visit more often. This is so beautiful.”

“They have busy lives. Demanding careers. And the cottage isn’t exactly easy to get to.”

“What are they like? Are the three of you quite similar?”

“Hard for me to say. You’ll meet them one day. Then you can decide for yourself.”

“You think I will? Meet them?” She remembered one of them coming to town shortly after she’d met Eliot. As far as she could recall he hadn’t had another family visit since then. They never even got together for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

“Yes. At least I hope so.” Eliot looked like he wanted to say something else, but then her phone gave out a familiar three-note chime.

She couldn’t resist pulling the phone from her pocket to check the message. Before going to sleep she’d sent Adrian a reply saying she was at Eliot’s cottage on Hood Canal and couldn’t see him for a while.

He’d responded: “For how long?”

Dani tucked the phone away.

“Adrian?” Eliot guessed.

She hesitated, then nodded. “After four weeks of silence, he suddenly wants to see me.”

“The guy has seriously bad timing.”

“Yeah.” She tried to smile.

“You want to go back?”

“No. God, no,” she answered quickly and she could tell Eliot was relieved. The problem was, however, part of her
did
want to pack her bag and hurry back to see Adrian.

How pathetic was that?

*

After their walk, Dani took a book to one of the comfy chairs at the front porch and settled in for a couple hours of reading. Eliot had offered to cook dinner that evening and was prepping food in the kitchen. Despite his assurances that he didn’t need any help, Miriam was in there with him.

Probably working on her second bottle of wine.

Dani wrinkled her nose at herself, for having such an uncharitable thought. So what if Miriam was kicking up her heels a little. This was a holiday after all, and last year Dani hadn’t been shy about drinking her own share of alcohol, as well. In fact, she remembered one afternoon when they’d gone through three pitchers of sangria with little problem.

When she finished Chapter Six, Dani decided she’d had enough of the story for now and set the book aside. Fatalistically she pulled out her phone and re-read the stream of text messages she and Adrian had exchanged in the past two hours.

“Back in two weeks,” she’d said, in response to his question.

“Call me as soon as you’re back.”

“I will. Everything OK?”

“Fine. Just need to talk. You OK?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Take care. See you in 2 wks.”

She kept trying to read in more than was really there. Like, had he changed his mind about her and the baby? It had to be a good sign that he’d asked how she was doing. However, he hadn’t done so until she’d asked about him. So.

Dani longed to ask Miriam her opinion. A few months ago she would have. But their friendship had changed and Dani no longer trusted her the way she once had. Which left Eliot, but she didn’t need to ask to know what he would say.

He’d tell her Adrian was a jerk and she was better off without him.

Easy advice to give if you were a guy.

*

They ate dinner on the back deck. Grilled salmon and veggies with pesto linguine. Another bottle of wine was opened by Miriam, while Dani stuck to her unsweetened iced teas.

Before dinner Miriam had showered and changed into her third outfit of the day, this one a short, midnight blue halter dress with a deep v neck-line and no back to speak of. The fabric was thin enough that the peaks of her nipples were hard to ignore.

God, to have such cute, perky breasts. Her sister Callan had breasts like that. Not Dani though. Hers had been full B cups even before she was pregnant. Who knew what they’d be like after?

But when she thought about nursing her baby, about holding her tiny daughter or son in her arms and feeling him or her warm against her skin, she didn’t care. Not really.

After dinner the three of them sat and talked while they watched the sunset. For a while it was like old times. Eliot pulled out the cottage Scrabble set—an earlier version than they usually played with, tiles smooth with use, the board bearing rings from coffee mugs and a few red wine spills as well.

Dani won the first game, Eliot the second. The three of them were usually well-matched, but in both games Miriam’s score was markedly the lowest.

“I’m drawing lousy letters tonight. No wonder I keep losing.”

Dani glanced at Eliot, who raised his eyebrows at her. It hadn’t been the letters. Miriam’s drinking was the reason she hadn’t won a game, or even made a decent score.

But neither she nor Eliot said anything as Miriam got up from the table, not bothering to help put the letters back into the red velvet bag. After topping up her wine glass, she went to sit on the chair next to Eliot. “Tell me the truth. Do you think I’m pretty?”

She was leaning in toward him as she said this, pressing her chest into his arm.

“It’s not like you to have an inferiority complex.” Eliot shifted back in his chair, increasing the space between them. “You know you’re attractive.”

“Well sure. But I’ve always wondered, what sort of woman turns you on, Eliot? You’ve dated so many different types over the years. I still don’t have a handle on what you like.”

“If I have a type, it isn’t based on hair color or body shape, if that’s what you mean.”

Dani could tell he was started to get annoyed. But Miriam was too far gone to take the hint and back off.

“So, you can’t even say if you prefer, oh—” Her gaze drifted toward Dani—“tall, full-figured women over petite, slender ones?”

“What the hell? Miriam, you’ve had too much to drink.”

“But maybe you’re just not into Asians. Is that the problem?”

“Stop it. Seriously.” Eliot got out of his chair, took the bottle of wine and forced the cork back into the neck. “I think it’s time we wrapped up this party for the night.”

“I agree totally.” Dani had been wondering how to extradite herself from this suddenly uncomfortable situation. “I’ll put away the Scrabble Game. See you guys in the morning.”

“Wait, I’ll—”

She heard Eliot call after her, and felt a little guilty about leaving him alone with Miriam while she was in this strange mood of hers. But she’d had enough drama for one day. Tomorrow, she hoped, everyone would be back to normal.

*