Love Believes (Sully Point, Book 5) (9 page)

"I noticed nothing," Eric declared.

Maggie punched him in the arm. "You did too.
You like him, don't you Beth? Mr. Christopher?"

"Well, sure, I mean, he's my boss. And my
director. Sure, I like him."

"You know that's not what I mean. But isn't
he a lot older than you?"

"Only ten years," Beth said immediately.
"Not that much older. Not that it matters, of course, because I'm sure
he'd never see me that way." She took another cookie and munched rather
glumly.

"So you are attracted to him," Maggie
said with a somewhat worried voice.

"How could I not be?" Beth said.
"He's cultured, sophisticated, funny, handsome, smart, sexy, easy to talk
to, excellent at his work..."

"But?" Maggie asked.

"But I think he sees me as too young. Plus,
I'm an actress and he's been known to have said he'd never date an actress
again. Oh, let's not talk about it. It's depressing."

Maggie looked like she was going to say something
else, but Eric reached out a hand and patted her on the shoulder. "Not
now, hon. Come on, Beth. Let's show you the upstairs, if you're done with the
cookies."

"Yeah, I think I am," Beth said.

They walked upstairs to bedrooms laid out on
either side of a hall. "Here's the baby's room," Maggie said, opening
a door.

"It's wonderful!" Beth said. The room
was done in rich shades of purple, red, green and blue, with a big rocking
chair at the center of the room.

"You like it? Anna says she'll do a fun mural
on one wall. Maybe something with trucks and cars and a village or else a
forest scene. I can't decide which I'd prefer. I'm still working on a quilt for
the baby's bed, but here's a small one I did for when he or she is a
newborn."

Beth picked up the small blanket and opened it. It
was done in pastels with floral appliques. "I like it. I can't believe
you're going to be a mom. Are you nervous?"

"Sometimes, but mostly I'm excited. Let's go
check out your room now."

Eric led the way into a restful room done in
lavender, sage green and gray. "It's lovely, Maggie. I think I can sleep
here, even after tonight."

"Good. Do you want to stay up for a while?"

Beth looked at the bed, and then said, "No, I
suddenly feel quite ready to let go of today."

"When do you need to be up?"

"Seven-thirty would be good," she said.
Eric punched a few buttons on a panel in the wall she hadn't noticed.
"What's that?"

"This has the room's controls in it. You'll
hear music in the morning or an alarm sound. Which do you prefer?"

"Uh...loud music."

"Okay," he said and pushed one more
place on the panel. "You're all set. You can adjust the heat or coolness
from here, play background music, and expose the TV from here."

"Expose the TV?"

Maggie laughed. "It's hidden behind another
panel in the wall. The house has a lot of automation, stuff Eric wanted to try
out. It's fun, once you get used to it."

"I didn't see your lab anywhere on the
tour," Beth said.

"It's out back, attached to the back of the
house rather. We can go look at it in the morning," Maggie said. "Get
some good sleep, Bethie and I'll make you breakfast in the morning."

"You know how to make breakfast?"

"I know how to make great smoothies,"
Maggie replied.

"Sleep well," Eric said.

Maggie came over and hugged Beth, then the two
left the room. Beth took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was quite
tired and barely had the energy to climb out of her clothes and throw on a
night shirt. Within minutes she was sound asleep under a quilt made of lavender
skies and green grasses.

Chapter 4

The morning brought a feeling of being lost for a
moment, as loud music hit her ears and she woke in an unfamiliar room.

"What the...off! Turn it off! How do
I..." she stopped shouting at the room when the music ended suddenly.

She lay back against the pillows again and
considered just sleeping in for the morning. A knocking at the bedroom door
made her open her eyes again. "Come in."

Maggie bounced in, looking full of energy and too
perky for Beth. "I heard the alarm. We forgot to tell you that all you do
is say 'off' and it will stop. But I guess you figured it out. Ready for
breakfast?"

"Maggie, stop...moving. You're wearing me out.
I'll come downstairs as soon as I get dressed and brush my teeth, okay?"

"Sounds good. I got us some stuff from the
Bakery so hurry up before I eat it all. I'm ravenous today."

Beth got up, wondering if the events of the night
before were why she felt so tired this morning. Maybe it was the aftermath of
all that stress. She pulled on navy tapered pants and a sweater of green and
navy swirls that fit her body snugly. Suede boots tinted a navy color came to
mid-calf. She brushed out her hair, and then found a large barrette in her hand
bag to pull it up so that it was off her shoulders. A few minutes later and she'd
finished her makeup. She looked in the mirror and decided the shadows under her
eyes needed to go, so she used concealer. That seemed to fix the problem and
she smiled at herself. "There. All set. Everything normal."

Maggie had coconut donuts and cheese Danish spread
out on the marble countertop in the kitchen. Beth slid onto one of the stools
there and said, "Coffee."

"Coming up," Maggie said. She placed a
steaming cup of coffee in front of Beth.

"Thanks, Mags. I may survive this morning
after all. Coconut donuts? I love those." She grabbed one and a napkin and
took a big bite.

"These are the best."

"Oh my God, these are like donuts from heaven!"

"Yeah, they're a specialty. The Bakery
doesn't make them often, so they are a real treat. Here, have a glass of
strawberry banana smoothie. It has protein powder so it's good for you."

Beth took a sip from the glass carefully, and was
surprised to find it tasty. "Good job."

"How'd you sleep?"

"Quite well. I didn't wake up once."

"You can stay here again tonight if you want.
We'd love to have you. We could play board games and make popcorn. It would be
fun."

Beth smiled at her sister. Maggie was such a giving
person. It had been no surprise to Beth to find out Maggie now worked with the
local Grainger-Carter-Tremaine foundation helping people in need.

"I'll come here if I need to, but I want to
face the apartment first. To see if I'm okay staying there tonight. I don't
want to get all weird about it, you know?"

"Yeah, I figured that. But if you don't do
the sleepover thing tonight, let's plan on doing it soon, okay? I've missed you
while you were so far away. And so much happened in the last year. We need a
night to ourselves, so you can hear all the details."

"You're right. We'll do it, I promise."
She took another bite of her donut and watched petite Maggie bustling around
her kitchen. She was just beginning to show, and Beth couldn't picture what
Maggie would look like when she was nine months pregnant. "Do you have
names picked out for the baby yet?"

Maggie looked at her with a big smile. "Yes.
For a girl I thought Vesper would be nice."

"Uh...Vesper?"

"Yes. And for a boy, Butler."

"Butler? But won't all the school kids
shorten that to 'Butt' or something like that?"

Maggie looked stricken. "Oh, I hadn't thought
of that. Hmm. Maybe I'd better keep looking for a boy's name."

"And isn't Vesper the same as evening
prayers?"

"It also means evening star," Maggie
said, a bit defensively. She frowned. "You think it's weird?"

"You want me to be honest?"

"You do think it's weird!"

"A little. But you do what you want. Just
remember, the kid is going to have to live with that name."

Maggie sighed. "Maybe you've got a point.
I'll have to tell Eric. I hope he's not too disappointed if we don't use these.
He was so enthusiastic when I told him the names I'd picked out."

"Good luck with that. But now, I need to get
going."

"Call me later, okay? And let me know how
you're doing?"

"Okay, I will. Thanks for everything,
Maggie," Beth said. She went around the counter island to give her sister
a hug. "I'll call."

She walked out to her car, glad she'd insisted on
driving it over last night. She was going to be early for work, but she felt
the need to settle in there. When she arrived at the building and walked in,
Julia jumped up from her desk and hurried over.

"How are you doing? Cody told me all about
it. You know you can stay with us if you need to, and just let me know if there's
anything I can do."

"Thanks, Julia. I stayed at Maggie's last
night, but I plan to stay at the apartment tonight. I'll be fine. I mean...I am
fine. Already. I'm fine."

Julia's blue eyes darkened with concern. "You
suffered a trauma having someone break in like that. Don't just push it away
and act like it didn't happen, okay?"

"I hear you, but this morning I just want to
get to work and feel normal."

Julia patted her on the shoulder. "Do you
want any coffee to take up there with you? And should we put in a coffee maker
upstairs do you think?"

"That might be a good idea and prevent me
from spilling it on the stairs on the way up each day. But I don't need any
coffee at the moment. I'll get some later when I take a break."

Julia nodded and Beth turned to go upstairs.
"Oh Beth, you might want to know, Mr. Christopher is already up
there," Julia said.

Beth whirled around. "What? He is? Now?"

"Yes. He said he wanted to get an early
start."

"Okay, that's...fine. Whatever." She
turned and slowly walked up the stairs.

When she entered the office, she stopped dead at
the threshold and stared at a vase full of spring flowers, a mix of all
different types sitting on her desk. And behind the desk sat Mr.
Christopher...William.

"Hello," she said, and walked in.

He looked up and his eyes seemed bluer than usual
as they widened in surprise. Then he smiled at her and she felt all warm
inside. "I wasn't sure you'd be here today."

"I need to be here, to get back to normal.
The flowers..."

"I thought they might brighten your
day." He stopped talking for a minute and his gaze searched her face as if
looking for something. Then he nodded at her. "You'll do. I didn't know
your favorite flower so I got a variety."

"These are great. And I don't actually have a
favorite flower. I never really thought about it."

"No? And here I was thinking every woman had
a favorite flower. Maybe you just haven't gotten enough flowers yet in your
life to decide."

She felt herself blushing and moved to set down
her bag. "Maybe. But now you need to get up from there and let me
work."

He chuckled, but got up from the chair and out
from behind the desk. "According to both Milton and Angelo, the delivery
from Pike and Sons was short and has to be dealt with as soon as possible
today. And you know, whenever both the designer and the carpenter are in
agreement it's like all the planets being in alignment or something, so I guess
we should listen to them. I'll leave you alone to get started."

"William," she said, before he walked
out.

"Yes?"

"Thank for the flowers. They really are
lovely."

He smiled that smile again. "You're welcome,
Beth."

She stared at the spot where he'd been standing for
a minute, then shook herself and focused on the computer. She felt energized
and decided that Pike and Sons had no chance against her today.

* * * *

Sam went into Frank Grainger's hardware store
looking for pickaxes. He was writing and needed to know exactly how it felt to
swing a pickaxe, something he'd never done before.

"Sam! Just the man I need to see," Frank
said.

"Hang on, Frank. I need a pickaxe."

"Oh sure, right over here." He led the
way to that aisle, and soon Sam was hefting a pickaxe with a grin on his face.

"This is perfect. So what did you need me
for?"

"Two things. First, don't you think we should
put a better door on that apartment? I was thinking there should be something
there that can't be broken down. That old door had never been replaced. You
never really think about the need for security here in Sully Point."

"Yes, that's true. I agree with you. Let's get
a really good door for that apartment. Whoever uses it in the future will most
likely be living there alone, so they should feel secure. I know it will help
Beth to know that someone can't crash through the door like Benton did."

The two men walked to the back of the store and
decided on a steel door that Frank had ordered as a specialty once for a
customer who never picked it up.

"What was the second thing you needed to see
me about, Frank?"

"Do you think Beth would be up to a family
dinner this weekend? Holly and Jason will be down and they have big news."

"I'm sure she'd love it. You know she stayed
with Maggie last night, and I already heard from Maggie this morning that Beth
went in to her job. I think she's going to be okay."

"Great!"

"What's going on with this dinner?"

"Holly and Jason...I'm not supposed to tell
anyone. We're to all gather together to hear it and meet...oops."

"Meet who?"

"Okay, I'll tell you, as long as you promise
not to tell anyone else."

Sam nodded.

"They've adopted a kid! Not a baby, but a kid
about six or seven I think."

"Congratulations Grandpa! That's excellent
news." Sam knew that Holly and Jason couldn't have kids and had been
working on adopting. They had a house here in Sully Point but spent work weeks
in the city.

"They want to surprise everyone. I'll be
doing a dinner on Saturday night. So tell Anna to start thinking of a dessert
she can bring. She does make the best ones."