Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series (17 page)

Adrianna found him dead in the
yard one day.

“
We aren’t getting any more
pets,” Adrianna told Serena when she called her to give her the
news. “It’s too hard when they die. I can’t deal with it.”

Serena smiled at the cat and then
looked at Jeff, still smiling. “What’s her name?” she asked.

“
I haven’t named her yet,”
Jeff said. “What do you think would be a good name?”

Serena studied the cat, hoping a
name would come to her. But nothing did.

“
I think you should name her,”
she finally said. “She’s yours.”

Jeff looked at her gratefully.
“I’ll let you know when I come up with it,” he said, walking
toward the staircase. “I’ll put her upstairs and go get a litter
box and some food.”

When he came back down, he called
into the kitchen. “I’ve named her Rosie,” he said. “I found
her by the rosemary bushes, so I’m calling her Rosie.”

Serena smiled at him and put her
thumb up. “I like it,” she called to him. Rosie. What a sweet
name for a little kitten. She felt unreasonably happy about the
kitten and its name. She couldn’t help herself. She smiled for a
long time.

A few days later, Jeff brought
Rosie downstairs.

“
I think she wants to go out,”
he said. “I think she needs the outdoors.”

“
Probably,” Serena agreed.
“Do you think she’ll stick around?”

“
I don’t know. I guess I’ve
got to give it a shot.” He walked out the back door and Serena
followed him. He put Rosie down and the kitten stayed by his side for
a few minutes, rubbing around his legs and Serena’s legs. Then she
began to venture out into the yard. Jeff and Serena stood and watched
her. A few minutes later, Rosie ran back up to the patio and Jeff
picked her up. “Time to go back upstairs, Rosie,” he said. He
kissed the cat and Serena’s heart melted at the sight. Big Jeff
kissing a cat. She leaned over and kissed Rosie, too. She loved her.

Within a couple of weeks, Rosie
was going in and out like an old pro. She had fattened up into a
beautiful cat. Jeff let her outside every morning and took her in
before he started his shift. Serena had started cutting up shrimp and
fish for Rosie and giving it to Jeff every night to take to her.
Rosie was Rossetti’s cat in every sense of the word.

Nonna called the cat Rosita.
“Maybe that’s what I should’ve named her,” Jeff said to
Serena one night at the bar. “Rosita.”

“
Rosie is a good name,”
Serena said. “That’s just Nonna’s way. She always has a special
name. I’m surprised she doesn’t call you Jeffie.”

They laughed at the thought.
Serena looked over and Angela was at the end of the bar, waiting on
Jeff. She was drumming her fingers on the bar.

“
You’d better go, Jeffie,”
she said with a laugh. “Looks like Angela has an order.”

Steven came in then and Serena
spent the rest of the evening talking to him. At one point, he
reached over and rubbed Serena on her thigh and she felt tingles in
her spine. It wasn’t long before they left the bar and Serena
followed him back to his house. It was August and it was hot and
sticky. Steven cracked the window so they could hear the waves, but
the ceiling fan whirred above them and the air conditioning was on.
They made hot and sticky love.

And then Steven had to go out of
town again. He went out of town a lot, Serena thought. He was going
back to Tampa to present the Florida panhandle’s statistics.

“
They do it every year,”
Steven said. “It’s my first year to present, so I’ve got to do
a good job.”

“
How long will you be gone?”
Serena asked him.

“
I’m thinking three days. I’d
like to say two days, but I don’t think that’ll work. I’ll have
to drive to Tampa, present for two days, then drive back.”

“
Why didn’t they do that when
they had the annual meeting?” she asked him. “It doesn’t seem
efficient to have another annual meeting so close to the other one.”

“
I agree,” Steven said
emphatically. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a say in it. That
other meeting was more administrative, and I am the administrator of
this branch of the institute. This meeting is focused on statistics.”

Serena was getting used to Steven
going out of town. On the second night he was gone, she sat at the
bar and Jeff brought her a drink.

“
What’s this?” she said
looking suspiciously at the martini glass. The drink was pale green
in color.

“
It’s something I’ve been
working on,” Jeff said. “If you like it, I’m thinking of making
it a house drink. It’s a Rossetini,” he said.

Serena took a tentative sip. The
chilled martini met her lips and she swished it in her mouth before
swallowing. She took another sip.

“
This is very refreshing,”
she said. “I like it.”

“
I was thinking we could offer
a special price on it at first. So customers would know about it.
What do you think?”

“
I like the idea of having a
specialty drink,” Serena said. She sat at the bar and sipped on the
martini. She noticed that Angela wasn’t there.

“
Where’s Angela?” she asked
Jeff when he came over between orders.

“
She went to New Orleans with
some friends. Some kind of reunion, but I couldn’t tell you what.
Cindy’s taking her place for a couple of days.”

Serena looked behind her and saw
the dinner waitress, Cindy, taking drink orders. She would make a lot
of tips. Maybe Serena should consider letting Cindy work some nights
in the bar, if Cindy liked it.

Joe was at the piano, playing
smooth jazz and singing the occasional song. Serena looked over at
him and waved. He nodded his head at her and smiled. He started to
sing a Frank Sinatra classic, “All the Way.” Serena had grown up
in Rossetti’s listening to Joe sing Frank Sinatra and she knew
every word to the song.

“
When somebody loves you it’s
no good unless he loves you, all the way,” Joe sang in his smooth
voice. Jeff said something to Sandy and came around the bar to
Serena’s stool.

“
What are you doing?” she
asked, laughing.

“
I’m asking you to dance,”
Jeff said. “May I have this dance?”

Serena slid off of the barstool
and took Jeff’s hand. He led her to the dance area while Joe sang,
“Happy to be near you, when you need someone to cheer you all the
way.”

Jeff led her slowly around the
dance floor. Serena noticed that customers were watching them.

“
Taller than the tallest tree
is, that’s how it’s got to feel. Deeper than the deep blue see
is, that’s how deep it goes, if it’s real,” Joe sang.

Jeff held her close and Serena
melted against him. She caught Joe’s eye when Jeff twirled her and
he winked at her. His smile was big as he sang the song and played
the piano. She loved Joe.

After the dance, Serena went over
to Joe to thank him.

“
I remember you loved that song
when you were a little girl,” he said. “I played it special for
you tonight.”

“
Thank you,” Serena said
giving Joe a hug. “I needed to hear that tonight.”

“
I knew that,” Joe said.

It was Joe’s last song of the
night, and he closed the piano. “I’ll see you, Serena,” he said
as he walked out the door. Serena waved at Joe. Jeff and Sandy both
waved goodnight to Joe.

The last customers left and Sandy
and Jeff started closing down the bar. It was a much more simple
process than closing down the kitchen. Serena really did need to get
going, but she stayed, sipping on a last drink. Jeff came over to
her.

“
I’ve finished the painting
in the other rooms,” he said.

“
Really?” Serena said. She
couldn’t believe that.

“
Yeah. It’s just painting,
nothing hard.”

“
Does it look good?” Serena
asked.

“
Why don’t you come up and
see for yourself,” Jeff said. And then he added, “Rosie would
like to see you.”

“
Okay,” she said.

A few minutes later, Jeff and
Sandy finished wiping down the bar and Sandy left. Jeff walked over
to the stairs. “Come on,” he said, motioning with his hand. She
followed him up the stairs and into the parlor. Jeff led her from
room to room of the upstairs. The golden ecru had been the right
color.

They walked into Jeff’s
bedroom, which he had also painted a golden ecru.

“
This looks gorgeous,” Serena
said, turning around in the room. She turned again and Jeff caught
her. He started to dance with her again, though there was no music.
Serena laughed.

“
There’s not even any music,”
she said.

Jeff walked over to his dresser
and turned on a radio. It was playing classic rock, and it was a slow
one. U2 singing “With or Without You.” Jeff turned off the
overhead light and lit a candle. He took Serena in his arms and
danced with her slowly. She felt loose from the drinks and the dance
they had already shared that night. Jeff pulled her close against his
body and she pressed herself against him as they danced. She rested
her head on his shoulder, but after a minute, he lifted her head and
leaned down to kiss her. She opened her mouth and kissed him back.

Jeff led Serena to his bed and
laid her back on the comforter. He took off her shoes and gently
undressed her. His hands awakened every nerve ending in her body as
he smoothed them across her thighs, brushed them across her breasts.
As he undressed, Serena was waiting, wanting to feel him beside her,
inside of her. Finally, he was free of his clothes and Serena saw his
body in the candlelight, coming toward her. She held out her arms,
taking him in close to her, kissing him. The radio continued to play,
but it was only a backdrop to their lovemaking. Jeff made love to her
tenderly, as he had the last time they had been together. It was
different from the wild and ferocious lovemaking she and Steven had
been having lately. Serena felt loved by Jeff. She felt adored.

When she woke up early the next
morning, Serena didn’t know where she was for a few seconds. Then
it all dawned on her. She was in Jeff’s bed and he was sleeping
peacefully beside her.

What the hell was she doing?

Jeff woke up and looked at her.

“
Don’t tell me you’re
regretting last night,” he said.

“
I don’t know what to think
about that,” Serena said. “I just know I’ve got to get home.
Nonna will wonder where I am.” She got out of bed and started
putting her clothes on.

“
Serena, come here,” Jeff
said gently. She looked at him like he was crazy. He held out his
arms and she fell on the bed and into his arms. She started crying.
Jeff smoothed her hair.

She pulled away from him. “What
are we doing?” she asked. “What am I doing? I’m in love with
Steven.” She cried again.

“
Are you?” Jeff asked. “Are
you in love with Steven?”

“
Yes!” she said. “And what
about Angela? Aren’t you in love with her?”

“
No,” Jeff said. “No, I’m
not in love with Angela. I’m in love with you.”

“
That’s not possible,” she
said. “That is not possible. You didn’t care about me when we
dated.”

“
I admit that we had a very. .
. .” He searched for the right word. “Uncommitted relationship,”
he finally said. “I thought that’s what you wanted. You seemed so
standoffish.”

“
Standoffish!” Serena
scoffed. “You were the one who was standoffish.”

“
Maybe we both were
standoffish,” Jeff said. “I just know that you didn’t seem like
you wanted a relationship and I guess I didn’t want one either. I
was too busy climbing the ladder to partnership.”

“
What made you change?”
Serena said. “What made you so different when you came to my
mother’s funeral?”

“
When your mother died, I
realized that you were suffering. I knew what that was like from when
my Nonna died. I wanted to comfort you.”

Serena sat sniffling on Jeff’s
bed. “I don’t understand,” she said.

“
I had been struggling for a
while with what I was doing for a living. I was defending big
corporations when I didn’t really believe in it. I was working
eighty hours a week. When your mother died, it made me take a hard
look at myself.”

“
What do you mean?” Serena
said. “Why should that affect you?”

“
It made me realize that I
hadn’t been doing right with you. I liked you a lot, but I was
allowing us to have a meaningless relationship. I didn’t want that
anymore. I want my life to have meaning.”

Serena was confused by everything
Jeff was saying. “You should have told me that,” she said,
“before I got involved with Steven. You should have said that. Now
we’re both involved with other people.”

Jeff put his arm over Serena and
kissed the side of her face. She turned to him, offering him her
mouth, and he took it, kissing her deeply and tenderly. He took off
her panties, the only thing she had managed to put on, and moved
inside of her again. Serena’s mind told her to push him away and
get up and leave, but her body told her to stay. She stayed, pulling
him deeper and deeper inside of her until she moaned out loud with
pleasure.