Head Over Heels

Chapter 13

Chloe awoke with a start and sat straight up, startled by her cell phone vibrating at her bedside table. “Sawyer?” she whispered. The sun was shining in through the shades, the ones she’d shut the night before.

But she was alone in the room. No Sawyer. Which was odd only because she…felt him. Blowing out a breath, she lay back and grabbed her phone. “Hello?

She’d missed the call. Squinting, she accessed her messages and listened to someone just breathing. She hit delete. The next message was the same, more of her heavy breather.

Delete.

The third message, she finally got a voice. “Hey, sweet thing.” Todd. “We need to talk.”

No, they didn’t. Delete. She sat up and looked around for Sawyer. But of course he wasn’t here. Why would he be here? Just because yesterday they’d-and she’d-and he hadn’t-

Don’t think about it.

Happy to be the Queen of Denial Town, Chloe flopped onto her belly and closed her eyes, but instead of going back to sleep, she relived yesterday with aching acuity. Sawyer giving her a ride, stopping to change Lucille’s tire, his hands moving economically and capably, his shirt stretching taut over the bunch and play of the muscles in his back and shoulders.

Mmm, those muscles. But it had been the fact that he’d helped Lucille that had grabbed her by the heart. He wanted her to think he was so badass, but the truth was, he was that good guy Lucille had accused him of. Way too good for the likes of Chloe. Sawyer’s world was black and white, and if any gray popped up, well then, he arrested it.

A lot of her life had been spent in the gray. Nothing illegal. At least not too illegal. She may not have been raised the way most kids were, but Phoebe had taught her about doing the right thing for the right reasons. That’s who she was. At least, that’s who she tried to be.

And she wanted to be loved for being that person.

She could play with Sawyer all she wanted but the fact was they were too different, and eventually it would go bad between them. Even if he could put up with her asthma issues-and those were pretty huge considering she couldn’t have sex without a tactical plan-he wouldn’t be able to put aside his code of conduct, not for the long haul.

He was bound by duty. He hadn’t caught her and Lance freeing the dogs, or trespassing, or any of the “gray” area things she did, but what if he had? What would it do to him if someday he had to make a choice between the law and her?

Realizing sleep was nothing but a distant memory, Chloe tossed back the covers and forced herself to get up. After a long, hot shower that only brought more memories, she dressed and went outside.

And came face-to-face with her Vespa.

Confused, she pulled out her cell phone and called Lance. “Hey. You okay?”

“That’s my question for you, babe,” he said, sounding just as wheezy as she’d been yesterday. Her heart kicked hard. He’d had a long hospital stay last month, complicated and awful, and he’d never quite recovered.

She was deathly afraid this was as good as it got for him. His doctors were starting to discuss lung transplants. “I’m serious, Lance.”

“Me too,” he said, breath rattling. “I’m good. I’m better.”

She wanted desperately to believe that. “Did you fix and bring home my Vespa?”

“No. Sawyer said he’d take care of it.”

So he had been here…

“Chloe? You still there?”

“Yeah.” She shook off the image of Sawyer caring enough to remember her stranded Vespa and getting someone to retrieve it. “Want lunch later? I’ll bring you something yum from Tara and also make you some more of that decongestant balm.”

“Sure. Hey, did you really go au natural at the mud springs?”

“Not quite but close enough.”

“Would have liked to see that,” he said wistfully. “How ’bout I make us a mud patch in my backyard?”

Chloe was laughing when she hung up, and her gaze snagged on the Vespa. Sawyer had come through for her. Again. She rubbed at the ache in her chest that had nothing do with asthma and headed inside the B &B. She found Tara cooking and simultaneously muttering to herself as she wrote something on a recipe card. Maddie was at the table with a stack of paperwork, probably organizing inventory and scheduling for both the inn and her wedding, as evidenced by the handful of bridal magazines spread across the table.

“Hey,” Maddie said to Chloe with a smile. “You’re up.”

Tara turned off the stove, pushed Chloe into a chair, and served her a plate of food. “Feeling better?”

Chloe stuffed her mouth with a bite of something cheesy and moaned in delight. “If I say yes, are you going to yell at me for yesterday?”

“No one’s going to yell,” Maddie said with a stern glance at Tara.

Chloe tried to tell if Sawyer had come by for coffee yet. She was staring at the pot when her sisters exchanged another glance.

“Let me save you a neck crimp,” Maddie said. “The sheriff hasn’t been here yet.”

“Nope,” Tara said. “Not yet.” Her grip was tight on her spatula, like maybe she was hoping to hit him upside the back of his head when he did show up.

Maddie shoved an open magazine at Chloe. “What do you think of this dress?”

It was a long-sleeved chiffon in an absolutely hideous Easter-colored floral print that looked like something a great-grandmother would wear. “Um…” Chloe searched for tact. “Thought you wanted a more traditional bridal dress.”

“It’s for you,” Maddie said, beaming with pride. “As my bridesmaid.”

Chloe blinked, then slid a cautious look to Tara for help.

“You don’t like it?” Tara asked innocently. “Because we’ve already ordered it for you. You should see the hat that goes with it.”

Chloe was chewing on her lower lip, trying to find something tactful to say about the dress from hell when Maddie let out a snort, her face mottled red with the effort of holding in her laughter. “Okay,” Chloe said. “That’s just mean.”

“Sorry,” Maddie said, looking anything but. “I was hoping to scare you half as bad as you scared us yesterday.”

Chloe ran a finger over the god-awful dress and shuddered in relief. “Yeah, well, consider it done.”

Maddie flipped the page over. “This is more what I have in mind for you.”

This dress was a beautiful spaghetti-strapped sundress the color of a perfect summer sky.

“I can just see you walking along the dock in it,” Maddie said, beaming.

The wedding was going to take place here at the marina, right on the water, with the reception inside the inn. Lucille, who’d become an ordained minister online, was going to do the honors.

Chloe, Maddie, and Tara oohed and aahed over the dresses for a few minutes before Tara went back to the stove and Maddie to her notes. Chloe ate and watched them both. Her sisters were happy, content to be here in Lucky Harbor doing something with their lives. And she…she needed to find her happy. If she couldn’t do that here with them, she wanted to know. “I meant what I said yesterday,” she said. “I want to do more around here than just fill in. I think I have more to offer than that.”

“Well, of course you do,” Maddie said.

“Then give me a chance. Look, I understand that over the years I haven’t exactly been the model of responsibility or reliability, but you have to admit I’ve gotten better. And we could start slow, a few days a week. See how it works out.” She took Maddie’s hand and pulled her up. Then turned off the stove and grabbed Tara’s hand as well.

She tugged them into the sunroom and pointed to the windows lining the wall. “There’s where I’d put the spa bed, so the client could look out while getting a facial, or whatever they’ve chosen. The sea is one of the most Zen things you can look at, and we have a helluva view. And I’d put a chair there,” Chloe said, pointing to a corner. “For mani/pedis. A pretty table too, where a guest could be served a delicious lunch prepared by our very own chef-” She smiled at Tara. “It’s endless. We can do bridal parties, women’s retreats, girls’ weekends, all with the promise of being far away from the hustle and bustle of real life. Can’t you see it?”

“I can,” Maddie said and looked at Tara.

“If I ask you a question,” Tara said slowly, “will you get all mad and run off and get naked and muddy with the sheriff again?”

“Jeez, one time!” Chloe sighed. “Ask.”

“What you’re suggesting is a major change in our marketing strategy and planning. It also changes your daily grind, hugely.” She lifted her hand when Chloe opened her mouth. “I’m not saying it doesn’t have potential,” she said. “Because it does, but I have to know. If we do this, if we invest and get on board, do you really see yourself happy here, locked in one spot? Because you would be, Chloe. Even if we start with just a few days a week, that’s every week. You’d be locked in. This is one of those things called a root, sugar-which you’ve avoided like the plague your whole life. And it’s a biggie. We’ll be depending on you.”

“I know,” Chloe said. “And yes. I really see myself doing this.” Trying not to get defensive, she stood her ground. “And it’s not like it’s a cement block attached to my feet for crissake. It’s a schedule, and I can work it out to suit me.”

“Not if we put a ton of money into it,” Tara said. “If we do that, you’re going to have to put the clients first, ahead of your need to…whatever.”

Chloe swallowed, willing herself to stay calm. “I’ll pay for the necessary renovations and marketing,” she said, and bit back her retort when Tara didn’t look overly impressed at that. Because the truth was that Chloe hadn’t been able to put in as much capital for the B &B’s renovations as her sisters had. But she was finally starting to make money and was trying to make up for lost time.

“Why don’t we draw up plans and get an estimate on what it’d cost to get this room ready?” Maddie suggested with her ever-present mediatory skills. “And like everything else, we’ll decide together. Majority rules.”

Tara nodded. “Sounds good to me. Chloe?”

Not seeing much of a choice, Chloe nodded. Her sisters went back into the kitchen, and she stayed in the sunroom and let herself envision the spa room. When it was as clear as the ocean outside the window, she sat in the corner and drew her plans. Then she pulled out her cell phone and called the only contractor she knew. “Jax,” she said. “Question.”

“Me first. You breathing today?”

She had to laugh. “Yes.”

“Good. Keep doing it.”

“Believe me, I intend to,” she said. “I have a new client for you.”

“I love new clients. Who is it?”

“Me.”

He was quiet a moment. “Why do I have the feeling I’m about to get myself in trouble?”

“No trouble. You know I want to turn the sunroom into a day spa. What I need is an estimate to install a really plush client bed, an industrial sink, hidden speakers, a wall fountain, and a pretty oak wall cubby for storage. Oh! And a soaking tub and a shower for body wraps and things like that. I’ll need to know how fast you could get to it, and how much.”

Jax promised to get back to her as soon as possible, and satisfied that she was at least on her way, Chloe headed out the back door.

Their property was about an acre, and though they were off the beaten path, they backed up to the ocean. It was remarkable, really, and Chloe could still feel the shock that had hit her last year when her mother had died and a will had surfaced.

Growing up with Phoebe as Chloe had, she would have sworn on her own life that Phoebe didn’t have a spare dollar to her name. After all, they’d lived in tents, or on friends’ couches, or even in their car for most of Chloe’s childhood. Always at the mercy of Phoebe’s need to be free.

Looking back on it brought mostly fond memories, and she’d never suffered for their distinct lack of luxury, but there’d definitely been lean times. Lean enough that a tiny germ of resentment had found its way into Chloe’s heart. She’d never admitted it out loud. To do so felt…disloyal. But the feelings of resentment sometimes surfaced regardless.

Why hadn’t her mother raised her here in Lucky Harbor?

There’d been two short visits, but Chloe had been very young, too young to understood that her mother’s parents owned this place. All Chloe remembered was her excitement over having a real bed with a soft mattress and more food than she could eat. When she’d lost her first tooth, it’d been here. The tooth fairy had found her sleeping in a spare bedroom and slipped a crisp new dollar bill under her pillow. After that, there’d been no more dollars, and her young mind had concluded that the tooth fairy must have lost track of her.

Chloe sighed at the jumble of emotions swirling inside of her. She glanced around the property and hoped like anything that she was doing the right thing, and not being influenced by long-ago childhood yearning. Just because she’d felt safe here as a kid once or twice didn’t mean this was right for her. She’d always found her own security, her own way.

Still, it felt right, living with the sisters she’d never really known.

With her name on the deed.

Granted, just last year that hadn’t meant much. When they’d arrived, the inn had been mortgaged to its eyeballs and in massive disrepair, practically falling down on its axis.

They’d fixed it up, and it was now the three sisters mortgaged to their eyeballs, but it was home.

Home.

Chloe marveled at that and shook her head. On the far side of the property was the marina, which consisted of eight boat slips and a small marina building-basically a one-room warehouse. It held kayaks, canoes, and various other equipment for the marina, and a small office area where Maddie usually worked the books for the B &B, when she wasn’t in the kitchen looking at wedding magazines.

As she walked across the yard to the marina building door, she suddenly stopped. The building was always kept locked, with a code lock. But the lock was broken, the door half open.

She took a step back and peered around the corner of the building to the docks. Normally she’d see the fishing boat and houseboat that had come with the inn, and the two boats that Ford kept at the dock as well.

But there was nothing, no boats. Heart stuttering, Chloe whipped out her cell phone.

The police came, including Sawyer. All four watercrafts were found floating within ten miles, with insignificant damage.

Someone had set the boats loose.

There was no real property damage beyond the broken lock on the marina door, for which Chloe was hugely relieved but still completely unnerved.

“Kids,” one of the cops decided.

Tara shook her head. “We’ve never had problems before.”

“And this seems personal,” Maddie murmured.

If Sawyer agreed with that, Chloe couldn’t tell by his expression, but he stayed back when the other uniforms left.

“We’ll make extra drive-bys,” he told her quietly. “But you need to think about getting some security. An alarm. A dog.”

“I don’t want to scare the guests with a big old guard dog,” Tara protested.

“Safety is far more important than worrying about what anyone else thinks,” Sawyer told her.

“You’re right, of course.” Tara looked at her sisters. “We’ll think about both an alarm and a dog.”

“We can borrow Izzy from Jax,” Maddie said.

“Sure,” Tara said. “And she can lick the next bad guy to death.”

When she and Maddie left Sawyer and Chloe alone, Chloe met his gaze. “What are you thinking?”

“That I like the sight of you breathing. How are you feeling?”

“Fine. And don’t deflect. Do you think this is just a random vandalism by a kid?”

Before he could answer, his cell phone vibrated. Simultaneously inside his open SUV, he was paged over the radio. He swore and looked at her.

“You have to go,” she said.

“Chloe.” He put his hand on her jaw and tilted her face up to his, his gaze searching hers.

“I’m fine,” she said again. “They need you. Go.”

She waited until he’d driven away and then headed inside the marina building. She looked around, hating the fact that someone had invaded their space. She settled at Maddie’s desk and booted up the computer. Sometimes being able to compartmentalize was a benefit, and now was no exception. She put the vandalism out of her mind, occupying it instead with thoughts of her day spa.

They needed brochures, a social networking plan, and a schedule. She worked for several hours, even updating their website, posting a survey to see how many people would be interested in coming into the inn for a day spa.

She took a lunch break to whip up some chest balm for Lance, bringing with it some of Tara’s Not Your Granny’s Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and a Don’t Call It Just a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. She bullied him into using the balm and into eating, not liking how thin he was. “Lance-”

“I’m fine,” he said, leaning back on his couch. He lived in a rental duplex with his brother, Tucker, and the decor was late-nineties frat boy. Todd and Jamie lived on the other side of the duplex, though they were at work with Tucker at the moment, which Chloe was glad for. Todd had left a couple of messages reminding her that she still owed him, and that he wouldn’t be averse to collecting.

The doorbell rang, and Lance opened the door to a pretty petite blonde holding a plate of brownies. She beamed at him, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “Hey, baby.”

Baby? Chloe looked at Lance, who blushed and shrugged. “Renee, this is Chloe.”

“Your best friend!” Renee smiled sweetly at Chloe. “I’ve heard so much about you!”

Huh. Chloe slid another look Lance’s way because she’d heard nothing about Renee.

“Renee’s a nurse and works at my doctor’s office,” Lance said.

Ah, now it made sense. The crush. Thrilled and amused at Lance’s rare shyness, Chloe took a brownie, then left them alone. Hopefully when Lance got lucky-and given the way Renee was looking at him like he was lunch, he was going to get very lucky-he wouldn’t end up passing out like she had.

She headed back to the marina office and found a happy surprise-there were already hits on the inn’s website survey, all of them positive and requesting further info about her spa services. She was working her way through them when the office door opened.

“Whatcha up to?” Maddie asked innocently.

Too innocently. Chloe looked at her, but Maddie had quite the inscrutable face when she chose. “Selling swampland in Florida.”

“Or…?” Maddie asked.

“Or organizing Santa’s naughty-and-nice list.”

Maddie laughed. “Or…?”

“Okay, let’s play a different game.” Chloe leaned back in her chair. “The one where you tell me what you really want to hear.”

“Okay, how about this-when were you going to come clean about hiring Jax to renovate the sunroom?”

Chloe sighed. “He tattled.”

“He mentioned it.”

“That man is so whipped.”

“Honey, you asked the man I sleep with every night to help you,” Maddie said. “Of course he’s going to tell me. I thought we were going to do this as a team.”

“We are. And I didn’t hire him. I only wanted to get an idea of the damage before we worked on the overall business plan. I put a short survey up on our website, just so we could get some feelers about who might be interested.” She had to work hard at sounding cool, calm, and collected, when she wanted to grin triumphantly. “Several people have already inquired about booking for day treatments. Two of them are interested in overnight stays at our full rate.”

“I like the full rate part,” Maddie said.

“I bet Tara likes it even more.”

“Let’s go get some food and find out.”

“Is Tara cooking?” Chloe asked hopefully.

“Not tonight. We have no guests, and we were thinking Eat Me.”

Eat Me Café was the diner where Tara had worked up until they’d gotten the B &B running. It was still a quick go-to when they were starving, though lately they’d been too busy to eat together. Well, technically Tara and Maddie had been too busy with their full lives. Chloe not so much. “What’s the occasion?”

“Nothing. Just a together meal. And maybe…” She pulled Chloe to her feet. “A certain sister feels like she could have been more supportive, but she’s too Southern and mule-headed to admit it so she’s buying dinner instead.”

“Mmm,” Chloe said, grabbing her purse. “I love it when Tara feels the guilt.”

Chloe, Maddie, and Tara had just ordered their dinner when a group of guys entered the diner, laughing and talking so obnoxiously loud that the entire diner went quiet. It was Todd, Jamie, and two others that Chloe had seen around, Dan and Mitch. Filthy from head to toe, they’d clearly just gotten off a job, but that wasn’t what made Chloe’s gut clench.

It was the look in Jamie’s eyes, the one that said he’d been drinking. Mitch too. She was glad Lance and Tucker weren’t with them.

The diner was still quiet, the uncomfortable kind of quiet as Jamie gave them all a mocking bow. Next to him, Mitch started laughing into the silence.

“Sit down,” Todd said to them uneasily, locking gazes with Chloe.

Arms still wide, Jamie straightened from his bow and knocked the glasses off the table closest to him. “Oops.”

Seated at that table was Lucille and her blue-haired posse. Lucille put her hands on the table and rose, her tight bun all aquiver. “Jamie Robinson,” she said sternly. Even with her tower of hair piled on top of her head, she was barely five feet tall, but she got right up in Jamie’s face, waggling a bony finger. “You can’t afford any more trouble, do you hear me? You boys get out of here, and don’t come back until you’re sober, all of you.” She spared a scathing look at Todd. “And you. You should be ashamed of yourself. People are rooting for you to get your life together.”

The four guys stared at her like she was an alien, and then Mitch burst out laughing again as they took an empty table.

Amy was the waitress on shift, and she was new to Lucky Harbor. Mid-twenties, she was tall and leggy and tomboy pretty in low-riding cargos, a tank top, and some ass-kicking boots. She was standing behind the bakery counter, gazing at Mitch, clearly unhappy to see him. When she’d first come to town, he’d gotten a little aggressive in his attempt to date her, until she’d actually Maced him one night.

Still laughing, Mitch looked her over and winked lecherously.

Lucille pulled out her cell phone. Probably calling the police, Chloe thought. She wondered if Sawyer was on duty, and how he’d feel about having to face down these drunken idiots.

“Jan should have refused them service,” Tara murmured. Jan was the diner’s owner and had a zero monkey business tolerance. “They’re obviously intoxicated, and they’re making Maddie as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

“I’m fine,” Maddie said. A lie. She was vibrating with nerves. Confrontations did that to her, for good reason. She’d once told Chloe that her ex-boyfriend had been a bully, much like Jamie and Mitch. Smooth and charming on the outside, mean as a snake on the inside.

From the kitchen, the cook dinged his bell. Someone’s food was ready, and Amy loaded up a tray. As she walked past the guys’ table, Mitch reached out and patted her ass. “Hey, baby. Miss me?”

Amy gave him an eat-shit-and-die look. “Get your hand off my ass.”

He laughed like a hyena. “Or what?”

Amy dumped the tray over his head. Soup rained down his hands and face, noodles clinging to his wet skin. “Jesus, that’s hot!” he yelled, pulling his shirt away from his body.

Amy glowered at the others as she bent to pick up the fallen dishes. Chloe got up to help her, as did a man from a table behind them.

“Hey, asshole!” Mitch bellowed at the man crouched next to Amy. “Back away from my girlfriend.”

Amy stood up. “Are you kidding me? Get out of here, Mitch.”

Eyes completely soulless, Mitch merely smiled. “Make me.”