Page 12 of A Brambleberry Summer

No matter how tempting.

Chapter Three

The busy summer season and her responsibilities at By-The-Wind, combined with her volunteer activities, meant Rosa only saw her new tenants in passing for several days after they moved in.

Even when she didn’t actively see them, she was aware of them. Knowing that Wyatt was living two floors below her, she couldn’t seem to stop imagining him walking around the house at night. Taking a shower, sprawling out on the big king-size bed wearing next to nothing...

Her entirely too vivid imagination annoyed her severely. When she would catch her mind dwelling on him, she would quickly jerk away her attention and make herself think about something boring, like taking inventory or meeting with her tax accountant. Anything to keep her mind off the attractive man who lived downstairs.

She wasn’t sure how she would make it through an entire month or more of this.

Rosa was trying hard to remember that Wyatt and Logan were guests in the house. A month wasn’t long, especially during the busy tourist season, when the store was so busy she didn’t have much free time, anyway.

She could endure having them there, even if their stay dragged into two months, especially as it was one small way she could work on repaying her vast debt to his sister.

Nearly a week after Wyatt and Logan moved in, Rosa sat in her spare bedroom at the desk she had pulled beneath the window overlooking the Pacific, wishing for rain. For the last few days, the weather seemed as unsettled as she felt. The days had been overcast, brooding like a petulant teenager.

Outside, the ocean seethed and churned, restless in the random moonbeams that found their way through the gathering clouds.

Perhaps a storm would blow through and wash away the unseasonable heat that seemed to have settled over the area.

Brambleberry House did not have air conditioning, as summers here along the coast were mild. The nights usually turned cooler, but until the sun went down, her apartment on the third floor of the old house could be stultifying.

Rosa spent most of her evenings working in the garden. She missed Sonia Davis, the woman who had lived on the second floor until two Christmases earlier, when her estranged husband had come to fetch her, and Rosa had learned her tenant had been living under an assumed name.

Rosa’s thumb wasn’t nearly as green as Sonia’s, and her friend now lived happily with her husband in Haven Point, Idaho. The gardens didn’t look as good as they had under Sonia’s care, but Rosa did her best.

To her delight, Jen and Addie joined her most evenings. She enjoyed both the company and the help, and was thrilled to see Jen becoming more at ease here in Cannon Beach.

Her friend was settling in. She seemed more comfortable at the gift shop, as well, no longer looking as if she wanted to escape every time a man walked in.

Rosa felt good about her progress. She had wondered if encouraging Jen and her daughter to leave behind their life in Utah was the best decision. Seeing her friend begin to relax into her new life gave her hope that she had been right.

Rain suddenly clicked against the window and she looked up from her laptop. Finally! Perhaps a storm would at last blow away the heat.

Unable to resist, she opened the window more and leaned down to watch the storm roll in.

Lightning arced across the sky, followed closely by a low rumble of thunder. In the blast of light, she could see the sea, dark and tumultuous.

Rosa loved a good storm. They probably should frighten her, especially after some of the intense storms she had experienced in Honduras, but she always found them invigorating. Refreshing in their own way.

She gave up work and decided to relax with a book. The only thing better than a storm was curling up with a good book while she enjoyed it from a safe shelter.

Books had saved her when she first came to the United States. She had always loved to read, but the book selection had been limited in their village.

Once she had moved in with Daniel and Lauren, she had free rein at the town library in Moose Springs and at the school library. Books helped her learn English. Like most other girls her age, she had fallen in love with Harry Potter. Lauren had been wise enough to buy her both the Spanish and the English versions. Rosa would read both at the same time, comparing the words and the sentences to help with her word fluency and her grammar construction.

She still reread the books often. Once in a while she would read the Spanish version so that she didn’t lose touch with the language of her heart, but mostly she read in English.

She was currently reading a cozy mystery by one of her favorite authors. She settled into her favorite reading spot, a wide armchair in the corner of her bedroom, and was deep into the story when she was distracted by a sudden banging from outside.

The sound stopped as abruptly as it started. She sank back down and picked up her book again, then she heard it once more.

With a sigh, she set aside the book. If only she had a landlord she could call. Unfortunately, things that banged in the night wereherresponsibility.

She had a feeling she knew what the trouble was. The door on the garden shed wasn’t latching tightly. She had noticed it the last time she had mowed the lawn.

If she wasn’t mistaken, that was the door to the shed blowing open, then banging shut.

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