Page 73 of The Summer House
There was a racket going on around the back of the house and they looked at each other in confusion. They walked around to see where all the pounding was coming from and Callie gasped in surprise. Enormous floodlights had been set up to combat the darkness that would be arriving soon. There was an entire crew pounding away on the porches, lifting timber, holding levels, hammers, and saws… She gazed from face to face until she found Frederick, smiling hugely as he looked at her.
“You ladies get your painting done,” he called down to them. “We’ve got this!”
Callie wanted to run and hug him, but he’d gone back to hammering.
“Let’s get changed!” Olivia said with excitement as she bounced on her toes. “We’ve got an opening to get ready for!”
After a quick text to Gladys asking her to keep Wyatt over there for the night, Olivia and Callie threw on some old clothes and got to work. They barely spoke as they painted the new drywall, both of them focused wholeheartedly on the task at hand. This was a blessing that had come out of nowhere and Callie couldn’t wait to thank Frederick and Aiden for it, but right now, they had to get the rest finished. Her guess was that with a crew that large, the porches and the rest of the walkway could be done in no time at all. If Callie and Olivia could paint that one wall in the kitchen and get the landscaping laid out and planted, this opening was going to happen!
They painted almost breathlessly, excitement buzzing around them. When they’d finished, both of them went straight outside to start on the walkway. Once they got outside, they decided to find Frederick and Aiden first to thank them. Olivia looked for Aiden and Callie found Frederick.
Callie grabbed him and pulled him aside as she looked up at the porches that were now coming along so nicely, tears of happiness surfacing. She wiped them away. This gesture was more than she could have imagined, and she had many questions about who would foot the bill, and how they’d rounded up a crew of this size. “I just wanted to say thank you,” she said, her gratitude showing in the form of more tears.
Frederick smiled.
“We couldn’t have opened if this hadn’t happened. You and Aiden literally saved us. I don’t know what I’ll ever do to repay you. Where did you find all these people?”
“They’re from the nonprofit I’ve been working with. But Callie,” he said, pulling her attention back to his face, his eyes now serious. “I didn’t do this.” He turned and pointed to a far area of the porch.
Callie searched the large group of workers, trying to figure out what he was showing her when suddenly a couple of people moved and her heart began racing. There, in the far corner, hidden before by the large crowd, was Luke. He wiped his brow and set a piece of wood in place, hammering it down.
“Luke did this,” he said. “He offered to donate double the normal rate for a job of this size to their organization if they’d help him.”
She felt her jaw slacken in surprise and had to consciously close her mouth. “Why?” she asked Frederick.
“Perhaps you should askhim.”
With a dazed nod, she left Frederick and started to make her way down the new porch, forcing herself to acknowledge people along her path as they smiled and greeted her. Her hands tingled with anticipation, her heart feeling like it would burst as she watched him, just waiting for his eyes to fall on her. Then, there it was: He looked up and smiled that smile. She had to will herself to breathe. He set down his hammer and stood up.
“Hi,” he said, a slight apprehension in his face.
“Hello.” She wanted to throw her arms around him and bury her head in his chest but she stood still. “Frederick told me that you’re responsible for all this,” she said over the hammering.
“Take a walk with me?”
She caught her breath as he placed his hand lightly on her back, leading her through the workers as they headed for the stairs down to the beach. The breeze blew around them, the pounding fading into quiet as the sound of the waves took over. Tonight they were lapping softly, slapping the shore in a rhythmic motion. Callie tried to tune in to the rhythm of the sound to slow her beating heart.
When they reached the sand, Luke faced her. “I tried to help sooner, but Aiden said you didn’t want me here,” he said.
Callie frantically shook her head, ready to explain, but Luke kept going.
“I didn’t want to push you. I felt terrible for what I said to you at the Berkeley. I was angry and confused, and I didn’t know whom to blame. It took me a while to realize that there wasn’t anyone to blame really. Not now. And things with my father might never be the same—I’ll have to live with that. But what didn’t take me long to realize was that I missed you. I missed you so much that it hurt. I couldn’t spend another minute without you. I kept asking Frederick how you were, what you were up to, if you were okay.”
He reached up and brushed a tear off her cheek and she noticed that she was shaking. He took her hands in his.
“Today, while we were surfing, he told me about how you were shorthanded. I thought, even if you didn’t want me there, I wanted to show you that I care about you. I told him I was going to get the porches built whether you liked it or not,” he said, that grin finally emerging. Then he looked into her eyes, the most sincere expression on his face, and said, “Will you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive, Luke. I learned something from you,” she said, dropping his hands and wrapping her arms around his neck. “That we have to be open and honest with each other, tell each other how we feel. That’s what you do when you care about someone. So I have something to say.” She pushed herself up on her tiptoes, putting her face right across from his. “I missed you so much when we were apart, and I don’t want to spend another minute without you either. I’ve never met anyone like you and I can’t see my future without you in it.”
Luke put his hands on her back, pulling her into him, his spicy smell overwhelming her. He touched his lips to hers, his breath tickling her, causing an electric current down her spine, as he said, “Glad to hear it.” He broke out into that smile of his, but this time, she didn’t want to see it. She wanted his lips on hers, his arms holding her tightly. She reached up and tried to kiss him.
He pulled back before she could. With a crooked grin he said, “How do you know I’ll kiss you on demand?”
She threw her head back with a laugh and replied, “I suppose I don’t. I just went for what I wanted.” Right then, she knew exactly what she wanted and it was right in front of her. “But I can always buy you a caramel macchiato to prove it.”
Without warning, he scooped her up, throwing her over his shoulder. “Oh, you think you’re funny, eh?” he said, running toward the surf.
“Put me down!” She giggled uncontrollably, banging on his back with her fists.
“Nevah!” he called, splashing into the water.
Then all of a sudden,whoosh!They were under water, the waves bubbling over her skin, Luke’s strong arms around her, lifting her up to the surface. The air shocked her wet skin as they bobbed behind a wave that crawled to shore. Her thin shirt was soaking and she could feel every muscle in his body against her. His lips found her neck and then moved up under her ear. She grabbed his shirt in her fists to keep herself from going under, nearly gasping for breath. Then, before she could even open her eyes, his mouth was on hers, his salty lips moving all over her, his fingers tangling in her hair. She put her hands under his shirt, against his wet skin and kissed him back, wondering how she’d ever lived without this.
As they slowed down, Callie was aware of a noise and she looked at Luke but then followed his line of sight to the porch at The Beachcomber, full of people cheering and waving.
“Oh my God,” she said, laughing.
“Meh,” he teased. “I’m used to being under a watchful eye.” Then he put his hands on her face and kissed her again in front of everyone.
