“Not at all. I was just sitting here watching the sun rise and I realized the last time I saw you was kind of rushed. I figured I would take a chance and see if you were still up.”
“Oh. Well, I’m sure the view there is much nicer than the one here.”
“I don’t want to make you jealous,” I teased.
She laughed. “Yes, I would think so. Okay, well, as long as everything is okay with you…” Her words died off.
“Absolutely. The other day I’d gotten up to go talk with a business acquaintance and then I received a call that there was a fire at one of the properties I own. Naturally, I rushed over, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the man on the phone made it seem.”
After that, I was glad most of her reserve had melted away and I hoped I managed to stay in her good graces. When we finally hung up the phone, the ache in my head had turned into a pounding.
Looks like the job was delayed for… well, for I didn’t know how long. I was going to have to have Storm find out where she was going and when she was returning.
I glanced at the clock. Not even eight a.m. and I was exhausted.
Frankie appeared on the deck below, dumping a huge pile of shells onto the floor by her feet. Sand scattered everywhere. Then she picked up the hose and started spraying them off creating puddles and globs of wet sand. I shook my head. This place had never seen such a mess. Not only was there sand and shells everywhere, but her towels were draped over the chairs, and her flip-flops lay forgotten near the stairs.
It looked like a home.
Like a place where people could be happy.
I thought again about the place I was missing earlier.
Without a second thought, I tore downstairs and out onto the deck, startling Frankie, who was still using the hose. She jumped, spun around, bringing the hose with her, and splattered me right across the chest.
I flinched and growled her name.
She burst out laughing. “That’s what you get for scaring me.”
I snatched her towel off the chair and began drying myself. “I came down here to tell you to pack up.”
“You want to leave?” I didn’t miss the disappointment clouding her tone.
“Yes, but we aren’t going back to Alaska just yet.”
“Where are we going?” she said, instantly suspicious. “Do you have another job?”
“No.” The relief in my voice made me want to mentally kick myself. “I want to go home.”
“I thought this was your house?”
“I have a lot ofhouses,” I answered, hoping she would get my meaning. I didn’t want to explain the way I was feeling right then. It was bad enough I was feeling it.
She nodded. “Where is home?”
“Scotland.”
Chapter Thirty
“Majestic - having or displaying majesty or great dignity; grand; lofty.”
Frankie
I was so getting fired. There was no way the dragon lady was going to let me call off sick the rest of the week from work without demanding pictures of me at the hospital, unconscious and with an IV sticking out of my arm.
But I got the impression Charming wasn’t ready to go back to Alaska yet, and to be honest, neither was I. This was my chance to see places I’d never seen before, to be spontaneous and do something exciting. If I got fired from the job I hated, then I guess I would get another one. I mean there had to be tons of crappy jobs just waiting to suck away my soul when I got back.
And then there was Charming.
