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Chapter 28
Amy
It was a lovely morning,and the traffic was Saturday-light as we passed Plymouth on our way to the Cape.
We were headed down to Cape Cod to spend the weekend with the Schmulians at their place in Hyannis Port——naturally the same Hyannis Port where the Kennedy family compound was located. Liam hadn't batted an eye, as if it was perfectly natural for everybody to have a weekend house on the Cape. He was truly disconnected from reality in some ways.
I was looking forward to these two days at the beach. “So what do you expect this to be all about?” I asked.
Liam changed lanes to pass a VW. “Well, that tabloid article got their attention, but I expect they just want to get to know us better. For them, this is very personal. Hue and his father built the company and hired virtually everybody in it. The company is family to him, and he wants to do right by them.”
I found myself empathizing. That was very much the way Samantha and I viewed Tiffany's. “So this is a character test?”
He nodded. “Yep, that's exactly what it is. He wants to take my measure and see how it fits with the way he's been running his company.”
He reached over to place a hand on my thigh.
The touch surprised me in a welcome way. His tenderness was always welcome.
“Sunshine, there's never been a question about you measuring up,” he said with a smile in my direction.
I was trying very hard to get used to his constant stream of compliments, but I couldn’t control the heat rising in my cheeks again.
We motored on in silence. Here I was sitting in a car that cost as much as a house, with stitched leather on not only the seats, but the door panels and dash as well. I didn’t deserve to be here, next to this hot-as-heck bazillionaire——"Boston’s most eligible bachelor,” as Vivienne had put it. This was all surreal, as if at any moment I could wake from the dream and find myself looking up at the water stain above my bed in my crummy little apartment in Somerville, listening to the yelling from my neighbors’ apartment.
“Penny for your thoughts, Sunshine.” Liam pulled me out of my daydream.
“Just enjoying the scenery.” I turned to him and smiled. “And the company.” I placed my hand over his. “But I’m still nervous that I might blow this for you.”
He slowed behind a pair of trucks blocking both lanes. “For us,” he corrected me. “It’ll be fine; just be yourself. They won’t be able to resist you. I know I can’t.”
I attempted in vain to control the heat rising in my cheeks. “Stop that.”
“It’s the truth. We’re only still in the game because they like you so much. Hue said so when he called.”
I smiled. A lady would know better than to argue.
Siri directed us through town and south toward the coastline. As his phone told us we had arrived, Liam turned onto a gravel-covered drive. We parked in front of the six-car garage adjacent to the huge, white-shingled, two-story house. Behind the house was the beach and the open water of Nantucket Sound.
I waited for Liam to rush around and open my door; doing it myself wasn’t worth the argument.
I climbed out. “You said beach cottage.”
Liam shrugged. “That’s what he told me. I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder.”
Beholder, my ass. Nobody in his right mind called this a cottage. It probably had more square footage than my whole apartment building.
Felicia was the first out the door to greet us, followed closely by Hue and his ever-present dog, Zeke.
Liam hefted our luggage into the house, and Felicia showed us to a bedroom on the upper floor.
It was a large room with an attached bath, a desk, a stone fireplace, and a loveseat facing the window.
I stopped at the window to take in the scene. The room looked out over a grassy meadow, the beach, and the water beyond. The rhythmic sound of the waves against the shore drifted in, along with the calls of a few shorebirds. It was hypnotically peaceful.
Liam’s smile melted me. “Sunshine, marvelous view, don’t you think?”
I nodded. “Your house is beautiful, Felicia. I love that you can hear the ocean from here.”
