“I’m leaving now to meet my cousin Dani at Good Day Coffee,” Ariel said. “She has a breakfast meeting with her uncle, the mayor. So we’re getting together for just a few minutes. Why don’t you come along, and after she leaves, we can get something to eat and talk?”
Rufus ambled down the long hallway from the maintenance room, presumably to get the ladder and burned-out bulbs. Sarah could handle any new reservations. And Granddad had holed up in the office, doing who-knew-what. “They don’t need me here. Might as well go now, before something worse happens. If I’m gone, Granddad won’t have anybody to yell at, so it should be quiet for a while.”
He reached for Ariel’s guitar case, and she let him take it.
The least he could do for the only woman he’d ever seen who could tame his crotchety grandfather—just when he needed her.
Chapter Six
The gentle lake breeze had never felt this good on his face.
Or maybe he’d never noticed. Regardless, with Island House Inn behind him, Caleb started down Blueberry Boulevard, carrying Ariel’s guitar case as she ambled along beside him, seemingly content with his somewhat moody silence.
Even after his years in LA, it felt surprisingly natural to see horses, carriages, and dray wagons rumbling by. And, when crossing the street, to step around a few piles the horses had left behind. Little Stone Bible Church and the parsonage stood to their left. Livery stables to the right, set just far enough from the hotel to avoid an unpleasant downwind. The marina, harbor, and yacht club in full view, a good fifty feet in front of them, all prosperous and peaceful.
Unlike his inn.
The sound of a speeding bicycle whirring behind them stirred old memories of Caleb’s teen years. Then he remembered how fast a bike could coast down this hill.
“On your right!”
Caleb turned in time to see a dark-haired boy of about thirteen racing down the hill on a blue bike, swerving too close to them.
“Slow it down, kid.” He snatched Ariel’s hand and pulled her closer to the curb as the boy whizzed around them with six inches to spare. “The cops set up a speed trap here yesterday. That kid’s lucky.”
Ariel’s smile and twinkling eyes took the edge off Caleb’s irritation. “I’d forgotten about the island police force giving tickets to speeding bikers.”
“I got so many the summer I turned fourteen, they impounded my bike. Granddad made me wash every window in the hotel to help me remember to stay out of trouble with the law.” Caleb released her hand, then turned and glanced behind them again, making sure the kid didn’t have a friend following him. He caught a glimpse of the front of the inn and made a mental note to get somebody to clean those windows this week. “I’m sorry about my grandfather’s temper this morning.”
“Life after a stroke can’t be easy,” she said, her voice gentle.
“True. But I’m just about ready to borrow Uncle Augo’s boat and sail off somewhere.” He pointed at the small frame waterfront yacht club in the distance.
“And become your own little island in the lake.”
“Nope. Sailing away to another world sounds great at the moment. But even Jonathon Island is way too small for me, so a little floating home won’t work. Not interested in living as a sailing hermit.”
Ariel raised her hand and shielded her eyes, gazing out over the harbor, and grinned. “Good, because you’re too late. Check that out.”
He looked toward the slate-gray building. She was right. Uncle Augo moseyed toward the entrance with its bright redawnings, a picnic basket in one hand and a little platinum blonde on his other arm.
“And here I thought Aunt Dahlia slept in this morning after her late night.” He heard the smile in Ariel’s voice. “I can’t remember the last time she broke her rule of an eleven o’clock bedtime when we’re not on the road. She even missed our nightly prayer time. Prayer meeting, she calls it. And she hadn’t made it home yet when I turned out the light at midnight.”
“Wait—Miss Dahlia stayed out with my uncle after the dinner?”
“I assume so.” Ariel hesitated as if in thought. “This morning, she must have gotten up before I did to get ready for her sailing date.”
Uncle Augo—on a date. A real date this time. “I never saw this coming.”
“Men are always interested in my aunt.”
He raised a brow. “According to the rumors, she doesn’t date.”
“Just as friends. She says she’s married to her music.” Ariel fell into silence for a moment. “If she has anything to say about it, I’ll do the same.”
Her words hit him harder than they should have. “That would be a shame.” He pulled back on the reins of the crazy emotion. Whether she took his advice or not, and whether he wished for a date with her or not, nothing would change for Caleb. He wasn’t free either. At least not until he could figure out what to do with this inn, what to do with his music.
What to do with his life.
