Queenie's Cafe (29 page)

“It’s a good day for firsts.” She blushed slightly and gazed out the window. The moonlight kissed the water, turning it to liquid silver. Luke wanted to keep her all to himself. Forever. He’d never felt that way about another woman.

“Maybe we should invite Jay and your mother to come for the weekend.”

“So we can all skinny-dip together?”

“No, silly. We’ll have to disappear and leave them alone. Jay is crazy about her, Luke.”

He wasn’t sure how he felt about Mom with Jay. She’d been married once, but Mike was a jerk. He wouldn’t work and hated kids. Luke avoided him. Mom worked all day and came home to pick up after Mike, because he wouldn’t pick up after himself. He called it “woman’s work.” She finally threw him out and divorced him. At forty-three, she was young enough to marry again, but to Jay Fisher? Luke couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it.

Laura pointed out the window. “Luke, there’s a ship out there.”

“Probably one of the cruise boats out of Port Canaveral.” The ship’s lights were on, creating a puddle of light on the Atlantic. It looked pretty, but he’d rather watch Laura.

It was absolutely the best day Laura had ever had, and her first dinner date. Corbin had taken her to plays and movies, but never out to dinner. Before she moved away from Kingston, there had been times when her friends from high school came into Queenie’s with their dates and she felt left out of something important. Dating Corbin left her disappointed, but Luke made her heart sing.

They walked on the beach that night, talking and laughing, wading in the warm water, and stopping every few steps for a kiss. They gathered sea shells to take home, little treasures to remind them of this blissful time. As if she’d need a reminder.

She gazed into his eyes and knew they could never go back to the tentative friendship they’d had before. Things had changed between them.

<>

Barbara and Jay arrived Saturday morning. Luke put hamburgers on the grill for lunch and the women made a big salad. They ate outside on the deck, in the shade. Laura said, “I love this place. I could stay here forever.”

“Aw, c’mon girl,” said Jay. “You’d love anyplace you didn’t have to work so hard. You keep sluffin’ off like this, you’ll lose your sass.”

“Hey, don’t pick on my girl,” teased Luke.

“Why not? She’s with the wrong man. She needs somebody who’s older and wiser, somebody who’s been around.”

Laura stabbed her finger at Jay. “You’re the one who needs someone older and wiser, someone who’s been around, someone who can make you behave yourself.”

“Someone as sassy as you?”

“And someone to take care of you.”

“Will you listen to that? She loves me.”

“If only you were a little younger.”

Barbara didn’t look away from Jay’s face. Laura smiled knowingly at Luke. If Barbara and Jay weren’t lovers yet, they would be before the weekend was over.

After lunch, Luke said, “Something came up and we have to get back this afternoon. Looks like you two will have this place all to yourselves.”

Barbara glared at Luke, but Jay was looking at the pool. “That pool looks real invitin’. Too bad I didn’t bring a bathin’ suit.”

“I didn’t either,” said Laura, “and you’re right. It’s wonderful.”

Jay’s head whipped around. “You two went skinny-dippin’ without me?”

“It’s not a group sport, Jay.” Luke grabbed their luggage and headed for the door.

Laura called, “Have fun,” and followed him to the car.

“Oh, we will.” Jay grinned at Barbara. “We definitely will.”

Chapter Sixteen

L
uke and Laura spent the weekend at the ranch, playing with Molly, walking along the creek, and making love in Luke’s bed. She was loving and responsive and generous with her body, and she made him feel like the most important and cherished man on the planet. Seeing her change from a girl to a woman was like watching a tender young bud open into a magnificent flower. He couldn’t get enough of her sweet smile or her laugh, or her sexy body.

One evening after they made love, Laura asked, “How much would a generator cost for the café?”

“Don’t you have one?”

“No. Every time the power flickers, I worry about losing all the food in the freezer and refrigerator. Queenie never worried about it, but she didn’t have that much food on hand. If the power went out, she used ice from the motel and packed it around the food, but I can’t do that, Luke. We have too much food, and the ice machine doesn’t work.”

“We’ll buy a generator.” No sense in taking a chance on losing anything. “The stove is propane?”

“Yes, but not the coffee pot. I bought new candles for the tables, just in case, but my customers, especially Charley and Jay, depend on their coffee in the morning.”

<>

They drove to the café and motel on Monday to check on things. The roof on the café was finished and the motel roof was over half done. Laura loved the multi-hued blue roof, the color they’d picked out together, but it made the dirty stucco outside look even worse. The disappointing part was the parking lot. It was such a mess. They had the old asphalt torn up, but most of it was still sitting there, waiting to be hauled away. “Why on earth didn’t they take out a section at a time, then replace it? Didn’t you ask them to do the part around the diner first?”

“I thought I did. We can’t open this week. We can’t even get near the place.” Luke motioned to Stan Brown, the man in charge, and asked him how much longer it was going to take.

“At least two more days to haul it all away, then we’ll start paving.”

Laura asked, “Can you do the part around the café first, please. I have to re-open soon or I won’t have any business left.”

Stan ignored her and asked Luke, “You want all this paved again?”

“Not necessarily,” Laura replied. “Why don’t we leave a little area in front of the motel for landscaping?”

“Can we see the plans?” asked Luke.

Stan walked to his truck to get the plans.

Luke looked at Laura. “That’s not a bad idea.”

“Well, don’t act so surprised. I’m not stupid.”

“Of course you’re not. What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing. Not a thing.”

Stan walked up with the plans for the parking lot and spread them on the hood of Luke’s car. The two men studied it together, hogging the space in front of the plan.

Laura looked on from the side. “Where was Jay going to put that covered parking?”

“At the ends. In front of the office and between the motel and café, here and here, but we’ll want a few more spaces for guests, won’t we?” Luke pulled a pencil out of his pocket and marked a line across from one end to the other, closing the bottom of the upside-down U. “Stop the pavement right here.” Luke sketched another line across. “We can put a raised planter here, to separate the guest parking area from the lawn, maybe two or three feet wide.”

Laura liked it, she loved it, but she was steaming inside. Luke was taking over again, talking to Stan as if she had no part in the decision, as if she was too stupid to have an opinion. She felt insignificant and angry. Luke ran the conversation without once asking her opinion and that jerk from the asphalt company ignored her completely.

Stan nodded. “Sure, we can do that. We should be finished by the end of the week.”

“Around the motel, too?”

“Everything in the front.”

Luke wasn’t the only one giving orders. Laura said, “Take all that paving out in the back.”

Stan looked at Luke, eyebrows raised.

“Why don’t we put in a little landscaping back there, maybe a gazebo.” Laura hated the way she sounded, as if she were begging for him to notice her.

“Take it all out back there. We’ll call you if we build more apartments,” said Luke.

“We’ll have to come back next week to get all that out,” said Stan, speaking directly to Luke again.

“Forget it. Just finish the front,” she said firmly.

Luke looked at Laura as if seeing her for the first time. “Just finish the front, Stan,” he said, his eyes still on Laura.

“Thank you, Stan,” she said. “Do the part around the diner first, so I can open. Can you handle that?”

Stan looked at Luke for confirmation.

Laura turned away. She’d had enough.

When Stan went back to his crew, Luke asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

“Nothing unusual. You just took over again, without including me. I could have been on the moon for all you cared.”

“You were standing right here.”

“I didn’t think you noticed. That jerk sure didn’t.”

“You could have jumped in at any time.”

“Jumped in the middle of
your
conversation?”

“
Our
conversation.”

She slowly shook her head and walked away, avoiding Luke while she paced off her anger. She looked at the work they were doing on the motel and, in spite of her anger over the asphalt, was pleased with the progress. She loved the new roof. When they got the parking lot done and the buildings painted outside, the place would look better than it ever had. If Luke had waited for her approval on this project, she might have talked him out of it. He was just trying to do what was best, so why did it bother her so much? Maybe it was the way Stan ignored her. The man obviously didn’t want a stupid woman sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong.

Luke appeared at her side. She said, “I guess I’d better make another sign for the window.”

“Leave that one in for another week. I didn’t mean to leave you out, Laura.”

“I don’t like that man. Every time I said something to him, instead of talking to me, he turned to you. That’s rude. Then you talked to him and ignored me. Maybe I’m not as smart as you, but I own a piece of this and my opinion should matter.”

“It does matter, honey.”

“When he’s finished with the front, I’ll never deal with that man again. If there was anyone else around who could handle the job, I’d fire him right now. You can find someone else to do the back, because I don’t want to deal with Stan Brown again. Ever. Would you do business with anyone who treated you like that man treated me?”

“No, of course not.”

“Let him finish the job he started, then get him out of here. No one treats me like that, Luke. No one. I had enough of that when I worked for Queenie. I will not put up with it again.”

Luke wandered off to look at something and Jay yelled, “Hey, Laura.” He came strolling over looking relaxed, happy, and sunburned.

“How did you like the beach, Jay? Are you sunburned like that all over?”

“Wanta see?” He reached for his pants.

“No. Did you seduce her?”

“Didn’t have to. Barbara forgot her suit, too.”

Laura watched him walk away, a big grin on his face. Something was going right.

She wandered in and out of the apartment units. They looked so good she couldn’t believe this was the same rundown motel her father used to run, the same dingy rooms she’d cleaned since she was twelve years old. The per night rent would be less, since they’d be rented by the month, but the money they took in would exceed the best month Dad had ever had when he was running the motel. The bathrooms had new fixtures, fresh paint, and new vinyl floors, and the kitchens were small, but functional. But the best part was that she no longer had to clean them.

Laura found Luke out by his car, talking on his cell phone. He ended his call and turned to Laura. “Billy bought Earl’s last two loans.”

“What about the other three? If they’re losing money, why does Earl keep them open?”

“Pride. Stupidity.” He shrugged. “Who knows?”

“Or maybe he’s doing another business on the side.”

Luke had an
Aha!
look on his face. “There’s a locked room in the back corner of the warehouse in Vero Beach. No one’s allowed in there but Earl, but I’ve never seen him go in there.”