Daniel nodded. “I understand. Maybe he’ll come around to your point of view.”
“I doubt it. I’ve already tried to talk to him. Peter’s very set on selling. He needs the money for his business,” she confided.
“I see. And I guess you want to get back to your office. You have a big job in advertising, right?”
“Not as big as I thought, apparently.” She glanced at him. “I thought I was getting this great promotion. It was practically promised to me. But now it looks like it’s going to someone else.” Strangely, confessing that to Daniel wasn’t hard. For some reason, she felt none of the pain and embarrassment she had felt the day before.
“Oh… that’s too bad. That doesn’t seem right.” He offered her a sympathetic glance and poured more tea in her cup, then filled his own again. “You seem very devoted to your work.”
“Obsessive is probably a better word to describe it,” she admitted. “But now I’m beginning to wonder: What was the point? Sometimes I think I’d love to just quit that job. The problem is, I don’t know what else I would do. I just sort of work, eat, sleep… I’m a pretty boring person,” she added with a grin. “You ought to know that right up front.”
“Now that you mention it, that was one of the first things I noticed about you.” He met her glance and held it, his expression saying that he found her anything but.
“That’s funny, I thought the same thing about you.”
He smiled, then reached across the table and took her hand. “Well, we’re in agreement. No wonder we get along so well. You really ought to consider quitting your job and staying out here. Nothing much ever happens. It’s perfect for people like you and me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Liza glanced up at him but couldn’t manage any more of an answer. She savored the sensation of his warm, strong hand holding hers. She liked looking into his eyes and feeling the rest of the world just slip away. It did feel perfect being with him, sitting here, sipping tea, the rain beating on the windows.
But this wasn’t real life, just a serendipitous moment.
“Actually, Audrey Gilroy tells me that you’re a volunteer at the medical clinic. So you’re not quite that boring after all. What do you do there?” she asked curiously.
“Oh, some EMS. Basic first-aid stuff.” He shrugged. “If people need a real doctor, we get them over to Southport Hospital or air vac them out.”
“Where did you learn to do EMS work? Did you drive an ambulance or something?”
“Back in college. It was a part-time job.” He looked as if he were about to say more when Daisy came by.
She smiled down at them. “How is everything? Would you like another pot of tea?” she asked, noticing theirs was just about empty.
“I’m fine,” Liza answered. She looked at Daniel. “We should probably get back to the inn,” she added, glancing at her watch. “I’ve been gone awhile now. They might just send out the real bloodhounds.”
“I guess so,” he agreed. “Just the check please, Daisy.”
Daisy smiled and produced a little order pad from the pocket of her apron. She tallied up their check and set it facedown on the table. Then she took another pad from a different pocket and tore off a sheet from that one, too.
“And here’s your poem.”
“Thank you, Daisy,” Liza said sincerely. “I really enjoyed the last one you gave me. I never got to tell you.”
“That’s all right. My poems are like birds. They’re meant to fly away and give other people pleasure with their song. Pass them on, dear. Pass them on.”
“Okay, I will,” Liza promised, liking the idea.
Daniel put some bills on the table and stood up. Liza did, too, and scooped up her pile of wet clothing. “What do I owe for the blouse?” she asked Daisy.
“Oh… you keep it as a gift. It looks perfect on you. I think it was just sitting here waiting for you. I wouldn’t feel right taking anything for reuniting it with its rightful owner.”
Daisy’s logic was a bit pretzel shaped, Liza thought, but the gesture was generous. Everyone around here seemed so generous in spirit, reaching out for connection. It was so different from the city.
“Thank you. That’s verynice of you,” Lizasaid, thinking she would find some way to make it up to Daisy before she left the island.
“It’s nothing at all. Don’t be silly.”
Daisy walked them to the front door of the cottage. The rain still fell steadily but not quite as hard. Daisy handed them an umbrella. “You can borrow this. Drop it off sometime when you pass by.”
“Thank you, Daisy.” Daniel opened the umbrella and held it out with one hand. Then he slung his other arm around Liza’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Ready to make a run for it?”
Liza nodded, his nearness leaving her a bit breathless before she’d even taken a step. They ran to the truck, and Daniel opened her door, sheltering her with the umbrella as she climbed in. Then he walked to his side and got in the driver’s seat. Daisy waved and went into her cottage, closing the door.
Daniel put the keys in the ignition but didn’t start the truck. “We never read Daisy’s poem,” he said.
“Right… well, here it is.” Liza took the sheet of notebook paper out of her shirt pocket and unfolded it. She read the words aloud:
A little madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.
– Emily Dickinson
“Interesting.” Daniel smiled briefly. “I’ll have to think about that.”
“Me, too,” Liza agreed.
But she could guess what he was thinking. The same thing she was. She was having a little spring madness today-running off in the rain and hiding out with him in the tearoom. It had been perfectly out of character for her… and perfectly wonderful.
She reached over and tucked the poem in his shirt pocket. “Here, you keep this now. Daisy said to pass it on.”
He touched her hand, holding it to his chest for a moment.
“Thanks.”
“Thanks for the tea,” she said quietly. “That was an adventure.”
“I hope it wasn’t too exciting for you.”
She smiled and shook her head. “Nope, not at all. It was just right.”
“Good. I’m happy to hear that.” He started up the truck, swooped past the General Store, and turned toward the main road that led to the inn. Then he reached across the seat and took her hand. “We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
“I would like that,” she said quietly. “Very much.”
She would love to spend time alone with Daniel again and get to know him better. But she wasn’t sure when or how that would happen.
In a few days she would return to the city, and he would stay here. Not just distant in miles but in an entire way of living and thinking.
Starting up a relationship with Daniel didn’t seem at all practical. But the touch of his hand on hers reminded Liza that it was too late to worry about that. A relationship had already begun.
Chapter Ten
DANIEL steered the truck up toward the inn and parked at the front door.
“Coming in?” Liza asked. Half of her wanted him to come inside, the other half didn’t. She wanted to be alone awhile and savor their time together in secret. She didn’t want to be with him right now around other people.
He thought about it a moment, then shook his head. “Thanks, but I’m going to get home now. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.
“Right. See you tomorrow.” She sat very still, looking at him. He seemed about to lean over and kiss her when her brother burst out of the house and ran down the porch steps, coming to a stop at the passenger door of the truck.
“Liza, are you all right?” he called.
Daniel laughed. “I guess you’d better go. Your adoring fans await.”
“Yes, I guess so,” she said quietly. She glanced at him a moment, then opened the door and jumped out, practically landing in her brother’s arms.