Christmas at the Beach House Hotel by Judith Keim

Author:Judith Keim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wild Quail Publishing
Published: 2017-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The next morning, I awoke to an empty bed. I rose, put on one of the Club’s robes, and wandered out to the living room to look for Vaughn. He wasn’t there, so I opened the door to the cabin and peered out. Vaughn was sitting in a beach chair, his face lifted to the sun.

I walked out to him as quietly as possible and planted a kiss on top of his head.

He looked up at me and smiled. “The angel awakens.”

“Don’t know about the angel part, but I’m ready for a nice day with you. Looks like it’s going to be a good one.”

“It’s a peaceful morning. Almost can’t get used to the quiet after being in New York.”

I sat next to his chair, settling into the soft, warm sand. Waves splashed gently against the shore with shy kisses and pulled away in a rhythm as old as time. Seagulls and terns swooped and dived in the air making less than their usual noise as if the Club had made a private deal with them to keep quiet. Some distance down the shore a couple was walking hand in hand.

I rose. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get in my bathing suit and grab a cup of coffee. Want some?”

His lips stretched into a broad smile. “Like I said, you’re an angel.”

I shook my head and left him to go inside to brew us some coffee. My cell rang. I checked Caller ID. Rhonda.

I quickly picked up the call. “Hi! What’s going on?”

“Sorry to disturb your romantic weekend, but thought you’d want to know Jean-Luc finally returned our calls. He told me he doesn’t want to come back to the hotel. When I pushed him, he finally agreed to meet us on Monday. He refused to get together at the hotel, so he’ll meet us at my house Monday morning.”

“Great. He didn’t say why he doesn’t want to come back?”

“No. He said he’d explain everything when he sees us.”

“Somehow, we’ve got to convince him to rejoin the staff,” I said, wondering how we could get somebody else of his caliber to work with us on our terms.

“How’s it going?” Rhonda said with a smile in her voice.

I looked down at the robe hiding my nakedness and gazed out at Vaughn in only a swim suit that showed off his body. “Mmm. Very well, thank you. Gotta go.”

“Have fun!” said Rhonda, cackling.

I grinned at her wacky humor and ended the call. She knew how worried I’d become about Vaughn’s and my living apart.

Later, sipping coffee out on the beach with Vaughn, I thought about our talk and vowed to keep things interesting and fresh for him at home. Being with Robbie would be good for Vaughn too. Then, as usual, my thoughts returned to the hotel. Somehow, after the sale went through, Rhonda and I would have to pull things together as quickly as we could. I was busy making a mental list of things to do when Vaughn said, “Want to go for a sail? The Club has a couple of small sailboats for guests to use.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.