Finding Pride (Pride Series) (10 page)

T
odd could see the color leaving her face, so he tried to interrupted her thoughts. “Are you hungry?”

She looked up at him and blinked, “What?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“
Are you hungry?” he repeated in a husky voice. Then he took her hand in his and pulled her up from the chair, setting her on her feet. “Shall we go have some of the best food around?”

The short drive to the restaurant was pleasant. As he drove, Todd talked about the town and the people. She could tell he was trying to prevent her from thinking about the papers back on the desk. Thinking about it, she was sure it would just take some adjustments to get used to. She finally had a chance at a new life and it had only cost her the most important person in her life. What a price to pay!

They drove up to a large building that sat right on the water front. Large white lanterns lit up the whole front of the building. The older two story had new white washed siding. Looking at it; it appeared to have been a warehouse at one point. A large hand carved sign hung over the front doors. “
The Golden Oar”
was carved in vibrant gold letters above a large ship with white sails, which sat in dark blue waters. She was not only impressed, but enchanted.

Todd parked the car, walked around and helped her out. Her eyes were fixed on the building in front of them.

“It’s been recently remodeled,” he said, taking her left elbow and walking them towards the door.

He was very proud of the business, actually in the last two years he’d left Lacey and Iian to run the restaurant completely while he focused on the other business. Neither Iian or Lacey had any desire to work in the shipping business.

“This is really Iian and Lacey’s baby, that’s mine over there,” he said pointing to a four story brick building across the way. “Jordan Shipping” was in big white letters across the top. “We’ll save that tour for another day,” he said, guiding her towards the restaurant.

He would always think of himself as a sailor. But, the truth of it was, since his father’s death almost four years ago, he’d become a businessman. He’d spent most of his youth running ships with his father. He’d been to Singapore at the age of eight, Europe by ten and so many other places he stopped keeping track.

The shipping business was his life, it’s just now, he was the one that sat behind the desk instead of behind the wheel of a ship.

“Iian runs the kitchen here and Lacey runs everything else, including Iian,” he said with a smile. “I mainly stay out of their way.” They walked through the double doors with “Welcome to the Golden Oar” etched in the glass.

She was greeted by a rush of warmth, the smells and sounds of a fine family restaurant were soothing. The lighting was soft and warm, and the walls were covered with elegant oil paintings that hung on almost every wall. A large stone fireplace sat near the back of the room. There was a wall made of glass which overlooked the water, giving the guests a sense of romance and elegance.

Instantly Todd’s senses were flooded with a hundred memories, of family, friends, and his youth. The place was packed as always on Friday nights.

One of the young high school employees, dressed in the red and white sailor shirt with a Britney name tag, greeted them at the door. “Good evening Mr. Jordan. Table for two?”

“
Better make it for four, if I know anything about my brother and sister they’ll be along shortly.”

And sure enough as Britney was seating them, Lacey walked over carrying a large tray over her shoulder with glasses and dishes on it. She wore on her usual white and red stripped shirt, but instead of slacks she wore a short black skirt with black hose and flats.

“Hi guys. Give me a minute and I’ll be right back,” she said and then hurried off towards another table.

“She usually only waits tables on Friday nights, that’s when we’re the busiest.” Todd explained as he pulled out the chair for her.

“Thank you. Wow! What a view,” she said looking out the windows next to their table.

The sun was just setting, lighting up the sky with hues of pink and purples. The lights from all the boats along the shore glowed and gleamed in the failing day light.

“During the day, you can see clear up the coast.” he said handing her a menu. “At least on a clear day.”

,

The table was set with; low candles, a small vase of white flowers, cloth napkins that were silver, and the paper place-mats. It felt right. It was a warm mix of family and romance that gave the place character. Fish nets hung on some walls; others had oars, but what really caught her eye was the paintings that sat on almost every wall.

Colorful oil paintings depicted scenes of; violent stormy oceans, colorful sunsets over calm waters, boats filled with fishermen. Some paintings even had underwater cities or merpeople swimming in the backgrounds.

Above the stone fireplace was a large painting of a mermaid who had green eyes so like her own, she had to blink.

The mermaid was poised as if she was day dreaming, staring off to some distant place. She ran a shell comb through her long blonde tresses that covered most of her chest. Her tail was a vibrant green that seemed to sparkle when Megan turned her head from side to side.

“The first time I saw you, I thought of her.” Todd said noticing her survey of the Mermaid. “You have your brother’s eyes, but – you also have hers,” he said nodding towards the picture. “My great-grandmother was the artist of everything hanging in here. She was a little eccentric in some of her paintings, but my great-grandfather always helped to keep her feet on the shore. Some say that she came from the sea instead of Southern California,” he said with a wicked grin.

“They’re wonderful. I’ve always wanted to have a talent like painting, but it appears that both Matt and I have two left hands when it comes to art. Did any of the talent survive the generations?” Megan asked looking down at her large menu. She saw that the front cover was a sketch done in the same hand as the sample advertising for the bed and breakfast she’d seen in the file sitting on Matt’s desk. The menu’s drawing was the view of the restaurant from water. Taking a closer look at it, she realized the name in the bottom left corner and looked up at Todd.

“Yeah, I have some talent for sketches.” He smiled.

“You did this? And the one for the bed and breakfast?” She asked, running her hands over the slick menu cover.

He smiled back. He had a great smile, his whole face lit up. She got that familiar flutter in her stomach and turned back to the menu.

“When I was seventeen, my father asked me to do some sketches. A week after drawing this one, he had the menus printed up, and they’ve stuck every since.” He’d always enjoyed sketching, but he really enjoyed drawing her face for the bed and breakfast fliers for Matt. Not that he would have ever told Matt, but he’d also filled a whole book of her face.

“That didn’t take long,” he said looking up and over her shoulder.

Megan glanced over and saw Iian making his way over to their table. He had long strides and walked as if he had a purpose. Sitting in a chair next to her, he started signing something to Todd. Why did it appear to her that the brothers were always at odds?

“You’ll excuse me for a few minutes; it appears there’s a matter in the back I need to deal with.” Todd said, setting his napkin on the table, then headed out the double doors that lead back to the kitchen.

Iian leaned in taking her hand and whispered to her. “You look lovely tonight.” Megan felt a warm feeling spread up her hand, where he was holding it. Then the light went on in her head. They were in competition – for her. She suddenly lost the ability to think, speak or breathe. What would she say? What could she say?

“I’m glad you came tonight,” he said just before Lacey walked up with a bottle of red wine and four glasses. She sat down and rubbed her hands together.

“Wow, busy tonight. Have you had a chance to look over the menu yet?” she asked pouring the wine.

“No, I’m sorry. But, since I have the chef here,” she looked over at Iian. “What do you suggest?” She reached out and took a sip of the wine, it went down smooth and started to calm her nerves.

Iian smiled and signed the order to Lacey. Lacey smiled back and said to Megan. “Oh, you’ll love it,” then she jumped up and rushed off to place the order.

Luckily, just then Todd came back and sat down, he signed something to his brother. Megan was really going to need to study up on sign language, she felt left out of half the conversations. Then again, she supposed they weren’t used to having outsiders sit in on all of their conversations, she imagined it was kind of like eavesdropping.

From there, she was saved from fending off any more advances from Iian as the conversation flowed from local events, and places, to ideas about the bed and breakfast. Megan found herself splitting her attention between the two brothers.

The wine was making her relax; and she enjoyed seeing the brothers interact with each other when they weren’t competing for her attention. They appeared to enjoy each others company, sometimes laughing at stories they told about their youth.

She enjoyed the night immensely. The meal was the best she’d eaten in a long time. They had smoked salmon with a wine sauce and sweet vegetables. Lacey had been popping in to the table and grabbing a bite off of Todd or Iian’s plates when time allowed.

Iian was an excellent chef. She joked about how he could have prepared the food when he’d not once left their table. He replied and joked back about having little elves that did his bidding.

“He’s just being modest; all the recipes are either handed down from our ancestors, or created by Iian himself, like the meal we enjoyed tonight.” Todd said smiling over at his brother.

“It was good.” Megan signed. She had picked up a few signs during their conversations. Todd signed when he spoke to his brother, probably out of habit, but she didn’t mind, she actually enjoyed seeing their hands move.

“Thank you.” Iian signed back and gave her a grin. “I’d better be back before those elves start making shoes instead of food. I enjoyed your company tonight Megan.” He said leaning over her hand and kissing her knuckles. His lips were warm and soft and she smiled back up at him.

He noted she only flinched slightly at his touch. A definite improvement.

“I think he likes you.” Todd said pouring more wine in her glass after Iian had disappeared into the back.

Megan fumbled with her wine glass almost spilling it; she was at a loss for words.

“Don’t worry, he likes all women.” He had meant to just tease her. But, when he saw the color starting to leave her face, he figured he needed to come clean or change the subject. “If you want to learn more about sign language,” he said, quickly changing the subject. “I can help. Iian only talks around you; he really does feel uncomfortable. For the first two years after his accident, he didn’t speak a word.”

“What happened?” Megan asked taking another sip of her wine.

“He and Dad had gone on a week long fishing trip in the sail boat. It was over four years ago, Iian had just turned eighteen Dad called it his “
becoming a man
” voyage. All we know is when they found Iian in the raft over a week later, he was unconscious and had a bad case of hypothermia, a concussion, seriously dehydrated and a couple broken ribs. Dad and the boat were never found. Iian can only remember bits and pieces about what happened, but nothing about the accident itself. We estimated that he had been in the water for over twenty hours before we found him.”