“Ray?”
“Yes, sir?” Ray said.
“Did we just…?” Harris wasn’t going to say anything else. He didn’t want to sound insane. But everything had seemed so real. He remembered the rest of that night. How he’d vowed to never fall in love. To never say he loved another person again. It was time to let go of that vow.
Sarah wasn’t having the best day. Her car was acting up again, the twins were fighting and Roger had taken a job as a manager at the Olive Garden on Sand Lake Road. All in all her life had definitely gone down hill in the last three days. Thanksgiving was in two days. Taste of Home was being evicted in four days.
She hadn’t slept since Harris had left. Since their last conversation, which somehow hadn’t felt right. Maybe she should have settled for what he could give. But she wasn’t short-changing herself anymore. Once she’d let him buy his way back into her good graces their relationship would change. And she’d never wanted Harris for his money.
She’d wanted him for his lonely heart, which he guarded so closely. And for his dry wit, which he wielded like a shield until she’d gotten close enough that he’d started to trust her. And for his keen intelligence.
But he hadn’t offered her those things. And she hadn’t been brave enough to ask him for them. The one other time she’d asked a man to stay—Paul—he’d left.
For the first time since she’d turned eighteen she had no idea what to do next. Today would be the last night that the restaurant was open. She walked through the empty tables they didn’t open for two more hours. Soon the chefs would arrive to start cooking and then the wait-staff would be here. But for now it was just Sarah. She’d have to pick up the slack since Roger had bailed.
She glanced at the small dance floor remembered the first time Harris had taken her in his arms out there. Remembered the pulsing beat of the mambo and the heat that still burned inside her for him.
The register where Burt had teased Harris about dancing. And Harris had looked at her with his North Atlantic eyes and made her feel like the sexiest woman on the earth.
The kitchen refrigerator where she’d stowed the flowers he’d given her. Her office where he’d made love to her. And where he’d hidden from her on her Halloween.
Finally she turned toward her dad’s office, opening the door. Burt and Isabella were going to pack the office up this afternoon. Sarah went to her father’s big leather chair and sat in it. It still smelled faintly of the cigars her dad used to smoke. Her mom’s picture was on the edge of the desk. Her parents love surrounded her.
“What am I going to do?” she asked her mom’s portrait.
“Follow your heart.” At first she’d thought her mom was talking to her but then she realized the voice had come from the doorway.
Ray King was standing there. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
Ray entered the room. She liked the man. He was friendly and funny. And there was a warm kindness in his eyes that she’d never really noticed before.
“Trying to help you,” he said. “Harris asked me to come pick you up.”
Sarah was beginning to feel mean. Harris had sent flowers and candy. A large basket of cooking supplies and a bear wearing a chef’s hat. And last night a book of Byron poetry and a new jazz CD. He was showering her with gifts but she was afraid to take them. Afraid if she did then she’d take whatever he had to give her no matter the cost to herself.
So she’d sent the gifts back.
“I’m not ready to talk to him. But I appreciate your stopping by.”
“So are you going to follow my advice?” he asked.
Follow her heart.
“I’ve tried. Did you know this was my dad’s office?”
Ray glanced around the room. She wondered what he thought of the dark decor and the layer of dust. “Your old man’s dead?”
“My mom, too. This place is all I have left of them.” She couldn’t really explain it but this was the last place she had that they’d walked and she didn’t want to lose it. She wanted to be able to come into this room and thanks to New Deal Developers and Harris Davidson she couldn’t. She’d talked to them and they weren’t budging. They wanted her out.
Her business had been in trouble long before Harris came on the scene. Long before The New Deal Developers had looked at this strip mall and decided to revamp it. Long before she’d fallen in love with him and wished for a different ending to their story.
She stopped blaming Harris for not telling her the same evening she’d learned of the eviction. Once she’d calmed down she realized that business was just that—business. She knew she’d leaped on the restaurant as a way to test Harris. And it was test neither of them passed.
“The past is always hard to leave behind. But this place isn’t the only memory you have of your parents,” Ray said.
Sarah realized he was right. Her memories weren’t going to disappear just because she didn’t own this restaurant. She carried them inside her and always would. “Who’d you leave behind?”
“No one. I didn’t let any one person close enough….”
Was this her future—someone who kept everyone at bay because she knew how much it hurt to love? She reached out and took Ray’s hand in hers. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I made my choices. I can live with my regrets. Can you?” he asked. He turned her hand over in his offering comfort in return.
She wasn’t ready to talk about that now. “I know what you’re trying to say. I don’t regret my actions.”
“Not now when the fire of anger is still burning inside of you but in time you will.”
“He betrayed me, Ray. He knew my business was going to be shut down and he didn’t tell me.”
“Is that really why you’re mad?” Ray asked, pointedly.
She thought about it for a few moments. She knew it wasn’t but she felt too vulnerable to say otherwise. She didn’t like being this fragile. Not being sure of her future. Professionally or personally. Though she’d been offered a job as manager from a chain restaurant on International Drive. So at least she and the twins weren’t going to starve. But she didn’t know if she could work for someone else. “I’m not sure.”
“You have to be honest with yourself before you can expect honesty from others.”
“That sounds like a quote. I’ve always been honest with myself.”
“Then you shouldn’t have any problems, eh?” he said.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
“Fulfill your parents’ dream.”
“The restaurant?” she asked, afraid to acknowledge the truth.
He tipped his head to one side. “Now where’s the honesty?”
Ray walked away. Sarah sank back in her father’s chair and took a good hard look at herself and her life. Realizing that she hadn’t been living her dreams but her parents. And that her dreams involved Harris.
“Ray, wait. I’m ready to go and see Harris.”
Twelve
H
arris was nervous. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation and he’d tried to analyze why he was so anxious but the answers he’d received hadn’t pleased him. It was never a good policy to allow emotion into a decision matrix. His mind said that this building and the plans he’d made for a new restaurant were enough to win Sarah back. But his gut disagreed.
This was his last ditch effort. He’d pulled out all the stops and spent an insane amount of money to make everything as close to perfect as he could get it.
Still his hands were sweaty and his pulse was racing. Never had the outcome of any business deal meant so much to him. He ran a finger under his collar. Then straightened his tie. Glancing around the empty room he saw what he hoped was the future.
On Monday the table and chairs he’d ordered would be delivered. On Tuesday the decor from Taste of Home would be transferred and hung on the walls. On Wednesday unless everything went to hell, the new restaurant would have a soft opening for just family and friends.
But today there was only one table with a lit candle on it. Dinner, which he’d picked up from a Thai restaurant on his way over, and a boom box CD player near the dance floor.
The location was in downtown Orlando in the newly revitalized section of Thornton Park. Close by were family neighborhoods and trendy new condos. As soon as Sarah had sent the first gift back he’d realized simple presents weren’t going to be enough. So he’d scouted locations and finally found this one. The building was now his and he had the deed to give to Sarah.
He hoped this would make amends in her mind. But he knew that it wasn’t his conscience forcing him to act but his heart. He wanted things to be right in her world so that he could convince her to give him another chance. Convince her somehow that loving him wasn’t a mistake. Convince her that he could be her forever man.
The door opened and Harris turned. Sarah stood unsure in the doorway. The Florida weather was a little nippy this evening and she wore a light coat.
“Hello, Harris,” she said. She was back lit from the street light and the glow around her made her seem ethereal. He’d never felt more mortal. His feet so strongly clay and his body so easily given to mistakes.
“Hi,” he said. Wow, you could tell he was a man corporations relied on for his keen observations. Why could this one woman turn him to a stuttering idiot?
“Ray said you wanted to see me,” she said.
“I do. Thanks for coming,” he said. He crossed the empty room to her side.
“You’re welcome,” she said.
She smelled just like his memories. Faintly floral and all woman. His body took notice. His blood flowing heavier in his veins. His skin tightening and his hands tingling with the need to touch her.
He knew right then that if the restaurant didn’t work then he’d resort to what his instincts said would work. Taking her in his arms and making love to her until he’d erased all the doubts about him from her mind.
She stared up at him. Her chocolaty-brown eyes wide with emotion. He reached for her and she tensed. This wasn’t going to be easy, he thought.
He took her coat and tossed it over the bar. He led her to the table and pulled out a chair for her. She watched him wearily. He had no idea how to reassure her.
“Wine?”
She nodded. He poured her a glass of Merlot. He’d planned every detail and everything was as perfect as it could be. But suddenly perfection didn’t seem enough.
He seated himself and lifted his glass to her for a toast. “To the future.”
Her gaze never left his. She set her glass on the table without taking a sip. “I’m not sure why I’m here. What is this place?”
“Your new location for Taste of Home.”
“Why?”
“I’ve thought about what you said….”
“And?”
“I wanted to replace what I’d taken from you. I want to return everything to where it was so we can continue to move forward.”
“I can’t,” she said.
Damn, he felt her slipping away. He was powerless to do anything to stop her. He realized he wasn’t going to get to keep her.
“Why not? This is a great location. There are family neighborhoods nearby as well as being close to downtown for the lunch crowds. That’s the perfect clientele for your restaurant. I haven’t had time to do an in-depth study but I’m planning—”
“Harris,” she said.
Just his name, but with so much emotion he felt his plans slide away. Sarah had wised up and knew that a shell of a man wasn’t for her. That no matter how much love she poured into him, nothing was going to come back.
But she was wrong. He had a deep well of emotion waiting for her. Could he take the risk of letting her see it?
“I don’t want you to buy your way back to me.”
“I was afraid of that,” he said.
She pushed her chair back and started toward the door. “No man has ever made such a big gesture for me,” she said over her shoulder.
“Good,” he said.
She pivoted.
Harris felt light-headed and weak but he walked to where she stood. He took her shoulders in his hands and lifted her into his body. Lowering his head he took her mouth in a deep kiss. There was nothing tentative in it because he’d realized that bold measures were needed. And he drew strength from this woman who’d come to mean the world to him.
He lifted his head, pleased to see that her eyes were dazed and her face flushed.
“I have one more thing to say to you.”
She bit her bottom lip and he noticed the sheen of tears in her eyes.
“I…” Oh, God, he couldn’t say the words. He felt like he was six again and he didn’t think he could do it.
He started to let his hands drop to his sides, but he caught his hands and she leaned up brushing her lips against his neck.
“You…?” she asked. He saw hope shining in her eyes and he realized that when two people loved each other there was no vulnerability.
He leaned down and whispered the words in her ear. “I love you.”
She laughed and hugged him tightly to her. “I love you, too.”
“Still?” he asked. Damn, did he have to sound so needy.
“Even when I was so mad at you for being stubborn, I still loved you.”
“I’m new to this.”
“I am, too,” she said.
He bent his head, taking her mouth with his again. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small box, he’d optimistically put there earlier. The one he hadn’t let himself think about until he had her in his arms.
He slid to his knees in front of her. “I have a question.”
She dropped to her knees next to him. But he didn’t want her there with him. He wanted her to understand that he was hers. That she humbled him in ways he’d never known he could be humbled and he wanted to be better for her.
“Will you marry me?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, throwing herself into his arms again. He lost his balance and fell backward. She was sprawled on top of him.
He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed the palm of her hand. “Don’t ever stop loving me.”
“I won’t.”
“Even if I make you mad.”
“Even then.”
He got them both to their feet. He wanted to make love to her but knew her siblings were coming by. He’d invited them to join he and Sarah for dessert. At the time he’d been hoping they’d have good news and it turned out he was right.
He’d invited Ray as well. Thirty minutes later, Harris was relieved to find that all the Malcolms were pleased with his engagement to Sarah. They sat around the table and talked about plans for the future and for the first time ever, Harris felt apart of something permanent and lasting. And he knew he’d found the home he’d been searching for a long time.