Jade Archer - Sandpipers 2 - Raven's Mark (8 page)

The Tuesday night bookings at Sandpipers Restaurant were fairly light. They usually were, but Mark was inordinately grateful for the fact this evening. While they could expect a few drop-ins, he didn’t anticipate it being terribly busy—the usual slow start to their working week. Which was just as well, because Mark wasn’t sure he could handle any more than that.

He felt tight and agitated tonight. His gut was all tied up in knots. His neck and shoulder muscles were stiff and sore. And last, but certainly not least, the base of his skull ached with the dull throbbing of a stress headache. It was going to be a really, really long night in the heat, noise and activity of the kitchen. Thank goodness it wasn’t Saturday.

Although, if it was Saturday, yesterday wouldn’t have been Monday and there might still be a chance to get his date with Raven right.
Damn it!
Mark absently sampled the clam chowder being kept warm on one of the burners. Happy with it, he plated it up, sprinkled the surface with a light garnish of parsley and sent it on its way before moving on to the next order.
The date hadn’t turned out anything like the way he’d imagined. Mark had to suppress a cynical snort. He’d pictured something
very
different, in fact—candlelight, smiles, light conversation, a romantic walk on the pier. He’d even fantasised about a kiss, although he’d at least acknowledged that wasn’t very likely to happen. But it had been a nice dream. Now it looked like that’s all it would ever be. A dream. Why would Raven want to inflict last night’s disaster on himself again? Even if Raven
had
said it had been ‘nice’.
Mark cringed at the remembered word.
He straightened his shoulders and tried to shut down his pessimistic thoughts. They weren’t helping and there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it right now in the middle of a shift anyway. No matter how quiet it was.
Still, while sautéing garlic prawns for the next entrée, he couldn’t help wondered if he should have done more at the time to try and end the night on a high note. Maybe if he’d tried harder to engage Raven in different conversations—more books, sports, politics…hell, even the damn weather. Maybe it would have distracted them from the heavier, tenser moments of the evening. Maybe he should have…
Oh, who knew what he should have done to make things better?
What was really worrying him was whether or not they’d be back to square one after last night’s little fiasco, with Raven avoiding him—refusing to even look him in the eye. He just didn’t know. Unfortunately, it was a case of the old wait-and-see game. Again.
What a mess! It was at times like this he almost wished he was a smoker.
“You okay, Mark?”
Startled out of his deep thoughts, Mark turned to see Brody standing beside him with a rather concerned frown on his face.
Damn!
He’d been caught wool-gathering. And what a depressing fleece it was turning out to be.
“I’m fine,” Mark replied, probably too quickly judging by the expression of disbelief on Brody’s face. He rescued the prawns and plated them up, ready to go out. “You got the mains started?”
“Yep, all ready to go.”
“Okay. Good.” Mark took a cursory glance over the entrée order and nodded his approval for it to leave the kitchen, but he wasn’t really concentrating on what he saw. He needed to get his head together. “Looks like everything’s under control for a second. I’m going to take a quick break. You be okay for a few minutes?”
If Brody thought it was odd Mark wasn’t his normal obsessive-compulsive self running the kitchen tonight, he didn’t say.
“Sure. See you soon.”
Mark stripped off his apron and walked out the door to the back steps—the ones that led up to the apartment above the restaurant. It was a good spot to sit and cogitate. Or brood, if the mood struck him. He hadn’t decided which it would be tonight yet.
He sank down onto a cold, hard tread and ran a hand back through his hair, stripping away his bandanna as he went. The dark and relative quiet of the evening was a welcome relief, but it felt kind of…lonely too. He’d been feeling that a lot lately—lonely. Like something was missing, or needed or…something.
Resting his forearms on his knees, Mark fondled the soft black folds of his bandana and absentmindedly undid the knot that had held it in place on his head, readying to re-tie it when his break was over. He gazed out across the back dock area. The orange wash of the security light was strangely soothing. He watched the insects buzzing around the soft glow. Listened to the dull rumble of cars and the ocean in the distance. Breathing in through his nose, he thought he might have been able to imagine the faint hint of a storm on the way, carried in on the vaguely salty breeze.
Rubbing at his temples, Mark tried not to think about anything for a moment, allowing the tension to bleed away into the oblivion. It helped sometimes when he could feel himself getting all worked up about something—kind of like meditating, he guessed, but nothing so formal as to require true navel contemplation.
The sound of movement behind him—someone coming down the steps—snapped him back to reality. He glanced over his shoulder, only to stare up into the face of the very man he’d been thinking about all day.
“Raven!”
Mark jumped up in surprise—glad he managed to end up landing on the deck outside the kitchen’s back door where he had plenty of room to stumble about rather than on one of the narrow steps he’d been sitting on where he was sure he’d have fallen flat on his ass.
“H-hi,” Raven said, staring down at him from several steps above.
At least Raven was still talking to him. That was a plus. And looking him in the eye, too. Definitely a good sign. But this late at night Raven should have been long gone, even if he had dropped Wolf off from preschool and stayed to let the kids play for a while. Mark felt a little flutter of unease.
“What are you doing here?”
Raven continued carefully down the steps until he was standing on the small landing outside the kitchen as well. “I’m b-babysitting.”
“What happened to Cindy?”
“She quit.”
“Really?” Cindy—Wolf’s regular sitter—was a really nice girl. Young, but she’d seemed to love looking after Wolf. Mark certainly couldn’t imagine her up and leaving Brody, Lark and Zak in the lurch. “What happened? Is she all right?”
“She’s p-pregnant and has bad m-morning sickness. Like all day m-morning sickness. She couldn’t keep working, so Brody asked me if I’d be interested in the j-job.”
“Oh! Um…wow.” Mark considered Raven—standing in front of him, talking to him, looking back at him. “So, I guess that means you’ll be around here even more from now on, huh?”
“Y-yeah.”
Raven blushed and looked away shyly. But the tentative smile that tugged at his lips at the same time made Mark’s heart pound.
“Ryan really loves the idea. And the extra m-money won’t hurt.”
Mark sobered instantly. “Are you and Ryan okay?”
He felt a definite twinge of guilt for asking—money being one of
those
subjects—but he had to make sure the two of them were all right.
“Oh, yeah. But you know…k-kids are expensive.”
“Yeah,” Mark replied with a wash of relief. “I remember that part well.” They shared a smile and Mark felt instantly, pathetically better for it. Even his head wasn’t throbbing so badly anymore. “So…um…what are you doing? I mean now. Out here.”
Smooth
. Mark fought against the urge to roll his eyes at himself. What was it about Raven that turned him into the village idiot? And it seemed to be getting worse, he realised, as he finally noticed the garbage bag Raven was holding up.
“I was c-cleaning the kitchen upstairs. Just trying to help out a b-bit. I thought I’d take the g-garbage out.”
It took Mark several seconds to realise Raven was looking at him expectantly, and then several more seconds to figure out he was blocking the way to the dumpster.
“Oh! Um…sorry. I’ll just…”
Mark stepped aside to allow Raven to dump the bag he was carrying. But when Raven finished and turned back to face him, he didn’t rush to hurry away as Mark had expected. Instead, they stood staring at one another in silence. Mark’s tension now had more to do with a quivering anticipation and the need building inside him. And he desperately wanted to know if he was the only one feeling it. Judging by the look on Raven’s face—part wonder, part desire and part panic—he didn’t think he was alone.
“I…ah…I really enjoyed last night,” Mark finally managed.
In the dim light, Mark could see Raven’s blush, but it looked more like shy pleasure than embarrassment.
“Me t-too.”
His heart rate really picking up the pace now, Mark decided to push his luck…just a little. “I was wondering, are you going running tomorrow?”
“Y-yes.”
“Would you like some company?”
As usual, Raven took his time studying Mark and carefully considered the question. Which made the answer all the more heady when it finally came. “I think…I’d l-like that.”
It was like he’d been sucker punched, but in a completely wow-do-it-to-me-again kind of way. Mark just knew he’d have a goofy grin on his face for the rest of the night.

Raven watched the hope and pleasure light up Mark’s eyes and felt an answering jolt of happiness.
It was all sorts of crazy, but seeing the obvious relief on Mark’s face made all the difference. It certainly made Raven feel better about his decision to continue getting to know Mark.
He’d seen something last night. Something he came back to over and over again that made him think Mark just might be worth the risk. That he should take a chance and explore the connection that pulled at him whenever they were together. There was a vulnerability about Mark he hadn’t appreciated when they’d first met.
The fact he had never been a foregone conclusion to Mark also reassured him into thinking he might just be making the right decision. Mark hadn’t assumed Raven would agree to more dates without question. He hadn’t acted as if Raven didn’t have any options, or should be so grateful for the attention he would simply fall into line. Knowing Mark acknowledged that Raven could use that very small but extremely powerful word—
No!
— was everything. It was a word that was still very much a new and precious thing in Raven’s life.
“I should p-probably get back upstairs,” Raven finally managed to force out. “The boys are watching television, but…well, you know, never t-turn your back and all that.”
“Yeah.”
Raven moved to step around, but Mark’s voice stopped him as he was about to pass. “So where should I meet you tomorrow?”
The heat from Mark’s body brushed against Raven’s senses. It was breathtaking and he found it hard to concentrate on what Mark had said. Instead he wanted to stand very still and soak in Mark’s proximity and the spicy scent that surrounded him. It was an intense, delicious and scary reaction all at the same time.
“Raven?”
“Huh?”
“I was just wondering where I should meet you for our run tomorrow.”
“Oh! Um…” Raven took a deep breath and tried to focus, but the big, earnest puppy dog eyes were doing a real number on him. “I p-promised to take Wolf to p-preschool tomorrow.”
“Okay. Should I meet you here then?” Mark asked, seemingly oblivious to Raven’s internal chaos.
“I…um…I usually start my r-run from outside the boys’ p-preschool. Do you know where that is?”
“Yeah. I could meet you there if you like.”
“Okay.”
Wow! That felt good
. That felt really good. Talking to Mark and trusting him with little details of his routine. Agreeing on a running date. Standing slightly too close and a little breathless. It was normal and natural and wonderful. Well, normal and wonderful in an alltied-up-in-giddy-excited-knots kind of way as they continued to stare at each other.
Raven couldn’t believe how ready to take on any challenge he felt right now.
“So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Mark finally murmured.
“Yeah. I…ah…I really n-need to get back.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Neither of them made a move to go anywhere, however. It was an exciting rush to think Mark was as reluctant to leave as he was.
“Night, Raven.”
“Night, M-Mark.”
Raven turned to head back upstairs.
“Hey, Raven.”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for letting me tag along on your run tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Raven studied Mark. Old habits of looking for teasing or sinister motivations died hard apparently. But there simply wasn’t anything like that on Mark’s face. There was just genuine happiness and a little vulnerability. “Yeah, m-me too.”
And amazingly enough, it was true.

Mark stood beside Zak under the shade of the trees that bordered the park and took another sip of his soda. March had flown by in a rush of work, settling in a new chef— Jayden—and seizing every opportunity he could to get to know Raven. Now, the first week of April and with spring well underway, Mark found himself idle, watching the madness that was the first official ‘Annual Sandpipers Restaurant Family and Friends Picnic’.

It had been a long day of games, fun and good old-fashioned craziness. And much to Mark’s surprise, he had thoroughly enjoyed it. Right now, there was a heated game of croquet of all things—or something vaguely resembling it—playing out on the lush grass in front of them. A wild, disorganised and fiercely competitive affair, it had to be one of the most bizarre, madcap games of
anything
Mark had ever witnessed.

There were no rules—or at least none that he could make out—and cheating seemed to be a legitimate way of winning so long as you either didn’t get caught or could argue your way out of any disputes that arose. Hoops and mallets and fist-sized coloured balls were being abused in all directions. And although he was pretty sure croquet was never intended to be a contact sport, it didn’t appear to be stopping the gang from Sandpipers getting physical with one another.

So far he’d seen everything from jostling to tripping. But everyone seemed to be having a great time as the game descended further and further into chaos. It was certainly an absolute riot to watch.

Having begged out—pleading an old football injury to a chorus of light-hearted derision—Mark was able to just sit back and observe to his heart’s content. He couldn’t help smiling as the teams battled it out. But it was Raven he really wanted to stare at and enjoyed watching the most.

Something had happened over the last month. Something subtle but powerful in the way Raven held himself and had started to interact with the people around him—at least the people he knew. Gone was the tight nervousness and the avoidance to the point he wouldn’t look anyone in the eye for more than a few seconds. Now Mark often caught Raven’s dark eyes watching him, and bolder and bolder smiles every day. Hell, Raven was even relaxed enough today to laugh out loud with everybody else as Lark dashed past to ‘accidentally’ knock Dave’s mallet just as he went to make a tricky shot.