Luke walked in just in time to overhear her. He knelt down and put his arms around her. “I figured reality was going to set in sooner or later,” he said, stroking her back. “Grab your purse.”
“Why?”
“We’re going food shopping on the mainland. The way I hear it, there’s a place that sells everything from hors d’oeuvres to decadent desserts already prepared. You can go wild.”
“But it won’t be the same as if I fixed everything myself,” she protested.
He laughed, then sobered. “No, sweetheart, but it will be edible.”
She frowned at him. “I think you just insulted my cooking.”
“Your cooking hasn’t killed me yet, but you told me yourself the night before last that it’s not your strong suit. Since tonight seems to be all about impressing at least one of our guests, I recommend we give this a try.”
She looked into his eyes. A grin spread across her face. “Thank you.”
“For offering to spend a fortune on gourmet food?”
“No, for understanding why this dinner party being perfect matters to me.”
“I’ll always do anything in my power to make you happy,” he promised her.
“I believe that,” Hannah said. And at that moment, with nothing and no one around to challenge her faith in Luke’s love, she believed it with absolute certainty.
* * *
Whether he was merely to serve as a buffer to keep the gathering on an even keel or whether dinner was a setup for him and Abby, Seth was surprisingly eager for Luke and Hannah’s dinner party. It had been a long time since he’d taken such care getting ready for an evening out. Apparently his time had been well spent.
“You look great,” Hannah said, grinning when she greeted him at the door. “I love your aftershave.”
Seth flinched, fighting a desire to run home for a shower. “Too much?”
“Not at all. Come on in. Abby’s already here. She and Luke are on the porch out back. You can grab a beer before you join them. Or would you rather have wine? I opened a bottle of red for Abby.”
“A beer’s good,” he said, following her through the house.
So far, Hannah seemed surprisingly at ease. He hoped that boded well for the evening. He accepted the beer she offered, then went outside with her.
His gaze immediately went to Abby. He was pretty sure his eyes glazed over the instant he saw her. She looked drop-dead gorgeous, nothing at all like the bedraggled woman he’d dragged to shore or even the casually attired woman he’d joined for lunch at The Fish Tale. This woman looked as if she’d just returned from a shopping trip in some exclusive mall in Naples, over on the mainland. She was put together with elegance and care, though he suspected her linen slacks and silk blouse were meant to be beach casual. Every highlighted hair was in place, too. She was a jaw-dropping sight, that’s for sure, just like those images his sisters had envied in their piles of fashion magazines.
Truthfully, though, he’d liked her better half-naked and soaking wet. She’d seemed approachable then.
He felt Hannah nudge him in the side.
“Say hello,” she encouraged, grinning.
“Nice to see you again,” he said, then took a chair as far from Abby as he could get. This Abby was not only intimidating, she was evidently way, way out of his league. Whatever fantasies he’d been spinning suddenly seemed wildly out of reach, the differences between them emphasized by salon styling and designer duds.
Judging by his expression, Luke was almost as amused as Hannah by Seth’s dumbfounded reaction.
“Abby was just telling me about how she ended up starting a restaurant,” Luke said. “She got tired of eating fried fish all the time.”
“You have no idea,” she confirmed, her gaze on Seth. “I mean, I love seafood. How could I not, growing up here? But The Fish Tale doesn’t cook every single thing in a deep fryer.”
“So you went into the restaurant business out of desperation?” Hannah asked.
“Something like that,” Abby said. “I worked in a couple of very nice places in Pensacola to learn how to run a restaurant, took some cooking classes so I’d know more about what really good food could be, then found an inventive chef who was interested in the same sort of restaurant I’d been envisioning. Seemed to us there was no reason a small town couldn’t have excellent food.”
“Were you equal partners?” Seth asked.
She shook her head. “I was able to scrape together the start-up money,” she said modestly. “He had the ideas. We made it a sixty-forty arrangement. We were one of the lucky ones. The restaurant caught on. By the time I left, we were so successful he was able to buy me out.”
“Did you start the restaurant before or after you met your husband?” Hannah asked.
“Before,” Abby said, a frown passing across her face. “Marshall wouldn’t have approved of me opening it after, but he could hardly complain since I was already in business when we met. In fact, we met right there when one of the members of his vestry at the church brought him in for dinner.”
Seth nearly choked on his beer. “You were married to a minister?”
She nodded, clearly amused by his reaction. “That’s been a shocker to a lot of people, me included.”
“Since I have a hunch there’s a long story behind that courtship, maybe we should have dinner before we get into it,” Hannah suggested.
“Great idea,” Abby agreed a little too eagerly. “Let me help get everything on the table.”
As the two women went inside, Luke gestured for Seth to remain behind. “You okay? You look a little dazed.”
“She’s not exactly the woman I thought she was,” he admitted.
“Meaning?”
“Remember she was in a bathing suit when we met. Her house is a mess. Then I find out she’s developing Blue Heron Cove herself and that she was a successful businesswoman, who was married to a minister, for heaven’s sake. Does that sound like anybody who’d ever look twice at a guy like me?”
“Seemed to me she was looking at you with interest,” Luke said. “She directed just about everything she said toward you. Hannah and I might as well not have been here.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “Settle down. This is just about dinner. Nobody, least of all Abby, is looking for anything more tonight.”
Seth gave him a wry look. “You sure about that? I think there are at least a couple of people around hoping this will turn into something else. Are you denying that you and Hannah have an agenda?”
“Not me. I’ve already told you I have reservations about you jumping into a relationship with Abby. It doesn’t really matter what Hannah or anyone else might be after,” Luke insisted. “You and Abby are the only ones who get to decide what, if anything, comes next.”
“I suppose,” Seth conceded. The problem was, as intimidated as he’d been feeling for the past half hour or so, he was still attracted. And that, given the obstacles he saw ahead, was more disconcerting than all the other expectations combined.
* * *
Over a delicious dinner that Hannah sheepishly admitted she’d bought at a specialty store on the mainland, Seth finally relaxed, especially once the conversation turned to old memories. Shared right along with laughter and plentiful wine—beer for him—the evening ended on an upbeat note.
As