Love By Moonlight: A Small Town Grumpy Sunshine Romance (Solhaven Forevers Book 2)
Love By Moonlight: Chapter 8

Daniel looked up and caught Jake’s eye, giving him a brief smile of reassurance before dropping his gaze down to the baby again. He could hardly believe it. He was holding a baby, and instead of dismay, anger or anguish, he was enjoying the unexpected encounter, the feel of the tiny human, the size of him in his arms. He slowly relaxed and took in the miniature hands waving around, swore the eyes focused on him, and the baby smiled.

All too soon, it seemed, the lady smiled her thanks and took the baby back to settle him in his car seat as Jake lifted the buggy into the boot. The toddler had been standing next to her mum, thumb in her mouth while all this was going on. Jake crouched down and said something to her which Daniel didn’t hear because his eyes were still fixed on the baby.

‘How old is he?’

‘Three months.’ His mother straightened up from fastening various buckles—it seemed to Daniel to be an awful lot—and smiled again. ‘Come on, Lisa. Time to go home.’

Standing, Jake approached the toddler’s mum. ‘Hi. I own the café here, and I wonder if Lisa might like to choose a toy from the basket there.’

He nodded his head towards the net baskets in front of the café, containing balls, buckets and spades, frisbees, and kites.

The woman looked dubious.

‘Honestly.’ Jake grinned. ‘They cost me pennies, although I shouldn’t let on about that. And I’m practising, because my partner and I are going to have a baby around Christmas.’

Daniel stepped back. Jake was going to be a father? He’d not mentioned it yesterday when they’d been talking. But then, he supposed it was hardly the right time to come out with something like that after what Daniel had told him. He turned away from the chat between Jake and the woman, looking back at the beach. The warm place in his heart caused by holding the baby was replaced with a cold vacuum.

He became aware of someone behind him and a hand on his shoulder.

‘Daniel?’ Jake said. ‘Lunch, okay? I’m sorry you got caught up in that. Did holding the baby upset you?’

Daniel hesitated then shrugged. ‘Not while I was holding him, but afterwards, yeah. It brought it all home. Enough now, okay? I’m actually enjoying my day, so let it go.’ It amazed him to find it was true. He was enjoying himself. Watching Jake surf had been a revelation, and as they’d walked up the beach, Jake had told him about his pro surfing days, which had been both astonishing and fascinating. Even Claire had surprised him with her skill. Obviously not as good as her brother, she was graceful and competent, and he’d taken a few shots of her as well. ‘I hear you’re treating us to lunch?’

At that moment, Claire, her long hair wet and now nearly as curly as Jake’s, joined them, a laugh on her lips and her eyes glowing. ‘Treating us, and cooked it as well.’

‘Hey, no, hang on!’ Daniel nudged her with his shoulder, enjoying her good humour. ‘You said it was cakes he made?’

‘Cakes, dinners, soups… doesn’t matter what, Jake cooks it.’

‘Talented man, your brother.’ They walked side by side towards the café.

‘He is.’

‘You’re very proud of him. But he was given a lot.’ Daniel swung his hand to encompass the café and car park. ‘This and the house.’

‘He worked damned hard for it. Trained day and night, worked in the café from the age of twelve as a washer-up. Henry didn’t let him have it easy. Not much fun for him to have his career cut short, either. Anyway, Jake will always share what he has with his family. He is sharing it—mum works as the housekeeper, and now I’ve been taken on to restore the gardens. He’s generous, is Jake.’

Watching her as she talked of her brother’s good fortune with a complete lack of envy, Daniel thought it wasn’t only Jake who was generous.

They entered the café where Jenny had already pushed a couple of tables together, near the plate-glass windows. Emily and another woman were waiting and smiled at them both as they came in and sat down.

‘Tell me more about this restoration,’ Daniel said. ‘You’ve mentioned it before, if I remember?’

‘It’s an amazing project to have dumped into my lap. Emily’s got the original plans from when the house was built in the eighteen thirties, and I’ve had a look. There’s so much has been removed or allowed to grow wild. Masses of work to be done. It’ll take years.’

She sounded thrilled about the amount of work facing her.

‘Have you ever heard of those gardens in Cornwall that were restored? This is a smaller project, but we have exactly the same elements—a kitchen garden, themed gardens opening out of each other, fountains, sea views, and there are a couple of ponds in the woods. When they were put in, the trees were planted as copses but they’re very overgrown now. That will be another aim—to clear the woods down to plantations and get the ponds back to life.’

Her face grew animated as she explained, her hands gesturing wildly, outlining things she could see in her mind’s eye. She was a happy woman and, contrary to his assumption she’d taken on an undemanding job instead of the more challenging job of teaching, it seemed she might have actually given herself a bigger task, and one with a lot of responsibility.

‘How will you manage all this on your own?’ He had forgotten his determination to keep himself aloof, in his growing interest. And not just interest in the project. In her, too. In fact, he liked Claire as a person. He liked her a lot.

‘I’m not going to. Emily’s said to advertise for another gardener, but I’ve postponed that until I can get everything straight in my head. I can’t employ someone else and be bumbling around without a clue what I’m doing, now can I?’ She grinned, her eyes shining.

‘You all right there, Daniel?’ Jake sat down on his other side. ‘She’s a bit nuts when she gets going about her precious gardens. Come to that, so’s Emily. They really want to restore the grounds back to their original Victorian state.’ He glanced affectionately at his partner, who was chatting away to Jenny and the other lady, both now sitting at the table, making them a group of six. ‘You met Jenny earlier. The other lady is our mum, Annie. She’s the housekeeper at the hotel, so you might see her around. In fact, I think she wanted to ask you if you wanted housekeeping—you know, cleaning and sheets and towels and stuff. After all, the cottages get a weekly clean and change of linens, so you should as well.’

Daniel looked startled. ‘Hadn’t even got that far, but yes. Yes, that would be great, thanks.’

‘No problem.’ Daniel heard Annie call out to her son. Jake gave his amiable smile, and stood, walking round the table to sit down next to her.

Still thinking about Claire and her gardens, Daniel turned back to Claire and smiled. ‘I’d love to have a look at the plans for the garden sometime.’

‘Surely. I have a small office in the walled garden, and I keep everything there in a safe. Come over tomorrow sometime? Late-ish, maybe around lunchtime? I think one of the biggest challenges is in restoring the fountains. None of them were very big, but they were integral to a themed garden’s design.’ Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Angelina interrupted them then, shyly presenting them with a menu each.

‘Bit posh, Jake,’ Claire called across to her brother. ‘When did you start with the menus? I thought it was all written on the chalk boards?’

‘Since we got in more wait staff,’ Jake responded. ‘Easier not to have everyone wandering round. There’s usually two people in all the time, now. It’s more efficient.’

There was a silence as everyone looked at what was on offer. Claire put her menu down quickly. ‘No need to agonise. I want your moussaka. Daniel, I really advise you to try it—it’s divine.’

Daniel looked doubtful. The last time he’d had moussaka was in Greece, and he wasn’t sure anything could better that.

Jake laughed. ‘I can see by the dubious look on your face, my friend, you’re not sure I can cook.’

Apologetically giving a half-smile for his evident doubt, he put his menu down. ‘Okay, I’ll go along with Claire’s recommendation. But yeah, I’m having a bit of a hard time equating the playboy Jake, which is what I first thought you were, with the champion surfer with the cake maker extraordinaire. And now the chef!’

A general laugh ran round the table before the chatter started up again. Other patrons of the café were clearly curious about the group, although a couple had waved as they’d sat down, and Jake had wandered over to have a word with them before re-joining them all.

The moussaka, when it turned up, was everything Claire had promised, and feeling genuinely hungry for the first time in months, Daniel ate the lot, inwardly admitting it was actually better than his Greek memory.

He sat back and looked round the table at the Bradstock family, together with Emily and Jenny. What a relaxed and happy crowd they seemed. And yet he’d understood Claire’s and Jake’s dad had suffered a long illness, lasting several years. Apparently, it had taken Annie years to recover from her husband’s death, and Jake had spent most of his adult life running from one girlfriend to the next, terrified of commitment, but in the long run, it seemed none of them had let it warp them, or make them bitter. They’d recovered. Got over it. Were leading fulfilled and happy lives. Maybe the hardest bit was letting go of the past and trusting again, allowing people close once more.

He glanced at Claire. She’d offered to be there for him. She’d courageously thrown in one job and re-trained for another, which had brought her an amazing challenge. Today, she’d talked to him easily, and he felt comfortable with her. If they could both keep things like this… he looked away, biting his lip. All very well thinking that, but what about his traitorous body? He might like her on a cerebral level, but his body had different ideas and wanted to know her on a carnal level as well.

The meal continued, followed by a walk along the beach. Daniel was stunned by the simple beauty of the mile-long sands backed by low cliffs with green-clad hills, dotted with white-painted cottages. More of his accumulated tension seeped from him as he and Claire wandered side by side, and he talked of his painting.

‘The next exhibition is in the autumn of next year when I return from America. I want to call it People Sea, but not see as in look. So I want paintings which incorporate people and the sea together. Like Jake surfing. Maybe some children building sand castles. Fishermen. Are there any fishing boats at Solhaven?’

‘Lobster boats, mainly. But they can look good when they’re coming in at sunset on a high tide. You’ll have to check, but I think maybe in a week or two. What about walkers gazing down from the cliffs?’

‘Could do. What sort of scenes do you like doing?’

‘Oh.’ Claire shrugged deprecatingly. ‘Simple stuff. A bit of cliff, the shore, a couple of seagulls. Landscapes, as well.’

‘I meant it when I said I’d critique one of your paintings for you.’

Claire walked on in silence for a few moments. ‘There is one…’ she began slowly. ‘It’s not finished yet. In fact, I was hoping to get out very early tomorrow and do a bit more with it. It’s an early morning scene.’

‘Great minds.’ Daniel smiled. ‘I was planning on getting out at dawn myself. The light’s always so good then, isn’t it?’

She answered with a nod, and they walked in companionable silence.

What was it about this place, this family, Claire, that made him behave almost… normally? To forget hatred and betrayal and just take them—her—as they were. Friendly. Enjoying life. He’d watched Emily and Jake during the meal and seen their obvious love. He liked the way Jenny and Annie were easily included, friends not only with each other, but with everyone there. Haven House Hotel and grounds were ordered and peaceful, the café bustling and popular, and both were happy places.

It had been sheer chance that had brought him here, and he’d nearly thrown it away on his first morning by announcing he’d find accommodation somewhere else, but Claire’s offer had tempted him to stay, just for a little while. At first immensely defensive, he’d attributed too much to her kindness and made assumptions she was like Gina. He’d been a pain, if he was honest. Now he’d calmed down, maybe they could be friends after all? Talk more about art and the gardens?

Today had shown him there was still enjoyment to be had from life.

Was this his first, tentative step?

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