Zoe noticed a frown on Lil’s face. “Everything okay?”
“Yes… I just…” Lillian slowly looked around the room. “It must be just the flashlight. Something feels off.” She shook her head and reached into the drawer. “Here’s a key that will work on the suite. It’s at the other end of the hall from where your rooms are. If you look in the storage room, there’s a cart you can use to move your things.”
“Thanks so much for this.” Mason took the key.
“I should be thanking you two for all the help you’ve given me with the inn.” Lillian walked out of the office and handed the flashlight to Mason. “Now you two go on and have yourself a nice night.”
Zoe was suddenly tired and ready to settle in for the evening. They headed to the lobby while Lillian disappeared back toward the kitchen.
Mason shone the light across the main room. Darkened corners lurked around them from the shuttered windows.
“I’ll have to help Dad take down the shutters tomorrow. Still looks like a horror movie set in here tonight.”
Mason threaded an arm around her as they walked through the lobby and up the stairs. He got the cart and they piled their things on it before they headed to the new suite.
She stepped inside as he held up the light. “Oh… it’s so nice.” The sitting area had a couch and two chairs and a painting of a walkway to the beach. There was a kitchenette in one corner. Two doors, one on each side of the room, led to the two bedrooms.
“I’m going to see if I can open up the covering on the French doors to the balcony.” Mason opened the door and wrestled with the hurricane covering until the night sky finally was visible. He swung them wide, letting in the fresh night air.
“That’s so much better. I hate the closed-up rooms in a hurricane.”
He turned to her with an impish grin. “I don’t know. I had a pretty good time in that closed-up storage room.”
The heat of a blush crossed her face. “Okay, that one closed-up room wasn’t so bad.”
“I brought the red wine I had in my other room. Want some?”
“That sounds nice.”
“At least it doesn’t need ice and doesn’t need to be chilled.”
“Truth.” She wandered over to the couch and watched while he poured the wine and lit a couple of candles. He set the candles on the coffee table, then went to rescue the wine. The candles sent dancing, flickering shadows against the wall.
He settled next to her and handed her a glass. “To surviving my first hurricane.”
She gently touched her glass to his. “To surviving yet another hurricane.”
“I have to say, I’m not a huge fan of them.” He smiled wryly.
“I guess you kind of get used to them. The first few we had when Noah and I first moved here? Those sent me into a tizzy. But then finally it just becomes a way of life. An annoying one, but it’s just life down here.”
“When did you move here?”
“I was fairly young. Noah and I vacationed here and loved it. We needed a change. So he left everything behind to move me here.” She shrugged. “He’s given up so much for me. He left everything behind in Boston when he heard my parents died. Moved to Philadelphia. Poor guy trying to figure out how to raise a heartbroken little girl. But we figured it out eventually. He’s… well, he’s wonderful. I’m lucky he’d give up so much for me.”
“I’m sorry about your parents.” He reached over and took her hand.
She stared down at their entwined fingers for a moment, then back to his face. The face that held a sympathetic look in his eyes. “Thanks. It was hard. Still is sometimes. There are just some things a girl wants to share with her mother. But Noah did everything possible to make sure I had everything I needed. And I loved growing up here.” She took a sip of her wine. “How about you? Have you always lived in Seattle?”
“I have. I like it there. Mostly. Traffic is crazy and the cost of living is ridiculous and keeps climbing.”
“Does your mom live there, too?”
“When she’s not off traveling somewhere for work. My folks were both workaholics. I think that was the demise of their marriage. They both put more effort into their jobs than their relationship.” He looked at her. “You were very lucky to have Noah. Someone so interested in your life and taking care of you. I… well, I didn’t have that. I was an inconvenience to Mom, and Dad was… well, clueless when it comes to kids and didn’t try to fix that fact. But Dad and I have a pretty good relationship now. We’ve worked things out.”
“I’m glad.” Mason and Gary did seem like they were close now. Not as close as she was with Noah, but still, close.
Mason shrugged. “Don’t see Mom much, so that much hasn’t changed. I think some people just weren’t meant to be parents.” He gave her a little smile. “But I turned out okay.”
“So, after being raised like that, do you want to have kids? You know, someday?” Why was she asking him that? It wasn’t any of her business. But she knew that she wanted kids. Lots of them. She’d always wanted a brother or sister when she was growing up.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Not sure what kind of parent I’d be. Didn’t have the best role models. But I have learned from my folks. I don’t let my job consume my life.” He laughed. “I try at least.”
And she didn’t want to ask the next question, but she did anyway. “You probably have to get back to Seattle soon, don’t you? I mean we don’t even have cell service for you to call your work, and the electric is out so no wi-fi service.”
“Yes, I have to figure that
