Don't Speak (A Modern Fairytale, #5)(45)

Hillary, who was attending dressage camp for a week, stayed behind in Raleigh. His mother was going to a ladies’ tea on Monday afternoon, which meant that she wouldn’t return to the Banks until Monday night at the earliest. And his father had state business that would keep him in town until next weekend.

It all added up to one glorious conclusion: for tonight, at least, Utopia Manor was all his, and if tonight’s dinner crowd was typical of a sluggish Sunday with folks leaving the ‘Banks to return to the mainland, he and Laire might actually have more than an hour together before she had to head back to Corey Island.

With fingers crossed, he took another sip of his beer.

Sure enough, by nine o’clock, he watched her wipe down the last of the dinner tables, his eyes flicking impatiently to one last couple who were canoodling over their candlelit dessert like they had hours to kill.

Laire had hardly spoken to him, or even given him more than a smile or a nod, while she was working, but when the bartender asked her to take his place for a moment while he used the bathroom, she stepped behind the mahogany bar and stood before Erik with a shy grin.

“Hi.”

“Hey, darlin’,” he said, pushing his empty beer glass to the side and smiling back at her. “I missed you. I hated bein’ away from you.”

“Me too,” she said, biting her bottom lip for a second before releasing it. “It felt like a long time.”

He gestured with his chin toward the canoodlers. “As soon as those two leave, you’re finished, right?”

She nodded, watching as the man fed the woman a forkful of pie. “But they sure are takin’ their time.”

“Laire,” he said.

She turned back to him, eyes expectant.

“My house is empty tonight. Everyone’s still in Raleigh. Come over.”

He watched the play of emotions on her face: excitement, wariness, worry, and finally, as she raised her eyes to his, determination.

She nodded. “Okay. Just for a little while. Then I have to head home.”

Some insane part of him, accustomed to looser, more modern girls, had actually fantasized that they’d figure out a way for her to spend the whole night, but instead of being disappointed, he found himself profoundly grateful that she was willing to come over to his house at all.

He beamed at her, “Damn, you make me happy.”

She giggled, plucking a rag from under the bar and running it along the shiny wood of the bar. “You make me happy too.”

“Laire!” Erik looked up to see the bartender walking back. “Ms. Sebastian says you can go. She’ll finish up tonight.”

“Really? Great!” she said, bunching her shoulders together and grinning at Erik.

“Meet me at my car,” he mumbled, leaving a twenty under his half-finished beer and heading quickly for the exit.

***

Laire ran back to her locker to grab her purse and check her face, her heart racing with excitement. She’d never been inside Erik’s house, so she was excited to see it up close, but more than anything, she was desperate to have him all to herself. It would be a short ride to his house, which meant they’d have over an hour together before he had to drive her back to the Pamlico House dock. Grinning at herself in the break room mirror, she gasped when she saw Ms. Sebastian’s face join hers.

“You startled me!” she exclaimed, pressing a hand to her heart as she turned around to face her boss.

“Last week, when he didn’t show, I was worried and relieved at the same time,” Ms. Sebastian said. “And tonight, when he showed up, I was worried and relieved again.”

“You don’t need to worry, Ms. Sebastian,” said Laire. “He’s good to me.”

The older woman nodded. “I can see he’s very smitten, but, Laire, how does this work? Where does it go from here?”

“Anywhere we want it to,” she said softly, though her voice lacked conviction.

“So your father will be okay with you datin’ a dingbatter? And his father? The governor? He’ll be delighted with his Duke University son datin’ a fisherman’s daughter?”

“He’s not just a dingbatter, and I’m not just an islander,” she protested, taking a step away from Ms. Sebastian, and crossing her arms. “There’s more to us.”

“Of course there is,” said Ms. Sebastian, her face concerned, her eyes soft. “But he’s got a handful of weeks before he heads back to school, Laire. And then what? Where does that leave you?”

To be honest, Laire hadn’t thought that far into the future. It hadn’t even occurred to her that Erik would be leaving one day soon, and not just for four or five days, but for much longer. She winced, her heart hurting as she processed what Ms. Sebastian was saying.

As though she realized the pain her words were causing, the older woman reached out and placed her hand gently on Laire’s shoulder. “I’m just worried about you, honey. Tread softly. Be careful.”

Laire swallowed, looking up at Ms. Sebastian and nodding.

“He’s waitin’ for you,” she said, giving Laire a small smile before dropping her hand and heading back to the kitchen.





Chapter 11


On the ride to his house, Laire didn’t say much, staring out her side of the car. Her mood had changed between leaving the bar and joining him in the parking lot, though he had no idea why. When she got in the car, she smiled at him but didn’t lean over the bolster to kiss him as he’d expected. She seemed less excited and more contemplative too.