The Country Gentleman Read online

  The orange cat stepped carefully over to a pile of forms, laid her fat fluffiness down on them, and blinked.

  “I knew you’d understand.”

  Kenzie: You had me at chocolate cake.

  Peter: *smiley face. I was hoping you’d say that.

  As it turned out, Paige lived only twenty minutes from Kenzie, twenty minutes being relatively close according to rural peninsula standards. Kenzie took thirty minutes to get there, however. Despite her hunger and eagerness for delicious food, thoughts of seeing Peter again buzzed through her head. She wanted him to see her at her best, or best-ish, and took at least a few minutes to make that happen.

  Donning nice shorts and a breezy red blouse, Kenzie hoped today’s outfit would stand out more than yesterday’s grungy hiking gear. A little mascara and a brush through her thick hair helped, too. Peter had already seen her with no makeup and her second-day hair in a utilitarian ponytail, and since he asked her out based on that, even a few minutes’ effort would be an improvement.

  Paige lived in a cute neighborhood of bungalows on the opposite edge of town. As Kenzie pulled up in front of the house, Peter was already out the front door to greet her.

  She hadn’t remembered him wrong; Peter Olson was attractive. Her heart pitter-pattered like it had when he first texted, and she had to steady her breath. Peter wore jeans that fit him well, and a green T-shirt that she suspected would accentuate his hazel eyes.

  He smiled at her through the jeep window, so much more attractive now that she knew he was single.

  How do you greet a new date who you just met the day before, when you arrive for a pre-date date at his sister’s house? Kenzie wasn’t sure, and it had been a while since she’d been on a real date. Her downtown Seattle friends would greet each other with a peck on the cheek. Most of her posse of runners, walkers, volunteers, and warriors went with a hug. But Kenzie was at a loss how to greet Peter. As she stepped out of the car, she held still and waited for him to take the lead.

  Awkwardness slipped away when she looked into Peter’s eyes. Yep, that green shirt definitely made them pop. The grey sky around him gave his hair an ashy color, too, and she resisted an urge to touch it—almost. A petal from a nearby dogwood tree drifted on the fragrant breeze and landed in Peter’s hair. His eyes widened considerably when she reached up to get it.

  “Petal,” she said, holding it out with a smile. That earned her a smile back, and goodness, this guy knew how to make her go weak in the knees.

  “Thanks.”

  Peter’s light fingers on the small of her back escorted her to the house. It was perfect. Kenzie couldn’t have dreamed up a sweeter, more respectful greeting.

  Paige’s little house was a muted plum color on the outside with tidy white trim. As Peter guided her up the cement steps into the bungalow, the tantalizing smell of warm spices greeted her, along with a full-color photograph just inside the door showing a ferry boat with the Olympic Mountains in the distance.

  “Oh, I love this!” Kenzie said.

  “Me too. That’s one of Paige’s.”

  Kenzie turned to face Peter, catching her breath when she realized how close his hazel eyes and tanned skin were. “You mean she took this picture?”

  “She did. She creates calendars and greeting cards.”

  “She certainly has talent.”

  “Thank you,” Paige said, appearing from around a corner, drying her hands on a towel. “I love doing it.”

  While the house belonged to Paige and not Peter, Kenzie still looked around with an eye to understand this handsome man’s world. Newer furniture with vintage touches: an heirloom quilt, a needlepoint pillow, and repurposed wood picture frames. Stacks of slender boxes under the coffee table and worn cardboard boxes piled waist-high in the corner made Kenzie feel at home, signaling a place where humans lived, not a decorating magazine photo shoot.

  Kenzie complimented Paige’s beautiful home, and the slender young woman thanked her but shook her head. “I’m afraid we’re less about décor here and more about comfort,” she said.

  “You have a great house,” Peter told his sister, adding as proof, “Good food, conversation, and games.”

  Paige’s hands went to the hips of her T-shirt dress. “I sense a dig. Are you making fun of me? And Josh?”

  “No, I love coming here. No shoes required,” he said, slipping off his Vans and sending a flutter-inducing wink at Kenzie. “And no one cares if I put my feet on the couch.”

  Paige shrugged. “That’s true.” Her bright eyes sparkled. “Come on in, Kenzie. Dinner isn’t quite ready, and I want to get to know you a little before Peter makes us beat him at Speed.”

  Kenzie’s tense shoulders relaxed. The easy back-and-forth between Peter and Paige welcomed her, and she admired it even more now that she knew they were siblings and not a couple. And Paige was a perfect blend of sweet and funny, clearly one of those beauties who realized that good looks weren’t a superpower. She’d make a good friend.

  Blown-up candid pictures dotted one wall.

  “This must be your husband in the photos,” Kenzie said.

  “Yes, that’s me and Josh. He’s deployed now, out on a submarine.”

  Kenzie nodded. It was a familiar scenario on the peninsula. “Do you know when he’s coming back?”

  Paige shrugged and a lighthearted smile crossed her features, though Kenzie suspected those weren’t her real feelings. “We never know. He hasn’t been out long, so it won’t be for a while. Meanwhile, this lug comes over and keeps me company.”

  Kenzie’s gaze shifted to Peter, and her own smile threatened to give away her growing attraction. “Nice brother,” she said.

  “The best, especially when he cooks for me.”

  “And … we’ll see if that’s any good,” Peter said. He looked a little nervous.

  “It’d better be,” Kenzie asked. “You promised delicious macaroni and cheese. I’m going to hold you to it.”

  Peter folded his arms and smiled up at her, and she decided she’d better sit down before her knees gave out. “Then I guess it had better be delicious,” he said.

  And it was good, especially accompanied by Peter’s hazel eyes on her. Except for Paige’s photography, Kenzie was glad when the subject of jobs didn’t come up. She’d found that sometimes her career path intimidated people, and she only wanted to soak in the homey family feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time. That, and the frequent twinkling looks she got from Peter that kept sparks shooting through her.

  Speed turned out to be an appropriately named fast-moving card game, and while she laughed through each hand, Kenzie lost every time.

  “Don’t feel bad,” Peter said. “Paige and I have been playing since we were kids.”

  “Then I claim the right to a rematch,” Kenzie said, still laughing about how spectacularly badly she’d lost the last round.

  Peter’s smile washed over her like a caressing wave. “You can count on it,” he said, and the possibility of spending more time with him already brightened her heart.

  After the delicious chocolate cake for dessert, Paige stood up. “If you’ll both excuse me, Josh will be video-calling me any minute. I’m going to go to my room and get online so I’m ready. Kenzie, I’m so glad you came.”

  Kenzie thanked her in return, and hugged Paige before she headed down the hallway. The encouraging look Paige gave her brother before she disappeared made Kenzie blush again.

  Alone in the living room with Peter, Kenzie’s eyes slid up to meet his. Without Paige, it was hard to ignore the electricity between them.

  Peter’s tone was more serious than normal when he asked, “Would you be interested in taking a walk?”

  Kenzie’s to-do list briefly loomed menacingly in her mind, but she blew it away without another thought. How could she say no when he looked at her like that? “I’d love to.”

  Outside, the day’s clouds had finally burned off, and while sunset was still hours away, the summer evening provi
ded a colorful sky. Paige’s neighborhood was tiny, but a sidewalk meandered past the houses and onto the road to town.

  Kenzie breathed in the evening air. “This!” she said. “This is what I left out today. I need to remember that. Never forget to spend part of your day outdoors.”

  “Good rule.” Peter’s bare arm brushed against hers when blackberries crawling over a fence narrowed their path. The sensation rippled through her like pebbles in a pond. She took a deep breath, relishing in the day and Peter’s presence.

  “It’s all so pretty,” Kenzie said. “This is partly why I love going up to the mountains. You walk through the forest, which is wonderful, but then, pow! The sky opens up and you’re on top of the world.”

  “Hard not to love a sky like this,” Peter said.

  Kenzie glanced up at him. “My favorite really is the forest, though.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Mm-hm. Maple, fir, cedar. I even like the alders, when they behave and don’t break and fall. Alders are unpredictable.”

  “I can testify to that,” Peter laughed.

  “Right? And hemlocks. They look all sturdy like a Douglas fir, but their roots are so shallow, they tend to topple in a storm.”

  “Yep. Hemlock and alder are the bane of my existence.”

  Kenzie tilted her head. “You’re in construction, right?”

  Peter took a moment to answer. “Yes, but you know how it is, clearing land for a house. And then the remaining trees threaten to fall during the first storm.”

  Kenzie nodded. “Yes, I can see that.”

  They walked in comfortable silence for a few moments. Kenzie thought about nature, and all it meant to her. She fingered the ring on her necklace, and thought about that, too.

  Peter, it seemed, was still thinking about trees. “Hemlocks and alders make terrible role models,” he said in such a random, awkward way that he made Kenzie laugh.

  “Do they?”

  “Alders snapping unexpectedly under stress? That’s not a good quality in a person.”

  “Definitely not.”

  “And hemlocks with their shallow roots, falling when the storm hits?”

  “You’re right, definitely not a good role model,” she agreed good-humoredly. “I take it you’re neither a hemlock nor an alder, Peter?”

  They’d reached a traffic light, which meant they’d made it into town, and turned in unison to go back. To Kenzie’s delight, their arms brushed again.

  Peter gave her a thoughtful look. “I try to be a solid evergreen.”

  “Yeah? Like a Douglas fir?”

  “More like a cedar. I like those gracious branches that loop down and back up again. They’re pretty laid-back. Plus, there are fewer blackberries—”

  “—under a cedar! Yes, my mom always said that.”

  “It’s true.”

  Kenzie smiled all the way to her toes. Peter didn’t know it, but in Kenzie’s book, thinking like her mother was high thinking, indeed. She fingered her necklace with the ring strung through it.

  “Laid-back like a cedar, huh?” Kenzie looked up at the nearest tree, a large maple in full leaf. “I think I relate more to this one. I thrive in the summer, but I’m tough in the winter.”

  “Maples are hardwood,” Peter said.

  “And … that’s appropriate.” She added with the softest smile she could manage, “I can be a little stubborn.”

  Peter nodded. “Good to know,” he said, leaving her with the soaring feeling that he wanted to know more.

  When they’d reached Paige’s house again, Kenzie stopped by her Cherokee. “I should really get going. Would you tell Paige goodbye for me? And thank her, if you would.”

  “She’d tell you goodbye herself, but once she starts talking to Josh, it takes a commanding officer to end the call.”

  Kenzie laughed. “That’s perfect! Wouldn’t it be terrible if they didn’t want to talk to each other?”

  Peter smiled with his eyes, Kenzie noticed. They twinkled and crinkled and made her melt inside. “We’re glad you came tonight, Kenzie. I’m glad you came.”

  The breeze lifted just then, right along with her heartstrings. Petals from the dogwood floated through the air like snow. Kenzie shouldn’t have been surprised when Peter reached up and touched her hair, making her breath catch.

  “Petal,” he said, his voice soft.

  Kenzie pulled herself together. “Okay,” she said, still a little breathless. “I’d really better go.”

  “Let me know if you’re still on for tomorrow. Paige assures me that it’s entirely possible to get too much Peter time.”

  “Oh, I can’t imagine that,” Kenzie said, hoping that the teasing look she gave him wasn’t overly flirtatious. “See you tomorrow.”

  Peter’s mouth dropped open at Kenzie’s obvious flirt, but he definitely didn’t look like he minded. She drove home looking forward to their date tomorrow like she hadn’t looked forward to anything for a long time.

  Peter liked doing dishes, so he busied himself in Paige’s kitchen until she ended her call with Josh. He really needed to just slip out and get home to bed, since he had to be at work at 3 a.m., but thoughts of Kenzie Vega made him restless. He scrubbed much harder than the pots and pans deserved while he went over the evening moment by moment.

  How was a guy supposed to distinguish between intensely awesome and intensely nuts when finding the right woman? He appreciated strong—Paige and their mother had taught him that. But his track record so far had proven him incapable of telling the difference. While most of his experiences were just uncomfortable, his last relationship was downright painful. Samantha had been what Paige called high-maintenance—a term she used once when he first began dating Samantha, and again when he finally decided to call it quits. In between, he just had to learn the hard way that his sister was right.

  Kenzie was clearly a little intense, but he found himself drawn to her. That was a good sign, right? Of course, Samantha …

  He stacked the dishes with less care than they needed, and they banged loudly. Time to put the past where it belonged and be open for the future. He closed the cabinet door on the last of the dishes and went to find his coat. Paige still hadn’t emerged, and Josh or no Josh, Peter needed to get going. He didn’t want to interrupt, but opened her door just enough to exchange goodbye waves.

  Paige briefly turned away from the screen, where Peter could see Josh’s lovesick face. “Bye!” she called. “And Kenzie? I like her!”

  Peter’s confidence lifted. If Paige liked her too, that was a good sign.

  Before leaving the house, his eyes lingered on the couch where Kenzie had sat while he taught her to play Speed. He held on to that scene, examining it. Her smooth, tanned skin and sun-kissed hair told him she indeed loved to be outdoors, and he liked that. Then there were her intense green-blue eyes, and those full, pink lips … Yep. He was going to have a hard time putting Kenzie out of his mind tonight.

  Chapter Five

  Kenzie hadn’t told Peter that she couldn’t make it to their dinner date on Monday, but there was no way she would have time. While she was often able to work from home, today she had to be in Seattle to present at a board of directors’ meeting. Afterwards she’d be preparing walking team application packets, briefing her boss on ideas to encourage preregistration, creating a different presentation for later in the week, and stopping at the home of a struggling warrior on her way home.

  And, once she was home, she’d need to go for a quick run, finish and wrap that baby blanket, and water the outdoor plants. It was a hectic day as normal, and no, she didn’t have time for a leisurely dinner.

  Peter: Is 5:00 still going to work for you? And do you want to meet there, or I could pick you up?

  Kenzie: I’ll meet you there, and I’m looking forward to it.

  She sighed at her weak resolve. It wasn’t like her, but saying yes felt so good. She’d texted back so quickly she hadn’t had a chance to talk herself out of it. Plus, she really did
n’t want to miss seeing Peter. She’d just have to make it work.

  Kenzie pulled up to The Country Gentleman, her anticipation at trying the new restaurant eclipsed by her eagerness to see Peter again. Perched serenely on the side of Lake Limerick, The Country Gentleman was a newer building with red cedar siding and plank boardwalks leading around the picturesque lake. That summer Monday evening, the sky shone blue and resplendent around the peaceful building, promising a romantic first date with Peter and dialing up Kenzie’s excitement.

  Kenzie had chosen her outfit carefully: strappy beige heels, a black dress with short sleeves that set off her tan, and the necklace she always wore. The summer was still young, but her natural blonde highlights helped her hair shine in a way that made her feel pretty, so she wore it in loose waves that fell to her shoulders. She suspected he’d meet her at the car again, so she’d checked the mirror carefully before leaving home, knowing she probably wouldn’t have another chance.

  On the drive over, she mentally went through the accommodations she’d made to her schedule to ensure tonight happened: text ideas to boss in lieu of meeting, assemble a team to prepare walking packets quicker, ask Tammy to check with the logo designer for the Harvest Half Marathon, clear her Saturday morning schedule so she wouldn’t have to miss hiking club again.

  Because she didn’t want to miss another chance to see Peter.

  Kenzie turned off the car just as Peter emerged from the building entrance. Her heart already quickened to see him. He wore blue pants—she thought were jeans, but closer up she could see they were dressier—and a cream-colored button-up shirt with the sleeves partially rolled up. She’d worried about overdressing, but at the sight of him she didn’t care a bit if she’d over- or underdressed. All that mattered was that he was there.

  “Hi,” she said, taking his hand as he helped her from the car. She moved a little too quickly, accidentally stepping on his shoe. “Oh! I’m so sorry.”