Page 24 of Sweet Escape at Bayside
He smiled and said, “I’m glad to see you’re still working with kids.”
“I’ve never stopped working with children,” Violet said, then to Steph she said, “Andre’s a pediatrician and an artist. We met overseas a couple of years ago.”
“Awesome. I like you already,” Steph said with a wide smile. “We’re all pretty kid-and-art-centric around here.”
Steph went back to her seat and Gabe sidled up to Andre as they headed for their table and said, “Everyone wants a piece of Vi.”
“I don’t blame them.” He shrugged off his leather jacket and hung it on the back of his chair.
When he moved to help Violet with her jacket Gabe raised her brows in approval. “Must be someone special,” she whispered.
Andre pulled out a chair for Violet and hung her coat on the back of it, then sat beside her.
“What can I get you to drink?” Gabe asked.
“The usual,” Violet said.
Andre set his warm dark eyes on Gabe and said, “I’ll have whatever she’s having. Thank you.”
“I like a man who knows what he wants,” Gabe said, before leaving them to look over the menus.
“You don’t even know what I ordered,” Violet said.
“Don’t I?” He reached for her hand and said, “Why are you so nervous?”
She bit back the urge to lie and say she wasn’t, but there was no use denying it. It may have been years since they’d seen each other, but heknewher, therealher.
“Andre.” She sighed. “I don’t know how to do this. How do we start over when we were so close before? I have no idea if you’ll ever trust me again, and that makes me feel like I’m walking a tightrope—”
He pressed his lips to hers, silencing her worries with a sweet, reassuring kiss. It did the trick, calming her nerves and reminding her just how good he was for her. As their lips parted, he pushed his fingers into her hair just above her ear and brushed his thumb over her cheek. He’d held her face like that so many times, she wanted to stay right there, gazing into his eyes forever. She didn’t want to think about hurt of the past, or if he’d ever trust her again, because the way he was looking at her, touching her, made her feel like everything was exactly as it should be.
“Oh…” she said under her breath. “You and your magic frickery mess with my head every time we’re together.”
“Mymagic frickery? It was a kiss, Violet,” he said in a low voice. “A kiss to tell you we’re on this rediscovery tightrope together. Let’s just be ourselves and take it one step at a time.”
“Easier said than done.”
When Gabe returned with their drinks, Andre leaned closer and said, “Ginger chai. ‘Anything else is either overdone or not worth the time it takes to drink.’”
You remembered.
“Hey, that’s what Violet says about it, too,” Gabe said as she set their drinks down. “Have you had a chance to look at the menu, or do you want Vi’s usual for dinner, too?”
“I think I can skip the fish tacos,” he said with a cocky grin.
Gabe laughed. “Where have you been hiding him, Vi? The guy obviously knows you well.”
“I don’t know all her secrets yet,” Andre said. “But I’ve got a month to try to weasel them out of her. I’ll have a chicken panini with swiss and a side of fries, please.”
“A month, huh? Guess we’ll either be seeing a lot of you, or a lot less of Violet.” Gabe winked and walked away.
“You have changed,” Andre said. “When we were at the clinic, you were edgier. Now you’re a social butterfly.”
She scoffed. “If you said that to Desiree or the others, they’d laugh in your face. They don’t even know I hang out here.”
“No? With all those friends at the inn who clearly care about you, why have you kept this place a secret?”
“I don’t know. Why do I do anything?” she said, hoping to discourage more questions, although the truth was, he made her want to figure the answers out. But that came with its own dose of fear.
