Coda Books 04 - Strawberries for Dessert (MM)

caused me to hyperventilate—there was no turning back now. I was given a bag of pretzels (because peanuts were no longer allowed), and a tiny shot of Sprite on the rocks. What I really needed was a Valium, but I was pretty sure the stewardess didn’t have those on her rickety little cart.
    Every choice I had ever made had led me here, to this airplane.
    Everything I wanted in the world was at the other end of this unbelievably terrifying cross-country flight. What if it all went wrong?
    What if he didn’t want me?
    I rented a car at the airport and headed for his home in the Hamptons. After the nerve-wracking flight, my arrival at an empty house seemed oddly anticlimactic.
    Cole had told me his house was small for the Hamptons. It was certainly less ostentatious than many of the other homes in the area, but it was probably still worth at least a cool million. It was a nice ranch-style home with large, open rooms and an unbelievable kitchen that had probably been remodeled to his exact specs. I was surprised to find the underwater picture from our New York visit hanging in the living room. I went in search of the bedroom, and what I found there made me smile. Even though it was summer, there was a thick comforter on the bed. And on the wall was a different photo from the same gallery—a photo of drifts of snow among leafless aspen.
    In the back yard, I found a pool surrounded by a small, perfectly manicured lawn and a gorgeous array of flowers.
    I also found the gardener.
    Cole had said if I saw him, I would understand, and he was right.
    He was in his early twenties with deeply tanned skin and jet-black hair.
    He was wearing only canvas tennis shoes and a pair of incredibly short cut-off jeans. He was on his knees, pulling weeds from one of the flowerbeds. His body was strong and muscular and absolutely amazing.
    He looked up at me with the face of some ancient god, and I stopped short.
    “Hey,” he said, smiling at me.
    I tried to smile back, but failed miserably. “You must be Raul.”
    “You must be the boyfriend,” he said lightly.
    “What makes you say that?”
    His smile was open and friendly, and he shrugged and turned back to the flowers. “Let’s just say I haven’t taken care of anything but the lawn for a very long time.”
    And suddenly I found that I could smile at him after all.
    I was in the kitchen doing my best imitation of cooking when I heard Cole come in. I stood there, listening to him rattle around the living room, and tried to get up enough courage to face him. This was what I had come all the way to New York for. I couldn’t exactly back out now. I hoped for a minute that he would save me the effort of making a decision by coming into the kitchen, but he didn’t. In fact, whatever he was doing, I couldn’t hear him anymore at all. I stepped quietly through the doorway into the living room.
    His back was to me. He had already taken his shoes off and was standing barefoot, going through the stack of mail Margaret had left for him on the dresser by the door. I knew I should say something, but I found that I couldn’t make my voice work. It had only been six weeks since I had seen him last, but it felt like ages. I felt like he should have looked different somehow, but he didn’t. His clothes were the same, his hair was the same. The slender lines of his body were the same. I found myself hoping like crazy that he smelled the same too.
    I wasn’t sure what to say to him, but I was dying to touch him. I took a few slow and hesitant steps toward him. On about the fourth one, the floor creaked under my foot just a bit.
    “Margaret, is that you?” he asked. And then he turned and practically ran right into me.
    He jumped about a foot backward and bumped into the dresser behind him. The only reason it didn’t tip over was because it was against the wall. “Good lord, Jon! You scared me out of my wits!”
    “I didn’t mean to startle you,” I said. I had caught him enough off his guard that he had actually said my name, and I couldn’t help but smile. He seemed to realize it at the exact same moment, because his cheeks turned red and he turned quickly away from me.
    “How in the world did you know I would be here?” he asked.
    “I have access to all of your accounts. I saw the charge when you booked the flight.”
    “And did you find the door open, or are you perfecting your lock- picking skills?” I could hear that lilting cadence starting to creep back into his voice