Robin's Reward (Bonita Creek Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  When it occurred to Robin his examination wasn’t critical or discourteous in the least, she silently confessed she appreciated the look of intrigue on his face. As he was studying her face, she took time to assess him. He looked as if he was within a year or two of her twenty-seven years. He was a few inches taller than she with an average build. He carried himself as one who exercised hard and often. His medium brown hair had some natural wave and was cut short in a businessman’s style.

  “Have a seat,” she suggested. They both sat down before she resumed her appraisal of her guest.

  Behind his bronze wire-rimmed glasses were clear blue eyes that reminded her of a crisp, autumnal mountain sky. It dawned on Robin she’d never seen quite this shade of blue until this moment. The wide smile on his face as he gazed into her eyes caused his eyes to sparkle. She immediately felt her pulse quicken as she stared into those pools of vibrant blue. To her complete surprise, she discovered a growing curiosity about this new acquaintance.

  Jeff’s skin was stained with a bit of color from the day’s heat on his cheeks. The tanned tone of his face, neck, and arms showed he must spend a lot of time outdoors. His clothes were clean and casual. He definitely seemed like a man content with who he was and what he was doing in her garden.

  Without the slightest effort, Jeff Clark already captivated Robin’s attention. She silently wondered if a relationship with him was worth further investigation. Her inner voice slammed her thoughts to a halt. Whoa—slow down, girl! The poor guy is here to enjoy some cool refreshments, not to start courting you. Still, she was attracted to the puppy-dog look on his face.

  She supposed she felt hopeful, too. It’d been a long time since she’d experienced this kind of positive reaction to a man. Then she reluctantly admitted she’d never had this kind of immediate attraction to any man. Her previous experience with love had ended tragically and her scars were still as inflamed as they had been six years ago when—don’t go there now! Snapping her mind back to the present, she admitted she wanted to make a favorable impression on her guest. Now, if she could only figure out a way to arrange to spend more time with him without being too obvious about it. Robin was drawn back to the present by Miss Praise’s loud meowing. A glimpse under the table showed the tabby had coiled herself comfortably around Jeff’s feet.

  “Sorry about my cat,” Robin said gently. “She’s usually standoffish. I guess she likes you.”

  “No problem. I’m used to them. My mother loves cats, so we always had a cat or two around the house.”

  Robin poured two glasses of iced tea and asked if he took sugar or lemon.

  “Plain is fine.”

  “I brought out some freshly-baked muffins and a bowl of strawberries I picked from my garden this morning. Would you like a snack with your tea?”

  “Sure, I could eat.”

  “Help yourself. I’d like to say grace before we start to eat,” she said. He nodded as he bowed his head.

  When she murmured amen, he said, “My family always said grace before a meal when I was growing up. I guess I’ve gotten out of the habit, being a bachelor. I eat most of my meals alone. Not a good excuse for not being thankful, I know.”

  Robin was touched by his candor and hesitated before lifting her eyes to meet his gaze. So, he’s not married.

  As they each loaded food onto their plates, Jeff spoke. “I figured out on my walk that I live on the next block over in that direction.” He pointed toward the back of Robin’s property. “In fact, I think I may live directly behind you.”

  “Proving once again it’s a small world,” Robin said shaking her head.

  “I’ll say. You have a beautiful garden out here.” He waved a hand toward her front yard. “It’s full of all sorts of flowers and shrubs. It looks as if your lot is deep on the back side of the cottage, too. What do you grow back there?”

  Robin sat back in her chair and realized after a rough start, she was slowly beginning to relax. She loved talking about her gardens to whoever would listen.

  “I grow strawberries, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, and some green beans. Later on in June, I’ll plant a small pumpkin patch with some other types of squash and gourds, too, so they’ll be ripe and ready by October.”

  “Wow,” he said. “I’m impressed.”

  She took a couple of sips of her iced tea and continued, “I have some berry bushes and a few small citrus trees, too. I love to take flowers to the church for the altar and to give to my friends and extended family, so I have a large cutting garden with Shasta daisies, Gerbera daisies, sunflowers, coneflowers, roses of all colors and sizes, peonies, irises and gladiolus.”

  After popping a juicy strawberry into her mouth she continued, “I have a section by the fence runs pretty natural with wildflowers such as California golden poppies, bachelor’s buttons, blue and white lupine, and nasturtium. My all-time favorite summer flowers are dahlias. I have a bed way in the back where I try to plant a different variety of dahlia each year, but my collection is still rather small.”

  Robin stopped short and looked directly at her guest. “Are you tired of hearing about my gardens yet?”

  “Absolutely not. Go on.”

  The genuine warmth she felt in his smile made her heart skip another beat. She ate a few more strawberries and continued, “I have a section in back gets a lot of sun, so I filled it with lavender, cacti, succulents, and rocks.”

  “Excuse the interruption, but don’t the rocks require a lot of water? I’ve heard California is constantly in a state of worry about drought.”

  She smiled. “Funny. I already have a small koi pond near the back corner of the lot. My vision is to someday add a collection of different varieties of water plants there, but that’ll probably be postponed for a couple more years due to ‘lack of funding’ as they like to say in governmental circles.”

  Pausing for a sip of iced tea she continued enthusiastically, “I have loads of birdbaths, bird feeders, and birdhouses scattered throughout the yard, too. I love watching birds and butterflies. Last but not least, even though I don’t intentionally cultivate them, I have many varieties of the traditional botanical species commonly known as ‘weeds’ growing on my property.”

  “You must not work full-time if you have hours and hours to spend on gardening. I mean, your front garden looks amazing, but it’s got to be time consuming and labor intensive to have so much green stuff. Are you an independently wealthy lady of leisure who has all day to devote to her gardening?” Robin detected a twinkle in his eyes and a hint of mischief in his smile.

  She quickly set him straight. “Trust me; I put in plenty of hours at my job each week. I just don’t have an active social life. My evenings, weekends, and holidays are spent planting and caring for my gardens. It’s good physical and spiritual exercise to work the Lord’s land. I recently read in a health magazine a person can burn up to three hundred calories an hour by digging, trimming, weeding, and planting.”

  He raised his eyebrows but offered no verbal comment or judgment about Robin’s confession. She was horrified she’d blurted out so much about her virtually non-existent social life to a man she’d just met. Had she sabotaged a chance at a new relationship before it had even begun by sharing her lonely, solitary existence with her new acquaintance? Jeff Clarke was likely to lose interest in her quickly, just like the other men she’d met.

  Robin was a conservative homebody, traits she assumed most men in this day and age didn’t appreciate. She enjoyed gardening, baking, and cooking. She didn’t even mind other housekeeping duties such as cleaning and laundry. She frequently told people she would’ve been more comfortable being born in the early period of the twentieth century instead of the latter. Regret about her admissions filled her heart and mind and reached up to touch her eyes and color her cheeks.

  ~*~

  Jeff couldn’t help but notice her embarrassment at her confession. Wanting to be sure she knew he was telling the truth, he looked deeply into her
eyes as he spoke. “I can’t imagine why you don’t have an active social life, Robin. You’re . . . quite pretty.”

  She flushed at his observation. She quickly regained her composure and looked at him with an intensely sad expression that led him to think she’d been damaged by something or someone in her past.

  “Thank you for your kind words. My lack of a social life can be credited to an overabundance of tragic fate,” she said with a wry smile.

  “I don’t understand,” he said, amused by her phrasing but managing to restrain his smile.

  She rushed on, “You’ve heard the old saying, ‘What goes around comes around.’?”

  He nodded.

  “I suppose it goes for relationships between men and women, too. I’ve never had anything but dead-end relationships with men. It seems it’s my destiny in life to be alone.” Her face colored in embarrassment. “Now I sound like a character in one of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedies! You didn’t accept an invitation to a pity party, did you? I apologize for the melodramatics.”

  “Please continue,” he said, charmed by this woman who once again made him think she’d been born in the wrong century.

  “I haven’t accepted invitations for dates in the past few years because I just couldn’t put myself or my companions through the emotional drama. So my gardens get an over-abundance of attention.”

  “I have a feeling today may be the beginning of a new trend for you,” he said.

  He watched the pulse in her neck pick up its pace dramatically as she soaked in the meaning of his words. A few easy, or perhaps uneasy, moments passed as he gazed at her.

  Chapter Two

  As I mentioned before, I always plant a small pumpkin patch in June so I can decorate my porch in October. Autumn is my favorite season because of all of the lovely colors nature brings forth. It’s an especially beautiful season here in Bonita Creek because of our mountain elevation and the ideal temperature changes we experience. We have many maple, sycamore, sweet gum, gingko, liquid amber, and oak trees that put on quite a show of color throughout the autumn months. Personally, I also like autumn because it isn’t so hot during the day, and the evenings and mornings are cool.”

  Abruptly she asked, “Would you care for some more fruit or another muffin, maybe?”

  “No, I’m fine. Thanks for sharing your garden’s bounty with me. It was nice to meet you.” After a brief awkward silence, he stood and pushed in his chair. “I need to be on my way and let you get back to your gardening.” Thinking with his heart instead of his brain, he heard himself offer, “Would you like me to come back another morning when it’s not so hot to help you dig out the whatever it is over there and move it wherever it is you want it moved?”

  Robin laughed. “Hydrangea. It’s a vintage hydrangea bush. And thank you, but no, you don’t need to return to help me move it.”

  “It’s no trouble.”

  “I’d enjoy having you stop by for a visit, but you won’t be helping me move the hydrangea. I’ve decided I like it perfectly well in the spot where it’s been thriving for the past fifty years. However, can I interest you in helping me spread compost in the back garden?” She laughed.

  He bowed and tipped an imaginary top hat, “Jeffrey David Clarke at your service, ma’am.”

  “How about next Saturday?”

  “Saturday’s good.”

  “Why not come early for breakfast before we start working, say eight o’clock?”

  “Sounds like a good plan. This time I’ll bring a hat and some work gloves.”

  “Thanks for helping me out. I’m happy you stopped by today.”

  “Thanks for the delicious snacks.” He gestured toward the remnants of the snacks. “I enjoyed our chat. I’m hoping it’ll be a whole lot cooler next Saturday morning than it is right now.”

  “I’m not a fan of the heat either. I can guarantee with almost one hundred percent certainty it will be cooler next weekend than it is right now.”

  Jeff went down the steps and made his way along the garden walkway through the gate to the sidewalk. He slowed as he approached the street corner and turned briefly to wave to Robin who smiled at him from her porch.

  ~*~

  Robin plopped into her porch chair with a giant sigh and smiled at her unexpected thoughts. Her mind was racing as she realized she was experiencing emotions she hadn’t felt in a long time. There was a mixture of the positive impression of a man along with a smidgen of hope for something more long-term. Her mind meandered along the slippery path of ‘what if’s’ before she shoved the thought away. She barely knew the man, but she most definitely wanted to get to know him a whole lot better.

  Wanting to make next weekend’s breakfast memorable, she began concocting a menu. Her guest appeared to have a good appetite from the amount of food he had put away today. People raved about her strawberry French toast and homemade chunky applesauce. She’d serve hot tea and cranberry juice and offer to make her guest an omelet if he wanted one of those. She’d check her cupboards, freezer, and fridge for ingredients in case she needed to make a trip to the market before it closed for the evening.

  As she cleared the porch table and walked back into her cottage, her mind jumped to the weather. Since they’d be working in the rear garden, Robin decided to serve breakfast on the wooden picnic table on her brick patio. The table rested under the shade of another giant oak tree and would be a cool place to begin the day.

  Her thoughts strayed back to Jeff Clarke as she unloaded the tray. His masculine face and voice permeated her mind. She hesitated as positive thoughts were crowded out by fear. The well-known and uncomfortable anxiety of venturing into unknown territory was alive and well. Her lack of confidence and experience in the area of healthy relationships with men struck her full force and she gripped the counter for support. Apprehension at the prospect of entertaining Jeff again filled her.

  She’d been so caught up in the optimistic atmosphere of the afternoon she blindly accepted his offer to help with the yard work. Knowing she’d appear rude and inconsiderate if she withdrew her invitation for breakfast, she decided to forge ahead with her plans for the menu. She took a moment to scold herself for her lifelong practice of speaking impulsively before thinking through things in a calm manner. As a child, her mother had continually warned Robin nothing good ever came from rushing into things.

  Her mind was a jumble of thoughts when she suddenly remembered she hadn’t even asked her new acquaintance what type of work he did or how long he’d been living in Bonita Creek. She hadn’t intended to dominate the conversation, but he had steered their chatter away from himself and back to Robin’s life.

  After washing her face and throwing on some clean clothes, Robin rushed over to Henry’s Health Food Market. She’d forgotten to pick up some of Miss Praise’s favorite cat food and she was out of eggs and bottled water. After grabbing her items, she got in the checkout line where her best friend and cousin, Penny Ralston, was cashiering.

  “Hey, Robbie. I haven’t seen you in ages.” Penny was a sweet, quiet twenty-six year old with waist-length wavy honey blonde hair and expressive green eyes. Their mothers were sisters, and the two cousins had been close since Robin moved to Bonita Creek. Penny was the one and only person who called Robin, ‘Robbie.’

  Robin debated whether or not to mention Jeff Clarke to her cousin. Although it might be premature to share details about her new acquaintance with her cousin, she did need to talk about these new feelings she was experiencing. The two had always shared their innermost secrets with each other.

  “Hey, there. I’ve been using my ‘spring break’ from the library to get caught up on some gardening chores at home. It seems I never have time to work in my gardens the way I’d like when I’m working full-time.”

  “I was going to call you tonight. Would you like to go to lunch and maybe catch a matinee tomorrow?”

  “I’ve got plans for tomorrow. I have a million errands and chores to take care of. Can we make a date
for Sunday right after church?” Penny gave her a questioning look.

  “Call me tomorrow night when you get off work and I’ll tell you what’s going on.”

  Penny’s eyes shone with interest. “Sure. I’ll check the movie listings and call to make plans and chat. Any movie you’d like to see?”

  “No, anything is fine. I’m looking forward to spending some down time getting caught up on all of your news, Penny.”

  Even though Robin knew she appeared unusually scattered and distracted, Penny didn’t pry. She didn’t even wait to receive her change from the twenty-dollar bill she’d used to pay for the groceries before scurrying out of the store. She was halfway home before she remembered.

  Robin was relieved Penny hadn’t pumped her for details about her day in front of the market’s staff and other customers. She was certain her conservative, cautious younger cousin would lecture her about inviting strangers into her home. Perhaps Penny should warn me about letting strangers into my heart! While she was putting her purchases in the fridge, her overloaded mind drifted again to this afternoon’s chance meeting with Jeff Clarke.

  Chapter Three

  Robin’s Saturday morning was busy. Her arms were loaded with shopping bags as she walked through the door of the hardware store. She nearly bumped into Jeff Clarke as he exited the store.

  “Excuse me. Oh, hi, Robin,” Jeff said. “Good to see you again so soon.” He noticed her cheeks colored at his remark.