Walking on Sunshine: A Sweet Love Story (Seasons of Love Book 1) Read online

  Walking on Sunshine

  Krista Lakes and Darla York

  Published by Zirconia Publishing, Inc., 2015.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  WALKING ON SUNSHINE

  First edition. August 3, 2015.

  Copyright © 2015 Krista Lakes and Darla York.

  Written by Krista Lakes and Darla York.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  About This Book

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Epilogue

  Check out these other works by Krista Lakes!

  About the Publisher

  Dedicated to my sister.

  Thanks for being my role model, but you still hog the blankets.

  About This Book

  There aren't enough hours in the day, and struggling single mom Jes just can't make it alone. Fortunately, a fantastic nanny just became available. Stacey is the perfect candidate: Young, college educated, glowing references.

  Trouble is, the nanny is a manny!

  The last thing Jes expects is a tall, muscular, handsome stranger on her porch looking for work as a nanny. The last thing Jes wants is a new man complicating her life.

  But Jes needs the help and there's no one better for the job than Stacey "Cee" Cook. So she takes a chance and brings Cee into their lives. From beach trips to special meals to lacrosse games, Jes starts to feel like she has a family again. Soon sparks begin to fly and she feels like she's walking on sunshine whenever Cee is around. But when his secrets threaten everything, can their love survive or will it be nothing more than a summer fling?

  ***

  Before I knew it he, was pulling me into his arms, closing them around me, the warmth in them spreading through my body. I looked up at him, and then he dipped down, his lips capturing mine.

  He stole my breath with that kiss, and I lost all sense of time and place. I tried to steady myself, but he was there, holding me. Keeping me steady, making me fall at the same time. I hadn’t had this feeling in years. It left me breathless and aching for more.

  He pulled back to look at me. The only traces of the light violet in his eyes were on the outer edges. I felt like I was looking at the eyes of a wild animal, ready to take its prey. I wanted to be taken.

  “I've been wanting to do that since you slammed the door in my face on that first day.” He smiled at the memory, waiting for my reaction. I hadn't moved yet. The smile slowly started to fade.

  “Cee...” I couldn't find any words to say. I was still shaking from the kiss, still lost in a whirlwind of emotion.

  His own smile faded as he seemed to finally realize what was happening, what he had gotten caught up in. “I'm so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He shifted from confident and lustful to unsure and respectful. “You're my employer. I don’t want to mess anything up with Ben.”

  Every muscle in his body was tense. I gently grabbed his hand, to make sure he wouldn’t run away. My head was still swimming from his kiss. I opened my mouth and could only make an inaudible grunting sound. My legs felt like Jell-O, and my insides were starting to burn with desire. That kiss had awoken in me something, a hunger that I let starve for years. Before I had time to let my thoughts cloud things, I let my body make my decisions for me.

  I stood up and grabbed his head, pulling his lips down to mine. His body was stiff at first, his brain still trying to process what I was doing. He pulled back one more time to look me in the eyes. They had finally clouded back to that dangerous stormy color I yearned for so much.

  “Cee...” I begged.

  Before his name had finished escaping my lips, his mouth was back on mine...

  ***

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  Chapter One

  My six-year-old son was missing.

  I nearly dropped the phone on the restaurant table, my hand suddenly sweaty and weak as I tried to process what the babysitter was telling me.

  “I- I can’t seem to find Ben,” Charlotte repeated. Her voice was shaky across the cell phone connection. She started out slowly but her voice rose to panic midway through, and I knew she was back on track for a meltdown. “He asked me to grab a game from his bedroom and when I came back down he was... he was gone. I've been looking everywhere trying to find him.”

  I took a deep breath, telling myself that this wasn't a disaster. If I stayed calm, everyone else would too. That was how things worked. Ben was fine. I swallowed hard against the lump quickly rising in my throat and the sour bile attempting to escape my stomach. Stay calm.

  “It's okay, Char, I'll be there in a minute. Just keep looking and let me know if you find him. I'll start calling around, too.” Ben had tried to run away before, but I usually was able to catch him before he got past the yard, curtailing his plans. This was first time he took off when someone else was watching him.

  “Thank you, Ms. Jes. I’m so sorry.” I could hear her sniffling back tears.

  “No, no, honey, it's fine. Stay calm and keep looking.” I tried to keep my voice from wavering with worry. I didn’t want to upset her even more. She needed to go out looking for Ben and if she was weepy, she couldn't do it. Ben was fine. He had to be.

  Click.

  I knew my son was usually responsible. He was a very bright six-year-old boy when he wanted to be, but I was scared more about the world around him. What if he had fallen and gotten hurt? Or worse, been taken? What if someone kidnapped him and was forcing him to do terrible things?

  Breathe, I told myself. He's probably just down by the old playground. He's fine.

  I almost believed myself.

  I kept my head down, my eyes on my closed phone and cleared my throat. I knew I was about to ruin the night out for my friends, but I knew they'd understand. They always did. “Ben’s missing. I have to go find him. I'm sorry, ladies, I have to leave.” My ears reddened from embarrassment. I always felt like I was the one everyone had to take care of like a child.

  There was a silence as my three friends paused in their friendly banter and absorbed my words. This was supposed to be a fun evening where the four of us could sit and chatter about Tricia's fancy job, Melissa's latest hot date, Cindy's kids, and my horrible divorce.

  But now my kid was missing.

  “We'll come help,” Cindy said without hesitation. “I'll call Ray, he'll get the kids together and start
looking around their neighborhood.” She began dialing her phone.

  “I'll go grab the car right now,” Tricia added as she pushed away her bar stool.

  “I got the tab,” said Melissa, already standing and heading to the bar with her wallet.

  I took a shaky breath in, trying to absorb the strength of my friends and keep from panicking. I wasn't alone in this. Divorced, but not alone. I didn’t know what I would do without the three of them. They became my friends seven years ago when I first moved into their neighborhood, and they had never let me down since.

  I called the phone that Ben's father and I had given him after the divorce. We had wanted to make sure he could always stay in contact with both of us, and now I prayed it was going to work. I knew it was pointless, though. Ben never picked up the phone. My heart skipped a beat with every ring, and when it went to his voice mail, I sighed, wishing it had been that easy.

  Melissa, her jet black hair pulled neatly up and looking cool as a cucumber, touched my arm. I wished I could mirror her calm. She motioned to the door where Tricia had pulled up the car. They were waiting on me now. I grabbed my keys and hopped into the car with the other two women. With shaky hands, I nervously combed through my hair, fretfully pulling it into a bun as we drove home in silence. I could feel the panic bubbling up in my stomach as all of the worst-case scenarios started to pop up in my head.

  Each minute that ticked by without a phone call from the babysitter saying she had found him made me realize this was not one of his normal escapes. He had never been gone for this long. My son was the center of my world and I could feel him slipping through my fingers. He had to be okay. For both of us.

  ***

  We turned into our neighborhood and rolled down the car windows. Warm, almost-summer evening air rushed in, carrying the scents of freshly cut grass and flowers. If I hadn't been looking for my son, it would have been a beautiful evening.

  “Ben? Ben, where are you?” I yelled, trying to keep my voice from cracking with fear. There was no response. Just my voice echoing across the dark, empty yards. He wasn't here, or if he was, he wasn't answering.

  Fear rose up and took over my mind as I imagined his face on a side of a milk carton, lost to me forever. I could feel the salty tears start to well up in my eyes, my composure slowly slipping away.

  “Jes, Ray and the kids are coming down the other side of the street. They will let us know if they see anything,” Cindy said, trying to distract me. I nodded, but my heart just kept sinking.

  We continued to zig-zag back and forth through the neighborhood, making our way down the rows of identical houses. Every moment was agonizing.

  Was that him? No, just a forgotten sweatshirt by a tree. Every misplaced toy, lost shoe or roving cat caught my eye. I noticed every movement, and at every inevitable discovery it wasn't him, my heart would sink just a little bit further.

  Bicycles sat in driveways and I could see the children inside at kitchen tables eating dinner or watching just one more episode of TV before bed. That was where Ben should be. Not outside, running away from home.

  The sun was long set and the world lit by streetlamps when I finally saw him walking on the sidewalk with his bike. Relief washed over me and I let out the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding in.

  “Ben!” I screamed, jumping out of the car before it had time to stop. “Ben, are you okay?” I practically flew over to him.

  He turned toward me. “I'm fine, mom,” he whispered. I wrapped him in my arms, his head hitting my chest. His bike clattered to the ground. I was sure he could feel my heart pounding through my light jacket. I clutched him in a tight grasp. Relief flowed through me, clearing my head of worry and replacing it with anger at the fear he caused me.

  “What were you doing? You know it's dangerous to be out at night, and you don’t even have a helmet. You should have told someone where you were going.” I scolded him in a voice that wavered between anger and relief. My voice always gave away my feelings.

  “I wanted to see Dad. I tried to text him, but he said he was too busy to stop by. So, I thought I could go to his house and say hi to him instead,” he explained. His small face crumpled as he looked up at me, the question written all over his face even before he said the words. “Why doesn’t he want to see me anymore?”

  I released him from my grip, and gently pointed his head up towards me so I could look into his eyes. The redness above his cheeks built up into a mask of anger and grief, bringing out the blazing emerald of his eyes. Richard's eyes. His father's eyes.

  His father who was never there.

  The trail of one lonely tear made it’s way down his face and dropped onto his t-shirt in a little wet splash. It was proof of his pain, and it left me devastated.

  I tucked the stray blond hairs behind his ears in an attempt to give myself time.

  How would I explain to my son that his father had to leave because he broke my heart? How could I tell him that his father had found a new love and forgot everything else in the world?

  “It's not that he doesn’t want to see you, it's just that he's really busy.” I released his face, and grabbed his hand as I slowly guided him to the car. I avoided his gaze as I told him the lie. It was a grown-up problem that he shouldn’t have to understand. “We'll call him tomorrow, and then you'll be able to see him.”

  Ben followed behind me, hanging his head in silent defeat. He slid into the back seat as I grabbed his bike and tossed it into the trunk.

  We all sat in silence as Tricia drove us to our house. It was nestled in a neighborhood of indistinguishable houses and manicured lawns. It still looked the same as it had the day I moved in with Richard eight years ago. The house matched all the nearby houses except for the bright blue door that I had painted. I thought it added character to what seemed like a pretty drab color scheme of gray and brown. Richard thought it looked horrendous. After the divorce I made sure to apply a fresh coat to the door each month to keep it bright.

  I carried Ben past the kitchen and up the stairs to his bedroom. He was heavy in my arms, his sorrow weighing far more than his small frame. I was breathing hard by the time I made it up to the second floor. His room was the first one on the left and covered in posters of sport stars and action heroes.

  I laid him carefully into his twin bed, and tucked him into his sheets decorated with lacrosse sticks. As he snuggled down into a comfortable position, a soft smile crossed my face. He made that same snuggle motion when he was a baby.

  I bent down to kiss his head. To me, he would always be my baby. But there was no doubt, he was growing up too fast, especially thanks to the divorce. I ran my fingers through his baby soft hair. His head was still hot from the day's activities and his cheeks were splotchy with tears. He leaned into my cool hand, and his eyes started to drift shut.

  He was completely exhausted from his ordeal, both mentally and physically. I sat beside him, not saying anything, just stroking his hair and giving him silent reassurance that everything would be okay. When his breaths came out evenly, I carefully walked downstairs, avoiding the strewn clothes and random lacrosse balls that Ben had left out. Sitting at my dark wooden kitchen table was a fresh pot of coffee and my three girlfriends. They all looked up at me and smiled through their sympathetic eyes.

  “How is he doing?” Cindy asked, slowly pouring me a cup of coffee.

  “Exhausted,” I replied, grabbing the cup and taking a sip. The hot liquid burned, but I needed the comforting taste. “He fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. I envy him for that. I wish I could lay my head down and conk out like that. I just don’t know what to do with him. This is the third time he ran away, and now he is running away from the babysitter... Oh, no, the babysitter!” I looked around frantically, trying to find Charlotte.

  “It’s okay,” Cindy assured me, patting my hand. “I had Ray take her home. She was pretty upset about the whole thing.”

  “Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. I just... I don’t know wha
t I would do without you guys.” I sipped at the coffee. The bitterness matched my mood. “Ben has been getting worse after the divorce. I think it has to do with how little his dad sees him. He keeps coming up with excuses why he can’t take Ben. I think Ben's final breaking point was when I got this job. Maybe I should have waited a little bit longer.”

  “No!” They all chimed in at the same time. It still wasn't enough to keep me from feeling guilty.

  “Jes, you have put your life on hold long enough. You seem so much happier now that you have something to keep you busy,” Tricia explained as she refilled my cup.

  “I just worry about Ben sometimes,” I said, fiddling with my wineglass. “He's still having problems with the divorce. His dad really doesn't come around anymore, and he's acting out in school. The counselors keep telling me that he’s doing it for attention. But all Richard does is just spend more time with the bimbo.”

  Bile rose in the back of my throat as I thought about the woman who had replaced me. She was barely old enough to drink, and had an IQ that left me surprised she managed to graduate middle school. The only thing that made her notable was her fiery red hair and boobs that would make Dolly Parton envious.

  Before I walked in on her boinking my husband, she used to smile at me every time I came into the office and would ask how Ben was doing. She even came into my house a few times, like when Richard threw an office BBQ. That entire time, as she was smiling at me, she was screwing my husband and destroying the life that Ben and I had. To say I hated her was an understatement.

  “It’s okay, Jes. Sometimes it's hard for men to handle two kids,” Melissa informed me, a smirk slowly filling her face. “I mean if he leaves the secretary alone for too long, she might accidentally burn the house down with the toaster.”

  The bitter laugh that left me eased the ache on my heart a little bit.

  Cindy looked thoughtful. “What about getting a nanny for Ben? I know with the summer months coming up, he will have a lot of free time. I know a great service that might have what you need. I used them when Rose needed tutoring for college. I know they offer other services as well such as nannies, babysitters, tutors, and people to do work around the house.” She dug through her purse and found the card. “Give them a call tomorrow and they'll set you up with someone.”