For the Love of Ali The Bellingham Bay Series Book 1 by Saundra Staats McLemore Book Read Online And Epub File Download
Overview: Hayley later realizes it wasn't a typical summer romance, especially for an innocent teenage girl.
Hayley's been accepted at the University of Oregon and plans a career of teaching Down syndrome and autistic children. Her Christian parents own the inn where the wealthy Wentworth family has checked in for the summer. The younger son, Chase, is a bored, perpetual playboy.
Chase targets Hayley, wooing her with gifts and words of love. Naive Hayley falls hopelessly in love with Chase and doesn't realize she's only a summer diversion until it's too late. The unfortunate romance, producing a child, has turned all her dreams upside down. She's now ashamed, shunned by her father, and turns from God.
For the Love of Ali The Bellingham Bay Series Book 1 by Saundra Staats McLemore Book Read Online Chapter One
One Year Earlier
Seaside, Oregon, June 1, 1990
“Hayley, I need your help in the dining room.” Hayley could hear her mom from clear across the wide lobby. Mom sounded stressed, and her feet were running a mile a minute, trying to get caught up for the next meal. Fortunately, no guests were within hearing distance. The few who had checked in that morning had eaten their breakfast in the dining room and taken off to the seashore or headed into town for vacation shopping. A flood of guests would check-in tomorrow, many staying all summer, and Mom and Dad wanted everything perfect for their summer guests.
“Coming, Mom!” As she hurried to the dining room, Hayley pulled her long blonde hair up on her head into a messy ponytail and withdrew one hair elastic and two large clips from her pocket to secure the thick mane.
She found her mom draping the starched white linen tablecloth on the last table, adding a green, pink, and white runner with a seashell pattern. Making certain no hair had fallen out of the bobby pins, mom patted her light brown hair bun, pulled a bobby pin from her pocket, and secured the small lock of wayward hair. Hayley took after her Mom, both tall and slender with bright forest green eyes. However, Mom wasn’t quite as slender as she was before Hayley was born. Hayley had seen earlier pictures of her mom when she was a teenager in the late 1950s and early 1960s; long wavy hair and wearing a bikini when they first became popular. Sometimes Hayley’s dad sang to his wife the song, “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” Her mom would giggle like a teenager.
“Hayley, please finish setting the tables. Our guests will return soon, and they’ll expect dinner. I need to get back in the kitchen and take the extra pies from the oven.”
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll take care of the tables.” Hayley picked up a rack of clean silverware, a rack of clean glasses, and stacks of dinner and bread and butter plates. Setting all on the rolling cart, along with a stack of pre-folded crisp white linen napkins, she walked from one table to the next, distributing the items in the proper spaces. Holding one glass to the light, she noted the water spots and exchanged it for a pristine glass.
When the tables were set, she turned her attention to the four flower pots, each sitting in front of one of the four-floor to ceiling windows. Each individual pot held a dwarf Ficus, Dracaena, or a Wisteria tree. Opening the service closet, Hayley chose a pair of pruning clippers, a waste basket, a watering can, and several rags. She shaped the trees, removed dead leaves, then watered each tree and wiped up any spills with the rags. Stepping back and crossing her arms, she carefully surveyed the dining room, which was one of her favorite rooms in the old inn. In Hayley’s opinion, the white tray ceiling with six chandeliers was the focal point, although the oversized stone fireplace and its raised hearth appeared to attract the winter guests. The walls held landscapes of Seaside, Oregon, through the decades, all painted by local artists. Oriental rugs covered highly polished wide plank mahogany floors.
“Perfect,” she said aloud, nodded her head, and smiled. An eerie feeling gripped her; the fine hair on her arms stood on end, and a chill attacked her body. She could feel the eyes on her. Whipping around and dropping her arms to her side, she saw him, watching and grinning or, more accurately, leering at her.
Crossing his tanned arms and leaning against the wall with one ankle overlapping the other, he boldly raked his eyes up and down her body. Licking his lips, he nodded slowly. “Yes, perfect.” He continued to smile his knowing grin with his whiter-than-snow movie-star straight teeth. Standing around six feet two or three inches tall, wavy blond and sun-streaked shoulder-length hair, deep blue eyes, and wearing cut-off jeans and a muscle T-shirt with Stanford University across the chest, his eyes were piercing as he stared at her. He was the typical California guy in appearance. Yes, he was also good-looking but in a scary way. Discomforting.
She shivered, and not thinking, she responded hotly. “Please put your eyes back in your head, Sonny boy.” Closing her eyes, she gritted her teeth, pursed her lips, and sighed, realizing he was probably a guest. This was the first time she’d seen him, so he must not have checked in yet…or just did. She knew she must apologize. “I’m sorry. Are you a guest?” Realizing her voice was flat, she held no excitement toward this stranger eyeing her.
“Does it matter?” he smirked, sensuously rubbing his lower lip with his index finger. “Do you know your nostrils flare when you’re angry?”
Hayley bit her lower lip and managed a fake smile. She accepted the fact she could not utter a polite word, so she reluctantly let him continue in his assessment of her.
He continued to smirk, licked his lips again, and responded in his arrogant manner. “In answer to your belated question, the answer is yes. My parents, brother, and sister-in-law are checking us in now…along with my niece and our two Great Danes. I thought I’d explore some. I must say, the scenery is better than I expected.”
He walked over to her and stood within a foot. Hayley stepped back about the same distance. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” The apology didn’t appear genuine to Hayley. “Let’s start over. My name is Charles Spaulding Rutherford Wentworth.” He held out his hand to her.
Her left eyebrow shot up. She squeezed her lips and composed herself. “That’s a lot of names,” she said coolly, but she looked at his outstretched hand and finally shook it. He hung on a little longer than needed. When she pulled on her hand, he finally released it.
He laughed. “You can call me Chase. That’s what my close friends and my family call me. I hope we’ll be very close.” His eyes sparkled; he lazily closed his eyes and slowly reopened them. His right eye twitched, and the devilish grin reappeared. After what seemed to be minutes later, but Hayley realized it was probably only a few seconds, he made a casual remark. “You work here?”
She thought about saying something like, “No, I just set tables for the fun of it.” Her mom always said, “You ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.” However, it would be a rude comment to say to a guest. She nodded politely, trying to be an attentive hostess. “Yes, I do, and my parents own Osborne Paradise Inn.”
“Are you going to tell me your name? I assume the last name is Osborne.”
She had yet to smile genuinely at him, but she forced one, hoping she was at least pleasant and professional. She wanted to make a comment such as “That’s a bright assumption, tourist,” but she bit her tongue and said, “My name is Hayley—Hayley Sophia Osborne.”
“What do you do in this town for fun, Hayley So-phi-a Osborne?”
He now slowly accented Sophia into all three syllables, obviously wanting to mock her, but rightly so. After all, she had mocked his rather long name. Did he consider himself royalty? Rude thoughts on my part. After all, he didn’t name himself. However, she graciously changed gears from hostess into tourist information mode. “It’s a typical Pacific resort town. We have great beaches with beach volleyball. There’s biking and hiking. Do you kayak or surf?”
He laughed again and with an edge of smugness. “I’m an expert at both,” adding a sniff for a personalized exclamation point…and haughtiness.
Hayley turned her back to him, gritted her teeth, not at all impressed, and rolled her eyes. Pretending to spread the branches on the dwarf Ficus, she inhaled and slowly released her breath. It’s going to be a long summer.
They both turned toward the door when they heard the voices. Her enthusiastic dad was giving the guests a tour of the inn. Tall, no middle-aged potbelly, her dad still had the physique he carried as captain of the Seaside football team in high school. In college, he didn’t make the football team, but he served four years in the army, and he did play football for the U.S. Army. Although they didn’t meet until they attended the University of Oregon, her mom still called him her hunk, and he still called her his Bikini babe.
Hayley listened to her dad’s canned speech narration. “Except on Sunday, we serve two meals each day in our dining room: breakfast from six to eight every morning, and dinner is from six to eight evenings. Our menu has varied selections and prices, but mostly varieties of fresh Pacific Ocean fish. Assorted restaurants in Seaside are open Sundays. However, we will serve a gratis continental breakfast on Sunday before church services.” Dad then noticed Hayley and smiled. “Hayley, I’d like you to meet the Wentworth family.”
Hayley noted the casual but perfectly creased attire on the older and younger couple. Definitely not the type to wear crumpled clothing crammed in a suitcase. The men had medium brown freshly trimmed and neatly combed hair, unlike Chase. The two women had lovely blonde hair; the elder Mrs. Wentworth appeared fresh from the beauty salon with a tightly curled short coif, and the younger Mrs. Wentworth wore her shoulder-length wavy hair more casual in a long bob.
“Hayley, I want you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Garrett Wentworth, their son Beau and his wife Judith, along with their daughter Celeste. Hayley is our daughter, who recently graduated high school, and she’ll attend the University of Oregon in the fall. Her mother and I are very proud of her. She plans to graduate and work with autistic and Down syndrome children.”
The elder Mr. Wentworth eyed Chase, and cautiously, Hayley thought, Possibly a warning to Chase? However, he held a pleasant demeanor, and he nodded toward her. “Hayley, I see you’ve met our younger son, Chase.” His warm smile directed to Hayley relaxed her. At least his father seems kind.
“Yes, Dad. Hayley and I have been getting acquainted while you checked us in.” Hayley noted Chase spoke in a respectful tone of voice. At least he appeared courteous toward his father. Probably phony, too, she prejudged.
“Are we staying here in the main inn or in one of the cottages?” All the while, Chase smiled pleasantly toward his family.
The elder Mr. Wentworth nodded. “I rented the largest cottage with four bedrooms and four attached bathrooms. We should have plenty of room for all of us. There’s even a wood-burning fireplace in the great room and an outdoor fire pit for cool evenings.” At that, a couple of barking dogs could be heard outside. He turned to Hayley. “That would be Liesel and Hans, our Great Danes. No worry, they’re both well behaved.”
Chase smiled his cheesy fake grin toward his father and slowly blinked his eyes. “Well, it sounds like it’ll be a spectacular summer…just like the summers we’ve enjoyed in Nice, France,” Chase’s words dripped in sarcasm, and he slowly batted his long eyelashes toward Hayley in a bored manner.
His father’s eyes narrowed, and he spoke in a calm but stern voice, “Give it a chance, Chase.”
“Certainly, Father.” Chase walked to the door of the dining room and turned on his heel. “Do we have someone to carry the luggage, or do we carry our own?”
This time Mrs. Wentworth spoke, and in a strict voice. “Don’t be impolite, Chase.”
Victor Osborne answered Chase’s question. “You won’t need to carry your luggage, sir. I’ll have it deposited in your cottage. All of you, please feel free to stroll down to the seashore while you wait. There are plenty of tables and chairs there, and I’ll have Hayley deliver some fresh lemonade.”
Chase sent Hayley another phony smile, a slight bow, and added a wink. “Charmed, I’m sure.”
His nickname should have been Chad the Cad instead of Chase, she thought. However, she offered her sweetest smile. “Please excuse me, and I’ll meet you at the beach shortly with the lemonade.” At that, she turned and strode to the kitchen, letting the swinging door close a little too hard.
Chase had to admit, the main inn was nice. In the nineteenth century, it may have originally been a wealthy man’s vacation home. He’d check the brochure about the history. As his family meandered down the paver walkway to the ocean, he stopped and looked back. The large yellow frame structure, which set up high above the ocean, probably had a minimum of thirty rooms. Three turrets and four fireplaces could be seen from the outside, the main entrance faced the ocean, and a white picket fence surrounded the inn. Set back about a hundred feet from the ocean, the lovely house offered a picture-perfect view of the Pacific Ocean.
However, not nearly as spectacular as the Wentworth estate in Atherton, California, or Grandfather’s estate in Oxford, England, but still a nice beach inn. Homey is the word the middle class would use. We could have been in Nice with the people of our class. Hayley may be my distraction for an otherwise bad family summer vacation. I’ll need to turn on the charm. Her first impression of me didn’t go well. Oh well, easily fixed. She’s young and naïve.
When Chase joined his family, they were already seated in the Adirondack chairs, watching the waves as they hit the beach. The Great Danes Liesel and Hans sat obediently beside his mom and dad. Chase plopped in a chair just as Hayley arrived with the lemonade. His three-year-old niece Celeste squealed with joy, laughed, and clapped her hands as she watched the waves.
Her mother, Judith, had to ask her twice to stay in her seat. “We’ll go down to the water soon, Celeste, but stay seated for now. Let’s enjoy our lemonade.” Judith thanked Hayley when she handed her the sippy cup for Celeste.
Hayley finished serving the Wentworth family and asked, “Is there anything else I can get you while your luggage is delivered to your cottage?”
The family members pleasantly said no and added their thanks. Chase just presented her with his mischievous grin, licked his lips, and again eyed her up and down her body. She shot him a narrowed eye-look, turned on her heel, and stomped back up the hill to the inn.
I’ll work on the charm tomorrow, Chase thought.
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