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  SPRING BREAK

  A Spring Novelette

  Tina Martin

  Copyright @ 2019 Tina Martin

  SPRING BREAK

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real people, names, places, things or events are a product of the author’s imagination and strictly coincidental and are used fictitiously.

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  Spring Break: A Spring Novelette

  Synopsis

  Their romance began in the winter. It has blossomed into the spring, but is it already time for a break?

  Nearly three months ago, Titus met Haven at Baker Bed & Breakfast. Instantly he felt the spark that ignited between them. They bonded over hot chocolate and late-night conversations about life. Once finding out how sheltered she was, he desired her to try new experiences. It worked for a while, but the by-the-book Haven is no longer interested in pushing herself beyond her comfort zone. She has a life to begin. A career to find. A move to make. Having Titus as a distraction is shifting her focus and making her question why a man who seems to have it all together is truly interested in a woman who’s the exact opposite.

  Seasons of Love Series:

  Book 1 – Hot Chocolate, A Winter Novelette

  Book 2 – Spring Break, A Spring Novelette

  Spring Break: A Spring Novelette

  Chapter 1

  As they sat across from each other in the antiquated family restaurant – the sort of place that serves breakfast all day long and the waitresses look old enough to be grandmas – Angelina waggled her eyebrows in anticipation of Haven’s response, then flashed a sneaky smile. She was waiting for an update on her relationship with Titus. It amazed Angelina that Haven even had a boyfriend because, for as long as she could remember, Haven Baker was all work and no play. Even in college, she didn’t let her hair down, go to parties and skip classes like most of the students did. She was that student – the one who took everything so seriously. Had to be by-the-book. Didn’t veer to the left or right. Walked a straight, perfect line – walked that line right into her parents’ business where she’d worked since graduating with her business degree.

  When Angelina found out Haven had a boyfriend, courtesy of Cecily Baker’s big mouth, she thought it was a joke but Cecily was so excited, it had to be real. So, she found out for herself a month ago. Haven had a man! Finally. Since when did straight-walking Haven have time to date?

  “Well?” Angelina asked.

  “Well, what?”

  “Tell me. How’s it going?”

  Haven glanced up at her friend, watching as Angelina played with her waist-length box braids. She’d come from Chapel Hill for a quick weekend visit so they could ‘catch up’. For Angelina, that meant getting the skinny on Titus. Anything involving men, Angelina was down for it. She was one of those friends who, had she not grown up with her, Haven would’ve considered her a bad influence, but their parents were friends so naturally, they became friends. She’d known her since grade school and on through college. And if anybody could give her advice on men, it would be her – Angelina – The Male Whisperer.

  Haven shrugged. “I don’t know how it’s going, honestly.”

  Angelina raised a brow. “What does that mean?”

  “It means I don’t know.”

  “Let your mom tell it and y’all ‘bout to get married. Now, you’re sitting up in here telling me you don’t know. I’m getting conflicting information.”

  “We’re not getting married—stop talking to my mother. She’s been desperate for me to get married, so don’t listen to her.”

  “Okay, so what’s the problem?” Angelina asked, turning up her lips and tapping her fingernails on the table like she was owed an explanation. “And you can miss me with that I don’t know crap, ‘cause you know.”

  “Okay, okay.” Haven shook her head. This was new territory for her. She hadn’t dated a guy like Titus. She hadn’t really dated any men. With Titus, she felt like she’d hit the jackpot, but he was eight years older and perhaps his age was a piece of the puzzle that added to her apprehension.

  “Something’s off with me and Titus,” Haven reluctantly confessed.

  “I thought y’all were doing well. The last time we spoke—a month ago—you were all giddy and told me how good everything was. Said Titus was a gentleman. Said you struck gold.”

  “I still feel that way. It’s just that—” Haven paused. She hated that nagging gut feeling that something was wrong but she couldn’t quite explain what that something was. It made her feel like she was reaching – looking to sabotage a perfectly good relationship.

  “Come on. Lay it out. What’s the problem?”

  Haven sighed again.

  “Look, Haven—you better give me something. It’s already taking forever for the food to get here and I’m in starvation mode.” Angelina looked around for their waitress who was nowhere in sight. “To be honest with you, girl, I was surprised to hear you were dating. Now, you’re telling me something’s wrong? Already?”

  Haven drank juice, holding up a finger so Angelina would stop talking and wait for her to respond. She set the glass on the table and inhaled a deep breath of bacon and waffles that the waitress had just placed in front of them.

  “’Bout time,” Angelina said when the waitress went on her way. “Goodness. Got a sister starving ‘round here.”

  Haven chuckled. “Simmer down, Angelina. It’s pretty busy in here this morning. That ain’t the waitress’ fault.”

  “You know I don’t like people playing with my food. I don’t care whose fault it is.” Angelina angrily bit into a piece of bacon. “Anyway, back to Titus—”

  “Right. Okay, so he’s a gentleman. He’s a very smart and passionate man who likes the simple things in life.”

  “That’s right up your alley,” Angelina said, still gnawing on bacon as if her very life depended on it.

  “It is, and he likes creating memories—doing different activities I wouldn’t necessarily do without his coaching but—”

  “But what?”

  “Sometimes those activities aren’t good with me.”

  Angelina rolled her eyes. “Like what?”

  Haven shrugged. “You name it and he wants to do it. For instance, he mentioned wanting to go on a hot-air balloon ride with me.”

  “Aw—that’s so romantic.”

  “No, it ain’t. It’s deadly. There’s no way I’m floating in a freakin’ Easter basket that I have absolutely no control of while the wind takes us somewhere strange.”

  Angelina was laughing so hard, she couldn’t eat. “I can’t with you.”

  “What?”

  “Why are you so scared of everything, Haven?”

  “It’s not everything. It’s all that crazy stuff he wants to do. I like my feet on the ground, thank you very much.”

  Angelina sipped coffee.

  “He’s more adventurous and I’m safe,” Haven continued, “And I don’t know if he’s really willing to
wait for marriage before—um—you know. Before we—”

  “Do the deed?”

  Haven grew amused at her way of putting it. “Yes. Before...doing...that.”

  “This is a conversation I assume you had with him early on.”

  “I did if you consider our fourth date early.”

  Angelina quirked up her lips in the corner. She picked up a wedge of the waffle, dipped it in syrup and asked, “You waited until the fourth date?”

  “Yeah. Sex is not something you bring up on the first date. Jeez.”

  “If it were me, I would’ve told him on date one, right out the gate. Boom. Take it or leave it. You can’t play around with these menfolk, girl. You gotta let them know what’s up right from the get-go.”

  Haven chewed on her lip. “So, I told him too late? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “I’m just looking at it like this—he has to know something like that upfront because you’re investing your time and energy into this guy and then you decide to tell him, four weeks in, you don’t want things to get physical until marriage. What if that’s not what he wants to hear, then bounce? Who has time to be wasting like that? On a man?”

  “Angelina, you’re stressing me out.”

  “Girl, look—whatever the case he knows about your lil’ rule now. Are you sure he’s not willing to wait?

  “I don’t know if that’s how he feels. It’s just a hunch I have.”

  “A hunch?” Angelina asked, frowning.

  “Yes.”

  “Girl, bye. You can’t go off no hunches. You have to ask him straight-up like, is you rocking with me or is you ain’t?”

  And now the ghetto Angelina was making an appearance…

  “Why do you think he’s not willing to wait, anyway?” she asked. “What’s up with this hunch?”

  Haven opened a single-serve packet of butter and spread it over the waffle. “He kisses me like he’s trying to make up for the fact that we haven’t been intimate. He’s a gentleman but when we kiss, he’s something else—someone else.”

  “So, he pounces on you like a panther,” Angelina said, shaping her fingers into claws while making growling noises.

  Haven laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far. It’s like he’s getting all he can because that’s all we have. Hugs and kisses. When he hugs me, I feel like he’s sucking the life right out of me. Don’t get me wrong, it feels good. I love the feeling of being in his arms, but—”

  Angelina giggled. “It sounds to me like you’re the one having a difficult time with this.”

  “I am. The few guys I liked in college ran off because of my no-sex-before-marriage rule. Why isn’t Titus running?”

  “Because he likes you. Duh…”

  “Yeah, he does, doesn’t he,” Haven said smiling. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid.”

  “Yep. That sounds more like it.”

  Haven chuckled. “Whatever, Angie.”

  “And why are you waiting, anyway, Ms. Goody Two Shoes?”

  “I don’t want to give myself to just any ol’ Tom, Dick or Harry. I want love—want to be with one man and one man only and that man would be my husband,” she said, knowing the man she was dating, Titus Cassidy, was that kind of man. Marriage-worthy. He’d be an ideal husband. A good father. He was an all-around good man.

  “Woo, chile! That’s a tall order.”

  “How so?”

  “The way I see it is, if I’m saving myself until marriage, the man has to be perfect from head to freakin’ toenail. Not toe. Toe-nail. He better not have no bunions, no crooked teeth and no flab. His body has to be harder than steel.”

  “It’s not all about looks, although Titus is scrumptious.”

  “Scrumptious, but you haven’t taken a bite...I think you should talk to him and find out if he’s willing to wait until marriage. I would hate for you to get your heart broken over this guy.”

  “Titus wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.”

  “Still—a conversation needs to be had. Do you know if he even wants to get married? Or is he hanging around hoping you’ll change your mind about the sex thing and slip up one night? Or are you two just friends?”

  “We’re definitely more than friends.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive.”

  “How can you be so sure Haven? Have you asked him?”

  “No. It’s implied. I mean, we talk all the time on the phone and—”

  “And you live in different cities. Different states, actually. How do you know what he’s doing in Greensboro while you’re over here in Gatlinburg playing the faithful girlfriend? Not to say he’s doing anything but you have to consider that maybe he’s not after you for sex because he’s getting it from somebody else.”

  Haven hadn’t considered that because she felt like her relationship with Titus was solid and based on a strong friendship they’d built over the last two-and-a-half months. The moment he stepped into the Bed & Breakfast on that cold winter day, she immediately felt the spark between them. She was certain he’d felt it too. And the attraction was there. He was looking dapper with his chocolate skin, rich brown eyes, athletic body and tall stature. Surely he had women hitting on him all the time in Greensboro. What if Angelina was on to something? What if he had another woman on the side in Greensboro?

  “I see you overthinking, girl. I’m not trying to scare you. I’m just giving you something to think about since you’re so inexperienced with men.”

  “And you’re the expert, huh?” Haven chuckled even though she didn’t want to.

  “Of course. I’m somewhat of an expert. I’ve been lied to, cheated on, I’ve been the side chick when I thought I was the main chick, and I’ve been a side chick hoping one day to be the main chick. Ya girl done been through it all.”

  Haven laughed. “I see.”

  “That’s how I can speak with confidence on this topic. Now, I’m not saying your man’s a cheater but trust me when I say it’s very rare for a man to go without sex for an extended period of time. That’s just the way it is and if he’s doing it, he must really like you or he’s getting satisfaction somewhere else.”

  “It’s definitely not the latter. Titus isn’t that kind of man.”

  “Okay then. I still say y’all should have a conversation.”

  “You’re right. My problem is, I don’t know how to bring it up because what if he’s already thinking he’d be better off with someone else who wasn’t as strict as I am?”

  Angelina shrugged. “Then, if that’s the case, you have to make a decision—give up the goodies or give him up.”

  “You say it so nonchalantly like it’s easy to walk away from a relationship.”

  “For me it is, but I’m scorned so I know how to keep it pushing. I ain’t got time to be trippin’ over no man.”

  The women chuckled. Haven used the pause in conversation to eat some bacon.

  “When will you see him again?” Angelina asked.

  “Tomorrow. We’re having dinner with my parents.”

  “Is this the first dinner with the parents?”

  “The first formal one, yes, but he’s met my parents before especially when he’s hanging with me at the B&B.”

  “Well, at least it won’t be awkward. Where are y’all going?”

  “Cherokee Grill. I told him to pick the place.”

  “He picked a nice spot. They got some good food there and they serve alcohol, too, so when things go to the left, you can booze it before you lose it.”

  Haven laughed as she drizzled syrup on her waffle. Then she asked, “When are you leaving?”

  “I’ll probably roll out early Sunday morning. I have a ton of things to get done before I go to work and more people to hit up before I hit the road.”

  “Well, make sure you stop by the B&B on your way home.”

  “Will do, girl. Now eat. You’ll need plenty of energy to help calm your nerves for when you see your man.”

  “That’s tomorrow night
.”

  “And? Your point? You look all nervous right now.”

  “Titus is a good man. I did good for myself.”

  “Yeah, now all you gotta do is get him to slap a fat diamond on your finger and it’s a done deal. Meanwhile, I’m still looking for Mr. Right Now.”

  Haven laughed. “See, that’s your problem—you need to get serious about settling down instead of all this main chick, side chick nonsense.”

  “I know, I know. I’m not ready for all that yet. I need a few more years to act a fool.”

  “Somebody will come along before then.”

  “I doubt it—would surprise me if I met someone who wanted to settle down. The men I usually meet are looking for anything but.”

  “Then maybe you should start looking elsewhere, Angie. You ever think about that?”

  “Yeah, like maybe I should be running a Bed & Breakfast so I can meet some fly dudes when they check in.”

  Haven laughed. “If that’s what it takes.”

  “Hey, it worked for you.”

  Haven smiled. It had worked for her. Now, she wasn’t sure how well that was working out.

  Chapter 2

  Silas and Cicely Baker weren’t the strictest parents when she was growing up but she did consider herself ‘sheltered’ only because she had lived and breathed the family business. Going to college and having those experiences allowed her to become her own woman but afterward, she was right back home – home being Baker Bed & Breakfast. She appreciated the support and guidance of her parents but had to fight with herself to not rely on them for every little detail of her life as if she couldn’t think for herself.

  Those were the thoughts filtering through her head as she sat across from the people who gave her life. She loved her parents dearly even though they got on her nerves – especially her mother. Still, she saw the love in everything her mother did and she respected her. Respected both of them.