That Last Summer (Whispering Pines Island Book 1)

by Sara LaFontain

  Paddy was at the desk, so he let him know, but with everyone else off, Sam was the only one available to figure out how to fit everything into the smaller reach-in freezer, which was already somewhat full. It took two hours of swearing and rearranging, which included a trip into town with a cartload of frozen meat to put in borrowed space in Wayne’s walk-in. In retrospect, he should have stopped in The Digs after dropping the goods off at the diner, but he was in a hurry to get back and finish his task.

  After he finally salvaged everything, he hurried to the staff house to change into clean clothes. He’d be able to make it down to the bar for at least one drink, maybe two. But when he entered the house, he encountered Amy.

  “Back already?” he asked, disappointedly looking past her at the closed bedroom door. Damn it, nothing ever worked out in his favor. He’d missed Cara entirely, she must be asleep. He hoped she wasn’t, that she might hear him talking to her cousin and come out of the room.

  Amy glanced at the door then back at him. “Yeah, it’s late, and I have to make a call. You missed out on a fun time. Even Sato came out tonight, though I’m kind of mad at him.”

  “You’re always mad at somebody. What’d he do to you?” Amy held grudges over the silliest things.

  “He won’t let me throw Margaux a baby shower. Apparently, her best friend and her mom get to do it, but I had a lot of ideas, and you know I’d do a better job than them.”

  He laughed at that. “Doesn’t she need to be pregnant first? You’ve got time to change his mind.”

  Amy blinked at him. “Are you kidding me? My god Sam, you might be the dumbest person I’ve ever met. Have you seen Margaux lately?”

  Had he? Yes, just last week in fact. She had gained quite a bit of weight since getting married, but Sato was getting awfully round himself. He’d chalked it up to the combination of marital happiness and living in a bakery . . . oh.

  “I guess I forgot,” he said carefully. “Of course she’s pregnant.” He would have to say something congratulatory to Sato tomorrow morning.

  “I don’t know how you even function as a human being, Sam. Seriously. You probably need instructions in how to put your pants on—it’s one leg at a time, by the way. Well, I’m going down to use the computer, good night!”

  With that Amy left Sam alone to stare at the women’s bedroom door. Still closed. Oh well, he’d talk to Cara in the morning and apologize, and maybe suggest going out for drinks, just the two of them, to make up for missing the gathering. That might even be better.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Cara could hear men’s voices arguing.

  “I could carry her back to the inn, but it’s pouring rain and I really don’t want to.”

  “Nooooo, baby don’t go!”

  “Clearly, you have your own drunk to deal with. I’ll take her.”

  “You can’t carry her that far.”

  “Are you doubting my strength? Well, you’re right, but I can at least get her back to my place.”

  “Baby, I’m so druuuuunk!”

  The voices came into focus. She opened her eyes to see six men standing over her. No, three. No, six. No, definitely just three.

  “I’m fine.” She waved a hand up at them. “Don’t worry about me, I can just sleep here.”

  “She can’t stay in my bar.” Tim ignored her and directed his attention to Matteo. “Maybe she can walk?”

  “Seriously, I’ll take her. It’s not the first time I’ve had to do this. She doesn’t weigh much. And you should catch him.”

  There was a crashing sound followed by giggling as Tyrell hit the floor.

  “Baby, my leg fell off.”

  Tim sighed deeply. “Love, you didn’t have your leg on, remember? Okay, I can’t handle both of them. Matteo, you deal with her.”

  Matteo lifted her in his arms and carried her out of the bar. The swaying sensation made her sick, and she had to struggle to make him set her down so she could throw up in the road. The rain was coming down so hard it washed away immediately, and she turned her face to the sky, trying to drink it in.

  “Come on, climb up.” Matteo made her ride on his back the rest of the way to his house, only letting her down when he had to stop and fumble for his keys. “I hate having to lock my doors. Summer sucks.”

  She stumbled through the living room to the bedroom where she collapsed, and two of his dogs jumped on her. She giggled helplessly as they started licking her face.

  “Off, damn it.” Matteo grabbed them by their collars to pull them back before shooing them out and firmly shutting the door. “My poor babies will get alcohol poisoning from licking you. Here, change out of those wet clothes.” He tossed her a T-shirt and sweatpants, then turned his back.

  “I stay over here often enough you should keep pajamas in my size,” she complained, but she was grateful for the clothing and the towel he gave her for her hair.

  “I’ve got shirts in your size over in my shop, but you have to pay for those. Give me your clothes. I’ll toss them in the dryer.” He left the room and came back a few minutes later in dry sweats and carrying a large glass of water and a bucket.

  “I’m rich now. I can buy your entire inventory.” She drank the water and attempted to place the glass on his nightstand, but dropped it on the floor, almost falling over as she tried to pick it up.

  “True. I’ll write you an invoice. But I want you to give me cash so you can’t cancel the check when you sober up.”

  “Funny, Matty. You’re always so funny.” Her voice sounded slurred and distant, even in her own ears. She was drunk, and she was annoyed. Sam was supposed to come with them tonight. He should have been the one to carry her home, not old Matty. “You seem sober. That’s not fair. Why are you sober?”

  “Because I’m smarter than you. And because I stopped drinking when I saw you wouldn’t. Here, let me help you.” He tucked her into his bed before climbing in on the other side. “I worry about you sometimes, Cara. You drink too much. You really need to stop.”

  “I did stop, remember? Tim cut me off.”

  “Not soon enough. Please don’t get into any more drinking contests with Tyrell. Neither of you can handle it, though at least he’s a happy drunk.”

  “I was going to stop when Sam arrived. Why didn’t he show up? Doesn’t he love me anymore?” If she hadn’t been so intoxicated, she never would have said that out loud.

  “Sam? Why would he love you? Wait, sorry, that came out wrong.”

  “No, you’re right. He doesn’t care. Why would anyone love me?” Tears of self-pity stung her eyes. Briefly, earlier, when she found out she was not responsible for Phil’s death after all, she had thought she had been set free. But what difference did it make, if the one she wanted wasn’t interested?

  “I love you, Cara. I always have. You know that.” Matteo reached over and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “You’re not going to be alone forever, I promise. A lifetime alone is my destiny, not yours.”

  “Don’t say that Matty. Someday, your prince will come.”

  “I’d rather have a princess, please.”

  “Maybe you can go find her. You made it to Phil’s funeral after all. I never did ask you how you managed it.” She was getting drowsy, and her head was still spinning.

  “I don’t think any woman, princess or not, would want me in the state I was in at the funeral. I took a ton of Prozac, and Margaux held my hand the whole time. The whole experience was horrible, and I don’t plan on going through it again. But you know I’d do anything for you.”

  “I do, and I love you for it.”

  “Yeah, I know. Now shut up and go to sleep. You can babble more in the morning. And please, if you need to vomit again, use the bucket.”

  “You’re better than I deserve.”

  “I know. Now seriously Cara, I have a busy day tomorrow. Be quiet.”

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  She didn’t show up in the kitchen the next morning. Sam made her coffee—stronger than usual
to combat her probable hangover—and watched it cool on the table. He finally knocked softly on her bedroom door in case she had overslept. But when he quietly peeked in, he saw Cara’s bed was completely empty. Hadn’t she come back last night?

  He looked for her in the lobby after the breakfast service, but she wasn’t there either. “What happened to Cara?” he asked in surprise when he discovered Paddy sitting behind the reception desk. His boss rarely worked mornings, claiming sleeping late as the benefit of being in charge.

  “I’m sure she’ll turn up soon enough,” Paddy replied. “Matteo called me last night and said she crashed at his place. She’ll stumble in any minute now, hungover as hell and covered in dog hair. I told him to let her sleep as long as she needs, but you know Cara, she’s going to be mad that he didn’t wake her at sunrise. Did you need something, Sam?”

  “Oh, no, I was coming over to check on her since she wasn’t around to help set up breakfast this morning. I should have guessed she stayed out,” he said, but he was lying. He had assumed Cara was already in bed when he got home, or he would have met up with her at the bar. He silently cursed himself. It was a mistake not going down to The Digs. If she ended up at Matteo’s, who knows what might have happened?

  “Hang on, that’s probably her now.” Paddy answered the inn’s phone. “Hello? . . . We have caller ID. Don’t you lecture me on how to answer the phone at my own inn . . . You and Matteo did what? Are you serious?”

  Sam had started to walk away, but stopped, blatantly eavesdropping.

  “No, no, I’m happy for you both, that sounds great. Have you thought this through though? . . . Yeah, but a commitment like that . . . No, that’s not what I meant. I love Matteo like a son, and I’m sure he’ll be an excellent partner for you, and I’m thrilled to welcome him into the lodging family. But this timing makes me worry that you’re moving too fast . . . Ha, yeah, that makes sense, since you’ll both be here this winter . . . Yeah, okay. Congratulations, and I’ll see you when you get back, which better be before Amy comes on shift. I’m not working with her. You know she’ll spend the whole time nagging me about marketing schemes and new software and whatever else she wants me to waste money on.”

  Sam did what he does best: avoided a difficult situation. He walked away before Paddy hung up the phone so he wouldn’t have to discuss what he thought he overheard.

  ....................

  Sam went for a run on the road around the island to try and work his thoughts out. Paddy’s half of the call kept playing in his head. How had this happened? After everything they’d been through, after all the conversations, after all the talks, after all the shared looks and the moments verging on physical connection, how could she choose Matteo? It had to be a misunderstanding, right? The flirtatious way her eyes met his, the way she touched his arm when she invited him out for a drink last night. He couldn’t have misconstrued that, could he?

  He just about convinced himself that he had, in fact, misinterpreted Paddy’s conversation, when he encountered Sato wiping down an electric cart outside the shed. Sam walked over to congratulate him on his impending fatherhood, slightly embarrassed that he hadn’t noticed before.

  “Hey, Sato,” he started, but he was interrupted.

  “Did you hear about Cara and Matteo?” Sato asked cheerfully.

  Sam swore under his breath. It must be true, if word had spread throughout the village so quickly. “Yeah, I heard Paddy on the phone. How did you hear already?”

  “I was dropping off some tourists and ran into Cara. She was walking a couple of Matty’s dogs, Tristan and Beverly, maybe? I can’t keep their names straight. The corgi and the husky.”

  “Martha is the husky,” Sam corrected automatically. He felt ill. “How was Cara? Did she seem . . . did she seem happy?”

  “More hungover than happy.” Sato laughed. “But yeah, I guess. I’m just glad she finally jumped on the opportunity. She’s been hesitating for far too long. But that visit from Phil’s mom really changed things.” Sato seemed oblivious to the sound of Sam’s heart breaking.

  “Maybe it was Matteo who did the jumping,” Sam muttered. It figured that Matteo would take advantage while Cara was vulnerable from dealing with her ex’s mother.

  “No, I doubt it.” Sato looked thoughtful for a moment. “No, I’m sure it was mostly Cara. It wasn’t a sudden thing. She told me she wanted to do it last summer, but the timing was bad. But you’re right. Matteo’s always been interested. He’d brought it up several times, too.”

  “They discussed it with you before?” Sam could hardly form the words. He tried to look like he was just tired from his run and not desperately trying to hold himself together. He felt betrayed, by both Cara and Sato. How could Sato have listened to him confess his love for Cara back in May and not have warned him that she was in love with someone else?

  Sato shrugged. “A few times. I told them it was a big commitment, but . . . oh, just a sec.” He answered a brief radio call. “Sorry, got to get back to the lobby.”

  He waved as he walked away, leaving Sam to process this devastating new information. Cara had once again chosen another man.

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  “Matteo, give me the mouse!” Cara tried to reach past him to take it, but he pulled it away.

  “No, I’m controlling the zoom.” He held it out of her reach, continuing to use the mouse wheel to scroll in. They were sitting in the staff office examining satellite pictures of the Blackhauer property. Actually, no, the former Blackhauer property. They hadn’t come up with a good name for their new purchase yet.

  “Damn it, Matty! You’re focusing on the wrong place. I want to see the access points so we can see where to connect to the island road.”

  “Well, I want to see the old fireplace. I’m going to take a big sledgehammer up there and knock it down.”

  “I wanted to do that part!”

  “You can’t lift my sledgehammer.”

  “Neither can you. You don’t even own one.”

  “Sorry, am I interrupting something?” Sam’s voice cut them off. She hadn’t seen him in days. For the past three mornings, she’d come into the kitchen at her usual time to find a cup of coffee cooling on the counter for her but no Sam in sight, and no explanation. He didn’t enter the lobby while she worked, and if he was home, he stayed in his room with the door shut.

  “Where have you been, Sam?” Cara asked. She suspected he was upset with her for some reason, and was doing his usual avoidance. Did he blame her for not replacing the freezer sooner? He was a bit obsessed with how he ran his kitchen, but it seemed like a strange thing to be so bothered about, especially since her uncle was the one who made the final decision, not her.

  “I just needed the computer for a minute.” He dodged her question. “Though I am wondering why Matteo is here. I thought this office was for staff only.”

  “Easy, buddy. We’re working,” Matteo said. “And I’m a former employee, so I have lifetime privileges. Plus, this computer is much faster than mine.”

  “Shouldn’t you be working in your shop?” Sam folded his arms. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’ll come back later. Have fun.”

  “What was that all about?” Matteo asked after Sam stalked away.

  “I have no idea. He’s been weird lately,” Cara replied. The whole encounter was confusing, but she’d been too busy to try and track Sam down to discuss anything. She and Matteo had made several trips to the mainland to sign the paperwork for their new property, and she’d spent every free moment pouring over regulations. They’d have to start clearing the land this fall, as much as possible, before the snows came. Hopefully, they’d be able to find an architect to help draw up plans over the winter, so they could break ground in spring.

  “He’s jealous. I recognize the signs.”

  “Jealous of what?” Then it hit her: she had accepted the insurance money. Sam probably saw that as her taking a bribe to keep silent about Phil’s abuse, and maybe he didn’t
understand that it wasn’t a payoff, but an apology. And she was going to do a lot of good with it. Some of it was going to a domestic violence shelter, just as her cousin suggested. And some of it was going to help the island economy.

  When she and Matteo built their eco-friendly tiny cabins, they were going to use all local labor. Sato and Tim had both already expressed an interest in helping clear the trees, and they could donate some of the wood to families who relied on wood-burning stoves to heat their homes. When the property was up and running, they’d have to hire help too. It was a win for the island. Why couldn’t Sam see that?

  “Never mind, I get it,” Cara said. “I’ll find him later and straighten things out. Too bad he’s going back to Aspen soon. We could have used his help.” Too bad he’s going back to Aspen at all, she added privately. Sam had never once asked about the possibility of staying on over the winter. If he did, they’d hire him in a heartbeat.

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  After work, Sam made his way to The Digs. He had resolved to drink his emotions away. He couldn’t shake the image in his head of Cara and Matteo sitting so close together in the office, of the way they were flirting and teasing each other, and the way Matteo held the mouse in his extended arm, forcing her to reach over him . . . fuck, it broke his heart.

  Sam was working on his fourth drink and finally feeling a little bit buzzed when Timmy came over to chat with him. Of all the conversation topics in the world, he had to bring up the one thing Sam did not want to talk about.

  “Hey, you hear what Cara and Matteo are doing together?” Timmy asked as he took away Sam’s glass and poured another.