The Marriage Rescue

by Shirley Jump

  Goose bumps of anticipation rose on her skin when he tugged the waistband of her panties, pulling them down her legs, kissing every inch of skin the thin scrap of material revealed. When she was naked, she turned to face him, reaching for the belt, fly and zipper that kept her from what she really wanted.

  Because maybe if she had sex with him—mindless, amazing sex—she would stop thinking about how tender he was being and how it was melting her heart and making her wish they weren’t going to settle for scrambled eggs in North Carolina and sunny-side up in New York. She let the roar of desire push those thoughts out of her head as she kissed him and urged his pants down and off.

  He tugged a condom out of his wallet before kicking his pants to the side. Then he laid her on the bed and dipped his head to her skin. “I have wanted you since the first minute I saw you,” he said. “I’ve wanted to kiss this—” he licked one breast “—and this—” he nuzzled the other “—and this.” He slid his mouth down the valley of her belly.

  She arched against his mouth, her hands tangling in his hair. “Later, we can talk,” she said, the words half gasp, half breath, “but right now, all I want is you...inside me.”

  He smiled. “Exactly my thought.” A moment later, he slid inside her body, matching his long, deliberate strokes with nibbles along her neck and sweet, sensuous words whispered in her ear. She couldn’t get enough of him, clawing at his back, wanting more of his delicious touch, the way he almost revered her, and the way he stoked the fire inside her over and over again, bringing her just to the brink once, twice, three times, until she was begging him to let her climax. And when she did, it was like seeing stars, bright and hot and incredible. He came a second later, calling out her name in one long syllable.

  Afterward, she lay in his arms and curled against his chest, sated in every way possible. She listened to Grady’s heartbeat as he traced lazy circles on her bare back. He kissed the top of her head, a sweet, reverent move, and Beth knew she was doing the worst possible thing with her husband—

  Falling in love with him.

  * * *

  Her father died the morning after the wedding, sometime before dawn. Beth had called and checked on him one more time before she went to sleep, and he’d chastised her for calling on her wedding night. They’d had a lovely conversation recounting the wedding day, and she’d told him she loved him before she hung up.

  The overnight nurse Beth had hired said her dad went to sleep around eleven that night, and simply didn’t wake up. The news had come as a shock, but in a way, Beth had been bracing herself for this day for months, maybe years.

  Still, the days after his passing had been difficult, filled with a million decisions to make, from flowers to hymns. Grady had been there every step of the way, a set of shoulders to lean on and a helping voice in making those decisions.

  At the end of the day, going home to Grady and staying at Ida Mae’s had somehow made losing her dad easier. Grady knew her dad, respected and maybe even loved him, and as they shared their memories and he held her tight, the grief seemed a tiny bit lighter. He’d been right beside her during the entire wake, and again today at the funeral, his mere presence a comfort.

  Long after the other mourners had left, she stood over Dad’s grave site, covered with flowers that reminded her of the ones at her wedding and the last time she’d seen her father, and thought none of it felt real. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

  Grady’s arm went around her waist and he pulled her to him. “He was at peace,” Grady said. “I think he hung on all this time because he wanted to be sure you would be okay if he was gone.”

  A part of her knew that was true. Her father had said many times that all he wanted was to know she would be secure and safe. But still, the loss had hit her hard, especially coming on the heels of a beautiful day.

  “All my life, all I ever wanted was for my dad to be there for me.” She swiped at the tears on her face. “And the one night he needs me to be there for him, I wasn’t there. I wasn’t at his side. I wasn’t...home.”

  “Beth.” When she didn’t look at him, he turned her toward him. “Beth, you can’t blame yourself for not being there. Your dad was overjoyed to see you get married. He wouldn’t want you to set a second of that day aside for him.”

  She bit her lip and nodded. Grady was right. Oh, how she wanted him to be wrong, but he was right. He’d loved her father, too, and had made her dad so happy in the last few weeks. The tears spilled over her lashes and down her cheeks. “Thank you, for staying, for being here.”

  He gathered her to him and held her tight. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

  And just for this hard, awful day, Beth chose to believe that was true.

  * * *

  Grady woke up on Monday morning a month after the wedding, alone in his bed, and instead of booking a flight and running back to New York, something he had procrastinated on already a hundred times, he stayed in Stone Gap. Tuesday came and he was still there, still without a flight plan. Wednesday, same story, except it was getting harder to justify remaining in town. Every time he talked to Dan, he told him he’d be on the first flight the next day.

  “I’ve known you a hell of a long time,” Dan said. “And you never procrastinate on anything. What’s it going to take for you to realize there’s more than a house keeping you in Stone Gap?”

  “I’ll be back tomorrow. Just tying up some loose ends,” he said. Last month, it had been his wedding night, then Reggie’s death, the funeral, helping Beth with the house and the estate. Helping her deal with her new normal—a life without her father. This week, all that was done, and still he couldn’t seem to leave. Grady turned on his laptop and opened up a travel website. He booked a flight for Thursday morning before he could change his mind.

  Because there were no more loose ends to tie up. The house was under agreement, and pending an inspection and appraisal, would be sold in a matter of weeks at most. Savannah told him the couple buying it had gushed about raising their children there, getting a pontoon boat for the lake and maybe putting a hot tub on a deck in the back.

  As for the dog, another young couple had answered the ad for Monster and picked him up just this afternoon. Maybe that was why Grady was at loose ends in a silent, empty house. He missed the noise and the company of that little mutt more than he’d expected.

  But the real reason Grady had lingered in Stone Gap had everything to do with the woman he had married. The woman he had made love to twice on his wedding night, the same woman who had stayed in his bed for a week after their wedding. The woman who was gone—gone from his bed, gone from his life—right after the funeral.

  He’d called her, but gotten voice mail. Texted, and got back short answers that said she was swamped with work but doing okay despite the loss of her dad. But when he swung by Happy Tails this morning to see her, the sign on the door said Closed. If Beth was inside, he couldn’t see her through the window. He stopped at her cottage; no answer to the doorbell. Maybe she was at the diner, or with a friend? Or even something as simple as shopping?

  Grady told himself she was grieving and wanted to be alone. Reggie’s passing had been a hard thing to deal with, but Grady had taken comfort in the happiness of Beth’s dad on their wedding day. Her father’s life had been full, right up to the end.

  His feelings about lying to a dying man were still conflicted. Had it been the right thing to do? Giving Reggie some peace, even if it was false? For a moment there—to be honest, longer than a moment—Grady had felt like the whole thing was real and true. Maybe because a part of him wished it to be.

  Grady closed the laptop and dialed Beth one more time. The call went straight to voice mail, which meant she had either turned her phone off or hit Ignore as soon as his name popped up. What had happened? He’d thought things were great on their wedding night, and in the days after her father’s death, they had been clo
ser than ever. Had any of what she’d said been the truth? Or had Beth been keeping up the fiction with him, too?

  Grady tossed the phone onto the counter. It landed with a clatter and skittered over to the toaster. Normally, Monster would start barking at the noise. Grady even glanced in the corner for the dog, but of course, the space was empty.

  He’d dealt with most of the furniture in the house, scheduling a pickup with a local charity for Friday. Savannah had promised to be here to let them in, and wait while they carted out Ida Mae’s sofa and dining room set and the bed where Grady had slept with Beth. He’d boxed up all Ida Mae’s personal belongings and set them aside for storage.

  But he had yet to tackle the garage. Maybe because he had so many memories wrapped up in that cool, dim space. When he’d been young, it had been a hiding place and a fort. A base of operations for playing soldier with his brothers. A place to escape when the sun got too hot or his father started calling his name. The garage had been where he’d built a birdhouse with his grandfather and where he’d sneaked a cigarette at age sixteen. Part of him wanted to keep it exactly as it was—but he knew that wasn’t possible. It was time to handle this last detail, before he left Stone Gap for good tomorrow.

  And left his house, his dog and his wife behind. God, his life sounded like a bad country-and-western song.

  He skirted the house, unlocked the side door of the garage and slipped inside the dim building. The overhead light flickered to life, exposing a thick layer of dust and a few cobwebs. In the center of the garage, Ida Mae’s beloved sky blue ’69 Camaro sat under a cotton tarp. Grandpa had bought it and refurbished it for her as an anniversary gift more than thirty years ago. Grady pulled the fabric back, exposing a vehicle nearly as shiny now as the day it had rolled off the assembly line. He thought Grandma had sold it a long time ago, but no, here it was, just waiting for him to unveil it again.

  He heard a low whistle behind him and turned. Mac Barlow stood in the entrance. “Nice looking car. I remember seeing your grandmother driving it before she...” The words trailed off, without mentioning the tragedy and the house that had brought Grady back to Stone Gap.

  “Yeah, she loved this car. Drove my parents crazy when she’d take me and my brothers out in it, since it was too old to have all the safety features we take for granted. They pictured us all dying in some fiery crash on the interstate, but truth was, she treated this car like a baby and barely hit the speed limit in it.” He ran a hand along the smooth, gleaming body. The light above the car bounced off the finish, making the chrome sparkle in the gray interior of the garage.

  “You thinking of taking it out for a spin?” Mac asked.

  Grady shook his head. “I really should sell it. A car like this is totally impractical in New York.” Plus, shipping it there would cost a fortune. But the thought of selling it—

  Pained Grady more than he wanted to admit. He’d packed up Ida Mae’s clothes and dishes, and created a plan for the furniture, but when it came to this car, he almost couldn’t bring himself to sever that last tie. It was little wonder he’d put this off to the last minute.

  “Yeah, but it’s fun as hell in sunny North Carolina, where the weather’s good enough to drive around with the windows down ten months of the year.” Mac stepped inside the garage. “As much as I’d love to ask for a chance to take this baby out on the road, I really came by because I wanted to know if you gave my offer any thought.”

  “Not really,” Grady said, which was the truth. “I’ve been busy. The wedding, then the funeral, and now the house...” Procrastinating on going back to his real life... He had plenty of excuses.

  “I don’t get it,” Mac said. “I saw the way you looked at Beth when you said your vows, and I would have bet every dime I had that the two of you loved each other. Yet she’s down at the lake, crying, and you’re up here, selling off your grandmother’s house and heading back to New York.”

  “She’s crying? Why? And how do you know I’m going back to New York?”

  “Beth told me.” Mac shrugged. “Actually, she told Savannah, and I overheard. The two of them went for a walk and I headed here to tell you my offer still stands, if you want to stay put and make something of this marriage, rather than making a stupid mistake.”

  He couldn’t explain the truth to Mac. That the whole thing hadn’t been a mistake, but it had been a foolish idea. Yes, Reggie had been happy and none the wiser before he passed away, and Grady could take comfort in that while he flew back to New York, leaving Beth behind. Except he hadn’t gotten on a plane yet, and he didn’t feel an ounce of comfort. “Is she still at the lake?”

  Mac nodded, then pointed west. “Savannah renovated a house for us a couple miles down the road from here, and we just finished moving in, which was why Beth was there. Beth’s car is in the driveway. If you leave now—”

  Grady had already grabbed the closest keys—the ones to Ida Mae’s car—and pressed the power button to lift the garage door. Mac stepped back and gave him a wave, then climbed in his own car. Grady backed out, turned left, and drove as fast as he dared on the windy lake road to Mac’s house.

  Chapter Eleven

  The tires on Ida Mae’s Camaro kicked up some pebbles when Grady parked. He hurried around the back of Mac’s house and down the lawn to the dock, where Savannah and Beth were sitting and talking. Beth’s shoulders were hunched and it was all Grady could do not to break into a run at the sight. When his steps made the dock creak, Beth turned. “Grady. What are you doing here?” She swiped at her face and feigned indifference. “I thought you already went back to New York.”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. I wanted to talk to you before I left. But you haven’t been answering your phone and you haven’t been at work.”

  “I’m supposed to be on my delayed ‘honeymoon.’ Put off until after the funeral.”

  “If you were on a honeymoon, you’d be with your husband.” It wasn’t until just now that he realized how hurt he’d been that she had ignored him for the last few days. It was as if everything that had happened between them meant nothing.

  Beth shook her head and turned back to the lake. Savannah got to her feet, and grabbed the stroller with her sleeping baby. “That’s my cue to leave,” she said. “I’ve got to start dinner anyway. You’re welcome to stay, Grady, if you want. I think Mac’s going to grill some steaks to go with my potato salad.”

  Grady muttered a vague maybe, then stepped aside to let Savannah pass. She paused and put a hand on his shoulder. “She cares about you, you know,” Savannah said, too quietly for Beth to overhear. “Don’t break her heart.”

  Then Savannah was gone, and Grady made his way down the wooden dock. Beth stood and leaned against the railing. “Hey,” he said, which probably wasn’t his best opening line. But he didn’t know what else to say. If Beth truly cared about him, why had she left without a word, and shut him out of her life?

  “Why are you still here?” she said.

  “I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”

  “Well, you said it. Have a nice trip.” She turned away and faced the water.

  “What the hell happened, Beth? I woke up the morning after the funeral and you were gone. We’d spent all that time together, and then you just left without a word.”

  She still had her back to him, so he couldn’t tell if she was mad or indifferent or hurt. “It doesn’t matter, Grady. Just go back to New York.”

  “And what are you going to do?”

  She spun around, and when she did, he noticed tears in her eyes. Damn. “Tell everyone that my husband and I grew apart and that it’s over. The sooner I can do that, the better, because I’m not that good of an actress and I just can’t—”

  Her voice choked and she turned back to the water.

  “Can’t what?” Grady moved to her left and rested his arms on the wooden railing. Close enough to feel the warmt
h of her body, but not quite touch her. Everything about Beth said keep away.

  Grady knew he had done this. He’d had a grand plan of marrying her and saving the day with her father, like he was some white knight. But instead, he’d made promises he couldn’t keep and broken Beth’s heart.

  In that moment, he realized that all it would take to undo the tears in her eyes and the catch in her voice would be to stay here. And from where he was standing, “here” looked pretty good. Before him, Stone Gap Lake sparkled under the waning sun, and somewhere in the distance a fish jumped. Birds swooped over the water, skimming along the dark surface, looking for a snack. A couple boats dotted the landscape, fishermen hauling in one more catch before the day’s end.

  And then there was his wife, the most perfect part of the picture. But would that be enough for him? Could he stay, and leave everything he’d built in New York behind?

  Beth worried her fingers together, lacing them in and out, but not saying anything.

  “Can’t what?” he asked a second time, more softly.

  “Can’t pretend that none of this meant anything.” She drew in a breath, then pivoted to face him. “For a moment there, it was real, Grady. When we said our vows, I saw the look in your eyes. You cared about me. You meant those words. And then...when we made love, it sure seemed like you meant that, too. That whole last month, through everything, you were there, and it felt so real, like you really cared about me.”

  “I did, Beth. I still do.” He brushed the hair off her face. She looked so strong, so determined, even as her eyes filled with tears that she held back with sheer stubbornness. “I didn’t marry you out of pity for your father. It was much more than that.”

  “And yet you’re still going back to New York.”

  “We have different lives. You knew that all along.”

  “We do? Because last I checked, the best part of your life was right here, in this town, on this very lake. Every time you talked about being at your grandmother’s, you were happy. But I have yet to see you talk about New York the same way.”