by Force, Marie
Maybe by the time they had dinner and got to know each other a little better, she’d be more comfortable getting naked with him. He seemed to want her as much as she wanted him. He’d made it clear he wasn’t interested in a relationship, and with the huge challenge she was about to undertake with the pharmacy, it wasn’t a good time for her to get involved, either.
So who would be harmed by a weekend fling? No one, she decided as she blotted her lips and ran a brush through her hair. “After dinner,” she whispered. “We’ll try this again.”
After parting with Stephanie, who was anxious to get back to Grant, Laura took a leisurely walk through town, window-shopping and enjoying the salt air. As soon as the sun began to dip toward the horizon, the warmth of the day was replaced by a September chill that had Laura wishing for a sweater.
On the far end of the town, the Sand & Surf Hotel beckoned her home. A riot of gables and craggy corners illuminated by the setting sun, the hotel’s shingled exterior was in need of a good pressure washing, which was just one of many items on her extensive to-do list. Thinking about the renovation and redecoration project had helped to preserve her sanity as she’d gone through the torture of ripping apart the life she’d planned to lead with her philandering husband.
For the first time since her bridesmaids had broken the news about finding her new husband’s dating profile alive and well online, Laura felt like she could breathe again. Thank God she didn’t have to go back to the mainland any time soon to face well-meaning friends and family members who looked at her with such pity. Instead, she could throw herself into creating a whole new life here on the island in a place where she and her unborn child could put down roots and make some friends.
The afternoon she’d spent with Stephanie and Grace had gone a long way toward restoring her spirits. Her new friends hadn’t been witnesses to her epic disaster, and while they knew she was nursing deep wounds, they didn’t look at her with pity or sympathy or hover around her as if she might shatter at any moment the way her friends at home did.
Laura took a deep breath of the fragrant sea air and watched a pair of gulls dive into the surf in search of dinner. She’d done the right thing moving here. No matter how things worked out at the hotel, being on the island had always felt right to her. Being anywhere other than Providence would be an improvement, but being here in the home of her heart went a long way toward soothing the still-festering wound on her soul.
Taking the stairs to the hotel, she wondered if Owen was around. As she had the thought, her heart did a funny thudding thing that she attributed to the exercise. What else could it be? Her key gave her fits again, but when she wiggled it the way Owen had shown her, it finally gave way.
Once inside, she was drawn to the music coming from the sitting room Owen used whenever he was on the island. His grandparents, who owned the hotel, made sure a suite was always clean and ready for him even as the rest of the hotel fell into disrepair.
Laura followed the music and found him sitting on a rail-back chair he’d dragged in from the dining room, facing the breathtaking view of the ocean at sunset. His broad shoulders were bent over the guitar, and his mop of dirty blond hair was in the usual disarray. One of these days, she would probably indulge the ever-present desire to reach up and straighten it with her fingers. That thought led to another of those mysterious thuds from her heart. Resting her hand over the misbehaving organ, she knew she really ought to take it easy. She had the baby to consider.
Hesitant to disturb Owen, she stood in the doorway, mesmerized by his deep voice. She recognized the song, “Please Come to Boston,” about a musician hoping to convince his love to join him on the road as she tried to lure him home to her.
Caught up in the melody and the lyrics about the man from Tennessee, she almost didn’t hear her cell phone ring. Before it could bother Owen, she withdrew it from her pocket and stepped into the lobby to take the call without checking the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“What the hell have you done, Laura?” her husband Justin’s angry voice startled her. She hadn’t heard from him since the ugly night several weeks earlier when she’d confronted him about their divergent definitions of marriage and thrown him out of their apartment. “You filed for divorce? Are you out of your freaking mind?”
Laura forced herself to remain calm. “What would you expect me to do?”
“Have you given any thought to how this will look to people? We haven’t even been married for four months!”
“And whose fault is that? Were you thinking of how it would look to people when you made a date with one of my friends—after we were married?”
“I told you that was a mistake. Nothing happened. I haven’t been unfaithful to you. I don’t know how many ways I can say that.”
“You were unfaithful the minute you made that date and showed up to keep it.”
“You’re being ridiculous. Meet me at the apartment tonight, and we’ll talk it through.”
“That’s going to be impossible for two reasons—one, I’m not in Providence, and two, we no longer live in the apartment.”
“What’re you talking about? This is just a bump in the road. Of course we live there.”
Laura hated the way her hands shook and her heart raced. Not trusting her legs, she lowered herself to the stairs that led to the second-floor guestrooms. “No, we don’t. I cleaned out the apartment and returned the keys to the landlord two days ago.”
“You did what? Where’s all our stuff?”
“Our stuff, the wedding gifts we hadn’t even opened before you started dating again, were returned. Your stuff will be delivered to your mother’s house on Tuesday, and my stuff is with me.”
“You sent it to my mother,” he said, his voice flat and cold. “Fabulous. That’s just great, Laura. And what am I supposed to tell her when everything I own lands on her doorstep?”
“You can tell her the same thing I was forced to tell my father when I informed him that my marriage is already over.”
“You told your father?” Justin asked, his voice shrill and nearly hysterical. He’d spent years sucking up to her father, the judge, and was no doubt sorry to see all that hard work be for naught.
“He’s extremely disappointed in you, but shockingly, he wasn’t as surprised as I’d expected him to be. I guess he saw your true colors before I did.”
“You’re making a huge mistake, Laura.” Now he sounded seriously pissed, and Laura was relieved to have a good chunk of ocean between them.
“I made a far bigger mistake in May.”
“If you think I’m going to support you—”
“I want nothing from you.”
“This isn’t over. I won’t sign these papers. Not now or ever. I’m not interested in being divorced.”
“You weren’t all that interested in being married, either.”
“That’s not true. You’re being hysterical, but once you come to your senses—”
Laura had heard enough. She pressed End and clutched the phone in her trembling hand.
“Everything okay, Princess?”
Owen’s soft voice cut through her shock and dismay. She looked up at him and shook her head, mortified to realize tears were rolling down her cheeks.
He sat next to her on the step and put his arm around her.
It was most natural thing in the world to rest her head on his shoulder.
“I take it the divorce news didn’t go over very well.”
She wiped the tears from her face. “He said he won’t sign the papers. Not now or ever.” The phone rang again, and Justin’s name appeared on the screen.
“Once it sinks in that you’re not coming back, he’ll sign.”
Ignoring that call and the one that followed, Laura said, “I don’t think he will. He’s an up-and-coming lawyer, and I’m starting to realize he valued his association with my father more than he ever valued me. He liked telling people that Judge Frank McCarthy is his father-in-law.”
“Surely your father won’t have anything further to do with him.”
“Oh, he won’t, but that won’t stop Justin from taking full advantage of the family connection for as long as he can.” She released a deep sigh. “I can’t believe I was such a fool. He was always so smooth and full of ambition. I saw what I wanted to see and ignored the rest.”
“Don’t beat yourself up because you loved the guy, Laura. None of this is your fault. You know that.”
She shrugged. “I guess.”
“Hey, what do you say we leave this here,” he said, prying the phone from her hand, “and go get some dinner? Anything you want. My treat.”
“Don’t you have to play at the Tiki Bar tonight?”
“Not until nine. I’ve got plenty of time.”
“That would be nice. Thank you.”
“Sure thing.”
“I’m sorry to inflict my problems on you. I hope you don’t feel like you have to babysit me.”
“You haven’t inflicted anything on me, and babysitting you is fun.” He flashed an irrepressible grin that drew a reluctant smile from her. That grin was hard to resist. “You’ve got enough on your mind right now. Don’t worry about me.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at her wistfully, as if he had feelings for her that he was trying hard to keep hidden. Was that possible? Before she could process the discovery, his usual lighthearted expression was back in place. “Shall we?”
She took the hand he offered and let him help her up. “By all means.”
Chapter 11
Tiffany poured herself a glass of merlot and settled into the single old armchair that remained in her living room. She’d found a flimsy card table in the garage that now held the tiny black-and-white television she’d bought with babysitting money in high school. Apparently, the castoffs hadn’t appealed to Jim in his rampage. When she walked through the cavernous house, her footsteps echoed like gunshots. Poor Ashleigh thought someone had stolen all their stuff.
What was she supposed to say? Daddy is the thief?
Jim had certainly made his point. This was what she got for refusing to move out of the house that had been in his family for two generations. But what was she supposed to do? Her daughter needed a home, not to mention her mother, who still technically lived above Tiffany’s dance studio out back, even though Francine spent most nights lately with her fiancé Ned.
Since she’d lose her home and the place where she ran her dance and day-care businesses, Tiffany had refused to give up the house to Jim.
So he’d gotten even. The worst part, Tiffany decided, was she didn’t even know how they’d reached this point. When had it all gone to shit? If she was being truthful, it had started to happen right around the time he graduated from law school and they returned to the island to set up his practice.
He hadn’t needed her anymore. Sure, he’d needed her when he was in school in Boston and she was paying all the bills by working two jobs. But once he had that degree in hand and opened his practice, she’d gone from being his partner to being his problem.
Even though she worked and ran two successful businesses, he made sure to let her know this was his house and they were living off his money. After the first time he had the nerve to say that, she’d started socking away money from her day-care and dance businesses. It was almost as if she’d known, deep down inside, that she’d need it someday. Well, someday was here now, and it was time to make a new plan.
Despite her bravado, however, all she could think about was growing up without her own father, and now the same thing would happen to Ashleigh unless Tiffany could think of some way to save her marriage. Tiffany had seen her father for the first time in more than thirty years a few weeks ago, and the encounter had left her deeply shaken. While she knew Jim would be far more present in his daughter’s life than Tiffany’s father had been in hers, it still pained her to see her family broken.
If only she could think of some way to get Jim to talk to her. Maybe if he would listen, they could fix this thing before it went any further off course. He’d shocked her when he cleaned out the house. She hadn’t seen that coming, and frankly, she wouldn’t have guessed he had that level of nastiness in him. A big part of her was done with him, but then her thoughts returned, as always, to Ashleigh.
There had to be some way to fix this. While she didn’t bear any illusions about herself, she knew she was generally considered attractive and maybe even sexy when she put her mind to it. Blaine Taylor sure made her feel sexy when he set his smoldering gaze on her.
“You can’t think about him,” she said out loud. “Focus on Jim and fixing your marriage, or you’re going to end up a divorced single mother.”
The whole thing was so unfair. She’d worked her ass off to get him through school, and now, just when his practice was taking off, so was he. Her emotions were all over the place. Mad one minute, then sad, then right back to furious. It would be one thing if she’d done anything to deserve the way he was treating her. But all she’d ever been was a devoted wife and mother. She deserved better.
A knock on the back door startled her. She put down the wineglass and walked over to peek through the blinds, groaning to herself when she saw Mac on the porch. What did he want? As much as she’d tried to dislike her overbearing brother-in-law, he’d grown on her since he’d married Maddie. He’d been a wonderful husband to Maddie and father to Thomas.
Hoping there was nothing wrong with Maddie or the kids, Tiffany cracked open the door. “Hey, Mac.”
“Hi, Tiff. Sorry to bother you. I was on my way home and had an idea I wanted to run by you. Mind if I come in for a minute?”
Panic-stricken by the thought of him seeing her empty house, she stepped onto the porch, pulling the door closed behind her. “Ashleigh was fussy tonight, so I don’t want to disturb her. What’s your big idea?”
“Maddie’s been stuck in the house since she had the baby, and I thought it would do her good to have a night with the girls. I wondered if you might be willing to help me out with that.”
He’s too good to be true. “Sure. What do you want me to do?”
“I doubt she’d be up for going out out, so maybe you could have it here?”
“Ahh, I don’t think I can do that. I could check with Sydney about doing it there.” Syd and Maddie had been friends since high school.
“Is everything okay?” Mac asked, eyeing her shrewdly. “Why do you seem so nervous?”
“I’m not nervous.”
“If something’s wrong, you know you can tell me. Right?”
“Sure.”
“Tiff…”
Goddamn him and his sweetness. He was going to make her cry. What the hell? Maddie would probably tell him anyway. She threw open the door and flipped on a light.
He followed her inside.
Tiffany watched him take in the barren emptiness that was her home before he turned to her with murder in his eyes.
“Are you kidding me?”
“I refused to move out.” Tiffany shrugged. “This is what I get.”
“This is bullshit! He can’t get away with this.”
“Looks to me like he already did.”
“You need a lawyer, honey.”
“Don’t be nice to me, Mac. I can’t take that right now.”
As if she hadn’t spoken, he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her.
Tiffany tried to fight him off, but he wouldn’t be deterred. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. If she started crying, she might never stop.
“Why don’t you and Ashleigh come stay with us for a while? We’ve got plenty of room, and Maddie and Thomas would love it. So would I.”
“No,” she said, pulling free of him. “You guys just had a baby. That’s the last thing you need.”
“Tiffany—”
“No, Mac.” Making an effort to soften her tone, she added, “Thank you. I appreciate that you want to help, but this isn’t your problem.”
�
��Of course it is. You and Ashleigh are family to me. Family helps family.”
She wanted to remind him that her family was nothing like his, but he was only trying to help and didn’t deserve her bitterness. “I’ll be okay. Jim and I have a few things to work out, but it’ll be fine.” Tiffany wished she believed her own words.
“You’re not alone in this. Maddie and I are here for you—and for Ashleigh. Whatever you need, whenever you need it.”
The softly spoken words went straight to her broken heart. “Stop it.”
His brows furrowed with confusion. “Stop what?”
“Stop being so nice to me. It’s much easier to think you’re a pain in the butt than to admit you’re a rather nice guy.”
Mac tossed his head back and laughed. “I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
“You haven’t disappointed me. You’ve impressed me with the way you care for my sister and her children. I was hard on you when we first met, and I’ve regretted that.”
“Aww, jeez, keep it up and I might start to think you like me or something.”
“I never said I like you, so don’t get all full of yourself,” Tiffany said with her trademark smirk. He was so damned sweet, and her sister was awfully lucky to have him. If she didn’t love Maddie so much, Tiffany would be eaten up with jealousy. “About the thing for Maddie…”
“Don’t worry about that. You’ve got too much going on.”
“No, I’ll take care of it. Let me talk to Syd and see if we can use her place. I’ll call to invite Maddie when we have it figured out.”
“Why don’t you let me tell her so I can present her with a done deal. I’ll tell her I’m taking care of the kids, including Ashleigh, if need be.”
“That’s nice of you. Thanks.”
He shrugged off the praise. “Any time. I mean that.”
She went up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”
He gave her a quick hug. “We’ll get you through this. Don’t worry.”