Sweet Rendezvous

by Danielle Stewart

  “You’ll just have to make sure I never regret it,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder. “Sounds like a lot of work but I bet you’re up to the challenge.”

  “I’m being serious, Elaine,” Davis replied, the thought that had been snaking through his mind all afternoon finally slithering out. “Obviously, I’ve already told you how I feel about you. But more important than anything is that you find exactly what you need to be happy. Feeling trapped in Indigo Bay isn’t any better than feeling stressed in New York. I want you to be sure about your choices. We can figure everything else out afterward.”

  “A long distance relationship between Indigo Bay and Alaska maybe?” she teased, her pearl white teeth lighting her face. “I like it here, Davis. I like the people. I can be happy here.”

  “You won’t miss anything about New York?” he pressed, and he could feel her body growing rigid. It was either a sign he was pushing the topic too far or he was right.

  “That’s not really fair. Of course I’ll miss things there. I lived there my whole life. Anyone moving away would feel that way. But that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of making a sound choice for what I do next. I’m not closing my eyes and diving in. I’ve given it a lot of thought. I guess I have to take responsibility that you might doubt me. The way I arrived doesn’t give me much credibility. You’ll just have to trust that I’m thinking clearly now.”

  “I do,” he said, rubbing a hand up and down her back gently. “I’m sorry. I do trust that. I’m just a bit jumpy when it comes to girls I love and the big cities that lure them away.”

  “The girls you love?” she asked, pulling away and glaring nervously at him. “You can’t be saying that you—”

  He cut her off. “Easy bolt, don’t go making a break for it. I wasn’t trying to spook you. You don’t have to say it back. I was just letting you know. When I feel like this for someone, and there is another world they can easily run off to, it’s a challenge for me. I’m asking you to give me a little grace.”

  “Davis?” A voice from atop the dunes was shouting frantically. “Davis, are you down there? Is Elaine with you?”

  “Caroline?” Davis asked, jumping to his feet and pulling Elaine up. “What’s the matter?”

  “It’s Dallas, he’s been detained by the police. He told me to come here and warn you and Elaine.” Caroline’s voice was a jumble of high and even higher octaves as she waved for them to hurry.

  Davis was charging up the dunes, practically dragging Elaine behind him. He knew both Dallas and Caroline well enough to know this urgency shouldn’t be ignored. “Warn us about what?”

  “It’s Elaine’s ex, Mick, he’s here. He was banging on every door in town looking for her. When he got to some of the cabins, Dallas didn’t want him on his property and told him to move on. But he was insisting. He kept banging on every door, and Dallas called the sheriff.”

  “Then how did he get detained?” Davis asked, fumbling for his car keys. “Shouldn’t Mick be locked up right now for disturbing the peace?”

  “They took too long to get there. That’s what happens in a town with only a couple of deputies on duty. There were some media guys still hanging around, and they were trying to get them to move along. They were busy. Dallas took matters into his own hands.”

  “Did he hit the guy?” Davis asked, doing a terrible job of hiding his excitement.

  “Worse,” Caroline groaned. “He rammed his truck into the guy’s sports car. He says it was an accident. This Mick guy says it was intentional. I think they’ll sort it out just fine, but Dallas wanted me to tell you guys to go to the cabin in the woods he was originally going to set Elaine up in. The roof’s been repaired, and you can stay there until this guy moves on.”

  “I’m not worried about him at all,” Davis said, puffing up his chest. He was itching for a fight. “If he’s got a problem I’m happy to solve it for him and send him on his way.”

  “I don’t think Dallas was worried about you handling yourself,” Caroline corrected. “I think he was far more concerned with you becoming his cell mate. You don’t need any trouble. Just steer clear.”

  “Does that sound like me?” Davis asked, reaching for the door handle of his truck. “It’s like you don’t know me at all.”

  “I do know you,” Caroline said, planting a hand on the hood of the truck. “Which is why I’m going to make you run me over before I let you go down there.”

  “Davis,” Elaine interrupted, catching her breath. “I want to go down and talk to Mick alone. I don’t want you getting involved.”

  “I’m already involved. He messed with you, and that makes it my problem too. Now Dallas could be caught up in this. I’m going to go straighten it out right now.”

  “When I first got here,” she reminded him, a challenging brow raised, “you told me I didn’t need a knight to come fight my battles. I needed a sword. I was rattled. I was hurt, but I’m seeing clearly now. I need to do this on my own. If you swoop in and try to save me, it’ll only get worse. A couple of guys fighting over a woman who isn’t even torn between them. Mick means nothing to me. Let me go tell him that.”

  “The guy sounds unstable. He’s walking around town, banging on doors looking for you.” Davis wasn’t sure how much he believed his own warning. He pictured Mick as a beady eyed rat-faced kind of guy with slim shoulders and slicked back hair. Probably on the short side too. The guy probably never dressed in anything more casual than a suit and flashed wads of money the way Davis carried his old worn thin leather wallet with a couple twenties in it for emergencies. Unstable or not, he believed Elaine could handle herself. Hearing about her job, her fight to gain her spot in the world, surely she could kick one slimeball to the curb on her own. So why was he still insisting? Realizing, his cheeks grew hot. It was the worry that she might not dismiss him at all.

  “Dallas smashed his truck into his car, and we’re worried Mick is the unstable one? We’re giving out a lot of passes tonight.” Elaine tried to soften her words with a touch to his arm and a tiny smile. Although they both knew there was no humor in this situation.

  “You want to talk to him alone, fine. I won’t say a word, but I’m still going with you. I won’t interfere unless he pulls something stupid.” Davis was a good guy but even he was hoping Mick tried something stupid. All he could picture was the vision of Mick snickering in the corner while Elaine’s world fell in around her.

  “I think he might have been drunk,” Caroline warned, looking reluctant to fuel the fire. “He was definitely agitated, and that was before Dallas wrecked his car.”

  “He’s harmless,” Elaine sighed, tipping her head to the side and giving Davis a knowing look. “You have to trust me.”

  “Caroline,” Davis said, hopping in the driver’s seat, “I’m going to stay out of the way, you’ve got my word. Now don’t make me run you over.”

  “Boy”—she laughed waggling her finger at him—“you know I’m tougher than nails. I’d turn this truck over with my bare hands. Then I’d tie you to that porch swing.”

  Elaine laughed as she slid into the passenger seat of his truck.

  “I wouldn’t laugh,” Davis corrected. “I’ve seen her do some wild things.”

  “And I’m not above punishing you if you break your word,” she said as she stepped back and let him pass.

  “Thanks for coming up here,” Davis said warmly as Caroline circled around to his window and touched his shoulder.

  “You handle your business now, girl,” she said, pointing at Elaine, “and make sure this guy doesn’t wind up in a bunk bed with my son in a holding cell.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Elaine promised as they pulled away.

  “He does one thing,” Davis ground out, his grip on the steering wheel growing tighter by the second. “Why would he chase you down here if he was just using you? It doesn’t make sense. How can someone be so complicit in you getting hurt, so dead set on taking advantage of you, and in the next breath be looking all o
ver the place for you? Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

  “In a little while it won’t matter. He’ll be gone. You and I will be back at your house. I can start putting this behind me.” She ran her fingers over his banged up knuckles. “Just promise me you won’t get yourself in trouble doing something silly like defending my honor.”

  “Don’t make me promise something like that,” Davis said, pulling her hand up to his lips and kissing it gently. “I’d hate to have to lie to you so soon after saying I love you.”

  Chapter 18

  She could smell his cologne before she could see him. And the Scotch he ended every night with lingered in the air as well. Caroline was right, Mick was probably drunk. It didn’t happen often since he usually drank a steady stream of alcohol rather than overdoing it all at one time. But when he was stressed to the max he would put himself into a stupor. During their time together she’d made excuses to herself about his behavior. People didn’t understand the pressure a man like Mick was under. When you reached a certain level of success you were expected to maintain that success. Every slip, every blunder, felt like the end of the world. Getting blackout drunk was just a way to blow off steam.

  “Mick,” Elaine said firmly as she rounded the back of his dented car. Because the world was full of irony, she realized he was standing on her curb. The place Davis had first found her when she’d run out of steam and had given up. “What are you doing here?”

  “Elaine,” he gulped, his hands twisted up in his hair as he eyed his car. Each dent seemed to be sending his blood pressure higher and higher. “You came? I’ve been calling you for days. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I had your phone tracked last week but it was in New York. And you weren’t. I called your father. He had no idea where you were. Finally, I saw this picture of you posted online saying you were here. I got right in my car.”

  “Why?” she asked, not bothering to hide the quizzical smirk on her lips. “I didn’t think we had much left to talk about. I don’t appreciate you going secret agent and trying to track me down. That’s an invasion of my privacy. You didn’t need to bring my family into this. You’ve embarrassed me enough.”

  “What happened up there . . .” He rubbed the stubble on his cheek, and she realized how haggard he looked. In all the time she’d known him, even the years before they dated, there was never a day he’d gone without shaving. Wherever he went to get a shave they worked magic because his cheeks usually shimmered under the lights of the trading floor. Now his hair looked bushy and his lids drooped and fluttered randomly. “I still can’t believe Elizabeth would do something like that. But so much of it was out of context. You didn’t give me a chance to explain.”

  “There is nothing to explain, Mick. Nothing to forgive. It’s behind us. Go back to New York. Go back to the firm. Just go.” She stepped back as though everything was settled and he could leave now.

  “I’m not leaving,” he said, throwing up his arms and knocking himself off balance, the tell-tale sign that he’d had too much alcohol. Steading himself on the hood of his car he ground his teeth together. Fury rose in his face, and he unleashed his anger on the hood of his car in the way of two knuckle-breaking punches. But he was drunk enough not to wince.

  “If it’s about the car, it looks fine to drive. I’m sure your insurance company can handle it there.” Elaine leaned away but didn’t give him the satisfaction of stepping back. He wouldn’t hit her. Of all the things Mick was, an abuser of women he was not. If anything they’d shared was true, then the stories he told of his youth, and the horrors suffered at the hands of his father, must have been real. No one was a good enough actor to fake the pain he had in his eyes as he retold the nightmares.

  “I’m not leaving without you,” he said gently. There was a forced calm to his posture and expression. “Elaine, so much of what happened was just noise, but when I said I loved you, I meant it. I need you by my side in New York.”

  “You manipulated me to exploit my clients. If things would have gone any further, punitive action could have been taken. You were dating Elizabeth at the same time. I’m not sure you know what loves means at all.” She propped her hands up on her hips and scolded him harshly. “You betrayed me, and now you expect me to leave with you?” The anger she thought was tethered to the ground was cut loose, and she was losing hold of it. Many hours had been spent imagining the moment she could fire every warranted bit of fury she could muster at Mick. But now, seeing him sway in the wind and lean on his dented car, it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she’d hoped.

  Mick scoffed at her reluctance. “You plan to stay here? There isn’t even a decent restaurant in this place. Where would you get sushi? I know you’re mad, and you have every right to be. But I’ll make it up to you. Just come back, and we’ll start over. I have plenty of connections. I can get you another job. This is all going to blow over. I’ve already heard from firms who would like to hire you.”

  “And what? You and I just start dating again?” Elaine folded her arms across her chest and pursed her lips.

  “Or we could get married,” he sputtered out, inching closer, his hands pressed together in mock prayer. “Why not?”

  “Why not?” she asked through a chuckle. “The list is literally too long to even try to explain. I’ll just do the number one reason. You betrayed me.”

  “That’s not fair,” he asserted, swiping a hand through the air like he was cutting her argument down. “When we met I was very clear about the priority of my career. You understood that better than anyone I’d ever met before. You were equally driven and ambitious. We both danced around in the gray area here and there. But only because we knew we’d get better results. I hit a rough patch and I needed to fire up my portfolio some. You were a rock star in your role. I figured you could spare a couple of wins. I needed one badly.”

  “You should have talked to me,” she huffed, putting her hands up stiffly as he approached. “Just go back on the curb, will you? Or better yet get in the car, sleep it off, and then drive home.”

  “I didn’t have any feelings at all for Elizabeth. I wanted to try to get a meeting with her father. I was just making an in. You can understand that.” He waved his hands animatedly as he pleaded his case.

  “What is this really about?” Elaine asked, knowing that familiar look on Mick’s face. When he was mulling over an angle with a new client he’d always have the same expression. She’d just never noticed him using it on her before. Clearly she was the client he was trying to win over. But why?

  “Come with me, and we can talk about it. We have a future together. You can’t actually want to stay here,” he said, gesturing around and rolling his eyes. “We can drive straight through the night and be at my place by morning.”

  “There is literally nothing you can say that would have me leaving with you tonight. I can’t stress this enough. The answer is no.” She shot him an unwavering stern look, still so shocked he believed she would be naïve enough to leave with him.

  “And I’m not leaving without you,” he said, taking another step forward.

  “I’d bet against that,” Davis said, stepping out of the shadows. “My money says we’re going to do it her way.”

  “Oh, come on,” Mick taunted. “The guy from the video? What, did you hire him to punch anyone you don’t like? I saw what he did to those guys in the coffee shop. Back off, meathead.”

  “Don’t,” Elaine said, not sure which one of them she was directing it at. “Just stop. Mick, I am not going back to New York. That’s all I have to say. You’re too smart of a man to think I would.”

  “I’m spinning out,” Mick cut in quickly, his voice cracking with emotion. “Lainie, please, you have to understand what’s happened. Over the last few months, before all this, I was losing a lot of clients. I took some risks, and they didn’t pan out. You know how that works.”

  “It happens, Mick,” Elaine said, her voice noticeably softer now. “You’re good at what you do.
You’ll bounce back.”

  “I won’t. Not now. The reason I was meeting with some of your clients was because that was the only way I could stay afloat.”

  “You can have them all now,” Elaine said with a breathy humorless laugh. “I’m not coming back so they are up for grabs. You’ve got a leg up on everyone, considering how I spilled my guts to you over all those dinners.”

  “You don’t understand,” Mick continued, his hands twisted back up in his hair again. “They know what happened. I can’t even get a call back. Your clients loved you, and they think I hurt you.”

  “You did,” she replied flatly.

  “I know,” he said, his voice rising with urgency. “But my own clients, they’re leaving too. I’m losing everything.”

  “You should have thought of that,” Elaine said, but the punch was gone from her voice now. She knew exactly what Mick’s job meant to him, and it was falling apart. In her time in the industry she’d seen good people fall prey to drug addictions. Gambling. Rash decisions. A failed marriage. The same rush that drew them to the world of trading made them susceptible to the lure of easy money or a quick high.

  “Come back with me, and take a job at another firm. I’ll get you in. Let everyone see we’re all right. It’s my only hope.” Mick was running his words together like a freight train that couldn’t be stopped.

  “I’m sorry, Mick.” She sighed, genuinely regretting the fact that she couldn’t easily solve his problem. “I’m not going back to New York. I’m not working at another firm. I’m done. I’m at peace with it all.”

  “I completely understand you wanting to hurt me back,” Mick countered, nodding his head as though he was agreeing with his own point. “But this is more than that. This would be ruining the rest of my life. You know that. If I don’t get out of this tailspin, I’m done. No one understands better than you what that would do to me. I wouldn’t survive it. I know you. You’re too good of a person to let that happen. You have to help me. Even if I don’t deserve it.”