by Jen Gilroy
“You’re growing up. That means you have to take responsibility for yourself and for keeping Naomi safe.” Which he hadn’t done with Charlie, even though he’d been three years older than Ty at the time.
Guilt pricked Sean. What if he told Ty what had happened between him and Charlie back then? It would shock his son, sure, but it would also show him where Sean was coming from. The words trembled on the tip of his tongue and then he stopped. He couldn’t tell Ty. It wasn’t only about him. It was about Charlie. Telling his son could hurt her even more. He couldn’t take that risk.
“Mom already gave me the safe-sex lecture.” Ty flushed and drank more soda. “It’s not only about Naomi. It’s Carmichael’s too.”
“What about the business?” Sean tensed. This was the issue he’d avoided all summer. The one he and Ty had circled around. And Sean hadn’t pushed his son on it because he’d been caught up in Charlie and blinded by his own stubbornness and stupidity—in what he’d wanted rather than what his son did.
“I don’t want to spend my life building boats. I don’t want to study business at college.” Ty snapped his sports wristband. “Maybe you see yourself in me, but I don’t want to be like you.”
Sean’s stomach clenched. “I always wanted Carmichael’s, but you don’t, and you didn’t think you could talk to me, did you?”
“Nope.” Ty drained the can of soda and set it on the table with a thump. “Naomi understands. I can talk to her and she listens.”
Like Ty couldn’t talk to him. Like he didn’t listen. Sean scrubbed a hand across his face, his throat tight. “When did you decide you wanted a different future?” He pictured Ty working beside him after school and on weekends from the time he could hold a hammer. Had he not wanted to be there?
“Last winter maybe. This summer definitely.” Ty’s face was pinched. “It’s not that I don’t like working with you and Uncle Trevor. I do. When I was little, I wanted to be exactly like you. But now…I don’t want to build boats or run a business about them for the rest of my life.”
“Son, I…” He’d failed, but he had to try to make things right, to not make new mistakes. “What do you want to do?”
“You’ll think it’s dumb.” Ty’s expression was guarded.
“No, I won’t.” Sean took a deep breath. “I’m listening. Tell me.”
“Sports medicine. I want to be a doctor.”
“A doctor? Wow. We’ve never had a doctor in the family.” Only the summer kids and the kids who grew up in the big Victorian houses on the other side of town became doctors.
“I knew you’d think it was dumb.” Ty hit the table with the palm of his hand.
“No, I don’t think it’s dumb. It’s a surprise.” And Sean wasn’t good with surprises. “You’ve always done well in science and math and you like sports.” He stopped as the seconds ticked by, life as he’d always known it changing and forming into a new pattern. “A doctor, huh?”
“In sports medicine, I could help people who race canoes and kayaks if they get hurt. I could help them heal. Help other athletes too.” The hope in Ty’s blue eyes winded Sean. “You get it?”
“Yeah, I get it.” Sean reached for Ty and slapped his shoulder. He got that he’d been a fool. “If sports medicine’s what you want, I’ll help you get there.”
“You will?” Ty’s eyes widened.
“Of course. You’re my son. All I want is for you to be happy.” He forced himself to smile, even though the taste of regret was sour in his mouth. “You deserve a chance to go after your dream.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Ty gave Sean a high five.
“Medical school will cost a lot of money. I still expect you to work for me in the summers to help pay that tuition.” Sean hesitated and tried to find the right words. “As for Naomi—”
“Dad.” Ty’s face reddened to the tips of his ears. “Give it a rest, okay?”
“Okay, but can you stick to taking a girl bowling? At least for a few more years.” He and Charlie had gone bowling, but they’d done lots of other things. Sean shuddered as he remembered his teenage self.
Ty sighed and rolled his eyes. “I get it, all right.” He pushed his chair away from the table. “Dad?” The red color crept along his neck. “About Charlotte Gibbs…”
“What about her?” Sean made himself meet Ty’s gaze.
“I don’t mind you seeing her.” Ty’s voice cracked. “But you didn’t tell me and it’s kind of weird since she’s Naomi’s aunt. Mom’s got another family, but in this house, it’s always been you and me.”
“I didn’t set out to hide anything from you, but I can see how it might have looked that way. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Charlie, but it doesn’t take anything away from you and me.”
Ty shrugged and didn’t look at Sean. “What I said about you and her was because I was pissed.”
“Charlie’s never been one to hold a grudge. She thinks you’re a good kid. None of us are happy with what you and Naomi did, but it’s not you specifically Mia objects to. I trust you, son. When the time’s right, any girl will be lucky to have you look out for her.”
“We’re okay, then?” Ty gave Sean an awkward smile.
“Yeah.” Sean’s chest tightened. If he couldn’t trust Charlie, how could he let her into Ty’s life? He couldn’t let her hurt his son too. Or let his relationship with her disrupt the new and fragile bond he was building with Ty.
“You want to order pizza?” Ty pushed his chair away from the table and stood.
“Sure. What about Mario’s Deluxe Hawaiian?” Maybe it was time to try something new.
“You mean it?” A grin split Ty’s face in two. “I love Hawaiian, but you always order a Vermonter.”
“Why not?” Sean reached for his phone and scrolled to Mario’s number.
“Dad?” Ty’s voice deepened, and Sean was reminded his son was closer to being a man than a boy. “You ever think Crystal might want to take on Carmichael’s someday?”
“Crystal?” Sean stopped, his fingers poised over the keypad.
“She’s always around the workshop to help out. She’s a better wood-carver than me. Haven’t you noticed how she watches what we’re doing and asks questions?” Ty was earnest. “She runs the marina here a lot of the time.”
“Of course I’ve noticed her.” If Sean was honest, he depended on her more than Ty. “But your uncle Trevor says she wants to be a vet assistant.”
“That’s what she wanted years ago. You guys need to get with the program.” Ty’s smile was open and honest.
“We sure do.” Hope flared in Sean’s heart. “You really think she wants to learn the business and take it on someday?”
“She’s never come right out and said so because Carmichael’s was supposed to be for me. It’s not only the boatbuilding side; she’s got some great ideas about our website and social media.”
Ty’s teasing expression reminded Sean how long it had been since he’d had this sense of ease with his son. “Hey, we’ve got a Facebook page.”
“Which you posted something to once.” He rolled his eyes. “Come on, Dad.”
“I’ll talk to Crystal. See if she wants to give us a chance.” And he’d talk to Trevor and Linnie too, although his sister-in-law would likely have already guessed about Crystal’s dream.
Ty grabbed Sean’s phone and hit Mario’s number. “She’ll give you a chance all right. She loves Carmichael’s like you and Uncle Trevor do. Like Grandpa did. She’ll make you proud.”
“I’m already proud. I’m proud of you, son.” Sean took a deep breath. “I always will be.”
Chapter Eighteen
Mia stood in the open cottage door. The ruined porch was in front of her, and scorch marks blackened the white clapboard. She held a rolled newspaper in one hand.
Charlie’s heart pounded. “Let me explain—”
“No need.” Mia dropped the paper, and sheets drifted to the ground like snow. The twilight tinged her skin with a gray cast an
d her dark eyes were bleak. “Tat Chee’s halved their offer. Unless we accept it in seventy-two hours, it’ll be off the table completely.”
“I thought I was doing the right thing for Mom.” Charlie choked out the words. “I thought we’d find another buyer. You know I’d buy your share if I could.”
“I wanted to do the right thing for Mom too.” Mia’s chest heaved beneath her simple white T-shirt, and she fisted her hands on her hips. “It’s not your fault. I said it was okay for you to talk to Sean and Jason and help Jason with the story. That environmental legislation would have come to light before the sale closed anyway. Then there’s the public protest. Tat Chee mentioned it as part of the new offer.”
“Let’s talk to the Realtor. Surely there’s somebody who wants a cottage here, and if we drop the price a bit, I could find the money to pay you the difference. Take out a second mortgage or get a loan.” Charlie’s thoughts whirled and she fought for breath. “I’ll talk to my bank as soon as I get back to London and—”
“It’s too late.” Mia tugged on their dad’s chair and dragged it across the charred porch. The thumping noise echoed in Charlie’s head.
Charlie picked her way among the fire debris and stood where the porch steps had been. Her sister’s body radiated tension, and her mouth trembled. “This is about more than selling the cottage, isn’t it?”
“Remember how Dad used to sit in this chair and tell us what to do?” Mia heaved the chair off the porch, and it bounced to a stop beside the rutted driveway. “Meanwhile, he cheated on Mom, over and over again.” Her voice shook.
Charlie tasted bile. “I never knew.” But she had. She hadn’t wanted to admit it because Mia had been their mom’s confidante. Whispered conversations half overheard, her mom’s tears in the bathroom late at night, the arguments and cold silences.
Mia jumped off the porch and landed with exquisite grace at odds with the ravaged expression on her face. “It was bad enough in Boston with his nurses and Mom’s friends at the club, but even here, he couldn’t keep his pants zipped.” She picked up an ax one of the workers had left and swung it at the chair. “You asked if I remembered coming here, if it meant anything.”
“Yes, but I—”
“Dad chasing waitresses at the inn is what I remember about coming here. Everyone in town gossiped about it, but I never wanted you to know. I couldn’t protect Mom, but you were my little sister. I could protect you.” Mia swung the ax again and the arm of the chair splintered. Sweat beaded on her upper lip.
“Why tell me now?” Charlie’s chest constricted. She’d distanced herself from her family because she never felt she belonged, but that family was a mess of cheating and lies she’d never have fit into anyway. And it had scarred her and Mia both, just in different ways.
“Jay’s the same as Dad, but I never wanted to believe it, which makes me like Mom.” Mia dropped the ax and wiped her hands on the front of her jeans. “I thought if we could find another buyer, somehow I could make things up to Mom, but I failed again.”
“Of course you didn’t fail. We tried. Mom would understand.” Charlie reached for Mia, touched her sister’s shoulder and then pulled her close.
“Jay’s having an affair with a twenty-two-year-old marketing intern. Tiffany. I met her at the company Christmas party. Big blue eyes and body like a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. Stupid me, I was nice to her because I thought she looked lonely.” Mia wheezed. “I guess she was lonely all right. She’s pregnant and Jay’s left me and the girls. He’s too big a coward to tell them together, so I have to do it.”
Charlie bit back a sob and, since she couldn’t find any words to help, held Mia tighter. Her sister’s body shook, and her skin was clammy.
“I put the top divorce attorney in Dallas on retainer this afternoon, which will cost a bundle.” There was a strength and determination in Mia’s voice that was new. “Before Jay gets hit for child support, the girls and I will need money to live on. Even though I’ve already cleaned out the joint accounts.”
“How did you know to do that?” Charlie let go of Mia and wrapped her arms around her middle. She’d tried to convince herself she wouldn’t have to let the cottage go, but her sister didn’t have a choice, so she didn’t either.
“When you spend as much time around a country club as I have, you learn things.” Her mouth tilted into a half smile and held a hint of the sparkle Charlie remembered.
“You should talk to Nick too.” If there was anything else Mia needed to do to protect herself and the girls, Nick could help.
“I already did.” Mia’s smile broadened. “I used a computer in his office to access the bank accounts. Maybe I’m paranoid, but I didn’t want to use my tablet or involve you in case Jay traced stuff back.”
Charlie studied her sister’s face. “Not paranoid, smart.”
Mia’s beautiful eyes hardened. “I’m thirty-eight. It’s long past the time I stood on my own two feet.”
“What will you do?” Charlie cocked her head, looking beyond Mia’s striking bone structure, the air of fragility she’d always worn like a cloak, to the strong woman beneath.
“I don’t know yet.” Mia considered her tennis shoes. “Somehow I’ll figure it out.”
“You know I’ll help you.” Charlie took a ragged breath. Mia and Naomi and Emma had never needed her more.
“I love you, Charlie.” Mia leaned against her, warm and confiding. “One good thing this summer is you and me are real sisters again.”
“I love you too, Mimi.” And now that she’d found it again, Charlie would never take that love for granted. For the first time since early childhood, she belonged with family and knew her sister, imperfections and all.
“This thing with you and Sean is only sex, right? A fling?” Mia rocked against Charlie. “If there’s more between the two of you, you’d tell me. Wouldn’t you?”
“There’s nothing to tell.” She couldn’t let herself take that next step. Take a chance on a love that might get her hurt again.
“Truly?” Mia stopped rocking.
“I’ll sell the cottage like we planned.” Charlie ignored Mia’s question and the searching look in her sister’s eyes. “Let’s get Nick to talk to Tat Chee. Ask him to renegotiate the offer. Even if Tat Chee can’t go ahead with a marina or a casino, they can still build a small hotel, and we’ve got a lot of lakeshore. Tat Chee’s playing hardball, but Jason’s article doesn’t make them look good. We must have some room to negotiate.”
“Thank you.” Mia reached for Charlie’s hand. “If you want anything from here, I’ll arrange—”
“No.” Charlie’s voice came out louder than she intended. She’d never let herself be tied down by things. “You take what you want.” All she needed were the memories she’d keep in her heart and the photos Sean had given her.
She turned away from Mia, toward the lake, misty purple in the twilight. The dark outline of Carmichael’s workshop loomed behind the burned-out woodlot, and yellow light spilled from the windows. She drew in a breath of clean lake- and pine-scented air. Soon she’d be far away from this place and these people. And the past would be back where it belonged, like she’d intended all along.
Mia stood too, her T-shirt riding up, exposing her bare midriff, enviably flat for a woman who’d birthed two babies. “You want to get the girls with me? They’re with Linnie.”
Charlie shook her head. “I have to say good-bye to Sean.” And Shadow. Her stomach lurched.
“I’ll pick you up on my way back from town.” Mia’s eyes softened. “You’re doing the right thing. Like I’ve said all along, there’s nothing for you in Firefly Lake anymore. Nothing for either of us.”
Nothing but maybe the only man she’d ever love, the only place she’d ever been truly happy. “When are you telling the girls about Jay?”
“Tonight, after we get back to the inn. I can’t wait. Jay’s already moved his stuff out of the house. He had it all planned, right down to the last golf club.”<
br />
Charlie winced at the pain in Mia’s face and the bitter note in her voice.
“I don’t know if he even went to Dubai, or if the trip was another one of his lies. I was so naive and stupid.”
“We’ve all done stupid things.” Charlie’s involvement with Sean again wasn’t smart either. “Jay’s the stupidest of all. You and the girls will be better off without him.”
“You think?” Mia gave her a hesitant smile.
“Any man who’d cheat on his family—and a gorgeous woman like you—isn’t worth anything at all.” Charlie linked her arm with Mia’s.
“You’re not bad yourself.” Mia’s smile blossomed. “Inside and out.”
“Let’s check out of the inn early. Tomorrow morning if we can.” Charlie was warmed by Mia’s smile and words. “The girls will be upset. We all need a distraction. Let’s spend our last few days in Montreal. You’re already driving me there to catch my flight.”
“Well…” Mia bit her bottom lip.
“It would be fun to take Naomi shopping, and I’ve heard the Biodome is fabulous for kids. I bet Emma would love the animals. Let’s stay at a nice hotel. Call it an early Christmas present from me.”
“I’d like that.” Mia tugged on her T-shirt. “I don’t even know who I am. It’s like my closets full of designer clothes belong to somebody else.”
“You’ll figure it out.” Charlie hugged her sister, the gesture comfortable and familiar. “But if you ever want to get rid of some of your shoes, I’d be happy to take them off your hands.”
“In your dreams.” Mia’s voice was playful. “My feet are bigger than yours anyway.”
Charlie laughed before she turned serious again. “What do you want to do with Dad’s chair?” She motioned to the scattered wood, where nails glinted sharp in the moonlight.
“Sean can use it for firewood. It’ll be winter soon. He has a fireplace, doesn’t he?” The bitter note was back in Mia’s voice.