One Unforgettable Kiss

by A. C. Arthur

  He had just extended a hand, intending to touch her, softly so as not to wake her, one last time before he left. But his phone vibrated in his pocket. He’d been ignoring it all night and decided it was probably smart to look at it now. But not here.

  He eased out of her bedroom, being careful to move slowly down the long hallway. There were four closed doors on his way to the steps, two of which he was sure led to her father’s and grandfather’s bedrooms. In all his years, Garrek had never sneaked out of someone’s house. A smile ghosted his lips as he took the steps, thinking there was a first time for everything.

  “Just in time for coffee,” Pops said the moment Garrek’s foot cleared the last step.

  Shock rippled through him as he watched the older man set his newspaper down and get up from his recliner.

  “Good morning,” Garrek said finally, hoping politeness would make this awkward situation a little easier.

  “Yeah, I bet it is for you,” Pops continued as he moved across the room and through a doorway.

  Garrek followed him, slipping his cell phone back into his pocket. He stopped in the big country-style kitchen and took a seat at the light oak table when Pops nodded for him to do so.

  “Whatcha take in your coffee?” Pops asked him as he opened and closed white-painted cabinets.

  Garrek wasn’t a big coffee drinker. His mother used to have a cup every morning. On Mother’s Day and Olivia’s birthday, Gemma would supervise the boys making her coffee and scrambled eggs for breakfast. By the time Garrek was thirteen, he’d perfected the heavily creamed and sugared drink that Olivia loved.

  “Cream and sugar, sir,” Garrek replied as he sat straight up in the chair.

  Pops moved through the kitchen, preparing the cups. Garrek looked through the two huge windows on either side of the back door that were open to the early-morning breeze. The sun was up and shining bright while birds flew low and sounds of the other animals on the farm waking echoed through the air. He let his palms fall flat on the table and searched for something to say.

  Before anything could come to mind, Pops was back at the table, setting a mug in front of Garrek and one across the wide table where he sat.

  “So you’re sleeping with my grandbaby,” Pops said evenly.

  It wasn’t a question, which Garrek was thankful for, because he really didn’t want to have to answer any.

  “I hope that doesn’t bother you,” he said and sipped his coffee. It didn’t taste like his mother’s had. Garrek used to taste hers before he would take it to her to make sure it was just right. This wasn’t, but then he should probably just be thankful that he was offered coffee instead of being knocked over the head with the mug.

  “I apologize if you feel I’m disrespecting your house, sir,” he continued when Pops had sat back in his chair and moved his cup to his lips to take a slow sip.

  The older man wore wire-rimmed glasses that sat low on his nose. His eyes were a pale gray color that coincidentally matched the short hair on his head. He was a shade or two darker than Harper, and about sixty pounds lighter than his son Arnold. Pops’s younger son, Giff, was the smallest of the three Presley men, as Garrek recalled from their meeting at the community center reopening.

  “In my day men took their lady friends to the appropriate place to do their courting. Dates where other folk were around to make sure you didn’t do anything inappropriate, and motel rooms for when you were inclined to do the inappropriate things anyway.” Pops took another sip from his coffee.

  The man shook his head and stared down into the cup with a frown. “In all the years my Annie’s been gone, I’ve never been able to get my coffee to taste the way it did when she used to make it.”

  Garrek took another sip of his coffee as well and then set the cup back on the table. “I haven’t had coffee since my mother passed away. After I graduated from the Naval Academy, we had breakfast together at a diner. I ordered us both a cup of coffee, and when they were delivered she fixed them until they tasted just like hers did at home.”

  He smiled at the memory, because in his mind, he could see his mother smiling as she sipped and swallowed. Damn, he missed her.

  “I knew Olivia and Theodor. I knew Olivia’s parents, too. They were good people,” Pops said. “None of them would have approved of you dropping into town, winning my granddaughter on some cooked-up auction block and then sneaking out of her bedroom at six in the morning.”

  Well, Garrek thought, that was one way of saying he didn’t like what was going on.

  “Sir,” he began and sat up even straighter. The moment reminded him of another time, when he’d stood at full attention in front of his commanding officer as he looked at him with disapproval, too.

  “A soldier doesn’t lower himself or his rank by lying. Now you look me in the eye and tell me what it is you plan to do with my granddaughter.”

  Before Garrek could answer, Pops was holding up a hand, his fingers shaking right along with his head.

  “Don’t try to BS me. I might be old, but I’m not blind and I’m not stupid. I know you young people see things differently than my generation did. But she’s my grandbaby.”

  Garrek nodded. He understood completely about men and their girls. Specifically navy commanders and their only girls.

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before replying, “I have no intention of hurting Harper. I know the circumstances surrounding us coming together were not ideal. And I do not plan to disrespect her or you again, sir.”

  Pops let his hand fall to the table. “Does that mean it was one night and now it’s over? You really want to tell me that, son?”

  Garrek didn’t want to tell him anything. What happened between him and Harper was their business. If he had plans for their future, it made sense that she’d be the first one to know about that. Still, this entire situation had always been a disaster waiting to happen. He’d known that from the first time he kissed her. Just as he’d known the night he’d kissed Rochelle in that bar.

  On a sigh, Garrek stood but kept eye contact with the older man.

  “With all due respect, Mr. Presley, what happens between me and Harper from this point on is our business.”

  Pops stood, too, moving so fast he knocked his chair down behind him.

  “She’s my granddaughter!”

  “And she’s my daughter, Pops,” Arnold said.

  Garrek turned to see the other man had come into the room. Now this, he hadn’t experienced before. Two angry fathers against him.

  “What I’m more interested in at the moment is why you’re here,” Arnold said. “Far as Harper or even your brother knows—because I asked them both—this wasn’t a scheduled visit. Now, I know I wasn’t a navy guy, but a few of the fellas down at the VA hall were. Winged naval aviators are active duty for eight years. Considering your age and how long it takes to go through the flight training, you maybe got your wings a year or two ago. Which means your eight years aren’t over yet. So I gotta wonder what you’re doing here.”

  Arnold Presley was a big guy. He had a dark complexion, a bald head and a way of simply standing that appeared intimidating. But Garrek wasn’t intimidated by either of these men. He was, however, growing tired of questions that he couldn’t readily answer.

  “Exactly,” Pops nodded. “So why aren’t you on a sub waiting for the call into action, or on a platform training young pilots? You AWOL?”

  Garrek cringed at the word that insinuated he had abandoned his commission and his commitment to the United States military. He shook his head immediately, because to do either was never a consideration in his mind.

  “No, sir. I’m here to take care of some family business,” Garrek replied.

  “On approved leave then. Huh?” Arnold pressed. “When is your leave up?”

  Again, Garrek didn’t have an answer to that question. It depended mo
re on someone else than anything that Garrek could say or do right now.

  “If you’re asking if I plan to leave the navy and move back to Temptation, I can tell you that answer is no,” he said seriously.

  That was not his plan, but Garrek was very aware that in the end, the decision might not be his to make.

  “Too many unanswered questions,” Pops quipped. “When you first walked in here, I liked you right off the bat because you were a fellow soldier. But I don’t like secrets.”

  Garrek was just now realizing that he didn’t like secrets, either. Not the one his father had apparently kept about all this extra money he had, and certainly not the one that could end the career he’d worked so hard for.

  “I understand, sir. And I can only state once more that it is not my intention to hurt Harper in any way. You have my word on that,” he added sincerely.

  Even if it meant walking away from her now?

  Arnold continued to frown but gave a nod to Garrek. “You can go,” he said. “What you and Harper got going is your business. But know that if you, for whatever reason, don’t keep your word where my daughter is concerned, this is what you have to deal with. Me and mine—there’s three more of us just down the road. I don’t care how much money you Taylor kids have—the Presleys are not to be toyed with.”

  “Yes, sir,” Garrek said with a nod. “I hear you loud and clear.”

  Garrek walked out of the house then, grateful that the confrontation had gone as well as it had. It could have been much worse. A month ago, the confrontation he’d experienced had gone differently. Speaking of which...his cell phone was vibrating again as he made his way to his car.

  He pulled it out of his pocket as he walked and had just opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat when he looked down at the screen.

  It was Rochelle.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, after a tense conversation with Rochelle, Garrek pulled up in front of the B&B. He switched the ignition off and leaned forward to rest his head on the steering wheel.

  He’d never felt so alone in his life.

  How could someone who had been born within minutes of five other siblings and had lived in a house with those siblings for eighteen years still manage to feel alone? He was in the town where he’d been born and had lived for seven years. Many people here knew his parents and remembered when he and his siblings had been born. There were so many people he could talk to, so many who would perhaps offer their help, or at the very least stand by him while he waded through these murky and unchartered waters he found himself in.

  Yet, here he was, alone.

  The sound of his phone ringing again made his teeth clench. On a heavy sigh he sat back, letting his head fall against the headrest while the phone rang again. One more time, and he cursed before reaching over to pick it up. There was a moment’s relief as he noted who was calling him this time.

  “Hello?” he answered in what he hoped was a calm voice.

  He was feeling anything but calm at the moment, but knew that it didn’t matter. Not right now.

  “Hey, stranger. It’s so good to hear your voice. Why didn’t you tell me you were on leave?”

  Garrek leaned back in the seat, once more rubbing his eyes before answering his sister.

  “It was a last-minute situation,” he told her. “It’s great to hear your voice, too.”

  That was the truth. Of all his siblings, he and Genevieve had always been the closest. Maybe it was his love of planes and of dreaming that one day he would fly off to distant lands, and her creative knack that she would use to add to his dreams of places to go. Whatever it was, anytime Garrek had needed a shoulder while growing up, Gen had been there. And vice versa.

  He’d been her voice of reason when she was considering taking a position with a large corporation that would ultimately assume all the credit for her work, instead of taking the leap and branching out on her own. He’d reminded her that they were Taylors and that their mother had always told them to either go big or go home. So five years ago, Gen had started her own company and now made triple the amount of money that company was going to pay her, even designing software for some of that company’s former clients.

  “You don’t do last minute,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  Gen was super smart and intuitive. She knew Garrek better than he thought he knew himself sometimes.

  “I opened my envelope from Dad and decided to take care of that sooner rather than later.”

  “Which is exactly why I haven’t opened mine yet,” she replied. “But that doesn’t answer my question. Is everything all right? Why aren’t you getting ready to board that ship and start your new position as department head?”

  In all that had been going on, Garrek had forgotten that he’d written to Gen telling her about his promotion and how excited he was to ship out. He’d also forgotten to write her back and tell her the ship had sailed—without him.

  “What are you waiting for?” he asked, avoiding her questions about the job. “It’s better if we all know what he’s given us so we can figure out what was going on with him.”

  “Gia thinks it’s all a waste of time, and I’m inclined to agree with her,” Gen said.

  “Are you serious? You and Gia don’t agree on anything. I mean, seriously, if she says the sun is shining, you say it’s raining. You’ve always disagreed. Why the change now?”

  Gen chuckled then. “I know. I know. I was wondering that myself. But the three of us met up last month to celebrate Mom’s birthday, and we got to talking.”

  “Gemma had a celebration for Mom and didn’t tell anyone about it? That’s unusual.”

  The only thing Gemma loved more than celebrating birthdays and holidays was celebrating them with the family all together. Especially Olivia’s birthday. Gemma always wanted the siblings together to visit the cemetery in Pensacola where they’d buried her, and then to sit around a dinner table remembering all the good times they’d had as children.

  “This one was just for the girls. You remember how Mama liked to select a day where she would spend a few uninterrupted hours with her girls? Well, we all agreed to keep that tradition going, and Gemma thought that weekend was the perfect time to do so. It was great, but I gotta tell you, those infamous envelopes from Dad had us all feeling a little wary.”

  “Even Gemma?”

  Gemma had never let them forget that she loved their father, and she believed Theodor had never stopped loving their mother. She was definitely the romantic of the siblings. Just wait until Garrek told her that Theodor had bought the Adberry house for Olivia, but their mother had died before he could give it to her. Even Garrek had to admit that was romantic.

  “She’s tired of us all being apart and trying to deal with this. Which is really why I called you. Gray wants us all on the phone for a conference call at eleven this morning.”

  Garrek had seen the text message from his brother after he’d hung up with Rochelle, but since he’d already been planning to go over to Gray’s house this morning, he hadn’t thought anything of it.

  “All of us?” he asked.

  “Yep. The whole gang. Says he got some new information. Must be something big if he wants us all to hear it at once.”

  Garrek only sighed.

  “So once we get that out of the way, I’ll expect a return call from you to tell me what’s really going on. And don’t bother saying nothing, Garrek, because I know better. But I’ll give you until after the meeting to get your words together. Now, I’ve gotta go. I had to move one of my rare Saturday appointments up so I’d be available for Gray’s call. Which is why I’m up at the crack of dawn. Take care of yourself, big brother.”

  He closed his eyes and realized that the rope he’d been hanging on to for dear life was slowly but surely unraveling.

  “You take care, little sis,”
he said, smiling at their familiar sign-off.

  Garrek only sat for another few seconds after Gen’s call. The pity party was officially over. He got out of his car and headed up to his room for a shower. But before then, he needed to check in with his captain, William Ainsley. It was past time that they came to terms with whatever Garrek’s future now held.

  Chapter 12

  Garrek walked down the cobblestoned street as the sun still burned bright in the sky. It was almost six o’clock in the evening, the time he’d asked Harper to meet him, and while the events of his day called for a good stiff drink and plenty of bottles to follow, he found himself needing to see her instead.

  He’d decided to walk the five blocks from the B&B to their meeting space across from Treetop Park. There was a fountain in the middle of Broad Street where vibrant-hued flowers surrounded the gated area. Outside the black iron gates, benches circled the structure. On another side of the street were colorful row homes that had stood there since before Garrek had been born. He remembered the houses from when he was younger, because he’d thought they looked like a crayon box. Traffic was directed to go around the fountain with smaller streets they could turn down, but really, the entire area was perfect for picture taking and sitting to watch the beauty that was the town of Temptation.

  He walked slower as he realized that someone in one of those colorful houses was responsible for depositing all the money his father had disbursed to his six children.

  That was the news Gray had shared this morning with Garrek and their other siblings. Theodor Taylor’s additional money had come from Temptation. Who was involved in helping him acquire this money and why, the siblings still had no idea. Garrek had decided at that moment that he wouldn’t use any of the money in his new account until this was settled. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like there was more news to come, and he had no idea how he was going to feel about any of it. So he would use his own money for the renovations on the house that now belonged to him. He would restore it to its original beauty with Harper’s help.