Mine at Midnight

by Jamie Pope

  She saw Derek’s truck pull up, and for a moment she debated going inside so she didn’t have to speak to him. But she didn’t feel like moving, and she didn’t want to avoid him today. So she sat there and when he got out of his truck she made eye contact with him and waved. He started walking over to her, and as he got closer she immediately noticed how tired he looked. He didn’t say a word to her as he dropped himself beside her on the porch swing.

  She tried to ignore the tingles that rushed along her skin when she felt his warm, heavy body brush against hers. He had kissed her last night—more than that, he had held her while she had cried. No one had seen that side of her, emotional and stripped down. She had admitted things about her relationship with Max that she hadn’t told anyone else.

  He said nothing for a long time, just sat next to her as they swayed on the swing. She wondered what was going through his head. Had he thought about their kiss? She had freaked out. He had no right to kiss her when she had been so vulnerable. But after replaying it in her head a hundred times, she couldn’t muster up enough energy to be mad at him. He hadn’t been trying to take advantage of her. He had been comforting her, and it did make her feel better. Maybe she had just needed to cry.

  “Thank you for calling your electrician friend. He came over first thing this morning.”

  “Was everything okay?”

  “Yes, but I was surprised to see him after last night. I didn’t think you would call.”

  “Why? Because you said I was gross and kicked me out of your house after I fixed your potential fire hazard?”

  “I didn’t call you gross.”

  “You said you needed to gargle with bleach.”

  “And I did. I don’t know where you have been.”

  “I don’t like you,” he said. “I like everyone, but I really, really don’t like you.”

  “I don’t like you, either. Calling your friend to come check my wiring made me dislike you even more.”

  “Keeping my promises offends you?”

  “Yes. I wouldn’t have called for you. You always take the higher ground, and I find that incredibly annoying. It’s no wonder you’re single. No woman could ever be good enough for you.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Yes. It is. Why don’t you become a priest? Then it’d be your job to make people feel guilty.”

  “I like sex too much to become a priest. I’m pretty sure having so many impure thoughts would disqualify me.”

  “You think about sex a lot, do you?”

  “Don’t you?” He looked over at her.

  “Yes,” she admitted, but she didn’t know why. “Why don’t I ever hear about you with a woman? This town talks. But your image is squeaky-clean. Are you sure you don’t have any kinky skeletons in your closet?”

  “I was involved with someone off-island, but it wasn’t serious. It’s over now.”

  “What about on-island? I’m sure there are single women here who would love to be involved with you.”

  “I never sleep with constituents. It’d be one thing if I was looking for a serious relationship, but I’m not. I love this island too much to have my personal needs affect how I run it.”

  “No island booty calls for the mayor.” She nodded. “Got it.”

  “I used to have a thing for your sister-in-law.”

  “You did?” she asked, but she wasn’t surprised. Virginia was beautiful and brilliant.

  “Yeah. She loves my furniture, and she’s gorgeous. I would have married her.”

  “Why didn’t things work out?”

  “I think you know the answer to the question. Your brother was already in love with her. He didn’t know it, but I could tell by the way he looked at her.”

  “He does love her. He loves her like my father loved my mother. I think seeing Carlos and Virginia together made me realize that my relationship with Max wasn’t how it should be. But I ignored it. I made excuses for him and fooled myself into thinking that Max was the way he was because he was European. Why do I keep talking to you about this?” She ran her hand over her face.

  “It’s not your fault.” He bumped her shoulder with his. “I’ve been told I have a kind face.”

  “A kind of face that makes me want to vomit.”

  His expression turned horrified. “You’re mean.”

  She grinned at him. “I know. You bring it out in me.”

  A delivery truck pulled up. Ava thought that maybe Derek was expecting a package, but the driver walked up to her house and handed her a small box. She wasn’t expecting anything. She held the box in her hand for a few moments. She had a sneaking suspicion who it was from, even though the return address didn’t say. She should have sent it back with the driver, but he was long gone.

  She handed it to Derek. “Will you open this for me?”

  He took the box from her hands, his fingers brushing hers again as he did. She held her breath as he tore open the box to reveal a ring box. Max was sending back her engagement ring. But it wasn’t her engagement ring. It was a different ring altogether.

  “A pink diamond,” Derek said, taking it out of the box and lifting it up to study it. “I’ve never actually seen one before, and I never thought they could ever come in this size.”

  Ava shut her eyes. “He thinks he can buy me back.”

  “He does.” She heard paper rustling but refused to look. “There’s a note. ‘Maybe you’ll like this one a little better—M.’”

  “He doesn’t know me at all, does he? He thinks I was only marrying him for his money.”

  “Screw him. You’re better off without him.” She felt Derek’s hand slide into hers. “You hungry? I feel like seafood. Come on.”

  She looked at him. “I look terrible.” She had put on weight in the past two weeks since she had begun her junk-food binge. Her tight, structured sheath dresses were no longer fitting her properly, so she had gone to a store in town and picked up a bunch of sundresses that she found on the clearance rack. Her hair was a mess in its natural state. Her face hadn’t seen a lick of makeup in weeks. She didn’t feel like the woman she had been for so long. But for so long so much of her identity had been tied into the way that she looked.

  “You’re beautiful, Ava,” he said sincerely, and it did something funny to her stomach. He stood up and tugged on her hand, and the next thing she knew she was inside Derek’s pickup truck.

  They pulled up to the little seafood shack on the water her father had taken them to when she was a kid, the same place she had attempted to call her father about.

  She looked over at Derek, feeling a rush of emotion. He had gotten into her head somehow. And she didn’t know if she hated it or if it was exactly what she needed.

  Chapter 6

  He hadn’t planned this. To be here with Ava tonight, but when he saw her on the porch and they locked eyes he couldn’t force his feet to go in the direction of his house.

  Hack’s Shack wasn’t anything fancy. It was just a shed directly on the water that served the best seafood on the island. He didn’t ask her what she wanted. She was distracted, still hurting from her jerk ex-fiancé’s move of sending her a bigger ring. So he ordered them two beers, two seafood chowders and a Hack’s Feast, which was composed of shrimp, white fish, clams and scallops served over a large bed of seasoned French fries.

  They didn’t speak much, ate mostly in silence as they listened to the waves gently hit the shore. It was nearly empty there, and Derek was glad, because there wouldn’t be too many people to witness him taking in Ava. She said she looked a mess, but he thought she was beautiful. She wore a blush-pink sundress that made her look sweet and innocent. Her wavy hair was grazing her chin and blew slightly in the breeze. She was sexy. It was the way she held her head, and walked and spoke and looked at him beneath her long
lashes. She was clearly heartbroken and he shouldn’t want her so badly, but he did. It was just one of those things he was going to have to accept.

  “Did you know I loved it here?” she asked him as she bit into a fry.

  “Yes. I broke into your house and read your diary.”

  She smiled softly at him. Beautiful. He would pay to see that smile more often. “I guess you wouldn’t. My father used to take us here when we were kids. I wasn’t sure it was still around.”

  “It’ll be around forever. I made it a law. As mayor I can do stuff like that.”

  “You’re such a dork.”

  “I know. I want this island to stay exactly like it is. I know every place has to evolve over time, but it needs to evolve in the right way.”

  “Which is why you fought so hard to prevent Max from building that resort here.”

  He nodded. “I had to go against half of the city council. It would have brought more revenue to the island, but we don’t need the money. A resort that huge would have changed things. This place wouldn’t have felt like home anymore.”

  “You don’t have to convince me. You and your islanders practically ran Max out of town. I hope you realize that you were the source of our only big fight.”

  “Was I? Did you tell him that you thought I was sexy and that you dreamed of being with me at night instead of him?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, buster. Max didn’t want to get married here after he didn’t get what he wanted. I did. It was important to me, and I told him if I didn’t get what I wanted, I wouldn’t marry him.”

  “Total diva move. It doesn’t surprise me.”

  “You really think I’m a stuck-up little brat, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “Or at least I did.”

  “Is your opinion of me changing?”

  “Yes, but I still don’t like you. You are very mean to me.”

  She gifted him with another smile. “Somebody needs to be mean to you. It will keep you humble.”

  “Derek?” He heard his name being called by a familiar voice, and he turned to see his mother walking toward him. She was with a much younger man. Derek would put the guy in his late twenties. It was a departure for his mother, who usually liked her men older and much richer.

  “Hey.” He stood as she approached, and they awkwardly hugged each other. She wore only a sheer cover-up, and through it he could see her leopard-print bikini. She wore spiked gold heels, and he wished that she’d dress like his aunts, who were all beautiful and tasteful.

  “How are you, sweetheart?”

  “Fine. And yourself?”

  “Been keeping busy. I want you to meet my friend Perry. He’s from a family of jewelers. Look at the earrings he got for me.” She motioned to her diamond studs.

  “Nice. It’s good to meet you, Perry.”

  “Likewise.” The guy nodded.

  A long moment of painful silence followed. “Well, we’re just here to pick up our order, and then we’re heading back to Perry’s rental.”

  “Sounds fun. Have a good time.”

  “I’ll speak to you later, sweetheart?”

  “Yes. All you have to do is call.” He would always keep the door open, but he wasn’t going to keep bending over backward only to get the same result. She could meet him halfway. “Goodbye.”

  “Goodbye, sweetheart.”

  He sat down again, facing Ava, who was looking at him with naked curiosity. “You didn’t introduce me. Are you afraid your citizens are going to stone you for hanging out with the stuck-up ex of Maxime Vermeulen?”

  “I don’t care who knows I’m with you.” The truth was he didn’t introduce her because he hadn’t thought to. When his mother was around, his mind went blank. “You want dessert? They make amazing cake here. Tonight they have cream cheese swirled German chocolate and orange cream cake, which tastes like a creamsicle.”

  “I obviously want both. Duh. Who was that woman? You seemed incredibly tense around her. Or maybe you are just tense around all women who wear leopard-print bikinis to dinner. It is a bold statement.”

  “That was my mother,” he admitted.

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  “That she’s my mother? Don’t be sorry. That thought might have crossed my mind a time or two.” He couldn’t believe that he had said those words aloud. Ava seemed to have some kind of weird power over him. It was the first time in his life he could say whatever popped in his mind without fear.

  “I’m sorry I was disrespectful about her.”

  “You weren’t. If you’re going to apologize for something, you should tell me you’re sorry for eating all the scallops.”

  Her eyes twinkled a little as she smiled. “I’m not sorry for that. I would do it again. Go get us cake, Derek. Let’s get it to go.”

  “As you wish, madam.”

  Moments later they were back in his truck and heading home.

  “Wait,” Ava said as they pulled onto their road. “Can we stop at the beach before we go back?”

  “Yeah.” He was glad that she suggested it because as weird as this day was, he didn’t want it to be over just yet.

  “I haven’t been here yet,” she said, looking at the ocean.

  “No? This little beach is exactly why I bought the house.”

  “There are few things in life that are perfect, and this is one of them.”

  “Something we agree on.”

  She reached for the bag with the cake in it and handed him one of the boxes and a fork. For a while they just sat in silence, watching the sun set over the ocean as they ate. He had never been with a woman like this before, where words weren’t needed. It was nice.

  “Thank you for today,” she said so softly he could barely hear her. “You’re a good man, Derek Patrick.”

  “Was that a compliment from you? I must be dying.”

  “Shut up, jerk.”

  “That’s more like it.” He winked at her.

  “I’m so full I could burst.”

  “Hack’s doesn’t skimp on the portions. Are you ready to go home? You can eat the rest of your cake for breakfast.”

  She nodded. “Cake for breakfast is the best part of being an adult.”

  He started his truck and made the short drive back home. They stepped out and he was prepared to walk her to her door, but she stopped him when she placed a hand on his chest.

  “This means nothing,” she said to him just before she pressed her lips to his. It was one sweet, simple kiss that he wanted to repeat again and again.

  “I thought you didn’t like kissing me.”

  “I don’t. I find it incredibly repulsive, and I need to gargle with bleach again. But I just wanted to say thank you for tonight.”

  “You’re welcome, Ava.”

  She walked away from him then, and he knew without a doubt that he was going to make love to her before she left the island.

  * * *

  “Hey, snot face.” Elias walked up to her a couple of days later. She could tell he had just come from the hospital because he was still in his scrubs. All Elias ever did was work. He was a young surgeon and on his way to becoming a brilliant one, but sometimes Ava worried about him.

  He had no social life to speak of. She wanted love for her brother. He was full of macho swagger and claimed that he was perfectly happy on his own, but she wanted someone to take care of him, someone to love him. She’d thought about him a lot when she was about to marry Max. She knew she wouldn’t see him as much because she was supposed to be splitting her time between the States and Europe. But they had never lived more than a house away from each other. And as Elias got further into his career, she saw him become more and more serious. She was worried about no one reminding him that he needed to take time to have f
un. But she guessed she didn’t have to worry about them being apart anymore. One of the best parts of finding out her fiancé was a lying cheater was that she didn’t have to be away from her family.

  “Hey, big head.”

  He sat next to her on her porch swing and leaned against her slightly. His exhaustion was clear, and she felt bad that he’d made the trip from Miami to be with her today. “You could have canceled. I would have understood.”

  “I told you I was coming, and now I’m here.”

  “How was work?” she asked him, watching him close his eyes.

  “I was in surgery all night. Multilevel spinal fusion. I’ve never seen one, so I asked the chief of surgery if I could scrub in and assist. There was scar tissue and unexpected complications. I learned a lot, but, damn, was that a long surgery.”

  “I’ve got a spare bedroom. Go to sleep. You’re no fun when you’re tired.”

  “I bought my overnight bag. I’m staying the weekend.” He opened his eyes and looked at her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Okay, I guess. Max sent a bigger ring. I sent it back. This morning I got a bracelet and a necklace and three dozen roses. I tossed them in the garbage.”

  “He hasn’t tried to call you?”

  “I’m sure he has. I’ve blocked his number.”

  “He hasn’t come to see you?”

  “No, not yet.”

  “You should let me kill him. I’m a surgeon. I can dismember a body like nobody’s business.”

  “That’s horrifying and slightly comforting. Let the weasel live. His children need him.”

  “I got you a present.” He got up and walked to his car. “It’s no diamond ring, but I saw it and thought of you.”

  “A present?” She clapped her hands.

  He pulled a Hula-Hoop and a jump rope out of the car. She got up from her seat and met him in the yard. She was feeling ridiculously close to tears again. It was the most thoughtful present he had ever given her.

  “I’m finally replacing it. The jump rope is interest.”

  The first summer they had come to the island on vacation, Elias had broken her Hula-Hoop. She told him if he didn’t replace it, she would never speak to him again. Twenty-two years later he had finally come through.