by Marie Force
Shane sat and was stunned when Katie reached for his hand, smiling as she gave him a squeeze that caused his heart to contract. Before he could begin to contemplate the meaning of her sweet gesture, she released his hand to accept the breadbasket from Julia.
For the rest of the meal, Shane was acutely aware of Katie next to him, her leg occasionally brushing against his, the flowery scent of her hair blowing in the morning breeze, her quiet laughter and her easy rapport with her siblings. More than once he found himself leaning closer so he wouldn’t miss a word of what she said.
Over the course of brunch at the Surf, Shane felt like he was waking up from a long slumber, his senses suddenly more alert than they’d been in years and all of them focused on the woman sitting next to him. Since she’d already turned him down, he knew it was stupid to be so fixated on her. But knowing that didn’t stop him from wanting to try again. Soon.
Chapter 5
After brunch, Katie went with Julia to their room on the third floor. As her sister began tossing clothes into the suitcase she’d never bothered to completely unpack, Katie sat on her bed and thought about holding hands with Shane McCarthy. She’d never done anything quite so forward as reaching for his hand under the table. She could tell she’d caught him by surprise, and she’d liked that.
She’d liked the way he looked at her and listened to her and paid attention to her. She liked him. She couldn’t deny that as much as she wanted to. Knowing Owen thought highly of Shane mattered greatly to Katie. Owen had been much more than an older brother to his siblings. He’d been a surrogate father, a protector and a friend to them all their lives. If he liked and trusted Shane, maybe she could, too.
“Why aren’t you packing?” Julia asked. “The ferry leaves in an hour, and we can’t miss it if we’re going to make the flight.”
Here was the moment Katie had been dreading all weekend, telling her sister she wasn’t going back to Texas. Not right away anyway. “Um, so I’m not going back.”
Julia stopped what she was doing to stare at Katie. “What?”
“I quit my job.”
“When? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It happened Thursday, and I didn’t say anything because of the wedding.”
Julia plopped down on the bed next to her. “Did something happen with Doctor Strangelove?”
Katie loved her sister’s nickname for the lecherous doctor. “You could say that.”
Julia stared at her. “He didn’t…”
Katie shook her head. “I didn’t let him, but I think he would have. Owen’s self-defense classes got me out of a jam, but I can’t go back there. Not when I told him I had evidence of his harassment and I’d be going to the police if he dared to press charges against me.”
“Why would he press charges against you?”
“I might’ve left him bleeding from his nose and clutching his boy parts.”
Julia howled with laughter as she hugged her sister. “Good for you. He’s had that coming for years now.”
“He scared me, Jule,” she said softly. “I think he would’ve raped me if I hadn’t put a stop to it.”
“You should report him. He can’t get away with that.”
“The thing is, he never actually touched me. I assaulted him, so I can just imagine how he would spin it.” Katie shuddered at the idea of having to face that creep in court, or anywhere else, for that matter. “I never want to see him again or hear his name.”
“You could sue him. He’s been bothering you for years.”
“And I never bothered to report it in all that time. No, I’m not going to sue him or have him charged. I’m satisfied with the way I left him bloody and moaning on the floor. That’s more than enough for me.”
“What’re you going to do now?”
“I don’t know, but I’m hoping to stay here for a while and try to figure it out. I’ve got money saved I can use to help with the rent, so don’t worry.”
“I don’t care about that.” They both made good money and could easily handle the rent on their own, if need be. “I’m far more worried about you. First Doctor Strangelove attacks you and then you nearly drown.”
“Not the best week of my life, although seeing Owen happy yesterday—and today—makes it all better.”
“And how about Mom? She’s positively glowing with happiness. We’ve never seen her like that before.”
“I know. Shane says Charlie is a great guy.”
Julia raised a brow in inquiry. “Shane says, huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You two were awfully cozy at brunch.”
“We were just talking.”
“From all reports, he’s a nice guy, too.”
“I guess,” Katie said, shrugging. “He asked me out, but I said no.”
“You said no. Of course you said no.” Julia got up from the bed and began moving around the room again, gathering belongings that were strewn all over the place in typical Julia style. She exploded into every room she occupied.
“Why does that make you so mad?”
“Because! You’re thirty-two and have never had so much as a date! How long are you going keep this up? You’ve got a perfectly nice guy who our brother thinks the world of asking you out, and you still can’t bend your rigid rules? Even for him?”
“It’s not that simple, and you know it.”
“I do know. I grew up exactly the same way you did, but I haven’t chosen to seal myself off from the world in a protective bubble where nothing bad can ever find me. Newsflash, bad stuff happens. Two bad things happened to you this week, and you lived to tell. Do you honestly think Laura’s brother is going to take Owen’s sister out and treat her badly? Do you really think that?”
“No, I don’t, but still… You never know.”
“No, you don’t. But one thing I do know is you’re wasting your entire life because of someone who doesn’t deserve that level of sacrifice.”
“I’m not doing it for him,” Katie said distastefully. The idea that Julia could think Katie’s life was still run by Mark Lawry was disgusting to her.
“You’re letting him win, Kate. Every time a nice guy asks you out and you say no, the general scores another point.”
“That’s not true!”
“It’s exactly true. Look at Mom. Who has more reason to hide out from men than she does, and she’s found a great guy who loves and respects her and wants nothing more than to make her happy.”
“So he says now. How does she know that won’t change after he puts a ring on her finger?”
Julia shook her head. “You’re hopeless. I give up. Do what you want, but I’m sticking to my story. When you say no to a guy like Shane McCarthy, the general wins. He wants you terrorized and afraid, and you’re playing right into his hand.”
“No, I’m not! He’s going to jail. He’s out of our lives forever.”
“Is he? Is he really? If that’s the case, then go out with Shane.”
“I… I can’t.”
“You can! You just won’t. There’s a huge difference.”
She and Julia had had this fight many times before, but Julia had never framed the argument in such stark terms. The general wins. The thought of that made Katie feel sicker than the idea of actually going on a date with a man did. “Fine. I’ll go out with him. Will that make you happy?”
“I don’t believe you’ll actually do it.”
She was closer to Julia than anyone in the world, but no one could make her madder than Julia could. Glaring at her sister, Katie got up from the bed, opened the door and went across the hall to bang on Shane’s door.
He opened it, looking surprised to see her and curious about the racket.
Katie forced herself to look him in the eye and say the words, knowing Julia was watching and listening. “What you asked me earlier… Do you still want to do that?”
“Um, yeah?”
“Tonight at seven?”
“Is good.”
“All right.” Katie tu
rned and went back into her room, slamming the door behind her. “Satisfied?”
“Extremely satisfied.” Julia smiled victoriously. “And if you play your cards right, you will be, too.”
Leaving Julia gloating in their room, Katie went to find her mother, who was still on the porch with her parents and Charlie as well as Laura and Owen, who held a sleeping Holden. Before she allowed the ferry to leave without her, Katie needed to make sure it was okay with them if she stayed for a while.
“Hey, honey,” Sarah said when she saw Katie approach them. “Are you all packed?”
“About that… Could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Of course.” To the others, Sarah said, “I’ll be right back.”
Charlie, who’d been holding Sarah’s hand, kissed the back of it before he released her.
The warm smile her mother gave him sparked a pang of yearning inside Katie. What would it be like, she wondered, to share that sort of connection with a man? The question had her thinking of Shane, as if it were normal for her to yearn or to think about a man when neither of those things was in any way normal for her.
Sarah hooked her arm through Katie’s and escorted her through the lobby to the rockers on the front porch. “Why do you look troubled?”
“Do I?”
“You do indeed. What’s wrong, honey?”
Though it was her way to keep her troubles to herself, she rarely had a moment alone with her mother and found herself spilling the story of Doctor Strangelove’s near attack and how she’d quit her job in Texas.
“Good Lord, Katie! The man should be in jail!”
“Which is where he’ll end up if he doesn’t change his ways, but I’m not putting him there. After everything with the general, I don’t have it in me to go after him. I just don’t.” The Lawry children had long ago stopped referring to Mark Lawry as anything other than “the general” or “the sperm donor.”
“I understand. Better than you might think. When I arrived here last fall, beaten to within an inch of my life, I just wanted it all to go away. The last thing I wanted was to prosecute him.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“The doctor who saw to me is a mandatory reporter, meaning he had to report my injuries to the police. David, the doctor, and Blaine, the police chief, along with Owen and Laura, convinced me to go forward with charges this time. I’m glad now that I did. I don’t think I would’ve been able to move forward with my life if I hadn’t done it.”
“It’s different in my case. He never actually touched me, and truth be told, he’s probably got a bigger case against me after what I did to him. I quit my job, so he’s out of my life.”
“True.”
“The reason I really wanted to talk to you, though, is I’m thinking about staying here for a while—until I figure out my next move. I thought I’d take advantage of the time off to take a vacation, if it’s okay with you and Laura, of course.”
“I know I speak for Laura when I tell you my room is all yours for as long as you need it.”
“Where will you go?”
Before her eyes, Sarah Lawry blushed like a schoolgirl.
Katie laughed. “Oh, stupid question. You’ll be with Charlie.”
“He’s asked me to move in with him, and I’m going to do it.”
“I’m happy for you, Mom. We all are. But are you sure it’s not moving too fast?”
She didn’t expect her mother to laugh at her question. “Charlie would tell you it’s moved slower than molasses. It took me almost a year to kiss the poor guy. Nothing about this has been fast, honey.”
“I guess it’s old habit to worry about you.”
“And I’m sorry you had to for so long, but I promise you there’s nothing at all to worry about where Charlie is concerned. He treats me like a queen.”
“You certainly deserve that.” Katie stared out at the ferry landing where the boats came and went just about every hour all day long in the summer. “Where do you get the moxie to take a chance on another guy after what you went through?”
“It’s not so much taking a chance on just any guy. It’s about taking a chance with Charlie. He showed me night after night, week after week, month after month that I had nothing to fear from him. And for all that time he didn’t know why I flinched every time he moved too quickly or why I shied away from the most innocent of touches. He never asked, and I never told him, yet he kept coming back.”
Katie found herself riveted by her mother’s words as well as the strength and determination she heard behind them.
“He proved himself to me one minute at a time, Katie. He showed me who he was over those months of friendship and companionship. Our relationship didn’t become romantic until right before your father’s trial, when I had no choice but to tell him where I was going and why.”
“What did he say?”
“All the right things and other things I never expected to hear—like how much he loves me and how badly he wants a future with me. I sure as heck didn’t see that coming, although with hindsight I should have. I realized I’d been in love with him for quite some time at that point.”
Katie realized she was crying when her mother reached over to wipe the tears off her cheek. “That’s such a lovely story.”
“Yes, it is, and if I hadn’t lived it myself, I wouldn’t believe such things were possible after having endured life with your father.”
“I hate him for what he put you through. What he put all of us through.”
“Don’t hate him. Don’t give him that much of your energy. He doesn’t deserve it. Take all those negative emotions and turn them into something positive. I wish I’d left him years ago and spared all of you from having to grow up the way you did. I wasn’t strong enough then. I was never as strong as you’ve always been.”
Katie shook her head, laughing bitterly at the irony as tears fell in earnest now. “I’m not strong. I’m weak and frightened of everything and pathetic in so many ways.”
“Why in the world would you say such awful things? You, all of you… I admire my children more than anyone I’ve ever known. That you survived and thrived in spite of the nightmare you lived through… I give you tremendous credit for that.”
“I’ve survived, but I haven’t thrived. I’ve avoided men like the plague and erected a fortress around myself to keep them at arm’s length.”
“How long has this been going on?”
Katie wiped away her tears, hating how weak they made her feel. “Always,” she said softly.
“Katie… Sweetheart, that’s no way to live.”
“You sound like Julia.”
“You know I never take sides with my children, but I have to agree with her.”
Katie looked over at her mother. “Shane asked me to go to dinner with him.”
Sarah’s eyes widened with pleasure that stretched across her face in a wide smile. “Did he now?”
Katie nodded.
“Are you going?”
“Only after Julia shamed me into it.”
Sarah hooted with laughter. “Good for her.”
“My first date at age thirty-two. How ridiculous is that?”
“I think it’s lovely that you waited for one of the nicest, sweetest, kindest men I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet.”
“Really?” Hearing her mother’s ringing endorsement of Shane, Katie felt her heart begin to beat faster with excitement and anticipation.
“He’s wonderful. He’s quiet, so it takes awhile to get to know him, but he’s so sweet and devoted to Laura and the baby. He’d do anything for me and for Owen. We’re all quite fond of him around here—and not just because he’s Laura’s brother. And now, after hearing what he did for you yesterday, he’s earned a permanent place in my heart.”
“That’s nice to hear.”
“You have nothing—and I do mean nothing—to fear from him, Katie.”
“I keep telling myself that, because I want to change. I
want to be more courageous and take some chances.”
“Then that’s exactly what you should do.” Sarah paused, seeming to choose her words carefully. “You should know… He hasn’t had it easy either.”
“What do you mean?”
Sarah shook her head. “That’s for him to tell you—if or when he decides he wants to. Until then, take my word for it. He’s a good guy, and you should go out with him tonight and enjoy yourself and relax about all the things that have held you back in the past. Think of this as a fresh start, a whole new you.”
A whole new me… Was that what she wanted? Yes, she decided right then and there. She desperately needed a change, and going out to dinner with Shane would signal the start of a new phase in her life, one in which she wouldn’t spend so much time being afraid.
Everyone who mattered to her had endorsed him as a good guy, and he’d shown her that himself with the way he’d come to her rescue the day before, not to mention the tender way he treated his nephew. It mattered greatly that her mother and Owen thought highly of him. Somehow that had to be enough. There’d never been a more ideal circumstance for wading into the dating pool than a night out with Shane McCarthy.
Sarah took hold of Katie’s hand. “I’m so glad you’ll be staying awhile. I’ve missed you so much.”
For the first time in a long time, Katie felt excited about something. “Me, too.”
Chapter 6
Shortly after the astonishing exchange with Katie, Shane took a call from his cousin Mac, who invited him to join other family members on a fishing trip for the afternoon.
“I’ve got something I have to do at seven,” Shane told Mac. “Will we be back in time?” No way was he going to be late for his date with Katie, not when it had taken all his courage to ask her and seemingly all of hers to accept.
“Oh yeah, we’ll be back long before seven.”
“Sounds good, then.”
“Come on over to the marina as soon as you can.”
“I’ll be there in ten.” Shane changed into swim trunks and a T-shirt, and tossed sunscreen and a bucket hat into a backpack. On the way downstairs, he met up with Laura and Owen, who were on their way up with Holden asleep on Owen’s shoulder.