Promise Cove

by Vickie McKeehan

Ellen’s probing attitude fell away. “We’re on the same page there. I can just see that happening. The whole family fears for her down here by herself. We’ve tried without success to talk her into moving back to the Bay.” Ellen shook her head. “She’s stuck out here in the boonies trying to keep this stupid dream of Scott’s alive no matter how ridiculous it is.”

  Nick stared at Ellen over his cup. “Some dreams are important enough to keep alive, don’t you think?” He turned to Tom. “To answer your question, she’ll get the traffic depending on how aggressively she marketed the place in the early stages. And from what Jordan’s told me, she’s done a good job of getting her name out. She’s almost booked up for May. Did she tell you that? She has reservations coming in daily for June. She could use a full summer. And another extension on the loan wouldn’t hurt either.” He’d been waiting to hear from Charlie on that score, but so far there’d been no word. He shot a look at Ellen and found her staring at him. “She’s doing all she can.”

  Impressed with the man, Ellen relaxed somewhat. “We’re getting the word out, telling everyone we meet about the B & B. Some of our friends from church have already booked rooms for May, celebrating an anniversary, or a birthday.” She took a slow sip of wine, eyed the man at the end of the table before adding, “I just hope she can run this place by herself.”

  It was eight-thirty that evening when Nick and Tom settled down in front of the television in the living room with a cold beer to watch the Giants take on the Dodgers at home.

  “Are you a betting man?” Tom asked, propping up his feet on the coffee table.

  He wasn’t, but he was a die-hard Dodger fan who, in that other life, had once held season tickets, box seats behind home plate to be exact, for a number of years. “Depends. What’s the bet?”

  Tom took a drink of his beer. “I’ve got twenty that says McDonald doesn’t go the distance.”

  Nick considered how many full games McDonald pitched last year and calmly replied, “You’re on.”

  While Nick and Tom watched the ballgame, Jordan and Ellen sat at the kitchen table looking through magazines searching for cute decorating schemes for the guest rooms. As if she couldn’t wait a minute longer, Ellen looked up and asked, “You aren’t falling for this guy, are you?”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Come on, Jordan, the man’s a hunk. And every time you open your mouth, it’s ‘we’ did this and ‘we’ did that.”

  Jordan looked genuinely baffled. “Oh, for God’s sakes Ellen, it’s a habit. I was part of a 'we’ once, now I’m not.”

  Ellen felt immediate remorse. “Sorry, I just don’t want to see you hurt. But tonight at dinner you had this look on your face.”

  “A look? I had a look on my face.”

  “You look happier than I’ve seen you look in—a long time—and sort of moony.”

  “You’re concerned because I look happy and in your opinion moony? I can’t win with you, Ellen.”

  “He won’t stay, Jordan. I don’t want you hurt again.”

  Jordan sighed and put her elbows on the table. “Why would an investment banker want to stay in a rundown B & B working as a carpenter? He doesn’t think any better of the town than I do either. They yanked the welcome mat out from under his feet just like they did mine. Of course, I know he won’t stay somewhere he doesn’t like, or doesn’t feel welcome. Hell, no one would. Well, except maybe for Scott.”

  “I worry about you alone out here. If Scott were alive I’d give him a piece of my mind for dragging you out to this place and then leaving you.”

  Jordan gave her sister a disbelieving look. “You do realize how ridiculous that sounds, don’t you? When Scott went to Iraq he had every intention of coming back. It isn’t his fault he didn’t.”

  Ellen looked apologetic. “Okay I deserved that. But you know what I mean.”

  Jordan smiled. “Unfortunately, I do.”

  Three and a half hours later, Tom dug a twenty out of his wallet as he and Nick stood in the kitchen. “I never did like the Dodgers,” Tom admitted without rancor.

  “That’s too bad. I never liked the Giants. I do, however, like taking your money,” Nick assured just as evenly, as he dumped their empty beer bottles into the recycling bin.

  “Giants will rebound tomorrow night, you watch.”

  “Sure they will,” Nick said rolling his eyes. Grinning, he took Tom’s twenty and headed out the back door.

  Chapter Fourteen

  After breakfast the next morning, the women put the men to work moving the remaining furniture from the garage into each of the upstairs guest rooms. Once they got each piece delivered to the various rooms, at the direction of the women, they helped in the general placement of everything knowing full well the women would more than likely change their minds several times before they were satisfied with the end result.

  The labor took most of the morning. But by noon the two men were ready for a nice break. They donned their wetsuits and took off to the cove to surf, gladly leaving the women to their own decorating schemes.

  Because it was Friday and Lilly had no way of knowing Jordan had company, she showed up with her kids right on schedule. After initially feeling like a third wheel with the two sisters, Lilly eventually felt more at ease once they all sat down to lunch. Over homemade spinach and artichoke pizza, they chatted about their kids, and then moved on to how best to decorate the guest rooms.

  “Lilly here is quite the artist. She’s provided some original beach scenes.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing my watercolors in the rooms.”

  “The plan is to put at least one framed watercolor up in each room, not just for decoration but to market Lilly’s work. Ellen brought some new frames that should look great.”

  When they’d swallowed the last bite of pizza, anxious to get started, Ellen asked, “Should we split up or tackle one room together until we finish it?”

  “Let’s complete one room until we’re done, less work for Lilly and me when you head back to the Bay.”

  With everyone in agreement, while the kids napped, they got to work upstairs, first getting the furniture arranged the way they wanted. From there, they started throwing together the decorating schemes for each room using different kinds of shells, depending on the theme they chose, then hanging a coordinating landscape.

  Standing in one of the larger guest rooms, they’d dubbed The Coral Room, Lilly suggested, “Along with the original watercolors, what if we used some of your favorite photographs of the coast, pictures you’ve taken on trips that have special meaning to you. We could blow those up, mat and frame them. I think pictures like that would look wonderful in here.”

  Jordan agreed. “Good idea, Lilly. I can dig out some of our old photos of the coast we took on the trip up to San Francisco a couple of years ago, maybe use those frames Aunt Ginny gave me for a wedding gift. Remember those art deco ones I never knew what to do with? They’re stored somewhere out there in that black hole of a garage. And, if I haven’t said so lately, thanks. The place is really starting to come together. I don’t know what I’d have done without everyone’s help.”

  Ellen smiled and put her arms around Jordan. “No problem, honey. What are big sisters for?”

  “And friends,” Lilly chimed in, feeling more like a part of something than she had in years.

  Down on the beach the men walked out of the water carrying their surfboards. Tom pointed to the sea cave back under the trail and said, “There’s a dinghy stored in there. If you’re up for it we could motor out to Treasure Island, check it out. Scott loved that place. You should get a firsthand look.”

  Nick stared at Tom. Jordan had suggested he do just that. But he had been hoping he could persuade her to take the trip with him especially on his inaugural trip exploring the island. Suddenly, Hutton popped into his head. It was strange to be considering how a child impacted the activities you planned. There would be no motoring out to the island together unless they could
get someone to watch the baby. “Do you think they’d like to go with us?” He shot a thumb over his shoulder toward the house.

  “Might. But I don’t think Jordan’s gonna want to take the baby out in a dinghy. I know Ellen would have a fit if I had suggested taking one of ours out at that age that far in a little boat.”

  “So do you think Jordan would mind if we took it out?”

  Nick wasn’t fooling Tom. “You want to see it with Jordan? Don’t blame you there. But I think she’d be okay with you getting out there today. Why don’t you plan a picnic and take her out there once you get a good look at the place. She’d like that.”

  A little uncomfortable knowing Tom saw through him so clearly, Nick wondered what it must be like for Jordan every time she thought of Scott. It had to be any number of times during any given day. How long would it take for her to stop hurting every time someone mentioned his name? For that matter, would the hurt ever subside or lessen? Hadn’t she seemed so much better lately in that regard, less sad, less depressed? Even he had to admit the image of Scott had stopped popping up so often. His nightmares were less. He was getting more sleep. Of course, he said none of this to Tom as they approached the entrance to the cave where the dinghy was stored.

  “You never know what you’ll find in this black hole,” Tom muttered as they made their way inside the cave. In spite of the darkness he spotted the dinghy bobbing in the water, moored by a rope looped around the spiky arm of a rock. He pointed to the boat pushed back inside a good ten feet out of the weather. “This thing’s almost like new. Scott only took it out three or four times before leaving.”

  The cave was surprisingly dry and large, a narrow cavern of about ten feet wide that snaked into the dark another fifteen feet back. As they looked around in wonder like two twelve-year-olds in awe of what nature managed to provide, Nick thought of Scott. “Every kid’s dream. I would have loved growing up here as a kid.” It was a far cry from the way he’d grown up at the military academy. “It must have been something to have this place all to himself as a kid.”

  “It was. When I first met the guy he told me it was like living the Swiss Family Robinson kind of life. You have to remember his parents died when he was five and his grandparents took him in. This place, this house was a haven for him. I was only down here once with him right after he and Jordan bought the place. Next thing I knew, he was gone.”

  The dinghy was heavier than it looked. It took both men to drag the boat out of its resting place to the edge of the water. Once there, Tom looked at Nick and said, “Let’s do this for Scott, what do you say?”

  Nick gave him a nod in agreement as he wadded out into the water pushing the boat toward the horizon. With the current, it took twenty minutes of motoring to reach the rocky shore of the little island. As they got closer, Nick cut the engine and immediately saw the place for what it was, a veritable paradise for any young boy, willing to spend his days exploring. Heck, it was pretty cool even for two grown men. Nick was the first to hop out of the boat. Looking around, he exclaimed, “This place is amazing.”

  “Yeah. We could probably do some serious fishing out here. By any chance you staying put?”

  “Thinking about it. But Jordan might have something to say about that.”

  “You like her I can tell.”

  He nodded, not sure that he was ready to have this discussion knowing every word he said would be relayed to Jordan’s sister in no short order.

  As if sensing the other man’s thoughts, Tom assured him, “Look, I love my wife, but I won’t tell her what you don’t want her to know. I can keep things close to the vest.”

  Nick seriously doubted that. But instead of voicing his concerns he repeated what Tom already knew. “Jordan’s been through a lot. She isn’t anywhere near ready to move past Scott. I plan on being here until the place is up and going. I won’t leave her in the lurch, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of the future.”

  “I’m staying put until I know she’s got a handle on everything.”

  Tom patted Nick on the shoulder. “You’re a good man, Nick Harris. I can leave in a better frame of mind knowing you’re here for her. Thanks for that.”

  With Tom in the lead, sharing what Scott had told him about the island, the two men went off to explore the little slice of land as if they’d just discovered a new continent like a couple of fifteenth century Spanish explorers.

  That afternoon, by the time Nick showered off the sea salt and sweat, it was almost supper time. He’d played away the day surfing, exploring and now it was time to get some work done. But he was surprised to find Jordan and Ellen sitting in the swing on the front porch with Hutton and Tom a few feet away admiring the Harley.

  When Tom spotted Nick, he asked, “Would you mind if I took Ellen for a little ride? I’ve been trying to talk her into one of these things, but she thinks they’re dangerous as hell.”

  Nick looked skeptical. “Can you handle it?”

  Tom looked slightly insulted. “I took motorcycle lessons hoping Ellen would see how skilled I was and cave. So far, she hasn’t. But I can handle it.”

  “What about a helmet? I don’t have a spare.”

  “Got it covered.” At that, Tom headed off toward the garage. A few minutes later, he came back holding a motorcycle helmet.

  Nick raised a brow. “Don’t tell me, you found that in that black hole of a garage. Is there anything that isn’t stored in there?”

  Tom laughed and winked in Jordan’s direction. “You didn’t tell him? Our Scott was a major pack rat.”

  Jordan smiled as if remembering. “That he was, Tom. There’s no telling what you’ll find stored in there either. The man shopped online and seemed to collect anything and everything. And refused to throw anything away.”

  Holding up the helmet, Tom turned to Ellen and gave it his best shot. “Okay, baby, what do you say we go for a ride on this bad mother? A Harley, Ellen, come on.”

  Ellen stood up and walked down a few steps. “Promise you won’t do anything crazy?”

  He put a hurt look on his face. “Me? You’re safe with me, Ellen. You know that.” He held out his hand and she walked the rest of the way down the steps taking the helmet from him.

  “Okay, but I better come back in one piece. I’d hate to explain to the boys how their mother cracked a tailbone on the asphalt falling off a motorcycle.”

  Tom winked at Nick. “If the worse happens, I died a happy death on a Harley.” When Ellen gave him a blank stare, he simply shook his head and crawled on the bike.

  Jordan watched as they headed down the driveway toward the road. “I can’t believe he talked her into getting on that thing. She’s a big old ’fraidy cat, pure and simple, wouldn’t even try a skateboard when we were kids.”

  Nick couldn’t resist. “And you would?”

  “You bet and I’ve got the scars on my knees to prove it.”

  He took a slow gaze up and down her legs, lingered long enough on her trim, fit waist, settled on her hips and the shorts she wore and then purposely stared at her knees. “I don’t see any scars so I guess when they get back, you’ll just have to prove it.”

  “You’re just a real bad ass on a Harley, aren’t you, Nick Harris?”

  He grinned at that as the bike roared its way back up the driveway. Ellen swaggered off. “That was fun. And we didn’t end up as a splat on the road, either.”

  Unsnapping his helmet, Tom told Nick, “I told you I could handle it.”

  Nick turned to Jordan, lifting a brow in challenge. “Come on Jordan, give it a try. Your sister’s one up on you.”

  Clearly interested, but hesitant, she chewed on her bottom lip. “How fast would we go?”

  “I promise to keep it under a hundred.”

  Jordan’s mouth gaped open. Nick shook his head and moved to straddle the bike. “You’re too easy. Come on. Live a little. I promise to take it nice and slow.”

  El
len shed her helmet and handed it off to Jordan. “Go for it. I’ve got Hutton covered.”

  Climbing on the back of the bike behind Nick, Jordan tentatively put her arms around his waist. The first contact was nothing more than a light hug, bracing for the bike to accelerate. But when Nick hit the gas, it gave her an excuse to wrap him up. It felt a tad awkward to have her arms around him again but as they cruised down the driveway, she found herself more relaxed, holding on to him felt natural. By the time he got to the road and made a right turn, she forgot to feel self-conscious and locked her arms for real. As soon as he got out on the open two-lane road however, he instinctively kicked it up a notch. The increase in speed had Jordan sucking in a breath and holding Nick firmer, tighter. With another increase in speed, she let herself enjoy the pace, the rhythm of the road and the wind. And slipped her fingers underneath his Tee.

  Nick had one thought. Her body felt amazing up against his. Her thighs vibrated into his. When the road curved and he leaned into the turn, she did the same. He felt her nipples through her Tee burning into his back. When a couple strands of her hair whipped out from underneath the helmet, he caught her scent and wanted to pull the bike off the road and bury himself inside her.

  Knowing he needed to rein in his thoughts, he sighed into the ocean breeze hitting his face. This was a buddy’s wife. A dead buddy. Would that wedge always be there? he wondered. He needed to step back, find a way to… Hell, who was he kidding? That ship had sailed. Many more nights like the other night and taking cold showers wouldn’t even be a possibility.

  He laughed at that. The only thing that seemed to work was the fact that Scott kept getting in his way. And he wasn’t sure how to break free of that.

  Eventually, he spotted a clearing ahead and reluctantly pulled off onto the shoulder, turned around, and headed back south.

  When the motorcycle pulled to a stop in front of the porch again, Jordan swung her legs off, unbuttoned her helmet and threw her arms around Nick. “I never thought it would be that much fun. With the wind in your face, it feels like you’re flying. Thank you for the most exhilarating ride of my life.”