Up to the Challenge (An Anchor Island Novel)

by Osburn, Terri

  Sid wondered what this was about. Will claimed not to know, and Curly wouldn’t give any clues when she showed up at Dempsey’s to work the dinner shift the night before. Even Joe was tight lipped, which wasn’t unusual, but he smiled more than normal, which made the whole thing feel even more ominous.

  Could Beth be pregnant? Would they be happy to announce that before they’d even set an official wedding date? It was clear they were both ready for “till death do us part,” even if Joe hadn’t put a ring on it yet.

  Wait. Maybe that was it.

  “Good morning, everyone,” Beth trilled, prancing through the kitchen door with a large aluminum pan in tow. “Lucas, can you go help Joe with the rest of the food?”

  “Sure,” he said, and dropped a kiss on Sid’s forehead as he passed her by.

  One more thing she was going to miss after tomorrow.

  “The table is almost set.” Patty said, grabbing a pile of forks and butter knives, then following Beth into the dining room.

  Sid felt about as useful as four-wheel drive on a golf cart. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked, stepping into the dining room.

  “You could fill some glasses with orange juice,” Patty said. “And pour what’s left of the carton into the pitcher that’s in the cupboard over the fridge.”

  Sounded easy enough, until Sid tried to open the cupboard over the fridge. Maybe if she pulled up a chair.

  “What do you need?” Lucas asked, setting a smaller aluminum pan on the island.

  “I need the pitcher out of that cupboard.” Sid indicated the correct door. Lucas didn’t even have to stretch. The man came in handy in so many ways. “Thanks,” she said as he handed it over.

  “Any time,” he responded, then his eyes clouded. He couldn’t reach things for her any time because after this weekend, he wouldn’t be around. They both knew it, only he didn’t know she knew and was apparently not ready to tell.

  Sid considered pouring an extra glass of juice for the giant elephant they’d brought along with them.

  “This is the last of it,” Joe said, stepping through the door as Beth and Patty returned to the kitchen. Dozer shot between Joe’s legs. “Damn it, Dozer. I almost dropped the bacon.”

  “That was probably his intent,” Beth said, grabbing the big mutt’s collar. “If you hadn’t given him four pieces already.” She dragged the dog to the door. “Outside, Dozer. This food is not for you.”

  Dozer pressed his nose to the screen and whimpered. Amazing an animal that big could look so forlorn and pitiful.

  “Did somebody say bacon?” Tom asked, appearing in the doorway to the dining room.

  The gang was officially all here.

  “No bacon for you,” Patty said, shooing Tom back in the direction from which he’d come. “Egg whites and whole wheat toast. I’ve put the butter substitute down by your plate.”

  Butter substitute? Poor Tom.

  “Everyone take a seat.” Beth took the pan Lucas had carried. “Breakfast is served.”

  Twenty minutes later, the eggs were nothing but a memory, the bacon a mere scent lingering in the air, and three sausage links huddled against aluminum as if in fear of their lives. And rightly so, as Joe grabbed them all with one stab of his fork.

  “So why are we all here?” Tom asked, garnering a harsh look from Patty. “What? There has to be a reason, other than torturing me with food I can’t have.”

  All eyes turned toward Beth and Joe. Her cheeks were pink, and Joe wore the same look he’d gotten when they’d landed a record-size marlin off the coast last year.

  Beth slid her right hand into Joe’s, turned to the eager audience, and held up her left hand. There, on the third finger, had appeared a dainty rock that could mean only one thing.

  “Joe asked me to marry him.”

  Well duh, Sid thought. That part was obvious. About time was her second thought, then she looked to Lucas, expecting the same tension as when they’d all gathered in the hospital weeks before.

  But it was nowhere to be found. He was actually smiling. Who was this imposter and what had he done with Lucas?

  And then the entire table exploded. Patty was crying and Beth was crying. The men shook hands and did a lot of back slapping. Sid considered going out to congratulate Dozer, since no one was paying much attention to her.

  Then Curly pulled her out of the chair and into a bear hug, in the middle of which she started jumping up and down. “You’re going to rip my head off, woman.” Sid extricated herself, but when she looked into Beth’s shining eyes, she felt her own grow misty.

  “I wondered when he was going to get around to this,” Sid said, smiling and dabbing the corner of her eye on her shoulder. “Let me see that ring.”

  Weren’t girls supposed to ooh and ah over the ring? Sid was a girl and Beth deserved the expected response. “That’s really pretty. Why does it look so old?”

  Beth teared up a little more. “It was Joe’s mom’s. I still can’t believe he trusts me with it.”

  “That’s pretty damn romantic,” Sid said. “I didn’t think Joe had it in him.”

  “Cute, smart-ass.” Joe pulled her into a hug, then punched her on the arm as if reaffirming their standoffish male-type relationship.

  “Listen up, everyone,” Beth said, wiping at her eyes with her napkin. “We wanted to have this breakfast for the family, but tomorrow, we were thinking we could close up Dempsey’s to the public and have a celebration dinner for the staff and all our friends. We’ll pay the rental fee, of course.”

  “The hell you will.” Tom threw his arm across Patty’s shoulders. “The place is yours for the night and don’t mention money again.”

  “Did you say tomorrow night?” Lucas asked. Sid tensed.

  “Yeah,” Joe said. “Around six o’clock.”

  Lucas rubbed a hand across his forehead. “I won’t be there.”

  “What do you mean you won’t be there?” Beth asked.

  Silence settled into the room like a fog blanketing the bay.

  “Why won’t you be there?” Joe asked, gripping the back of his chair until his knuckles were white.

  Sid knew what was coming next.

  Because I’m going back to Richmond tomorrow morning,” Lucas said. He hadn’t intended to drop the words like a live grenade, but keeping them in was killing him. And now, with the dinner planned, he had to be honest.

  His mother gasped. Beth dropped into her chair. Tom cursed under his breath, and Joe continued his vise grip on the buffed oak.

  Sid didn’t react at all. Why didn’t she react?

  “I don’t understand,” Patty said. “You’re supposed to stay a few more weeks. Why now?”

  “Yes,” Joe all but growled. “Why now?”

  “Something came up at work.” The words felt lame on his tongue. “They need me.”

  He didn’t see any point in sharing the detail regarding his job security. They’d all think he’d jeopardized his career to come down here, and he didn’t want anyone feeling guilty on his behalf. He’d made his own choices.

  Now he had to make another one.

  “If they need you for a case, then you have to go,” Beth said, gripping Joe’s hand. “If we’d known—”

  “I didn’t know until a couple days ago,” Lucas said. “It all happened pretty fast.”

  He had yet to make eye contact with Sid. Afraid of what he’d see in her yes. Would she hate him? Would she care? When he finally glanced her way, the look on her face was inscrutable.

  “If you all don’t mind, I’d like to talk to Sid outside.”

  Lucas wanted to make sure she didn’t think he was leaving because of Beth and Joe. What he and Sid had the last two weeks was special. He’d never leave her believing she’d been a stand-in for another woman. She deserved to know how much she meant to him.

  No one spoke. Sid nodded, pushed her chair further back, and walked out of the room. Lucas followed. When he stepped onto the porch, Sid was standing at the rail
looking out toward the towering oaks.

  “So this is it,” she said.

  “I wanted to tell you before.”

  “But you just found out yourself.” She turned, face placid. As if they were discussing the weather. “You’ll need to pack up your things. Get an early start on the drive.”

  “Sid,” he said, and waited for her to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  She raised one shoulder. “For what? We always knew you were leaving.”

  “But what we’ve had.” He moved toward her. She shrugged him off and dropped into a blue Adirondack chair.

  “What we’ve had is a casual fling. That’s what we agreed on.”

  Why was she being so callous? Didn’t she care about him at all?

  “That’s how it started. But—”

  “You don’t have to worry about me. I promised I could handle casual and would be fine when it was time for you to leave.” She picked at a spot of loose paint on the arm of the chair. “So it’s a little earlier than we planned. Shit happens.”

  Shit happens? Shit happens?

  “You’re right,” he said, a dead weight filling his chest. He’d done it again. Fallen for a woman who didn’t fall back. “We had a good time for a couple weeks. I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.”

  The words were cruel. He shouldn’t have said them.

  “I have no complaints,” she said, rising out of the chair. He thought he saw her lip quiver, but when she turned his way, her jaw was set, eyes dry. “I mean, there was never any chance of you staying. Right?”

  “Right. There’s nothing here for me.” Her chin flexed as if she’d taken a punch. Lucas fought the urge to break everything on the porch. “My life is back in Richmond. That’s where I belong.”

  Sid nodded. “I forgot I told Randy I’d help him with something this morning.” She charged down the steps. “The door is unlocked so you can have someone run you over to the house for your things. You should probably stay here tonight. Get a good night’s sleep so you’ll be awake for the drive.”

  She was in the truck seconds later. He wanted to go after her, tell her he was an ass, but what good would that do? He was still leaving. A piece of gravel pinged off his knee when she backed out of the driveway, but Lucas didn’t move. He just watched her drive away.

  Leaving him before he could leave her.

  He’d never know she pulled off the road half a mile away and cried until she couldn’t breathe.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The gut-wrenching cry took a full five minutes before Sid could pull back onto the road. There was still enough drizzle in the air to keep the tourists off the streets, thank goodness. By the time she found herself in the parking lot of Anchor Adventures, she’d pulled herself together as much as possible, blown her nose on some napkins from her glove compartment, and ruled out having Randy kick Lucas’s ass.

  Partly because she didn’t believe her brother should fight her battles, but mostly because she knew she’d hurt Lucas as much as he’d hurt her. Maybe this was exactly what they needed to do to get him off the island. No tearful, sappy good-bye, see-you-next-time scene for them. Better to cut it off at the knees and kill it dead.

  Which was probably why she felt like roadkill.

  Sid slipped in the back door, hoping to reach Randy’s office without encountering anyone else. She may have pulled it together, but she wasn’t stupid. Her eyes were red and puffy, clear evidence she’d been crying.

  With great relief, she reached the office unnoticed.

  “Morning,” Randy said, pen poised over some papers. “I didn’t know you were coming by today.”

  Sid sniffed. “If anyone asks, yes you did.” She didn’t make a habit of lying, which is why she’d driven to Randy’s at all. Because she’d said that’s where she was going.

  Randy’s eyes narrowed. “Where is he?”

  “Who?” Sid asked, examining the back of her hand as if something new had grown there.

  “Is he still where I can reach him, or was he smart enough to hide?”

  “If by he you mean Lucas, he’s still on the island. For another day anyway.”

  “I see.” Her brother crossed the office and wrapped her in his arms.

  And Sid fell apart. Again.

  Several minutes later, Sid held a bottle of water in one hand and a tissue in the other. Her breathing was returning to normal and Randy sat beside her, patient and silent. He was using his Zen crap on her. She could feel it.

  “Don’t do that.”

  “Don’t do what?”

  “Sit there all silent and meditative.”

  Randy chuckled. “Would you rather I rage against the walls on your behalf?”

  Sid sniffled. “You couldn’t rage if you tried. I’m just not in the mood for deep thought right now. I want to wallow and not have to hear about how I should get in touch with my inner being and find peace with this situation.”

  “For the record, all I’m doing is sitting here. But I would recommend you try some steady breathing to stop that hiccupping.” Sid took a deep breath and Randy asked, “Want to tell me what happened?”

  Did she? Did she even know what happened? “It’s kind of a long, complicated story.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he said, crossing his arms, which was a feat considering his chest was nearly as wide as the doorway. “Did you have a fight?”

  “Not exactly.” If anything, they’d had an anti-fight. Agreeing with each other while saying cruel things. “Lucas is going back to Richmond tomorrow. I’ve known since Thursday, only he didn’t know I knew.”

  “How did you know?”

  Sid pulled her legs up and hugged her knees. “His boss called the restaurant looking for him. Left the message that if he wasn’t in the office on Monday, then he shouldn’t bother coming back at all. I gave the guy my home number because I thought Lucas might be there and he was, only when I asked him if the guy found him, he said yeah and that it was nothing.”

  “Ah,” Randy sighed. “So neither of you told the truth.”

  When he put it that way. “It’s not like we lied. Well, I didn’t lie. I just omitted a bit of information.”

  “And he omitted the same bit of information.”

  “Whose side are you on?” she asked, twisting to face him.

  “I’m always on your side. You know that. So what happened today?”

  Sid blew her nose, then took another deep breath. “We all had breakfast at Tom and Patty’s place so Joe and Beth could announce they’re engaged.” Wait. Was that supposed to be a secret. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to mention that.”

  “I knew,” he said. “Go on.”

  “Oh.” Of course he knew. Randy was Joe’s best friend. “Anyway, they’re planning a dinner tomorrow night to celebrate with everyone else, at Dempsey’s, and that’s when Lucas announced that he wouldn’t be there.”

  “How did they take it?” Randy asked.

  Sid flashed back to that moment in the dining room. “Not well. It looked like Joe assumed it was because of the engagement, but I don’t think Lucas is pining for Beth anymore.”

  Randy reached for another tissue and passed it over. “I would hope not. Considering.” He raised one brow and she had to admit he had a point. Had she helped Lucas get over Beth?

  “I just realized,” Sid said, “he never told them why he had to go back. Never mentioned the ultimatum or the threat of losing his job.”

  “What does that matter?”

  “They couldn’t be mad if they knew he didn’t have a choice.”

  Randy shook his head. “He had a choice.”

  Sid dropped her feet to the floor. “No, he didn’t. They threatened to fire him.”

  “Lucas wouldn’t be the first person ever to lose his job,” Randy said, returning to the chair behind his desk. “From what I’ve heard, he’s excellent at what he does. Some other firm would take him on.”

  Loyalty pushed her to defend him. “You don’t kno
w that would happen.”

  “And he doesn’t know that it wouldn’t.” Randy leaned back in his chair, eyes cutting to the wall on his right covered in pictures. “Why do you think I settled down here?”

  Sid felt an old guilt tighten her spine. “Because of me. You couldn’t drag a fourteen-year-old around the globe and up every mountainside.”

  He smiled and leaned forward. “You were only part of it, Sidney. Aunt Roberta offered to take care of you. I could have continued chasing the next ride, the next climb. But I chose you and this island.”

  Her body loosened. Tears threatened again. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

  “There wasn’t a reason before. You’re my little sister and I love you. You were more important than the life I had at the time.” His brown eyes, identical to hers, held her gaze. “I’ve never regretted that decision. Every man has a choice, Sidney. Even Lucas.”

  She thought about those words as the tissue in her hand turned to a pile of shredded fragments between her feet. “I don’t blame him for choosing Richmond,” she finally said, knowing to the tips of her toes that she meant it.

  Randy picked up his pen. “Maybe someday you should tell him that.”

  Lucas couldn’t bring himself to ask anyone to drive him back to Sid’s house. He’d had a hard enough time explaining why she’d left. Unwilling to endure the disappointed looks coming his way, he opted to walk.

  Packing didn’t take long, even though he’d had to remove Drillbit from the duffel bag three times. She seemed to be the only creature in his life who didn’t think he was a piece of shit at the moment. Maybe he’d get a cat when he got home. His own little ball of fur to keep him company.

  Though with his hours, the animal would be alone most of the time. Based on Holcomb’s tone on the phone, he’d have to bust his ass even harder to get back in the good graces. The partnership wasn’t even a consideration until he straightened this mess out.

  Not that he regretted a moment he’d spent on the island. His family needed him and he was there. He’d done his duty, and now was leaving the restaurant in capable hands to return to his life. Earlier than planned, but that couldn’t be helped.