Heat Wave

by Jill Marie Landis

The Kat of old wouldn’t have balked. If they’d met before Justin, she’d have given up everything for a chance at a future with Ty. She’d have packed up and moved to Twilight, started over if need be, to make the dream a reality.

  But now? Now the stakes were too high. She’d worked hard and established her business in Long Beach. If she gave it all up and things didn’t work out with Ty, she’d be right back where she started five years ago. Not only that, but to give her heart again only to have her trust betrayed—the loss would be too great.

  She couldn’t take that kind of chance anymore. Not if she wanted to survive.

  Besides, Ty had never spoken of the future. He’d only asked her to stay beyond Jake’s return. There was no denying he thought they were great together—she couldn’t deny it, either, and although he made certain they spent time together every day, he was just as focused on working things out with Sunny, helping his daughter adjust to her life here—and that was as it should be.

  His commitment to Sunny and Alice, to family, was one of the things she admired most about him, one of the things that made him so attractive to her.

  He’d asked her to think about staying. She’d done that, but no matter how she looked at it, she continually came to the same conclusion. She had to go back.

  Now she knew that the sooner she left, the better.

  She started back down the hill, past the stand of eucalyptus trees, inhaled the fragrance the leaves gave off as they were crushed beneath her jogging shoes. The pungent scent would forever remind her of the weeks she’d spent on Lover’s Lane.

  After she climbed the low steps to Jake’s porch and took the door key out from beneath a potted poinsettia, she let herself in and checked the phone for messages. There were none, so she decided to check in with Arnie Tate in Long Beach.

  She’d made it a habit to talk to him every few days. The retired detective had a done a great job of taking care of the cases in progress after she left. He was thorough and enthusiastic, and as a new retiree, happy to have something to do.

  She read her emails, shot off replies to her mom and two of her sisters before she called Ty to let him know she’d drive herself and meet him tonight in the parking lot at Gull Harbor.

  Sunny had invited them both to the sunset cruise and Kat immediately accepted. She hadn’t really seen the girl for more than a few minutes in passing since the night Sunny had been so upset about finding her alone with Alice.

  After Sunny apologized, Kat was willing to move on. The truth was, she was hesitant around Alice, and Sunny had noticed.

  Maybe it was the fact that she’d decided she had to leave sooner rather than later, or perhaps because of who she was and what she’d seen after so many years on the job, but Kat still couldn’t shake the idea that there was more to Sunny’s move to Twilight than the girl had let on.

  She’d tried to run a search on Dodge, but with only one name—and probably a nickname, at that—there wasn’t much to go on. After a couple of hours of scanning through items about Dodge Ram trucks and vintage Duster models, she’d given up tracking down Alice’s father on her own.

  She’d placed a call to Fred Westberg, her contact at the L.A.P.D., only to be told that Fred was on a vacation to Catalina Island.

  She wandered through the house feeling adrift and finally decided that she’d do what most women do when they get down—she’d go shopping for something new to wear to the cruise.

  THAT EVENING, KAT followed the coast to Gull Harbor and parked near the brightly painted Stargazer Sunset Cruises sign. When she didn’t see Ty’s car in the lot, she turned off the engine and sat there listening to the latest Iz Hawaiian CD that her youngest sister, Maile, had mailed her.

  Spotting Sunny aboard the Stargazer, Kat turned off the CD and stepped out of the car, tugging on the hem of a new tank top that matched the hot-orange floral capri pants she picked up at a resort boutique in Twilight. The place was the size of a closet, but carried a fun selection of clothing.

  She followed a young couple dressed in matching nautical red-white-and-blue striped T-shirts across the parking lot. Sunny, who was greeting guests and getting them settled, took her hand and helped her aboard. She surprised Kat with a warm smile.

  “Welcome aboard the Stargazer. Captain Ron hopes you have a pleasant voyage.”

  “Thanks, Sunny.”

  The subtle changes in her were hard to miss. Sunny looked a little more wholesome. She was wearing less eye makeup and had on tennis shoes instead of platform sandals. Maybe it was the golden glow of her tanned skin, or the highlights in her hair, but she looked positively radiant.

  The girl had definitely lost some of her edge.

  Before Kat could say anything, Sunny glanced out into the parking lot and started waving.

  “There they are!” She picked up a neon-pink, toddler-sized life vest.

  Beside her, Kat watched Ty pull into the lot and park next to her own car. Alice was in the back, buckled into her car seat.

  Kat’s heart jumped involuntarily and an unexpected blush came to her cheeks when Ty stepped out of the car and waved. Just as quickly, the sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach hit her. Every minute they were together was doubly precious now.

  This morning she’d made up her mind to tell him tonight that she was going back to Long Beach and let things cool off a bit, but her newfound resolve was having the opposite effect on her.

  The more she thought about leaving, the more she wanted to stay, and aware that she was thinking with her heart and not her head, she was even more certain she’d made the right decision.

  Ty carried Alice across the parking lot, and in no time Sunny was welcoming them aboard, too. Though Sunny tried to act as if they were any other guests, she stepped out of character when Alice started to kick and shout, “Ma! Ma! Ma!”

  “Hi, French Fry.” Obviously pleased with the toddler’s affectionate display, Sunny kissed Alice on the tip of her nose and then slipped the life vest on her and murmured, “We’re going for a sail. You can watch Mommy work.”

  As another couple climbed aboard, Kat glanced toward the galley hatch and noticed that R.J. was watching Sunny interact with Ty and Alice. His expression was that of a man who was interested in far more than watching the pleasant exchange.

  Intrigued, Kat focused on Sunny. Swift and sure, the girl’s gaze soon met R.J.’s and she blushed before she turned around to help a couple in their late sixties come aboard.

  Ty was too busy with Alice to notice his daughter’s reaction to his best friend. There was definitely an attraction between them.

  For the rest of the cruise, Kat tried to convince herself that she was mistaken, but all the signs were there.

  TY THOUGHT THEY couldn’t have picked a better evening for a sail. The weather was hot and balmy, the bright robin’s-egg sky broken only by an occasional wisp of a cloud. Miles away, heat clouds were gathering on the horizon.

  He’d taken a seat in the stern, and with Kat on one side of him and Alice stretched out on the flotation cushion beside him, he knew a sense of contentment he hadn’t known in years.

  The rise and fall of the sailboat as it plowed through the swells quickly lulled Alice to sleep. Automatically, he reached down and pulled up the hood of Alice’s bright-yellow sweatshirt, never once taking his hand off her as the yacht pitched down the waves.

  Kat nudged him and he smiled into her eyes.

  “You’re getting pretty good at this. Remember the day Sunny and I went shopping and left you home alone to babysit?”

  “Do I ever. I was on the edge of panic. I’m still learning as I go, believe me.” He reached down and adjusted Alice’s life jacket without waking her. “I never dreamed my life would change this much—in a good way,” he quickly added. Leaning close to Kat, he gave her a quick kiss. “Just like the day I met you.” />
  A fleeting shadow darkened her expression before she turned away to watch the coastline pass by. She drew attention to his house when it came into view.

  “You can’t really see the other houses on the street from this angle. Your place looks lonely all by itself,” she said.

  “That’s the way it must have looked when it was the first house on the point.”

  As they watched Sunny scramble along the deck toward the bow with a tray of sandwiches in her hand, they both started to speak at once.

  “Sunny’s doing a great job—” she began.

  “It looks like she really—” he started.

  “Go on,” Kat laughed.

  “She really enjoys this.”

  “I noticed that, too. She seems a bit settled.”

  “She’s a real sailor. That’s the Chandler in her.” They watched Sunny negotiate the slippery deck. “I knew she would take to sailing if she gave it half a chance.”

  “R.J.’s invited us to the Sail On Inn for dinner after we dock,” he told her.

  “That would be great.”

  He took her hand, needing to connect with her physically, needing to touch her. “Have you thought about staying?”

  “Ty, I just . . . of course I’ve thought about it.”

  “Good.” He kissed her then, quick and sure, before he lowered his voice and leaned closer. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “Can we talk about this later?” She glanced around, looking so panic-stricken that he suddenly didn’t want to hear what she had to say. From the look on her face, her decision couldn’t be in his favor.

  He tried to shove his concerns to the back of his mind, to tell himself that he could change her mind. He concentrated on enjoying the sea spray off the water, the crack and billow of the sails, and the wind in his hair.

  Halfway back up the coast as the sun was quickly lowering and staining the sky a bright tangerine, an older couple beside them started to chat.

  At one point the woman smiled down at Alice, then turned to Kat and asked, “How old is your little girl?”

  Ty watched Kat begin to answer, saw her struggle. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. He squeezed her hand and answered for her.

  “This is my granddaughter,” he explained, unable to keep the pride out of his voice as he added, “First mate Sunny is her mother.”

  Then the woman went on to chat about her own granddaughter, her first, and to ask which sights they should definitely see while in the area. He watched Kat’s face and could tell that her spirit was on the verge of capsizing.

  He’d watched Kat since Sunny’s comment and had noticed a hesitance where Alice was concerned. Tonight Kat had taken a seat on the other side of him, putting him between her and Alice. She never really fell into talking baby talk or tried to amuse Alice the way other people did. If Alice needed something, if she dropped Stinko or was about to trip or if he couldn’t get to her in time, then Kat would step in, but she never made the first move toward the child if he was around.

  Although Kat didn’t outright avoid Alice, she kept their interaction to a minimum. He was becoming even more convinced that Kat didn’t keep her distance out of dislike of Alice, but because interaction with the toddler was somehow painful for her.

  She had turned to stare out across the water and he thought he saw tears in her eyes. There was so much he still didn’t know about her, so much she kept buried inside. He wondered if he’d ever truly know her.

  He turned his attention to his daughter, watched her move among the passengers and noticed that Sunny was far more animated whenever R.J. was near. She constantly referred to R.J. when anyone asked her a question. “Captain Ron would know. Let me ask Captain Ron. Captain Ron says . . .”

  Ty began to find the way his daughter looked at R.J. unsettling. So unsettling that he found himself watching R.J., too. If his friend was aware of Sunny’s admiration, it didn’t show.

  Right after the cruise, Ty started to ask Kat if she noticed anything, then decided he was being overprotective. But after a fresh-catch dinner at the Sail On Inn, he still couldn’t shake the idea that Sunny was attracted to his best friend.

  Before he made an ass of himself and mentioned it to Sunny, he decided to run it by Kat.

  Alice grew tired and fussy, so R.J. volunteered to carry her out to the car for Sunny. Before Ty knew it, the three of them had said good night to Kat and him and were gone.

  As they sat alone in the leather booth at the inn, he could tell that Kat wasn’t in any rush tonight. Her mind seemed miles away as she finished her decaf.

  She’d been subdued since the woman on the cruise had asked how old Alice was. Her expression had been closed and thoughtful all evening. In comparison, Sunny had been animated and more talkative than he’d ever seen her.

  As he’d watched his lovely daughter interact with R.J., as well as keep Alice entertained, he’d marveled at the changes in her. His happiness was tempered by the idea that she might have a crush on R.J.

  Kat shook him out of his reverie.

  “You were awfully quiet at dinner,” she noted.

  “You were, too. I guess it’s that kind of a night.”

  “The cruise was great. Listen, Ty—”

  “You know, to be honest, I was thinking about Sunny,” he admitted.

  She reached for his hand. “What about Sunny?”

  “You don’t think that maybe she’s got a thing for R.J., do you? You don’t think it’s even possible, right?”

  “Actually, I think she might be attracted to him.”

  “What are you saying?” He’d wanted her to deny it. She didn’t even sound appalled by the notion.

  “I think she might be infatuated with R.J.”

  “He’s as old as I am.”

  “He’s not exactly an old codger,” Kat pointed out. “I think he’s just as interested in her.”

  Ty reared back. “What in the hell makes you think that?”

  She shrugged, as if the whole thing was no big deal. Then again, Sunny wasn’t her daughter.

  “I saw the way he looks at her when she isn’t aware of it. She’s a beautiful young woman, Ty.”

  “He’s old enough to be her father.”

  “But he’s not her father. It’s not that outrageous to think he might be attracted to her, too. If he were fifty-five and she were thirty-seven no one would think a thing of it.”

  “No, but when he was twenty-five, she was only seven!”

  “This isn’t the same thing and you know it.”

  “R.J.’d never do that to me.”

  “This isn’t about you, it’s about them.”

  “There is no them.” A fierce protectiveness threatened to choke him. From where they sat in the booth, he could see the Stargazer in its berth across the parking lot.

  There were no lights on in the sailboat’s cabin, but then, R.J. always turned in early and was up before dawn. Ty had an urge to march over and ask straight-out if R.J. had a thing for Sunny. But if the answer was yes, then what?

  “Damn it,” he muttered, frustrated as hell.

  “Ty, this isn’t the end of the world.”

  “I wanted you to tell me I was nuts. That there was nothing going on.”

  “Maybe there’s absolutely nothing going on. Maybe we’re both reading too much into this.” Her expression was full of concern.

  When he’d boarded the Stargazer tonight he realized that Sunny was the happiest he’d seen her lately that she appeared to be settling in.

  Now he couldn’t help but wonder if her happiness stemmed from her new life here, or was it because of R.J.?

  Claustrophobia was setting in. The smell of deep-fried shrimp and seafood, Kat’s gradual withdrawal into silence, the idea of Sunny and R.J
.—everything was getting to him at once. He needed to get out into the fresh air before he blew.

  He noticed Kat’s coffee cup was empty.

  “Would you like another cup?” He hoped she didn’t.

  She took one look at his face and said, “No, thanks. I’m ready to go.” Outside, the breeze off the ocean had grown damp and heavy. The water slapped rhythmically against the hulls of the boats resting in their slips. He drank in the night air, tried to reason—instead of wrestle—with what they’d talked about. Sunny and R.J. He couldn’t believe it. He simply didn’t want to.

  Thinking aloud he said, “I’ve got half a mind to go over there, wake him up, and ask him point-blank if he’s lusting after my kid.”

  “Ty, if you do that, you do have half a mind. Let it go. Wait and see what happens. Besides, being with someone older might be good for Sunny after everything she’s been through. She hasn’t had much stability in her life.”

  “I’m giving her the stability she needs.”

  “You’re her father. She’s a grown woman. With a child. You don’t want to do anything to alienate her, with things going so well. And you certainly don’t want to jeopardize your friendship with R.J., do you?”

  “Of course not. But you noticed something between them, too.”

  “If I were you, I’d be more concerned about her past coming back to haunt both of you.”

  “Great. Thanks. I needed that. Why in the hell would you bring that up?”

  “I’m sorry, but I just don’t think you should stir this up, Ty. Sunny’s really trying and succeeding at this. She’s a good mom. She’s working. This has been a smooth transition for both of you. Why ruin that?”

  “Then why the crack about her past coming back?”

  “I was just trying to point out that there are bigger issues in Sunny’s life than an attraction to R.J. Forget I said anything.”

  “Yeah, right.” He glanced over at the Stargazer again.

  She reached for him, took his hand in hers. “Ty, calm down. Sleep on it, okay?”

  “What about you?”

  “What about me? I told you that I don’t think it’s a big deal.”