JC followed Cameron’s lead toward the table. He knew Jordan and Chloe, and he had met Jennifer once when she dropped something off at the house for Tessa. Being surrounded by new people always put JC on edge, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge, but he quickly grew comfortable with the people of Clearwater.
“Want a beer?” Jordan asked JC as he handed one to Cameron.
“Sure.” He lowered onto the corner of the bench, obtaining a clear view of most of the crowd, and Rebecca. Taking the bottle from Jordan, he twisted the cap off, and took a long swig.
“Let me hold my sugarplum.” Chloe bent, unhooking Rosie from her car seat. “I’ve missed her.”
“Now that Jordan’s finished your log home and Holly’s running most of the day-to-day operations for Winterbloom, you need to visit more,” Tessa said, taking a seat next to Chloe. “Cam’s always busy, and I only get goo’s and gah’s with Rosie. I need some adult interaction.”
“I’ve cut back now that JC’s here.” Cameron added defensively.
“Before you newlyweds bicker too much, Tessa, why don’t you ask my workaholic wife how she’s doing with giving up the reins to Winterbloom.” Jordan held his hands up in surrender as Chloe whipped around to face him.
“Chloe?” Tessa raised an eyebrow.
“Winterbloom has been my life since I was a child, running it with Gram until she passed. It’s my heart and soul, and hard to give it up.”
“But there’s life outside of the Bed and Breakfast.” Jordan slid his hand down Chloe’s arm.
“He’s right,” JC added. The minute the words escaped his lips he wished he could take them back. Everyone turned to him. He gave them a halfhearted smile. “I didn’t expect to make it after…I left the Marines, but now that I’m here, I do my best to live every day to the fullest. Chloe, you just need to find a balance. All you need is a competent manager for Winterbloom. Let that person handle the daily operations while you sit back and enjoy your family. My mother has worked two jobs most of her life, never having the time to spend with her children. Now they are growing fast, and she regrets the lost time. Don’t miss out because of work.”
“Wow.” Tessa broke the silence that followed JC’s comments. “So young and knowledgeable. Cam needs to take your advice. Thankfully with you running the shop he finally gets to spend more time with Rosie and me.” She smiled at her husband.
“I am, and JC is learning the ropes quickly, but it’s a new business, which I still need to keep my hands in. Once the classes start I’ll have even more time to spend with you.” Cameron leaned to kiss his wife.
JC sat there for a moment realizing he had told everyone at the table that they needed to live their life, yet he wasn’t following his own words. “If you’ll excuse me, there’s someone I’d like to say hello to.” He rose from the table and headed toward Rebecca before the courage escaped him.
Her gaze found his as he neared, and his heart skipped a beat when she smiled. Her grin was like a lighthouse in the middle of the darkest night, guiding him like a beacon. Speeding up his pace, his lips curl upward, returning her smile with one of his own.
“JC, I’m glad you could make it.” She waved a hand to her father. “This is my father, Robert James. Dad, this is JC.”
JC accepted the man’s extended hand, giving it a firm shake. “Juan Carlos Marquez, sir, but please call me JC.”
“None of that sir stuff. Robert is fine. What branch are you in, son?” Robert tapped the bench, offering JC a seat.
JC sat across from Rebecca. He was surprised that her father knew he was in the military. “I was a Marine, but an injury cut my career short. How did you know?”
“It’s the way you carry yourself. A fellow service member recognizes another. I was in the Navy for over twenty years. What brings you to Clearwater? Or are you originally from here?” Robert’s brows furrowed over his eyes, almost as if sizing up JC. To determine if he was good enough for Rebecca?
“Cameron White was my commanding officer. He needed help with his shop, Clearwater Combat and Guns, so here I am. Do you live here or are you in town visiting?” One thing JC didn’t miss about dating was impressing the parents, not that he dated often before his injury.
“Visiting. I’m returning to Denver in the morning.” Robert turned to Rebecca and nodded. “I’ll leave you two for a bit. I need to make a couple of phone calls.”
“Okay, Dad.” She watched her father leave the park before glancing back at JC. “I didn’t know he was coming into town until yesterday.” She shook her head. “I’m really glad you came.”
“I’m glad I came too.” He smiled, suddenly feeling like a schoolboy again. “I don’t want to interrupt your visit with your dad, but I’d like to talk to you for a few minutes. Could you take a short walk with me?”
She glanced over her shoulder at her father, who was in the parking lot talking on his cell phone. “Okay.”
JC walked away from the noisy picnic area, hoping to gain a little privacy for what he wanted to tell Rebecca. She stepped in beside him. Once they neared the far edge of the lake, he nodded toward the bench. “Let’s sit.”
She sat on the bench, staring at him intently. “You seem tense, is everything all right, JC?”
“Sitting over there with Cameron, Jordan, and their wives, I realized something.” He paused and inhaled a deep breath. What he was about to tell her might change how everyone in Clearwater saw him. He’d no longer be the new guy in town. He could become the new handicapped guy in town. How he hated that label. Even without his leg, he was still the same man he was before. It took coming to Clearwater to help JC understand that there wasn’t anything he could do before his injury that he couldn’t still do.
“What is it?” A hint of concern filled her voice.
“I gave up living life to the fullest after I was discharged from the Marines, but that’s about to change. I told you I was injured on my last mission. The truth is, I lost my leg in an IED explosion. I don’t know if I’d have made it through without Cameron. I owe my life to him. He’s the reason I moved here. I’m telling you this because I want to be honest with you and it’s only right that you know up front. If you’re okay with my disability, I’d like to take you out sometime.” He let the words fly off his tongue, desperate to get them said.
A glimpse of sadness shadowed her hazel eyes. “I appreciate you telling me this, but I’m wondering if I should be offended that you thought I’d have an issue with your injury.”
“Rebecca, that’s not what I meant.” He ran his hand down the length of his jeans. “Damn it. This isn’t coming out how I wanted it to.”
She laid her hand over his. “JC, you’re still alive, that’s what should matter. You lost your leg, but you’re alive and healthy. Many of our military members are denied a second chance at life. When my father retired from the Navy, he took a job as an architect, designing homes for injured military members once they’ve been discharged. I’ve met some of the people he has helped. They’ve suffered loss from this war, but they are alive and that’s what counts. Their families are grateful to have them. I’ve also seen the families of those who never made it home. In honor of the soldiers who will never make it home, you need to live the life you were meant to. You’ve been given a second chance. Don’t let it pass you by.” She didn’t bother to wipe away the tears that slid down her cheeks.
“When I first woke up in the hospital and realized what happened, I prayed for death. My mother is a single mother of nine children, and I’ve always been the man of the family. I helped her make ends meet, with the younger children, and whatever else she needed done. It was the reason I joined the Marines. Without my career I didn’t know how I was going to continue taking care of them.” He sighed. “My mother was beside my bed and cried, not for the loss of my leg, but because I made it home. My heart broke at the sight of my mother crying.” If he would have died it would have been worse for her and his whole family.
“I
t sounds as though you’re close to your mother and your siblings. If not for yourself, you need to be strong for them.” She frowned. “Why are you here, instead of being with your family?”
That was the one question he didn’t want to answer. Why he ran as quickly as his legs would carry him from North Carolina. “I’m close to my family, they mean everything to me, but I had to leave.”
“Why?”
She wasn’t going to let the subject drop, leaving him with two options, be rude and ask her to drop the inquisition or to tell her the truth. If he expected her to go out on a date with him then rudeness was out of the question. “Everyone back home knew what happened. I didn’t want their pity. When I went anywhere, I saw the sympathy in people’s faces. I got tired of their sadness and their questions. If I was ever to move on with my life, it had to be somewhere else. Home only reminds me of what I lost. The whole town is Marines. Military is a way of life there.”
“For some people it’s the only way they know how to deal with tragedy. I’m sorry you had to leave your home because of it. What about your family? Will they remain there?”
He noticed sadness in her eyes, but thankfully no pity. Rebecca treated him like a person and not a former shell of who he once was. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about options. Mom and the kids need to get out of where they’re living. The apartment is too small, and Mom needs more help. Lee and Laya, the next oldest, can only do so much. Laya is like a second mother to the younger siblings and Lee has stepped into my shoes since I left. He has a chance to make something of himself, to go to college on a full football scholarship if he can keep his grades up. He only has a year left.” JC glanced over the lake. “I want them to come here. Clearwater would be good for my family, but I’m not sure I can convince my mother. I’ve been putting together a plan, to convince her.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m sure your mother misses you. If anyone can find a way to bring them here, I know you can. Finding a place big enough might be a challenge, but I can help.”
“Thank you. I have money put aside to do this and it doesn’t have to be a huge place. They live in a small four bedroom apartment now. I hope I can find something better.” The loneliness of not having his family close by stung. “I just want them here. They deserve better than what they have now.”
She ran her thumb over his knuckles. “I’m off tomorrow, why don’t you come by my place and we’ll put together a plan to convince your family to move here.”
“Only if you promise you’ll let me take you out to dinner afterward?” He hoped she’d say yes because he was growing short on alone time with her. It wouldn’t be long before her father returned, or Cameron and Jordan wondered where he had taken off.
“Okay. How about one o’clock?”
“Give me your address, and I’ll be there. It looks like your father is done with his calls.” He nodded toward Robert approaching.
“I rent the apartment above Express-Ohh’s, park around back and you’ll see the door.” She smiled and turned to her father. “Hey, Dad.”
Robert stood behind them. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Of course not. I should be going. Cameron and Tessa will be wondering where I disappeared. Enjoy your visit, Robert.” JC rose from the bench, careful to not raise his leg too high so his pant leg didn’t show his prosthesis. Cameron, Jordan, and their wives knew, and now Rebecca, but he didn’t want everyone in town to know. He couldn’t face a repeat of pity on people’s faces here too.
“I will, and I hope to see you again when I visit.” Robert stuck out his hand, smiling, and nodding as if giving JC permission to date his daughter.
JC returned the handshake and smiled. He then grazed his fingers along Rebecca’s arm. “Thank you for listening and understanding.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She grinned.
For the first time since JC woke up in the hospital bed, he truly felt alive. Life was no longer passing him by.
Chapter Six
Rebecca stretched her legs on the sofa, a bowl of ice cream in her hand. She was still adjusting to the information that her parents were divorcing. “Dad, I know Clearwater doesn’t have an airport like Denver, but have you thought about staying here? Between jobs?”
He sat catty-corner across from her in the black recliner. He laughed. “You don’t want me around cramping your style with a new gentleman friend.”
She shoved a spoon full of chocolate ice cream into her mouth. “Seriously? You were gone a lot when I was growing up, but now we can make up for lost time. There’s no reason for us to be miles apart. Would you at least give it some thought?”
“You didn’t deny my gentleman friend comment.” His eyebrow rose. “I’m not your only family. You still have your mother. Maybe with this new guy she’s dating, she’ll get her life turned around.”
Years ago, Rebecca gave up hope that her mother would pull her life together and give up the bottle, so she chose to ignore her father’s comment about her mother. However, his comment on JC couldn’t be avoided. Her father wouldn’t give up until he knew what was going on between her and JC. She’d always be daddy’s little girl, no matter how old she was. “I just met JC. He’s a super nice guy and we’re going to dinner tomorrow night. I don’t know if it will turn into a relationship.”
“Why not? You’re an attractive, smart girl.”
“Thanks, Dad. JC’s got his own issues he needs to work out.”
He sat his glass of sweet tea on the coffee table. “Issues?”
Without going into many details, she explained what JC had told her at the lake. “His family means a lot to him. I don’t know if he’ll stay in Clearwater if his mother and family refuse to move here too.”
“So make it so they can’t refuse?”
“What do you mean?” She placed her bowl of ice cream on the end table and tucked her legs under her.
“Let’s build them a house, give them a true home they can’t say no to. JC served his country, it’s time his country gave back to him.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, and then glanced at her. “The project in Denver is done in three weeks and I don’t have anything lined up after that. Do you have Cameron’s number?”
“You know Cameron?” She slid her phone from the pocket of her sweats and tossed it to him. “It’s under Tessa.”
“Yes, we met several years ago. If anyone can help, it’s him. Let me call him before it’s too late. Maybe I can get the ball rolling, and you can tell JC the plan tomorrow.” He rose from the chair and headed down the hallway to the spare room.
* * *
With her father on his way back to Denver, and his promise to consider settling down in Clearwater part time, Rebecca was hopeful. If JC gave the go-ahead to build his family a home here, she’d be seeing a lot of her father in the near future.
Glancing over the quick plans her father was able to draw up over breakfast, a sliver of nervousness passed through her. If only her dad could have stayed to go over things with JC. Housing plans and land space was not her thing. She was a business major and knew next to nothing about building houses.
A knock on the door made heart flutter. With a quick glance at the clock, seeing he was a few minutes early, her nervousness quickly changed to excitement as she went to open the door. She hoped he would be as excited about the building plan as she was. When he spoke of his family the longing was clear in his eyes. He could never truly be happy without them nearby.
Opening the door, her breath caught in her throat. The faded blue jeans and grey T-shirt he wore did little to hide his toned body. She took a step back. Why would he think a woman wouldn’t be interested in him because of his injury? He was one fine specimen of pure hunk. Regaining her breath, she invited him in. “Come in.”
“There’s this girl that works at Express-Ohh’s that got me hooked on their coffee.” He laughed and handed her one of the to-go coffee cups in his hand. “Jennifer fixed your regular.”
“Tha
nk you.” She brought the cup to her lips and sipped. She loved French vanilla cappuccino. “This girl at the coffee shop, is she pretty? Should I be concerned she’ll steal away your attention?” she teased.
“She’s beautiful and had the focus of my attention since I walked into the shop.” She shut the door behind him and waved a hand toward the dining room. “I grabbed today’s edition of the Clearwater News, to check the rental ads.”
“Actually, I have an idea about that. Please, sit down.” Butterflies danced in her stomach as she strolled toward the dining room table. Setting her coffee cup down on the table, she waited for him to sit across from her. She then took a deep breath and told him about the new plan. “I was talking to my dad about your family’s situation and he mentioned another option.”
“What option?”
She pushed her cup aside, leaning forward to wrap her hands around his. “Let’s build a home for your family.”
He sat straight, but didn’t pull his hands away. “I have some money saved, but not enough. I don’t know if I could get a loan to buy land and build, especially since I just started working for Cameron.”
“I wish my father was here to explain this to you because I knew I wouldn’t do it right.” She bit her lip, taking a moment to consider her words so he’d understand. “I meant building with my father. You’re an injured vet, trying to put your life back together.” She smiled. “Dad did some research last night. There’s a strip of land just outside of town, big enough for building.” She reluctantly let go of his hand and grabbed a green folder. Pulling out the sketches her father worked on that morning, she handed them to JC. “It’s a rough design of what he could build and you can change anything you want. The idea of a duplex allows you a place of your own and your family next door. Normally with a duplex you have equal sides, but with eight children still living at home, Dad changed the design a little. Your mother’s house would have six bedrooms, as well as a nice size playroom while the kids are younger and can be turned into a family room as they grow up, while your house would have four bedrooms.” She gave him some time to review the floor plan.
Clearwater Romance Page 16