Beach Lane

by Sherryl Woods

  Shanna shook her head. “Now, that’s the part that’s not normal. How the two of you have gone this long deluding yourselves that you’re nothing more than friends is beyond me. It’s beyond all of us, for that matter. Sometimes I want to lock the two of you in a room—preferably a bedroom—and leave you there until you figure out what the stupid bed is for.”

  Susie smiled despite herself. “I’m pretty sure Mack has sufficient experience with beds to know what to do in one. I’m kind of counting on that,” she said wistfully.

  “And yet how many times have you reiterated to him that all that experience is precisely why you won’t date him?”

  “I have done this to myself, haven’t I?” Susie said despondently. “It started out as a defense mechanism, but Mack took all those protests to heart, and now neither one of us knows how to change the dynamics between us.”

  “It’s pitiful, that’s for sure,” Shanna said.

  “What do I do?”

  “You could start by telling him what you really want,” Shanna suggested. “I hear that’s the mature way to go about these things.”

  Susie winced. “And risk total humiliation?”

  “Or get exactly what you want,” Shanna countered.

  “I’ll think about it,” Susie said eventually. “Of course, telling Mack what I want when he’s not even answering his phone could prove to be tricky.”

  “Then go over to his apartment,” Shanna suggested.

  “Will and Jake said he needs time to deal with whatever is going on.”

  “They’re men. What do they know? At the very least, keep calling until he can’t stand listening to your voice on his answering machine and either takes your call or calls you back. This is no time to be faint of heart, Susie. Go after what you want.”

  “And if I fail?”

  Shanna gave her a commiserating look. “Will you really be any worse off than you are now?”

  “What if I lose him for good? At least now we’re friends.”

  “I repeat, will you really be any worse off than you are now? No matter how often you say it to me or to yourself, it’s obvious that just being his friend isn’t cutting it for you anymore.” She looked into Susie’s eyes. “Or am I wrong about that?”

  Susie sighed. “No, you’re not wrong. I want more. I want it all, everything you have with Kevin, everything Abby, Jess and Bree have found with the men in their lives. I even grew up with perfect examples all around me, at least when it came to my parents. Even Uncle Mick and Megan finally got it right.”

  “Okay, then, do whatever it takes to get what the rest of us have. Personally, I don’t think there’s the slightest risk in hell that Mack is going to reject you. In fact, I think he’ll welcome you taking the initiative.”

  “Maybe,” Susie said, though she still had her doubts. Hundreds of them, in fact.

  Then again, something had to change. Limbo had been bad enough. She certainly wasn’t going to let herself wallow in misery.

  “Thanks, Shanna,” she said, giving her friend a hug.

  “Keep me posted, okay? I’m here anytime you need me. The whole family’s on your side, you know.” She grinned. “Especially your uncle Mick. In fact, if you need motivation, just remember that resolving this yourself will be a whole lot better than letting Mick work up a full head of steam as a matchmaker.”

  “I’ll definitely keep that in mind,” Susie said. As Shanna had said, it was the best possible motivation.

  Mack sat in the dark listening to what had to be Susie’s twentieth message in the past forty-eight hours. She was starting to sound just a little frantic. Or maybe angry. He couldn’t recall ever hearing Susie sound quite so fit to be tied before.

  “So help me, Mack Franklin, if you don’t surface soon and tell me what’s going on, I’m calling the police and putting out an all-points bulletin on you.”

  Mack winced. He knew she’d do exactly that. Susie might appear shy and vulnerable, but she had a spine of pure steel and a glint of determination in her eyes that could scare a man half to death. It might take a while for that gutsiness to kick in, but once it did, she was formidable. Normally Mack considered that admirable, but tonight it made him shudder.

  She was still ranting when he picked up the phone. “No need to alert the police,” he said calmly. “I’m right here.”

  She breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Well, thank God,” she said, then immediately started berating him. “Why haven’t you picked up all the other times I’ve called, or at least called me back?”

  “Most women would already know the answer to that question.”

  “Is this one of those he’s-not-into-you things?” she asked, “Because if it is, that is so not the point. I was worried about you.”

  “No, it’s one of those I-don’t-want-to-talk-to-anybody things. And I’m sorry if I worried you. Maybe I should have checked in before going into seclusion.”

  “Yes, you should have,” she said fiercely. Then her voice softened. “What’s going on, Mack? Talk to me.”

  He chuckled despite himself. “Did you not hear what I just said?”

  “That you don’t want to talk to anybody, blah-blah-blah. I’m not anybody, Mack. I’m your friend, just like Will and Jake. I’ll bet you’ve talked to them.”

  There was a note of hurt in her voice that twisted him up inside. “You are nothing like Will and Jake,” he said.

  “I see,” she said stiffly. “Okay, then. I’m very sorry I bothered you.”

  She hung up before he could tell her she’d misunderstood. He muttered a curse and called her back. It took ten rings before she finally answered. “Now I don’t want to talk,” she said heatedly. “You know what that’s like.” She hung up again.

  Mack redialed. “Will you just listen to me for ten seconds?” he said. “Then you can slam the phone down in my ear if you want to.”

  “It will be my pleasure,” she retorted. “Okay, talk.”

  “I just meant that the relationship you and I have is different from the one I have with Will and Mack.”

  “Friends are friends.”

  “Come on, Susie. You know that’s not entirely true. I’m not saying men can’t be friends with women, but the dynamics are not the same.”

  “You’re talking about sex,” she said bluntly. “Since we’ve never had sex, then it’s exactly the same.”

  “No,” he insisted, a little startled by the fact that she’d even mentioned sex. It wasn’t a topic they discussed. Since she’d brought it up, though, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from saying, “We always have the potential for sex.”

  Silence greeted the comment.

  “Is that so?” she said at last, amusement now threading through her voice. At least she no longer sounded insulted or furious. If anything, she sounded intrigued. “Just how great do you think that potential is?”

  “That’s always depended on you,” he said before he could stop himself. Going down this road now with his professional life in turmoil was a very bad idea. While starting to think about or even to act on the idea of sleeping with Susie would be a fascinating distraction, that wasn’t the way he intended to get through this rough patch. It would be too unfair to her.

  Mack realized just how big a mistake he’d made when she sucked in a deep breath and murmured, “Oh, really? It’s up to me? I had no idea I had that kind of power over you. I’ll have to think about exploring some new possibilities.”

  “Susie, you don’t want to sleep with me,” he said, as if the idea were ludicrous.

  “Maybe I do,” she said, sounding dead serious.

  Mack almost swallowed his tongue. “Susie, you don’t even want to date me, much less get seriously involved with me. How many times have you told me that?”

  “Possibly a few too many,” she said candidly.

  “Meaning?”

  “You’re not dense, Mack. It means I might have changed my mind.”

  “It’s the might have part that worries m
e. Men wind up in jail over maybes and might haves.”

  “We could get together and talk about it,” she suggested.

  “Oh, no,” he said at once. “You’re obviously having some kind of mental lapse tonight about the kind of man I am. In fact, you’re starting to sound downright reckless, which isn’t you at all. I don’t want to take advantage of that.”

  She sighed heavily. “I was afraid you’d say that. Are you ever going to try to seduce me, Mack? It’s giving me some kind of complex that you’ll apparently hook up with every other female on earth except me.”

  “I do not hook up at all,” Mack said indignantly. “At least not recently.”

  “What’s recently?”

  The pitiful truth was that he’d lost interest in all other women the minute he and Susie had started hanging out together on a regular basis. She was in his head all the time. In his heart, too. It had taken him a while, but he knew it now. Talk about lousy timing!

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Look, I’m going to let you go. We’ll talk about this next time I see you.”

  “Which will be on Thanksgiving at Uncle Mick’s, right?”

  He hesitated. “I don’t know about that, Susie. It’s probably a bad idea. Besides, Mick hasn’t mentioned it to me.”

  “He will,” she predicted. “And you will say yes. Even if he doesn’t track you down, I’m asking you now, and again, the correct answer is ‘Yes, thank you very much, I’d love to come.’”

  To Mack’s surprise, she sounded awfully determined. “Why?” he asked.

  “Because I haven’t had a date for one of these family shindigs since I turned eight and dragged Joe Campbell along. It was his second Thanksgiving dinner of the day and he threw up. After that, nobody ever encouraged me to bring someone.”

  “Joe Campbell always did have a weak stomach,” Mack said. “You had lousy taste in boyfriends back then.”

  “Did you not hear me say I was eight? What did I know about boys?”

  “And now?” he asked, suddenly on edge. Had he missed something? Was Susie interested in someone else? He’d seen no evidence of that, but maybe she was as sick of living a totally celibate life as he was. Maybe Thanksgiving was some kind of test. If he failed, was she ready to cut him out of her life for good? Was that what this whole conversation was about?

  “Apparently I’m still on shaky ground when it comes to figuring out men,” she said. “Which makes it even more important that the next man I turn up with at a family function is the kind of solid guy my family will approve of. They all like you, and I’m pretty sure you won’t throw up before the pumpkin pie.”

  “Not even after,” he promised. He cursed himself for his inability to stick to his guns. There were way too many ways this could go badly. Even so, he said, “Okay, I’ll see you there.”

  “Maybe you should pick me up,” she said. “That way you aren’t as likely to chicken out.”

  “And your family will think it really is a date,” he speculated. “Is that wise? I gather Mick is already getting ideas about taking our situation in hand.”

  “He is, which is annoying, but not unexpected. Frankly, though, the non-dating thing really isn’t working for me anymore,” she said, startling him. “I think it’s time for a serious attitude adjustment.”

  Once again he heard that bold, reckless note in her voice. What on earth had gotten into her? And why, heaven help him, now?

  “Susie, maybe we should rethink this,” he said urgently. “I might not be around for Thanksgiving, after all. I have some things I need to take care of.”

  “More important than showing up for dinner with friends?” she asked. “Are these things so important that you’re willing to let me down?”

  There was a warning note in her voice that caught him off guard. It strengthened his suspicion that this dinner was, indeed, some kind of a test.

  “Okay, what’s going on here, Susie? You’ve been saying stuff all night that’s not like you. Now you’re issuing some kind of subtle warning. What’s that about?”

  “Maybe I’ve decided it’s past time to shake things up,” she said. “Maybe I’m sick of all this dancing around we’ve been doing for way too long now.”

  “And you’ve just had this epiphany this week?”

  “Yes,” she said flatly. “Just tonight, in fact. Deal with it.”

  The blunt order was so unlike Susie, he had no idea how to respond to it.

  “Have you been drinking?” he asked, because he couldn’t come up with any other explanation.

  “Have you ever known me to drink more than an occasional glass of wine?”

  “No, but there’s a first time for everything,” he said. “Has somebody been talking to you, putting ideas into your head?”

  He envisioned Will having some kind of heart-to-heart with her and getting her all stirred up to take charge of things. It would be just like him, since he knew Mack was having second thoughts about the whole proposal thing.

  “Have you seen Will?” he asked suspiciously when she remained silent.

  “I saw him earlier today, but he didn’t give away any of your closely guarded secrets, if that’s what you’re worried about. He and Jake are more tight-lipped than some international spy. I’m sure they could give lessons to the CIA.”

  “Good to know,” he said with relief. Of course, that still raised the question of what had gotten into Susie tonight. Maybe he should invite her over and get to the bottom of this.

  Then, again, given her reckless, unpredictable mood, that could be dangerous…for both of them.

  “I’ll give you a call before Thanksgiving,” he said eventually. “We’ll make plans.”

  “And in the meantime, what?” she demanded. “You’re going to be in hiding?”

  “Something like that. Like I said earlier, don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

  “Whatever you say,” she said. “But don’t even think about standing me up on Thanksgiving. If you try to, I will come over to your apartment and drag you out, if necessary. I will bring my brothers, Will, Jake, whoever I need to, to get you to Uncle Mick’s—is that understood?”

  Mack laughed. “What’s not to understand? I have to say, though, that this bossy side of you could take some getting used to.”

  “Something tells me you’re going to have plenty of opportunities to do just that,” she said, her tone unexpectedly sassy.

  She hung up before Mack could come up with an adequate reply. Whether it was alcohol or something in the water, this was definitely Susie as he’d never seen her before. Despite its emergence at the worst possible time, he couldn’t help being fascinated. He’d never before thought of her as having a devious bone in her body, but perhaps he’d been wrong. Perhaps intriguing him had been exactly what she’d been counting on.

  On the day before Thanksgiving, Laila Riley sat in her office at the bank, staring out the window, her mood dark. The upcoming holiday weekend promised to be the most depressing ever. Her parents had decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to London. Her brother would be with Abby and the twins at the O’Briens, leaving her to do what? Nothing, as usual.

  She glanced up as Jess O’Brien—Jess Lincoln, she corrected—walked into her office without being announced.

  “Just as I suspected,” Jess said. “You’re sitting here in a funk.”

  “Who says I’m in a funk?” Laila demanded, sitting up straighter and trying to look more cheerful. “I have a four-day weekend stretching out ahead of me. I have all sorts of plans.”

  “Oh, really? To do what?”

  “You know, the usual Thanksgiving holiday things. I’ll eat a little turkey, hit all the holiday sales on Friday and Saturday.”

  “Let’s say I buy that for a single minute,” Jess said. “With whom are you having that turkey dinner? Your parents have already left for England, and Abby tells me you turned down their invitation to join us.”

  “You can’t possibly shove another person around that
already overcrowded table,” Laila said. “Besides, I’m getting tired of the pity invitations.”

  Jess regarded her indignantly. “Since when has anyone in my family made you feel as if you were being included out of pity? It’s a well-known fact that we invite you for your scintillating personality.”

  Laila knew what her friend was trying to do, and on some level she wanted to say yes. Spending Thanksgiving on her own would be more depressing than any of the other meals she’d eaten alone since she’d sworn off dating after the whole online dating fiasco, when she’d wound up being stalked and harassed.

  “Look, I appreciate the invitation, but I’ll be okay,” she insisted.

  “Okay, then, I’ll back off,” Jess said a little too readily. “On one condition.”

  Laila regarded her with suspicion. “What condition?”

  “You tell me what your other plans are—and they’d better be good. Frozen turkey and dressing heated in the microwave and eaten all alone doesn’t count.”

  Defeated, Laila sighed. “What time is dinner?”

  “Three o’clock,” Jess said, obviously happy over her victory. “Will and I will pick you up at two so you can help with the preparations. That’s part of the fun.”

  “Says the woman who lets the chef at her inn fix all of her meals.”

  Jess grinned. “I don’t want my husband to starve, do I? Or to die from my cooking?”

  “Exactly what does your grandmother let you do to help prepare Thanksgiving dinner?”

  “Last year I dished up the stuffing and the cranberry relish and put them on the table,” Jess said proudly. “This year I’m pouring the wine that Will picked out from the inn’s wine cellar.”

  Laila laughed. “Well, I have no idea how I’ll compete with that, but since the standard’s pretty low, I suppose I won’t fall flat on my face. There’s bound to be some task at which I can excel.”

  Jess grinned back, but then her expression sobered. “You do know we all love you like family and that you belong with us, right?”

  Unexpected tears stung Laila’s eyes. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t you dare cry,” Jess ordered. “Just be ready on time tomorrow.”