Longing for Love

by Marie Force

  Dan laughed. “It’s pretentious as all hell, and Dylan loved it. Having the car he loved makes me feel closer to him, if that makes sense.”

  “It does. It makes perfect sense. Do you have other siblings?”

  “Two sisters, both older.”

  “It must’ve been so hard to lose your only brother.”

  “Worst thing I’ve ever been through. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

  Kara seemed to be chewing over what she wanted to say next, so Dan forced himself to stay quiet and let her ask whatever she wanted to. “The other day when we talked about your work, why didn’t you tell me what you really do?”

  Dan grimaced. “Heard about that, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  He couldn’t tell if she was annoyed or merely curious. “Are you mad I didn’t tell you?”

  “I’m more surprised, I guess. It’s been my experience that people like to talk about themselves, especially when they’re trying to impress someone.”

  Her blunt approach to life was so damned refreshing. “Is that what I’ve been doing? Trying to impress you?” He was mindful to interject a suitable amount of humor into the question lest she think he was making fun of her. Had he ever tiptoed so carefully around another woman? Not that he could recall.

  He could feel rather than see the roll of her eyes. “What would you call it?”

  “Well, I, ah…”

  “Are you this articulate in court when you’re pontificating on behalf of your clients?”

  “Okay, first, I don’t pontificate, and second, I’m known for my articulate elocution.”

  Her lusty laugh did strange things to his insides. He suddenly felt warm all over, so he opened a window.

  She gathered up her hair and kept a firm grip on it.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “The fog will make my hair huge in like five seconds.”

  “Sorry,” he muttered, rolling up the window and resigned to his fate of being far too warm in her presence.

  “So why didn’t you tell me about your work?”

  “I don’t know.” He tugged at his shirt collar. “It wasn’t because I don’t want you to know about it. I didn’t want to sound, you know…arrogant.”

  “Far too late for that,” she said, laughing some more.

  While his arrogant self might be annoyed that she found it so easy to poke fun at him, the part of him that ached for what she’d been through loved that he could make her laugh. For that reason, he was happy to be her patsy. “You’re being kind of mean to me to say it’s our first date. I’d think you’d want to impress me.”

  “Is that so? I thought I’d already impressed you just by having freckles. Are you saying I need to do more?”

  “If you want to keep my attention.” He’d meant the comment as a joke but immediately regretted it. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded, Kara. You have my undivided attention, as you well know.”

  The animation had left her voice when she said, “I knew what you meant.”

  Dan took a huge gamble and reached for her hand. At first, she resisted, but then she relaxed and seemed to accept the intrusion. “He was crazy to let you go.”

  “When you get to know me better, you might not think so. For all you know, I’m a controlling shrew who likes to be in charge all the time.”

  His heart did a happy dance at the idea of getting to know her better. “Why, Ms. Ballard, are you talking dirty to me?” he asked with a dramatic shiver.

  “Shut up,” she said, laughing again.

  He really loved it when she laughed.

  A steady pounding on his front door woke Blaine from a sound sleep. He glanced at the bedside clock and saw that it was only ten thirty. When was the last time he’d gone to bed so early? With a mighty yawn, he eased himself out of bed, hoping Tiffany would stay asleep. He pulled on jeans, zipped them and closed the bedroom door behind him when he stepped into the living room of his small cottage.

  Since he was always wary of people he’d arrested showing up uninvited at his front door, he looked through the peephole he’d installed to see who was there. When he saw his mother’s frowning face, he groaned and threw open the door.

  “I believe I told you I wanted to see you today,” she said without preamble as she marched by him into the house. She was petite with dark hair gone gray and brown eyes. He loved her dearly, honestly he did, but sometimes she drove him crazy. Clearly, this was going to be one of those times.

  “I believe I told you I was busy. You know, working.”

  “Don’t give me that, Blaine Michael Taylor. I know darned well that as the chief of police, you can go anywhere you wish to on this island at any time you wish to.”

  She usually saved his full name for only the most heated of exchanges, and the idea of a big fight with her exhausted him. “What’s got you so wound up?”

  “You know exactly what’s got me ‘wound up,’ as you put it. Once again, you’ve taken up with a needy woman who already has you buying her things like furniture. What kind of self-respecting woman lets her new boyfriend—or whatever you are—buy her furniture?”

  “That’s not how it happened, Mom. She didn’t let me do anything. I did that completely on my own.”

  “What happened to her furniture?”

  “Her scumbag ex-husband took it all with him when he moved out, not that it’s any of your business.”

  She threw up her hands. “How is it any of your business?”

  He absolutely refused to squirm the way he would’ve back in high school when she looked at him that way. “I made it my business. I like her. She needed it. I saw it. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

  “If you want to tell yourself that—”

  “Mom! Stop it. I’ve heard enough. I don’t have to explain myself to you. I’m a grown man.”

  “Who’s made some very, very bad decisions where women are concerned in the past. Do you even know what she’s selling in that little store of hers? Why, the whole town is talking about it! Just tonight at bridge club, Myrna Applegate said the word dildo. I almost had a heart attack right there on the spot.”

  “Mom—”

  “And to think my own son is dating—or Lord knows what the two of you are doing—the town dildo queen, well, my God, Blaine, I can’t bear it. Loretta called her store the ‘Ye Olde Dildo Barn,’ and the whole group had a big laugh over it. All the while, I was dying inside knowing you’re all wrapped up in her. What will they say when they find out my son is…” She waved her hand around as she searched for the word. “Dating her?”

  “Stop. You don’t know anything about her. You have no idea—”

  “Is she or is she not selling dildos on Gansett Island?”

  He shifted from one foot to the other, his face heating at that word coming from his mother’s lips. “Maybe.”

  “There you have it. What else do you need to know about her?”

  “How about the fact that she’s sweet and loyal and genuine and funny and a wonderful mother and sexy as hell? Do any of those things matter, or are you so hung up on what she’s selling in her store that it’ll never matter to you that she’s a good person?”

  “A good person doesn’t bring that kind of filth into a town like this.”

  He snorted as he pictured the apoplexy she’d have if she knew that he’d tried out—and greatly enjoyed—some of Tiffany’s so-called filth. “Come on, Mom, it’s the twenty-first century, for crying out loud. You sound positively puritanical.”

  “I don’t care how I sound, and I can’t help how I feel. I don’t approve, Blaine, and there’re plenty of other people on this island who agree with me. Need I remind you that you lost your last job because of a woman? Are you really going to let that happen again? Mayor Upton won’t be happy to hear you’re seeing her, especially with all the traffic trouble her smut shop is causing in town. I’d think you’d be concerned about your job, taking up with a woman like that.”

  Hearing his
mother call Tiffany “a woman like that” made him as mad as he could ever recall being. “Listen and listen good.”

  Startled by his tone, she took a step back from him.

  “I like her. She’s nothing like Kim or Eden, and I don’t give a rat’s ass what you or your bridge club or the mayor or anyone else thinks of her or her business. You got me?”

  She shook her head in dismay. “You’re making another huge mistake with this girl.”

  “It’s my mistake to make.”

  “Don’t expect me to pick up the pieces when it blows up in your face and you get fired—again.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Blaine, please…”

  “I was going to bring her to meet you, but I guess there’s no point in that now.”

  She set her lips in the stubborn expression he knew far too well.

  “Maybe you ought to go.”

  “You think about what I said.”

  He opened the door and held it for her. “You do the same.”

  As she moved past him, she stopped and looked up at him with sad eyes. “I love you. I don’t want to see you hurt again.”

  “I know that. Trust me when I tell you I’m fine. She’s good for me.”

  Her cluck of disapproval wasn’t lost on him. He closed the door, turned the lock and rested his head against it. While he understood her concern, how could he make her see that everything about this relationship was different?

  It was his own fault for leaning on her and his family after the earlier disasters. With hindsight, he should’ve kept the details to himself. But he’d been so blindsided and devastated both times that his parents and siblings had come to him out of concern and helped him get his life back on track. He’d given his mother—hell, his entire family—reason enough to worry about him. He couldn’t deny that, but this time, he was older and wiser and had chosen a far more worthy woman to spend time with.

  He turned to return to her and was shocked to find her standing in the doorway to the bedroom. Shit. How much of that did she hear? Judging by her stricken expression, she’d heard enough.

  “I’d…I’d like to go home, please.”

  The quiet dignity in her voice broke his heart. He crossed the room to her in two strides. “Tiffany—”

  When she looked away from him, something in him tore and began to bleed.

  “Please,” she said softly.

  If he let her go now, he’d never get her back. That much he knew for sure. “Didn’t you hear my half of the conversation?”

  “I heard it.”

  “And it means nothing to you that I told her I choose you?” He rested his hands on her shoulders and felt her warmth through the thin robe. “I choose you, Tiffany. I want you. I need you. I…”

  “Don’t. Please don’t say what you think I need to hear.”

  “That’s not my style, and you know it.” Slipping his arms around her, he drew her in close to him, rubbing his hands up and down her back until she acquiesced and returned his embrace. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”

  “I’ve been deluding myself, thinking I got off easy because the islanders didn’t kick up much of a fuss about the store. Naturally, they’re talking about me and my store, but they’re doing it behind my back.”

  “So what? Let them talk. Today’s gossips are tomorrow’s customers.”

  “It’s not that simple, and you know it. What she said about your job—she’s right. You should be worried.”

  “I’m not. This town needs me far more than I need them, especially going into the season. Don’t add me or my job to your list of worries. I can take care of myself.” He kept his arms around her as he walked her backward to the bed.

  “I should go.”

  “No, you shouldn’t. You’ve been sick, and I don’t want you to be alone.”

  “But—”

  He kissed the words off her lips. “No buts.” When she was settled in bed, he dropped his jeans and crawled in next to her. “Come here.”

  She turned into his outstretched arms, resting her head on his chest.

  “I don’t care what anyone says,” he whispered. “Being with you feels right, and that’s all that matters.”

  She didn’t say anything, which worried him. The Tiffany he’d come to know always had something to say. Blaine fell asleep with the uneasy feeling that he might’ve dodged a bullet he’d have to deal with tomorrow.

  Stephanie’s grand opening wound down to include only her closest friends and Grant’s family gathered on the porch in Adirondack chairs they’d pulled into a circle around the outdoor fireplace.

  When she walked out to join them, the group erupted into applause.

  “There she is,” Grant said as he stood to welcome her with an outstretched hand. “My superstar fiancée. Everything was awesome, babe. Congratulations.”

  Glowing from the compliment and the warmth in his eyes, Stephanie took his hand. “Thank you, and thank you everyone for coming and for liking the food.”

  “It was amazing,” Jenny said. “All of it.”

  “Totally awesome,” Grace added.

  Stephanie raised her wineglass. “To my dear friends Grace, Jenny and Sydney, who absolutely saved my hide tonight by filling in for sick servers. To Laura and Owen and Sarah, who put up with me and my restaurant during the final hotel renovations and never once threatened to have me killed. To my amazing dad Charlie, who was my jack-of-all-trades over the last few months and never said no to any challenge I tossed his way. I can’t possibly tell you how much it means to me to get to see you every day, to work side by side with you, to…” Her throat closed, taking the rest of what she wanted to say with it.

  Charlie stood to hug and kiss her. “So proud of you, kiddo,” he said gruffly.

  “Thank you,” Stephanie said, returning his hug. “To my future in-laws, who kept me on as the marina restaurant manager even while I was working over here, too.”

  “Couldn’t do it without you, honey,” Linda said, raising her glass.

  “Hear, hear,” Big Mac added.

  Stephanie’s heart slowed to a steady thump when she turned to Grant. “And last but not least, thank you thank you thank you to my wonderful fiancé, who has supported me every step of the way. I love you so much.”

  A collective “Awwwwwww” followed her toast as Grant gave her a kiss and then a hug.

  “Have a seat and take a load off,” Grant said, tugging her down onto his lap.

  Stephanie had never been so happy to sit in her life. In fact, she decided as Grant’s arms came around her, she’d never been so happy, period. Here were most of the people she loved best in the world, less those who were home sick and those who were tending to them.

  Evan, who’d provided the evening’s entertainment, strummed his guitar and had them all laughing when he turned “Hotel California” into “Hotel Sand & Surf.”

  Sarah came outside carrying a plastic shopping bag.

  “What’ve you got there, Sarah?” Stephanie asked.

  “A little treat for the late-night crowd.” She handed the bag to Stephanie, who laughed when she looked inside and found the makings for s’mores. “To break in the new fireplace.”

  It had been Stephanie’s idea to offer s’more makings to guests enjoying the fireplace on the porch. Laura and Sarah had been all for it.

  “I forgot to bring the sticks for toasting the marshmallows,” Sarah said. “Be right back.”

  Stephanie watched as Charlie followed her into the hotel. “Something’s up,” she whispered to Grant.

  “With Charlie?”

  “And Sarah.”

  “Really? Wow, that’d be cool, right?”

  “I adore her, but I worry about him.”

  “Old habits are hard to break, but he doesn’t need you to worry about him anymore. He wants nothing more than for you to be happy and worry free. That’s what I want, too.”

  The spring breeze off the water was chilly, so she snuggled in
closer to him. “I’m happier than I ever hoped to be.”

  “Good,” he said, kissing her forehead and then her lips.

  “So, hey,” Mac said, “who’s in for sailing tomorrow? I’ve gotten a definite from Grant. Anyone else? Going once…”

  “I’ll go,” Evan said. “I’m at a standstill until my equipment gets here. May as well play while I can.”

  “I could use one more able body,” Mac said.

  “What for?” Dan asked.

  Mac explained about the crew that’d been sidelined by the flu.

  “I’ll do it,” Dan said.

  “Do you even know how to sail, Torrington?” Grant asked with a laugh.

  “I’ll have you know I was on the sailing team at Yale,” Dan retorted.

  “Oh, pardon us and your Grey Poupon,” Grant said in a snobby tone, making the others roar with laughter. “You might be too good for this crew.”

  “I can probably teach you a few things,” Dan said with a good-natured grin.

  “You’re in,” Mac said. “I’ll text the captain and let him know we’re good to go. Zero seven hundred, boys,” he added to groans from the other guys.

  “Better call it a night, then,” Evan said.

  “Oh, poor baby needs his beauty sleep,” Grant said, rubbing his eyes and making baby-crying noises.

  Evan threw an empty beer can at his brother. “Shut up.”

  “Children,” Linda said from her perch on her husband’s lap. “Try to behave in public.”

  “It’s him, Mom,” Evan said with a pout. “He’s bothering me.”

  “Grace, would you please deal with him?” Linda asked.

  “Happily,” Grace said, looping her arms around Evan’s neck and kissing the pout off his lips.

  Evan slid his arms under her and stood so quickly that Grace might’ve toppled off his lap if he hadn’t been holding her so tightly. She let out a squeak of surprise. “If she’s going to deal with me, it’s not going to be in front of you jokers,” Evan said to groans from his brothers and parents as he carried his girlfriend toward the steps. “Great time, Steph. Best of luck with the restaurant.”

  “Thanks for coming, and Grace, thanks again for the help.”