Sand Castle Bay

by Sherryl Woods

  “Absolutely. Knowing you’re coming by will be the perfect excuse to get Grandmother out of here at a decent hour.”

  “Then I guess it works out well all around,” he said, a wry note in his voice. He hunkered down in front of his son and held his gaze. “You do as you’re told and don’t give Emily or Ms. Cora Jane any trouble.”

  “Promise,” B.J. said, and scampered quickly away as if he feared his father might change his mind.

  Boone studied Emily with a narrowed gaze. “I’m not entirely happy about this.”

  “So I gathered. Mind telling me why?”

  “I told you the other day. I’m scared to death you’ll disappoint him when you leave.”

  His candor wasn’t a total shock, but his lack of faith in her hurt more than she’d expected it to. “Boone, he’s a wonderful boy. I won’t let him down. I promise.”

  His gaze locked with hers. “I’m holding you to that, Em. That boy is the most precious thing I have in my life. He’s been through enough.”

  “And so have you,” she said, understanding the pain they’d both suffered. “I get it, Boone.”

  He hesitated, holding her gaze, then nodded. “I’ll see you later, then.”

  She swallowed hard as he turned and walked away. “Later,” she whispered, wondering if she hadn’t just made a huge mistake by making a promise she’d never be able to keep, no matter how good her intentions were. After all, what did she really know about protecting a little boy’s heart?

  * * *

  It was about six-thirty, and Boone was wrapping things up for the day, preparing to head over to Cora Jane’s house to pick up B.J., when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID but didn’t recognize the area code or number.

  “Boone, it’s Emily,” she said when he answered.

  The shakiness in her voice put him immediately on full alert. “What’s wrong? Has something happened to B.J.?”

  “He fell in the parking lot and cut himself on a nail sticking out of a board,” she blurted as if she had to get the words out in a hurry. She drew in a deep breath, then added, “It’s a pretty deep gash, but he’s fine. I swear, Boone, he really is fine. He’s handling it like a real trouper.”

  “Where are you?” he asked, trying to temper panic and the need to lash out. He’d known leaving B.J. behind today was foolish. What had he been thinking?

  “We’re at Ethan Cole’s Emergency Clinic,” Emily told him. “Grandmother called Ethan and he met us here. B.J. needs stitches and probably a tetanus shot, unless he’s already up-to-date on that. That’s really why I’m calling. Ethan doesn’t want to give him the shot if he doesn’t need it.”

  “Let me speak to Ethan,” Boone demanded, needing not only the insights of an expert, but his reassurance.

  “Of course,” Emily agreed at once.

  “Hey, Boone,” Ethan said, sounding calm and completely unruffled, exactly the demeanor one wanted from an emergency physician. “B.J.’s going to be just fine. Hasn’t shed a tear. In fact, he’s excited about having a scar. I’m numbing the area right now so I can do those stitches. He’ll be good as new in a couple of weeks.”

  “Swear to me he’s okay.”

  “He’s okay,” Ethan said. “Emily had the bleeding stopped by the time they got here. She really kept her wits about her and kept B.J. calm in the process.”

  “What the hell was he doing running around in the parking lot, anyway? And where’d that board come from? I cleaned the parking lot of debris myself.”

  “You’re asking the wrong person,” Ethan said. “But, if you’re looking for speculation, seems to me it could have washed into the road overnight on high tide and somebody tossed it into the parking lot. Does that really matter?”

  Boone sighed. “I suppose not. I knew I shouldn’t have left him over at Castle’s today. Emily was supposed to be keeping an eye on him.”

  “Sounds to me as if she and Cora Jane were both right there when he tripped and fell. It was an accident, Boone. Things like this happen, especially to little boys who don’t think about the dangers that might be underfoot after a storm.”

  “But I warned him,” Boone said in frustration.

  Ethan chuckled. “Do you not recall that eight-year-old kids have the attention span of a gnat? I can’t tell you how many people I’ve patched up this week from incidents just like this one. Where does B.J. stand on his tetanus shots?”

  “He’s up-to-date,” Boone said.

  “Then it’s all good. I’ll have him out of here in a half hour.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “Why don’t you just meet them at Cora Jane’s as planned?” Ethan suggested. “It’ll give that temper of yours time to cool down. I know you’re looking to place blame, but I’m telling you it’s an accident that could have happened to anyone. Don’t make Emily the scapegoat. If you do, you’ll just make Cora Jane feel guilty, too, and she’s shaken enough.”

  Boone sighed. “You’re probably right.” He hesitated, then asked, “How are your sewing skills? He’s not going to look as if he was sewn up by a butcher, is he?”

  Ethan laughed. “You do recall that not that long ago I was stitching up soldiers on the battlefield in Afghanistan, right? The United States Army trusted me to know what I was doing. The scar will be real pretty, I promise.”

  Boone finally managed a chuckle. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’m overreacting. Thanks, Ethan.”

  “Any time, pal. See you soon. I’ll want to see B.J. to remove the stitches in a couple of weeks. Just stop by during office hours or if that doesn’t work, give me a call and I’ll come by the house.”

  “We’ll settle up the bill then, too,” Boone promised.

  “Just invite me over for steak next time you’re grilling,” Ethan said. “It’s been a while since we’ve gotten together.”

  “Then we’ll plan it,” Boone promised. A guy’s night was way too rare these days. He could use one, too, a night free of the complications that seemed to be piling up in his life these days.

  When he’d disconnected the call, he drew in a deep breath and said a little prayer thanking God that B.J.’s injury hadn’t been worse. He understood that accidents could happen anytime, anyplace to anyone. But this had been his boy, and B.J. had been in Emily’s care. He wondered if he had it in him to forgive that, despite the logic that told him no forgiveness ought to be required.

  * * *

  “Daddy’s going to be really, really mad at me,” B.J. said, looking dejected as Emily drove him and Cora Jane home.

  “He’s just worried, that’s all,” Emily assured him, though he’d certainly sounded angry on the phone. She hoped that had been the fear talking and that Ethan’s reassurance had settled him down. The last thing B.J. or Cora Jane needed was to have Boone storming in on a tear.

  They’d barely pulled into the driveway at home when Boone turned in behind them, tires squealing as he hit his brakes. He was out of his car practically before the engine cut off. He yanked open the back door of the rental Emily was driving, his expression easing only when he saw for himself that B.J. was essentially in one piece.

  B.J. held out his bandaged arm. “Dr. Cole says I’m going to have a scar,” he said excitedly. “I had to have stitches. I didn’t even cry.”

  “He was incredibly brave,” Cora Jane confirmed, giving Boone a warning look.

  Emily watched Boone blink back a tear as he forced himself to give his son a congratulatory high-five.

  “You’re not going to ground me, are you?” B.J. asked worriedly. “Or yell at anybody? Or keep me from going to Castle’s?”

  “You might need to take a couple of days off till your arm’s healed up,” Boone said. “But, no, I’m not going to ground you.”

  “How about the yelling?” Emily asked quietly. “
I imagine you’d like to direct a few pointed words at me.”

  Boone glanced up at her, his eyes filled with emotion. He looked as if there was plenty he wanted to say, but he managed to censor himself.

  Cora Jane seemed to sense that the two of them needed to talk privately. She put an arm around B.J.’s shoulders. “Come on, B.J. Let’s get those cookies and the milk I promised you. I’ll bet Samantha has them on the table waiting for us.”

  “All right!” B.J. enthused, then took off running.

  Boone shook his head as he watched him. “That boy never slows down. I’m sure that’s how he fell in the parking lot.”

  “It is,” Emily confirmed. “I’m really sorry, Boone.”

  “Intellectually, I know it wasn’t your fault.” He tapped his chest. “But in here, I’m looking for somebody to blame.”

  “I get that, and it did happen on my watch, right after I’d assured you he’d be safe with me.”

  “And I was standing right here when he took off running across the lawn just now, oblivious to all the branches that could trip him up. He’s a rambunctious kid.”

  “That almost sounds as if you’re letting me off the hook,” Emily said.

  “Trying to,” he admitted, grinning. “Ethan gave me an earful. That helped to put things in perspective, too.”

  “You two are still good friends?”

  Boone nodded. “Ethan didn’t make it easy when he first got home from Afghanistan. He was angry and bitter and pretty much hated the world after he lost his lower leg.”

  Emily’s eyes widened. “He lost his leg? I had no idea.”

  “He’d be delighted to hear that. The truth is that most people don’t even notice. He’s mastered the prosthesis, had a huge attitude adjustment and finally seems to be on track again.”

  “That’s amazing. Good for him.”

  “It really is good for him,” Boone said. “There’s nobody around I admire more.”

  “Wasn’t he engaged? Is he married now?”

  Boone hesitated, then said, “That didn’t work out. And, word of advice, don’t bring it up around him.”

  Emily stared at him. “They broke up because of his injury?” she guessed.

  Boone nodded. “Talk about being bitter where women are concerned? Ethan wrote the book on it.”

  “That’s a shame,” she said.

  Boone nodded.

  Emily met his gaze. “You coming in for cookies and milk? Or would you rather have something stronger? I think we have some beer.”

  Boone looked torn. She had a hunch if it hadn’t been for B.J., he’d have taken off right then. He surprised her, though, by suggesting she get a couple of beers.

  “Maybe we could sit down by the water,” he said. “Catch up?”

  “Sure,” she said, eager to accept the olive branch he was extending.

  When she went inside to retrieve the beers, she found her sisters doting on B.J., exclaiming over his bandaged arm and his bravery.

  “Where’s Boone?” Cora Jane asked.

  “Outside. I’m going to grab a couple of beers and join him for a little while, if that’s okay.”

  The three women at the table exchanged amused looks.

  “I win!” Samantha said, holding out her hand.

  “Win what?” Emily asked with a narrowed gaze.

  Cora Jane and Gabi each put five dollar bills into Samantha’s outstretched hand. The sight of her sister gloating grated.

  “You’re kidding me,” Emily said. “What was the bet?”

  “How long it would take for you and Boone to settle your differences,” Gabi said with a grin.

  Emily frowned. “Nothing’s settled. We’re having a beer and a conversation.”

  “Close enough to count,” Samantha said.

  “And you bet it was going to take a couple of days?” Emily asked, then looked at her grandmother. “How about you?”

  “I thought you’d hold out for at least a week,” Cora Jane admitted.

  “And my money was on never,” Gabi said. “Given how stubborn the two of you are.”

  Emily simply shook her head, grabbed the beers and went outside. She found Boone sitting on the dock, his jeans rolled up and his feet dangling in the warm waters of Pamlico Sound.

  “How many nights do you suppose we sat out here like this, talking till Cora Jane insisted you come inside?” he asked, as he accepted his beer from her and took a swig.

  Emily smiled at the memory of her grandmother’s determination to make sure that nothing more than talking went on between the two of them. She’d succeeded until Boone got his driver’s license. After that, they’d found plenty of places with more privacy.

  “Well, I was fourteen the summer we met. We were pretty much inseparable after that. You do the math. Of course, back then we were drinking sodas, not beer.”

  “I thought you were the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen,” he said, his voice filled with nostalgia for a change, rather than the bitterness she’d grown accustomed to the past couple of days.

  “And I thought you were the most dangerous boy around, especially after I found out you’d been picked up trying to buy beer with a fake ID.” She slanted a look at him. “Seriously, you thought you could pass for twenty-one? You’d just turned fifteen.”

  “Not one of my shining moments,” he admitted. “Cora Jane reminded me of that just this morning. She claims it should have made me into a believer in second chances.”

  Emily regarded him closely. “You don’t believe people deserve second chances?”

  “Depends on the circumstances, I guess,” he said with a shrug. “Some things are pretty unforgivable.”

  “Since you were having this conversation with my grandmother, why do I have a feeling it had to do with what I did to you?”

  He slanted a look her way, a smile on his lips. “Because she thinks my attitude toward you is a little too unyielding.”

  “It is,” Emily agreed, then grinned. “But I get it, Boone. I hurt you. And, to be honest, I haven’t been cutting you much slack, either.”

  “To hear you tell it, though, I hurt you right back when I married Jenny.”

  “Yep,” she confirmed. “I took it personally, no question about it.”

  “I thought you’d be relieved.”

  She stared at him incredulously. “Relieved? Why? I’d told you I loved you. I thought it was understood that you’d wait for me.”

  “Sweetheart, trust me. If you tell a guy you love him as you’re walking out of his life, it makes it a little hard to believe. You might want to keep that in mind if the occasion ever arises again.”

  She recalled how devastated she’d felt when she’d learned he was marrying Jenny. “Did you have to turn to someone else so fast?”

  He shrugged. “What can I say? I was lost without you, and I was hurt and angry. Jenny was right there. She made no secret of being in love with me. There were no games, no pretenses, no hidden agendas. She wanted marriage and a family. That held a lot of appeal after you telling me you weren’t ready for any of that.”

  She forced herself to ask, “Did you love her, Boone?”

  He glanced at her, his expression unreadable. “Will it make you feel better if I say no? The truth is I did love her, Emily. Otherwise I wouldn’t have married her. At least I like to think I’m a better man than that.”

  Emily felt the unexpected sting of tears in her eyes. Somehow she’d held out hope that there’d been no love between them, but how selfish was that? Had she honestly hoped that Boone had sentenced himself to a loveless marriage?

  “I’m sorry,” she said, not entirely sure what she was apologizing for. Was it for his loss or for her own childish desire to have remained first in his heart? “Were you happy?”


  He gave her another long look, then said, “Yeah, I was. And when B.J. came along, I thought I had everything I ever wanted.”

  Emily smiled. “I can understand that. He’s an amazing kid.”

  “He’s certainly taken a shine to you,” Boone said, still not sounding especially happy about that.

  “Well, the feeling is mutual. I hope you won’t keep him away because of what happened today.”

  “Oh, I’m tempted to do just that,” he admitted, then added in a resigned tone, “but I doubt I could if I tried. B.J. is very clever about getting his way. I seem highly susceptible to his tactics. Jenny was a much tougher disciplinarian than I am. And since she died, I want him to have whatever he wants or needs. That’s probably going to come back and bite me in the butt one of these days.”

  “I don’t think so. You know what I see in him? I see a boy who knows he’s loved and responds to that. I don’t see him taking advantage of it. He’s a very responsible kid.”

  “He’s had to grow up too soon.”

  “You know he worries about you,” Emily told him. “He doesn’t like to bring up his mother because he knows it makes you sad.”

  Boone sighed. “I know. I heard him tell you that earlier. It ripped me apart. I guess we need to have a talk about that. I need to reassure him that he can talk to me about Jenny anytime he wants to.”

  “That’s what I told him.”

  “I know. You were very good with him.”

  She slanted a look at him. “You sound surprised.”

  “I suppose I am, a little. I never had the sense that having kids was a big deal to you. That was another reason I thought any future for the two of us was doomed.”

  Emily frowned at the assessment, though she understood where it came from. “Just because I wasn’t ready for kids ten years ago doesn’t mean I never thought about having them. You were just ahead of me. It scared me how ready you were for everything—a wife, a family, settling down. I felt as if I was just starting out. There were so many places I wanted to see, things I wanted to achieve.”