* * *
As Boone had predicted, the last of the customers was leaving Castle’s just as Emily arrived. With the dining room closed, Wade had arrived to work on the cabinets Cora Jane had decided she wanted behind the cashier stand.
“How’s it going, Wade?” Emily asked. “How many times has Grandmother changed her mind today?”
He laughed. “So far, we’re sticking with yesterday’s plan. Three cabinets for storage, but now she’s decided some open shelving would be good, too.”
“For?”
“Souvenirs, I think. Gabi suggested it. She’s been over there poring over catalogs for a couple of days now. Says it would be great PR to have people walking around all over town wearing Castle’s T-shirts and ball caps and drinking out of Castle’s fancy to-go cups. I recommended she look into sand pails, the perfect thing for making sand castles on the beach, right? I thought it was an inspired tie-in.”
“It actually is,” Emily agreed. “What did Gabi say?”
He shrugged. “About what you’d expect. She told me to stick to carpentry.” He beckoned Emily closer. “But I sneaked a peek at the catalogs she has over there today.” A grin spread across his face. “Sand pails.”
Emily laughed. “Good for you.”
She headed for the booth where her sister had set up shop. “On a spending spree?” she asked, sliding into the booth opposite her.
Gabi looked up, the smile on her face fading as she realized who it was. “Bravely returning to the scene of the crime?” she inquired.
“What crime?”
“Running off on a little boy who was counting on you.”
“B.J. and I have made peace. So have Boone and I, more or less, anyway. Didn’t Grandmother tell you I’d gone to B.J.’s soccer game this morning? And where were you when I got in last night, anyway?”
“I was here late,” Gabi replied. “Somebody has to keep an eye on Wade.”
Emily managed to fight a grin. “Wade seems to me to know what he’s doing. Does he really need supervision?”
“I don’t trust him,” Gabi said. “He keeps making all these changes. I think he’s trying to run up Grandmother’s bill.”
“And I think Grandmother is making all those changes to keep him around,” Emily told her.
Gabi looked vaguely nonplussed. “Why would she do that?”
“Eye candy for you,” Emily suggested.
“Be serious.”
“I am serious. Grandmother’s matchmaking engine is running full-throttle. Me and Boone, you and Wade. I can hardly wait to see what—or should I say who—she has in mind for Samantha.”
“I have a boyfriend,” Gabi reminded her yet again.
“So you keep saying. Why haven’t we met him? Why doesn’t he call every ten minutes to tell you he’s pining for you?”
Gabi frowned. “It’s not that kind of relationship. We both do the things we need to do. We understand about obligations.”
“Gee, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. No wonder Grandmother’s on a mission to find a suitable replacement.”
“There is nothing suitable about Wade,” Gabi protested.
“He’s gorgeous. He’s nice. He’s funny. And he seems pretty darn eager to worship at your feet. I’d say that puts him several notches above what’s-his-name.” She frowned. “What is his name, anyway? And why don’t you talk about him more, if he’s so right for you?”
“His name is Paul, and I don’t talk about him because I don’t want to deal with all this attitude from you and Samantha and Grandmother. Cora Jane may have Jerry, but I don’t see you or Samantha carrying on any big love affairs. Until you are, your opinions are suspect.” She gave Emily a questioning look. “Unless there’s something I don’t know about you and Boone. You said you’d made peace. Does that mean you’ve accepted your destiny and crawled into his bed?”
Emily really, really wished she could confirm that she had, if only to wipe that smug look off her sister’s face. Then, again, was that really the only reason she could think of for wishing things had heated up between her and Boone? Hardly. Despite every word they’d exchanged, every off-limits declaration they’d made, the break she’d taken to get her perspective back, despite all of that she seriously wanted that man’s hands on her body again.
Even if it would be a huge mistake.
10
Even as he was driving B.J. over to Castle’s as promised, Boone was already having misgivings. Every minute he spent with Emily grew more complicated. Back at the restaurant he’d been within seconds of tossing caution to the wind and kissing her. While he might be oblivious to a lot of the ramifications of some of his actions, he knew with absolute certainty that one kiss would doom him. Whatever willpower or restraint he’d mustered to keep her at arm’s length would have dissolved like sugar in hot tea.
B.J. was clutching his little plastic soccer award as if it were a Super Bowl trophy. “This is so cool,” he said. “Huh, Dad?”
“It is very cool,” Boone confirmed.
“Maybe Ms. Cora Jane will want to put it on display,” he said hopefully.
“Hey, what about me?” Boone protested. “Maybe I want it to be on display in my restaurant.”
B.J. regarded him incredulously. “Really?”
“Why not? You’re my son and it’s your first sports award. It should be where people can see it and know how proud of you I am.” He glanced over at B.J. “What do you think? The first award in a trophy case at Boone’s Harbor?”
“Awesome!” B.J. said enthusiastically. “You can have it, but only after I show Emily and Ms. Cora Jane.”
“Of course.”
“Did Emily really say she wanted my help with picking out stuff for Castle’s?”
Boone smiled at his excitement. “Well, I might have planted the idea in her head, but she was eager to get your input.”
“How come you told her to ask me?”
“Because I happen to know how persuasive you can be and how much Ms. Cora Jane likes you,” Boone admitted. “I think both of those things will help Emily make her case for redecorating. It means a lot to her.”
“Yeah, and Ms. Cora Jane is really, really against it,” B.J. said direly, then admitted, “I kinda get why she feels that way. Castle’s is really nice the way it is.”
Boone gave him a curious look. “You planning to tell Emily that?”
B.J. grinned. “Heck, no. Then she won’t need my help.”
“I thought what she liked best about your advice was your candor.”
B.J. regarded him blankly. “Huh?”
“You tell her what you really think,” Boone explained. “She counts on that.”
“Yeah, I guess,” B.J. said. “But I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
Boone laughed. “And you have just learned man’s eternal dilemma.”
“Huh?” B.J. said again, looking even more bewildered.
“You’ll understand when you’re older. Men are always trying to find the right balance between the truth, diplomacy and what a woman really wants to hear. We get tripped up on that a lot.”
B.J. shook his head. “Sounds way too complicated. I’m thinking girls might not be worth it.”
“Believe me, it is complicated,” Boone said. It had gotten him in trouble more times than he could count. He smiled. “But it’s definitely worth the trouble. You’ll see.”
* * *
Cora Jane was in the kitchen going over tomorrow’s specials with Jerry when B.J. came bounding in, followed at a more sedate pace by Boone. She saw the plastic prize in B.J.’s hand and beamed at him.
“What do you have there, young man?” she asked as if Emily hadn’t already filled her in on B.J.’s big day on the soccer field.
“I scored
the winning goal today,” B.J. told her excitedly. “And they gave me a prize, and Dad’s going to put it on display in his restaurant, because it’s my first sports trophy.”
Cora Jane chuckled. “Well, of course he is. He must be very proud.”
“No question about it,” Boone confirmed.
“Where’s Emily?” B.J. asked, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. “She had to leave before I got my award. I want to show her.”
“She’s sitting in the dining room with Gabi,” Cora Jane told him. “Go right on in there. I’m sure she’s anxious to see it.”
“And then you come back here,” Jerry told him. “I want to hear all about how you scored that winning goal.”
“Okay,” B.J. said. “It was awesome, huh, Dad?”
“Awesome,” Boone confirmed.
“You’re not going in there with him?” Cora Jane asked, studying Boone intently. He was staring after his son, his expression filled with worry.
“Nope. He and Emily have things to discuss. Mind if I pour a cup of coffee and hang out with you?”
“Sounds to me like you’re avoiding her. Any particular reason? I thought the two of you made peace earlier.”
“We did.”
Cora Jane grinned. “She’s getting under your skin, isn’t she? Reminding you of what the two of you used to have?”
Boone gave her an impatient look. “It’s not as if I’ve ever forgotten what we had. She’s the one who threw it away.”
“And you’re scared she’ll do it again, and now B.J.’s feelings are involved,” she guessed, feeling sorry for the mess her granddaughter had left behind all those years ago.
“Something like that,” Boone conceded. “Could we not dissect this, please? It is what it is.”
“Doesn’t have to be,” Cora Jane said. “You could do what I know you’re itching to do and just give the woman another chance.”
“Cora Jane, has she done one single thing to indicate that she wants a second chance? I sure haven’t seen it.”
“Leave it be,” Jerry warned her, stepping in for the first time. “Let them work it out for themselves or you’ll find yourself caught in the middle.”
“I am in the middle,” Cora Jane retorted. “I love both of them. I know they were happier together than either one of them has been apart, whether they want to admit the truth or not.” She met Boone’s gaze. “No disrespect to Jenny intended. She was a wonderful girl and a wonderful wife to you. Heaven knows, she was an incredible mother for B.J.”
“She was,” Boone said. “And I don’t ever want to forget that.”
Cora Jane studied this young man who’d survived Emily’s abandonment, married too impulsively and in far too many ways lived to regret it. She thought she understood what was at the heart of his reluctance to move forward, at least with Emily.
“Do you intend to do penance for the rest of your life for not loving Jenny enough?” she asked him gently. “You loved her the very best you could, Boone. No husband could have been more devoted.”
Boone regarded her with disbelief. “You know better.”
“I know no such thing. I saw the two of you together, remember? Jenny wanted for nothing. You had this amazing son together. Jenny’s face glowed with happiness.”
Boone obviously remained unconvinced. “There was a part of me that was never hers.”
“Well, of course not,” Cora Jane said impatiently. “In a lifetime we may fall in love only once, if we’re very, very lucky. Most people love twice, even more. The heart doesn’t have limits on its capacity for love. A part of mine will always belong to my late husband, rest his soul, but that doesn’t mean my feelings for Jerry are any less deep or sincere.”
“And I wouldn’t expect her to forget about Caleb,” Jerry added, backing her up in this. “Of course he’s still in her heart.”
Cora Jane gave him a grateful look, then turned back to Boone. “And I imagine Jenny never expected you to forget entirely about Emily. Of all people, she understood what losing her cost you. Because she loved you so, that girl understood your heart in ways I’m not even sure you did.”
“But I felt as if I was cheating on her every day we were married,” Boone said. “Because I never entirely let go of the past. I wanted to be a good husband, the kind Jenny deserved, but I failed time after time.”
“You did not fail,” Cora Jane insisted. “It’s only your misplaced guilt talking. You did nothing wrong, Boone. You weren’t chasing after my granddaughter. As far as I know, the two of you never even spoke on the phone or kept in contact any other way. You honored your commitment to Jenny from the day you made it.”
“Tell that to Jenny’s parents,” he said. “They knew. Her mother told me as much when Jenny died. She said I’d ruined her daughter’s life and it was all my fault that she’d died, that she’d had nothing to live for.”
Cora Jane stared at him in shock. “Jodie Farmer dared to say such a thing to you, especially at a time when you were dealing with the death of your wife?”
“And a lot more,” Boone confirmed, thinking of her threats to take custody of B.J.
“And of course you believed her,” Cora Jane said, finally understanding. “You’d already condemned yourself, so you took the words of an angry, grieving mother to heart.”
“How could I not? I knew the truth. As hard as I’d tried to do right by Jenny, I’d let her down.”
Cora Jane simply couldn’t allow him to go on thinking like that. She had to find the right words to show him that Jodie’s bitterness wasn’t based in reality.
“Did Jenny even once suggest that she thought you’d let her down?” she asked Boone.
“No, but that was just the kind of person she was. She loved everyone. She overlooked all their faults, mine most of all.”
Cora Jane shook her head. “Boy, you refuse to cut yourself even the tiniest break, don’t you? Jenny was smart, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“And she picked you to love?”
His gaze narrowed. “What’s your point?”
“I don’t think a smart woman would have chosen someone she didn’t consider worthy or put up for a minute being anyone’s second choice, at least not if they threw it in her face that that’s all she was.”
“Of course I didn’t throw it in her face,” Boone said indignantly.
Cora Jane smiled. “No, you didn’t. And that’s precisely my point. Once you made the commitment to that girl, you gave your marriage everything you had to give. However much that was, it was enough to keep a sunny smile on Jenny’s face and joy in her heart. She was happy, Boone. I’d stake my life on that. And that was because of you.” She gave him a hard look. “And I won’t hear another word from you saying otherwise.”
Boone’s smile was a long time coming. When it came eventually, it was accompanied by a sigh. “What did I ever do to deserve someone like you in my corner?”
Cora Jane stood up and put her hands on his cheeks. “You became part of my family the very first day you walked in here with Emily. Nothing, not one thing you could ever do, will change that.” She gave him a little shake. “And you need to remember that I’m nobody’s patsy. When it comes to people, I can spot a fake or a cheat or a jerk quicker than most. You are none of those things, Boone Dorsett. You’re a decent, strong, loving man or I wouldn’t want you for my granddaughter. Understood?”
His smile finally spread. “Understood.” He planted a kiss on her cheek. “But I think I’d better get B.J. and head home.”
“Now?” Cora Jane said incredulously. “Did I just waste my breath here?”
Boone laughed. “I heard you. Doesn’t mean I’m going to jump off the deep end just because it’s what you want.”
She shook her head. “I might have to take it all back,
” she warned him.
“Up to you,” he said, giving Jerry a wink. “See you soon.”
“Maybe you will. Maybe you won’t,” Cora Jane replied. “I really don’t like it much when my advice is ignored.”
“Keep that in mind when Emily comes to you with her latest plans for this place,” he suggested. “She’s not crazy about being ignored, either. The two of you are a lot alike in that regard.”
“Well, I never,” she muttered as he walked out. She turned to Jerry. “I honestly thought I’d finally made some progress with that man.”
Jerry chuckled. “Maybe you ought to think about sitting back and letting nature take its course. Neither one of them is going to stand a chance against those sparks that fly whenever they’re in the same place, not for long, anyway.”
“I don’t like leaving the important stuff to chance,” Cora Jane said in frustration.
“Think of it this way,” Jerry suggested. “You’re putting it in God’s hands. Last time I checked, He was even better than you at making sure things turn out the way they’re supposed to.”
Cora Jane could hardly deny that, but she sure as heck didn’t have to like it.
* * *
Boone had heard every word Cora Jane said to him on Saturday. He even believed some of it. That didn’t mean he was quite ready to let go of the guilt that had wrapped itself around him like a cloak ever since Jenny’s death. That being the case, he tried to give Castle’s a wide berth at least until Emily left town for good. He managed to steer clear on Sunday and Monday, but by Tuesday B.J. was having none of it. Boone dropped him off that morning and returned only to pick him up. He didn’t set foot inside.
On Wednesday he tried yet again to convince B.J. to spend the day with him. Unfortunately B.J.’s attachment to Emily was growing. Boone might not consider it healthy, but he understood why his son was basking in her attention. He missed his mother and needed a woman’s tender touch.
“How about hanging out at my restaurant today?” Boone suggested when they left the house.
B.J. immediately shook his head. “It’s boring there. Everybody’s too busy to pay any attention to me. Tommy won’t let me help with anything. He says I might get hurt.”
Sand Castle Bay Page 13