by Marie Force
“Yeah,” Ted said softly. “Nothing like Cherie.”
“You liked Caroline, didn’t you?”
Startled, Ted looked over at him. “Of course I did. Why?”
“No reason. I just wondered.”
“I liked her,” Ted said, uttering what had to be the understatement of the century.
Chip, Elise, Smitty, and Caroline were waiting for them when Ted and Parker arrived at the ferry dock in the fishing port of Point Judith on Rhode Island’s southern coast. Throngs of people, cars, bicycles, and dogs on leashes waited in line to board the ferry for the fifty-five minute trip to Block Island.
“Hey,” Chip said. “We thought you guys were going to miss it.”
“We hit traffic in Providence,” Parker said.
“How’s the ankle?” Ted asked Caroline, making a supreme effort to hide the burst of emotion that assailed him the moment he saw her.
“Better. The worst part is the itching inside the cast. It’s making me nuts.”
Parker and Ted added their stuff to the stack of bags in the back of Chip’s Land Rover, which they were taking on the ferry.
Smitty held up the tickets he had bought for everyone. “We’ll meet you up top,” he said to Chip and Elise, who were waiting to drive the car onto the ferry.
Ted watched what seemed to be a well-practiced maneuver as Smitty tucked Caroline’s crutches under his arm and bent to pick her up for a piggyback ride.
“Want me to take the crutches?” Ted asked.
“I’ve got ‘em,” Smitty said. “We’ve got this down to a science. Right, babe?”
“That’s right.” She looked at Ted as she said it.
Smitty and Parker were talking as they walked onto the ferry and didn’t notice that Ted couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Chapter Ten
They went upstairs to the ferry’s top deck to one of the long rows of benches. Smitty led them to a corner away from the crowd that had gathered in the middle. By the time Chip and Elise joined them, Ted was sprawled out on one of the benches with his Red Sox ball cap pulled down over his eyes.
He heard Parker tell their friends that he’d had less than three hours of sleep the night before. They were used to the catnaps Ted often took after hectic nights at the hospital and loved to tease him about the wide array of conditions under which he could sleep.
Ted let them think he was sleeping, but what he really needed was a breather to get his emotions under control after seeing Caroline again. He now knew for certain that she was always going to have the same effect on him, and somehow he had to find a way to deal with the fact that he was in love with her but couldn’t have her.
He dozed but kept half an ear on the conversation. Smitty suggested they go down to the bar for Bloody Marys, and offered to bring one back for Caroline. Ted was aware the others had gone, and he was alone with her.
A few minutes later, his cell phone vibrated in the cargo pocket of his khaki shorts, and he reached for it without sitting up.
“Duffy,” he said.
“Ted, it’s Kelly.” He could hear tears in her voice. “I thought you’d want to know we lost Pilar.”
Resting his forearm over the hat covering his eyes, he asked, “When?”
“Thirty minutes ago.”
Ted ached when he thought of Pilar’s parents and the terrible ordeal they had been through only to lose their daughter to the chicken pox.
After a long moment of silence, Kelly said, “Ted? Are you all right?”
“Yeah.”
“I know you’re upset, but try to have a good weekend. There was nothing you could’ve done.”
Ted appreciated that she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Thanks, Kel.”
“How are things going with your situation there?”
“Same as before. Thanks a lot for calling.”
She must have sensed he couldn’t talk about it because all she said was, “Okay. Take care.”
Ted flipped the phone closed and held it to his chest as he absorbed yet another blow in what was shaping up to be his single worst month as a doctor.
“Is everything all right?” Caroline asked.
Ted took a deep breath and sat up, pushing his cap back so he could see her. “Lost another patient.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m starting to sound like a cliché, but this has been one hell of a month.”
She slid her hand across the expanse of blue bench between them.
He glanced up at her green eyes and couldn’t stop himself from taking the comfort she offered.
Her fingers wrapped around his, sending a jolt of desire shooting through Ted. They held hands and gazed into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity. Everything and everyone disappeared.
“You’ve got me all tied up in knots, Caroline,” he said softly.
“I wondered if it was just me.”
“It’s not just you.”
“I almost didn’t come this weekend, but when I tried to bail out—of everything, not just the trip—Smitty got so upset. He’s been so looking forward to the party, and I didn’t want to ruin it for him. I’m going to talk to him after the weekend.”
Ted tugged his hand free and stood up to lean over the railing as the ferry steamed past the bluffs on Block Island’s north end. When he had gotten a hold of himself, he turned to her. “I love him. Not like a friend, like a brother. He’s family to me. He doesn’t have anyone but us.”
“He loves you, too. All of you, but you in particular and your family.”
“And that’s exactly why nothing can ever happen between you and me. He would never get over that kind of betrayal.”
“I know,” she said, the agony of the situation apparent on her face. “I really do, but I’ve just been wondering, what if this is it? What if you’re the one for me? The one I’ve been waiting for?”
Ted winced as a burst of pain slashed through him. “Caroline . . .”
They heard Smitty before they saw him.
“See, I told you he’d be up by the time we got back,” Smitty said to Chip as they carried Bloody Marys for Ted and Caroline.
Ted took the drink from Smitty. “Thanks.”
Smitty lifted his drink in a toast. “Here’s to good friends, good times, and good liquor.”
Ted raised his plastic cup in salute to Smitty’s toast and took a drink, catching Caroline’s eye over the top of his cup. The shimmer of tears in her eyes told him she hurt every bit as much as he did. But rather than making him feel better, it only made the whole thing worse.
They worked their way down the three flights to the freight deck and piled into the Land Rover to drive off the ferry into the bustle of Old Harbor. Ted was squeezed into the back seat between Parker and Smitty, who had Caroline on his lap. This is a nightmare, Ted thought, as he glanced over to find Smitty’s hand curled around her shapely rear end.
Chip navigated around bicycles, pedestrians, baby strollers, and motorcycles as he drove them to Ted’s parents’ Corn Neck Road home, which sat high on a hill. The back of house overlooked the Great Salt Pond where hundreds of boats were anchored. Crescent Beach was across the street from the front of the three-story Victorian main house. To the left of the house, a huge white tent with plastic panel windows stood ready for the party on Saturday evening. The two-story guesthouse sat to the right of the main house.
Mitzi Duffy came running out the front door of the main house as the car traveled up a crushed-shell driveway lined with pink cabbage roses. Mitzi was tall and athletic with shoulder-length ash blond hair and the same blue eyes as her son. She wore a white tennis dress that showed off her deep tan.
Smitty lifted her off the ground and planted a loud kiss on her cheek.
“Put me down, you oaf.” She giggled as she usually did at Smitty’s antics.
“Mrs. Matilda Mitzi Duffy, this is my girlfriend, Caroline Stewart.” Smitty presented Caroline with a flourish. “Caroline, this is my adopted mother, Mitzi.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Duffy.”
“Oh, please, call me Mitzi,” she said as she hugged and kissed Chip, Elise, and Parker.
“Got any love left for me, Mom?” Ted asked with a teasing grin.
She reached up to hug her son. “Maybe just a little.”
The scent of her Chanel No. 5 reminded Ted, as it always did, of home. “Good to see you.”
“You, too, darling, but you look like hell.” She clucked with disapproval as she held his chin and studied his face. “Have you been getting any sleep?”
“Of course not.” When he looked up and saw his grandmother standing on the porch, Ted walked across the driveway and took the stairs two at a time.
“Hello, my love.” Her gray-blue eyes crinkled with delight as she smiled at her grandson. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me, too.” He kissed her lined cheek, and when he hugged her, he caught a hint of her Emeraude, another scent of home. He hated that she seemed tinier and frailer than she had a month ago. “You look lovely, Grandy. Did you just have your hair done?”
She smoothed a hand over her snow-white hair. “This morning,” she said. “Your mother’s right. You look exhausted, sweetheart.”
“I’m fine.” He offered her an arm down the stairs so she could greet his friends. “Are Tish and Steven here yet?”
“They’re on the three thirty boat,” Lillian replied. “Who’s that big hulk of handsome man you brought with you, Ted?”
Smitty grinned as he folded the elderly woman into a gentle hug. “Hello, love of my life,” he said before he introduced her to Caroline.
“Pleasure to meet you, dear.” Lillian shook hands with Caroline. “You’ve got your hands full with this one.”
“Nah, he’s easy,” Caroline said with a smile and was rewarded by snorts of laughter from Smitty’s friends as they unloaded the Land Rover.
“What did you do to your leg, honey?” Mitzi asked.
Caroline accepted her crutches from Smitty. “I broke my ankle a couple of weeks ago when I was running with Ted in Newport.”
“Oh, too bad,” Mitzi said. “Well, at least you were with the right person when it happened.”
“He was awesome,” Caroline agreed with a glance at Ted.
He acknowledged the compliment with a small smile, and when he looked up, he found his grandmother watching him with interest.
Like the main house, every bedroom in the guesthouse overlooked either the pond or Crescent Beach. Ted insisted Smitty and Caroline take the master bedroom on the first floor so she wouldn’t have to contend with the stairs. He showed Chip and Elise to the second-floor room they had used in the past and he took the room next door. Parker dropped his bags in the third bedroom upstairs.
“What do you guys want to do?” Ted asked when they gathered in the living room. The house was decorated in bright colors, comfortable furniture, and beach- and boat-themed artwork. Big pots of petunias, impatiens, and geraniums sat on the back deck and filled the house with their fragrance. “Beach? Pool? Boat? What’s your pleasure?” His father had a small sailboat anchored in the pond that Ted often used when he visited the island.
“It would probably be easier for Caroline to hang by the pool,” Elise said.
The others nodded in agreement.
“Don’t worry about me,” Caroline protested. “Do whatever you want this weekend, and I’ll do what I can. Besides, I’d hardly feel trapped if I had to stay here alone. This place is beautiful, Ted.”
“Thanks. We’ve always enjoyed it. Anyway, the pool works for me. I don’t have much gas today.”
“Sounds good to me,” Parker agreed.
“My mother said there’s stuff in the fridge for lunch, so everyone help yourself.”
They took lunch out to the pool deck, where they whiled away the afternoon watching the boats in the pond, listening to music, reading, sleeping, and relaxing. Smitty rolled out the cooler full of beer he had brought, but he paced himself so he wouldn’t be asleep before dinner.
Ted slept for an hour on one of the lounge chairs and awoke to find Caroline curled up asleep on one of the other chairs across the pool deck. Someone had tossed a beach towel over her to protect her fair skin from the hot sun. The others had wandered to the back porch of the main house where Mitzi and Lillian were serving frozen margaritas.
He noticed his father and grandfather had returned from fishing and Tish and her husband had joined the party. But rather than get up to see them, Ted took advantage of the opportunity to watch Caroline sleep. Her questions from earlier echoed through his mind: What if this is it? What if you’re the one for me?
He wanted to weep for what could never be because, unlike her, he had no doubt at all that she was the one. He knew it with every fiber of his being. She was the woman he wanted, and there would never, ever be anyone else for him. Knowing how she felt about him, Ted hoped she would end her relationship with Smitty before he got any more involved with her. He’d had enough heartache in his life, and Ted hated the idea of him having any more.
Maybe if she broke up with Smitty soon, Ted could “run into her” somewhere in a year or two and see her without harming his friendship with Smitty. I can’t believe I’m sitting here wanting my best friend’s girlfriend to dump him, Ted thought with disgust. This whole situation was turning him into someone he didn’t like very much.
Caroline woke up and caught him watching her. For a long time neither of them moved as they took advantage of the opportunity to feast their eyes on what they both wanted but couldn’t have.
Chapter Eleven
Dinner was a boisterous affair full of laughter, old stories, and tasty seafood prepared by Adeline, the cook who had worked for Ted’s parents for twenty-five years. After dessert, they lingered over after-dinner drinks. Ted sat next to his sister Tish and her husband Steven at dinner, but he kept one eye on Caroline across the table between Smitty and Parker.
Realizing he might never see her again after this weekend, Ted committed everything he observed to memory. Earlier he had noticed the little hiccup she got in the back of her throat when she yawned. Before she’d gotten up from her nap on the lounge, he’d also discovered that stretching was a full-body affair for her, like a lion awaking from a long slumber.
Now, as she talked with Smitty and Parker, he saw that she ran her tongue over her bottom lip when she was listening, and that laughter could explode from her chest or roll softly from her as if she was surprised to be amused. Smitty kept an attentive arm around her and whispered in her ear to bring her into the loop whenever a person or event from the past was mentioned.
When Ted couldn’t stand to watch their intimate back and forth any longer, he got busy fiddling with his spoon while the lively conversation continued all around him. As the night without sleep caught up to him, he was suddenly tired down to his bones. He was thinking about excusing himself to go to bed when he heard his name and looked up to find all eyes on him.
“Are we boring you, son?” his father asked with laughter dancing in his hazel eyes.
“What?” Ted asked, flustered. “No, of course not.”
“You were a million miles away,” Mitzi said.
“I was just thinking about going to bed, actually.”
“So early?” his sister said with a pout.
“I was up all night with a patient. I’m cooked.”
“Good outcome?” his grandfather asked.
Ted shook his head and hurt when he thought of Pilar, who had wanted nothing more than to be a typical teenager.
“I’m sorry to hear that, son,” Theo Duffy said solemnly.
“We were going to hit Nick’s and the Kittens,” Smitty said, referring to two of the island’s more popular bars. Ted could tell that his friend was trying to cajole him out of his funk the way he always did.
“Count me out,” Ted said. Ten years ago he could’ve g
one two nights without sleep but not anymore.
As everyone began to get up from the table, Adeline came in to clear the last of the dishes. Ted kissed her cheek. “Thanks for a great meal, Addie.”
“My pleasure, honey. You look like you need some sleep.”
“That’s where I’m heading.” Ted kissed his grandmother goodnight.
“You’re working too hard and not taking care of yourself,” Addie said.
“I said the same thing, Addie,” Mitzi chimed in as she linked her arm through her son’s. “Come on, darling, I’ll walk you over.”
“Hey, Duff,” Chip called from the back porch where everyone else had gathered. “Maybe Mommy will read you a bedtime story if you ask real nice.”
Mitzi turned to him. “You’re not too big to be spanked, Charles.”
“Oh, Mitzi, I love it when you talk dirty to me.”
Elise smacked him as everyone else howled with laughter.
Mitzi chuckled as she walked with Ted down the stairs to the gravel path that led to the guesthouse. After they had strolled in silence for several minutes, she said, “I’m worried about you, Ted. You’re not yourself today.”
“It’s been a hideous month at work. The worst ever.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
“I was hoping you might bring someone with you this weekend.”
“I brought five people with me,” Ted said in a teasing tone.
“You know what I mean.”
“There’s no one to bring, Mom.”
“Your grandmother wants to see you settled down and married before she goes,” Mitzi said, using a line Ted had heard a hundred times before.
Ted raised an amused eyebrow. “My grandmother does, does she?”
“Ted,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “We worry about you.”
“You don’t need to. I’m fine. I just need some sleep.”
She kissed him goodnight at the steps to the guesthouse. “Sleep late in the morning.”
“I’ll try.”