Beach Reads Boxed Set

by Marie Force

  “I’m not really sure.”

  They walked to the end of the crushed shell driveway where Parker turned to him and told him about the odd encounter he’d had with Caroline the night before.

  Ted fought to keep his distress from showing.

  “Why do you think she would lie to me like that? It was so bizarre.”

  “I don’t know. Did you talk to Smitty about it?” His heart all but stopped while he waited for Parker to answer.

  “No, but I wanted to. I’d hate to start something over nothing, and I don’t want Caroline to think I’m a big-mouthed jerk.”

  “Probably a good call,” Ted said, relieved. The lawyer in Parker was having a hard time letting this go, which made Ted extremely nervous.

  “So you didn’t hear anything? I mean you were the only two in the house.”

  “No,” Ted said, looking his friend in the eye. “I didn’t hear a thing.”

  Parker went back to the guesthouse while Ted walked his heavy heart over to see his parents and grandparents. This whole thing became a bigger nightmare with every passing day. He couldn’t recall ever lying so blatantly to anyone before, let alone to one of his closest friends.

  The main house bustled with activity as caterers, florists, and other workers set up for the party.

  “Morning,” Ted said when he came upon his parents and grandparents enjoying a quiet breakfast in the kitchen, oblivious to the chaos.

  “Good morning,” Mitzi said, jumping up to kiss his cheek and pour him a cup of coffee. Today she wore a yellow sundress that made her look closer to forty than sixty. “Now, Ted, honey, why do you still look so tired?”

  “Stop harping on the boy, Mitzi,” his grandfather said with a wink for Ted. “He’s on vacation.”

  “He’s running himself ragged,” Lillian said, disapproval written all over her still-pretty face.

  “Just like we used to,” Ted’s father, Ed, said. “It’s good for him. It keeps him out of trouble.”

  “Hello.” Ted waved his hand to get their attention—not that he needed any more of their attention. “I’m in the room, people.”

  Lillian giggled. “So no one told us Smitty has a new girlfriend. She’s lovely.”

  “Uh huh,” Ted agreed, accepting a cup of coffee from his mother.

  “Do you think he’s serious about her?” Mitzi asked.

  Ted wanted to groan, but all he did was shrug. “Hard telling.”

  “Smitty doesn’t know the meaning of the word serious,” Ed said. “She’ll be history in no time, just like all the others.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Mitzi said as she sat next to her husband. “I saw the way he looked at her last night. Maybe this one will stick.”

  “What do you think, Third?” his grandfather asked.

  Lillian shot a pointed look at her husband.

  “Oh, I mean Ted. Sorry.”

  “I really have no idea,” Ted said, already wishing he had just stayed in bed today. Once again he noticed his grandmother’s wise old eyes trained on him, and for the briefest of instants he felt like she saw everything he was trying so hard to hide. Desperate to shed the feeling and change the subject, he said, “So what can I do to help for the party?”

  “Not a thing, darling,” Mitzi said with a breezy wave of her hand. “We’ve got everything under control. Why don’t you and the kids hit the beach today?”

  “I’ll see what they want to do.”

  After spending another half hour with his parents and grandparents, Ted walked back to the guesthouse like a condemned man heading for the gallows. He couldn’t bear the idea of having to hide all he felt for Caroline, even for two short days. For the first time in his career, he wished for an emergency at the hospital that would demand his immediate attention. Anything to get him out of here. But that wasn’t going to happen. He was signed out for the weekend, and Roger wouldn’t think of calling him back to work. Besides it would take him hours to get there anyway, and he wouldn’t do that to his parents and grandparents on their big day.

  Marooned.

  The word took on a whole new meaning as he trudged up the back stairs of the guesthouse where Elise and Caroline sat at the dining room table doing their nails.

  Caroline looked up at him, and he was instantly held captive by her green-gold eyes. In that one endless, silent second she managed to use those magnificent eyes to remind him of the magnitude of the emotions ricocheting back and forth between them. Then he remembered they weren’t alone.

  “How’s it going?” he asked. His voice sounded all wrong to him, and he wondered if they would notice.

  But Elise just held up her hand to show off her manicure. “What do you think?”

  Ted tried to act like he cared. “Looks good.”

  “Smitty left some breakfast for you,” Caroline said. “It’s in the oven.”

  “Thanks,” Ted said. “Where are they?”

  “They went into town.” Elise blew on her nails. “They said they’d be back in an hour.”

  Absorbing a stab of guilt that was almost painful, Ted retrieved the plate of omelet and bacon Smitty had made for him. As he stood in the kitchen and took the first bite of crispy bacon, he was swamped with an overwhelming sense of foreboding and couldn’t get anything past the huge lump that formed in his throat. Tipping the plate over the sink, he dumped the food into the garbage disposal. He watched his breakfast go down the drain and wondered if his friendship with Smitty would end up there too.

  “Ted?”

  He straightened his hunched shoulders and turned to Caroline. “Where’s Elise?”

  “Outside. Did you eat?”

  “Couldn’t. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep.”

  She gazed up at him with those potent eyes. “Me either.”

  They startled when the whack of the screen door warned them that Elise was coming back inside.

  “We have to go to the beach today,” Elise said, oblivious to the tension in the room. “It’s a perfect day for it. I’m going to start getting ready so we can go when the guys get back.”

  “I’ll help you,” Caroline said.

  “I’m going to grab a quick shower,” Ted said, anxious to get out of there so he could be alone with his thoughts and away from temptation.

  After a long and tedious afternoon at the beach that included the torture of Caroline’s bikini, Ted stood under his second shower of the day. This time he also ran a razor over his face in preparation for the party. He stayed under the beating pulse of the water for much longer than necessary as he thought about the conversation he’d had with Chip at the beach.

  Chip had told him about a patient of his who had been coming to him for acne treatment for years. “Then, the other day, she says, ‘Dr. Taggert, can you look at this mole on my shoulder?’ So she pulls her shirt down and shows me a melanoma. I didn’t have to even biopsy it to know what I was looking at. She’s sixteen years old!” Chip had shaken his head with dismay. “Don’t get me wrong, I see my share of melanoma, but it’s usually on people who’ve been sun worshipers for years. This was my first kid. All I could think about was you and how you deal with that and so much worse every day. I just can’t imagine how you stand it.”

  Ted had shrugged. “I hate to say it because it sounds so callous, but you do get used to it after a while. The first year was the worst. I can still remember that feeling of being totally numb, but after a while you start to build up some defenses.”

  “Still, it has to do a number on you.”

  “I guess it does. That’s why I keep up my gig in the pediatrics clinic once a month, just so I can see kids with hair to remind myself they’re not all sick.”

  “I admire you so much, Duff. We’re both doctors, but what you do is so much more important.”

  I wonder if he would still admire me if he knew I had fallen for Smitty’s girlfriend, Ted thought, as he stepped out of the shower. He used his towel to wipe the steam off the mirror and studied his reflect
ion. She’s not going to be Smitty’s girlfriend for much longer. Even so, you can’t start something with her the minute they break up. But what if no one knew? What if we kept it quiet for a few months?

  “Duff!” Elise hollered as she knocked on the bathroom door. “What’s taking so long?”

  Ted gave his weary face one last long look before he wrapped the towel around his waist and pulled open the door. “Sorry. I had to shave.”

  “You know I count on you to be quick,” she said as she brushed past him into the bathroom. “Chip and Parker are the metrosexuals. I expect better from you.”

  Ted chuckled. “It isn’t easy being the only girl in this group, is it?”

  “You have no idea,” she said as she closed the door in his face.

  Ted loved Elise. She was perfect for his friend because she let Chip be Chip, even if at times he drove her nuts. The top photographer at New York Style magazine, Elise was tall and leggy with long dark hair and big gray eyes. Ted had no doubt she could have been on the other side of the camera if she’d had that urge. But she loved taking the pictures, and her work had won her wide acclaim in the fashion industry.

  She had met Chip six years earlier, and from the very beginning, she had fit in effortlessly with their gang of four confirmed bachelors.

  Ted shrugged into his tuxedo jacket and thanked the heavens for the ocean breeze that was keeping the humidity to a minimum. Without it, the jacket wouldn’t have lasted long. He took one last look in the mirror to make sure his bow tie was straight, dabbed on a hint of cologne, and headed for the stairs.

  He was halfway down when he spotted Caroline on the back porch. She wore a floor-length red halter dress that left her back and arms bare. A half-dozen glittering clips had captured her long blond hair into a casual, sexy style that stopped his heart.

  As if she sensed him, she turned and their eyes met. The front of her dress hugged her full breasts, and the hand she rested over her heart told him what she thought of him in a tuxedo.

  Smitty broke the spell when he burst out of the master bedroom. “Sweetheart, can you help me with these cufflinks?”

  Caroline cleared her throat. “Out here.”

  “Looking good, Duff,” Smitty said as Ted reached the bottom of the stairs. “Are you going over now?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We’re right behind you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ted went in the back door of the main house where Tish was helping Lillian put on the pearls Theo had given her on their wedding day. Lillian wore a lilac chiffon dress with sheer sleeves and satin cuffs.

  “Hey, baby.” Ted kissed her cheek. “Wanna run away with me?”

  She rested her hands on his lapels, her eyes twinkling with mirth. “What time do we leave?”

  “Are you trying to steal my woman?” Theo boomed as he came into the room, looking jaunty in his tuxedo. What was left of his white hair had been tamed for the occasion.

  “She’s coming willingly. Told me she couldn’t wait to be free of the old guy.”

  Theo hooked an arm around his grandson’s neck. “I’ll fight you for her.”

  Tish giggled. “That I’d like to see.”

  “I’ll make you a deal,” Ted said. “If you let me dance with her, you can take her home.”

  Theo’s eyes narrowed as he appeared to give Ted’s offer some serious thought. “I can live with that.”

  “Shucks,” Lillian said with a pout. “He ruins all my fun.”

  “Do yourself a favor, son, and don’t marry a shameless flirt,” Theo said. “You can’t let your guard down for a minute.”

  Ted smiled. “I’ll try to remember that, Grampa.” How he loved the two of them, and how he hurt when he thought of all the years he would have to get by without them. Would they live to see him married with children of his own? He thought of Caroline. Maybe.

  “How was the beach?” Tish asked, jolting Ted from his reverie.

  “Good. You should’ve come.”

  “I had to nap.” She patted her rounded belly. “Or I wouldn’t have gotten through tonight.”

  “Mom said you’ve been really tired.”

  “That’s what I get for being a pregnant old lady,” she joked. She was thirty-five and had their father’s hazel eyes and light brown hair that she wore in a cute pageboy.

  Ted ran a hand over her baby belly, covered tonight in a black maternity gown. “Don’t shoot me for asking, but . . .”

  “Yes, I’m bigger than I should be for seven months,” she said with a sigh. “Steven’s mother waits until I’m already pregnant to tell me he was a twelve-pound baby. Can I sue her for withholding that information?”

  Ted laughed. “I would think so. Check with Parker. He can give you some advice on that.”

  “You take your time having that big baby, Tish,” Theo said. “The words ‘great-grandfather’ make me sound so old.”

  “You are old, Theo,” Lillian chimed in as she linked her arm with his. “But I still think you’re cute.”

  “Cute,” he muttered.

  Hand-in-hand, Ted’s parents came into the room. Mitzi was gorgeous in a navy gown, and her blue eyes danced with excitement. “Look at what your father gave me!” She held out her hand to show off a diamond anniversary band.

  “That’s beautiful, Mom!” Tish said.

  “Very nice,” Ted added. “Good job, Dad.”

  Edward handed a box to his mother. “Something for the other bride.”

  “Honey!” Lillian said. “You shouldn’t have.”

  “You’re making me look bad, son,” Theo grumbled.

  Lillian’s gift was a diamond pin in the shape of a dolphin, her favorite animal. “Oh, it’s lovely,” she said with a kiss for her son. “Thank you.”

  Mitzi helped Lillian put the pin on her dress and kissed her mother-in-law’s cheek. “You look beautiful, Lil. The dress is perfect.”

  “I have you to thank for that, honey.”

  “Well, look at this handsome family,” Smitty said as he came in with Caroline, Parker, Chip, and Elise, who had brought her camera.

  “How about a family portrait?” Elise asked.

  “That would be wonderful,” Mitzi said. “Let’s go out on the deck.”

  Elise arranged the family so the sunset was in the background.

  “Where’s Steven?” Mitzi asked, looking for her son-in-law.

  “I’ll get him,” Parker offered. He returned a few minutes later with a sheepish-looking Steven, who tugged on his tuxedo jacket as he joined them on the deck.

  “Sorry. I was watching the end of the Sox game.”

  “Did they win?” Ted asked.

  “Sure did,” Steven said, putting his arm around Tish for the photo.

  Caroline leaned against the porch rail, and Ted wanted to yell, “Wait! Stop! There’s someone missing.” But he swallowed the urge and smiled on command.

  “How about one with all the boys?” Mitzi asked.

  Parker and Chip stood on one side of the four Duffys while Smitty and Ted took the other side.

  Ted’s parents and grandparents stepped out of the next photo. As he felt Parker’s hand on one shoulder and Smitty’s on the other, Ted thought of the many photos of the four of them that had been taken over the years. Would this be the last one?

  Judging by Caroline’s pained expression, she wondered the same thing.

  Elise took another shot of Ted and Tish with their parents and then one with their grandparents before they moved to the tent to greet the first of their guests.

  Mitzi and Lillian had gone with a Polynesian theme in the tent, which was decorated with palm trees and tiki torches.

  “Wow,” Ted heard Caroline say as they were greeted by the scent of lush flowers that adorned the top of every table.

  A lone musician in a festive Hawaiian shirt strummed a ukulele as guests began to filter into the tent. Waitresses wearing grass skirts circulated with hot hors d’oeuvres—or pupu as they were called in Ha
waii. The large panels on the side of the tent facing the pond had been rolled up to maximize the view of the sunset and to allow in the warm summer breeze.

  “I think Mitzi and Lillian have finally topped themselves,” Smitty said, awestruck.

  “It’s beautiful,” Elise agreed as she took more photos.

  Ted was directed to a table in the front of the room to dine with his family. He scanned the crowd in search of his friends and almost stopped breathing as he watched Smitty pluck a red hibiscus bloom from the arrangement on their table and tuck it into Caroline’s hair. She smiled at him, and he leaned in to kiss her.

  “Son of a bitch,” Ted whispered, his gut clenching with impotent, jealous rage.

  “Sweetheart?” Lillian rested her hand on his arm and glanced up at him with concern. “What is it?” She followed his eyes to where Smitty sat with his arm around Caroline.

  “Nothing.” Ted shook it off and forced a smile for his grandmother. “Are you having a good time, Grandy?”

  “How long have you been in love with her?” Lillian asked.

  Ted blanched. “What? In love with who?”

  “Take a stroll with your old granny.” She tugged at his arm to lead him to the open side of the tent.

  “Not now, Grandy,” Ted said with a hint of desperation in his voice. “You can’t leave your guests.”

  “Your mother has everything under control, and dinner won’t be served for another half hour.”

  Realizing she wasn’t going to take no for an answer, Ted escorted her from the tent. Mindful of her long skirt, he walked her slowly along the dirt path that led to shore.

  “Talk to me, honey,” she said when they were a good distance from the tent. The air was filled with the distant sounds of laughter, the tinkle of crystal glasses, and the ukulele music. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say, Grandy.” Ted worked at keeping his tone light and amused. “I’m not in love with anyone.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You’re in love with Caroline.”

  Shocked, he stopped and turned to her. “But how, I mean . . . How do you know?”