Beach Reads Boxed Set

by Marie Force

  “No, she thinks we’re lucky. My boss is sending me to New York for a conference in two weeks.”

  “Really?”

  “Uh huh, and I want to see you while I’m there.”

  “I want to see you, too. I don’t know how I’ll ever stand to wait two weeks.”

  “I want you to wear that dress again—just for me this time.”

  “Anything,” she said, sounding breathless. “Anything for you.”

  Smitty crushed out his cigar and wandered back into the tent to look for Caroline. Elise was returning from the restroom where she had repaired the damage the flood of tears had done to her makeup.

  “Have you seen Caroline?” Smitty asked, scanning the crowd. The red dress was nowhere in sight.

  “Not in the last fifteen minutes or so.”

  “Maybe she went back to the house to get a pain pill.”

  “I thought she wasn’t taking them anymore.”

  “She’s been on the ankle a lot today. She might’ve needed one.”

  “Do you want me to go check on her?”

  “That’s all right. I’ll do it.” He kissed her forehead. “Go find your fiancé.”

  “Fiancé,” Elise giggled. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

  “I still can’t believe Chip pulled one over on all of us.”

  “He’s just full of surprises.”

  “I’ll be back in a minute.” Smitty took the scenic route from the tent across the lawn behind the main house. The moonless sky was polluted with stars. Stopping for a moment, he gazed up at them, taking advantage of the rare opportunity to study them without any light to hinder the view. He picked out the Big Dipper before he continued along to the guesthouse.

  He had almost reached the back deck when a sound stopped him. A whisper. Someone was whispering.

  “I want you to wear that dress again—just for me this time.”

  “Anything. Anything for you.”

  “Tomorrow, after you talk to him, will you call me?”

  Duff? Why’s he whispering, and who is he talking to?

  “I don’t have your number.”

  Caroline? What the fuck?

  Smitty heard the rustle of clothing and swallowed a growing tidal wave of panic and rage and disbelief. More than anything else, there was disbelief.

  “Here’s my card. Call my cell. I’ll be waiting.”

  “I will.”

  “No matter what happens, remember we’re in this together, and we’ll figure it out. Somehow, we’ll find a way to be together.”

  Smitty backed away before they could discover him, his heart in his throat as he cut between the two houses on his way to the driveway. Once he felt the crunch of shells beneath his feet, he began to run.

  Chapter Sixteen

  People were beginning to leave by the time Ted returned to the tent with his heart still racing from the conversation with Caroline. Chip, Elise, and Parker were seated at their table enjoying another round of champagne.

  “Hey,” Parker said. “Where’d you disappear to?”

  “My mother asked me to walk a couple of old ladies to their car since it’s so dark.” The lies were coming easier all the time.

  “Pimped out by your own mother,” Chip commented with a wry grin. “It’s a sad day for mankind.”

  Ted laughed despite the tension coiled within him that threatened to burst at any second. “Where’s Smitty?”

  “He left a few minutes ago to find Caroline,” Elise said, adding with a wink, “I’ll bet we won’t see them again tonight.”

  While Chip and Parker snickered, Ted fought to stay calm.

  “I can’t believe how well things are working out between them,” Elise said. “He’s so happy with her.”

  “I wonder if they’ll be the next ones to get engaged,” Chip said, kissing the ring on Elise’s finger.

  “What do you think, Duff?” Elise asked.

  All eyes fell on him. “Who knows?” Ted’s shrug did nothing to give away the sick feeling he had inside.

  Smitty ran until his lungs burned and his legs were in jeopardy of giving out under him. The night was so dark that only the sound of surf hitting the shore to his right indicated that he had run to the island’s northern point. He made out the hulking shadow of a large boulder by the side of the road and lowered himself onto it. Gasping for air and sweating profusely, he dropped his head into his hands and tried to absorb what he had overheard.

  How the hell had this happened? They’re involved? Since when? As far as Smitty knew, this was only the second time they’d ever even been together. No one falls for someone that fast. Maybe I heard them wrong. No. No, I didn’t. No way.

  As Smitty reviewed every minute he and Caroline had spent with Ted, he shed the tuxedo jacket and bow tie so he could unbutton the shirt that had tightened like a noose around his neck. That first morning, after they met while he was asleep, Ted had joked about running away and marrying her. The joke took on new meaning now.

  Later that day, Smitty recalled Ted’s reluctance to leave the emergency room after Caroline broke her ankle. Had he already fallen for her then? Smitty figured at the time that Ted hadn’t wanted to abandon them in a medical situation. Had there been more to it even then? That week, Ted asked in an e-mail about how Caroline was doing with the ankle. Again, Smitty hadn’t thought a thing of that question from his friend the doctor who had been with her when the accident happened. In fact, Smitty even encouraged Caroline to respond to the message herself. Other than the day she and Ted ran together and she broke her ankle, when had they even spent any time alone?

  Smitty was certain he hadn’t missed the signs because there hadn’t been any to miss.

  Another thought suddenly occurred to him. Last night. Parker and Caroline were acting so strange. Did Parker walk in on something when he went home early? Ted and Caroline were alone together in the house for hours. Oh, Christ! Parker caught them! But wouldn’t he have told me? There was something he had wanted to say to me, but then he thought better of it. If the shoe were on the other foot, would I have told him? I don’t know . . . God. Does Parker know something? Caroline hadn’t wanted to make love. Was it because she had already been with Ted? The thought made Smitty sick.

  Ted Duffy. My closest friend in the world. Tears of disappointment and bitter betrayal burned in Smitty’s eyes. If you had asked me thirty minutes ago who I trusted more than anyone, I would’ve said Ted Duffy. As he absorbed the almost secondary blow—that his relationship with Caroline was over—a different sort of disappointment set in. Even though he had only known her six weeks, he’d had so many hopes tied up in her and now they had been dashed because apparently she fancied herself infatuated with Ted—someone she had seen just twice.

  All at once, the whole thing struck Smitty as funny. He laughed so hard he almost fell off the rock. Then the pain came back in a staggering, agonizing torrent, and it wasn’t funny anymore because he knew Ted Duffy, really knew him. And the Ted Duffy he knew wouldn’t do something like this, wouldn’t risk a friendship like theirs unless he honestly believed he was in love with her.

  Somehow that hurt more than anything else—that Ted would endanger their twenty-year friendship for a woman he’d seen only twice in his life.

  For all his success, for all his money, for all his so-called good friends, Smitty realized in that moment that his life was as much a house of cards now as it had been the day he left the projects. As he listened to the roar of the waves crashing onto the rocks far below where he sat, he gave significant thought to hurling himself over the edge. Who the fuck would care anyway? Ted would probably be relieved to have me out of the way. But the part of Smitty that was deeply, seriously pissed didn’t want to let his friend off that easily.

  So then what’s the plan? He puzzled it over from every angle and decided preserving his friendship with Chip and Parker was his top priority. He couldn’t lose them all. That just couldn’t happen. Losing Ted would leave a big eno
ugh hole in his life and his heart. And Ted’s family, he thought as a new wave of sadness rolled over him.

  Smitty ran a shaking hand through his hair as he remembered years of Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with the Duffys. They were the only family he had. Mitzi and Lillian called him every year on his birthday without fail. He never went on a long trip without letting them know where he would be so they wouldn’t worry if they couldn’t reach him. Sometimes he thought they were the only people in the world who truly cared about him. His friends loved hanging out with him, but Mitzi and Lillian worried about him. There was a difference.

  Don’t fool yourself, man. If it comes down to a choice they’ll side with him because blood’s always thicker than water. You may think of them as family, but he is family to them—the golden boy wonder who’s made them so proud his entire life. I wonder if they would be quite as proud if they knew what I know about him.

  After he had stewed over it for a long time, Smitty stood up slowly and with a roar of fury, he heaved his tuxedo jacket over the edge of the cliff. He began the walk back to the house on tired, trembling legs. I know what I need to do. I just hope I can pull it off.

  The squeak of Nikes on wooden stairs alerted Smitty that Ted was on his way downstairs the next morning.

  Ted came to an abrupt stop on the second to last step when he found Smitty asleep on the sofa still wearing what was left of his tuxedo.

  Smitty kept his eyes closed and his breathing steady, aware of Ted studying him for what must have been a full minute before he continued on his way out the door to run.

  After he was gone, Smitty exhaled a long deep breath he hadn’t known he was holding. The events of the previous evening came rushing back to him, and his eyes pooled with tears. His head pounded from the half bottle of Smirnoff he had consumed in the abandoned tent after he returned to the Duffy’s compound.

  He wanted to get something for his aching head but couldn’t make himself move off the sofa. The longer he stayed where he was, the longer he could put off dealing with whatever this day had in store for him.

  Ted had been gone for about thirty minutes when the master bedroom door opened. Caroline came out wearing the pink silk robe Smitty had bought for her after the first night they spent together. The memory made his heart hurt.

  She too stopped short when she found him on the sofa in the clothes he’d had on the night before.

  Unlike Ted, though, Caroline came over to the sofa and crouched down next to him.

  “Smitty?” she whispered.

  When he didn’t stir, she brushed a hand over his face, and it was all he could do not to smack it away. He didn’t want her anywhere near him. But he just continued to feign sleep.

  She got up and went into the kitchen. A few minutes later, Smitty smelled coffee and opened his eyes just enough to watch Caroline take her mug outside to the back deck.

  The others began to filter downstairs, each repeating the same routine when they discovered Smitty on the sofa. He could hear them whispering as they tried to figure out why he had slept there and why he was still in his tux.

  Chip confronted Caroline on the deck. Their voices drifted in to Smitty through the open window.

  “What’s up with Smitty?” Chip asked.

  “I don’t know. I went to bed, so I didn’t hear him come in.”

  “We thought he was with you,” Elise said.

  “No,” Caroline said. “He wasn’t.”

  “Where was he then?” Parker asked.

  “I don’t know, Parker,” Caroline said with a testy edge to her voice that said she didn’t appreciate his accusatory tone.

  Yes, Smitty thought. Parker knows something or he wouldn’t be so sharp with her.

  Ted returned from running and stopped for another long look at Smitty on the sofa before he joined the party on the deck. “What’s going on with Smitty?” he asked.

  “We’re wondering the same thing,” Parker said.

  Smitty could just imagine the look Parker had tossed at Caroline. He was in what they called his cross-examination mode.

  Sure enough, she said, “I told them I have no idea. I was asleep.”

  Smitty didn’t want to imagine what passed between Caroline and Ted. He listened to their speculation for a few more minutes before he pulled himself up and off the sofa with great reluctance. Just get through this day, one hour at a time until you can be alone. With a silent prayer for strength to a God he didn’t much believe in, he pasted a grimace on his face and went outside.

  All eyes turned to him.

  “Morning,” he said, rubbing his aching head and doing his best to avoid eye contact with Ted and Caroline. The blinding sun made his eyes water anyway.

  “Hey,” Chip said. “What the hell happened to you? You look like shit.”

  “Then I look as good as I feel.” Smitty flopped into a rocker with a dramatic groan. Don’t overdo it, man.

  “Where’d you go last night?” Parker asked.

  “I was totally smashed, so I took a little walk, got disoriented in the dark, and by the time I got back here you guys were all in bed. I didn’t want to bother Caroline, so I crashed on the sofa.” He had rehearsed it in his mind so many times the night before he almost believed it himself. Spot on delivery, if I do say so myself. Of course he couldn’t add that he would’ve slept on a bed of nails before he got into a bed with Caroline.

  “You didn’t seem smashed,” Parker said with a suspicious lift of an eyebrow.

  “Snuck up on me all of a sudden after that last glass of champagne,” Smitty said, counting on his well-known reputation as a lightweight to sell his story.

  “Oh, well, okay,” Chip said. “Want some aspirin?”

  “I’d love some. Ten or twelve should do it.”

  “Three is more than enough,” Chip said as he went inside to get the pills. Elise trailed behind him.

  “I’ll make breakfast,” Parker offered.

  He went inside, leaving Smitty alone with Ted and Caroline. Fabulous!

  “I’m going to take a shower and help Parker,” Ted said, beating a hasty retreat.

  Smitty closed his eyes as he rested his head against the rocker, which moved gently back and forth.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Caroline asked.

  “Couldn’t be better—other than the headache, that is.”

  Chip returned with the aspirin and a glass of water.

  “Thanks.” Smitty got up from the rocker. “I’m going to take a shower and crash for a bit until the aspirin kicks in.”

  After he went inside, Chip turned to Caroline. “Is he okay?”

  “Seems to be.”

  Chip shrugged and went in to help Parker with breakfast.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Smitty slept for more than an hour. He woke up when Caroline crept in to get her bathing suit. From the other room, he could hear talk about going to the pool until it was time to leave for the ferry.

  Now that some of the initial shock had worn off, the anger began to set in. He couldn’t remember being this pissed since the last time he saw his mother.

  He watched Caroline come out of the bathroom in her bikini and tried to remember what he had once seen in her. Whatever it was, it was gone now. Even her sexy body, which had dominated his thoughts for weeks, was no longer a turn on.

  Smitty steamed as he recalled making love to her—at least that’s what it had been to him. She’d been so responsive. Had that been just an act? I’ll probably never know for sure. He realized they hadn’t made love since she met Ted. That thought did nothing to soothe his aching heart.

  After she left the room, Smitty turned onto his side and hugged a pillow to his chest. Over the music they had on, he could hear his friends laughing and talking by the pool. Ted’s family was out there, too.

  Why am I hiding in here? I didn’t do anything wrong.

  An inspired thought occurred to him, and he sat up with a burst of energy. I’ve got a few more hours wit
h them both before we go our separate ways. Maybe it’s time to make them squirm a little. A big smile spread across his face. Oh, yes. Let’s get busy.

  Ted was swimming laps in the pool when Smitty came out wearing his bathing suit and an unbuttoned shirt. A fat cigar dangled between his fingers.

  “Looks like you’re feeling better,” Chip said.

  “I’m back and better than ever before.” Smitty bent down to lay a long, wet kiss on Caroline. “Sorry to desert you all day, sweetheart.”

  Ted burned as he watched Caroline brush her hand over her mouth.

  “That’s okay,” she said, clearly flustered.

  Smitty lit the cigar and sat on the end of her lounge chair. “Did everyone have a good time last night?” he asked as he massaged the bottom of her good foot with his thumb.

  Caroline’s eyes were almost frantic when she subtly sought out Ted in the pool.

  “It was a great party,” Mitzi said. “Everything was just as we hoped it would be.”

  “Having all of you here made it perfect,” Lillian added.

  Ted noticed his grandmother watching as Smitty’s hand caressed Caroline’s leg. Pushing himself up and out of the pool, Ted sat on the deck with his back to the happy couple.

  “How about one last round of margaritas before you all have to go?” Mitzi asked, sliding on her sandals.

  “I’ll help you, Mom,” Ted said.

  “That’s all right, darling. Come over for a drink when you’re ready to go.”

  “So did you miss me in that big bed last night, sweetheart?” Smitty asked, reclining back against Caroline.

  “Cut it out, Smitty. Don’t be crass.”

  “I’m sorry.” He kissed her hand and leaned in to capture her lips.

  “You’d think they were the ones who got engaged last night,” Chip joked.

  Elise giggled. “They’re next.”

  Ted felt like an elephant was standing on his chest as he struggled to take a deep breath.