by Marie Force
“We’ve got to do something magnificent with those eyes of yours,” she said. “They’re not so much brown as they are gold.”
“I agree,” Laura said, reaching for lash-enhancing mascara and tossing it into the basket Stephanie had looped over her forearm.
“I’m thinking a dark gray shadow with a hint of shimmer,” Stephanie said, holding up her selection for Laura’s approval.
“Perfect.” Laura tossed a compact and oversized brush into the basket. “This bronzer will highlight her lovely tan.”
“Good call,” Stephanie said. “Now, about the lips.”
Her head spinning, Grace followed them to the lipstick display. The staggering array of colors and textures made her eyes swim.
While Stephanie and Laura put their heads together to consult, Grace calmed herself by looking around at the store. It was quieter than it had been earlier in the day, but there were still several customers in line at the register and others perusing the aisles. From the raised pharmacy platform in the back of the store, she’d always be able to see everything that was going on. If it happened, that was. Just as she was wondering when she’d hear from the Golds, Mrs. Gold’s nasally voice beckoned from the front of the store.
“Grace Ryan, is that you?”
Stephanie and Laura looked up at Grace with surprise.
“Hi, Mrs. Gold,” Grace said as the gray-haired woman swooped down on them.
“Oh, I told my Henry that was you! We were getting ready to call you!”
Grace nearly stopped breathing, and her heart slowed to a crawl. “Is that right?”
“We’ve given careful consideration to your offer, consulted with our children, and we all agree that you should be the new owner of Gold’s Pharmacy! Congratulations, honey!”
As she accepted Mrs. Gold’s hug, Grace noticed Stephanie and Laura staring at her in stunned silence. Grace didn’t think this would be the best time to tell Mrs. Gold that the name of her store would be changing to Ryan’s Pharmacy. “Thank you so much,” Grace said to Mrs. Gold. “I’m so excited.”
“We’ll have to sit down about all the details and apply to the town to transfer the license, but we’re anxious to do this as quickly as possible. We’ve already been to see Jim Sturgil, the island lawyer, and he’s going to draw up the papers for us.” Mrs. Gold seemed to realize all of a sudden that Grace wasn’t alone and lowered her voice. “Might you come by tomorrow morning to talk particulars?”
“I’d love to. I’ll be here.”
“Wonderful.” Mrs. Gold gave Grace another hug. “We can’t thank you enough. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She skipped off toward the back of the store.
“Oh my God!” Laura said. “You’re buying Gold’s?”
“Looks that way,” Grace said with a satisfied smile. All her plans were falling into place, and she couldn’t be more excited.
“Congratulations, Grace,” Stephanie said. “That’s awesome. I’m so glad you’ll be staying on the island.”
“I am, too. I already know I love it here. But do me a favor—please don’t mention the news about the store to anyone yet. I don’t want Evan to think that buying the store had anything to do with him, because it didn’t. It was something I wanted for myself.”
Until Mrs. Gold had shared the good news, Grace hadn’t been aware of just how badly she’d wanted it to work out. Everything about this move felt right to her, and she couldn’t wait to get settled in the cozy apartment upstairs.
“I certainly get that,” Laura said. “I felt the same way about the opportunity with the hotel. It was all about doing something that I wanted for once. Don’t worry, we’ll keep it between us until you’re ready to tell people.”
Stephanie nodded in agreement. “Absolutely. That’s your news to share.”
“Thanks.” Grace was relieved they seemed to understand. “I appreciate that. I feel much better about the idea of spending the winter here knowing you guys will be here, too.”
“We’ll have tons of fun,” Stephanie promised.
Laura tossed the lipstick they’d chosen into the basket and steered Grace toward the checkout. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got to get you ready for a hot date!”
“I’m not having sex with him,” Grace protested an hour later as the three women crowded into the small bathroom in her room at the Beachcomber to experiment with hairstyles. Stephanie had produced a box of condoms that she’d bought for Grace on the sly when they were at Gold’s.
“Just in case,” Stephanie said with a knowing grin as she put them on the counter next to the sink.
Grace had dropped a hundred dollars on a black silk cocktail dress that her friends assured her was sizzling hot and another fifty on sky-high heels that they said made her legs look a mile long. Since she had absolutely no experience with this stuff, Grace was taking their word for it.
“Read my lips: I am not having sex with him.”
“You say that now,” Stephanie said, smirking, “but don’t you want to be ready, just in case?”
“Define ‘ready.’”
“How to say this…” Stephanie looked to Laura for guidance. “You know how when you have an important event, you’d shave your legs?”
“Of course.”
Laura’s eyes danced with mirth as she apparently got where Stephanie was going.
Grace wished one of them would clue her in.
“If there’s any chance you might have sex, you also want to shave…” Stephanie pointed down.
Grace finally got what she meant and gasped. “Ew, really? All of it?”
“I wouldn’t say all,” Laura said diplomatically. “Most would be good. Guys dig that.”
Grace wondered how she’d managed to live nearly thirty years without knowing this kind of stuff. “They do?”
“Yep,” Stephanie said, holding up Grace’s razor and pointing at the shower. “Time to tame the beast.”
Laura busted up laughing, which spurred giggles all around.
“I don’t think the beast needs taming,” Grace said. “I’m not going to sleep with him.” Maybe if she said it often enough, she’d begin to believe it herself.
“I sleep with his brother, and I’m friends with his other brother’s wife,” Stephanie said. “Trust me when I tell you the McCarthy powers of sexual persuasion are not to be taken lightly.”
“Lalala, too much information.” Laura stuck her fingers in her ears. “I don’t want to know this stuff about my cousins.”
Stephanie rolled her eyes at Laura. “As if it’s news to you.” Giving Grace a nudge toward the shower, she said, “Better to be ready, just in case.”
The idea of sleeping with Evan filled Grace with excitement and anticipation and anxiety. “Fine, but I’m not having sex with him.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” Stephanie said, “but I’ll bet you’ll be thanking me tomorrow.”
Grace eyed the other woman shrewdly. “I’ll take that bet.” She held out her hand. “Twenty bucks?”
Stephanie shook her hand. “Make it fifty. Laura, you’re our witness.”
“Duly noted. Take your shower, Grace, and then I’ll do your hair.”
“You guys must have better stuff to do than babysit me.”
“Are you kidding?” Stephanie said. “This is fun! I can’t wait to see you all dolled up in that black dress Laura found for you and the heels. Evan will wet his pants when he gets a load of you.”
Grace chuckled at that visual as they left the room and shut the door. She eyed the razor warily as she considered their instructions. “Well, they certainly know better than I do, so here goes nothing.”
Chapter 9
Anxious to get home to his family, Mac McCarthy locked up the marina office and restaurant. He couldn’t wait to see Maddie and hear about everything the kids had been up to that day. He’d been spoiled by the weeks at home during Maddie’s high-risk pregnancy, and now that he was back to work, he was far too aware of what he w
as missing with his family.
The sun was setting over the Salt Pond in a vivid display of reds, pinks, blues and purples. Knowing how Maddie loved a pretty sunset, he sent her a text telling her to take a look outside and letting her know he’d be home soon.
As was his habit at the end of the day, he took a walk down the main pier to make sure the boats were securely tied for the night. Halfway down, he stopped short at the sight of his father’s familiar thatch of gray hair. Shoulders stooped, Big Mac stared down at the spot where his life had nearly come to a tragic end earlier in the summer.
Mac approached his father and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Dad? Are you okay?”
“Oh, hi, son. I didn’t realize you were still here.”
Mac didn’t mention that his father would’ve had to go past Mac’s truck to get to the pier. “I was just closing up for the night.”
“Did we have a good day?”
Mac smiled at his father’s daily question. “A very good day. A thousand more than the same day last year.”
“I love that you know that.”
“It’s called record keeping.”
“Never heard of it.”
Mac laughed as he remembered how long it had taken him to wrangle the business records into shape. “Believe me, I know. So what’re you doing here?”
Big Mac looked down at the water again. “Trying to remember. I keep going over and over it, and I can’t recall a damned thing about what happened.”
“That’s probably just as well. I’ve heard that’s the brain’s way of protecting itself after a traumatic injury.”
“It’s damned frustrating. How am I supposed to get past it if I can’t even remember it?”
The despair Mac heard in his father’s voice was wildly out of character. Big Mac was never despondent. Ebullient, yes, but never despondent. Seeing him like this struck a note of fear in Mac. “What can I do for you, Dad?”
“No one will tell me what happened. I know you’re all trying to protect me, but I want to know.” He grasped his son’s arm. “Tell me, Mac. Please, tell me.”
Mac released a deep breath. The last thing he wanted to do was relive one of the worst days of his life, but there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his dad. “Let me buy you a beer.”
“Is that your way of blowing me off?”
“Not at all.” He took his father by the arm and led him to the Tiki Bar, where the bartender greeted them warmly. “Two light beers, please.”
“Coming right up.”
With their beers in hand and the bartender working the other end of the bar, Mac took a long look at his dad. “You’re sure you want to hear this?”
Big Mac nodded. “I need to hear it.”
Mac stared off at the boats bobbing in the Salt Pond, trying to find the words he needed. “We were sitting with the guys at the picnic table outside the restaurant when we saw the boat coming. He was steaming across the pond, leaving a big wake. You got pissed and got up to go meet him.”
“Why me and not you or Luke?”
“Because you said you had it, and even though you put us in charge, you’re still the boss.”
That drew a grin from Big Mac. “Damned straight.”
“So the guy was totally out of control. You know the type, all power and no skill. His crew of drunken women had managed to get the stern line to you, and you had it wrapped around the piling. Luke and I had wandered over to help when he gunned it and dragged you right off the pier.”
A shudder rippled through Mac as he thought of his father disappearing from the dock. Rubbing at the stubble on his jaw, Mac took a minute to regain his composure. His father would never know that he’d had nightmares for weeks about that moment.
“I, ah… I looked into the water, saw you floating facedown, and I jumped.”
Seeming to sense this was difficult for Mac to talk about, his father rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“I turned you over and… You weren’t breathing, so I did rescue breathing until you started breathing on your own again. There was, um, blood in the water from where you smacked your head on the swim platform. The boat… It came close to us. Really close.”
“Was that when Luke jumped?”
“Yeah. I didn’t see him jump, but I heard him land. So did the captain, and he finally killed the power.”
“Close call.”
“Very. Luke saved both our lives by getting the guy’s attention before he could run over us in the water.”
“He’s paid a big price for that.”
“Hopefully, the surgery fixed up his ankle once and for all.”
“Let’s hope so.” Big Mac squeezed Mac’s shoulder. “I knew you’d come in after me but not all that about the breathing and such. I needed to know so I could say thank you.”
“Come on, Dad. Like you wouldn’t have done the same for me or anyone.”
“Were you scared?”
“Senseless. My hands shook for hours afterward. I kept trying to picture what could’ve happened, what it would be like if…” Mac shook his head. “Unimaginable.”
“It’s gonna happen someday,” his father reminded him.
“Not like that. I’d prefer it to happen when you’re about ninety-nine or so and have driven us all crazy for years being a grumpy old pain in the ass. Maybe by then I might be able to conceive of life without you.”
“You’re a good boy, son,” Big Mac said, his voice gruff. “Always were.”
Though his father’s words touched him deeply, Mac went for levity lest he end up bawling his head off. “Even when you were bailing me and Joe out of jail for flattening mailboxes in your truck?”
“Even then.”
It wasn’t like his father to miss a chance to jab at him about the mailbox incident. Mac had heard about it daily for years afterward. “You’re going to be okay, Dad. I know it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“How’s Mom doing?”
“Why do you ask?” Big Mac asked, instantly on alert. “Did she say something to you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Big Mac tipped his head to study his son. “Don’t give me that bull crap. You know something. Spill it.”
Why he ever thought he could get away with being less than truthful with his father was beyond Mac. “Evan said you guys have been fighting a lot.”
“Evan’s got a big mouth.”
“He’s worried, Dad. We both are. It’s not like you two to fight.”
“I’ve been hard on her. I know that, but I can’t stand the way she hovers, waiting for me to need her help with something. Drives me batty.”
“She only wants to do whatever she can to help you get better.”
“I know that, but the hovering is too damned much.”
“What if I talk to her and ask her to back off a bit and let you fend for yourself?”
“Then she’ll know I was griping to you about her, and that won’t do me any good. Trust me on that.”
Mac thought about that for a minute. “Then how about some romance?”
“Come again?”
“Take her out on a nice date. Wine her, dine her, and somewhere over the course of the evening let her know that you’re going to be fine and it’s time for both of you to get back to normal.”
“Huh,” Big Mac said. “You think that’ll work?”
“I’m sure it will. Having done the dating thing more recently than you, I might even share a few pointers—for a price.”
“What price?”
“Stop snapping at her every time she does exactly what you’d do if the roles were reversed.”
“When did you get so wise about these things?”
“Right around the time I knocked a gorgeous woman off her bike.”
“Best thing you ever did.”
“Couldn’t agree more. Now, are you going to fix this thing with Mom or what?”
“I’m gonna fix it.”
“Good. Now
here’s what I think you ought to do.”
Tiffany followed Abby from the front of the store to the storage room in the back of Abby’s Attic, the Main Street store Abby had run for the last few years.
“I’ve managed to sell most of what I had in stock during the going-out-of-business sale, but there’s still quite a bit more back here.” She gestured to the shelves that held T-shirts stacked in neat piles, toys sorted by age group and an array of Gansett Island merchandise. “Get what you can for it at this point.”
“I’ll send you a check for whatever I manage to sell.”
“That’d be great.” Abby turned to Tiffany. “You’re sure you don’t mind doing this?”
“Of course not. I can finish up your sale, since I don’t plan to open my store until next season anyway.”
“You’re saving my life. I’m anxious to join Cal in Texas. His mom has been struggling after the stroke, and he sounds so down.”
“Are you guys still planning to get married?”
“Eventually,” Abby said with a sigh. “We had it all planned for next month here on the island, but we had to cancel when his mom got sick.”
“That’s a bummer.”
“Big-time, but I suppose this is a glimpse at what married life will be like. You do what you have to for the other person.”
“Let’s hope your married life is better than mine, because mine was all about me doing what was best for him,” Tiffany said, even though she immediately regretted her bitter-sounding tone. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sure it’ll be much different for you.”
Abby’s brown eyes went soft with compassion. “I heard that you and Jim had split. I’m really sorry.”
Tiffany shrugged off the sympathy. “It’s for the best.” If she kept telling herself that, maybe one day she’d believe it. She was bothered mostly by the fact that she’d failed to hold their family together for her daughter.
“Will you open another store in Texas?”
“I’d like to. I enjoyed this so much.” She looked around the store with barely concealed sadness. “I guess we’ll see how things work out with Cal’s mom and figure out our next step. All that matters now is that we’re together.”