The Driftwood Promise

by Suzie O'Connell

  “At the risk of sounding like a silly high school girl… is he?”

  “Took you long enough.”

  She regarded him with a brow raised. “Took me long enough to what?”

  “Act like a silly high school girl. Though I suppose I should thank you for that. Saved me from having to go big brother on the boys who wanted to date you. Except that one time….”

  “Yeah, except that one time,” Erin murmured. “When Toby Dahlquist decided he wanted to get laid on prom night and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He’s still terrified of you, you know.”

  “I can’t say that breaks my heart.” Owen used a piece of sourdough to mop up the dregs of his clam chowder.

  “So, back to Gideon,” she said.

  “You already know the answer to that question.”

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t ask.”

  “Riveting, I believe, was the term he used to describe you last night when you asked him if he found you fascinating. He also told me that you made him laugh when he shouldn’t have been able to.”

  He tucked his arm around her waist and drew her down onto his leg for a hug. More out of habit than a need for comfort, she rested her head on his shoulder. God, she’d missed this—these little moments of closeness with the man who had been her rock since their mother had taken them and fled their abusive father.

  “He’s a good man, Erin,” Owen murmured. “Certainly better than Chaz. Give him a chance, all right?”

  She winced. It wasn’t difficult to be a better man than Chaz, but Owen didn’t know that. “I thought you liked Chaz.”

  “Not nearly as much as I’ve always liked Gideon. At best, Chaz was just all right.”

  “Then why didn’t you talk me out of moving to Santa Barbara with him?”

  “You had your heart set on it.” He sighed. “You ever going to tell me what happened between you two?”

  “We just… grew apart.” The lie tasted sour, but she leaned back in his arms and gave him her brightest smile. Brows drawn together—he wasn’t fooled. “Someday. After you and Hope are married and that godawful week is so far behind us it won’t hurt to talk about it. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  The bell on the door of the Salty Dog Chowder House jingled, and Erin glanced over her shoulder, prepared to bounce to her feet to greet either her afternoon waiter, who was late, or another table of customers. It wasn’t either, and she grinned. “Good. Because guess who just walked through the door.”

  At once, he turned on his stool, and his expression shifted from mildly exasperated amusement to the brightest, most amazing smile she’d seen on his face in a long time. Hope and her daughter Daphne were just stepping inside, and their faces matched Owen’s perfectly. It was such an incredible thing, that dopey, beautiful love. Erin grinned and nudged her brother with her elbow, but he was already rising to his feet.

  “Go get ‘em,” she murmured fondly.

  She headed into the kitchen to ladle some chowder into sourdough bowls—Hope’s and Daphne’s favorite. When she returned, her brother had both his ladies locked in his embrace. Not wanting to disturb them, she set the clam chowder beside her brother’s and stepped away to check on her customers. Try as she might, she couldn’t help glancing frequently at the threesome.

  Hope would say yes when Owen got around to proposing. Erin was certain of it. A woman didn’t glow like that unless she was totally in love. And Daphne…. She couldn’t wait to call that oh-so-sweet little girl her niece.

  “It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?”

  Erin nearly dropped the load of dishes she was taking back to the kitchen. Not trusting herself to keep hold of them, she set them on the counter and turned to Gideon with her palm over her thumping heart. That lop-sided grin was adorable, and she laughed softly despite the adrenaline still singing through her veins. “Don’t do that! You scared the bejeezus out of me.”

  “Sorry.”

  She noted the smug satisfaction playing about his lips and snorted. “No, you aren’t.”

  “All right, I’m not. You’re adorable when your response isn’t rehearsed.”

  She lifted a brow. “What’s that supposed to mean? And what’s a beautiful thing?”

  “It means that you’re a very guarded person. And that’s a beautiful thing,” he replied, tilting his head toward Owen, Hope, and Daphne.

  “Mmm. It is.”

  He chuckled, and the way those dark eyes glittered made her heart skip a beat. She took a step back, glancing into the kitchen to see if her mother had the fish and chip baskets for her last table ready. As soon as those guests were done, she was done for the day… if her waiter decided to show up.

  “I wish I knew why.”

  “Why what?” she asked, turning back to him.

  The humor was gone from his eyes, replaced by a tender smile that was even more disarming than the smarmiest grins he’d lavished her with in June.

  “Why you don’t flirt and why you have such high walls.”

  “Why do you care?”

  The question was out of her mouth before she had time to consider how rude it sounded.

  “For one, I try to be a good friend. For another…. It’s like I told your brother last night after you left. You made me laugh when I shouldn’t have been able to, and that intrigues me. You intrigue me.”

  Erin started to say she wasn’t nearly as interesting as he seemed to think, but the words refused to come. Instead, she ducked her head to hide the shy smile and the blush that warmed her cheeks. “I need to check on my customers,” she mumbled.

  She made her circuit of the dining room, aware that she was using her job to distract herself from the implications of Gideon’s remarks. By the time she made her way back to the kitchen, her mother was setting the fish and chip baskets in the serving window, and that gave her a few more minutes to figure out what she wanted to do. He was attractive—there was no point in denying that—and she liked his sense of humor even though there was a probing quality to it that made her nervous. She also adored his love for his son and ached for the pain the custody battle brought him.

  Maybe she didn’t have to decide anything. Maybe she just needed to let go and let the tides take her where they would. That seemed to be working out well for Owen and Hope.

  Her brother was right, that she had a bad habit of pushing people away. Especially men. With her thirty-first birthday now behind her, it was time to admit that going through life like this wasn’t any way to live. It was lonely. Her relationship with Chaz had given her a taste of the kind of companionship that could keep two people together for a lifetime, and even though it hadn’t lasted, she hadn’t been able to forget the feeling.

  “Jeff still isn’t here?” her mother asked her when she slipped into the kitchen with another load of dirty dishes.

  “Nope.”

  “When he shows up, you make sure he knows this is his last chance.”

  Erin nodded. She hated to give the kid an ultimatum because he was great with the customers, and he was efficient and worked hard. But this was the third time in the two weeks since he’d started that he’d been late… and not just a few minutes late. Half an hour or more late.

  The bell on the door jingled just before Erin returned to the counter where Gideon was currently engaged in conversation with his cousins and Owen, and she glanced toward it and frowned. Jeff strolled inside with his blond hair still damp.

  Erin glanced at her watch and made sure he saw her do it.

  “I’m sorry I’m late,” he said when he reached her.

  “Again,” she added. “You were supposed to be here at noon, Jeff. It’s now a quarter to one.”

  “Sorry, Erin. I really am.”

  “You were out on the beach with your friends again this morning.”

  “Yeah…. We lost track of time. Sorry.”

  “That’s the third time you’ve said you’re sorry. Show up to work on time and you wouldn’t have to say it at all. Don’t be lat
e again.”

  She held his gaze to make sure her meaning sunk in.

  He nodded vigorously. “Understood.”

  “Good. Get to work. You get any new tables that come in.”

  “Yes, ma’am. And I’ll start clearing your tables while I wait.”

  “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

  The last fifteen minutes of her shift kept her busy chatting with her guests and ringing up their meals, and it didn’t give her much time to continue her ponderings about Gideon. That was probably for the best, given her tendency to overthink… everything. Thanks to Jeff clearing the tables for her, she clocked out on time. She was inclined to be grateful to him for stepping up to make up for his tardiness rather than focus on the fact that she would’ve had fewer tables and plenty of time to do all that herself if he’d shown up on time. It was a gorgeous day—almost as hot as it had been yesterday—and the promise of an evening on the beach with her family and Hope and Daphne and, yes, Gideon, too, and his goofy black Lab put her in a fabulous mood.

  At last, she rejoined her brother and his companions with her mother in tow so they could discuss their plans for the evening.

  Andra immediately embraced Hope and Daphne, and then turned to Gideon and gave him a hug, too. “Wonderful to see you again, Gideon. Where’s your boy?”

  “With his mother.”

  The pain that shadowed his smile made Erin’s chest tighten, and she almost reached to give his hand a squeeze. Almost.

  “Any news on the custody front yet?”

  “No, ma’am. We have a hearing on the first.”

  “Well, if you need anything at all, you let us know.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  “All right,” Owen said. “How are we going to get everything together for tonight?”

  “I can get most of it,” Erin offered. She turned her gaze on Gideon and grinned.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked slowly, glancing between Erin and Owen.

  “Well, since Hope and Daphne just got back into town while you’ve had all night and this morning to get settled, and since both Mom and Owen will be here until five—” She took a deep breath. Could she really do this? Could she open the door to him? “—that leaves you.”

  “Leaves me what?”

  “As the only available pack mule. You can help me haul the food and coolers down to the beach.”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  The gleam in his eyes contradicted his words, so she called him on it. “Do you want one?”

  He caught the meaning behind her words—the unspoken invitation—and strolled right through that open door with a broad grin. “Nope.”

  “I need to run home to see what I need to pick up at the grocery store. All that and shopping shouldn’t take me more than an hour, if you want to meet me at my house around two.”

  “Why don’t I come with you?”

  She hesitated, then chided herself for her habitual rejection of assistance. An extra pair of hands would be useful. Given her response so far to the man attached to those hands, it would likely be pleasant, too. “Sure, if you don’t mind.”

  From the corner of her vision, she caught Owen glancing between her and Gideon with his brows lifted and his lips curved in amusement.

  “What?” Erin asked her brother.

  He shook his head, but his smile turned smug. “Nothing.”

  She lifted her brows. “Nothing” my butt.

  She wasn’t ready to dive into the scheme certainly percolating in her brother’s brain, so she kept her mouth shut.

  Gideon dug his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Hope. “Would you mind letting Shadow out to potty, and then bring her down to the beach with you? Oh, and would you bring my camera and my guitar, too?”

  “Just that?” Hope asked. Her lips twitched.

  “Well, I suppose we might need the kitchen sink….”

  “Dog. Camera. Guitar. I think I can manage that. Mind if I take your car? I don’t think I can fit all that in mine until I get all our stuff unpacked, and I won’t get to that until tomorrow.”

  “Help yourself. Thanks, cuz. See you on the beach.”

  Erin touched Gideon’s shoulder and inclined her head toward the door. He gestured for her to lead the way and followed her out of the restaurant.

  “I’m not sure I would’ve been as nice to my employee for showing up so late,” Gideon remarked as they climbed into her car. “You were firm but fair. Impressively so.”

  “Thanks,” she said, unable to stop the smile that spread across her face at his praise. “He’s a good worker.”

  “A good worker is useless if they aren’t reliable.”

  “True. And this was his last get-out-of-jail-free card.”

  “I hope he appreciates that.”

  “I hope so, too. He’s a good kid.”

  “So, is it just you and your mom and Jeff running the place?”

  “No, we have another cook—Zach—and two waitresses—Lily and Zoey. It’s just Mom and me running the business end of things, though.”

  “That’s fun—a mother-daughter operation. And Owen has his gallery in the same building. You guys have a wonderful bond. Not every family can work together like that.”

  “We do,” Erin agreed. “But we’ve had to rely on each other. It’s been just the three of us since I was six. Well, until Mom finally agreed to a date with Red. But by then, Owen and I were both adults, so the foundation was already laid. What about you? I’ve only heard about you and your dad.”

  She turned onto Forest Haven Road. After a hundred yards, it slipped into the cool, dense forest and snaked up the hill toward the mobile home village she’d called home for the last twenty-five years.

  “It’s been just the two of us most of my life. My mom and baby sister died in childbirth when I was six, and after that, Dad and I moved to the Puget Sound to be closer to his side of the family.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that. What a heartbreaking thing. He never remarried?”

  Gideon shook his head, and the poignant smile—the way it shone in his eyes more than his face—changed him from handsome to outrightly beautiful. It wasn’t a term she’d associate with any man but her brother, but it fit. “He used to say that his heart beat only for my mother and that no other woman would ever be able to take her place.”

  “I was beginning to think that might be the case for Owen, too, until he met Hope.”

  “I think Dad would’ve remarried if he’d found the right woman,” Gideon remarked thoughtfully. “He just hasn’t found her yet. And if he doesn’t, he’ll be happy to have loved my mother.”

  “What a beautiful thought.”

  And it was. The idea that such love existed kindled a glow in her heart that was as much hope as wonder. She knew it existed; she’d seen it with her own eyes every day of her brother’s marriage to Samantha, and she’d seen it blossoming again between Owen and Hope over the last couple months. She’d also seen it between her mother and Red, even though she’d been too caught up in her own heartbreak to pay it much attention at first. But to hear evidence of it beyond her own family was something different. It made such a love more than a fluke. It made it something that could happen to anyone… even her.

  They’d reached the gate of the Forest Haven Mobile Village, and she slowed to adhere to the ten-mile-an-hour speed limit and to avoid jarring them too badly on the speed bumps.

  “That first trailer there—that’s the one we moved into when Mom left my father. She still owns it,” she said, pointing to the single-wide mobile with the beige siding and forest green trim. “When Owen turned eighteen, he used the money he’d saved helping Mom with the Salty Dog to buy the one at the very end of the road, and after he and Sam bought their house on North Point, I bought it from him and moved out of our old trailer.”

  “Does your mom rent hers out? Or would she sell it?”

  She glanced at him. “Why? You interested?”r />
  “I might be.” He flashed her a grin. “I want to move here, remember? And I can’t stay in the cottage forever. Dad and Uncle Michael, and Christian and his wife use it, too.”

  She’d forgotten he was planning to look for a place of his own. She was so used to the idea of the St. Clouds staying in their North Point cottage two doors down from her brother that it was weird to think of Gideon living somewhere else in Sea Glass Cove.

  “You’d want to live in a trailer?”

  “Why not? It looks like your mom’s done a fantastic job of maintaining it, and I like that it’s sheltered by the trees.”

  “But aren’t you a big shot photographer?”

  “So?”

  She didn’t know how to explain the impression that he’d prefer a fancier house or the odd pleasure that came with the realization that he didn’t, so she didn’t try.

  “Down the road, sure, I’d love to have a place like the cottage or like your brother’s house, but for now, I just want to get moved here. And besides, something small like your mom’s trailer would probably suit a bachelor better, anyhow. Less to clean and maintain.”

  “What about Liam?”

  He frowned and stared up at the cedars and Douglas firs that towered over the mobile home village. Protected from the worst of the tree-stunting coastal winds by the ridges that wrapped around Sea Glass Cove, they stood far taller than the cedars that dotted North Point.

  When he didn’t answer, Erin said, “You’ll get custody. You’ve got a great job with a steady income, and you’re a great dad.”

  She didn’t look at him again until she’d pulled into her carport and shut her car off, but she felt his gaze on her. At last, she turned to him, shifting her whole body toward him as much as she could still buckled in. Her pulse quickened.

  “Thank you,” he murmured.

  The way he said it, with vulnerability and gratitude, reinforced what she’d felt last night—that he needed something from her. She’d needed people plenty of times in her life, but the only time someone had ever needed her, she hadn’t been able to help. It was a strange sensation, and it tugged at her.

  “You’re welcome.” She released her seatbelt. “Come on in.”