Chapter Eleven
Chrissie was still awake when the earliest of the birds began to warble outside her window on Sunday morning. She’d lain awake all night, reliving every moment of the evening and everything Jared had said. She knew she was on the brink of falling for him and wanted to make sure she’d land in a safe place. She loved that he’d kissed her but hadn’t pushed for more, as if instinctively understanding that she needed to sort things out for herself. For the most part, that was pretty much what she’d been doing all night. Sorting out her feelings, trying to separate reality from wishful thinking.
The acceptance and warmth extended to her by both the Chandlers and the Enrights had made her relax the first night she was there, and by the last night, she’d almost felt like one of them. The wedding had been emotional and loving, and she’d felt that by witnessing an exchange of such heartfelt vows, she’d been offered a glimpse into who these people were, and she longed to be one of them. Rachel had been especially welcoming, sharing little bits of her family life with Chrissie, like the fact that Sam, her husband, was an internationally respected marine archaeologist who’d discovered and carefully unearthed the treasures of an Egyptian trade ship the year before. The paper he’d written regarding the find had been published, won awards, and earned him the offer of a professorship at a university in Maryland renowned for its archaeology department. If he accepted, Rachel would likely be “grounded” for a while, unable to take any salvage jobs for her father because she and Sam had made a pact that if possible, at least one of them would always be with the children. Now might be the time to have that third child, Rachel had confided. What did Chrissie think?
Rachel had been a lot more open about her personal life than she herself would have been with someone she’d just met a few days ago, but she obviously thought Chrissie’s relationship with Jared had gone further and to a different level than it had. Trying not to sound judgmental, Chrissie’d said honestly that she didn’t know Rachel well enough and didn’t know their circumstances enough to give her an intelligent answer, a response Rachel had seemed to respect.
They were interesting families, both so different from each other and from her own. While Jared’s mother and Delia’s husband weren’t so very different from her own father when it came to family loyalty—or the lack of it—the thing Chrissie found most fascinating was that rather than turn to other people to help put them back on their feet, as her mother had done with several husbands, Delia and Gordon had worked hard to succeed on their own. Delia had become one of the most popular and best-selling authors on the planet, a position Chrissie knew must have taken a lot of late nights and determination on Delia’s part as she raised three children on her own. Gordon had built his salvage company into one of the most highly regarded and often requested salvagers in the business through hard work and long hours away from home, yet still he’d remained close to his children, had overseen their upbringing and education, and gave them the tools to join him in the family business if they chose to do so. It was a tribute to him that both Jared and Rachel had wanted to follow in his footsteps.
Chrissie had no one’s footsteps in which to follow, and the contrast was depressing. She didn’t know what her father did for a living, but she was pretty sure he probably wasn’t a cook. And Luke? She didn’t even know who or where he was. At times like this, she longed for the roots she hadn’t had, especially since she’d been surrounded by people who knew what it really meant to be a family.
But she did have Ruby, and she was Chrissie’s anchor.
This weekend Chrissie’s emotions had swung from one extreme to the other. On the one hand, she was somewhat content to be part of a wonderful family, even if only someone else’s and only for a few days. On the other hand, she felt sad because it had made her realize how much she had missed growing up. When she finally fell into a brief sleep at first light, she was stuck halfway between the two.
The knocking on her bedroom door brought her around, and she sat up as if drugged.
“Chris? You awake?” Jared called through the closed door.
“Barely. What time is it?” she mumbled.
“What? I can’t hear you.”
“Never mind. I’ll be down in a few.” She rubbed her eyes, yawned, then made herself get out of the bed.
She looked out the window on a day that was overcast. Clouds had moved in overnight, and it looked as if it would rain at any minute. She stumbled into the bathroom, her lack of sleep making her feel sluggish.
A quick shower helped, and after she dried her hair in record time she put on a little makeup—a day face, Cass had called the light application when she’d been tutoring her—and hoped the concealer did its job and covered up the dark circles under her eyes. She got dressed in white pants and a fitted shirt of palest blue linen. She rolled up the long sleeves and slipped into the pair of old ballet flats she’d brought with her, then tied her still-damp hair into a ponytail with a paisley scarf.
Breakfast was just about over when she followed the chatter to the dining room
“I’m so sorry.” She offered a general apology to everyone at the table. “I overslept.”
“You must have needed the sleep, dear.” Delia passed her a plate of toast. “It was quite a night.”
“I had trouble getting to sleep.” Zoey offered Chrissie a bowl of scrambled eggs. “Too much excitement these past few days, I guess. I just couldn’t shut off my brain.”
“It has been a busy week,” India agreed. “Our kids are wiped out.”
“Ours, too,” Rachel said. “I think we might leave this morning instead of later today. I can’t think of anything worse than being cooped up inside with a bunch of littles on a rainy day.”
“Well, there’s the playroom,” Delia said. “And the barn. There are any number of things they could do.”
“Mom, don’t you and Gordon want a little privacy?” Zoey put down the mug of coffee she’d been drinking.
“Well . . .” Delia shrugged. “I certainly don’t think a few more hours with the grandkiddies would be a hardship.”
“It would,” Zoey announced. “We’ll be leaving early, too.”
Chrissie could feel Jared watching her while the conversation swirled around her. She nibbled cold toast, ate cold eggs and bacon, and drank lukewarm orange juice. Fortunately, the coffee had cooled to just the right temperature.
“What do you think?” Jared asked.
“About what?” She finished the juice and the last bite of bacon.
“Staying through the day as we’d planned or leave early because of the weather.”
“I think everyone else is leaving, so I think we probably should, too,” she replied.
“I agree.” He got a fresh cup of coffee, but it was clear to Chrissie he was marking time, waiting for her.
When she finished, she folded her arms in front of her on the table and watched his face. She liked that in addition to his being so handsome, there was character there, and humor. He was the whole package, as far as she was concerned, and she had to keep pinching herself as a reminder that he seemed to be as into her as she was into him.
“Can I get you something else?” he asked from across the table. “More coffee? There were some killer Danish if Rachel didn’t eat them all.”
“I heard that,” Rachel said from the opposite end of the table.
“No, thanks. I’m good,” Chrissie said.
“I think we’ll get going.” Jared stood. “We were going to go canoeing on the Brandywine after breakfast, but that’s out of the question with all the rain. I think we’ll just head back so Chrissie can rest up for work tomorrow.”
Canoeing on the Brandywine? Chrissie didn’t recall having made those plans, and tomorrow was Monday. She didn’t work on Monday, but he could have forgotten that. Or Jared was merely trying to make a graceful exit.
By the time she’d packed her belongings and met Jared downstairs, others had gathered in the grand foyer to say good-bye. There were hugs and exchanges of phone numbers and email addresses, promises to visit St. Dennis and promises extracted from Chrissie to visit Georgia and Matt at their farm, Pumpkin Hill, in the Maryland countryside and India and Nick at their home in Devlin’s Light. Delia and Gordon insisted Jared bring Chrissie back for another weekend, and Zoey reminded Jared that she and Ben didn’t live that far from Delia, so they should plan on dinner one night. Rachel promised to call Chrissie later in the week. All in all, it had taken almost a half hour to leave. Jared had driven the car around and stopped near the walk so Chrissie wouldn’t have to walk in the rain, which had begun in earnest while they were having breakfast.
“Overwhelmed much?” Jared asked as he sounded two quick beeps on the Jag’s horn as they passed the house where his father and sister stood under the protection of the porch roof to wave good-bye.
“Slightly overwhelmed, yeah.” Chrissie rested against the headrest.
“Everyone liked you. My dad liked you a lot and my sister thought you were the only intelligent girl I ever dated. She wants to be your friend.”
“I liked everyone, too, but I doubt you only dated dummies.” Chrissie stifled a yawn. “And I’d love to get to know Rachel better.”
“She has very high standards and she’s very astute. I couldn’t argue with her.” The car was chilly from the rain and dampness, so he turned the heater on low.
“Thanks for that.” She was having trouble keeping her eyes open. “Were we really going to go canoeing today?”
“We were. There are several canoes in the barn, and Sam and I thought we’d take you and Rachel out on the beautiful Brandywine River. Of course, we’d have had to take one of their boys, since they couldn’t take them both, but that could have been fun. I don’t get enough time to spend with my nephews.”
“Rachel said Sam was offered a teaching position at a school in Maryland. If he takes it, you could see them more often.”
“That would be cool. I’d like that.” They came to a traffic light, and Jared stopped behind a pickup truck that looked more at home in the rural terrain than the Jaguar. “What’d you think of my dad’s gift to Delia?”
“Truthfully, I thought it was a little odd.” She opened her eyes and glanced across the console at him.
“What was odd about it?”
“It just doesn’t seem like a gift a man would give his wife on their wedding night. A wet suit isn’t very romantic.”
“What could be more romantic than giving her something she could use to enjoy doing something with him? What should he have given her? According to Rachel, she has more jewelry than any woman could ever wear. She doesn’t need a car or obviously a house. She buys herself whatever she wants when she wants it. I think he bought it for her because it was the one thing she didn’t have that she wanted. And before you ask, yes, he’s taken her diving and she loved it.”
“Maybe she was just saying that she loved it to make him happy.” That’s what Chrissie would have done, once upon a time. Would she still? She hoped not.
“You’ll eat those words when you get to know her better. She doesn’t do anything she doesn’t want to do and she’s always blunt about what she’s thinking. And once you get past your first dive, you’ll totally get it. I’m thinking we’ll start with some warm, peaceful tropical—”
“Don’t hold your breath.” Chrissie closed her eyes again, ignoring his last comment and wondering if in fact she’d get to know Delia better. She hoped she might.
“Tired?” he asked, and she nodded.
“I didn’t sleep well last night,” she admitted.
“Why not?”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about—” She really didn’t want to tell him she’d mostly been thinking about him.
“Thinking about what?”
“Just . . . sensory overload, I guess. There’d been so much going on for the past few days, I think it all caught up with me. I’m used to a quiet life, you know. Life on the island is nothing like life with Delia.”
“Nothing is like life with Delia. But I get it. Sometimes it’s all a bit much for me, too. I spend most of my time underwater or on a dive boat.”
“I thought you were the playboy in the bunch.”
“Maybe in my younger days. These days . . . I’m good just taking long walks and hitting up the local ice cream shop with a special woman.”
“Anyone I know?”
“If you don’t, you should. She’s one of those women who has it all, you know? Brains, humor, and she’s a knockout. Oh, and she can cook like a demon.”
“Like a demon.” She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. He was smiling and looking at her from the corner of his eye. No one had ever called her a knockout before.
“Yup. What she can do with oysters . . . pure sorcery.”
“Sorcerers and demons are not the same thing.”
“Picky, picky. You get the general idea.”
She smiled and leaned back once again. It was getting harder to keep her eyes open.
Jared turned on the radio and searched for her forties station. They listened to some early Sinatra as they drove toward the interstate.
“Jared,” she said sleepily, “tell me about something else you can’t explain.”
He thought for a moment.
“There’s a Mayan pyramid in Chichén Itzá in Mexico. If you stand at the bottom of the pyramid’s steps and clap your hands, it makes an echo that sounds like a flock of birds.”
“Did you actually do that? You clapped your hands and heard a flock of birds taking off?”
“I did, and it did. And before you ask, there have been acoustic specialists who have tested it, and they can’t explain it, either. Actually, some have said it sounds just like the cry of the quetzal.”
“What’s a quetzal?”
“It’s a bird that was considered sacred by the Mayans. They believed it was a god.”
“Huh.” She thought it over, then asked, “Did you make that up?”
“Nope. Everything I’ve told you has been true. The UFOs, the disappearance of Çatalhöyük, the pyramid . . .”
“The Alaskan triangle . . .”
“That, too.”
“Are there more?” she asked, her voice starting to fade.
“For another time.”
The last sounds she heard were the sound of the windshield wipers and Jared singing along very softly with Frank Sinatra, but she was too tired to remember the name of the song.
• • •
“WHERE ARE WE?” Chrissie sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes before remembering she’d put on mascara that morning. She hoped she hadn’t just smeared it. She’d had black eyes before, and she knew it wasn’t a good look for her.
“In the parking lot in front of Ruby’s store.”
“We’re back already?”
“If you slept through the ride, I could see it feeling like ‘already.’ If you were driving, it was close to two hours. That includes stopping for gas.” He turned to look at her and put his arm over the back of her seat. “You slept through that, too.”
“Oh, I am so sorry.” She shook out the few remaining cobwebs from her brain. “I just crashed.”
“All the way home.”
“Again, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You were tired, and I got to listen to some great country music after the Sinatra hour was over.”
“What’s the Sinatra hour?” She sat all the way up and unhooked her seat belt.
“Apparently there’s a station out of Baltimore that plays all Sinatra for one hour every Sunday. We just happened to catch it on the way home.”
“I’m sorry I missed that.” She wanted to get out of the car and stretch, but she didn’t want him to think she was eager to get away from him.
Thunder shook the car and rain pounded the hood. The stretch might have to wait.
“Why don’t you go on inside? Just run. I’ll get your suitcase out of the trunk and bring it in,” he suggested.
“You’re going to get soaked.”
“I’m going to have to get your suitcase in any case, so I’m going to get wet. No reason you have to get wet, too.” He reached behind her and grabbed her garment bag. “You take this, and I’ll bring in the rest.”
“If you’re sure . . .” She reached for the door handle.
“I’m positive. Go.”
She went. Getting out of the somewhat low car with her bag and her garment bag, which held several dresses, wasn’t as easy as it sounded. She could feel something slip off its hanger, and her feet slid on the pebbles in the parking lot. As it turned out, running wasn’t an option. She managed to get up the steps and under the porch roof where she waited for Jared, who had the larger load but managed to get across the lot without slipping.
Chrissie tried the store’s front door and found it unlocked.
“Oh good,” she said. “Ruby’s here.”
She pushed open the door and Jared followed her inside.
“Ruby?” she called.
When there was no answer, Chrissie said, “She must be in the back. Let me just go tell her we’re here. Come on in, Jared.”
“I’m dripping wet. I should probably stand in one spot.”
“I don’t think it matters.” She draped the garment bag over the counter and went into the back room. “This floor has probably had a thousand people dripping water in its time.”
She went into Ruby’s apartment but came back shaking her head. “She isn’t there. She said she’d be here.” She fought to keep panic out of her voice. “Maybe she’s upstairs.”
Before Jared could react, she ran up the steps, opening and closing the doors.
“She’s not up there, either,” she said, out of breath when she ran back down.
“Whoa.” In a blink, Jared was there, his arms reaching to pull her in. “What’s the matter? You’re shaking and the look on your face—Chris, what’s wrong? You look scared to death.”
“We need to call Owen.” She shook him off and all but ran to the counter. She found her bag and pulled it apart searching for her phone. She found it and speed-dialed Owen’s number.
When he finally answered, her hands were shaking. “Owen, she isn’t here. Ruby isn’t here.”
“No, she’s here. We brought her down to have lunch with us since she didn’t expect you back until late this afternoon. What the hell’s wrong?”
“Oh. Oh, okay.” She could have passed out from relief. “I came in and the door was unlocked, and she wasn’t here, and I thought . . . I thought . . . I was afraid . . .”
“You were afraid he’d found you and hurt Ruby? Oh, Chrissie.” Owen sighed. “We should have left a note. Cass wanted to, but Ruby and I both thought we’d have her back before you got home.” He paused. “Are you all right now?”
“Yes. I’m fine. Thanks.” She leaned against the counter.
“Is Jared still there?”
“Yes.”
“Does he know about . . .” Owen started to ask.
“No.”
“I think you need to tell him,” Owen said.
“I think you’re probably right.” Chrissie looked across the counter to where Jared stood quietly watching her.
“Like, probably now.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “I will.”
“Otherwise he’s going to think you’re a little crazy, kid.”
“Might be too late. Thanks, Owen.”
“We’ll bring Ruby back after the rain stops,” he told her right before he hung up.
“So. I take it Owen knows where Ruby is?” Jared asked.
Chrissie nodded. “She went to his place to have lunch with him and Cass.”
Jared folded his arms across his chest and watched her as if waiting. Which, she knew, he was.
“What did you think happened to her?” he asked softly. “What are you afraid of, Chris?”
“It’s a long story.”
He glanced out the window. “It doesn’t look like the rain’s stopping anytime soon, so we have plenty of time.”
“Take your jacket and shirt off,” she told him. “I’m pretty sure Owen left some things here that might fit you.” She smiled weakly. “Like I said, it’s a long story and it’ll take a while to tell it. I don’t want you sitting around in cold, wet clothes.”
She went up the steps again, and a few minutes later came down with a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
“These should fit. And bonus—they’re even clean. You can change in here and I’ll go into the kitchen and make coffee. I think we could both use a cup or two.”
She filled the Keurig she’d given Ruby for Christmas with water and set a mug beneath it while she sorted out her thoughts, then made a second mug. She wasn’t even sure where to begin. Obviously this was about Doug, but the story began way before that. Well, he already knew that part, the part about her father abandoning them and her mother being a flake. Had she explained to him just how unreliable Dorothy was? She wasn’t sure. Telling him about Doug would be humiliating, but if their relationship was to move forward, he needed to know. It wouldn’t be fair not to tell him, especially after the way she overreacted when Ruby wasn’t in the store and wasn’t in her apartment. The fear that had been dormant in her—that he would find her—had emerged full-blown. The fear that he could hurt Ruby . . . She shivered at the thought.
When she came back into the store, Jared was sitting at Ruby’s table against the wall, looking out the window.
“It’s turned into quite a storm,” he said. “Thunder, lightning bolts flying everywhere. It always seems so much more impressive near water, don’t you think?”
“I do.” She set a mug in front of him.
He put his hands around the mug as if to warm them, then took a sip. “It’s just the way I like it.”
“You’re not the only one who’s observant.” She tried to force a smile as she sat opposite him. She wanted to be able to watch his face, see his expressions as she spoke, so she could try to read what he really was thinking.
“Owen’s things fit just fine, thanks.” He pointed to the bait cooler near the door where he’d laid out his clothes to dry. “Hopefully there’s no way for the worms to get out of the bait boxes.”
“I’m pretty sure the lids are taped down.”
“So.” She took a deep breath. “You want to know . . .” She took another. “You want to know why I got upset when I couldn’t find Ruby.”
“I figured it wasn’t because you were thinking she’d wandered away because she’s one hundred years old and forgot where she lived.” He paused. “Okay, that wasn’t funny. So what did you think happened to her?”
“I thought my ex-boyfriend hurt her.” There. It was out. Part of it, anyway.
“Why would he do that?”
“Because I didn’t tell him I was leaving before I left, and I didn’t tell him where I was going.”
“So you think he started looking for you, found you, and took it out on Ruby when you weren’t here?”
“Yes.” The thought of Doug being in the same room with Ruby made her sick to her stomach.
“Chrissie, has he ever hurt you?”
“Too many times to remember.”
“I’m calling the truth zone here. I want to know everything.”
She told him about meeting Doug and being swept off her feet. About thinking they were in love and moving in with him way too soon before she really knew him. About how he began to control her in little ways, then how he slowly took over her life, at first with words, then with physical threats that he soon made good on.
“This guy physically abused you? Hurt you?” Jared’s tone was steady, but she could see a twitch in his jaw that he was fighting to control. “He hit you?”
“Yeah. I let it happen, and keep happening, and I don’t have any excuse for that.”
“Baby, you don’t need an excuse.” His voice softened to the point where she strained to hear him. “You didn’t do anything wrong. This is all on him, not on you.”
“I shouldn’t have let it go on the way I did. I let it go on way too long.”
“Because you were afraid.”
“I never told anyone, I never called the police, I never did any of the things that would have been smart.”
“Whoa. Listen to yourself. How ’bout he never stopped to think about what a coward he was, or how big an asshole he was? How ’bout he never stopped to think about what it meant to be a man and how he should be trying to control his temper instead of you?” His voice rose along with his growing anger. “And it must have been hard to do the ‘smart’ thing when you’re being threatened with bodily harm.”
“I know all that now, I’m just trying to tell you how it was. He did it because he could. Because I let him get away with it. Because I didn’t have enough respect for myself to walk out the first time it happened. And I let him convince me that everything he said about me was true. That I was stupid and fat and not very attractive . . .”
“That’s total bull. You’re beautiful and you’re far from fat, and no one would question your intelligence.”
“I let him undermine my self-confidence and let him make me feel incompetent. For several years I stayed in jobs that were beneath me because he’d made me believe that I wasn’t good enough to do anything else. I let—”
“Stop. You keep saying, ‘I let.’ There’s no let when you’re being coerced or manipulated and threatened.” Jared got up and crouched down in front of her. “I’m trying to find the right words and they’re just not coming.” He swallowed hard, and she could see his eyes were beginning to fill up. “I am so so so sorry that happened to you. If I could change one thing about my life, I’d have met you before he did so you’d never have had to go through that.”
“Me, too.” She touched his face and could almost feel the pain he was feeling through her fingertips.
“Where is this guy now? What’s his name?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, it matters.” His eyes hardened. “It matters. Where would I find him?”
“I don’t want you to find him. I want to forget that part of my life ever happened.”
“But you won’t. As long as he’s out there somewhere, you’re always going to be looking over your shoulder. You’re always going to react with fear first, like you did a little while ago.”
“I honestly don’t think he could find me.” She told him all the ways she’d covered her tracks.
“Good moves, all.” Jared shook his head. “But we’re in the truth zone, remember? We both know you do think he can find you. That’s why you went absolutely white with fear when you couldn’t find Ruby. That’s the first place your mind went.”
“No one knows where I am except Rob, my former boss. And he would die before he’d tell Doug anything.”
“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. If Doug went after him . . .” Jared stood and pulled out the chair next to hers, then sat, taking her hands in his. She could tell he was worried, much more than she’d expected him to be. The anger, she’d expected.
“Rob’s married to a former NFL linebacker.” Chrissie smiled. “I think Doug’s smart enough not to take on Rob.”
“So what do we do, babe? Do we just keep waiting for the day when he shows up?”
“I just want to put it behind me.” Chrissie’s frustration was beginning to build inside her. “That was the worst time of my life. I hated myself back then. I believed every horrible thing he said about me was true and I wasn’t strong enough to fight back. I finally got strong enough to leave. Isn’t that enough?”
“It was very brave of you to leave, Chris. And yes, it’s enough until he figures out where you are.”
“The police in St. Dennis know about him, they have his photo and a description of his car. If by some strange twist he was able to figure out where I am, he’ll be picked up.”
“That’s assuming they remember to look for him, and assuming he passes by while someone’s out on patrol.” Jared shook his head. “I don’t like this situation, Chris.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
“Right now, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll powwow with Owen. Maybe talk to the police, see if they have any suggestions. I’m not comfortable leaving this to chance.” He seemed to think it over. “Are there any weapons here?”
“A couple of kitchen knives.”
“That’s what I figured. The best thing would be for you to come stay with me at the inn or the boat, but I know—”
“You know I won’t leave Ruby, and we both know she won’t leave the store.”
“And I didn’t see an alarm system.”
“On Cannonball Island?”
“That’s what I thought.”
“You’re acting like there’s an immediate problem. I overreacted, I didn’t stop to think that Ruby had gone somewhere. It’s not like her to leave the door unlocked, though, but she might have gone out the back, or thought I didn’t have a key, or just forgot,” she reasoned, now that she’d calmed down. “And I’m sure Rob would have called me if Doug had been in, and he hasn’t. He stopped by one night after I left and asked if I’d been in, or if I was scheduled to work, but as far as I know, he hasn’t asked since.”
“Maybe he hasn’t asked because he figured out another way.”
“There is no other way he can find me, Jared, so could we please talk about something else? I’m feeling spooked now. I only brought it up because I thought you should know. I’ve been wanting to tell you, but I couldn’t bring myself to let you know what a loser I used to be.”
“Stop saying that.”
“That’s how I saw myself, and the fact that I know better now doesn’t change the way I used to feel. Used to feel.”
She studied his face, searching for a sign that he thought less of her because of her confession, but there was nothing there beyond understanding and concern. The way he looked at her was assurance enough that finding out who she’d been hadn’t changed the fact that he cared about who she was now.
“You have Owen on speed dial. How ’bout my number?”
She shook her head, and he gestured for her to make that change.
“The police?”
“Yes.” She held up her phone to show him that she had the private cell number for the chief of police as well as the police station.
“So I don’t have to tell you to call if something doesn’t feel right or there’s something suspicious . . .”
“No. I got that message from Owen and from Beck a couple of weeks ago.”
“Okay. Bases covered. Now, come here and kiss me the way you did last night.” He held out his hand and pulled her into his lap. His arms around her tightly, he kissed the line of her jaw softly before moving on to her lips.
It was easy to lose herself in him. He surrounded her and kissed her soft and sweet, then long and hard. She couldn’t decide which she liked better. She’d happily indulge in either, so she took his face in her hands and kissed him back, following his lead. She was just getting into it when the sound of a car door slamming made her jump.
She looked out the window and saw Owen’s old Jeep in the driveway.
“It must have stopped raining.” She glanced out the window. “Yep. Sun’s coming out. Bummer. I wasn’t done with you yet.”
“Just getting started,” he murmured.
She gave Jared one more quick kiss before getting off his lap and going to the door.
“Hi, guys,” she called as Owen helped Ruby out of the car. “Did you have a good lunch?”
• • •
“I SHOULD BE on my way,” Jared said after the expected round of “How was the wedding?” and “Did you have a good time?,” mostly from Cass and Owen.
He’d thought Ruby was relatively quiet but seemed a bit on edge. She may have overheard parts of Owen’s earlier phone conversation, or more likely, Jared thought, she could have sensed Chrissie’s fear. It wouldn’t have surprised him if she had. He was pretty sure she knew about Chrissie’s previous relationship, so it would follow that she might be hypersensitive to any possible threat to her great-granddaughter.
Then again, she did know things.
“Hey, nice sweats,” Owen had said when he came in. When he saw Jared’s clothes on the wall hanger, his eyes had narrowed suspiciously.
“I got caught in the downpour,” Jared explained before Owen could even ask. “Chrissie found these upstairs, so she let me borrow them until my things dried. Which they still haven’t yet. I checked.”
“You can bring them to the boat tomorrow,” Owen told him.
“What’s tomorrow?”
“Didn’t you see the email? We’ve been provisionally cleared to remove the artifacts from the sunken ship, as much as possible without disturbing the suspected settlement beneath it. I think they’re looking for a forensic anthropologist who can dive to see if there are any Native American remains down there. It’s doubtful, though. Ruby says the Native American graveyards are up over the ridge on the other side of the river, and she always seems to know these things. But all it means for us is that we can start diving again as long as we stick to the merchant ship.”
“That’s great news.” Jared couldn’t help but grin. “I couldn’t see hanging around too much longer with nothing to do. I’m not used to loafing. I’m going to have to call back the guys I sent home last week.”
“Bet they’ll be glad to get that call.” Owen slapped Jared on the back and said, “Come outside with me for a minute.”
They went out onto the porch and stood there looking at each other, each waiting for the other to speak. Finally, Jared said, “Yeah, she told me. What are we going to do about it?”
“Short of tracking this guy down first and giving him some of what he gave her—”
“I’d be up for that,” Jared cut in. There was nothing he’d like more. He had no use for men like Chrissie’s ex, and would happily serve up a little payback on her behalf.
“She’d have a fit. Besides, on the outside chance he’s moved on, we’d just be reminding him that she had the audacity to leave.”
“I think the best thing we can do is just keep an eye on her and on the store as best we can. It would probably be helpful to her if we didn’t make too big a deal out of it, at least to her. I don’t think we need to continue reminding her what she went through. That’s only going to keep her frightened.”
“If she’s scared, she might be more vigilant,” Owen said.
“If she’s scared, she’ll stop living the life she’s made for herself here, and that’s important to her. I don’t know details, but I know she has issues about her father leaving her and her mother. She’s not close to her mother, apparently—”
“No one is. Her mom, Dorothy, and my mom are first cousins, grew up together here on the island. Used to be best friends, according to my mom. She hasn’t heard from Dorothy in thirty years.”
“So she’s been pretty much left behind by everyone in her family. Must be almost like being orphaned. It’s not hard to see how she fell hard for the first guy who paid any real attention to her. Then he turns out to be a monster, she finally gets the courage to leave, and settles herself somewhere she feels safe. She won’t feel safe if we keep telling her this guy’s coming for her. We just need to make sure he doesn’t get to her.”
“You’re awfully involved in this for someone who only considers her a friend,” Owen said.
“I did consider her a friend. I still do.”
“But . . .”
“But there’s more to it than that. She’s . . . she’s more than that to me.”
“Geez, Chandler, you can get any woman you want. You have to go after my cousin.” Owen ran a hand over his face. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
“She’s the woman I want, and I know what you’re thinking, but no, it isn’t like that. Chrissie isn’t like anyone else. I don’t know where this is headed, but I do know I will never hurt her in any way. I can promise you that.”
“I can’t believe it. You and my annoying little cousin Chrissie.”
“She isn’t annoying to me.”
“Not to me anymore, either, but boy, she sure was when she was little. And now she’s all grown up and one of my best buds has his eye on her. My bud who was my partner in crime for how many years and through how many bars, late nights, and beach bunnies?”
“Too many to count,” Jared replied. “But I remind you, you settled down. So if you could grow up, it could happen to anyone.”
“What are you guys doing out there?” Cass opened the door.
Owen shrugged. “Just talking.”
“Well, come on in and have a beer with us. Chrissie made salsa and it’s out of this world. Lots of heat.”
“A beer and some hot salsa sounds good,” Owen said.
“I’ll be with you in a few minutes,” Jared told him. “I want to call the guys and tell them to start on back.”
“I can’t guarantee there’ll be anything left if you take too long, bro.”
“I won’t be long.” Jared took out his phone, sat on the top step, and began to make his calls.
• • •
JARED LAY BACK on the bed in the cabin of the Cordelia Elizabeth. He’d given his crewman, Ray, the night off since he’d been on board since Thursday, and sent him to shore in the outboard motor boat he’d rented from Alec earlier and tied up off the dive platform. The first thing Jared did after Ray left was to start up the Cordy E’s engine and move it to a spot right beyond the cove on the other side of the island. From here he had a clear view of the general store, and while he knew it was foolish to think he was close enough to see someone skulking around with the naked eye, it made him feel he was watching over Chrissie and Ruby. He removed the binoculars from his locker and trained them on the shore, and was satisfied he could see well enough if someone was on this side of the building. That left the side closest to the bridge unguarded, but then again, he was fifty feet from the shore, so how effective his watch could be was questionable. But it made him feel he was doing something, and he needed that.
He’d been gutted by Chrissie’s confession and he hadn’t tried to hide it. How could anyone have raised a hand to that sweet woman? He wasn’t kidding when he said he was up for tracking the weasel down and letting him feel a little of what Chrissie must have felt, even though intellectually he knew that wasn’t going to make things better for her and wouldn’t erase the past. What he really needed to do was help her to replace the bad memories with happy ones, to show her that she was unconditionally worth the best that a relationship could be. He wanted to be the man who did that for her.
The weekend had opened his eyes to so many things. He’d been suspecting that his interest in their historic walking tours was based on something more than a budding fascination with St. Dennis’s past; the ice cream, however, had been a given. Rachel had been right about one thing: he didn’t do historic walking tours. The first time he’d gone with Chrissie he’d simply been looking for something to do, something to pass the time because he was bored and the cute blonde he’d tried to pick up in the lobby had more or less blown him off. But he’d liked being with Chrissie that day, so he looked forward to doing it again. When he took her out on the deadrise, it was because he’d wanted her to see the town from his vantage point, from the water.
He’d enjoyed the weekend with her and his family, was happy that he’d had the good sense to ask her in the first place. It had pleased him to see the way she fit in with everyone, like the piece of a puzzle he hadn’t realized had been missing.
While Chrissie’d been upstairs getting ready to leave, his father had taken him aside and said, “Chrissie seems like a special girl. You know I never comment on your girlfriends, but Delia and I like her very much. We’re hoping you bring her back for a weekend when things aren’t quite so hectic so we can get to know her a little better.”
“That would be nice, Dad,” he’d replied.
“Don’t run from it, son.” Gordon had put his arm around Jared’s shoulder. “Run toward it. Love is the most—”
“Dad, no one’s using the L-word.” Jared had laughed nervously and held up both hands as if to ward off the word. “No one’s there yet. We’re really just starting to date.”
“Do you know how long it took me to fall in love with Delia?”
“I have no idea.”
“About five minutes. I took one look at her and felt this pull, and I knew. Sometimes it happens that way. Sometimes it’s just there waiting for you to find it.” His father had slapped him on the back and said, “Talk to me again in another few months. I’m betting it won’t take that long. You both have that look about you.”
Jared hadn’t planned on falling for her but he could see that was where this was heading—his father was right about that. He just hadn’t been ready to admit it. What he felt for Chrissie wasn’t something he could change or control, or even put into words just yet. It was just there as a fact of his life, that she was becoming part of that life, and while he hadn’t expected it, he wasn’t going to run away from it, either. Something else his dad had been right about.
He reached over and turned off the light next to the bed. His crew would begin gathering early tomorrow; they were all as eager to get back to work as he was. Owen promised he’d be there early with coffee and a couple of the scones Chrissie was mixing when he left the store. He’d gone back to the inn, picked up the clothes he’d left there, then set out to the Cordelia Elizabeth in the small rented outboard.
He fell asleep hoping that the feeling Owen had—that her troubles weren’t over—was wrong.