CHAPTER 14
The next evening, Micah Sinclair found himself sitting at Sullivan’s Steak and Seafood wondering what in the hell he was doing there. He was alone, sitting at a corner table, completely obsessed with watching Tessa Sullivan.
And so he did just that. He watched her.
Obsessively.
Compulsively.
Constantly.
He watched as she moved around the room with the grace of a dancer, disappointed that she wasn’t the person who took his order. Instead, it had been an angry-looking man not much older than him, his hair almost the same color as Tessa’s.
You’re a pathetic loser, Sinclair. Get up and leave.
Micah had reminded himself several times that he wasn’t here by chance, and that he was actually stalking Tessa, but he couldn’t help himself. When he’d found her gone, he’d needed to reassure himself that she’d gotten home safe. Yeah, maybe he could have gotten her number from Hope, or asked her to text Tessa rather than just showing up at the restaurant himself.
He hadn’t.
Because he wanted to see her in person again.
He’d gone to Sullivan’s just to see her, and ended up eating the best lobster roll he’d ever had. The place might look like a dump, but the food was phenomenal.
He was still nursing a beer when he saw the guy who’d delivered his order making his way to his table.
“You good?” he asked as he stopped at Micah’s table. And damned if the guy wasn’t blocking his view of Tessa now.
Micah raised his hand. “I’m stuffed. Thanks.”
“Here’s your check,” the waiter answered, practically slamming the paper down on the table.
Micah nodded and grabbed the ticket, wondering why the big guy seemed to have suddenly become less friendly. That was saying something, because he hadn’t exactly been much fun in the first place. “Thanks.”
“You’ve been watching Tessa all night. Don’t even think about it, man.” The stranger’s face grew threatening and annoyed.
“She’s an attractive woman,” Micah replied sensibly.
“And she happens to be my sister. Stay the hell away from her. She’s been through a lot in the past several years. She doesn’t need a Sinclair to screw with her head.” The burly man crossed his arms and shot Micah a dangerous look, one that said if Micah fucked with his sister, he’d kill him.
“You know who I am?” Micah asked, surprised.
“Yes, I know. I recognize you. I’ve seen some of your work, and I’ve used your equipment in the past.”
“I don’t mean her any harm. I’m just looking,” Micah said calmly. “She makes it difficult not to look.”
“Well look in another direction. She’s deaf, handicapped,” Liam growled protectively.
“Being deaf isn’t really a handicap for her. She seems to cope quite well,” Micah observed, not liking the fact that her brother seemed to think his sister was less desirable just because she couldn’t hear. “You must be Liam Sullivan, one of the owners of this place, right? Has the place been here long? The food was good.” He tried to make casual conversation to get the man off his back.
“Since my grandfather’s time,” Liam admitted. “It’s not the ambiance that makes the restaurant. People come back for the food.” Liam hesitated for a moment before he asked, “Are you trying to change the subject?”
Actually, Micah was trying to forget about the fact that he was a certifiable stalker. “Yes. Look, I find your sister attractive. That’s all there is to it. I wouldn’t want to upset her.”
Liam gave Micah a warning glance. “Stop looking. She’s not going to end up being a notch on your bedpost or anywhere else, for that matter.”
Micah thought about telling the man that he didn’t keep track of the women he slept with by carving a notch on his expensive bed, but he didn’t think Liam would appreciate the comment.
“Since when do you run your sister’s dating life?” Micah asked evenly, standing up to go pay his bill. He did need to leave. He had work to accomplish, and sitting here stalking a deaf woman was pretty damn pathetic.
“Since I’m the only one around to protect her anymore.” Liam shoved Micah’s shoulder with a closed fist. “You’re trouble, and the last thing Tessa needs is any emotional issues right now. She has enough to deal with at the moment.”
Micah put some distance between himself and Liam. “Don’t touch me, asshole. You profess concern for your sister? How do you think she’d feel if we started going a few rounds in the middle of her restaurant?” Micah wasn’t afraid of Liam. He knew he could kick his ass if he needed to, but he didn’t want to. The guy was Tessa’s brother, even if he was an overprotective prick. Micah didn’t want to go there.
“You think you’d win?” Liam asked with a smirk.
“I know so,” Micah replied arrogantly. Liam might outsize him by a few inches and pounds, but Micah was fast and had the skills to go along with his speed.
“Cocky bastard,” Liam mumbled.
“Don’t worry; I’m leaving. But I won’t promise I’ll never come back.” Micah put on his jacket and zipped it up.
“Just make sure you keep your eyes pointed in another direction,” Liam warned ominously.
Micah wasn’t certain he could promise Liam that he wouldn’t gawk at Tessa if given the opportunity, so he remained silent.
“I’ll take that,” Liam said anxiously as he snatched the bill and the credit card Micah had pulled from his wallet.
Clearly the guy wanted to make sure that Micah had absolutely no opportunity to talk to his sister. Liam was pretty obvious in his enthusiasm to see the back of him, at least for tonight.
Micah smirked as he strolled to the front of the restaurant to watch Liam hastily take payment.
“I’m not going to tell you to come back and see us soon,” Liam stated in an unhappy tone.
Micah took back his card and returned it to his wallet. “No need. Good food and an ass like your sister’s will always bring me back,” he told Liam with a cocky smile and turned to leave the restaurant. Most likely, he wouldn’t be back, but he wasn’t going to give Liam the satisfaction of admitting it. He would have liked to have seen the look on Liam’s face, but he suppressed the urge to turn around again.
“Bastard,” Liam muttered angrily.
Micah chuckled as he walked out of the steakhouse and back into the cold.
Randi parked her car on the side of the road in the cemetery, doubtful anybody would care. She was the only living soul in the place.
Pulling a shovel out of the car, she watched as Lily slipped out and scampered through the snow and over to exactly the place where Randi was headed: her foster parents’ tombstones.
It had become a ritual for her to come clear a path to the stones since Joan had passed away. For some reason she always felt better once the stones weren’t buried in snow like they’d been forgotten.
She locked the SUV even though it probably wasn’t necessary and started her trek toward the area where Dennis and Joan had been laid to rest side by side.
The reverent silence was broken by Lily’s excited bark.
The moment she stepped off the sidewalk to trudge through the snow to the markers, Randi knew something was off. Amazed, she walked over the dead grass on a path that had been cleared directly toward Dennis’s and Joan’s stones.
Somebody was here.
Randi realized it wasn’t the family of another loved one who had done it. The cleared area led directly to where Lily was standing, excitedly sniffing the ground. Not a speck of snow marred the writing on the marble remembrance markers, her foster parents’ names and dates of birth and death completely revealed.
“What the hell?” Randi mumbled to herself, resting a gloved hand on top of Lily’s head. “You recognize a scent, girl?” she asked her curiously. The dog’s nose was off the ground and she was now sitting and looking up at Randi with her head cocked to one side.
Why would anyone clear a path to her foster parents’ gravestones, and then proceed to carefully remove any snow from their markers? Nobody came here except her, and occasionally Beatrice and Elsie. The elderly women went to graves to leave flowers for deceased loved ones and friends on some of the major holidays.
But it wasn’t a holiday.
And Randi knew it wasn’t Beatrice and Elsie who had shoveled the heavy snow.
A flash of color caught her eye, and she bent over to retrieve an object that was situated between the two stones.
She rose with a perfect single calla lily between her fingers. Randi’s mouth opened and closed with surprise as she read the small handwritten tag attached to the flower. There were only two words: Thank You!
Clutching the flower, Randi sat down hard on the snowbank beside the path that had been created by some massive shoveling. Her ass was cold, but she didn’t notice. She was too busy trying to understand what was happening.
Lily cuddled up to her side, quiet as she laid her furry head against Randi’s shoulder.
“Who would do this? And why?” Randi whispered, turning the perfect bloom around with her fingers. It was a smaller calla lily, and it had splotches of a color that reminded her of a ripe plum on the inside of the white flower. In the middle was the signature tiny gold bud that matched Lily’s golden fur coat.
It was still beautiful, which told her it hadn’t been out in the cold for very long.
“Impossible,” Randi marveled, still confused. There was no way somebody had just happened to find this flower in town. The local florist didn’t carry calla lilies. They were rarely seen in her area, and definitely not in the winter.
Fingering the small tag around the flower, she wondered who was thanking Dennis and Joan . . . and why? If anybody should be thanking them, it was her. They’d rescued her from a hopeless life and made her feel like a real person for the first time in her life.
Her eyes misted and tears began to trickle slowly down her face. Even though it could be a little creepy that an unknown someone else had visited their graves, it wasn’t. Whoever had dropped this off and cleared the site had once been touched by Dennis and Joan’s kindness . . . just like her.
Maybe it was an old student of her foster mother’s, or a student at Dennis’s school. The couple had done so many kind things in their lives; they deserved to be remembered.
Randi wrapped her arms around her dog as Lily started licking at her face, lapping at her tears. “I miss them, Lily. I miss them so damn much.” Giving up the fight, Randi lowered her head and sobbed against Lily’s silky fur, keeping the calla lily clutched in her fist.
She cried for the loss of a mother and father, even though they hadn’t shared the same blood.
She cried for the sacrifices they’d made just to keep her with them.
She cried because she’d never completely mourned their loss because it was so hard to let them go.
Finally, she stopped, and memories of the two people she’d loved the most in life drifted through her mind.
They’ll never really be gone, because I’ll keep the memories alive and both of them in my heart forever. They showed me what it was like to truly be happy and loved. Both of them would hate it if I stayed sad when I think about them.
“They wanted me to be happy, Lily. That’s why they lied to keep me here in Amesport,” Randi murmured quietly to her dog as she lifted her head from Lily’s fur.
Swiping away the rest of the tears from her face with her glove, Randi walked back to her car and removed a pretty red rose from the backseat. She took the calla lily and wrapped the two flowers together with the tag the other visitor had provided and walked back to the two stones.
Gingerly, she dropped the entwined flowers back between the two graves, her heart much lighter than when she’d arrived.
She didn’t know who had dropped off the calla lily and cleaned the path and markers, but she and that person had a connection, an abiding love for two of the kindest people who had ever existed.
“I hope I can make you both proud,” Randi whispered, determined to make their every sacrifice really count. “I’ll try my best.”
Lily whined softly, as though she agreed with Randi.
She patted the dog on the head. “Come on, girl. Let’s go home.”
The canine sprinted in front of her to the SUV. Randi followed slowly, thinking about some of the happy memories she’d created with Dennis and Joan. She’d have those peaceful times in her heart forever even as she began to let go of her sadness.
Finally, the healing would begin.