Chapter Twelve
Cass? Cassie?” The knock at the door was insistent. “Cassie, are you awake?”
Cass sat up in bed. “Oh, my God. It’s my mother.”
“So don’t open the door.” Owen rolled over and took half the covers with him.
“She knows I’m in here.” Cass tugged back her share of the covers.
“If we’re real quiet, she’ll think you’re asleep. Which she should expect you might be at”—Owen sat up and looked at his watch on the nightstand—“nine in the morning after a late night.”
“I know, but it’s my mother, and I’m sitting here buck naked in my bed with an equally naked man.”
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” he muttered.
Cass stifled a giggle.
“You’re over thirty. You’re single. You aren’t breaking any law,” he whispered.
“I know. I know. But she’s still my mother. What if she won’t go away?”
“She’ll go away. Give her a minute.”
It took more than a minute, but Linda finally did give up and left.
“Are you hungry?” Owen asked. “I’m starving.”
“Me, too. Want to call for room service? Then again, no. What if my mother comes back and sees the cart being delivered. She’ll know I’m in here.”
“Let’s get dressed and go into town. We can grab breakfast somewhere.”
“Okay. Good idea. I want to take a quick shower first.”
She wrapped the sheet around herself and went into the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later, she emerged wrapped in a towel, her hair wet from the shower. “One of the advantages of short hair is that it takes no time to wash and to dry. The bathroom is yours.”
“Did you leave any towels?”
“On the counter.”
While Owen showered, Cass dressed in jeans and a pink long-sleeved tunic. She tied a scarf around her neck and put on wide silver hoop earrings. Her mind wouldn’t leave her alone, insisting on taking her back over every minute of the night before. She hadn’t planned on bringing Owen back to the inn, or taking him to her bed, but once she realized that was where they’d been heading all evening, it seemed the most natural thing in the world.
Don’t be a fool, the voice inside whispered. Player . . .
Not this time, she told herself. Owen’d been honest with her about everything, hadn’t been anything but wonderful in every way. How could she not believe that he wasn’t playing with her? What man did all he’d done—the crabbing lesson, making her dinner, planning the day in Chestertown, even putting himself on grave-cleanup duty just to be with her—what man did all that to have a woman for only one night? There were times to trust, she told herself as she dressed and put on makeup, and this was one of those times. Something special was between them, she’d felt it before, and last night it had overcome them both. It wasn’t just sex, though that had been great to the point of being phenomenal, but the attraction between them was undoubtedly real and went well beyond the physical.
So take it at face value and see where it leads. That was her goal.
She heard Owen come out of the shower, and a few minutes later he emerged wearing just his khakis.
“I seem to have lost my shirt.” His eyes scanned the room. “Ah, there it is.”
He picked it up off the floor where she’d tossed it and shook it out.
“Looks a little wrinkled.” He held it up. “How do I keep from looking as if I’m still in my clothes from the wedding? Think anyone would notice?”
“Roll up the sleeves and lose the jacket and tie.” She watched him button the shirt. “Too many buttons. You look like you’re ready to put the tie on. Here.” She undid a few more buttons and smoothed out the collar. “That looks a little more casual.”
“Thanks. I’d go back to the store, but I’d run into my mother and she’d be wondering why I’m still wearing my wedding duds.”
“Ha. So you don’t want to face your mother, either. And you’re how old? Thirty-eight?”
“She’d get the wrong idea.”
“What idea is that?”
“I’m not sure, but it would be wrong, either way.”
He finished getting dressed. He looked her over, his eyes skimming from her head to her feet and back again. “You look just as beautiful now as you did last night. How do you always manage to look so perfect?”
“Seriously? Perfect? You must have forgotten about the days you’ve seen me sweating, dirty, and covered with grass clippings.”
“You wore them well.”
Cass searched his face and realized he’d meant every word. She went to him and kissed him. “That was sweet. Thank you.”
“It’s the truth. It doesn’t matter what you wear. You can’t help being beautiful, just as I can’t help being stunned by just how beautiful you are.”
“You keep talking like that, Owen Parker, and I’m going to . . .”
“What?” He held her to him, his eyes searching hers. “You’re going to what?”
“I’m going to start to think this was more than a one-night . . . you know.” Cass looked away. Despite her earlier pep talk, her basic insecurity betrayed her and put words she hadn’t wanted to say into her mouth, expressing thoughts she didn’t want to have.
“I hope you’re kidding.” No humor was in his voice or in his eyes. “Of course it wasn’t a one-night— Is that what you thought?”
She threw out the truth: “It’s what I was afraid of.”
“Babe, last night—today—this is not a one-night anything. It’s just the beginning of us.” His arms tightened around her. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re on board.”
“I’m totally on board,” she whispered.
“Good. Now, let’s go get breakfast before we both pass out.”
He folded his tie and tucked it into a pocket of the jacket, which he laid over his arm. They got to the door, and he was just about to open it when she grabbed his hand.
“Wait. Owen. What if my mother is out there?”
“You mean lurking in the hallway, waiting for you to emerge after your long sleep? Afraid she’ll pop out from a laundry cart?”
“Stranger things have happened.”
“Not in my experience, but okay. What do you want to do?”
“We’ll go out separately.”
He laughed. “This is ridiculous.”
“I just don’t want to have a conversation about this and what it means with my mother this morning.”
“Okay. I know where the freight elevator is. I’ll leave first, and one minute later, you come down the steps and go right to the parking lot. Do you remember where we left the car?”
Cass nodded, then the absurdity of the situation struck her, and she giggled.
“I know.” Owen shook his head. “This is silly. I feel like a fifteen-year-old.”
“Me, too.” She opened the door and poked her head out to look both ways. “Go.” She shoved him out the door.
A minute later, she found the room key where she’d dropped it the night before and left the room. Once outside the inn, she went straight to the parking lot and found Owen waiting in his old brown Jeep. He laughed when he saw her.
“What’s so funny?” She got into the car and snapped on the seat belt.
“Just the whole thing. Your mother being here this weekend, my mother being at Ruby’s this weekend. It’s silly, because how old do you have to be before you let your parents know you’re sleeping with someone?”
“I think it would be different if it weren’t new.”
“You mean if this hadn’t been the first time we were together?”
Cass nodded, and he seemed to give that some thought as he drove from the parking lot to Charles Street. Once in town, he looked for a parking spot on the street, but had to drive down to the municipal lot to find a place.
“I forgot how busy it gets around this time on Sunday morning. Lots of people apparently like to go out to breakfast on Sunday. Let’s hope we can find a place that isn’t filled up.”
Owen took her hand and they walked up to Charles Street. They tried three restaurants but all had a wait of at least thirty minutes.
“Let’s go into Cuppachino,” he said after trying Lola’s, where the Sunday brunch was legendary but where the wait was a full hour. “At least we can get coffee and a muffin.”
“Anything at this point.”
They stood in line at the counter and waited to give their orders, then looked for a table. Finally Cass located one on the far side of the room next to the wall.
“Not much of a view, but there’s caffeine in the coffee, and sugar in the muffin, so it’s all good as far as I’m concerned.” Cass took a long sip of coffee and sighed. “This is so good.”
“Best coffee on the Eastern Shore.”
“So they claim.”
“Can’t argue with it. It’s damn good.”
“I told my mother I’d give her a call when I woke up. I guess I should do that now so she doesn’t think I’m in a coma or something.” She speed-dialed her mother’s cell and waited for the call to be picked up. She and Linda spoke for a few moments, then Cass hung up and told Owen, “They’re just getting ready to leave. I crossed my fingers and told her I knocked on her door earlier but no one answered. She said they were probably having breakfast in the dining room. But why didn’t I meet Owen there instead of going out? I told her I’d call later today and tell her all about the wedding.”
He leaned toward her to ask, “So we have the entire day to ourselves. What would you like to do?”
Movement from the left seemed to catch his eye, and he straightened up, an unreadable expression on his face.
“What?”
He didn’t respond.
She turned in the direction in which he was staring and saw the tall blond woman from Bling seated on the opposite side of the room with a group of three or four people.
“That’s her, isn’t it?” Cass said softly. “That’s your ex-wife.”
He nodded. “Yup. That’s her, all right.”
“She’s very pretty.”
Owen nodded. “She always was a pretty girl.” He looked at Cass for a long moment. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Think about what?”
“Don’t think about comparing yourself to her. She’d come up short and then you’d feel sorry for her.”
“She was in Bling the other day. When I bought my dress.” She wondered if she should tell him that she’d known the woman’s last name was Parker. Or that she had a child in her arms.
“Really? Huh. What a coincidence.” He glanced back at his ex-wife. “I guess I could go over and say hello, but I’m not sure I want to deal with her family. They weren’t very complimentary to me after the divorce.”
“Well, she’s theirs, and we always stick up for our own, right?”
“We do.” He turned his attention back to Cass. “I’ll wait and catch up with her another time.”
Cass was still wondering if she should mention the child with the dark curly hair when Cyndi and her group stood and headed toward the door. Owen’s ex was the last in line, and she turned to look over her shoulder and saw Cass across the room. She stared for a moment, then the recollection of having seen Cass the previous week must have kicked in, because she appeared to be about to smile.
Cass knew the exact second when Cyndi saw who else was at the table. Her expression froze and she seemed to blanch. She turned abruptly and left the shop. Cass continued to stare at the door where the woman had been standing.
“. . . and maybe go to Rock Hall for crabs this afternoon. What do you say?”
“What? Oh. Crabs. Sure.”
“Okay, where’d you go? ’Cause you obviously weren’t here.”
Cass felt flustered and unsure of what to say. “I looked up and she—your ex—was looking at me, and for a moment it was like she recognized me but wasn’t sure where she’d seen me. Then I thought maybe she remembered me from the shop because I thought she started to smile, but she saw you here and sort of went white.”
“I have that effect on a lot of my old girlfriends.”
“She’s not just an old girlfriend, Owen.”
“Okay, I know. I just was trying to not give it any more importance than it deserves. She saw you with me and for some reason that . . . what, spooked her? I can’t imagine why, unless it was just one of those things where you see someone you didn’t expect to see.” Owen shrugged. “I heard she was going to be visiting her parents in Ballard. I’ll drive over one day this week and just say hello.”
“I think she’d probably appreciate that.”
“We know her brother would. He sure made a point of telling me in Scoop last week.”
Cass took a drink from her cup, holding it in both hands. She put it down on the table, her hands still wrapped around it. “There’s something else. When she was in Bling, she had a little boy with her.”
“Probably one of her nephews. Last I heard, her sister had two and was pregnant again. And two of her brothers are married, so it isn’t surprising.”
“I had the impression it was her child.”
Owen’s head snapped up. “That’s not possible. You must have misunderstood.”
“I don’t think so. She said something about how they were at her parents’ and he doesn’t sleep well outside his own bed.”
He shrugged. “That could very well be one of Sandie’s boys, Cass. Her sister was always dumping her kids on their mother. She’s been doing it for years. Don’t read any more into it than there was.” He seemed to dismiss any other possibility by changing the subject. “So what do you say? Crabs at the Waterman?”
“Sure.”
It was a perfect fall day, crystal-blue skies and deep blue water. They sat on the deck outside the restaurant and ate french fries and spicy crabs with their bare hands and watched other customers drive up on their boats to tie off on the dock.
“That’s just the way I see the dock on the island being used,” Cass told Owen, “only not this large. Just enough for a half dozen boats.”
“Tell your dad to get his engineer out there to take care of business.”
“I did. I think he said she’ll be out this week.”
“It shouldn’t take long for the dock to be built. The construction should be in full swing before too much longer.”
“That would be great.” She toyed with a crab claw. “I can’t wait to get started on my house.”
“Did you decide on a lot yet?”
“I did. I want the lot that’s sort of between the river and the bay. The one with the dune behind it.” Her eyes lit up at the thought. “I’m enjoying my stay at the inn, but I’d rather be in a house.”
“Really?” He munched a fry. “Alec’s looking for a tenant for his house over on Lincoln Road since he and Lis have already moved their things into the cottage. Maybe you could rent it until your place is ready.”
“Show me on the way home?”
“Sure. He left me the key, so we can go inside and you can take a look around.”
They polished off a dozen jumbo crabs, and finally Cass begged off. She ordered coffee and drank it while she watched the swans across the inlet and Owen finished the last crab.
“This was fun. Of course, the tips of my fingers will forever smell like the seasoning they used, but it’s a small price to pay for such deliciousness.”
They stopped in the respective restrooms to wash off. When Cass came back out, Owen was standing at the end of the dock looking out at the bay. She came up behind him and her arms encircled his waist.
“Penny for them.” She leaned into his back.
“I was just thinking about how, when I was a kid, I thought the bay was bigger than the ocean. Growing up practically on the beach the way we did, I couldn’t imagine any body of water ever being bigger than the Chesapeake.” His hands held on to hers. “I still feel that way sometimes.”
“What? After diving all over the world, in just about every ocean?”
Owen nodded. “The Chesapeake still rules.”
He drove leisurely on the way back to St. Dennis, taking side roads rather than the highway, pointing out small towns and historic markers, stopping a few times at Cass’s urging so she could take a picture or two.
“I want to keep this day,” she told him after getting back into the car, having photographed the marker for one of the houses on the Underground Railroad. “The whole weekend has been . . .” She searched for the right word.
“Life changing.” He filled in the blank for her. “Best weekend ever.”
She nodded. “Best weekend ever.”
Thirty minutes later, Owen pulled into the driveway of a small white Victorian house with decorative trim on the porch and a tall black planter overflowing with vines and a few purple petunias that had somehow managed to hold on through September.
“This is it.” Owen turned off the car. “Want to check out the inside?”
“Absolutely. It’s so pretty. It looks like a wedding cake.” She got out of the car and didn’t bother to wait for him before she climbed the steps and peered through the glass window that comprised the top half of the door.
He came up behind her, key in hand, and unlocked the door.
“I can’t wait to see— Oh, that fireplace.” Cass stepped into the foyer, where a corner fireplace stood on one side of the small room and a desk on the other.
“There’s another one in here.” Owen went through an arched doorway into a sitting room that all but overflowed with furniture.
Cass followed, her eyes darting from one side of the room to the other, surveying the sofas and table and chairs that were crammed in. “Does Alec collect antiques?”
“He inherited some of the stuff when his uncle left him the house. Some of the other things belonged to his parents. He and Lis want to use some pieces in the cottage, and they’ll leave some here for the tenant, but I think they’ll still have too much.”
“Maybe he’ll decide to sell some things.” Cass eyed a pair of Victorian side chairs. “I’d be interested in seeing what, once he decides.”
“Let him know, and he’ll probably bring you in before he calls one of the dealers in town. I know Nita, in the antiques shop two doors down from Bling, has been after him to let her come through the place.”
Cass wandered into the dining room, which was also filled to capacity. The kitchen, on the other hand, was sparsely furnished, with just a table and two chairs.
“There were never more than two people living here at one time,” Owen told her. “Alec’s uncle lived here alone. Then he and Alec. Then Alec was by himself until he and Lis got together. Want to see the upstairs?”
Cass nodded, and they went up to the second floor, which had three bedrooms and one bath with an old-fashioned claw-foot tub.
“How sweet is that tub. I can just imagine taking a bubble bath in there.” Cass smiled at the thought.
“How small is more like it. And for the record, no self-respecting guy takes a bubble bath in a girlie tub like that.”
“It sounds like someone’s masculinity is threatened,” she teased.
“As if,” he snorted, and led her into the next room. “I think this room was Lis and Alec’s, and the one across the hall was his uncle’s. Which means this room”—Owen turned her around to look into the room next door—“is ghost-free. Want to test my masculinity?”
“Ew. Don’t you think it would be totally creepy to be in someone’s house when they don’t know you’re there and have sex in one of their beds?”
“No.”
“Seriously?”
“Most guys don’t think any place is too creepy to have sex.”
Cass rolled her eyes. “I really like the house. When Alec and Lis get back from their trip through New England, I’ll ask him if he’s serious about renting.”
“Yeah, and I’ll bet you won’t think it’s too creepy then.”
“Well, no. Not if I’m living here.”
“I don’t see the difference, but okay.” He stood at the top of the steps. “Seen enough?”
Cass nodded and started downstairs. “Enough to know I’d like to make this my interim home while I’m waiting for my own house to be built.”
“That means you’re staying.”
“Yes. I’m staying.” She paused on her way down the steps. “You?”
“I’m seriously considering it.”
FOR THE FIRST time in a long time, Owen was in fact considering staying on the island. When he’d made the decision to return, he’d thought it would be for a few months while he worked with Jared. He’d told himself that would give him time to spend with Ruby, and time enough to figure out what had been whispering in his ear, insisting it was time to go home. Now he was starting to believe that whatever in the universe decided such things had been pulling him back to Cass. Even though they’d never met, even though he never believed in fate, somehow he knew that he was meant to be here, meant to meet her, to be with her. Meant to fall in love with her.
It hadn’t taken much, and it hadn’t taken long.
They began spending their nights in her room at the inn, and their days on or near the island—Owen diving with Jared, Cass working with the crews. Before the end of the week following Lis’s wedding, Lee Stafford, Deiter’s engineer, had the area for the new dock surveyed and had requested that a permit be rushed through, citing hardship and Deiter’s willingness to suspend work on the river side of the island. Deiter’s lawyers spelled out to the lawyers for the state that the construction company could have sued for access to the island via the dock, since the permits had been approved and not officially revoked. In consideration of Deiter’s understanding of the state’s situation, the state should offer the same courtesy to Deiter Construction. In the end, the new permits were issued, and it had cost less than three weeks’ delay.
For Owen, life was as good as it could possibly be. He had work that he loved during the day, and the woman he’d fallen in love with at night. While he’d never thought he’d settle down for real, he found himself thinking about it at odd times.
He maintained his previous routine of cooking dinner at the store for Ruby, with Cass joining them most nights. When Lis and Alec returned from their honeymoon trip through the New England states, they popped in several times every week. Life began to take on a different look and feel, one Owen found suited him more than his wandering ever had. It was difficult for him to admit, even to himself, but he was pretty sure his adventuring days were behind him.
“I’m ready for an adventure of a different kind,” he told Cass one night after they’d finished dinner and they sat together in a rocking chair on the back porch at Ruby’s and watched the stars come out.
“Where do you think you’ll go?” He caught the hesitation in her voice and realized she thought he’d be leaving.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here. Here, or wherever you are.”
“I probably won’t be swimming with sharks in the Indian Ocean.” Her fingers wound around the dark curls that fell slightly forward onto his forehead. “Or flying small planes across the Gobi Desert. Or searching for yeti in the Himalayas.”
“Been there, done all that.” He pretended to yawn. “Ho hum. Like I said, an adventure of a different kind.”
Later that night, when Cass lay spent and sleepy in his arms in her room at the inn, he lay awake thinking about the choices he was making.
“You’ll miss the challenges.”
“I thought you were asleep.”
“You’re thinking so loudly, it’s keeping me awake.” She turned in his arms and looked up at him. “You’re thinking about that job Jared told you about. The one off the coast of Louisiana.”
“I thought about it, yes. Jared’s so hot to trot to get there. He’s like a kid, you know? He has this job here, but suddenly something else looks newer, shinier. Sexier. So he can’t wait to get to it.”
“So what’s he going to do?”
“He’s going to go, and I’m going to stay and finish up what we started here. It’s going to take a while to get everything sorted out. We’re still bringing up artifacts from the merchant ship, but we have to be careful not to disturb the remnants of what could be an early settlement that lies beneath it. It’s painstaking work, but it’s interesting. To me, anyway. To Jared, not so much. I think he has serious commitment issues.”
“Pot, meet kettle.”
“What’s that supposed to me?”
“What do you think it means?”
He knew exactly what she meant. He hated to put words to it, but she had asked and he should answer. “I admit that for the past few years I have done some moving around. I’m starting to feel like maybe that’s overrated.”
“So you’re taking over Jared’s job here, but after you’ve done all you can do here, then what?”
“I’ve been mulling that over. I can hire myself out as a consultant. I’m a good diver and I’ve had years of experience salvaging sensitive wrecks. That could take me away for a few days, maybe a week here and there, but I’d be back on the island. I can make my home here.”
“That’s a big change for you, Owen. You sure you’re ready for it?”
“I never thought I would be, but yeah, I am. I just want to be wherever you are.” He sat up and leaned against the headboard. Cass leaned against him. “Ruby always says you have to know where you belong. She always said I belonged on the island. I never thought I did until now.” His fingers trailed gently on Cass’s arm. “You know, there’s a line between want and need. When we first got together, I wanted you. I was dizzy wanting you. Somehow over the past three weeks, I crossed that line. Wants turned into need. I need to be with you more than I want anything else.” He rested his chin on the top of her head. “What about you?”
“You know I’m staying, I’m building a house.”
“That’s not what I’m asking you.”
For a long moment, Owen thought she wasn’t going to respond, and his heart dropped. He’d never put himself out there like this, and he was starting to remember why. He began to feel like the guy who saw the train coming but was too afraid to jump out of the way.
“What do you want, Cassie? What do you need?”
“I married someone who thought he could stay in one place, but when push came to shove, he couldn’t do it. It hurt a great deal to face the fact that I wasn’t enough for him.”
“I’m not your ex-husband.”
“True, but . . .” She went silent for a moment. “Did you ever ask yourself why you stayed away for long periods at a time, when you so obviously love this island and your family so much?”
“I’ve wondered about it.”
“Ever do more than wonder?”
“Maybe.”
“One might think you were running from something.”
“Maybe.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“I’m still thinking that through. Can we get back to that?”
“Sure.” She sighed, and Owen heard resignation and maybe disappointment. If he was ever going to face himself, it should be now, while it mattered to her. It was time to put up or shut up.
He took a deep breath. “I think I was afraid that I’d turn into my father,” Owen said softly.
“What?” She sat up so she could look him in the eye. “You’re nothing like your father.” He opened his mouth to say something, and she cut him off. “By your own admission, your father was a bitter man who drank rather than face his own shortcomings. He relied on his son to take care of his daughter because he couldn’t be bothered. He hurt you and he hurt Lis and he probably hurt your mother most of all. Owen, you don’t have a mean bone in your body. You’ll never be like him.”
Her unexpected defense of him caught him off guard and embarrassed him, and he tried to make light of it. “Wow. I sound like quite a guy.”
“You are quite a guy. You’re my guy. You’d never turn your back on anyone you love, certainly not your wife or your kids. You’re not a bitter person, and you don’t drink yourself into a pity party.” She paused as if watching her words sink in. “You’re nothing like your father.”
He pulled her to him so that she was resting against his chest. “So I’m your guy, eh?”
Cass smiled and raised up to kiss him. “Yes. You’re my guy.”
It wasn’t quite everything he’d wanted to hear. It wasn’t I need you or I love you. Or even I want you. But for now, he’d take it.
“I HOPE YOU’LL still make it back for afternoon tea, Cass.” Grace had walked Cass and Owen from the bottom of the lobby steps to the double doors.
“Of course.” Cass shifted the garment bag holding her clothes from one hand to the other. “You know how I love spending that hour every day with you and whoever else shows up.”
“See you, Gracie. Cass, I’ll meet you at the house,” Owen said as he passed by, carrying her laptop and a briefcase full of files. He loaded everything into the backseat of his Jeep.
When Cass was ready to move from the inn to the house on Lincoln Road, she realized her sports car could carry only her clothes and personal items. There wasn’t room for anything she’d used to set up a temporary office in her suite at the inn, and rather than her making a second trip, Owen had offered to move those items for her.
Alec had been delighted when Owen mentioned that Cass was interested in renting the house. Aside from the rent—which Cass discovered was so much less each month than the suite at the inn—he was happy to have someone living in the house where he’d been taken in and raised after his parents died. He was especially pleased it was Cass, who had clearly become close to Lis’s brother. Even though Alec’d been hoping for a long-term lease agreement, he was okay with Cass’s having a month-to-month arrangement until her house was ready to move into. And who knew how long that might be? The construction hadn’t even begun and probably wouldn’t for a while.
Owen didn’t care which house she was sleeping in, as long as he was sleeping there with her. He’d been reluctant to leave Ruby alone, though she’d reminded him that she’d been alone in the store for years.
“Don’t recall anyone being excited over the fact I be alone back then,” Ruby told him. “You go on and take care of your own business. I be fine.”
Not until his cousin Chrissie mentioned that she’d decided to remain on the island for a while and that Ruby had offered her Lis’s old room could Owen sleep in St. Dennis with a clear conscience.
“Not that Chrissie’d be any great help in a crisis,” he’d complained to Cass. “She always was flighty and a little silly. She’ll probably drive Gigi insane after about three days. I don’t know anyone who could take more than that when it comes to Chrissie.”
“She seemed perfectly normal at the wedding,” Cass reminded him.
“She was on her best behavior.”
“Well, it’s nice that she’s getting to have some time with Ruby. Did she say how long she’s staying?”
“She said she wasn’t sure. It’s like good news, bad news. The good news is that someone’s staying with Ruby so she won’t be alone in the store at night. The bad news is that the someone is Chrissie.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine, and if she gets to be too much of a pain, Ruby won’t have a problem telling her to leave.”
“You’re right about that. I did say something to Ruby the other day, and she said something like ‘The girl needs to be here. Go mind your own.’ Which is pretty funny when you think about it because of all the great-grandkids, Lis and I always thought Gigi liked Chrissie the least.”
“Maybe we should ask her if she’d like to go to the fall festival with us today.”
“If she’s anything like the old Chrissie, she’ll talk us both to death. Let’s leave well enough alone, okay?”
“She seemed pretty quiet at the wedding, but okay. I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
“I just need to run upstairs and get my wallet. I left it on the table next to the bed.”
While Owen went to get his wallet, Cass rinsed her coffee cup and set it in the dish drainer. The house had no dishwasher, but she didn’t care, since it was just the two of them. They’d never spoken about a division of duties, but she figured if he cooked, she should clean up afterward, and there was something relaxing, almost enjoyable, about washing their few dishes in a sink full of soapy water while Owen drank a second cup of coffee and they continued whatever conversation they’d had over dinner.
The kitchen was definitely old-fashioned, with red Formica counters that had faded over the years and one light fixture in the center of the ceiling. The floor was an old black-and-white checkerboard pattern that was scuffed and worn, and the cabinets were painted the same dull shade of green as the walls. If she owned the place, she’d have done a job on this house beginning with the kitchen. But Alec had been content living with it the way it was, and it didn’t seem to bother Owen. Cass couldn’t help but think about at least painting the walls and the cabinets, and maybe even springing for new counters just because it would make her happy. She’d done what she could to brighten the room by taking down the curtain on the only window to let in more light—she was thinking about replacing it with a pull shade—and placing little pots of blue asters on the sill. A pretty painted vase she’d found in one of the cupboards held the dahlias she’d bought at Petals and Posies, the flower shop in St. Dennis, but she could do little else to make the kitchen seem more homey.
Still, it felt more like home than her condo in Baltimore ever had. She heard Owen’s footfalls on the stairs, and she smiled. His presence in her life made this house feel like home. She was grateful every day she’d given him a chance to prove that he was so much more than the man she’d initially thought him to be.
“Ready, babe? Want to walk into town?” He appeared in the kitchen doorway and looked so adorable, so irresistible, that she had to kiss him.
“You look so sexy in plaid flannel.” She kissed him again.
“So you go for that rugged he-man look, right?” He wrapped his arms around her.
Cass nodded. “Flannel shirts and cords. You could pass as a lumberjack.”
“I actually worked for a lumber company in Oregon for a few months.”
“Do tell.” Cass grabbed her bag off the back of the kitchen chair and took his hand, tugging him to the front door.
“Good to know I still look the part.”
“It’s that almost-beard look you’re sporting these days.”
He locked the door behind them, and they went down the porch steps hand in hand. Cass had picked up some pumpkins at the Madison farm the day before and lined the steps, saving the largest to place next to the planter Lis had left next to the front door. The house needed a paint job and could use a few chairs on the porch, but the little bit of décor gave it life.
It seemed pumpkins, mums, tall cornstalks, and bales of hay in one configuration or another were on the front porch of just about every house they passed on their way to Charles Street. Trees had begun dropping their leaves, so the sidewalk was dotted here and there with yellow, orange, and green. None had yet dried, so there was no crunch beneath their feet, but Cass knew that in a few more weeks, there would be. She looked forward to it. Autumn always energized her.
Their walk took them down Hudson Street, past Cassidy House, with its wide front porch and pillars. On the front lawn was a FOR SALE sign that Cass hadn’t noticed before. “Looks like the owners are moving. Any interest?”
“Are you crazy? That’s the last house in the world I’d want to buy. When I was a kid, I had a friend who lived in that house, and I got to play there a few times after school until my father had to come pick me up one day because my mother was at work. When he realized where my friend lived, he went off like . . . man, it was ugly. It was the only time in my life that I honestly thought he was going to kill me.” It seemed to Cass that Owen walked just a little faster as he spoke. “No, thank you. Any place but there.”
They walked in silence to the center of town, where all the shops were dressed for fall and had special sales. A clown was painting kids’ faces in front of Cupcake, the local bakery, and another was making balloon animals on the corner of Cherry and Charles Streets near the light. Later there’d be a band down by the marina and a pumpkin roll in the municipal parking lot near the police station, where Gabriel Beck, the chief of police, handed out toy police badges and bottles of water to kids who stopped by to meet the dogs rescued by Grant Wyler, the local vet. Grant ran a shelter and brought with him a selection of pups available for adoption. Grant’s wife, Dallas MacGregor, had a film crew there to capture the moments when each prospective puppy parent found his or her new companion. The crowds were just gathering when Cass and Owen stopped to look at the dogs, who were on leashes held by the shelter’s volunteers.
“Do we need a dog?” Owen asked when Cass knelt down to pet a sweet little dachshund wearing a pink rhinestone collar.
“Maybe. I wonder if Alec would mind if we brought one home.” Cass heard we where once she’d heard you or I and knew in her heart she was exactly where she was meant to be.
“Mommy! Puppy!” A little boy broke free from the hand that had held his and raced to the pen of mixed-breed puppies where several volunteers stood by to show off the litter that had been born six weeks earlier at the shelter. “Puppy.” The boy pointed a chubby finger at the pen.
“Yes, J.J. Those are puppies.”
From the corner of her eye, Cass saw Cyndi pick up the child, who squirmed in her arms, fighting to get down.
His face had been painted in orange and white to look like a jack-o’-lantern, and some orange paint was stuck in his dark curls. He’d smeared something on the front of his tan corduroy overalls, and in his hands he held what remained of a Popsicle. He held the stick out toward the puppy pen as if wanting to share.
Cass held her breath.
“Oh. Owen.” Cyndi turned absolutely white when she saw him. “Hi.”
“Hey, Cyndi. I heard you were in the area. Nice time of the year to visit.” Owen sounded perfectly cordial, perfectly okay that he’d unexpectedly run into his ex-wife in the midst of puppy mania. “How’ve you been? Who’s this little guy? One of Sandie’s boys?”
“Oh, man, this is awkward,” someone said from behind them.
Owen turned to see Cyndi’s sister, Sandie, with a child in a stroller. “What’s awkward?”
Cyndi and her sister exchanged a long look. Finally, Sandie walked away. “I’m not sticking around for this, Cyndi. You’re on your own. I’m outta here.”
Owen turned back to his ex. “What’s her problem?”
“Not her problem, Owen. Mine.” Cyndi turned the boy around so that Owen could see his face.
Green eyes looked into green eyes, and it was Owen’s turn to pale.
“What the hell . . . ?” he whispered.
Cyndi sighed. “We need to talk.”
Owen stood stock-still as if suddenly paralyzed. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. The depth of confusion on his face broke Cass’s heart. They both knew who they were looking at, but Owen had been completely blindsided.
“Is that . . . ?” He swallowed hard. “Is he . . . ?”
Owen couldn’t say the words, so Cyndi spoke them for him. “Yes. He is.” She hadn’t needed to say more than that.
Cass watched Owen’s expression build from confusion to quiet rage. “You owe me an explanation.” He grabbed his ex by the upper arm. “And you’re going to give it to me now. Right. Now.”
“Owen, this isn’t the place . . .” Cass heard Cyndi whisper.
“You don’t get to choose now. We could have had this conversation—should have had this conversation—a few years ago by the looks of things, but you chose not to, God only knows why. So now you don’t get to choose.”
“Lower your voice. You’re going to scare him.” Cyndi put a hand protectively over her son’s head.
“We will discuss this calmly, but we’re going to discuss it now.”
“This isn’t the place.” Tears were in Cyndi’s eyes and her voice was shaking.
“You’re right.” Owen appeared to think for a moment. “We’re going to the island. To Ruby’s.”
“No. Not there. She hates me,” Cyndi whispered.
“Tough. Come on. Let’s go.” He took her arm.
“Let me at least hand him over to my sister. . . .”
“No. He comes with us.” Owen’s face was stony and his voice harder than Cass could ever recall having heard it. “Did you drive?”
Cyndi nodded.
“Good. Let’s go.”
Owen started to steer his ex toward the parking lot. He’d taken ten steps away before he stopped and turned around to look at Cass in pure devastation, as if he’d just remembered she was there. He seemed to be trying to think of something to say.
She shook her head. “Go.”
Cass stood where the unthinkable had begun to unfold and watched the man and the woman and the child snake between the cars in the crowded parking lot. When the dark SUV passed by, Cyndi behind the wheel, Owen in the front passenger seat, he didn’t even glance over to where he’d left Cass.
It was as if she didn’t exist.
She stood in the hot October sun, anxiety causing her heart to pound unmercifully, until she realized he wasn’t coming back anytime soon.
With tears in her eyes, Cass turned and walked back to the house on Lincoln Road alone.