Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Hey, Macey! Where’s your other party shoe, honey?”
Cooper stuck his head out of Macey’s closet. He felt silly for asking a two-year-old where her shoe was, but he was beginning to think she’d hidden it somewhere.
He glanced at his watch. The fundraiser would be starting in half an hour, and he was determined to not be late. He hadn’t talked to Julia much since she’d bought him the tickets to the concert, and he was anxious to patch things up with her. He still felt terrible about the whole thing and hoped that it wouldn’t cause her to lose interest in him. He felt worried that she thought he was boring and would never really be able to do anything fun with her if they continued to date.
“If I can’t find this other shoe, she’ll just have to wear tennis shoes with her dress,” he muttered, sighing. Macey probably wouldn’t care, she was only two—although he thought with a pang that his wife would have had her whole outfit ready to go the night before.
The doorbell rang, and he wiggled out of Macey’s closet and hurried to answer it. Callie stood on the front doorstep, all smiles.
“Hey, Mr. Harris! How’s it going?”
“Oh, fine.” He smiled, trying not to appear too frazzled. “Thanks for agreeing to come with us to the fundraiser. It’ll be a huge help.”
“Oh, for sure. I know you need to be able to focus on the auction and things like that. Macey’s going to have an amazing time, and we’ll stay close enough that you’ll be able to see us the whole time.”
His smile became more genuine as he reflected how lucky he was to have found such a great babysitter. “Thanks, Callie. We’ll be ready to go in just a minute here. I’m looking for Macey’s other party shoe.”
“Oh! I forgot to say something to you the other day. I saw a shoe under the couch. A little black one, kind of shiny?”
“Oh, perfect.” He heaved a sigh of relief. “I’ll go check there.”
He hurried to look under the couch, and Macey scampered up to Callie, looking excited. Sure enough, the shoe was under the couch, and in another couple of minutes, they were ready to go.
The plan was for the three of them to walk to the fundraiser together since the park where it was being held was only a short distance from Cooper’s house. As soon as they started off along the sidewalk together, Macey slipped her hand into Callie’s, seeming completely content and at-ease.
He watched the pair of them for a few moments, thinking to himself what good hands Macey was in when she was with Callie.
He thought again of Julia’s gift to him with a pang. Maybe he’d been wrong to react the way that he had. He still didn’t like the thought of staying away from his child overnight, but perhaps he’d panicked too much at the idea. After all, Macey usually went to sleep before he got back from his dates anyway. Would it matter so much if he returned home the next morning? She seemed completely comfortable with Callie, and he was learning how much he could trust the teenager to be responsible and make sure Macey felt okay.
He took a deep breath, feeling a knot in his stomach. He and Julia had barely spoken since the incident, and he guessed that she probably wasn’t sure how to handle his abrupt rejection of her sweet gesture.
I handled it poorly , he thought regretfully, wanting to kick himself. I shouldn’t have turned her down so abruptly.
“Look, Macey, there’s the park,” Callie said excitedly, pointing out the park up ahead as they walked. “That’s where the fundraiser is! Like a giant party. Are you excited?”
“Yeah!” Macey looked up at Callie with an adoring, chubby smile, and Cooper felt his heart melt.
Suddenly, an idea struck him. His mind began to race, and he wondered if perhaps there was a way he could accept Julia’s gift after all.
Alexis gazed around the fundraiser, feeling her heart swell with pride for her family. The park was packed with people, all of whom were smiling with enthusiasm and participating enthusiastically in all of the various games and activities.
She could see Vivian standing under a tree, talking to a couple of her life-long friends. Her mother’s eyes were shining, and it was clear that the support of Rosewood Beach meant a great deal to her.
We’re so lucky, Alexis thought. People are really showing up for us and The Lighthouse Grill. This is going to change Mom’s circumstances around.
At his booth, Dean was showing kids how to put a toy engine back together like a puzzle. He was laughing and full of energy, and it warmed her heart to see him having a such a great time. Hazel and Jacob were manning the water games together, laughing and looking completely comfortable with each other.
It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and everyone seemed in high spirits. The grass of the park was lush and green, and pale green buds were beginning to unfurl on the branches of the trees. There seemed to be a spirit of excitement pervading the event that came from more than just people having fun. Everyone seemed to be aware that they were there for a shared purpose, and their joy was contagious and invigorating.
She’d been spending her day doing makeovers for a never-ending line of people and having an absolutely wonderful time. She loved seeing the looks of delight and surprise on her customers’ faces when they saw their transformed appearances.
She felt her heart lift up with joy as her next customer approached. It was an elderly woman with short white hair, and Alexis immediately knew just what she wanted to do to make the woman feel more beautiful. She smiled, anticipating how happy the woman was going to feel, and then she was struck with a realization.
I might not be in L.A. living the life I thought I would be , she thought, but my life has led me to being here, getting to do this in this moment. It’s wonderful.
She felt an almost bubbly kind of joy pass through her, and she told herself that she was done being idle. Whatever happened next, she was going to find something to work toward. She was going to move forward in her life with goals, and things to do.
She had almost finished giving the woman a makeover when she heard someone call out to her.
“Hey, sis!” Julia approached her booth, grinning. “How’s it going here?”
“Amazingly.” Alexis gestured to her current patron. “This beautiful woman here is my seventeenth customer. Doesn’t she look amazing?”
The elderly woman laughed, looking pleased.
“Fantastic! You look beautiful, ma’am.”
“Oh, tut,” said the woman, laughing.
Alexis proclaimed the elderly woman all set, and she went on her way, looking thrilled. Julia lingered to talk to her sister, since for the first time that day, Alexis didn’t have a customer in line for the makeover booth.
Julia’s cheeks were flushed, and she looked starry-eyed with excitement. “We’ve already raised so much money from the auction items. Things are really going great.”
Alexis reached over and squeezed her sister’s hand, feeling a surge of relief. She’d believed that the fundraiser was going to work out, but it was nice to see that belief come true.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Cooper talking to a couple of people at Dean’s car repair booth. She turned back to Julia and saw that her sister was watching Cooper with a troubled expression on her face.
“You don’t seem to be spending much time with Cooper today,” Alexis said gently. “I thought you’d be practically glued to his arm, since Callie is here watching over Macey and he’s free to be totally distracted by you.”
Julia shrugged, but the gesture looked forced. “He’s working on the fundraiser. He’s busy talking to people.”
Alexis gave her a look. “You can’t fool me, missy. That’s not really the reason.”
Julia smiled a little at her sister’s perceptiveness and sighed. “I think—” Her voice was soft. “I think I might have assumed too quickly that we could mesh our very different lifestyles together.”
Alexis shook her head. “Don’t give up yet. There’s still so much to discover about each other. You don’t know that it isn’t going to work out. Besides,” she added, glancing over at Cooper again and noticing that he was looking at her sister with a decidedly puppy-like expression, “it seems like Cooper is still very much interested in working things out. You shouldn’t give up if he thinks things could work out between you two. Maybe they could.”
She thought to herself with a pang of sadness that she wished that Grayson were trying harder to make things work out between the two of them, instead of being so silent and seemingly disinterested.
Julia smiled sadly, also glancing at Cooper for a moment. “Maybe you’re right. But I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to see.” She lingered for a moment longer, as if she was lost in thought. Then she sighed. “Well, I better keep moving here. There’s lots to be done.”
“See you around.” Alexis smiled and waved as Julia went off into the crowd. She noticed that her sister didn’t head toward where Cooper was standing.
She sat quietly for a moment and then decided to stand up and stretch. She still didn’t have anyone coming up to her booth for a makeover, so she thought to herself that she might walk over to where they were selling lemonade and cookies and get herself some refreshments.
As she was stepping away from her booth, her phone began to ring. Assuming it was one of her family members calling with a request or an update about the fundraiser, she pulled her cell phone from her pocket and was about to answer it when she read the name on the screen. It was Grayson.
Her heart did a somersault and she quickly answered the call.
“Hey, Grayson.”
Her tongue felt heavy, and she realized that her heart was beating faster. She stepped away from the busyness of the fundraiser, heading toward a quiet patch of trees.
“Hey, sweetheart. I’m just checking in to say hello. I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
She blinked in surprise. She’d been trying so hard to not think about Grayson, feeling so perturbed over her fears that he was being unfaithful, that she hadn’t texted him regularly like she used to. She hadn’t meant to neglect to text him, it had happened by accident, but she never would have expected him to notice and call her about it.
“Oh, I’ve been so busy out here. We’re having a fundraiser for the pub today. A big event in the middle of town, at the park. We’ve been planning it for days.”
“A fundraiser?” He sounded surprised, and she wondered if he was taken back by the fact that she hadn’t just asked him for the money. Her heart ached, wishing that things felt that easy between them.
“Yes, it was Julia’s idea.” She tried to sound breezy and cheerful. “It’s been a lot of fun putting it together.”
“Oh. Well. That’s great, honey.”
She winced. He almost sounded disappointed, as if he wished she’d told him more about it before it happened. She realized how much she was holding back from telling him, and she found herself longing for the honesty that had once existed between them.
“Grayson?” she asked softly.
“Yes?”
She took a deep breath, feeling her bloodstream rush faster. She was scared of what the answer to her question was going to be. “I—well, I was looking at our credit card statement and I saw that you’ve taken someone else out to eat a couple of times. I’ve been worried about it. I have to ask—are—are you seeing someone else?”
There were three full heartbeats of complete silence, and she felt as though the air around her was suddenly turning colder.
“You mean—another woman?” Grayson sounded completely shocked.
“Yes. You’ve been so distant lately, and I thought—well, I thought that maybe you…” Her voice trailed off.
“Alexis, I would never.” He still sounded flabbergasted. “I did take someone out to dinner a couple of times, but it was this new client that I’m trying to close a deal with. And he’s a pot-bellied, balding old man, for the record. Those were business meals. I would never cheat on you. Never.”
Relief flooded her, and all at once she felt as light as a feather. “I don’t mean to accuse you. I’m sorry I wasn’t more trusting, but being away from home and dealing with everything surrounding Dad passing away has put me in a weird place. It’s—well, it’s been hard for me to trust you.”
“I can understand that, and I’m sorry for it. I wish I’d done a better job of being there for you. I’ve been so busy—and the truth is I don’t know how to comfort people who are grieving. I expected myself to mess it up, so I didn’t try hard enough. I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you.” A kind of peace settled over her as she listened to his words. It wasn’t just relief that he hadn’t been unfaithful to her, it was more than that. A realization of what she needed to do for herself was growing in her, and she no longer felt as though he was the one who would decide whether she was happy in the future or not. She was realizing that no matter what happened, she was the person with that power.
Grayson, misinterpreting her pause, cleared his throat almost nervously. “Alexis, I promise nothing’s been going on. Just work. If you want me to get you some kind of proof, I can?—”
“No, I believe you.” She smiled even though he couldn’t see her. “But thanks for offering.”
She looked out across the park at the fundraiser that her family had organized. Kids were whooping and running across the grass, and she saw so many people she knew and loved talking and laughing with each other. A sense of camaraderie, of love, seemed to be filling the event. There was a loyalty there in Rosewood Beach that she hadn’t experienced in L.A., and she knew she wanted to stay in her hometown longer. She wanted to stay with her siblings as they worked together to help their mom get the pub back on its feet.
“The truth is that I’ve been making a decision while we’ve been talking,” she said softly.
There was a slight pause, and then Grayson asked slowly, “What is it?”
“I think it’s best that I spend some more time here with my family for the time being. I want to extend my time in Rosewood.”
“Okay. That’s good, honey. I think you should do that.”
She blinked, almost feeling stung by his reaction. She didn’t know how she’d expected him to react, but the fact that he didn’t seem disappointed by her decision made her feel insecure. She wished he’d at least hinted that he was hoping she’d come back soon.
“I—I hope that’s all right,” she said, a little stiffly.
“Absolutely. You do what you need to do.” His response sounded a little stiff as well, and her heart ached for a moment as she wondered what he was really thinking. Was he just trying to be supportive, or did he truly not care if she came back yet or not? She wished that he needed her, and she wished that she knew what to say to get them back to a better place.
Maybe he’s feeling the same way, she thought, thinking about how he’d said he didn’t know how to help her with her grief, so he hadn’t stepped up to support her. Maybe he just has no idea what to say, so he isn’t saying anything.
“Well, we should talk again soon,” she said, noticing Julia waving to her. Her sister had a huge smile on her face, and she guessed that something exciting had happened at the fundraiser. “I’d better get back to my booth here.”
“Yes, we should talk again soon. Have a good rest of your day, sweetheart.”
“You too.”
“Bye, honey.”
“Bye.”
She hung up the phone, smiling quietly to herself. She still felt uncertain about what the future was going to hold, but she felt at peace with her decision. For now, she was going to stay in Rosewood Beach with her family, and work to keep The Lighthouse Grill on its feet. She tucked her phone in her pocket and hurried over to talk to Julia.