Chapter 17 #2
While they might’ve been polar opposites, Linda was also one of her closest friends.
Big Mac and Linda McCarthy and their gaggle of kids had been family to her and Joe for longer than she could remember.
Actually, since the first day of second grade when Joe came home talking about his new friend Mac McCarthy.
That’s how far back the two families went.
And when Joe married Janey earlier in the summer, they’d made their unofficial family status official.
“Can you even believe it?” Carolina asked. “I thought we’d have to wait years for this news.”
“So did I. Apparently, Janey was forgetful with her pills during a crazy semester.”
“Secretly, I’m glad it happened now before Joe gets too much older.”
“Yes, he’s positively ancient,” Linda said, grinning.
“Sorry for the mess. I literally just got here. I think I probably have some tea I can offer you.”
“The heck with the tea, let’s break out the bubbly!”
Linda managed to blow the cork off the bottle without breaking a window or taking out an eye, but it was a close call on both counts.
Carolina found some wineglasses in the cabinet and washed out the dust that had gathered since they were last used.
When they each had a glass of champagne, Linda held hers up to make a toast. “To our kids and our grandbaby, who is incredibly lucky to have a couple of young, saucy chicks as his—or her—grandmothers.”
Delighted by the idea of sharing a grandchild with Linda and Mac, Carolina touched her glass to Linda’s. “Hear, hear.”
They collapsed into kitchen chairs to enjoy the bubbly.
“You’ve got a bit of a rash on your face,” Linda said, pointing to her own cheek to show Carolina where it was.
“Do I?” Carolina got up and went into the bathroom to take a look. Oh, God. Oh my God. I’m wearing my secret shame on my face. As she returned to the kitchen, her face burned with mortification. “It’s not a rash.”
Linda raised a brow. “No?”
Carolina shook her head and took her seat. “I did a bad, bad thing.”
Instantly interested, Linda leaned in. “Do tell.”
She couldn’t bring herself to look at Linda. “I had sex.”
“Well, it’s about damned time!” Linda smacked her hand on the table, making Carolina jump. “So what we’ve got, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is a case of razor burn to the face and possibly other areas as well.”
Carolina crossed her legs, trying not to think about what other parts of her might bear the mark of Seamus’s whiskers.
“Are you going to tell me who it was?”
“Never.”
“It’s someone I know?”
Carolina had never been more ashamed of herself. She’d slept with a man roughly the same age as their sons.
“Who’s been telling you for years that you need to get back on the horse?”
If the soreness between her legs and her aching thighs were any indication, she’d gotten back on the horse in a big way.
“I can’t believe you’re clamming up on me. Tell me this much: why was it a bad, bad thing?”
“Because.” Carolina fiddled with the stem of her wineglass. “He’s younger than me.”
“So what?”
She met Linda’s gaze. “A lot younger.”
“It wasn’t one of my sons, was it?”
“Shut up! Of course not. They’re like my own children, for God’s sake.”
“That’s a relief.”
“See? That’s exactly what I was thinking this morning as the mother of a man roughly the same age as the one I slept with. What would his mother think?”
“So you slept with a guy Joe’s age.”
“No! He’s two years older than Joe.”
“Thank God for those two years.” Linda attempted to cover her laughter with a hand over her mouth. “Now, who do I know who’s thirty-eight?”
“Stop! Do not do that!”
“So it is someone I know.”
“Linda!”
Linda reached across the table for Carolina’s hand. “Was it good?”
“It was . . . stupendous.”
“And do you like this man?”
Miserably, Carolina nodded. She sooooo didn’t want to like him.
“And does he like you?”
“He likes me too much. He won’t listen to me when I tell him he needs to find someone his own age and get married and have babies. What in the world does he want with an old cougar like me? It’s so wrong!”
Linda choked on her champagne. “What the hell is a cougar?”
“Oh come on! You know.”
Linda shook her head. “I’ve been living on this island for nearly forty years. I’m not exactly up on the hip lingo.”
“A cougar is an older woman who preys on a younger man.”
“And did you prey on this younger man?”
“I was certainly willing, if that’s what you mean. I wasn’t ashamed until this morning when Joe called to tell me the news while I was naked in bed with . . . him.” God, she’d almost said naked in Joe’s guest room, which would’ve told Linda exactly who Carolina’s too-young lover was.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Caro. As long as there were two consenting adults in that bed, it doesn’t matter that you’re older than him.”
“It would matter to Joe.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. If you ask me, he’d want you to be happy. Pete’s been gone such a long time.”
“Thirty years this summer,” Carolina said with a sigh.
Sometimes it still felt like yesterday, other times it was like she’d dreamed him, and he’d never really existed.
She had only the son who was the image of his father to remind her that Pete had indeed existed, and she’d once loved him more than life.
“In all that time, there hasn’t been anyone else. Isn’t it time?”
“Not with someone who has his whole life in front of him, who should have a family of his own.”
“What if that’s not what he wants?”
“He says he wants me and doesn’t care about having kids.”
“You should listen to him, Caro. A man of thirty-eight certainly knows what he wants out of life—and what he doesn’t.”
Carolina shook her head. “I can’t get involved with him. I just can’t.”
Linda touched a finger to the razor burn on Carolina’s cheek. “Seems to me you’re already involved.”
“It was a one-time thing.” A beautiful, unforgettable one-time thing.
“I’m sorry to hear you say that. I hope you’ll think some more about it before you decide anything for certain. In the meantime, you’re going out tonight.”
Startled, Carolina said, “Where am I going?”
“To a party Luke and Syd are having for the new lighthouse keeper, Jenny Wilks. She lost her fiancé in the World Trade Center on nine-eleven.”
“Oh, my. That poor girl.”
“She’s had a hard time jump-starting her life after her loss. I think you ought to meet her. The two of you have a lot in common.”
“I’m not in any mood for a party, and besides, I wasn’t invited.”
“I’m inviting you. For goodness sakes, you know we don’t stand on formality around here. Put some makeup on that ‘rash.’ Mac and I will pick you up at seven.” Linda stood and planted a kiss on Carolina’s cheek. “I have to get home and have sex with my husband before the party.”
Carolina put her hands over her ears. “Too much information.”
“I may try this cougar thing on him.”
“It won’t work because he’s older than you, but go get ’em, tiger.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
“Linda?” Carolina stopped her friend at the door. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”
“Of course not, honey. But I’m going to badger you about keeping your options open.”
“Cougars and tigers and badgers, oh my.”
Laughing, Linda walked out the door. “See you at seven, Granny.”
Owen left a trail of kisses on Laura’s back, hoping to rouse her out of a deep sleep.
“Time to wake up, Princess.” He felt sort of guilty for wearing her out so thoroughly that she’d slept for hours after the second time they made love.
The sex had been so damned good, better than anything he’d ever imagined possible between two people.
Apparently, love made all the difference. Who knew?
Keeping up the kisses until she finally stirred, Owen told himself he should let her sleep, but after just a couple of hours without her, he missed her. What a fool she’d made of him.
“Mmm,” she said, making him smile.
He added more kisses to her lower back. “Laura, are you in there?” Only when he gave a light pinch to her bottom did she open her eyes.
“Ow.”
“Sorry, but I’ve been trying to wake you up for ten minutes.”
“You’re not sorry.”
“No, I’m not. I got to play with your awesome bum. Did I ever tell you your bum is awesome?” As if to prove his point, he cupped a cheek and squeezed. “It’s a really, really good bum.”
“I should hope so after all the years I’ve spent in yoga class.”
Owen’s brows lifted straight up to his hairline. “Yoga?”
She bit her lip, as if trying to hold back a laugh, and nodded. “I’m super flexible.”
He swallowed hard. “I may need a demonstration of said flexibility. Very, very soon.”
As if he were a naughty schoolboy, she patted his face. “If you behave.”
“Behaving is no fun,” he said, kissing her neck and then her lips. With one arm around her, he snuggled her in close and was rewarded with a nudge to the belly from the baby. “I think he likes me.”
“Do you think you’ll like him?” she asked, looking up at him with bottomless blue eyes.
“I know I will. He’s part of you, and I love every part of you.”
“It might be prudent to wait and see on this one, Owen. It’s a big deal, and I wouldn’t blame you—”
He stopped her with a deep kiss full of all the love and longing he’d spent so many weeks trying to hide from her.
She pulled back and held him at arm’s length. “Don’t try to change the subject.”