Chapter 10 #2
Somehow she managed to drive into town without killing herself or anyone else, arriving at the ferry landing and parking outside the office building where he worked when he was on the island.
It hadn’t occurred to her that he might not be there, that he might be on the mainland, working in his other office.
It hadn’t occurred to her that he might be captaining one of the boats or off getting something to eat.
If he wasn’t there, she’d wait for him. He’d come back eventually, and she’d be waiting.
She rushed into his office, stopping short when she saw that he was there but not alone.
When she burst into the room, her son stood—tall, blond, handsome and concerned. “Mom? What is it? What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?”
Carolina, who’d put her son at the center of her life for more than thirty years, looked past him now to the man behind the desk whose small smile told her he knew exactly why she’d come.
“I’m fine, honey,” she said haltingly. “I…I need to see Seamus, if that’s all right.
” She tore her gaze off Seamus and looked up at Joe. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”
Joe looked at her quizzically. “It’s no problem. We were done. Call me later?”
Nodding absently, Carolina returned her focus to Seamus, who waited patiently, as if he had all the time in the world to hear whatever she’d come to say.
Kissing her on the cheek, Joe stepped around her and left the office, closing the door behind him.
“You’re giving your poor son fits, love.”
That lovely Irish brogue made her heart sing with joy. “I know. I’m a terrible mother.”
Laughing, Seamus came around the desk to embrace her, encouraging her to rest her head on his shoulder. “You’re one of the best mums I know.”
Carolina expelled a great sigh of relief when she realized he wasn’t going to send her away. He wasn’t going to tell her that she’d finally succeeded in changing his mind about her. Rather, he ran a soothing hand up and down her back.
“How’re the hives?”
“Itchy, but the oatmeal helped.”
“I’m a first-class arse for leaving you when you were feeling poorly.”
She looked up at him, her determination fueled by the beauty of his face, the lyrical lilt of his brogue and the love he’d shown her from the start.
“And I’m a first-class fool for letting you think I give a rat’s arse about what anyone thinks of us.
” His eyes widened at her unusually forceful statement.
“I don’t care, Seamus. I don’t care anymore about anything other than being with you. If people don’t get it, I don’t care.”
She had barely finished the statement when he was kissing her madly, deeply, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.
“Ah, love, Joe’s not the only one you’ve given the fits to,” he whispered against her lips before he went back for more.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, clinging to him. “I never meant to make you wonder if I felt the same way you do.”
“I never wondered about that, love. Not for one second. I worried that you weren’t going to give yourself permission to take what you want, but I never wondered if you loved me as much as I love you.”
“I do. I love you just as much.”
“I know.” He brushed the hair off her face, studying her intently, seeming to take inventory.
Carolina tried not to think about how scary she must look.
“Did you sleep at all?”
She shook her head. “Can’t you tell? You?”
“Not a wink.”
“And strangely you look as good as ever while I’m—”
“Beautiful.”
She snorted with disbelief. “You must be in love.”
“Completely, totally, absolutely and forever in love.”
Was it possible for a grown woman to actually swoon? “Seamus,” she said with a sigh.
He gathered her in close to him, and when she rested her head on his chest, she could hear the steady beat of his heart. “Yes, love?”
“Are you almost done working?”
“I can be.”
“Will you come home with me to stay?”
“There’s nothing I’d rather do.”
Relieved and overwhelmed to have made a decision once and for all, she held on tight to him for a long time before she took his hand and led him from the office.
Joe walked away from the ferry landing, unsettled by the sight of his mother so broken up. Wondering what was transpiring between her and the man Joe had hired to run the ferry business while he was in Ohio, he walked aimlessly without a destination in mind.
It had taken a few days to wrap his head around the idea of his mom with a guy who was only a couple of years older than him. At first, he’d been shocked and slightly outraged to think that maybe Seamus had taken advantage of Carolina’s loneliness to forward his own agenda.
Almost as soon as Joe had that thought, however, he’d been ashamed of it.
Seamus had never been anything but upstanding and reliable.
He’d made it possible for Joe to be with Janey while she was in vet school without having to worry incessantly about the business his mother’s late parents had left to both of them.
Hands in pockets, head down, Joe nearly collided with someone on the sidewalk. He was muttering an apology when he looked up and realized it was Mac. Joe let out a laugh. “Sorry, man. Not paying attention to where I’m going. What’re you doing in town?”
“Finishing up the gift shop at the Sand & Surf and in need of coffee. Want to join me?”
“I could definitely use more coffee.”
“It’s on me. Let’s go.” On the way through town, Mac said, “Not working today?”
“I had the early run to the mainland. Got another round-tripper at the end of the day.”
They wandered into the South Harbor Diner, landing in their usual booth that overlooked the ferry landing and busy downtown. Rebecca, the owner of the diner, greeted them with steaming mugs.
“Nice to see you guys,” she said. “Been a while.”
“Too long,” Mac said with a smile for Joe.
Before Mac and Maddie moved out of her apartment in town, Mac and Joe had met for coffee most mornings when Joe was on the island. But things changed. Time passed. Life got in the way.
“So why were you walking through town with the weight of the world on your shoulders?”
“This thing with my mom and Seamus…”
“Ah, I see. I wondered what you thought of it, but I couldn’t exactly ask you last night in front of them. So you don’t approve?”
“It’s not that. He’s a good guy. He’s been a lifesaver for me since we moved to Ohio. I couldn’t be there without him taking care of things here.”
“But?”
His oldest and best friend knew him as well as anyone, except for maybe Janey. “I worry about her getting hurt.”
“A reasonable concern.”
“She was alone a long time.” Joe took a drink of his coffee, savoring the taste and the aroma as well as the comfort of a lifelong friend who was also now his brother-in-law.
“And she belonged only to you all that time,” Mac said, raising a brow.
“It’s not that.”
“Not even a little bit?”
Joe stared down at his mug. “Maybe a little.”
“You’re not losing her, Joe. You know that.”
“I know, but it’s… It’s weird, I guess, to see her getting involved with someone after all this time. And that he’s basically our age. It’s weird.”
“Probably will be for a while and then, like you being married to my baby sister, you get used to it and it doesn’t seem so weird anymore—well, until my baby sister gets knocked up, and then it’s all kinds of weird again.”
Joe laughed his ass off. Mac had such a way with words. “Let’s hope my fifty-six-year-old mother doesn’t get knocked up.”
“Now that, my friend, would be weird.”
Joe held up his coffee cup in agreement. “I don’t know if I’ve said this out loud or only thought it, but I’m so damned glad you didn’t die last week.”
“Aww, thanks.” Mac blinked back mock tears. “I’m touched. Really.”
“All kidding aside, I have no idea what we would’ve done without one of you, let alone all of you.”
“Believe me, I had a lot of hours in the water to think about where my brothers were and whether they were okay. And to think about Maddie and my kids…” Mac shook his head as if he couldn’t bear to go there.
“Are you okay, Mac?” Joe held up a hand to stop his friend from replying. “I heard what you said last night at dinner, but this is me. You’d tell me if you weren’t really okay, wouldn’t you?”
“Sure, I’d spill my guts all over the table, because that’s how I roll.”
The humor gave Joe hope. The Mac he knew and loved was nothing if not funny. “Fine, be that way. You know where I am if you need me. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Likewise.”
“What’re you guys up to tonight?” Joe asked.
“I’m told there’s a dinner at Ned and Francine’s. With lobsters.”
“Lucky dog.”
“I am lucky. I think about that a lot. What happened last week was a good reminder of how great my life is. I’m trying to stay focused on that and not sweat the small stuff. You might want to try it.”
“That’s not the worst advice you’ve ever given me.”
“On that note,” Mac said, laughing as he tossed a five and a couple of one-dollar bills on the table and got up, “I gotta get back to the hotel before Laura sends out a search party. And I gotta finish this job for her before things get really busy at the marina.”
“Thanks for the coffee.”
“Any time.”
Mac left with a wave for Rebecca and headed back to the Surf.
Watching him go, Joe pondered what Mac had said about being lucky and not sweating the small stuff.
He thought about calling his mom to make sure she was all right, but Joe felt pretty confident that she was in good hands with Seamus, even if he wasn’t entirely sure what he thought of the two of them together.
Since there wasn’t anything he could do about his mom at the moment, Joe’s thoughts turned to his lovely wife, who was working today at the vet clinic.
He got up, intending to head over there to see how her day was going, when his cell phone rang.
Surprised to see the vet clinic number on the caller ID when he’d just been thinking about the place, Joe took the call.
“This is Joe.”
“Hi, Joe, it’s Doc Potter. Have I caught you at a bad time?”