Book 25 Resilience After Dark #2
Gansett Island residents look forward to Labor Day for weeks, during the frenetic last rush of tourists before the island shuts down for the long winter.
Jace Carson has loved being there during the season and has enjoyed his bartending job at the Beachcomber, but he’s concerned about making enough money to survive the off-season.
His first order of business, after his daily AA meeting, is to start looking for a place to live, since the Beachcomber housing is available only to summer employees.
He’s more than ready to get out of there, after enduring weeks of the crazy partying that went on with the summer employees, many of whom have already returned to college.
The only good thing about the housing is that it was free.
He’s been looking forward to today for another reason. A few weeks ago, he told Nina, the AA facilitator, that he’d have something to say by Labor Day. As she glances his way now, he knows it’s time for him to step up for the group the way they have for him since he first joined them in July.
Jace thanks the regulars for welcoming him into their meeting.
He came to the island to be closer to his sons, Kyle and Jackson, who are being raised by Seamus and Carolina O’Grady.
He assures the group, some of them who knew his ex-wife, Lisa, and know the O’Gradys, that he isn’t there to disrupt the boys or their current situation.
His only goal is to be a part of their lives.
They’ve introduced Jace as a friend of Seamus, not as their biological father.
They feel that’s for the best after losing their mother so recently.
Jace and his brother, Jess, used to run around looking for trouble.
He got hooked on drugs when he was young, and by the time he met Lisa, he was a full-blown addict but hid it well.
Jace is full of anxiety as he shares his harrowing story.
“My brother got the big idea to rob a convenience store. He promised me it would be just once, and then we’d have what we needed to get by for a year.
I tried to talk him out of it, but he was determined.
‘One big score,’ he said, ‘and then we’ll be golden.
’ He was going to do it with or without me, so I decided to go with him to try to keep him out of trouble. ”
Jace runs his hand through his hair repeatedly until he realizes he’s doing it and stops, folding his shaky hands between his knees.
“The owner of the store figured us out before Jess had the chance to use the gun that I didn’t even know he had.
The owner pulled one on us. He told us to get the fuck out of there before someone got hurt.
But Jess… He was desperate for the money and the score.
When I saw he had a gun, I was stunned, but I still tried to stop him.
He tossed me aside and aimed the gun at the guy. The store owner shot him in the chest.”
Jace takes a shaky deep breath and releases it slowly, clinging to his composure.
“I’ll never forget the sound he made when the bullet hit him or how hard he landed on the floor.
I think he probably died instantly, but I was so shocked that I stayed with him, screaming at him not to die, not to leave me.
I was still there when the cops came. They called the coroner for him and took me to jail.
I was convicted of armed robbery, sentenced to ten years and released on probation after six.
By then, my wife and kids were long gone, and no one knew where they were.
I heard from Lisa once—when I was served with divorce and custody papers.
I worked hard on myself in prison. I attended Narcotics Anonymous meetings, took college classes and learned a trade.
If you ever need a plumber, give me a call. ”
A ripple of laughter goes through the group.
“When I got out six months ago and finally found my family, it was too late. Lisa had died of lung cancer, and the boys were happily settled with people who truly love them. I lost everything to my addiction—the woman I loved, the sons I adored and my reputation. I’ll always be a convicted felon and have to live with the memories of the day my brother was killed right in front of me.
I’m focused now on rebuilding my life. I wanted so badly to see my kids, but it was important to me not to disrupt their lives any more than I already had, even if they don’t remember the really bad stuff. ”
After the meeting, Mallory and Quinn invite Jace for coffee, but he declines.
After telling his story, he needs to move.
He changes into running clothes, and two laps around the island help to center him.
He’d never been in better shape in his life than when he was in prison.
It took having his whole life taken from him to figure out what matters and to regain his health.
He’s lost things he can never get back, though…
His wife and sons, his only brother, his parents, sister, niece and nephew.
Nina has encouraged him to forgive himself, but some things… Some things are simply unforgivable.
Cindy Lawry spends her morning making and hanging signs advertising a room for rent in her house.
Her sister, Julia, is basically living with her fiancé, Deacon Taylor, and it’s crazy for her to be paying for her room at Cindy’s house.
Year-round rentals are hard to come by, so Cindy is confident she’ll find someone to take the room.
At the Curl Up and Dye Salon, Cindy’s first client of the day is Mallory James.
Mallory sees the sign about the room for rent and immediately thinks of Jace.
She promises to pass the information on to her friend the next morning.
While Cindy cuts Mallory’s hair, they catch up about Mallory’s honeymoon and updates on the McCarthy family.
Cindy mentions that she’s met someone but only just at the flirtation stage.
Mallory encourages Cindy to ask him out, but Cindy doesn’t want to mess up the nice friendship they’ve started.
After the AA meeting the next morning, Jace sends a text to the number Mallory gave him from a flyer she’d seen about a room for rent.
Hi there, saw your flyer and would love to check out your place. I’m off tonight and can come by around six, if that works for you.
Sure, come by between six and six-thirty to see the place. The person includes the address, which is two blocks from the Beachcomber. Convenient. He doesn’t own a vehicle, so finding a place in town will be perfect.
See you then, he replies.
Jace spends his day off doing laundry and then goes to the beach. He would never take the ability to be outdoors for granted again. He takes a nap on the beach and then goes back to the Beachcomber to shower before his meeting.
He walks the short distance through town, nodding to people he recognizes from the bar and waving to Tiffany Taylor, who runs the Naughty & Nice boutique.
She’s a hot shit who comes into the bar with her husband, Police Chief Blaine Taylor, his brother Deacon and Deacon’s fiancée, Julia Lawry.
The four of them crack him up with their banter.
Tiffany is always excited to have a night off from motherhood but can’t drink because she’s pregnant.
Julia’s sister, Cindy, was another regular, and if Jace finds himself thinking about her when she isn’t at his bar, well, he can’t really help that.
She’s adorable, sweet, kind, sexy, easy to talk to and funny.
He senses an inner sadness in her, though, which makes him curious, and she doesn’t drink because she suffers from migraines.
Jace loves watching Cindy interact with Julia as well as her other sister, Katie, and her husband, Shane, when they come in, sometimes with their brother, Owen, and his wife, Laura, who’s Shane’s sister.
It had taken him a minute to get his mind around a brother and sister marrying a brother and sister, but Cindy drew a picture for him on a Beachcomber cocktail napkin that had explained it, while insisting it was perfectly legal.
They’re fun people, and he enjoys having them at his bar. He’s made a lot of nice friends on the island, but he doesn’t see any of them outside of work. However, it’s been years since he’s been part of a community, and he’s begun to feel at home here. He hopes he won’t have to leave any time soon.
Jace rings the bell and steels himself to share his past with strangers for the second time in two days, but he’d have to tell a potential roommate that he was a convicted felon out on parole.
Outside of NA and AA and his manager at work, he hasn’t told his story to anyone since he was released from prison.
Reliving the nightmare doesn’t come easily to him, but he’s learned to own his truth to protect his sobriety.
The inside door swings open.
Cindy.
Jace laughs, even as his heart aches at having to share his truth with her, of all people. “It’s you.”
Cindy can’t believe it. Of all people to show up to look at the room, it has to be the sexy bartender from the Beachcomber who she’s been crushing on for weeks.
She wishes she’d spent some time on her appearance when she got home from work, rather than throwing her hair into a messy bun and putting on an old tank that sags in the breast area.
“Come in.”
She tugs the top up to make sure everything is covered as he walks by her, bringing a clean, fresh scent with him that makes her want to lean in for a better whiff.
Don’t be a weirdo, she tells herself as Jace looks around the living room and kitchen.
“It’s not much,” Cindy says. “Just this, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Oh, and a nice backyard. Check that out.” She gestures for him to lead the way through the kitchen to the sliding door.
“Kevin McCarthy and his sons lived here for a time, and they did the landscaping. They redid the patio and left the gas grill when they moved out.”