Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
After dinner at a local pizza restaurant, Renata invited everyone back to her house for a drink and dessert since it was still early.
Kara ended up with Ellery’s daughter, Annabelle, on her lap. She snuggled the little girl, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, thankful that Ellery’s kids hadn’t treated her like a stranger after so many years away. The time Kara had spent with them on FaceTime had paid off with a warm reception from the children.
Pete sat next to them on the sofa. “It’s so great to see you, K. We’ve missed you around here.” He had the burly build that came from years of tending traps and hauling lobsters. His brown hair was streaked with blond from the summer, and his golden-brown eyes were filled with warmth and affection. He and Ellery had been together since high school, and he’d also been one of Kara’s closest friends.
“I’ve missed you guys. It’s nice to be with you all again.”
“I like your hubby. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the fancy reputation, but he’s good people.”
Kara gazed at Dan, talking to Doug and Myles in the kitchen. “Yes, he is.”
“I shouldn’t have doubted you,” he said with a warm smile.
“Haha. I got lucky, and I know it.”
“It wasn’t luck. You deserved it.” He lowered his voice to add, “Never thought much of what’s-his-name.”
“Why didn’t you say so then?”
“Would you have wanted to hear it?”
“Probably not,” she conceded.
“Never expected him to turn out to be such an AH, though.”
“I know what that stands for,” Annabelle said.
“Button that lip, missy,” her dad said. “She loves all the naughty words.”
“And where does she hear these naughty words?” Ellery asked as she joined them.
“I can’t imagine,” Pete said with a wink for his daughter.
“It’s you, Daddy. Mommy says you need your mouth washed out with soap.”
Kara snorted with laughter at the face Pete made.
“That’s gross,” Pete said as Annabelle giggled.
“I’ve tried it,” Ellery said. “Doesn’t work.”
“I love you guys,” Kara said, suddenly tearful. “So, so much, and I promise it won’t be long before you see me again.”
“About that,” Ellery said tentatively. “I feel bad about what I said the other day. Travel works two ways, and you’re not so far away that we couldn’t come see you, too. I’m sorry if I made you feel guilty. I don’t blame you at all for staying gone when you left.”
“Thank you for saying that, but I don’t want you to feel bad about what you said. Being here again has made me see that running away from everyone I love because of what two people did wasn’t the right thing to do.”
“You did what you had to at the time,” Ellery said. “No one should hold that against you, least of all us.”
Jessie sat on the floor by Ellery. “What she said. We felt awful about the other day, and I hope she told you how sorry we are.”
“Please don’t be. As I said to her, I’ve learned that it makes no sense to stay away from everyone else I love because of what those two did. Other than my brothers being charged with murder and all that, it’s been nice to be home.”
Renata and the other guys ended up seated on pillows next to Jessie.
“We want to come visit this island of yours,” Ellery said. “Maybe next summer?”
“We’d love that. Even though it’s crowded with tourists, that’s the time to come. It’s very quiet the rest of the year.”
“Quieter than here in the winter?” Pete asked.
“Gansett is like a church compared to here.”
“Yikes,” Doug said. “Not sure I could deal with that.”
“It’s kind of nice after the summer madness,” Dan said. “We’ve become very fond of Gansett’s quiet off-season.”
“Not that it’s ever totally quiet,” Kara added. “We have a great group of friends who keep us very busy. There’s always something going on.”
“Do you ever get stir-crazy knowing you can’t jump in the car and go somewhere else?” Jessie asked.
“Not really,” Dan said. “We have friends at the ferry company, so we can get a car onboard more or less whenever we want. And we spend part of the winter in Southern California, which gives us a break from being isolated.”
“I never feel confined there,” Kara said. “It’s a very peaceful place to be marooned.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Renata said. “After hearing about it for so many years.”
“Let’s plan something for the summer,” Dan said. “We’ll rent a big house so we can all stay together.”
“That’d be awesome,” Jessie said. “Yay, something fun to look forward to.”
“We have something else to look forward to,” Doug reminded his partner. “Do you want to tell them?”
Jessie hesitated, but only for a second. “Doug asked me to marry him, and I said yes.”
Kara was briefly stunned, as were Renata and Ellery, but they all rallied to hug their friends and congratulate them.
“I know what you’re all thinking,” Doug said. “That Jessie needs to move on from me after everything I’ve put her through, but I’ve worked really hard—and we’ve worked very hard as a couple. I’m optimistic that the bad stuff is behind us now.” He glanced at Jessie when he added, “There’s no one else I want to share the good stuff with than the one person who never gave up on me.”
Kara was surprised by the tears that filled her eyes. “I’m so happy for you guys. And so proud of you both for what you’ve worked through together.”
“We all are,” Ellery added, dabbing at her own eyes. “When’s the big day?”
“We’re hoping for next fall,” Jessie said. “You guys will be my bridesmaids, right?”
“Try and stop us,” Renata said for all of them.
After Jessie and Ellery and the others left, Dan and Kara hung out to help clean up. “This was really fun,” Kara said to Renata. “Thanks for organizing it.”
Myles rolled up his sleeves to wash the dishes.
Kara gave Renata an impressed look that had her cousin shrugging. “Can I borrow that sweater we talked about?”
“What?”
Kara tipped her head toward Renata’s bedroom.
“Oh,” Renata said with big eyes that nearly made Kara laugh. “Yeah, sure, come with me to try it on.”
Kara followed her into the bedroom. “You used to be quicker on the uptake.”
“No shit, right? It’s Myles. He scrambles my brain.”
“He’d doing the dishes. Without being asked.”
“I noticed that.”
“He’s very cute.”
“I noticed that, too.” Renata crossed her arms in a protective gesture that tugged at Kara’s heart. “He offered me a partnership in the company.”
Kara’s mouth fell open in surprise. “Oh my God, Ren. That’s huge.”
“Believe me, I know.”
“Do you understand why he did it?”
“Of course I do. He wants in my pants.”
“Renata… Come on. He’s offering you a piece of the company his grandfather founded. That’s got nothing to do with what’s in your pants.”
“It’s easier for me to make it about that than to look at the bigger picture.”
“You mean the picture that shows he’s in love with you and wants to be partners with you in every way?”
Renata scowled. “Why you gotta say it like that?”
Kara sputtered with laughter. “Because it’s the truth?”
“He’s not in love with me.”
“Renata… He offered you a piece of his family’s business because he wants you to be his equal, not his employee.” She stepped closer to her cousin. “He’s doing the dishes… without being asked. ”
“They all do that stuff at the beginning.”
“Dan washes all the dishes in our house. I cook. He cleans up.”
“I can’t picture him doing dishes.”
“Well, he does. He also does the laundry and cleans the bathroom and anything else that needs to be done.”
“We all know you got a unicorn. Doesn’t mean the rest of us will.”
“Why’re you trying so hard to deny what’s right in front of you?”
Renata’s bullish expression would’ve been funny if Kara didn’t know everything there was to know about her lifelong best friend.
She placed her hands on Renata’s shoulders. “Can I say something?”
“Can I stop you?”
“Haha. Nope. If you turn your back on Myles because of something someone else did years ago, who benefits from that?”
“Sometimes it’s just easier not to bother.”
“Yeah, it is, but what if you’d be missing out on the best thing to ever happen to you? Like I said before, I shouldn’t have waited so long to give Dan a chance. And I’ll tell you something else you can never repeat to anyone… I’m glad Kelly and Matt did what they did.”
“Really?”
“Yep. What they did led me to the best thing ever, and that’s worth all the hell and heartache that came before. He’s worth it all, and I have a feeling your Myles will be, too.”
“He’s not my Myles.”
“Isn’t he?”
“Why you gotta be such a bitch?”
Kara laughed so hard that she had tears in her eyes when she came up for air. “You’re ridiculous. Go put that man out of his misery, will you, please?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You do that. I promise you, Ren, if he’s the real deal… you’ll never regret taking the leap.”
“I never thought I’d ever see you this happy after what went down here. Dan’s really great, and you deserve that.”
“So do you. And thank you. I agree. He’s the best. I want you to have that. I want you to have it all.”
Renata hugged her. “Thank you. I love having you home. Come back more often, will you?”
“I will. I promise. One other thing… About that partnership he offered you… Please tell me you know that you’ve earned that a thousand times over.”
“I do know it. I’m the one who keeps that place running smoothly.”
“And they know it . They know it, Ren. You deserve it. You’ve earned it, and if nothing else, I hope you’ll take a minute to wallow in that accomplishment.”
“Thank you for saying that. It means a lot.”
“How do we feel about Jessie and Doug?”
“She told me they had a long, long talk before he proposed, and he made her realize that everything they had before is still there in the aftermath of his addiction, only they appreciate it more than they ever did in the past because they know how close they came to losing it.”
“That’s an incredible point.”
“She thought so, too. When he proposed, he promised her that no one would ever love her more than he does.”
“What else is there?” Kara asked, thrilled for her friends.
“Indeed.”
“Go get that for yourself,” Kara said.
Renata smiled. “Love you.”
“Love you more.”
“No way.”
“Want to bet?”
“I can finish those,” Renata said to Myles after Dan and Kara had left. Why was she suddenly nervous to be alone with him after this day in which everything had changed?
“I don’t mind doing it.” He glanced at her, standing next to him, glass of wine in hand. “This was fun. I love your friends—and your cousin. Her husband isn’t what I expected.”
“He’s very normal despite his massive success.”
“Yes, exactly. Thanks for including me.”
“It was fun.”
“No one seemed surprised to find a new guy in their midst.” He wiped his hands on a dishtowel as he turned to her. “Does that mean you’ve told them about me?”
“I might’ve mentioned your name once. Maybe twice.”
“Maybe twice,” he said with a laugh. “I see how it is.”
“Do you?”
“I think so.” He stepped toward her, making her heart do a funny twisting thing that she feared might be unhealthy, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I see a beautiful, funny, smart, sarcastic, cautious woman who’s so afraid of getting hurt that she’d rather stay on the sidelines than dive into everything life has to offer.”
Renata was shocked speechless by his insight. She cleared her throat and forced herself to speak. “What would this diving in entail exactly?”
“Well…” He stepped even closer, took her wineglass and placed it on the counter. “It might start out like this.” He kissed her as softly and as gently as she’d ever been kissed in her life. “But I expect it’ll quickly escalate into something more like this.” There was nothing soft or gentle about the second kiss. It made her knees go weak and her heart rate accelerate into the danger zone.
She’d kissed her share of guys, but never had a kiss transported her out of the here and now to somewhere she’d never been before. His tongue brushed against hers as he pulled her tighter against him. By the time he raised his head and gazed down at her in stunned amazement, Renata had grabbed handfuls of his shirt to hold on for dear life.
That amazed her. When had she ever felt the need to hold on for dear life during a kiss? Never. Not once. Ever.
He looked as undone as she felt.
“So, um, that happened,” he said.
“Yeah, it did.”
“Is this when you push me away and kick me out?”
“I don’t seem to be doing either of those things.”
“I noticed. I’m not sure what to make of it.”
“Are you making fun of me, by any chance?”
“Would I do that?”
“Yes, I believe you would.”
“Do you want me to go?”
Renata was well aware that this was one of those moments upon which a life could go in one of two directions. If she asked him to leave, he would. If she asked him to stay, he would, and that would be that.
“It’s okay if you’re still not sure,” he said as he started to pull back from her.
Renata tightened her hold on his shirt.
He froze.
“Don’t go.”
“Are you sure?”
She laughed as she shook her head. “Not at all sure of anything, except that I don’t want you to go.”
“If you give me a chance, I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy.”
“Why me?”
He huffed out a laugh. “I’ve asked myself that a thousand times during the last few torturous years in which I realized that my ascension to the boss’s office had ruined any chance I had with you.”
“Wait. The last few years have been torturous for you?”
“God yes. Before my dad retired, I felt like you and I were on the way to this, and that stopped when I became the boss. We were still friends, but not like we were before. I’ve missed that for all this time. I’ve missed you.”
“You see me every day.”
“I’ve missed the you I was friends with before I became your boss on paper.”
“On paper? You own the company. It’s more than on paper.”
“It’s very much on paper because we all know who runs that place, and it’s not me.”
“It is you.”
“It’s us , Renata. You and me, but mostly you. We’re a team at work, and we could be so much more than that outside of work. You asked why you, and all I can tell you is that it’s always been you for me. From the beginning. Do you know how often I’ve wished I made it official with you before my dad retired and changed the dynamic? I thought we had time, but he surprised me with an early retirement, and then it was too late. Or so I thought.”
“The beginning” had been close to a decade ago. And in that time, she’d never known him to date anyone else.
“Have I finally rendered you speechless?”
“Not quite, but close.”
“Never thought I’d see that happen.”
She flattened her hands against his chest and smoothed out the wrinkles she’d made in his shirt, making another interesting discovery. “When did you get all these muscles?”
“Had to do something to deal with the frustration.”
“What frustration?”
He looked her dead in the eyes. “The frustration that came from being madly, deeply, completely, torturously and permanently in love with my coworker.”
Once again, she was rendered speechless. And when she recovered enough to form words, they were halting. “You…”
“I love you, Renata.”
“Oh.” In a voice several octaves higher than usual, she said, “You do?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Is… is that why you asked me to be a partner in the business?”
He shook his head. “I asked you to be my partner because you’ve earned it by your hard work that’s helped to grow our business exponentially. But that’s only a small part of the overall equation. If I had my way, you’d be my partner in all things… life and business. And love. Mostly love.”
Renata stared up at him, as if seeing him for the first time. Now that she knew how he felt, she could see it in the way he looked at her so tenderly, as if she was everything he’d ever wanted. “I feel stupid.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I didn’t know you felt that way.”
“Sure you did. You just weren’t ready to acknowledge it. I hope you are now.”
Was she? How did one know if one was ready for something like this? “I’m kind of messy… What if I screw it up?”
“I won’t let you. And PS, you’re not messy. You’re perfectly yourself, and yours is the best self I’ve ever known. All I want is to spend as much time with you as I possibly can. That’s all I’ve wanted for as long as I’ve known you.” He ran his finger lightly over her cheek, setting off a wildfire of sensation she felt everywhere. “If you give me the chance, Renata, I’ll make you happy. I promise.”
He was offering her everything he had to give, and she had a choice to make. Dive in headfirst and hope for the best or continue to keep him at arm’s length in an effort to protect herself from ever being hurt again.
Her heart, it seemed, was working way ahead of her brain as she slipped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest.
He put his arms around her and held her tightly.
She fit perfectly in his arms, with his chin resting on top of her head, like two pieces of a puzzle.
“What’re you thinking? I’m kind of dying over here, out on the biggest limb I’ve ever been on, dangling over the edge of the abyss.”
Renata laughed at his dramatics. “I think,” she said, “it might be safe to come in off the limb.”
“What are you saying?”
“It’s possible that the reason I’ve been so freaked out about this is because I love you, too, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.”
“I have a few suggestions if you’re interested.”
Smiling, she looked up at him, feeling as if she’d come home in the last few minutes to the person she’d always been meant to find, the one who’d been there all along, patiently waiting for her to be ready for him.
He cradled her face in his hands. “Do you think you could say that one thing again, when you’re looking at me this time?”
“I love you, Myles.”
“I love you, too, Renata.”
When he kissed her again, he held nothing back.
When he lifted her off her feet, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and held on tight.
“We need a bed, and we need it now. Which way?”
“Down the hall to the left.”
“Are you sure, Renata?”
When it felt right, she discovered, there were no doubts or fears or anything other than the kind of joy she’d never experienced before. She nodded. “I’m very sure.”