Chapter 17
Seventeen
Dan and Grant fell into the habit of getting together once a week to read each other’s work and exchange critiques as Grant wrote his screenplay about Stephanie and Charlie’s story and Dan worked on his book.
Grant had nothing but praise for Dan’s book so far and said he offered pretty good feedback for a lawyer.
That was high praise coming from an Oscar-winning screenwriter.
Frankly, Dan had no idea what he was doing with the book, which made Grant’s feedback that much more critical.
Dan slid into the booth across from Grant. “Sorry I’m late. My mom called right when I was leaving. She’s full of questions about me and Kara.” Dan rolled his eyes. “She’s like a dog with a bone.”
“Nice. Comparing your mother to a dog. How did she find out about ‘the bone,’ as you call it?”
“I refuse to refer to the woman I love as ‘the bone.’”
“Why? Does it give you a boner?”
“Shut up, will you? I might’ve made the huge mistake of mentioning that I’d met someone here. You should know how mothers of sons in their late thirties get hopeful at the first sign of commitment of any kind.”
“So it’s your own fault that she’s planning the wedding.”
“Yes, I guess it is.”
“Speaking of weddings, is there going to be one?”
“Not you, too! We’re not talking about weddings or other such foolishness. We’re enjoying our time together. Why isn’t that enough for everyone?”
“Because you’re no longer in your midthirties. You’re thirty-eight now, which is getting awfully close to the big four-oh. You ain’t getting any younger.”
Dan picked up the bread knife and ran it over his wrist.
“Not sharp enough,” Grant said. “And I didn’t waste an entire day saving your sorry life so you could end it with a dull butter knife just because your mom wants you to get married.”
“Wasted? I’m hurt.”
“Not anymore you aren’t. So what’s stopping you from popping the question? You know you don’t want to let her get away.”
“What’s stopping you from getting married? Seems to me you popped the question quite some time ago, but I don’t hear any bells ringing in your neighborhood either.”
“We’re both so busy. We haven’t had time to breathe, let alone plan a wedding. We’re not in any rush.”
“Need I remind you that you’re thirty-six? Just in case you’d forgotten.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“What’s going on?”
“The fucking screenplay.”
Dan was well aware that Grant had been emotionally drained by the writing of the screenplay about Stephanie and Charlie’s story.
Having to relive the trauma of Stephanie’s childhood through interviews with her and her stepfather had taken a toll on Grant as he heard some of the uglier details for the first time from Charlie.
“What now?”
“I’m not sure what to do.” Grant ran his fingers through his hair until it stood on end. “I feel dishonest not telling Stephanie the stuff I know now about her childhood, but I can’t just bring it up out of the blue when she’s doing so well. You know?”
“That is a tough one. Will you be okay with her reading about it when she sees the screenplay?”
“Part of me wonders if she’ll ever read the screenplay or see the movie, if we get it made.”
“Really?”
“It was a nightmare for her, Dan. Why would she want to relive it?”
“I can’t imagine you working for years to tell her story and her not wanting to see it.”
“It’s not that she wouldn’t want to. It might just be too much for her.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“She’s so happy since we got engaged and the restaurant opened.”
“Don’t do anything to mess with that. Not now. There’ll be time to talk about what’s in the screenplay before you try to shop it. She’ll need to know before then.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Now is not the time.”
Grant nodded. “Thank you.”
“In other news, did you hear the plan the women have for surprising Blaine and Tiffany with a shower this weekend?”
“I heard some rumblings about that.”
“What I’d like to know is why we need to be part of it. Why can’t we take him out and get him drunk the way men are supposed to?”
Grant smiled. “Because as much as we’d like to think otherwise, the women are in charge, and we do what we’re told.”
“I don’t like it.”
“You’d better get used to it if you’re planning to keep Kara around.”
“I’m planning to keep her around, but she’s not the boss of me.”
Grant howled with laughter. “Keep telling yourself that. Let me know how it works out for you.”
“Are we going to get some work done, or do I have to continue listening to you talk shit?”
“Both.” Grant slid his latest pages across the table to Dan, who handed over his.
“Go easy on me with that red pen of yours, will you?” Dan said.
“My red pen is making this a better book.”
“No doubt, but you’re ruining my self-esteem.”
“Good thing you’ve got plenty to spare. Now shut up and read.”
Dan muttered, “Fuck off and die,” under his breath, which of course he didn’t mean. He hated to see Grant stressed about things with Steph and the screenplay.
A few minutes later, Grant reached across the table to nudge Dan with his pen.
Dan grunted in reply.
“Dan.”
“What?”
“Listen. Behind me.”
“This whole thing has gone on long enough,” a woman said. “I mean, I didn’t steal you from her. What man in his thirties can be stolen from a woman if he doesn’t actually want to go?”
“That’s not how she sees it, and you know it. She had no idea that we’d begun seeing each other when I was still seeing her, too.”
A baby let out a squawk that had both his parents focusing on the little one for a minute.
“She’ll be happy to meet Connor, even if she wants nothing to do with us. I promised my mother I’d try to fix things with her, and that’s what I’m doing.”
All at once, Dan realized who they were. He looked at Grant with big eyes as he kept listening.
“Don’t come crying to me when this blows up in your face,” the man said.
“Sometimes I think you still care about her more than you care about me.”
“Honestly, Kelly, which one of you did I marry?”
“Go,” Grant whispered to Dan, who was frozen with shock. “Go to her.”
Dan pushed the pages he’d been reading across the table to Grant and was out of the booth like he’d been shot from a cannon. All he could think about was warning Kara.
He’d never driven so fast on the island’s winding roads, but he’d also never been more frantic to get to Kara. Well, except for the day he’d spent fighting for his life in freezing water, thinking he’d totally blown it with her before he’d left on the ill-fated sailboat trip.
Flashing lights behind him made him groan with impatience and despair as he pulled his Porsche to the side of the road. He gave thanks when he saw his friend Blaine Taylor approach the car. He’d gotten to know Blaine through Tiffany, who would marry the police chief soon.
“In a rush, Counselor?”
“A big rush. I need to get to Kara. It’s a bit of an emergency.”
“What kind of emergency?”
“The kind that will hurt her badly unless I can warn her before it happens.”
Blaine took a step back. “Slow down, all right?”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
“Go.”
“I owe you one.”
Dan took off toward McCarthy’s Marina in North Harbor, adhering more closely to the speed limit after his friend cut him a break. As he drove, he thought about the absolute audacity of her sister showing up out of the blue, expecting Kara to forgive and forget because there was now a baby involved.
He felt kind of sorry for baby Connor. It wasn’t his fault his parents were jerks. But Dan would be goddamned if he’d let Kelly and Matt do any further damage to Kara. She’d worked hard enough to overcome the betrayal of two people she’d loved. They weren’t going to get another chance at her.
Not if he had anything to say about it.
As he drove, he scrolled through his contacts, looking for Kara’s backup driver, Tim. He and Dan had gone out for beers a few times and had exchanged numbers, for which he was now extremely grateful.
“It’s too early to drink, Torrington,” Tim said when he answered the phone, sounding as if he’d just woken up.
“I need you to relieve Kara.”
“Why? I’m working tonight.”
“It’s urgent. Will you get down to the dock and use the backup boat?”
“What’s wrong with the main boat?”
“Nothing. I’ll explain later. Please. I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t urgent.”
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
“I don’t care who asks, you have no idea where Kara is. Got me?”
“Yeah, sure. Is she okay?”
“She will be. I’ll make sure of it. Thanks, Tim.”
“No problem.”
Dan grabbed a parking space on the street that led to the marina, knowing it might be as close as he’d get.
He locked the car and took off running, which was still a rather painful activity due to his healing ribs.
The pain was of no consequence, however, when it came to reaching Kara before her sister did.
He flew past the marina restaurant, ignoring Mac, who asked him where the fire was.
Dan took the ramp to the floating dock that housed Kara’s launch.
Giving thanks to every god in the universe that she was just pulling in with a boatload of passengers, Dan waited until every one of them had disembarked before he jumped on the boat.
As always, his loafers slid precariously on the deck, which made Kara laugh.
“Where the heck did you come from?” She flashed the smile that made him weak in the knees. Her long hair was contained in a ponytail pulled through the back of a Ballard Boat Works ball cap that protected her fair complexion from the sun.
He tossed off the stern line. “Go.”
“What’re you doing? I have customers.”
The bench on the dock where people waited for rides to their boats in the anchorage was empty at the moment.
“Drive the boat. I’ll explain on the way.”
“On the way to where?”
“Anywhere but here. Please. Drive the boat.”
Giving him a puzzled look, she tossed off the spring line and backed the boat out of the slip.
When she turned it toward the Salt Pond, Dan exhaled a deep breath that made his ribs burn like a bitch.
“What’s gotten into you?”