Chapter 26
If there was ever such a thing as too much sex, Seb and I surely came close to achieving it that night. We did it in my bed.
In the shower. On the living-room rug, on our hands and knees. God help me, we even did it on the kitchen island.
muscle screaming in protest, I was also covered in small bruises, bite marks, and had possibly dislocated my jaw at some point.
“Holy shit,” I complained hoarsely when I opened my mouth and my jaw cracked. “Think I’ve been pancaked by a semitruck and
then backed over several times.”
“Same,” Seb said, sounding like his voice was coming from a deep well. “Um . . . is my back bleeding?”
I glanced at several ugly scratches. “Did I do that?”
“Those fingernails are deadly weapons,” he said, wincing as he tried to touch the scratches. “Ugh. We’re going to need to
wash these sheets today. It looks like a crime scene.”
“What’s wrong with us? Is this normal?”
“Nothing is normal about this. I think I pulled a muscle in my ass—is that even possible?”
I was going to need a long, hot soak in the tub and a handful of Tylenol.
“What’s today?” I asked.
“Sunday, all day. Which means I only have to work at the marina for a few hours in the afternoon. We can sleep in till noon.
Two more hours.” He tugged me closer, spooning me.
“No, we can’t. Sunday brunch.”
“N-o-o-o-o,” he whispered into my hair, pretending to cry. “Did we agree to that?”
“Unfortunately. It’s in an hour.” I wanted to make sure Jazmine and Benny were okay, so it wasn’t all bad. I just didn’t want
to face real people while I was in this state. “Jesus, I smell awful. How is that possible? We already showered.”
“How am I hard again?” he mused. “This is ridiculous. I think I’ve got friction burns.”
He wasn’t the only one. We resisted the urge to touch each other, and both crawled out of bed like we were ninety years old
and had drunk an entire bottle of Scotch the night before. I ran a hot bath, and we both sank into it with a sigh of pleasure,
hurting too much to do anything but lounge against each other and bathe.
We waited until the last possible moment to leave. I threw on a sundress that I’d worn to several minor events at Harvard,
and Seb wore khakis and a nice short-sleeve button up. Not having time for coffee, we downed two energy drinks, and drove
like demons to the marina, where the Neelys’ personal parking spaces were filled with a couple of cars I didn’t recognize
and Benny’s Land Rover.
“Last people here,” I bemoaned as we walked up the steps to the Neelys’ front door.
“Last in, first out,” he quipped, flashing me dimples. “Let’s get this over with so we can get back to defiling the cottage. I’m starting to get my mojo back.”
“Keep that mojo in your pants during brunch,” I said, smiling back at him as I knocked on the door.
It opened almost immediately. I tilted my head back and looked up into Benny’s sad eyes.
“Hi.” He kissed me on the cheek in greeting.
“Hi,” I answered, kissing him back. “How are you?”
His eyes flicked from my face to Seb’s. “Not as good as the two of you, I’d wager.”
I gritted my teeth, embarrassed. But Seb slung an arm around my shoulders. “You’d wager right, my friend. I know it’s hard,
but try to be happy for us.”
Benny snorted. “I’ll do my best. Did you get my text this morning?”
“Got it, but only saw it when we were on our way here, sorry,” Seb said, looking around him through the doorway to make sure
we were alone. Laughter and music floated through from somewhere inside. “Were you saying what I thought you were saying?”
He nodded and pulled out his phone, and we circled around it, staring at a map of Haven Beach. A red blinking circle marked
some place outside of town.
“That’s Paul,” Benny explained. “It was pure luck that I spotted that shitty Jeep of his parked at Bean’s last night. I bought
the tracker last year to help with a project for class—it doesn’t matter. I sped back home and got it. Thought I’d never make
it back before he left, but I got the tracker on his car just in time. He didn’t see me.”
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. “Wait. You’ve put a tracker on Paul’s car? You can see where he goes?”
“All day, all night,” he confirmed.
“Holy shit, B,” Seb said, grinning from ear to ear. “You fucking legend, you!”
Benny pocketed his phone. “May not lead us to where he’s stashed the rings. He might’ve already handed them over to Big Burg.
But it won’t hurt to keep track of him. I’m building a script to analyze his movements, but it’s going to take a little time
to collect enough data. At least he won’t be able to surprise us again.”
Jazmine’s curls appeared behind Benny’s shoulders. “Did you show them the tracker? If we wanted, we could wait until he’s
parked somewhere and set his fucking Jeep on fire like he threatened to do to us.”
“No car fires,” I said. “We’re not maniacs. We’re smarter. Just keeping tabs on his comings and goings is the best idea any
of us have had so far.”
“Fine,” Jazmine said, pouting. Then she looked at me and Seb. “Mother of God. You two look like you’ve just been involved
in a hostage trade.”
My cheeks heated, but Seb just smiled.
“New rule. Don’t show up at Heron Cottage unannounced ever again unless you want to see things you’ve only dreamed about.”
“You smug little bastard,” Benny said.
“My friend, you have no idea—”
I covered Seb’s mouth with my hand. “Just get inside, for the love of God. This isn’t brunch conversation.”
He was all smiles as we headed through the doorway, laughing. Jazmine hugged me from the side as we walked into the entry
hall. I inhaled good-food smells that instantly made me glad we’d come.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
“Managing,” she answered as we headed into the kitchen and dining area. “Now you’re about to have to do the same with your boy. I’m sorry. I just found out when they walked in a few minutes ago.”
I had no idea what she was talking about, until I nearly ran right into Seb, who stood motionless in the middle of the Neelys’
kitchen.
Big flowers and fine china covered the length of the big dining table, and several people I recognized chatted with drinks
in their hands. Jazmine’s sister, Patty, and her wife, Emily, who waved at me from across the room. Mr. and Mrs. Neely’s best
friends, a couple who owned a yacht and liked to do a lot of fishing in the lake.
But it was the conservatively dressed, middle-aged man next to them that snagged my attention. Someone I hadn’t seen since
Nana’s funeral.
Captain Jansen of the US Coast Guard.
Seb’s father.
Looking like a deer in headlights, Captain Jansen stood alongside a woman about his age. I was stunned to see him. Seb, too.
It felt like we’d been hoodwinked.
Mrs. Neely jogged over in kitten heels and a flowing floral caftan, calling out to us, “Kids! So happy you’re here. I see
you’ve already noticed our surprise guests this morning. I ran into Katie in town and insisted they come.”
I didn’t know this Katie person but remembered Seb mentioning that his dad had his hands full these days.
Guess the captain finally worked through his wife’s abandonment and was now on a second-chance romance.
The two of them looked nervous. Easy to understand why.
It felt like I was walking into the movie set of some Western and had stumbled upon a good, old-fashioned standoff.
“Good morning, Sebastian,” Captain Jansen said stiffly. He was fit for a man his age, but impossibly rigid. Crew cut that
was more gray than blond. Permanent frown on his long face.
“What are you doing here?” Seb asked in a low voice.
“Enjoying my Sunday, seeing my son,” he answered formally. “You don’t come by the house anymore, so I had to come to you.”
“Just giving the two of you space,” Seb said gruffly. “Like you asked.”
Captain Jansen looked at me and cleared his throat. “Hello, Paige. It’s good to see you back from college. I’d like to introduce
you to my fiancée, Katie Yoshida. Katie, this is another of Seb’s childhood friends, Paige Malone.”
A middle-aged Japanese American woman with short hair and a sweet face canted her head at me, pushing glasses farther up her
nose. “The Harvard girl,” she said.
I nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
“Katie teaches out at a middle school north of town,” Captain Jansen informed me.
Huh. Another teacher. Seb’s mother had been a teacher, too: our first-grade teacher, in fact. Maybe Seb was thinking the same
thing, by the way he anxiously tapped his fingers against his side. But how could I blame Katie for that? Not her fault. I
smiled at her. “What subject do you teach?”
“Art,” she said cheerfully.
“Oh! I’m studying art history.”
“They told me. I’d love to hear more about that.
” Katie brightened considerably, eager to share our mutual area of interest. And maybe I relaxed a little, feeling the same, because that’s the only reason I could think as to why I didn’t consciously realize I’d slipped my arm around Seb’s waist. Not until Captain Jansen’s eyes squinted suspiciously at me.
Seb and I hadn’t talked about this. Were we going totally public with our relationship? Should I be keeping it secret until
we were certain? Weren’t we certain?
Regardless, this was Seb’s father, and there was a lot of baggage between our families. Captain Jansen and Nana hated each
other, in the end. She called him Captain Deadbeat Dad all over town. He threatened to get a restraining order against her.
It was . . . complicated.
I tried to stealthily remove my arm from Seb’s waist.
Seb stopped me. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward him.
Captain Jansen’s face twisted with surprise. He didn’t know what to say, I suppose, because when Mr. Neely strolled over a
moment later, the captain looked relieved.
“Would you look at this?” Mr. Neely said, opening his arms wide. “All our babies in one place. It’s a Wags reunion. We’ve