Chapter 19 #2
“He’s . . .” Laura sighed. “I don’t have the words. I just hope Justin signs the papers and sets me free before Owen runs out of patience with the situation.”
“He’s not going anywhere,” Stephanie assured Laura. “Any man who’d willingly volunteer to witness childbirth must have a big, bad thing for you.”
“No kidding,” Grace said. “If that’s not a measure of his devotion, I don’t know what is.”
The baby chose that moment to send a rippling wave across Laura’s stomach. She took that to mean the baby agreed with her friends.
“So what’s her story?” Dan Torrington asked Grant.
“Whose story?”
“Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm over there.” Dan nodded to Kara, who was chatting with Big Mac and Linda.
“No idea. Hey, Mac,” Grant said to his brother. “Come here.”
“What’s up?” Mac asked when he joined them.
“Dan wants the skinny on Kara,” Grant said.
“I don’t know her all that well except that she’s from Maine and number six in a family of eleven kids.”
“Eleven?” Grant asked. “Jesus. I thought our family was big.”
“Imagine twice as many of us plus one,” Mac said with a grin.
“No, thanks,” Grant said. “I’ve got all I can handle with four siblings.”
“What’s she doing on Gansett?” Dan asked, his gaze riveted to Kara, who was making Big Mac and Linda laugh with an animated story. For some strange reason, he desperately wanted to hear the story.
Mac told them about the launch service Kara had proposed for the Salt Pond and the role McCarthy’s Gansett Island Marina would play in the plan.
“Why didn’t we think of that?” Grant asked.
“Dad and Luke have talked about it over the years, but that’s as far as it got,” Mac said.
“This is even better for us because we get the benefit of increased foot traffic—and possibly new customers for the marina when they see how great our place is—but none of the headaches of running the launch service ourselves. Win-win.”
While Grant talked business with his brother, Dan continued to watch Kara.
She wasn’t even his type. He went for built-like-brick-shithouse blondes, not buttoned-down wholesome country girls.
She wore Levi jeans, for Pete’s sake. Though they did amazing things to her excellent ass, he couldn’t remember the last woman he’d known who wore plain old Levis.
It was hard to tell through the bulky sweater if she had anything going on up top, and from what he could gather from a distance, she didn’t wear a lick of makeup on her fresh-faced complexion. She wouldn’t last a day in LA. For some reason, the thought pleased him.
“How long is she here?” Dan asked Mac.
“She’s heading back to Maine on Monday, but she’ll be back in March to get ready for the season.”
For some strange reason, Dan felt oddly deflated to know she was leaving. Soon.
“What’re you up to, Torrington?” Grant asked when Mac went to find his wife.
Startled out of his thoughts, Dan said, “Nothing.”
“Why’re you staring at her? You’re going to creep her out.”
“I’m not staring at her.”
“Don’t tell me you’re interested. You’re way too old for her, and she’s hardly your type.”
“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing. And yet . . .”
“What?”
“There’s something about her. Look at her. She’s pure as the driven snow.”
“Which is why you need to stay far, far away.”
Dan rested a hand over his chest. “I’m wounded.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Introduce me.”
“I don’t know her, either,” Grant protested.
“You know the people she’s talking to, don’t you?”
Grant rolled his eyes. “I’ve met them once or twice.”
“Come on then.”
“Why do I have the sinking feeling I’m going to regret this?”
“Be a pal, McCarthy. Remember that favor I did for you when your girlfriend’s stepfather was unjustly incarcerated?”
“How long will I have to pay for that?”
“I’ll let you know in a decade or two when the debt is repaid. In the meantime . . .” He gave Grant a gentle nudge to get him moving.
“Fine. Let’s get this over with.” Grant crossed the kitchen to where his parents were talking to Kara. “Having a good time, everyone?”
“Kara Ballard,” Big Mac said, “this is our idiot second son, Grant, who got engaged and forgot to tell his parents for two days.”
“I was busy,” Grant said, shaking hands with Kara. Waggling his brows, he added, “Celebrating.”
Kara’s cheeks went pink at Grant’s mention of celebrating, and Dan became even more intrigued. Pure as the driven snow, and she blushes. Too good to be true.
“Kara, this is my friend Dan Torrington.”
“Nice to meet you.” When she met his gaze, he noticed her eyes were brown with flecks of gold. And were those . . . freckles? Her shy smile was right out of a toothpaste ad. Good God, she was too cute for words, and as Grant had said, probably far too young for him.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Dan said. “I hear you’re in the boat business.”
“Her family has a big outfit in Bar Harbor,” Big Mac said.
“What do you do?” Dan asked.
“Business development mostly, but as of next summer, I’ll be running the launch service in the Salt Pond.”
Dan would’ve bet his sizable fortune that she’d been the smart girl in school who’d ruined the curve for guys like him. He wondered if she ever let down her ponytail and got a little wild. He’d sure like to know.
“And you, Mr. Torrington? What do you do?”
Grant guffawed at the “Mr. Torrington,” earning him a swat and a glare from his mother.
“Call me Dan, please. I’m a lawyer.”
“Oh,” Kara said, barely hiding her contempt. “That’s . . . nice.”
Dan’s face lifted into a half grin as he bit back the instant urge to ask what she had against lawyers.
“Stephanie is beckoning us,” Grant said to his parents. “I hope I’m not about to hear the words ‘wedding plans’ come out of her mouth.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to plan another wedding!” Linda said, leading her husband and son into the living room.
“Fabulous,” Grant muttered as his mother tugged at his arm.
Dan laughed at his friend’s dismay. “The poor bastard has no idea what he’s in for.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kara asked.
Surprised by her tone, Dan chose his words carefully. “Wedding planning isn’t for the faint of heart.”
“Are you married?”
“Nope.”
“Then what do you know about wedding planning?”
The memories flooded over him in a wave of pain that caught him off guard. How was it possible that it still hurt so badly? “Came close once.”
“What happened?”
“Why Ms. Ballard, we’ve just met,” he said with the effortlessly charming smile that had served him well with women his entire life.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to start spilling all my secrets.
” The instant the words were out of his mouth he regretted them.
What he’d intended as teasing had clearly embarrassed her.
“I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. It’s none of my business.”
“Hey, I was only kidding.” He bent his knees to bring himself down to her height.
“Seriously, just kidding. The engagement didn’t work out.
” His shrug belied the ongoing pain of finding his fiancée riding his best man two days before the wedding.
Two losses for the price of one. “It was just one of those things.”
“Well, it must’ve been a difficult time. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“Shit happens.”
She became intensely interested in her beer bottle. “Yes, it does,” she said in a world-weary tone that told him she knew all too well what he meant.
Dan had an urgent need to know what kind of shit had happened to her. Wanting to keep her talking, he gestured to her beer. “Can I get you another?”
“No, thank you. I’m heading out soon.”
“Not before you tell me what you have against lawyers.”
Her startled gaze shot up to meet his. “What makes you think I have anything against lawyers?”
“The giveaway might’ve been the oh-so-polite ‘that’s nice’ when I said I am one.”
“I don’t have anything against lawyers. They serve a useful purpose.”
“Is that so?”
“You would know better than me. Are you useful?”
He thought of the three-dozen people who were now walking free thanks to his efforts to overturn unjust convictions. “I’d like to think so.”
“There you have it.”
She was absolutely adorable and absolutely wrong for him, but he was absolutely intrigued, nonetheless. “I’d like to take you to dinner tomorrow night.”
She stared at him as if he’d told her he wanted to take her on a vacation to the moon. “You . . . I . . .”
“It’s a simple question: Will you go out with me tomorrow night?”
“I . . .” He could see that she wanted to. How could he miss the flash of longing that crossed her expressive face? With every passing moment, he became more interested. “No, but thank you for asking.”
“There’s nothing I can do to change your mind?”
“No.”
Well, didn’t that beat all? Dan couldn’t remember the last time a woman had said no to him. About anything.
“I have to go now,” she said. “It was nice to meet you.”
“You, too.”
She scurried off as if someone had told her the house was on fire.
As she said her good-byes to Mac, Big Mac, Luke and Sydney, Dan once again noticed the fine things those faded Levis did to her sumptuous ass.
The second before she went through the door, she glanced into the kitchen to find Dan still watching her intently.
The wistfulness he saw on her expressive face had him standing up straighter.
For a brief instant, he thought about going after her.
But he stopped himself before he could act on the impulse. If she wasn’t interested, neither was he.
“Keep telling yourself that,” he muttered.
“That didn’t take long,” Grant said when he rejoined Dan in the kitchen.
“What?”
“I’ve never seen a woman run away from you so quickly. Are you losing your touch?”
“I wouldn’t say that. However, it does occur to me that it might be far more interesting to write my book here in the spring than over the winter.”
Grant eyed him suspiciously. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing. Yet.”