Chapter 25
As one of Jenny’s bridesmaids, Erin insisted on helping Sydney clean up after the party.
“Luke will give you a ride home,” Sydney said when they were finished.
“No need. I already called a cab.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Luke said. “I would’ve taken you.”
“None of us should be driving tonight, so stay here with your lovely pregnant wife and enjoy the rest of your evening. It was a great party, Syd. Jenny loved it.”
Sydney hugged her. “Thanks again for all your help.”
A toot sounded outside as Erin gathered up her sweater, purse and the platter she’d brought. “My pleasure. I’ll see you at the wedding, if not before.”
“See you then.”
Erin gave Sydney’s dog, Buddy, a pat on the head as she went out the door to the waiting cab in the driveway. She smiled when she realized it was Ned Saunders, whom she’d met several times at gatherings with the McCarthy family.
“Hi, Ned,” she said as she got into the backseat of the old woody station wagon. “You’re working late tonight.”
“Wanted to make sure everyone got home from the parties okay,” he said. “Heard you gals pulled one over on the fellas.”
“It was pretty funny. They were a hot mess.”
Ned chuckled. “I can only imagine. Heard Mac was the worst.”
“He was the first one through the door, so Maddie had to pay two hundred bucks to the pot.”
“What pot?”
“Um, we might’ve bet on what time they’d crash.”
Ned’s laughter echoed through the small space. “That’s downright mean a y’all.”
“I know,” Erin said with a sigh. “But it was so damned funny.”
“Bet it was. Been thinkin’ bout’cha last coupla days.”
“You have? Why?”
“Happened to hear a little rumor ’bout a weddin’ the other day. Thought it might be hittin’ ya kinda hard, in light of everythin’.”
“It’s very kind of you to think of me,” Erin said softly, touched by his thoughtfulness.
“Tough thing you and Jenny went through. Can’t even imagine. Our Adam was in the city that day. Longest day a my life. Probably gonna be a tough week till the weddin’. Maybe a case of the blues after, but yer gonna be okay.”
“That’s good to know.” She closed her eyes against the burn of tears. She’d about had it with the tears at this point.
“This island is known for its healin’ powers.” Ned smiled at her in the mirror. “Worked its wonders on Jenny. Bet it will fer you, too.”
“It’s already been very good for me. The people here are just the best people I’ve ever met. Yourself included.”
“Aww, thanks, honey. Nice a ya ta say so.” He pulled into the long driveway that led to the lighthouse.
Erin had left the gate unlocked so she could get back in, and he wouldn’t let her get it for him. So she stayed put while he took care of the gate and then bounded back to the car.
“Looks like ya got a visitor,” Ned said, driving slowly.
Erin’s heart did a backflip when she realized Slim must’ve come by and had waited for her. “I think I might know who it is.”
“Anyone I know?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
“Bartenders and cab drivers,” Ned said, making her laugh when she remembered Slim saying the same thing about pilots and bartenders. “We’re vaults.”
“It’s Slim Jackson. We’ve become friends, I guess you could say.”
“Good guy. Ya couldn’t ask fer better.”
“I’ll take that as a ringing endorsement, coming from you.”
Ned pulled up to the lighthouse and put the car in park. “You take care of yerself these next few weeks. ’Tis okay to be a bit melancholy, but don’t let it go too far. Ya hear?”
“I do,” she said, smiling at him. “And I appreciate your kind words.” With a twenty-dollar bill in hand, she reached over the seat.
“Yer money t’ain’t no good here, honey.”
“Thank you, Ned, for the ride and the words of wisdom.” She leaned over the seat to kiss his cheek, leaving him flustered as she got out of the car, dragging her crutches behind her. She was about as over them as she was the tears.
Ned turned the cab around and left with a toot of the horn.
Waving to him, Erin dropped the crutches on the grass and hobbled over to the fire pit, where Slim had made himself right at home. “Fancy meeting you here,” she said.
He got up to give her the chair and took a seat on the cooler, reaching for her injured foot to prop it up next to him. “Heard the festivities didn’t turn out quite as planned tonight. Sorry to miss it. I had a late flight and just got back to the island half an hour ago.”
“And you came right here?”
“Directly.”
“How come?”
“Other than the fact that a very, very cute lighthouse keeper lives here?”
It had been a long time since any man had called her cute. The compliment made Erin’s face heat up, which, thankfully, he couldn’t see. The glow of the fire made them both look hot—particularly him. “Other than that.”
“I figured tonight might be another of those tough nights for you. Thought I’d come by to check on you.”
“That’s exceptionally nice of you.”
“I’m an exceptionally nice guy.”
She laughed at that even as she suspected it was true. “Who doesn’t lack for self-confidence.”
“Only where you’re concerned. Never quite certain where I stand with you.”
“Your approval ratings are higher than ever right now.”
“Yeah?” he asked, his face lighting up with glee.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t let one victory get you all full of yourself.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He tossed another log onto the fire and stoked it. “So was it a tough night?”
“It wasn’t too bad, all things considered.
” She told him about the prank the girls had perpetrated, and enjoyed his ringing laughter at her description of the guys reacting to having been had.
“Jenny is glowing with happiness, and the prank sort of took over the night when the guys crashed looking for strippers. Lots of laughs, good music, good food, good friends. It was fun.”
“I’m glad you had a nice time.”
“I just had a lovely chat with Ned on the way home. He said something that really resonated with me.”
Slim got up from the cooler and opened it to retrieve the marshmallows Erin had in there. He affixed two of them to sticks and handed one to her along with a second marshmallow for later. “He’s the best when you need advice. What’d he say?”
“That it’s okay to be a little melancholy over the wedding, but I shouldn’t let it get out of control. That wouldn’t be good.”
“No, it wouldn’t. You’ve worked long and hard to get to where you are now.”
“And where am I exactly?”
“You’re in a place where you have good friends, lots of laughs, good food, good music,” he said, quoting her words back to her. “You have a cool job, and you live in a lighthouse. What’s better than that?”
“Not much.” He didn’t even know about the other job she had as an advice columnist to the lovelorn, ironic as that was, since she hadn’t had much of a love life to speak of in years. “So I was thinking…”
“About me?” he asked hopefully.
She threw her extra marshmallow at him.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“I was thinking about Jenny’s wedding. Her second wedding, I should say.”
“What about it?”
“I’m allowed to bring a date.”
“Is that right?”
“Uh-huh. You know of any single guys who might like to go to a fun wedding with me?”
His mouth fell open and snapped shut.
She had to hold back laughter that was straining to get out.
“I know this one guy,” he said after a long pause. “He’s kind of dashing in a roguish sort of way. Movie-star handsome, absurdly talented and very interested in spending more time with a certain cute lighthouse keeper.”
“Movie-star handsome, roguish, absurdly talented… He sounds like a player.”
“Nah, he’s not. He’s too much of a homebody to be a player, although he does enjoy a little playing on occasion. He’s a one-woman kind of guy.”
“Do you have his number?”
His marshmallow caught fire, and he blew on it until it was extinguished. “Umm, you do know I’m talking about me, right?”
“Oh,” Erin said, feigning surprise while continuing to suppress the laughter. She’d laughed more with him than she had in years. “I thought it had to be someone else, because who describes himself as roguish, movie-star handsome and absurdly talented?”
“Ha!” he said with a grin that could only be described as roguish. “So I went a little far trying to sell myself as the perfect date for this important wedding of yours?”
“Little bit.” She held her marshmallow over the fire until it was toasted to a golden brown. “But if you’d like to come with me…”
“I would. I’d like to. Very much so.”
“Good,” she said, smiling at him. “I should mention that my parents will be there. Just in case that makes you want to back out.”
“It doesn’t. I’m in. But it doesn’t count as the dinner you promised me.”
A shiver of excitement danced through her at the thought of spending more time with the dashingly roguish pilot.
The Saturday-night crowd at the Beachcomber had thinned out by the time Kevin McCarthy pulled up a barstool.
Chelsea came over to him, smiling warily. “Dr. McCarthy.”
“Ms. Rose.”
She raised a brow as she put a napkin down on the bar and placed an ice-cold light beer on it. “Glass?”
“Comes in one.” The cold beer tasted good going down. “You gonna call my big brother on me tonight?”
“You gonna give me reason to?”
Kevin laughed at her saucy comeback. When she smiled at him, he realized how pretty she was.
Her thick blonde hair was braided down her back.
She wore little or no makeup, but she didn’t need it, and though she was tall, she carried her height with an elegance to her movements that indicated dance training.
The fact that she was far too young for him didn’t keep him from noticing that she was a beautiful woman.
“Where’re you coming from?” she asked.
“I was at my brother Frank’s for dinner with my sons.”
“How many boys do you have?”
“Two, Riley and Finn. I guess they count as men these days. They’re twenty-five and twenty-seven.”
“You don’t look old enough to have kids that age.”
“Had them young.”
“Where’s their mom?” she asked, taking a casual glance at the wedding ring he still wore.
He hadn’t been able to bring himself to remove it. “That’s kind of a long story.”