Chapter 5 #2
“We’re in touch with her. She’s remarried and living in the south of France with an artist she met in Paris when she was there on vacation. They seem really happy.”
“Good for her.”
“She deserves to be happy after everything she’s been through.”
Riley wanted to tell her that she deserved the same. “What did you do for work before you were Jordan’s assistant?”
“We were both models,” she said sheepishly.
Smiling at her embarrassment, he said, “I can see that. What kind of modeling did you do?”
“I did makeup and catalog stuff. Jordan was all about the underwear. That’s how she first met Zane.
He was a model, too. Before his music career took off.
” She looked down at the table. “Because the modeling bored me, I also worked in restaurants and the hospitality business on the side. I still think about finishing college or doing something meaningful.”
“You can do anything you want now.”
“Yes, I can. I just have to figure out what that is.”
“There’s no rush, is there?”
“Not particularly.”
“Then take your time and enjoy the break in the meantime.”
“I’ve done nothing but talk about myself.”
“Not true—and I’m interested in hearing about your life.”
“Tell me about your life. Where did you grow up?”
“Westport, Connecticut, which is about an hour outside New York City.”
“Do your parents still live there?”
“My mom does. My dad lives here now. They split a year and a half ago.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, it was sort of shocking since it came out of nowhere, at least for my brother and me it did. My dad told us later that it’d been a long time coming.” He shrugged. “It was much worse when it happened to you. At least we were adults and didn’t have our parents fighting over us.”
“It’s awful no matter when it happens,” she said.
“It was pretty awful.” Riley hadn’t really said that to anyone but Finn.
He felt comfortable telling her because she’d been through it herself.
“My mom cheated on him with a younger guy. It was all so… sordid. Finn and I were just saying how glad we are to be nowhere near Westport, where our family must be the talk of the town.”
“How’d you end up living on the island?”
“We came with our dad for our cousin Laura’s wedding right after my parents broke up.
My dad decided to stay for a bit to regroup, and when Mac begged Finn and me to stay and come to work for him, we agreed to hang for a bit, mostly to keep an eye on our dad, who was really flattened by the divorce. ”
“That’s nice of you guys.”
“We’ve always been really close to him, so it wasn’t a hardship to hang with him for a while, but it was funny to be living with him again. We’d forgotten how anal he is about cleaning. He also likes to communicate. A lot.” Riley rolled his eyes. “He’s a shrink.”
She laughed. “Ahh, that must get uncomfortable.”
“Extremely.” Smiling, he said, “He’s a good guy, though. Finn and I both respect him more than just about anyone. And now, he’s engaged to Chelsea Rose, who’s a bartender at the Beachcomber, and they’re trying to have a baby.”
“Whoa. How do you feel about that?”
“At first, it was kinda weird, but now I’m just like whatever. It’s his life, and if he wants to start all over with a new family, it’s none of my business. Like Finn said, it’s not like he’s asking us to raise the baby for him.”
She raised a brow.
“What?”
“It’s okay to say that you’re weirded out by the idea of having a sibling nearly thirty years younger than you.”
“It is somewhat… unexpected.”
“To say the least,” she said, laughing. “Do you like the fiancée?”
“We like her a lot. Chelsea’s great, and he’s nuts about her. It’s all good. I’m glad he’s happy. She’s quite a bit younger than him and hasn’t had kids yet, thus the baby project.”
“Ah, I see.” She sat back from the table when the waiter appeared with their entrees. “This looks delicious.”
“The food here is the best.”
They ate in companionable silence that had him thinking about how easy she was to be with.
Their conversation flowed effortlessly, and he found just about everything she said interesting.
He couldn’t recall ever being so immediately at ease around a woman, but he got the feeling she wasn’t quite as comfortable with him, which rankled.
It wasn’t anything he could easily cite, just an overall feeling of disquiet that he’d sensed each of the four times he’d been in her presence.
Was it him or something else? Was there something he could do or say to put her at ease?
He wished he knew, because he’d literally do just about anything to convince her that he could be trusted, that he was nothing like her father or other men who might’ve hurt her.
And what did it say about him that knowing someone had hurt her made him feel so murderous?
He’d certainly never felt that strongly about a woman before.
Until recently, he hadn’t given much thought to the fact that he’d never been in love, but at times, he’d wondered if that particular life experience wasn’t in the cards for him.
Sure, he enjoyed women, had had his share of sex and had mostly coasted through life without messy emotional entanglements.
His brother had an on-again, off-again girlfriend who was thankfully off-again at the moment.
Finn had definitely been in love with Missy, much to the dismay of everyone who cared about him.
Riley couldn’t stand Missy or the way Finn acted around her.
The best part of moving to Gansett had been the demise of his brother’s relationship with her.
“I was thinking about what you said about renovating your grandmother’s house,” Riley said, taking a chance along with a sip of his beer.
“What about it?”
“If you’re serious about updating it, I could help you with that.” He absolutely didn’t have the time to take on another project with the Wayfarer occupying most of his waking hours, but if it meant more time with her, he’d make it happen.
“How do you mean?”
“You want to do it. I know how, and Mac is brilliant at getting what we need to the island for the business. He could help us get whatever we need for your place. I work a lot, so it would be nights and weekends, but I’d be happy to do it for you.”
“That is so nice of you to offer, but I want to learn how to do it myself.”
“Like the actual work, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, well… I could show you anything you want to know.”
“That might take a lot of time.”
He shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere. Are you?”
“I don’t know,” she said, rolling her lip between her teeth. “I have no idea what I’m doing long-term.”
Riley knew a moment of pure panic at the thought of her leaving again when he’d only just gotten her back.
Whoa… Where had that come from? All he knew for certain was that he didn’t want her to go, not yet anyway.
“Maybe renovating the house could be your purpose for the time being, and when that’s finished, you could reassess. ”
He was a self-serving bastard, but whatever it took to keep her around. Why that was so critical, he couldn’t say. All he knew was that the gloom had lifted when she returned, and he liked how he felt when she was around. Beyond that, he didn’t know anything.
She looked across the table, her big brown eyes full of vulnerability that touched him more deeply than any woman ever had. “You don’t want to do that when you’re already working ten hours a day.”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to do it.”
“You’re serious.” Excitement replaced the vulnerability.
“Yes,” he said, smiling. “You want to know how to do renovations. I know how. I’d happily teach you—and help you.”
“Why?” she asked.
The question hit him like a punch to the gut. Why indeed? “Because it would be fun.”
“Really? It would be fun to do in your off time what you do all day?”
“It would be fun to teach you how.” And it will keep you here for months, he thought but didn’t say. “I also have the equipment you need,” he added, waggling his brows in a teasing gesture that made her laugh and blush. Adorable.
“I’d have to talk to my grandmother. It is her house and her money, after all.”
“Of course. See what she thinks. What’s the first thing you’d want to do?” he asked as they perused the dessert menu.
“The kitchen,” she said without hesitation.
“You’d need to set up a temporary kitchen in another room with the essentials—microwave, fridge—”
“Coffeemaker.”
“Coffeemaker,” he said, smiling at the excitement radiating from her. He liked that look on her a lot. “Then we get a dumpster and rip everything out.”
“Chip calls that ‘Demo Day.’”
“Chip?”
“Chip Gaines on Fixer Upper,” she said, looking at him like he had six heads. “He and his wife, Jo, are super famous for their home renovations.”
“Never heard of them.”
“Oh my God! For real? I idolize them. While you teach me about renovation, I’ll educate you on HGTV.”
“Uhhh, okay,” he said hesitantly, even if he was anything but hesitant when it came to her.
“I bet you’ve never heard of the Property Brothers either.”
“Who?”
“Oh God,” she said with mock despair. “I’ve got so much to teach you.”
Yes, please, he thought. Teach me. Teach me everything.