Chapter 7
Riley had known this was coming, and he was truly happy for his dad and Chelsea.
He said and did all the right things, the things his dad expected and deserved after the lifetime of support he’d given his sons.
But deep inside, in the part of him that resisted change of any kind, he still mourned for the family that’d been lost when his parents split.
No matter how much he wanted things to stay as they’d always been, that wasn’t going to happen, and he could either get on board or run the risk of hurting the father who had been so very good to him. So he toasted his father and Chelsea and shared in their good news.
Nikki excused herself to go to the ladies’ room.
“Nikki seems really nice,” Kevin said when Chelsea went to tend to the only other customers in the bar.
“She is.”
“Are you guys dating?”
Riley shrugged. “I’m not really sure. She’s very… hesitant, or so it seems.”
“You seem rather taken with her.”
“I like her. A lot.” The confession made him feel oddly exposed. He sent his dad a wry grin. “I hadn’t admitted that to anyone, even myself.”
Kevin chuckled. “I know that feeling. When Chelsea first showed an interest in me, I couldn’t believe it for like a month.”
“That’s because she’s way out of your league,” Riley said, smirking.
Kevin laughed. “So far out of my league, it’s not even funny. But she loves me anyway. All I can say is be patient, son. The best things in life happen when you least expect them, and if Nikki is hesitant, it’s probably for good reason.”
Riley nodded in agreement. He hoped that someday she’d share with him the reasons for her hesitant nature.
“Keep showing up and showing her that she can trust you,” Kevin said. “That’ll mean everything to her.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Any time. I’m always here if you need me.”
“I know, and I’m really happy for you and Chelsea.”
“Thanks.” His gaze found the woman who would soon be his wife. “I’m pretty damned happy for us myself, even if I’m hoping I can do this fatherhood thing justice at my age.”
“You’ll be great. I have no doubt.”
“That means a lot to me. Thankfully, the baby will have a youthful mother and brothers to pick up my slack.”
“There won’t be any slack to pick up. The baby will be as lucky as Finn and I are.”
Kevin gave Riley a one-armed hug and kissed the top of his head. “Thanks,” he said gruffly. “Your support and approval make all the difference.”
Riley swallowed the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. Everything had changed, but all he cared about was his father’s happiness. Chelsea made him happy. That was enough for Riley.
When Nikki returned, Riley asked if she was ready to call it a night.
“I think I am. I’m suffering from a bit of jet lag with the time difference.”
“No problem. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Dad.”
“Yes, you will. Nikki, it was a pleasure to meet you.”
“You, too, Kevin. Congratulations again.”
“Thank you. I hope you’ll come to the wedding with Riley. We don’t stand on formality around here. Everyone is welcome.”
“I’d love to come if I’m still here. Thank you.” They waved to Chelsea as they left the bar and bundled up before stepping into the frigid winter air.
If I’m still here. Four words had Riley reeling as he helped her into the truck and then closed the door to jog around to the driver’s side.
In the short time they’d been inside the Beachcomber, the temperature had dropped significantly.
The cold helped to give him something to think about besides his worries about her leaving.
“Is it even colder than it was before, or is it just me?” Nikki asked.
Riley glanced at the temperature on the dash. “Ten degrees colder than it was earlier.”
“Brrr.”
“Smells like snow.”
“I’ve never understood when people say that. What does snow smell like?”
“It smells cold and damp and crisp. The more you’re around it, the more you’ll notice the smell.” He turned up the heat and directed the truck toward the island’s north end.
“So, your dad is getting married and having a baby.”
“How about that?”
“I know how hard it is to see your parents moving on with other people. You don’t have to pretend otherwise with me.”
He glanced at her before returning his gaze to the dark road. “That’s good to know.” After a long silence, he added, “It helps that you get it.”
“I remember what it was like to realize that the family you’d known was gone forever, replaced by something that’ll never completely replace it.”
“That’s it,” he said softly. “Exactly. I’m truly happy for my dad, but…”
“You grieve the loss of your family.”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t say much about your mom. Do you talk to her?”
“Occasionally. Not as much as I did before everything happened.”
“You’re angry with her, and with good reason.”
“At the end of the day,” he said, “what went down between them is truly none of my business.”
“But it still involves you. In that way, it’s very much your business.”
“I guess so.”
“I remember when my parents first separated and how I wondered if we would still have birthday parties or vacations or any of the things we’d had when they still lived together.”
“Did you?” he asked.
“Yes, but it was never the same again. Someone was always missing, and after we found out my dad had other kids, our feelings for him changed. My mom wasn’t great about keeping the dirty details away from us. We knew far more than we should have at that age.”
“As bad as my parents’ split was when it happened, I can’t imagine going through it as a kid and having them fighting over us.”
“Whereas I think it’s probably worse at your age because you thought it wasn’t going to happen to your family.” She shrugged. “It sucks no matter when it happens.”
“It helps to talk about it with someone who gets it. My brother has been sort of weird about it. He acts like he doesn’t give a shit, when I know he does.”
“That’s how some people choose to cope. Jordan was like that at times. It used to drive me crazy that she didn’t want to dissect every detail of what was going on the way I did. I needed to understand it, but I later came to realize she needed to pretend like it wasn’t happening.”
“It’s interesting how two siblings who are close and generally see things the same way can view something like this so differently.”
“Jordan and I were always close but disagreed on more than we agreed on.”
“I suppose that’s true of Finn and me, too. Even though I want to clobber him half the time, I’d still rather hang with him than just about anyone else. It’s always been like that between us.”
“Same with Jordan and me. Half the time, I wonder what the hell she’s thinking, and the other half, I need to know what she’s thinking so I know how to react. It’s going to be weird going through life without her to turn to for input on every little thing.”
“You can still do that, can’t you? She’s only a text message away.”
“Yeah, but she won’t physically be there like she always has been. Even when she and Zane were first married, she spent more time with me than she did with him because they had totally opposite schedules.”
“For what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing stepping away. It’ll be good for you to figure out what’s important to you and for her to learn to run her own life.”
“I agree, but it’s hard to resist the urge to check on her or to check in with her.”
“We’ll keep you so busy here that you won’t have time to wonder what she’s up to.”
“Is that right?” she asked, sounding amused.
“Oh yeah. Gansett is where it’s at, even in the winter. There’s always something fun going on. In fact, tomorrow night, everyone is going to my cousin Janey’s house to hang out. You should come with me.”
“I wouldn’t want to butt in on a family thing.”
“Our family’s not like that. You heard my dad. Everyone is welcome. And it’s a really fun group. All we do is crack up when we’re together.”
“That does sound fun,” she said, sounding wistful. “I always wished for a big family that got along and enjoyed being around each other.”
“Then you’ll love the McCarthys. We’re all about the fun and the hijinks.
Mac is forever getting himself into trouble with Maddie and the other women.
They played the best prank on the guys a while back by getting them to believe they were bringing in male strippers for Jenny Martinez’s bachelorette party.
The guys lost their freaking minds over it, and when they realized they’d been played… That was epic.”
“Oh my God, I love that. How funny is that?”
“The guys didn’t think it was funny at all. Mac proposed they get even by stealing the women’s clothes while they were skinny-dipping during Evan and Grace’s wedding in Anguilla. That went over like a fart in church, with the guys getting the deep freeze in the bedroom for the entire week.”
Nikki shook with silent laughter.
“It’s always something, especially when Mac is involved.”
“Has he always been like that?” she asked.
“Pretty much. He’s the oldest of all the cousins, or he was until we found out about Mallory.”
“Who?”
“My uncle Mac had a daughter he didn’t know about from a relationship before he met my aunt Linda. After her mother died, Mallory found a letter that told her where to find her father, and she came here to meet him.”
“Holy crap. That must’ve been a huge shock.”
“It was, especially for Mac, who got bumped out of his prime spot as the oldest cousin. But that hasn’t stopped him from leading the mayhem.”
“How did your uncle handle finding out he had a daughter he never knew about?”
“In typical Big Mac fashion, he took it in stride, made her part of the family and wouldn’t hear of anyone treating her as anything less than a sister and cousin.”
“He sounds like a really cool guy.”
“He’s the best.”
“What about his wife? What did she think?”