Chapter 10
After the others had enjoyed the brownies Owen had baked and then gone upstairs to their rooms, Piper loaded the dishwasher and wiped down the kitchen counters.
As she worked, she thought about the things her dinner companions had shared.
Their stories, coupled with what she’d learned about Jack and his late wife, had her feeling contemplative about life and its many twists and turns.
You just never knew what was coming—good, bad, ugly, painful, devastating, exhilarating.
It was all possible. Learning to roll with whatever came her way was something she was working toward.
The breakup with Ben had left her reeling, as if a rug had been pulled out from under her.
Then she’d been attacked by a man she met on the island.
Only recently had she begun to feel settled again, mostly due to the time she’d spent on Gansett, working at the Surf with Laura, Owen, Sarah, Charlie and Adele.
Their friendship, and that of other people she’d met on the island, had helped to put her back together after the attack.
Everyone had been through something. Like Laura finding out that her new husband was still on dating sites and meeting other women shortly after their wedding. She’d left him, come to Gansett for her cousin Janey’s wedding, met Owen and found her destiny.
Piper had never met a more happily married couple than the two of them.
They and many other couples she’d met on the island gave her hope that she could someday find her “one.” Not that she needed a man to make her life complete, but she’d enjoyed being part of a couple when she was with Ben and had missed that since he’d ended their relationship and called off their wedding.
The shock of the breakup she hadn’t seen coming had resonated for months afterward.
Only lately had she reached the point where she didn’t think about him every day anymore or pick through the rubble of their relationship trying to figure out where it had gone so wrong.
What did that matter now? It didn’t. She was looking ahead, not backward, and lately, she found herself thinking much more about Jack than Ben.
As if she’d conjured him, Jack said, “Knock, knock.”
Piper turned to find him standing in the kitchen doorway. “Hi there.” Her heart gave a happy lift at the sight of his wind-tousled reddish-brown hair and ruddy cheeks covered with late-day whiskers.
He looked tired, windblown and soaked. “I was hoping I’d find you still here. We decided to take a break while we could.”
“I’m cleaning up after dinner. Did you eat?”
“Not yet.”
“Would you like some spaghetti and meatballs?”
“That sounds great, if you have enough.”
“We do.”
While he took off his foul-weather gear and hung it to dry by the fire in the salon, Piper got out the containers she’d just put in the fridge and fixed him a plate that she microwaved. “Salad?”
“Sure. Thank you.”
“No problem. How are things going out there?”
“The harbor master is missing after a routine patrol, so that’s got us all on edge.”
Piper gasped. “Deacon? Julia’s Deacon?” She’d gotten to know Julia quite well as she performed almost every day at Stephanie’s Bistro.
“Yeah.”
“Oh God. She’s a friend. They’re madly in love. I hope he’s okay.”
“From what Blaine says, if anyone can survive a hurricane stranded at sea, it’s Deacon. The Coast Guard has a boat out, and the fire department sent one, too, but they’ll have to come in when the conditions worsen. This is the calm before the storm.”
Piper gestured toward a window where the white froth on the sea was visible even in the dark. “This is considered calm?”
“Compared to what’s coming.”
“Gulp.” Piper filled a bowl with salad and set it in front of him on the island, along with several kinds of salad dressing. “Laura is afraid this place won’t be able to withstand the storm.”
“It’s built like a brick shithouse.” He put ranch dressing on the salad, information Piper filed away with the other things she now knew about him. “It’ll be fine.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“These old hotels were built to withstand the test of time. This one is a hundred years old. It’s gotten through storms like this before.”
“I thought there’d never been a storm this big on Gansett?”
“I’m sure there’ve been many that came close.”
“Probably.”
“Try not to worry,” he said. “We’ll get through it together.”
“As in all of us or me and you?”
The grin that stretched across his handsome face was the most sinfully sexy thing she’d ever seen. “That depends on you.”
“How so?” Piper took the plate from the microwave and the garlic bread from the toaster oven and put the meal in front of him. She went to the fridge and returned with Parmesan cheese. “What can I get you to drink?”
“Water is fine. I’m on call. Thank you. This looks amazing.”
“Owen made it.”
“I can’t believe he and Laura run this place while chasing three toddlers and cook for everyone, too.”
“They’re the ultimate power couple.”
“Seems like it. They must be glad you’re back.”
“Owen told me Laura immediately took a three-hour nap, the first time she’s slept that much in days since the kids have been sick.”
“Glad she got some rest.”
“Me, too. She’s the best. I love working with her and being here.”
“And she must love having someone she can trust when she needs a break.”
“It works out well for both of us. Laura is the only reason I was on that boat today. She’s done a lot for me since everything happened earlier this summer. She was such a great friend when I needed one.”
“I’m glad you had her to lean on. I thought about you a lot after the day we first met and kept coming back to how strong you were to report the assault and give us the info we needed to arrest him.”
“I didn’t feel strong at all,” Piper said. “I was quaking on the inside at how close I came to complete disaster.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“I am, too, but at least he’s in jail where he belongs, and I didn’t have to testify against him.”
“I was very glad for your sake when he took the plea and didn’t drag things out.”
“Enough about that. Can I get you more of anything?”
“No, this is great. Thanks again.” He looked up from his plate, seeming a bit uncertain. “I was hoping I’d still be welcome to visit after what I told you earlier.”
Piper furrowed her brows. “Why wouldn’t you be?”
“It’s just… a lot… to drop on someone. Tell me the truth… Did you look us up?”
“Maybe?” she said, feeling her face heat with embarrassment.
“It’s okay. That’s what I would’ve done.”
“Your Ruby was beautiful and so courageous. Her posts touched me deeply.”
“She was incredible.”
“You must miss her so much.”
“I do. I had a rough couple of years after I lost her. Kind of went through the motions to stay employed. Otherwise, I was a mess, even though I’d had ample warning it was coming. Nothing can really prepare you…”
Piper leaned across the counter and placed her hand on top of his. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“Thanks. I’m doing better now. They assigned me to Gansett to take some of the pressure off after everything happened. It’s been good for me to be here, to have a fresh start away from where everyone knows my sad story.”
“I’m so glad you’re doing better, and I know all about going somewhere that no one knows your story.”
“What are you running from?”
“Nothing quite like your story. Just a broken engagement and a canceled wedding.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, those were some good times. Let me tell you.”
“Sounds like it.”
“Again, not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things.”
“But it was the end of the world you expected to live in for the rest of your life, so still a loss.”
“Yes, but not like yours.”
“Loss is loss, Piper. Don’t downplay yours because you think mine was so much worse.”
“But it was. Ruby died. That’s so much worse than a bad breakup and a wedding that didn’t happen.”
“All right. I’ll give you that, but your thing was bad, too.”
Piper shrugged. “It happened. I’ve moved on, and I’ve decided I’m better off without him.”
“How come?”
“After it all blew up and the wedding was canceled, I felt oddly relieved. Bizarre, right?”
“Did you ever figure out why?”
“I think it was because I’d come to realize that maybe we weren’t as well matched as I’d thought, but the train had left the station with the wedding, money had been spent, invitations printed, but thankfully not sent…
I didn’t see a way out of it. Despite that, I was still blindsided when he said he didn’t think we should go through with it. It was unexpected, to say the least.”
She refilled Jack’s ice water. “I guess he was having the same second thoughts I was, so it’s for the best that we didn’t get married. Although you can’t tell my mother that. She loved him and was far more devastated than I was that the wedding was canceled.”
“Thank you.” He raised the glass in a toast to her before he took a sip. “My parents loved Ruby more than me. That was our joke.”
“It helps when they approve.”
“They told me from the beginning that she was special and not to fuck it up.”
Piper sputtered with laughter. “They said it like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Were you known for fucking things up before that?”
“My dating track record was a bit spotty. My parents eventually told me not to bring anyone home unless I was planning to keep them. Dad said I had to quit getting my mother’s hopes up.”
“I think I’d like your parents.”
“They’d like you, too.”
The compliment went straight to Piper’s overcommitted heart. After everything she’d learned about him that day, she liked him even more than she had before. She no sooner had that thought than she had the wild urge to pull back and run away from him.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, picking right up on her change of mood.
“Other than a hurricane aiming for us? Not a thing.”
“Don’t do that. Something just upset you. Tell me what it was so I won’t do it again.”
“Oh, your Ruby taught you well, didn’t she?”