Book 19 Mine After Dark #4
After calling Shane to express his condolences and check on his cousin, Mac helps Thomas and Hailey get ready for bed, giving them baths and wrestling them into pajamas. They’re in the mood to fool around, and Mac isn’t, which makes for a stressful hour.
Once he gets all the kids in bed, he returns to Maddie in their room.
They can’t share their pregnancy news with Abby and Adam, who are struggling with infertility.
She’s also insistent about Mac getting a vasectomy, which he agrees to do.
They’ll soon have four children, who will be teenagers at the same time!
Looking for some perspective, Mac tells Maddie the news about Shane’s ex-wife, Courtney.
They agreed they have nothing to be upset about with a new baby on the way.
However, Mac promises to hire some help, so Maddie isn’t overwhelmed during the day.
Riley introduces Nikki to most of his family. He tells her how Evan is touring with Buddy Longstreet, and Grant is in LA working on his screenplay. Nikki thinks her life is boring compared to what their brothers and cousins are up to. “There’s a lot to be said for boring,” Abby says.
“Believe me, I appreciate boredom after suffering through the insanity of the last few months with my sister.”
“Is she really back with him?” Abby asks with a kind but pained smile.
“Sad to say, she is,” Nikki says. “And no, I don’t get it either. On the list of deal breakers, you’d think publishing a sex tape of your wife without her knowledge or consent would be right at the top, but apparently not for her.”
Riley gives her hand a squeeze.
“That must’ve been difficult for you,” Janey says.
“It was awful—and it was my deal breaker. I quit my job as her assistant and got the hell out of there. As much as I love her, I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
“She’ll wise up,” Janey says. “Eventually.”
When they head back to Eastwood Look after the party, Riley tells Nikki he isn’t leaving the island as long as she’s there, which is a relief for her after hearing his boss in Connecticut wants him back.
When they’re kissing on the sofa, Nikki has a panic attack.
Riley comforts her, even though she tries to tell him he doesn’t need to be around her mess. He’s not going anywhere.
“I sent a text to my boss Luke’s wife, Sydney, earlier.
She’s the interior designer that Abby mentioned.
I thought she might be able to give us some ideas about how we can redo the kitchen and bathrooms. Once we have a design, we can order the materials and get started on demo.
Did your grandmother give you a budget?”
“She—I… You don’t have to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Help me with the house. I’d totally understand if you….”
“Left and never came back?”
Aching, she nods.
“Because that’s what’s happened in the past? Things got tense, and the guy took off, never to be seen or heard from again?”
She stares at him, stunned by his insight.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily.
As much as I like kissing you and holding you and being with you like this, I like talking to you and laughing with you and thinking about what we might do to bring this magnificent old house back to life.
I like all of that as much as I like this.
” He touches his lips to hers in a sweet, undemanding caress.
She’d known he was different. He’d just proven it to her.
“And when you’re ready to talk about whatever has you so troubled, I’ll be there to listen. I’m not going anywhere.”
The next day, Riley texts Nikki to say that Sydney Donovan can see them at lunchtime to go over her ideas for the kitchen renovation.
In the meantime, Nikki starts to clear out the kitchen cabinets.
She discovers her grandmother is a pack rat, which she shares with Evelyn when she calls.
They talk about Nikki’s night with Riley, including the panic attack.
Evelyn encourages Nikki to tell Riley the whole story.
“Talk to him, Nikki. Tell him the whole story. Give yourself—and him—an honest chance at true happiness. If it’s the real thing with him, I promise you’ll never regret taking that chance.”
When Riley arrives to pick her up, he tells her about Sydney losing her family in a drunk driving accident and how she and Luke dated back in high school. They reconnected more than a year after the accident and have been together ever since. Now they have Lily, too.
Nikki tells Riley there was more to what happened in college that she’d like to talk to him about after they meet with Sydney.
Sydney welcomes them, telling Nikki how she loves Eastwood Look and always wanted to see the inside.
Nikki invites her to come for a tour. They decide on a complete gut of the kitchen.
Sydney wants to show Nikki the Chesterfield renovations that have just been completed.
When Luke joins them, he mentions they’re looking for a manager to run the Wayfarer.
Nikki is interested in the job, and Riley promises to pass that along to Mac.
Sydney and Luke assure Nikki that she’d love living on the island full-time.
Riley takes Nikki to The Oar for lunch and shows her that his name is on a couple of the oars that decorate the restaurant.
They order lunch, and Nikki starts to tell Riley about what happened in college with her then-boyfriend Griffin.
They met at orientation and started out as friends.
He was a basketball star but didn’t buy into his own hype, which made her like him more.
Junior year, they started to officially date, and one night, he invited her to an invitation-only party.
Everyone in her dorm was jealous because they all wanted to go.
She felt special that she got to attend.
She didn’t like the party, felt overwhelmed and left to head back to her dorm alone when she couldn’t find Griffin.
Her roommate was away at home for the weekend, so when someone pounded on the door at four in the morning, she answered it, never expecting it to be Griffin.
She still thinks about what might’ve been different if she hadn’t answered the door. Seeing that she is upset, Riley asks for their food to go, and they return to her house.
“You can probably figure out for yourself that he forced his way into my room and, in a drunken frenzy, basically attacked me. My funny, charming boyfriend turned into someone I didn’t recognize, and I was so shocked and scared.
I had no idea how to fend him off.” She wipes away tears that infuriate her.
“The next couple of hours were a blur. I don’t remember much about it until my roommate came back later that morning to find me huddled on her bed and him passed out in mine.
“At first, she thought congratulations were in order, until she realized my face was bruised and swollen and put the pieces together. Her dad is a big lawyer in Chicago. She called him and asked what to do. He advised against contacting campus police. He said they’d be likely to bury it because Griffin was a basketball star.
Her father called the Chicago police. They showed up with paramedics for me and arrested him.
I didn’t understand the implications then, but I certainly know now what happens when law enforcement is brought in and how the ball starts to roll before you’re even aware of what’s happening. ”
Riley wraps his arms around her and holds her close, rubbing her back and offering comfort and support that mean the world to her.
Later, after a nightmarish ordeal that had her leaving school, Giffin took his own life, which was horrifying to her.
Riley comforts and reassures her that none of it was her fault.
For the first time since then, she wants to take a real chance on a relationship. For the first time ever, he does, too.
They spend the rest of the afternoon sorting through the kitchen and drawing up plans. Around dinner time, Riley takes a nap to prepare for having to plow snow later. When his alarm goes off, he asks Nikki to join him. They meet his brother and cousins at the marina to start plowing.
Nikki follows him inside, where the first person they encounter is his brother.
“Nicholas.”
“Finnbar.”
“Nothing better to do on a Saturday night than play in the snow?”
“Apparently not.”
Big Mac introduces himself to Nikki. She loves Riley’s family.
After handing out assignments for the night, along with radios to keep in contact with each other, Mac sends them out.
Finn complains that it isn’t fair that Riley gets to bring a girl to work.
They bicker the whole way to the trucks, with Riley pushing Finn face-first into a snowbank.
They quickly discover they’re fighting a losing battle as the snow continues to fall at a rapid clip.
Riley pulls into the parking lot at the bluffs.
He and Nikki start making out in the truck until Finn pulls up and blares the horn while shining his high beams at them.
The walkie-talkie crackles to life. “Riley is making out when he’s supposed to be plowing. ”
“He’s dead.”
“Ignore him,” Nikki says, sliding her lips over his. “He’s just jealous.”
“Riley,” Mac says over the radio. “Quit making out and plow the snow.”
“I want to make out,” Luke says. “I’m going home.”
“No one is going home until the snow is gone,” Mac says.
“I wanna go home, too,” Finn says.
“Yes, please go,” Riley whispers.
“Riley won’t quit making out,” Finn says.
Nikki laughs even as Riley continues to kiss her as if they weren’t interrupted. “How long do we have to stay out here?”
“Supposed to be all night.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Fuck it. I’m done plowing.” He deposits her back into her seat. “Buckle up.” Shifting the truck into reverse, he turns toward the parking lot entrance, flying past Finn’s truck, which is idling a few feet away.
“Was it something I said?” Finn asks over the radio.
“Going home,” Riley replies.
“He’s got better things to plow than snow,” Finn says.