Book 19 Mine After Dark #5
“Everyone shut up and plow,” Mac said, “or I’m going home, too.”
“Maybe we should all go home,” Finn says, “and come back out in the morning. This is a losing battle.”
“Fine,” Mac says. “Go home. Everyone back out at eight, and I mean it. No screwing around.”
Finn’s laughter comes through the radio. “Us? Screw around? Oh, wait. You’re talking to Riley. He’s the one screwing around when he’s supposed to be working.”
At Eastwood Look, Riley carries Nikki up to her room, and they make love for the first time.
This, Riley thought, is life-changing, that elusive thing people talk about but can’t ever seem to quantify.
This had to be experienced to be fully understood.
He smooths a hand over her back, reveling in the softness of her skin.
“Thank you,” she whispers after a long period of silence.
“For what?”
“For making that so perfect for me. I’ve sort of dreaded it for all this time.”
“You made it rather perfect for me, too.”
Before Riley goes to Nikki’s for the weekend, he invites Finn over to help with demolition of the kitchen.
Finn says that with their dad getting married and Riley hanging with Nikki all the time, he’s thinking about going home to Connecticut.
Missy wants him to come home. Riley urges him not to make decisions based on what she wants.
Nikki, Riley and Finn gut the kitchen and donate the old appliances.
They’re thinking about going out to eat, when Kevin and Chelsea come in bearing pizzas and beer.
They spend the evening sharing stories of Riley and Finn’s childhood.
At the end of the night, Kevin mentions that Big Mac has organized ferry tickets for the family to accompany Shane to Courtney’s funeral in Providence on Thursday.
After the funeral, Kevin and Chelsea will be staying on the mainland to do some wedding shopping.
On Thursday, the McCarthy family takes the first boat off the island to attend Courtney’s funeral in a Providence cathedral. They fill four rows in the crowded church, surrounding Shane with their unwavering support.
Shane remains stoic throughout the emotionally charged service, and Katie never leaves his side or releases her tight hold on his hand during a very long day.
The usually jovial group is subdued on the ferry ride home.
“It was so good of you all to come,” Shane said. “I really appreciate it, and I know Courtney’s mom did, too.”
A shout from the other side of the cabin, where Adam and Abby are, gets their attention. She’s holding her phone and staring at it with huge eyes as Adam leans in to see what it says. Then he looks at her, seeming equally dazed.
“What’s going on?” Janey asks her brother and sister-in-law.
“We just got a text,” Abby says, her eyes filling with tears and her hands shaking. “They… They have a baby for us.”
Everyone is elated for Adam and Abby.
“It’s a boy,” Adam says, leaning in to see the phone, every bit as emotional as his wife as he reads the text. “The family he’d been promised to is unable to take him, so it’s happening fast. We can pick him up the day after tomorrow.”
Janey takes the phone from Abby, whose hands are shaking so hard that she can barely hold it. “The message says you need to reply if you are willing to accept the child.”
“Say yes!” Adam says. “Tell them we’ll be there!” As Janey types in their response, he pulls his wife into his arms and lets out a happy whoop. “We’re having a baby!”
“And life goes on,” Big Mac says, squeezing Shane’s arm. “Life goes on.”
Riley goes straight to Nikki when he gets off the ferry.
When he arrives at the house, she’s in the shower.
Riley brings the ringing phone to her, asking who Davy is.
Davy is Zane’s manager. Davy tells Nikki that Jordan and Zane had an altercation in the hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Zane’s band is performing.
Jordan is in the hospital with a concussion and broken arm, and Zane is in jail.
Davy sends a plane to pick up Nikki. Riley accompanies her to see her sister.
Davy meets them on the tarmac and drives them straight to the hospital.
“How is she?” Nikki asks.
“In a lot of pain, but she didn’t want to take anything for it until you get there.”
The thought of her sister in pain because of the man she loved makes Nikki feel murderous. If she had ten minutes alone with Zane, she’d be tempted to stab him in the throat.
Nikki is in with Jordan, and Riley is leaning against the wall outside Jordan’s room when Davy joins him. “What happened tonight?” Riley asks.
“I’m not sure exactly. There were some technical issues during the show last night, and he was a bear all day.
We were supposed to leave for tonight’s show when we heard a disturbance inside their room.
Next thing I knew, Jordan was in the hallway screaming for help with blood running down her face and her arm hanging at a weird angle. I could tell right away it was broken.”
“Son of a bitch,” Riley mutters. How any man could do that to a woman was beyond him, but to call Zane a man was giving him far too much credit. “I hope he’s at least spending the night in jail.”
“I have no idea,” Davy says. “I’m not taking his calls. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m done working for him. I’ve put up with a ton of shit from him and so has Jordan. I’ve had enough. I’ll be surprised if she hasn’t after this, too.”
“We can only hope so.”