Book 25 Resilience After Dark #4
Cindy looks up to realize she’s nearly walked past Julia on the sidewalk. “Oh, hi.”
“Jeez, where were you? I waved to you five minutes ago when I saw you coming, and you never blinked.”
“I was actually stuck thinking about the bad stuff.”
“What the hell for?”
“Jace is moving in tonight.”
“Okay… So, why does that take you to the bad stuff?”
“Just thinking about the shit Dad used to say about boys and what he’d think of me living with a man I’m not married to.”
“Once again, I say, fuck him. Who cares what he’d say?”
“I don’t care. It’s just that sometimes I can hear him bellowing in my head, whether I want to or not.”
“It’s not fair that he’s messing up what might be the start of something lovely for you.”
“He’s not messing it up, and for all I know, this might just be a new roommate, not the start of anything lovely.”
“Keep an open mind. You never know what might happen.”
“We’ll see. Thanks for the pep talk. I needed it.”
“I’m here for that any time you need it. Don’t let the dark stuff drown out the light in your life, Cin. Don’t give him that kind of easy victory. You hear me?”
Having family around who understand her and her past is such a blessing when the dark tries to smother the light.
“Stop thinking about him,” Cindy says out loud, as if that might help her put him in the past where he belongs. “Think about the good stuff.” She rounds the last corner before her street and heads for her house, where a handsome man sits on her front stoop, swigging from a bottle of water.
Speaking of the good stuff…
He smiles when he sees her coming.
Cindy immediately adds his sexy grin to the list of positive things in her life.
She is so damned pretty. That’s always Jace’s first thought when he sees her, but she’s even more so with the late-day sun shining on her, highlighting the golden streaks in her dark blonde hair.
As she approaches the small house they will share as of today, her smile lights up her face and fills him with a warm feeling of welcome.
“Is that all your stuff?”
“That’s it.” He gestures to the plastic bag sitting next to one of his duffels. “I bought some sheets and a couple of towels at the department store. I can pick up anything else we need.”
“Kevin left a lot of stuff when he moved in with Chelsea. He said she already had most of what they needed.”
“That’s nice of him.” Jace stands and grabs his stuff to follow her inside.
“Make yourself at home. You know where your room is.”
“Thanks.”
Cindy is in the kitchen chopping vegetables. “Are you hungry? I thought I’d make you a welcome dinner since you’re always waiting on me at dinnertime.”
He offers to grill the chicken for dinner. While he’s tending to their dinner, he admires the yard and the landscaping. He thinks about Lisa and how she knew the name of every plant, tree and bush and how she wanted to be a florist.
When Cindy joins him, she sees he’s deep in thought.
“Are you okay?” Cindy asks, startling him out of his thoughts when she joins him on the patio, bringing glasses of ice water.
He takes the one she offers him. “Thanks, and yes, I’m okay. Honestly?”
Cindy nods. “I’m happy to listen if you want to talk.”
Jace checks the grill and then turns toward her. “I have these moments… when I think of my ex-wife and what I put her through. She’s the one person in my life I’ll never be able to make amends to, you know?”
“I’m sure that’s very difficult.”
“It’s nothing compared to what she went through raising two little kids on her own after her drug-addict husband got himself arrested and tossed in jail. But hey, that’s not your problem, and I don’t mean to dump it on you.”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind. We all have stuff, you know?”
He gives her a side-eyed look. “You don’t have stuff.”
She snorts out a laugh. “Sure, I do.”
“Tell me.” He puts the chicken on the warm grill and glances at her. “Only if you want to, that is.”
“My father was a violent, narcissistic asshole who tormented my mom and us until we were able to finally get free of him. He’s in prison now, convicted of beating up my mom.”
“I’m sorry,” he says. “That definitely counts as stuff.”
“Like I said. We all have something.”
Sarah tells Charlie about her conversation with Cindy. He gives props to Jace for being honest and upfront with Cindy. He also thinks that prison may have done him a favor, helping him get clean.
“Cindy likes him a lot. She said they’ve become friends over many weeks of nights at the Beachcomber.”
“She’s a smart young woman. If she has a good feeling about him, she’s probably not wrong.”
“She said something about you earlier.”
“What’s that?”
“She feels like she has a father for the first time in her life.”
“Oh, well… That’s very sweet of her to say.”
“They all feel that way about you. I hope you know that.”
“The bar was set pretty low,” he says with his trademark gruff chuckle.
“True, but you’ve more than risen to the occasion with each of them. They adore you. Almost as much as I do.”
John comes in to tell them that he’s going for a run.
Charlie mentions to him that he heard they’re looking for a director of security at the Wayfarer and thought John might be interested.
He put in a good word for John with Big Mac McCarthy, and if he’s interested, he should stop by the marina to discuss it.
John pounds the pavement on the road that loops around the outer perimeter of the island, thinking about the job possibility Charlie mentioned.
Charlie is such a great dude that John sometimes fears he’s too good to be true.
But there’s no sign of that. Rather, Charlie is exactly what he seems—an honest, genuine guy who truly loves Sarah, as well as his daughter, Stephanie, and wants the best for Sarah’s children and parents.
Sarah has always been a wonderful mother under the worst of circumstances. Seeing her truly happy for the first time has been a revelation.
On the way out of the house, Charlie told him he’s making dinner if John is interested. If his own father had said that, it would’ve been a mandatory appearance, not that the general had cooked often. With Charlie, there’s no such edict. It was there if John wanted it, with no obligation.
It’s unfair that John even has to look for a job.
He lost his last position as a police officer in Tennessee.
He’d been encouraged to resign after a relationship with a superior officer had been discovered.
As he jogs along the scenic road, his gut churns as he relives the horrible week after the relationship was outed and the whole town was talking about them.
In a way, it’d been a relief to walk away from it all, to come home to Gansett, to be free of the judgment that had followed him around the town he’d once thought of as home.
He’d put his life on the line more than once to protect the people of that town, only to have many of them turn their backs on him once they’d discovered his big secret.
Even colleagues he’d considered friends had let him down, treating him like he was radioactive.
His only “crime” was living his truth. Granted, he should’ve lived his truth with someone who wasn’t one of his supervisors, but why hadn’t Gary borne the brunt of that lapse?
Why had John been the one to take the fall?
He’s thought about talking to a lawyer about that question, but the idea of following through with that process exhausts him.
He ends up at the Bluffs and finds Niall Fitzgerald sitting on the bench.
They talk about Niall’s gigs singing at the Beachcomber and how he works at the recording studio owned by Evan McCarthy the rest of the week.
John knows the McCarthys from spending the summers with his grandparents on Gansett.
“How fun. Did the grandparents spoil you guys?”
“Like crazy.” The only good memories John has from those miserable years were created on this island.
“Are they still living?”
“They are. They’re living in a cottage at my mom’s place and doing great in their mid-eighties.”
“That’s amazing.”
“We’ve told them they need to live forever because we can’t imagine life without them.”
“That’s very sweet. You’re lucky to have them.”
“And we know it. How about you? Is there a big family missing you in Ireland?”
“Not so much. I was adopted out of foster care when I was eleven, and my folks are getting on in years. I get home once or twice a year to see them, and FaceTime and such.”
John has so many questions he wants to ask about the first eleven years of Niall’s life, but since he didn’t offer more information, John doesn’t press him.
“Hey, would you be interested in a home-cooked meal?”
“Uh, is that a rhetorical question?”
John laughs. “My stepfather was cooking up something that smelled pretty good when I left the house. You’re welcome to join us.”
“I probably stink from running.”
“There are like six showers in the house, and I can loan you some clothes.”
Niall gives him a side-eyed look. “Are you sure they won’t mind?”
In his past life, it never would’ve occurred to John to invite a friend home for any reason. In this life, he has no doubt his friend will be welcome. “I’m positive.”
“Then, I’d love to. Thanks for asking.”
“Let’s go.”
After the AA meeting, Jace has coffee with Mallory, Quinn and Mason.
He mentions moving in with Cindy, which Mallory takes as a green light to play matchmaker with the two of them.
Seamus texts Jace, inviting him to look through some boxes with his name on them that they found among Lisa’s belongings.
They plan it for after school, so Jace can see the boys.
He goes to the gym for his daily workout.
Exercise saved him in prison, and he keeps up the routine since his release.
As he’s leaving the gym, his phone rings with a call from a number he doesn’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Is this Jace?”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“Mac McCarthy. I run a construction company on the island. My sister Mallory told me you’ve done some plumbing?”
“Yes, but I’m not licensed or anything.”