Book 25 Resilience After Dark #5
“On an island, we can’t afford to be picky. Would you be interested in some work?”
“Sure, as long as I’m free by four to work at the Beachcomber at night.”
“We can accommodate that. Can you meet me at the old alpaca farm on North Point Road on Tuesday around noon? If you head out on the west side, you’ll eventually see the sign for the farm.”
“That works. I’ll call you if I can’t find it.”
“Sounds good. See you then and thank you.”
“Thank you. I appreciate the call.”
“You got it.”
The line goes dead, and Jace stands in the gym parking lot as the September sun beats down on him, marveling at the way things work around here. He certainly knows the McCarthy name and has seen the signs for their marina and hotel in North Harbor, but he hadn’t expected Mac’s call.
He owes Mallory a big thank-you tomorrow morning for referring him to her brother.
Walking the short distance to his new home, Jace feels more settled than he ever has before.
It’s been years since his life was as well-ordered and uncomplicated as it is in this beautiful place.
A man could put down roots here, surrounded by new friends who don’t know all his dirty secrets.
And even if they do know, they don’t care.
After spending a little time with Jackson and Kyle and loading the boxes into Seamus’s truck, Seamus drives Jace to the cemetery where Lisa is buried.
He asks about her funeral and is happy to hear Lisa and the boys were cared for by so many people.
Seamus says they bring the boys to see Lisa when they ask but don’t force it.
Jace stands. “They seem to be doing really well.”
“They are. Still have a rough moment or two, usually at bedtime, when the grief catches up to them. Jackson told me he’s afraid he’s going to forget her.”
“God, what did you say to that?”
“I told him he’ll carry her in his heart for the rest of his life, and even if he can’t remember every detail, he’ll never forget how much she loved him.”
“That’s nice, Seamus. Did it seem to help?”
“For that moment, but there’ll be others, and we’ll keep reminding them that their mum loved them more than anything—because she did. They were her only concern after she was diagnosed.”
“I hate that I wasn’t here with them when that happened, that I haven’t been there for them at all.”
“I’m sure that’s a bitter pill, but you’re here now, and that’ll matter to them.”
“You have no idea what it means to me to be able to see them, even if it’s just as a friend.”
“I think I know. They’re great kids. I’d be bereft if I couldn’t see them every day.”
“You and Carolina are just what they need right now. I wouldn’t have had an answer as good as yours for Jackson.”
“I appreciate you saying so. They mean the world to us.”
“I understand this arrangement of ours is a lot to ask of you—”
“It was at first, before I had the chance to get to know you. I’m not losing any sleep over you anymore.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I wouldn’t want you to worry about me. I’m not going to disrupt their lives or yours, but I’m deeply grateful to be able to see them.”
“Their fall baseball league is starting up soon if you want to come to the games.”
“I’d love to. Thank you for asking me.”
Cindy feels the migraine coming on all day.
She makes it to her porch and vomits when she gets there.
Jace finds her and carries her into the house.
He gets her medication, closes the shades and sets her up with a can of Coke because sometimes the caffeine helps.
He doesn’t want to leave her, but he has to go to work.
He knocks softly on her bedroom door. “How’re you feeling?” he asks in the same whisper as before.
It takes her a couple of seconds to realize it’s hours later and she feels much better. Thankfully, this headache won’t be a multi-day event like some of them are. “Better, I think.” She needs to pee urgently but can’t tell him that. Rather, she sits up slowly, closing her eyes when the room spins.
“Let me help you.” He’s there with an arm around her and a strong body to lean against as he helps her to the bathroom without having to be told what she needs.
Jace helps Cindy to the sofa and sets her up with a slice of pizza and some ice for her Coke. She asked him how he knows what to do for a migraine, and he says his grandmother used to get them and trained him well. Cindy has been getting them since she was young.
She asks him where he went earlier in the day.
“I go to the AA meeting at eight.” He raises his bottle in a toast to the statement.
“They don’t have Narcotics Anonymous here, so AA keeps me working the program.
After that, I went to coffee with some friends from the meeting and then to the gym.
Before work, I went out to Seamus and Carolina’s and got to see my boys and picked up those boxes.
” He points to a corner of the living room.
Cindy hasn’t noticed them.
“They came from my ex-wife’s house after she passed away. Seamus also showed me where she’s buried.”
“Was it hard to be there?”
He nods. “Seeing her name on a stone was so final, you know?”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It wasn’t really my loss.”
“Wasn’t it, though? You were married to her when everything went wrong. Did you ever see her again?”
“Nope. The only contact I ever had with her was when I received divorce papers in prison that also gave her full custody of our kids. Since I was serving a ten-year sentence, I signed the papers.”
He wanted the best for his kids, which is why he never resisted signing away custody. He couldn’t be there for them while he was in prison. He asks if she’s happy living on Gansett. She is because most of her family is there.
“How old are you?” she asks.
“Thirty. What about you?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“Never been married?”
“Never even came close.”
“I find that hard to believe. You’re so pretty and sweet and kind.”
Cindy fans her face, which suddenly feels warm. “That’s a lot of compliments in one sentence.”
“I’ve got more where those came from.”
“Is that so?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Like what?”
“Smart. Funny. Sexy. Good at checkers but possibly cheats.”
She doesn’t hear anything after sexy. “Are you, um, flirting with your new roommate by any chance?”
“What if I was? Would that be all right?”
“As long as it doesn’t make things weird between us.”
“Does it feel weird to you?”
“Not at all.”
He gives her a side-eyed glance. “Me, either. Haven’t we been kinda flirting at the bar for weeks now?”
“I wasn’t sure if that was flirting or your usual routine with customers.”
“That was just for you.”
His blunt honesty flusters her. Her face gets warm as he keeps his gaze on her, seemingly without blinking. “Oh,” she says, her brain wiped clean of thoughts that aren’t focused on his sexy lips.
“That’s all you’ve got?” he asks, smiling. “Oh?”
“I, uh, well… I’m glad it wasn’t just me.”
“What wasn’t just you?”
“The flirting.”
“Definitely not just you. I find myself watching the door, waiting for you to arrive to brighten my night. And when I found out you were the one looking for a roommate, I wasn’t sure I should move in here because of the crush I already had on you.”
“I wasn’t sure I should let you move in for the same reason.”
Flashing a lethally sexy grin, he says, “And yet, here we are.”
“And yet.”
For a long, charged moment, neither of them says anything. And then he turns their hands, links their fingers and gives her hand a squeeze.
“Do you promise that if we do… this, it won’t be weird here?” she asks hesitantly.
“I promise, although,” he says, his expression darkening in an instant, “your family probably wouldn’t approve of you going out with me or even living with an ex-con.”
“They know.”
“They do?”
She nods. “My mom is married to an ex-con.”
That clearly shocks him.
“Although, he was falsely imprisoned for fourteen years for a crime he didn’t commit and has since been exonerated. His stepdaughter, Stephanie, worked for all that time to get him out.”
“Is your stepfather Charlie Grandchamp?”
“Yes, why?”
“I knew him. Inside. Wow,” Jace says on a long exhale. “I had no idea he was living here and married to your mom.”
“Don’t forget my father is also in prison.
As an Air Force general, he was respected and revered by everyone, even people who knew the truth about how he abused his wife and children.
That finally caught up to him just over a year ago, when he was convicted, finally, of assaulting my mother.
He nearly killed her that time. So, you don’t need to worry about the Lawrys judging you for things you did years ago, especially since you’re all about leading a more productive life now.
” She glances at him. “You are all about that, right?”
“God, yes. I never want to go back to who or what I was back then. I lost everything that mattered to me in the span of five minutes.”
“Then we shouldn’t have a problem.” Cindy forces herself to tug her hand free and stand so she won’t do something rash like kiss him.
Across town on Sweet Meadow Farm Road, the McCarthy family has gathered for dinner and a farewell of sorts, to Mac McCarthy’s fertility.
He will leave on the morning boat to have a vasectomy on the mainland.
He’d been lucky to score a Saturday appointment, so he doesn’t have to miss work.
Maddie thought it would be funny to have a send-off party for him and his boys.
While juggling twins, his diabolical wife has somehow managed to put together a basket full of not-so-funny items, such as Goldfish crackers labeled as “swimmers,” donuts relabeled “Nonuts” and a pair of the sharpest scissors he’s ever seen. Ha. Ha. Ha.