Book 27 Renewal After Dark #2
*Tim & Buster, tattoo artists.
*Kyle Chandler, son of the late Lisa Chandler, living with Seamus and Carolina O’Grady in LOVE AFTER DARK, biological son of Jace Carson.
*Jackson Chandler, son of the late Lisa Chandler, living with Seamus and Carolina O’Grady in LOVE AFTER DARK, biological son of Jace Carson.
*Carolina O’Grady, grandmother of PJ and Vivienne Cantrell, married to Seamus O’Grady in GANSETT AFTER DARK, guardian to Kyle and Jackson Chandler in LOVE AFTER DARK.
*Seamus O’Grady, married to Carolina O’Grady in GANSETT AFTER DARK, guardian to Kyle and Jackson Chandler in LOVE AFTER DARK.
*Joe Cantrell, married to Janey McCarthy Cantrell in READY FOR LOVE, father of Peter Joseph “PJ” Cantrell in TIME FOR LOVE and Vivienne McCarthy Cantrell in KEVIN & CHELSEA.
*Janey McCarthy Cantrell, married to Joe Cantrell in READY FOR LOVE, mother of Peter Joseph “PJ” Cantrell in TIME FOR LOVE and Vivienne McCarthy Cantrell in KEVIN & CHELSEA.
*Chloe Dennis McCarthy, married to Finn McCarthy in HURRICANE AFTER DARK.
*Finn McCarthy, married to Chloe Dennis McCarthy in HURRICANE AFTER DARK.
*Summer McCarthy, daughter of Kevin and Chelsea, born in TROUBLE AFTER DARK.
*Judge Frank McCarthy, married to Betsy Jacobson.
*Shane McCarthy, married to Katie McCarthy in TROUBLE AFTER DARK.
*Evelyn Hopper, grandmother of Nikki and Jordan Stokes.
Renewal After Dark Headlines:
Jim Sturgil is missing after the storm!
Duke and McKenzie bond over their love for Rosemary!
Kelsey and Jeff are recovering in Providence!
Big Mac wants to get some money to Kelsey and Jeff after his barn collapsed on them!
Kendall James and her sons join her brothers on Gansett!
Jim Sturgil’s body is found in the pond!
Tiffany and Blaine break the news about her father to Ashleigh!
Abby is in early labor with the quads, and Victoria tries to stop it!
Abby is flown to Providence for the remainder of her pregnancy!
Sierra warns Duke to be careful about getting too involved with McKenzie!
The word is out that McKenzie knows QuickBooks, and everyone wants her help!
Kendall helps McKenzie secure a settlement from Jax’s biological father!
Duke and McKenzie get engaged!
Riley and Nikki get married!
Gansett Island Songbook
Tennessee Whiskey
Think I’m in Love with You
Duke Sullivan waits more than a week to move the lovely McKenzie and her son, Jax, to the apartment at his place after the hurricane flattened her cabin next door.
With Blaine working around the clock and Tiffany feeling poorly, McKenzie offered to stay with the family that had rescued her during the storm to help with their girls.
Tiffany gratefully accepted the offer, and Duke puts his plans on hold until he gets the text that McKenzie is ready to move to his place.
He usually likes the solitude on his property when he’s home, but he’s excited to have McKenzie and Jax move into the apartment that’s been empty for a while now. Since the power was restored, his tattoo studio has been busy. Visitors returned once the ferries started running again.
As far as Duke knows, only one island resident has been presumed lost in the storm—Billy Weyland, who owns the gym. He’s a good guy, and Duke considers him a friend. But no one can believe he decided to ride out the storm on board his sailboat in the Salt Pond.
After the storm, the boat was found partially sunk with no sign of Billy.
The Coast Guard and local public safety are still looking for him, but no one expects to find him alive at this point, which is freaking sad.
As he gets ready to go pick up McKenzie, he recalls how he felt when he realized that Rosemary’s cottage had been flattened during the hurricane, which sent Duke into the storm to look for the woman and child he’d seen there.
Duke had been unreasonably relieved to hear from Blaine Taylor that they were safe at his home.
Now, finally, the day that McKenzie and Jax would move into the apartment is upon him.
As he stares at his reflection, he tries to see himself the way McKenzie would. He is disappointed to realize that a gorgeous woman like her would probably have no use for a guy like him if he wasn’t offering her a free place to stay after the storm rendered her homeless.
His face is pleasant enough, and he’s gotten enough compliments on his blue eyes to decide they’re his best feature.
They sure beat his beak of a nose, that’s for sure.
He’d taken the time to clean up his unruly beard, and as he runs a comb through long, dark blond hair, he wonders if it isn’t time for a haircut.
Colorful ink decorates every inch of his torso, stopping just below his jawline.
He smiles when he recalls Rosemary telling him to stop using himself like a coloring book and get a hobby.
She’d been a delightful friend and neighbor, regularly baking her famous banana bread for him and the guys at the studio.
Much of what he knows about life and adulthood had been learned one lesson at a time as she showed him what he needed to know.
He’d looked forward to her arrival every spring and had missed her when she went home to the mainland for the winter.
She’d become “family” to him, not that she’d known that.
When she died, he’d mourned her loss more than he ever had for a single other soul.
His mother is still alive and living up by Boston, but she’s been in and out of his life so many times, he hardly thinks of her as a parent.
He’d spent most of his childhood in foster care while she was either in rehab or prison.
Rosemary was the mother of his heart. He’d missed her tremendously in the two years since she’d passed and would be eternally thankful for her friendship, especially since that friendship had helped him convince her granddaughter to accept his offer of a place to stay.
“I didn’t think anything of it, you know?
” Tiffany sits at the kitchen table with a cup of tea McKenzie made for her.
“He missed his visit with Ashleigh last night, but that’s happened before.
I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even tell her he’s coming because I don’t want her to be disappointed when he doesn’t show. ”
McKenzie wishes she knew what to say to Tiffany, who’s trying to hold it together since the phone call she received from her former mother-in-law, asking if she’s heard from her ex-husband, Jim, since the storm.
McKenzie has pieced together enough to realize the breakup had been ugly, and Tiffany doesn’t know how she should feel about him possibly being missing.
“I mean, I’m sure he’s fine. He’s probably off somewhere, oblivious that anyone might be looking for him. Maybe he’s somewhere with no power.”
“I’m sure that’s all it is.”
“And here I thought my biggest issue this week was going to be figuring out what to do about my poor squished Bug.” A tree fell on her red Volkswagen Beetle during the storm.
“I’m so sorry about that. It was such a cute car.”
“Blaine says we’ll get another one, but that seems so trivial now that I’ve heard Jim is missing.”
She’d no sooner mentioned her husband when Blaine comes in through the kitchen door, taking them by surprise. “I came as soon as I heard.”
Tiffany perks up considerably at the sight of her ridiculously handsome husband. She wipes a tear from her cheek. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t do that.”
“What am I doing?”
“Thinking you can’t be sad about Jim in front of me.”
As if a dam has broken, Tiffany dissolves into sobs.
Blaine wraps his arms around her and lifts her right out of the chair to carry her from the room.
Whoa.
McKenzie fans her face, feeling as if she’s witnessed a scene straight out of a romance novel. It’s a revelation to her that men like Blaine actually exist. She’s certainly never met one like him. The ones she knows are all frogs, with nary a prince among them.
A soft knock sounds at the door.
She gets up to greet Duke.
“I didn’t want to wake the little guy if he’s napping.”
She can’t believe he thought of that. Most people wouldn’t. “That’s very kind of you. Come in. He should be awake any second.”
“Take your time. I’m in no rush.” He lowers his voice even further. “Does Tiffany know about the ex?”
McKenzie nods. “Her former mother-in-law called.”
“Ah, okay. I know him from the gym. Got a call from a friend asking if I’d heard from him. Was sorta hoping I’d get here and find out he’d been in touch with his daughter.”
“They’ve had no word, and he missed a planned visit with her last night.”
Ashleigh walks into the kitchen. “Miss McKenzie, Jax is awake.”
“Thank you so much for letting me know, honey.”
“You’re welcome.”
After Ashleigh has skipped out of the room, Duke says, “She’s her mother all over again.”
“I know. She’s adorable.”
“I really hope for her sake that they find her father soon.”
“I hope so, too. Let me grab Jax and tell Tiffany we’re leaving. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here.”
She stops and turns back to him. “I just want you to know… I appreciate your generosity so much. I’ll never be able to repay you.”
“You don’t have to. It’s my pleasure to help you out. It’s what Rosemary would’ve wanted me to do.”
He’s very sweet and adorable in a slightly awkward and endearing kind of way.
She gathers Jax and their belongings. After saying goodbye to the Taylors, Duke drives McKenzie and Jax to his house.
They talk about Rosemary, McKenzie’s grandmother, and how much she would have loved Jax.
Duke remembers McKenzie as a teenager. Surprised, she looks over at him. “You do? We met before last week?”
“Once. She invited me to come to her house on the mainland for Christmas one year, and I remember meeting a granddaughter named MK.”
“I’m trying to remember meeting you. She was always inviting people to holidays and stuff.”
“I have a photo from that Christmas. I’ll show you.”