Chapter 4
Four
After a long afternoon at the beach and an even longer stint at a bar where Ted tried—unsuccessfully—to get drunk, he left Chip, Elise, Parker, and his car downtown and took a cab back to the house.
He listened for Smitty and Caroline, but the house was quiet, so he went into the kitchen for a glass of water.
Rooting around in one of the cabinets he found a bottle of painkillers and took two to address the headache he always got from drinking in the sun.
He rested against the counter for a long time before he summoned the energy to go upstairs.
On the second floor, he noticed the door open and the light on in Smitty’s room.
Telling himself he should just keep going up the stairs, Ted went to the doorway.
Caroline was asleep, her broken ankle propped up on several pillows and an ice bag draped over it.
Two prescription bottles and an empty glass were on the bedside table.
Smitty was curled up to her with an arm looped possessively around her.
Ted stared at the two of them for an endless moment, until he realized his jaw ached from clenching his teeth so hard. He flipped the light switch to darken the room.
Upstairs, the shower pounded the tension from his neck and shoulders. Tilting his head from side to side to loosen his muscles, he stood there for a long time staring at the wall before he turned off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist.
Tugging on a pair of boxer briefs, he fell onto his bed and turned so he could see the harbor lights in the distance.
The beer he’d consumed earlier swished around, making his stomach surge with nausea.
Thinking of Caroline and how pale she had been after her injury, his heart ached.
When he imagined her wrapped up with Smitty in bed, he wanted to punch something.
Or someone. This weekend would surely go down as two of the most disastrous days and nights of his life.
What should have been such a joyous event—finally meeting the woman his grandmother had sworn for years was out there waiting for him—was instead a mess of epic proportions.
He must have dozed off because he awoke just after four and couldn’t go back to sleep. He lay there wishing he had brought the glass of water with him until he decided to get up and get another one.
For the second time in as many nights he found Caroline sitting alone in the dark when he turned on the light in the kitchen.
She winced from the sudden blast of light, so Ted turned it off.
“Sorry. Are you feeling okay?”
“The pain pill wore off about thirty minutes ago, and I just took another one. I’m sitting here praying it’ll kick in soon.”
In the faint glow of a streetlight coming in through the window, he could see how pale she was. Pain made her eyes appear even bigger than usual.
“Can I do anything for you?”
She shook her head. “No, but thanks for your help earlier.”
“It was no problem.” Realizing all at once that he was wearing nothing more than form-fitting underwear, he reached for a glass, filled it with ice and water, and downed it in three long gulps.
“Thirsty?”
“Mmm.” He refilled the glass. “Want some?”
“No, I’m good.”
He eyed the boot on her foot. “How did you get down here?”
Flashing him a sheepish grin, she said, “Slid down the stairs on my bum because I had to eat something with the pill.”
He chuckled. “So what’s the plan for getting back up?”
“I was just pondering that very question when you showed up.”
He finished the water and put down the glass. “Can I give you a lift? For old times sake?”
She giggled, which he took as a sign the meds were beginning to work. “Why not?” Taking his outstretched hand, she let him help her up.
With her hand wrapped around his, Ted was staggered by the glow of the streetlight illuminating her beautiful face. Powerless to resist the magnetic draw for another second, he ran a finger over her cheek.
She gasped as her hand landed on his bare chest.
They stared at each other, the silence charged with awareness.
He was thankful the lights were off so she couldn’t see the effect her nearness had on him.
Never in his life had he wanted so badly to kiss another human being.
Before he could give in to the need pounding through him, he tore his eyes off her and lifted her into his arms to carry her upstairs.
At the door to Smitty’s room, he reluctantly eased her onto her good foot.
“Ted,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “Don’t. Don’t say something that will change everything.”
She stared at him for the longest time before she turned away. In that brief moment he saw in her the same sense of awe, wonder and fear that had overtaken him. That she seemed equally affected by him didn’t do much to ease his guilt over feelings he had no right to.
Ted watched her hobble the short distance to the bed where his best friend slept.
Panic stricken by the encounter with Caroline, Ted continued up the stairs.
In his room, he fell face down on his bed and moaned into the pillow as desire continued to thrum through his heated body.
This is insanity, he thought, even as he suspected it was probably something much, much worse.
In the morning Ted awoke full of guilt and regret. Smitty was the best friend he’d ever had. This is so wrong. I can’t think about her anymore. If it came down to her or Smitty, I’d choose him in a second. Of course I’d choose him. Wouldn’t I?
Tormented, Ted went downstairs to find Parker at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the morning paper.
“Where is everyone?” Ted asked.
“Chip and Elise went out to breakfast, and Smitty and Caroline are still sleeping. Elise drove your car home last night.” Parker pointed to the keys on the counter.
“Oh, good. Want to grab something to eat?” Ted asked, anxious to get out of the house.
Parker looked up at him with surprise. “Not running today?”
“I’ll run when I get home this afternoon.”
“Sure. Let me grab my wallet.”
“It’s on me. Let’s go.”
In Ted’s car, Parker turned to study him. “What’s wrong?”
Startled, Ted glanced at his friend. “Nothing. Why?”
“You look funny.”
“Define funny.”
Parker laughed. “Let me try another word. Off. You look off.”
Pole axed. That might be a better way to put it. “I’m fine. I’m not funny or off, but thanks for asking.”
“Hmm, if you say so.” Parker continued to size up Ted. “Are you hanging out today? We’ve got the boat if we want it.” The “boat” was a ninety-foot, ocean-going sailing vessel with a crew of six to dote on their boss—or in this case, their boss’s son and his friends.
“I’m going to head home,” Ted said, even though he would normally love to spend the day being pampered on the boat. Today, however, he thought it best to leave before the situation got any worse. “I’ve got some stuff to take care of before tomorrow. I’m on call for forty-eight hours.”
Parker shook his head. “I don’t know how you can keep up that schedule.”
“You get used to it,” Ted said with a shrug. “Being on call will give me time to work on a grant proposal that’s due this week. I need funding for some research I want to do into the genetics of this one type of brain tumor I’ve been seeing a lot of lately. It’s exciting stuff.”
“Sounds like it,” Parker said dryly.
Ted laughed. “I know it’s not Kramer vs. Kramer, but it’s interesting to me.”
“Hey, not all of us can be curing cancer, so we have to get our thrills where we can.”
“Is your father still after you to move to the Big Apple and onto the family payroll?”
“All the time,” Parker said. “He never gives up.”
“And he never will. He knows you’re a great lawyer, and he wants you looking out for him.”
“What he really wants is to get me under his thumb where he can control my whole life. No thanks. Been there, done that.”
They ate at one of their favorite diners and lingered over a second cup of coffee.
“So what happened to that girl you were seeing?” Ted asked. “What was her name? Julie?”
“Julia,” Parker corrected.
“That’s right.” Ted had only met her once.
“No spark, you know what I mean?” Parker spun his spoon around in his coffee cup. Forty-eight hours earlier Ted would have said no, but now he knew exactly what Parker meant. “Yes, I think I do.”
“Yeah, you had it with Marcy.”
Startled by the reminder of his college girlfriend, Ted stared at Parker. In that moment, Ted realized what he’d felt for his girlfriend of three years was insignificant compared to what he already felt for Caroline. Despair, the likes of which he had never known before, settled over him.
“What’s wrong with you, man?” Parker asked with concern. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“Nothing,” Ted said softly. “Nothing’s wrong. I need to go.”
“Back to the house?”
“No, I need to go home.”
Ted appreciated that Parker didn’t ask any questions as he followed him out of the restaurant.