Chapter Twenty-Four #3
“Good. Keep her busy. Best thing for her.” She huffed out a breath when Brian sent her a speculative look.
“I’m not brainless, Bri. This has to be harder on her than the rest of us.
Harder yet, after what she’s already been through.
Anything that keeps her mind off it for a five-minute stretch is a blessing. ”
“I never thought you were brainless, Lex. No matter how hard you pretend to be.”
“I’m not going to worry about your insults this morning, Brian. But I am worried about Jo.” She turned to peek out the window and was satisfied to see her sister sweeping violently. “Good manual labor should help. And thank God for Nathan. He’s just exactly what she needs right now.”
“He’s not here.”
She spun back around so fast that the coffee sloshed to the rim of the pot. “What do you mean he’s not here?”
“He went over to the mainland for a few days.”
“Well, what in blue hell for? He should be right here, with Jo Ellen.”
“He had some business to see to.”
“Business?” Lexy rolled her eyes and grabbed the tray of new orders. “Why, isn’t that just like a man, just exactly like one? All of you, useless as a three-titted bull, every last one of you.”
She stormed out, hips twitching. And for some reason Brian found himself in a much lighter mood. Women, he thought. Can’t live with them, can’t dump them off a cliff.
* * *
AN hour later Lexy marched outside. She found Jo opening the last of the patio table umbrellas. “Everything’s nice and tidy here, I see. Fine and dandy. Go on up and get a bathing suit. We’re going to the beach.”
“What for?”
“Because it’s there. Go on and change. I’ve got sunscreen and towels here already.”
“I don’t want to sit on the beach.”
“I don’t think I asked what you wanted to do. You need some sun. And if you don’t come along with me for an hour, Brian or Kate will find something else for you to sweep up or scrub.”
Jo looked at the broom with distaste. “There is that. All right. Why not? It’s hot. I could use a swim.”
“Get a move on, then, before somebody catches us and puts us to work.”
* * *
JO cut through the breakers, took the roll, then began to swim with the current.
She’d forgotten how much she loved being in the ocean—fighting against it, drifting with it.
She could hear a girlish squeal in the distance as a couple laughed and wrestled in the surf.
Farther out, a young boy, brown as a berry, struggled to catch a wave and ride his inflatable raft back to shore.
When her arms tired, she flipped onto her back. The sun burned down through hazy skies and stung her eyes. It was easy to close them, to float. When her mind drifted to Nathan, she cut it off.
He had a life of his own, and so did she. Maybe she’d started to lean just a little too much. It was good that he’d jerked that shoulder away so abruptly, forced her to regain her own balance.
When he came back—if he came back—she’d be steadier.
With a moan of disgust, she flipped again, letting her face sink into the water.
Goddamn it, she was in love with him. And if that wasn’t the stupidest thing she’d ever done, she didn’t know what topped it. There was no future there, and why would she even think of futures? She turned her head, gulped in air, and began to swim again.
They had come together by accident, through circumstance, and had simply taken advantage of it. If they’d gotten closer than they intended, that was a matter of circumstance too. And circumstances changed. She’d changed.
If coming back to Sanctuary had brought some pain and some misery, it had also brought back to her a strength and clear-sightedness that she’d been missing for far too long.
She planted her feet, let the sand shift under her as she walked through the waves to shore.
Lexy was posed on a blanket, stretched out to show off her generous curves.
She rested lazily on an elbow, turning the pages of a thick paperback novel.
On the cover was a bare-chested man with amazing and improbable pecs, black hair that swirled over his gleaming shoulders, and an arrogant smile on his full-lipped mouth.
Lexy gave a low, murmuring sigh and flipped a page.
Her own hair rippled in the breeze. The curves of her generous breasts rose in smooth, peach-toned swells over the minuscule bikini top on which neon shades of green and pink warred.
Her long legs were slicked with lotion, and her toenails were a glitter of coral.
She looked, Jo decided, like an ad for some sexy resort.
Dropping down beside her, Jo picked up a towel and rubbed it over her hair. “Do you do that on purpose, or is it just instinct?”
“What’s that?” Lexy tipped down her rose-lensed sunglasses and peered over the top.
“Arrange yourself so that every male in a hundred yards strains his neck to get a look at you.”
“Oh, that.” Lips curving, Lexy nudged her glasses back in place.
“That’s just instinct, sugar. And good luck.
You could do the same, but you’d have to put your mind to it some.
You’ve gotten your figure back since you’ve been home.
And that black tank suit’s not a bad choice.
Looks athletic and sleek. Some men go for that.
” She tipped her glasses down again. “Nathan seems to.”
“Nathan hasn’t seen me in this suit.”
“Then he’s in for a treat.”
“If he comes back.”
“ ’Course he’ll come back. You’re smart, you’ll make him pay just a little for going off.”
Jo scooped up a handful of sand, let it drift through her fingers. “I’m in love with him.”
“Of course you are. Why wouldn’t you be?”
“In love with him, Lexy.” Jo frowned at the glittering grains of sand that clung to her hand.
“Oh.” Lexy sat up, crossed her pretty legs, and grinned. “That’s nice. You sure took your time falling, but you picked a winner.”
“I hate it.” Jo grabbed more sand and squeezed it into her fist. “I hate feeling this way, being this way. It ties my stomach up in knots.”
“It’s supposed to. I’ve had mine tied up dozens of times. It was always real easy to loosen it up again.” Her mouth went into a pout as she looked out to sea. “Until now. I’m having a harder time of that with Giff.”
“He loves you. He always has. It’s different for you.”
“It’s different for everybody. We’re all built different inside. That’s what makes it so interesting.”
Jo tilted her head. “You know, Lex, sometimes you’re absolutely sensible. I never expect it, then there it is. I guess I need to tell you what I told Brian last night.”
“What’s that?”
“I love you, Lexy.” She bent over and touched her lips to her sister’s cheek. “I really do.”
“I know that, Jo. You’re ornery about it, but you always loved us.” She let out a breath as she decided to make her own confession. “I guess that’s why I got so mad at you when you went away. And I was jealous.”
“You? Of me?”
“Because you weren’t afraid to go.”
“Yes, I was.” Jo rested her chin on her knee and watched the waves batter the shore. “I was terrified. Sometimes I’m still scared of being out there, of not being able to do what I need to do. Or doing it but failing at it.”
“Well, I failed, and I can tell you, it sucks.”
“You didn’t fail, Lexy. You just didn’t finish.” She turned her head. “Will you go back?”
“I don’t know. I was sure I would.” Her eyes clouded, misted between gray and green. “Trouble is, it gets easy to stay here, let time go by. Then I’ll just get old and wrinkled and fat. Oh, what are we talking about this for?”
Annoyed with herself, Lexy shook her head, picked out a cold can of Pepsi from the little cooler beside her. “We should be talking about something interesting. Like, I was wondering . . .”
She popped the top, took a long, cooling sip. Then ran her tongue lazily over her top lip. “Just how is sex with Nathan?”
Jo snorted out a laugh. “No,” she said definitely and rolled over to lie on her stomach.
“On a scale of one to ten.” Lexy poked Jo’s shoulder. “Or if you had to pick one adjective to describe it.”
“No,” Jo said again.
“Just one little bitty adjective. I mean, would it be ‘incredible’?” she asked, leaning down close to Jo’s ear. “Or would it be ‘fabulous’? Maybe ‘memorable’?”
Jo let out a small sigh. “ ‘Stupendous,’ ” she said without opening her eyes. “It’s stupendous.”
“Oh, stupendous.” Lexy waved a hand in front of her face. “Oh, I like that. Stupendous. Does he keep his eyes open or closed when he kisses you?”
“Depends.”
“He does both? That gives me the shivers. You’d never know which. I just love that. So, how about when he—”
“Lexy.” Though a giggle escaped, Jo kept her eyes tightly closed. “I’m not going to describe Nathan’s lovemaking technique for you. I’m going to take a nap. Wake me up in a bit.”
And to her surprise, she dropped like a stone into sleep.