Sand Castle Bay Read online

  “Six o’clock okay?” he asked his friend.

  “I’ll be there,” Ethan said. “I’ll bring a six-pack or would you rather have something stronger?”

  “An occasional beer’s pretty much my limit,” Boone said. “Much as I might like to drown my sorrows, I can’t do it when I’m responsible for B.J.”

  “Fair enough,” Ethan said. “See you this evening.”

  Boone went into the reception area, paid for B.J.’s treatment, then gestured for B.J. to go outside.

  After they were in the car, Boone turned to his son. “I’m sorry about before,” he said quietly. “I never meant to upset you.”

  A single tear tracked down B.J.’s cheek. “And I don’t really hate you.”

  Boone smiled and opened his arms. B.J. crawled over the console and scrambled into them. “I know, buddy. Sometimes we’re both going to say things we regret. We always need to find a way to forgive each other, okay?”

  “What about Emily?” B.J. asked, proving that his mind had a single track. “Are you going to forgive her? She must have said something really bad for you to be so mad at her.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that,” Boone said.

  “But she’s my friend.”

  “I know. And we’ll work things out. I promise.” He just wished he had the first clue how they might do that if she truly believed what she’d said to him earlier.

  * * *

  Emily was filled with trepidation as she followed her grandmother’s directions to Boone’s house. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it wasn’t the charming little white bungalow on an inlet with a screened-in side porch and a yard full of deep blue hydrangeas. The flowers were a little the worse for wear after the storm, but enough of the huge blooms remained to add just the right touch of old-fashioned summer color.

  As she pulled to a stop, she spotted B.J. sitting at the end of a pier with a fishing pole. Because she was in no hurry for an uncomfortable confrontation with Boone, she walked out on the pier.

  B.J. regarded her with surprise and a little caution. “How come you’re here? I thought you and Dad were fighting.”

  “Is that what he said?”

  B.J. nodded.

  “Well, the truth is that I said something I never should have said,” she admitted. “I came to apologize. Is he inside?”

  B.J. nodded, then held out his arm. “I had my stitches taken out and I didn’t cry,” he said proudly.

  She grinned at him. “Wow! That’s really great. I knew you were brave.”

  “I wanted you to be there, but Dad wouldn’t call you.”

  “I’m sorry, but you obviously did just fine without me.” She hunkered down beside him. “So, are you catching anything?”

  “Not really. I’m just staying out of the way while Daddy does some business before dinner.”

  “I see.”

  B.J.’s expression brightened. “Maybe you could stay for dinner. Dr. Cole’s coming, too.”

  “I don’t think so,” Emily said. “I just came to talk to your dad for a few minutes. I won’t be here long.”

  “But Dad’s grilling steak. It’ll be really good,” B.J. said enthusiastically. “We’re having corn on the cob, too. Dad says it might be the end of it for the summer because the hurricane hurt the farmers real bad around here.”

  Just then the back door opened and Boone stepped outside, surprise and caution registering on his face when he saw her with his son.

  Emily stood up, took a step in his direction, then paused. “Could we talk?” she asked. “It won’t take long.”

  He hesitated, then nodded. “Come on inside. B.J., you have fifteen minutes, then you need to come in and wash up, okay? Ethan will be here soon.”

  “Okay. I asked Emily to stay for dinner, but she said no. Maybe you should ask her.”

  “We’ll see,” Boone said, committing to nothing. “Maybe she has plans.”

  Emily followed him into a bright, airy open kitchen with granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances and windows everywhere. She couldn’t have designed a more welcoming room herself.

  “I love what you’ve done with the kitchen,” she told him. “I imagine it wasn’t like this when you bought the house.”

  “Not even close,” he confirmed. “I think the white appliances it had were original to the house and barely functioning.”

  He gestured across the room. “There was a wall in here, too, right about there. It created a formal dining room not much bigger than a closet. Jenny saw the possibilities before I did. She knew exactly what she wanted in here down to the handles on the cabinets,” he said. “All I did was tell the contractor to follow her directions.”

  “She had a good eye.” She met his gaze. “I know I’ve said it before, but I really am sorry you lost her.”

  “So am I. She was a wonderful person. She didn’t deserve what happened.”

  “What did happen?” she asked, curious to know the real story. If Cora Jane knew, she’d been very circumspect about filling in the blanks. Maybe she’d figured it was Boone’s story to tell if and when Emily was ready to hear it.

  “A massive infection,” he said. “She thought she’d caught some kind of a bug, no big deal, but then it got into her lungs. It was late by the time she saw a doctor, and it turned out to be resistant to every antibiotic they tried. There was nothing they could do to save her.”

  “How horrible,” she said. “I really am sorry.”

  Boone nodded. “Thanks.” He held her gaze, then asked, “Why are you here, Em?”

  She took a deep breath, then admitted, “Because what I said to you earlier was insensitive and rude.”

  “You mean accusing me of having ulterior motives for being friends with your grandmother?”

  She regarded him earnestly. “I know better, Boone. I really do.”

  “Then why did you say it?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. I think it’s partly because seeing how you are with her, how you are with B.J. and everyone for that matter, reminds me of how much I lost when I let you go. All these years it’s suited me to paint you as another type of man, someone unworthy, a man with no sense of loyalty. I guess I needed that to justify what I did. In a way, you marrying Jenny made it easier. It was proof you’d never loved me at all.”

  “Did I have to be a bad guy all those years ago in order for you to claim what you wanted for yourself?”

  “I thought it might make it easier to leave,” she conceded, then shrugged. “It didn’t.”

  Boone faced her, his frustration evident. “I knew you had dreams, Emily. How often did we sit on the beach at night talking about all you wanted to accomplish? Did you think I didn’t hear you? I might have wanted like crazy to hold on to you, but I never expected to do it.” He held her gaze, his expression sad. “I just hoped you’d come back eventually, that what we had would be important enough to bring you back.”

  “I don’t think I could handle the pressure of knowing you were waiting for me, so, yes, I probably did make my leaving sound final,” she told him. “And I needed to make you the bad guy, because I didn’t like myself for hurting you. Grandmother was already completely out of patience with me for mistreating you. Samantha and Gabi thought I was crazy for walking out on what we had.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t let myself even consider the possibility they could be right. I needed a clean break, even if it turned out to be uglier than it should have been.”

  “Is that what today was about, too? You got scared that some of those old feelings are still there between us, so you needed to put me in my place, put that distance between us again?” he asked.

  “No, today I was frustrated with Grandmother,” she admitted. “I just needed to lash out at someone, and I couldn’t yell at her. You were ri
ght smack in the path of my foul mood.”

  Boone shook his head. “Not buying that. On some level, you had to believe the words that came out of your mouth.”

  “I swear to you that I know better,” she said. “That’s not the kind of man you are. In a way, that’s the trouble. The kind of man you are is too blasted appealing.”

  His lips curved at that. “Irresistible, perhaps?”

  “Don’t be smug.”

  He just laughed at that.

  Emily picked up a mug that said World’s Best Mom, smiled at it, then tried to imagine how much Boone’s heart must ache when he saw it. And yet he kept it out, kept his son’s memories alive. That was the kind of man with whom she’d been so careless. She’d tried to tell herself he was reckless and irresponsible, but he wasn’t then and he certainly wasn’t now. He was an incredible father, a good friend, a decent man.

  “Grandmother’s furious with me,” she confessed, giving him a wry look. “Not that it’s the first time or anything, but now that I’m all grown up, it actually feels rotten to have her look at me as if I kicked her cat or something.”

  Boone had the audacity to grin at that. “I’m the cat, then?”

  She chuckled. “Something like that. You should have heard her going on and on about what a paragon you are. I don’t think she’s ever spoken that highly of me.”

  “Of course she has,” Boone corrected. “That woman thinks you three girls practically walk on water. She has an album with pictures and news clippings right at the cash register. If anyone asks how you all are doing, she whips it out and makes them look at every page. It’s one of the first things she asked about when I called her to fill her in on the storm damage. She needed to know it hadn’t been ruined. That album means the world to her.”

  On one level, Emily had trouble believing that. For whatever reason, she’d never thought of Cora Jane as especially sentimental. On another level, it was obvious that she was deeply sentimental. That was one reason she was fighting so hard against the changes Emily wanted to make at Castle’s.

  “Seriously?” she asked Boone, wanting to believe that her grandmother was proud of her in ways her father had never been.

  “Cross my heart.”

  “And the customers keep coming back?” Emily asked incredulously, not sure if she really believed that her grandmother would boast so openly about her granddaughters, especially when they exasperated her so regularly. There’d been nothing sentimental or affectionate in the lecture she’d delivered earlier. She’d been disappointed in Emily and had let her know it.

  “Of course they come back,” Boone said. “That sense of being part of the family is what makes Castle’s by the Sea special. It’s something you can’t re-create with paint and fabric and pretty pictures on the walls.”

  Emily sighed, reluctant to accept the truth of what he was telling her. It would make her plans for sprucing up the restaurant impossible. Unfortunately, it was hard to deny what was in front of her face.

  “I’m starting to get that,” she conceded.

  “Will you stick around long enough to really understand what that place means to this community, what your grandmother means to me and everyone else?”

  “I have a couple of pressing jobs to get back to,” she equivocated. “You know that, Boone. I can’t stay much longer, especially with the restaurant up and running again. I’m not really needed here.”

  Boone nodded stiffly. He obviously wasn’t surprised. It was probably exactly the answer he’d expected. “I’m sure Cora Jane understands how busy you are.”

  She frowned at the edge in his voice. “But you don’t. You think I should stay, even though she doesn’t need or want my input.”

  “I think you’ll do whatever feels right to you,” he said. “No question you have obligations to your clients. I can hardly argue with that.”

  “You’re saying the right words, but the tone’s off. You’re disappointed in me.” He’d just made it plain without saying it that he thought she was acting selfishly...again.

  He held her gaze, let the moment simmer, then said softly, “Maybe I’m just disappointed, Em.”

  Her heart hammered at the unexpected admission. “You want me to stay?”

  “We’ll never know what could have been if you don’t,” he said.

  He stepped closer, tucked a finger under her chin, then slowly leaned in and kissed her. It wasn’t the kind of hot, demanding kiss she remembered, the kind that had kept her awake at night wanting more. Instead, it was a sweet kiss, full of promise.

  “Think about it,” he said softly, walking her to the door.

  There was no further mention of dinner, no plea to keep her in town, just the lingering memory of that kiss to hold her here.

  She had the most astonishing feeling it might be enough.

  * * *

  Boone had the steaks on the grill and a couple of beers already on ice when Ethan arrived. B.J. bounded out to meet the doctor.

  “Emily was here, but she had to go,” he announced. “I showed her my scar.”

  “Was she impressed?” Ethan inquired, glancing curiously at Boone over B.J.’s head.

  “Sure. I gotta go take a shower now, ’cause I accidentally fell in the water while I was fishing.”

  “Accidentally?” Ethan said, grinning.

  “Uh-huh. Swear to God. I tripped.”

  “Over his own feet, more than likely,” Boone said. “Hurry up, kiddo. The steaks are almost ready.”

  As soon as they were alone, Boone glowered at Ethan. “Leave it alone, okay?”

  “Leave what alone?” Ethan asked innocently. “You mean the fact that Emily apparently drove over here and you let her get away?”

  “It wasn’t like that,” Boone said stiffly. “She came to apologize, said her piece, then left. That’s all.”

  “What’s next?”

  “She’ll leave town. Life will return to normal, and peace will reign over all the land,” Boone said wryly.

  “If you believe that, you’re dumber than dirt,” Ethan said succinctly. “Letting her go once, you could chalk that up to youthful ignorance. Letting her go again would be just plain stupid.”

  “Thank you so much for your insightful observation,” Boone grumbled. “Want to talk about why you let a woman who obviously had the sensitivity of a storm trooper turn you into a recluse?”

  “I’m not a recluse,” Ethan said defensively. “And we weren’t talking about me. You’re the one with the immediate problem. Want to hear what I think?”

  “I can’t come up with a single way to stop you short of gagging you, and that would probably set a bad example for my son,” Boone said with frustration.

  “Probably,” Ethan confirmed, grinning. “So, here’s what I think. I think you should take advantage of my presence here right now, leave B.J. with me and go after her.”

  “And do what exactly? I’ve already told her we’ll never know what we could have if she doesn’t stick around to find out.”

  Ethan regarded him with amusement. “Did you say it with exactly that much passion? Gee, I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t fall right into your arms, abandoning her life’s work to be with such a poet.”

  Boone scowled at him. “Bite me.”

  “Just calling it like I see it. You love this woman, right? Always have.”

  “That doesn’t mean we were meant to be. She has to want this as much as I do.”

  “And you have absolutely no powers of persuasion at your disposal?” Ethan asked. “Couldn’t maybe kiss her senseless, haul her off to your bed, even talk a blue streak about the future you could have together?”

  “I did kiss her,” Boone said irritably. “She left anyway.”

  Ethan hooted at that. “Then you sure as heck didn’t do it ri
ght, not with the finesse of which we both know you’re capable. Could she still think? Was she still standing?”

  Boone chuckled. “I think you might be overestimating my talents.”

  “Nah. I heard all the talk back in high school. Every girl you ever kissed swooned. Not a one of them ever forgot you. Tell me that you haven’t been approached by a couple of the available ones since Jenny died, all eager to get back what you once had.”

  “Okay, yes,” Boone conceded. “And a few who aren’t available, to be perfectly honest. I’m not interested.”

  “Because your heart belongs to Emily,” Ethan concluded.

  “Okay, yes, but it’s not that simple. It wasn’t simple ten years ago, and it’s even more complicated now.”

  “It’s only as complicated as the two of you want it to be,” Ethan said. “Take away all the doubts and the angst and listen to your heart. That’s my advice.”

  It was pretty much the same advice Cora Jane had been throwing his way, so Boone couldn’t dismiss it as readily as he wanted to.

  “Well,” Ethan prodded. “Are you going after her or not?”

  “Now?”

  “No time like the present. How much longer is she going to be around, anyway? Or are you hoping she’ll leave, and the decision will be taken out of your hands? Then you’ll get to sit around and pine for her and try to convince yourself you did all you could.”

  Maybe that was exactly what he was hoping, Boone thought. And maybe Ethan was right. Maybe he was a damn fool.

  “You’ll stay here with B.J.?”

  “Absolutely,” Ethan confirmed, then grinned. “I can spend the night, too, in case things take a turn for the better.”

  “I doubt that’s going to be necessary,” Boone said, though his pulse sped up at the thought.

  “Just saying the offer’s there,” Ethan said. “A smart man would take advantage of it.”

  Boone wished he were half as certain of that as Ethan was. He had a feeling a really smart man wouldn’t be putting his heart on the line with this particular woman yet again. There was, however, only one surefire way to find out.