* * *
Nick slid an arm around his wife. “I’m starved. I’m thinking Chinese Buffet.”
“Works for me.” Billy pushed to his feet. “You two are welcome to use my office, unless you want to join us.”
“Thanks for the offer, but you guys run on ahead.” Jim wasn’t sure how the next few minutes were going to play out, but he and Bridget weren’t going to need an audience.
The moment the door closed behind his friends, Jim walked over to sit at Bridget’s side. This was the first time he’d been alone in the same room with her since she’d walked out on him the day before their wedding. The last time they’d spoken on the phone their conversation sounded as though it could have been any day in their lives before the wedding-that-wasn’t. But with the changes the last three days had brought he had no idea how to approach her. Tentatively he reached out, covered the hands knotted in her lap with his.
“It’s nice to see you.” He hadn’t felt so unsure of what to do or say with a woman since he had peach fuzz on his chin in junior high. The feel of her hand in his was comforting. Reassuring. Pleasant. But nothing like the connection he’d shared with Lexie. And not what he wanted from a lifetime with one woman.
She withdrew her hand to lightly brush his temple. Then slid her hand around his ear as though tucking a non-existent lock of hair behind it. “You look tired.”
He and Lexie hadn’t gotten much sleep. “Long night.”
“You should take advantage of the time off and rest more.” A weak smile tipped at the edges of her mouth. “I flew back a little early to get things in order before I have to report for duty.”
He hadn’t thought about that. The leave for the wedding-that-wasn’t was almost up. The wedding he’d told her he still wanted to happen.
“I can’t stay long. Only this afternoon actually. I’m meeting with my CO tomorrow.”
“So you flew to Kona just for the day?”
“I…” She glanced down at her hands, then back up. “I wanted to see you.”
An angry elephant sat on his chest. Oh, God, he didn’t want to have to say this. Didn’t want to hurt her. But he couldn’t marry Bridget now, not after realizing he was in love with Lexie. “Bridget, I need to say something that’s very difficult for me.”
“Okay.” Her head tipped slightly to the left. He’d forgotten she always did that whenever they had a serious conversation. It had always seemed cute. Now all it did was make him feel like even more of a heel.
“A lot has happened in the last few days. I’ve done my best to remember how good we were together. And still could have been.”
“Could have been?” She sat a little straighter.
He heaved a deep sigh. “There’s no other way to say this. You were right before. I don’t love you the way you deserve to be loved. You deserve to marry someone better than me.”
She didn’t move. Didn’t even blink. On the bright side, she wasn’t crying or throwing things at him, either. She almost seemed to be waiting for him to say something more. But what?
When she didn’t say anything he reached for her hand, surprised when a hint of a smile returned to her lips.
Her smile grew brighter. “You don’t want to try again? Don’t want to marry me?”
Confused, he shook his head. This wasn’t supposed to go like this. Was it?
She tugged her hand away and leaned back, blowing out what sounded like all the air in her lungs. “That’s what I came here to tell you.”
“That I don’t want to marry you?”
“For Pete’s sake, I’d been saying that for a while and you wouldn’t listen to me. No one would.” She gave his knee a brief pat, much like a caregiver reassuring a bewildered patient. “I came to tell you that after days of everyone telling me how crazy I was to have walked out on you, I started wondering if they were all right and I was the blind one who couldn’t see what was in front of me. That all I had was a pedestrian case of cold feet. So I convinced myself my mother was right. You were too good a man to pass up.What we had together was too good to walk away from. And ignoring my better judgment I asked you for another chance. Thought I could go through with it this time. I really did, Jimmy.
“You’re such a wonderful man. But I can’t change how I feel. Deep down I don’t believe we belong together. I still think you’re going to turn around one day and spot a woman across the room who will make your heart do backflips at just the sight of her. And then you’ll realize that I was never the one for you, but by then it will be too late.”
Drawing in her first long breath since beginning her speech, Bridget sighed, then lifting her chin, smiled. “I’m requesting a transfer back to the mainland.”
* * *
Doug kept shaking his head. “So you’re telling me that crazy ceremony with the sand pouring and the shoelaces and the seashell blowing, etcetera, etcetera was actually legal?”
“Yeah.” Lexie forced a smile. “That’s pretty much what I’m saying. Or at least from what Kara just announced, it would have been legal if the Navy chaplain had been licensed with the state.”
The engine was running, but they had yet to pull out of the parking lot. Lexie had explained how she and Jim had learned about the filing of the license, and that Jim wanted to win back his former fiancée and that Lexie’s ex showed up with her mother wanting a second chance. She found it somehow ironic that both the men in her lives wanted second chances with the women who walked away from them. But she hadn’t shared that with Doug. Nor had she said anything about her ex-fiancé being a kinky creep or that he’d stooped so low as to send Jim doctored photos of another woman’s body with Lexie’s head, having sex with two guys in order to chase Jim away and maybe blackmail Lexie into marrying him instead. The photos! She’d left her canvas bag in the office. “Shit. I forgot something inside. Give me two minutes. I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time.” Doug turned off the engine and stepped out of the car.
All Lexie had to do was run in quickly, make her apologies, grab the bag and run back to the car. No need to stay and make nice with the happy couple. She shoved the shop door open and waved at Jonathan behind the counter.
“You’re not going to tell me what’s going on are you?” Jonathan asked.
“Not now.” She flashed him a cheesy grin and walked past him and the photo wall of the dive shop’s history, then turned to grab the doorknob to the office when through the glass window she saw Bridget sporting a huge grin, throw her arms around Jim. The two toppled over on the sofa and onto the floor, a tangle of elbows and knees, laughing like a couple of kids in a game of twister.
Frozen in place, she felt the shadow of a man beside her. “That is what you wanted?” Doug asked.
Turning quickly, ignoring the photos and the bag, she moved briskly in search of fresh air. “Yeah. That’s what I wanted.”
* * *
Doug slid into the driver’s seat and turned to Lexie. “So now what?”
Good question. Too bad Lexie didn’t have an answer. What she had was a pain in the pit of her stomach from where another piece of her heart had broken off, landed, and now sat like a spoiled serving of last week’s poi.
She’d known all along that Jim wanted to marry Bridget. And everything she’d done today, adding to the already ridiculous farce, had been to help Jim get his girl. And yet, not until a few minutes ago when she saw the two frolicking like old lovers did her heart get the memo that giving Jim what he wanted—who he wanted—meant giving him up.
“Shall we get something to eat? Drink maybe?”
Remembering Billy’s offer to buy her something stronger to drink earlier this morning, she hefted a shoulder. “What is it with sailors and booze before noon?”
“Hey.” Doug flashed a smile that would make most women weak in the knees. “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”
The tired cliché had her chuckling as though she’d never heard it before. “Glad you came back, Mr. Hamilton.”
&n
bsp; Doug raised his hand in a mock salute. “Glad to be of service, Mrs. Hamilton.”
The oh-so-smooth delivery of another overused cliche made her think it wasn’t the first time he’d used those words with a woman, only it would have had a whole different intent. “You’re another player aren’t you?”
Both brows arched high on his forehead and his hands came together over his heart. “Moi?”
The pitifully over the top performance of wounded honor had her nearly doubled over with laughter. “Thanks. I needed that.”
“Like I said—”
“At my service. Yes.” She swallowed another chuckle and looked out to the ocean across the parking lot. Taking in a fortifying gulp of fresh air, she turned to Doug. “Would you mind dropping me off at my place?”
It was time to deal with the rest of her life.
* * *
During the short ride to where her parents were most likely seated around the table, nibbling on fried shrimp and sipping a crisp Pinot Grigio, Lexie debated the best way out of this. The truth was, while the whole accidentally married thing started because of one bumbling mistake after another, the current problem of musical husbands was all due to Graham. The man had to go. Permanently.
Doug pulled to the curb. “Need back up?”
She glanced at the driveway for Graham’s rental. The car was no where in sight, but she hadn’t seen it when they’d come home the other night either. Besides, even if he were there she didn’t want back up. Didn’t need back up. This was her life. Her problem. Her resolution. “No thanks. This is fine.”
“You sure?” He wasn’t frowning exactly, but she could see the doubt in his eyes.
“I’m sure.” All she had to do was open the door, climb out of the car, and take that first step. “I’m sure,” she repeated. Pleased to realize it really was for Doug’s benefit. Not hers.
“Okay.” Doug pulled out his wallet and retrieving a card, handed it to her. “That’s my cell. If you need anything. Anything. Call.”
A smile lifted her heart. “You got it.”
Out of the car, she slipped the card into her pocket and moved forward. Reminding herself with every step she did not like Graham. She did not like Graham. Did not like dining with Graham. Did not like dating Graham. Had no interest in marrying Graham. She simply did not want Green Eggs and Graham. “No more Graham I am.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
It was time for Jim to move forward with his life. Almost to Lexie’s house, his cell phone sounded. Brooklyn.
“What have you got for us?”
“Graham Cracker is definitely an idiot. Backs everything up on his cloud. Computer, phones, tablets. The pictures are there. Before and afters. And a hell of a lot more. If you need anything to hold over his head, we’ve got it. In spades.”
“How do we stop him from sharing this with anyone else?”
“Taken care of. By the time the sun sets, all his devises will be wiped clean.” Jim could hear Brooklyn chuckle. “Sometimes this job really is like taking candy from a baby.”
“You’re the best, man.”
“So my wife keeps telling me.” Brooklyn laughed. “If it makes anyone feel better, it wouldn’t hurt to put the fear of God in him.”
This time Jim chuckled. “Consider it taken care of.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do and let me know if you need anything else.”
“Will do. And thanks.”
Disconnecting the call, Jim tossed his phone on the seat beside him. New first thing on the agenda was one Mr. Graham Winston Montgomery. Jim drove by Lexie’s house to make sure Graham the asshole wasn’t already making himself at home and having lunch with her parents.
He checked the parking lot of the hotel, then the 19th hole where he’d run into Graham with Alex. Nothing. Kona wasn’t that big a town. Where the hell was the guy? Spending the remainder of the day driving around the island town looking for Lexie’s ex was not the best use of his time. As much as he disliked putting him off, dealing with the asshole was going to have to wait. Turning around, he headed for Lexie’s. He had to set a few things straight.
In only a few days his life had taken a very dramatic and unexpected turn. After talking things through with Bridget, he’d offered to do the polite thing and take her to lunch before she returned to Honolulu. As it turned out, she hadn’t come alone. An unexpected encounter with a high school boyfriend at the mall had found new footing. A relationship she wanted to explore further. A few months ago he would have argued it was impossible to fall in love with someone in only a few days.
Now he knew better. He just had to make everything right. And legal.
Turning the corner onto Lexie’s street he spotted Graham’s showy rental car about to pull into her driveway. To catch up, Jim pressed the accelerator a little harder than recommended in a family neighborhood. In front of the house, he shifted into park, exited the car, and made it to Graham’s rental just as he stood at the driver side door tucking his Polo shirt into his Brooks Brothers slacks.
Jim’s first instinct was to slug the guy and break his pretty boy nose. The second thought was to make him eat every one of those fake photographs for lunch. But standing out in public view and not wanting to draw Lexie’s attention, he settled for an up close and personal encounter. Standing only a few inches in front of his prey, Jim lowered his voice to a near growl, “Here’s how this is going to go down.”
Not having heard or seen Jim’s approach, Graham’s head whipped up. Eyes wide with surprise, he stepped back against the car. A film of sweat formed on his upper lip.
“You are going to destroy every file, every disk, every computer that has a copy of those loathsome pictures—”
“I—”
“You.” Jim moved an inch closer. “Are going to pull this car out of the driveway, you are going to return to your hotel, pack your bags—”
“Who do you—”
“You are going to call Mr. Hale and inform him it was very nice to see him and his lovely wife again, but a pressing matter demands you return to Boston. Then you will catch the next flight off this island. I don’t care where it goes—”
“Listen here.” Full of bravado—and bullshit—Graham straightened his shoulders, but the crack in his voice confirmed the fear in his eyes. If he hadn’t peed his pants yet, he’d probably already shit a brick.
Jim leaned forward. Nose to nose with the asshole, he resisted the need to wrap his fingers around Graham’s throat and squeeze. “You will not contact my wife or her family ever again. You will not contact me ever again. You will never again whisper so much as an unkind word about Lexie. And if you ever dare to fabricate anything to insult, blemish or tarnish my wife’s reputation again, right after I make sure you are stripped of everything you hold dear, I will break you into bite size pieces, shove you into the forward torpedo tubes of a nuclear submarine and feed your ass to the sharks! Are we clear?”
Graham looked ready to argue.
“Are we clear?” Jim repeated.
Graham barely managed a nod. Jim took two steps back, enough space to allow the creep access to his car. Feeling safe standing behind the shield of the car door, the idiot clearly never considered how easily he could be trapped and literally cut off at the knees. “Who do you think you are? No one talks to me like that and gets away with it.”
That made Jim laugh. He was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy and could snap this character in two like dry kindling, then bury the body where no man or machine would ever find him. But Graham Winston Montgomery only understood one language. “I’m Lt. Commander James Borden, United States Navy. Son of Andrew James Borden, President and CEO of First Philadelphia Bank, the largest and oldest privately held bank and wealth management company on the Eastern Seaboard. Nephew of Rear Admiral Arnold Ferguson, US Senator Broderick Ferguson, and US Congresswoman Rebecca Ferguson Chandler.”
If the man hadn’t peed in his pants before, he must have now. All the color
drained from his face, sweat dripped from his brow, and if he didn’t blink soon, Graham’s eyeballs would fall out of their sockets.
“But all you have to remember,” Jim continued. “Is that I am the man who loves Alexandra Hale, knows all your dirty little secrets, can kill you seven different ways with my bare hands—and I’m mad as hell.”
* * *
So far since she’d walked in the door, Lexie and her parents had discussed the weather, the price of gasoline, her dad’s golf swing, and whether or not she’d put on a few pounds since her mother’s last visit. She’d pushed bits of roasted chicken, brown rice and fried egg around on her plate, only managing to actually consume two or three bites.
There was no point in stalling any longer. The sooner she got the unpleasant conversation out of the way, the sooner they could get on with the first family vacation they’d shared since she was in school.
“You’ve barely touched your food. Are you feeling okay?” Her mother sprang from her seat at the table and scurried around to feel Lexie’s forehead. “You don’t feel warm.”
“I’m not sick, Mother. Just not hungry.” Lexie pushed the plate away.
Her mother looked at the still full plate, then back to her daughter. “You’re pregnant aren’t you? That’s what this is all about. The rushed marriage. Lack of appetite. Sleeping in.”
“Lillian. She’s a newlywed. Of course she and her husband are sleeping in.” As usual her father always backed her up, but Lexie recognized the hint of doubt it in his eyes. Even he was wondering if maybe her mother might be on to something.
“I can assure you, Mother, I am not pregnant.” A sudden sprig of indignation took root. “And why would you think I’d have to be pregnant to get married? First you think Jim married me for my money.” Lexie thought she heard her dad chuckle at that. “And now you think I’m pregnant.”
“I…well…” Her mother retook her seat and stirred her tea. “You do look a bit peaked.”
Mai Tai Marriage Page 18
