Chapter Eighteen
Cal watched Sierra throw a few snacks together and call it a lunch. He hadn’t gotten up and showered, the way he usually did. “Grandma will be here after school.”
His break-up with Lisa had happened on Saturday night, and he’d barely made it through Sunday without burning his house to the ground. So cooking was out. So was socializing. And parenting. And apparently, working.
“You’ve told me four times,” Sierra said.
“I’ll be back on Thursday.”
“Yep,” she said. “Going around to Lightning Point, so you’re not that far away. Fishing boat. Hut in the rain forest. Got it.” She flashed him a smile that still let him know she was frustrated with him.
He was frustrated with himself too. “Okay.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and added, “Be safe. Love you.”
“Love you too, Dad.” Sierra hitched her backpack over her shoulder and hesitated.
“What?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to say something, and then shook her head. “Nothing. See you Thursday.”
Before he could call her back, she walked out the door, leaving Cal in the house alone. He actually loved being alone, and he was practically running away from his life for a few days. To fish alone. Make solo meals. Sleep alone. Live in the rainforest alone.
But before all of that, he needed to shower, pack, and attend a grief meeting. He’d attended the support group for several months after Jo’s death, but he hadn’t been to a meeting in a while.
Too long.
He hadn’t even been sure where they were meeting anymore, but he’d looked it up online, and they had a meeting at noon today. He could attend, drive around the island to Lightning Point, and try to find some peace before returning on Thursday.
When he walked into the meeting, his nerves struck like lightning. When he’d been coming before, he knew all of the faces in the group. Now, he only recognized one.
Chief of Police, Wyatt Gardner.
Surprise moved through Cal, because Wyatt’s wife had died years ago too. Their eyes met, and Wyatt stood up. Cal moved in his direction and shook the Chief’s hand. “Hey,” he said, accepting the quick embrace and pat on the back. “You’re still coming to these?”
“It’s good to see you here,” Wyatt said. “I don’t know anyone here.”
“So you haven’t been coming.”
“It’s my second meeting in a long time,” he said.
Cal wanted to ask him why he’d come back, but his own reason was personal, and he didn’t feel like sharing it.
“My first,” Cal said.
“Yeah,” the Chief said, clearing his throat. “I want to ask out this woman, but….” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I feel like maybe I still need some closure.”
Cal looked at Wyatt. “I just broke up with my girlfriend. Well, she broke up with me.” The words actually scraped his throat. “She said I wasn’t ready to be dating, and well….” He shrugged too. “She’s right.”
“But you want to be ready,” Wyatt said.
“Here I am.” Cal flashed his old friend a smile, glad he was still able to do so. When he’d first started coming to these grief meetings, he’d barely been able to sit in the chair and focus. Wyatt Gardner had been there, in the corner seat in the last row. He was Cal’s age, and he’d lost his wife to the same cancer that had taken Jo.
Cal had felt in Wyatt a kindred spirit from the moment he’d sat next to him, barely able to say his own name and who he was grieving.
“Jen’s married now,” Wyatt said, sighing. “The house is empty without her there.”
“I’m sorry,” Cal said, though he should be saying congratulations. But he would be in the same position as Wyatt in just a few short years.
“It’s a good thing,” Wyatt said, smiling. “But seeing my daughter so excited to spend her life with Aaron, watching her at the ceremony….” He shrugged in a very vulnerable way, and Cal saw beneath the tough police exterior Wyatt usually kept in place. “I decided I could at least try to find someone else to spend the rest of my life with. I mean, I’m only forty-six.”
“I’ll be forty in January,” Cal said.
“Plenty of time,” Wyatt said. “Did you like the girlfriend?” He looked at Cal with questions in his eyes.
“I…yeah,” Cal said, wishing the simple words didn’t make his heart come to a full stop. When it started beating again, it actually thumped in his throat. He flashed another smile at his friend, glad when someone stood up and said it was time to begin the meeting.
Lisa had said to call him when he was ready to date again, and he really wanted to be ready. So he sat in the meeting, completely present. He listened, and his heart hurt for those whose loved ones had passed away so recently.
He supposed it didn’t matter how much time had passed since a death, as his own pain indicated. As Wyatt’s presence next to him testified.
At one grief meeting years ago, Cal had learned that he didn’t need to forget about Jo. He could love her forever. He could think about her and miss her and talk to her, and that was normal. Expected, even.
But he’d forgotten that his life didn’t have to be wrapped up in her death. As he looked around at the other people in the meeting, he saw them in different stages of grief. Some so new and so fresh to the pain of loss. Some working their way through it. Some on the outer cusp, like him and Wyatt.
But he wasn’t completely free from it, and he wasn’t sure he ever would be. Peace descended on him, almost like Jo coming to sit beside him. He actually looked to the seat next to him, expecting her to be there.
Of course she wasn’t, but he could hear her voice for those few brief moments when she’d made him promise to find someone else to share his life with.
Meet someone new, Cal. Mingle.
His emotions choked him, and he hurried to cross his arms, hoping that physical act would contain the emotional turmoil. Wyatt glanced over at him, and Cal managed a shaky smile. Wyatt patted Cal’s shoulder, and Cal appreciated their friendship so much.
The meeting ended, and Cal stood with several others. His first instinct was to rush out the door. His bags were packed, the truck fully gassed up. He needed a few days to find his center again, figure out where he was going, and how he wanted to get there. Who he wanted to be with on the journey and at the destination.
Mingle.
He stayed and chatted with the Chief, learned his daughter was moving completely off-island, and that Wyatt was ready to be out of the public spotlight. They’d migrated over to the refreshment table, and Cal introduced himself to a younger man named Stephen Morgan.
His longer hair and dark circles under his eyes indicated that his loss had been quite recently. “Who is your loved one?”
Stephen looked at him. “You said is. Not was.” His eyes started to water, and Cal wanted to grab the man in a tight hug and tell him everything would be okay. But he’d never liked it when people told him that.
“Of course,” Cal said, glancing at Wyatt. He really wasn’t good at this kind of emotional stuff. “Your loved one is still with you. You don’t forget about them because they’re gone physically. They don’t just disappear from our lives.”
“Your wife?” Wyatt asked.
Stephen nodded, his chin shaking. “Just a few weeks ago.”
“Any kids?”
“No, thank goodness.”
Cal almost flinched, and something must’ve shown on his face, because horror crossed Stephen’s. “I’m sorry. You have kids.”
“We both do,” Wyatt said easily. “Daughters.” He sounded so proud of that fact, and Cal suddenly was proud to be Sierra’s father. He’d done the best he could with raising her, and in that moment, he knew he’d done enough so far. He’d keep checking on the clothes she wore, and insisting he know who she spent her time with. He’d keep asking Jo for help, and he’d keep doing the very best he could.
Cal sat on the front porch of the tiny cabin h
e owned in the middle of the rainforest. He and Jo had bought the place in the first year of their marriage, and they’d kept it up so they could enjoy vacations to this side of the island. The beach was a short half-mile walk through the trees and seemed to open up to the sprawling ocean in an instant.
He loved the peace here. The way the birds chirped in the morning. The sense of heavy humidity in the air. He’d planned to get one of his father’s fishing boats out of the storage shed and hit the water the moment he arrived, but he’d been rocking on the porch for a couple of hours now.
He was only thirty-nine, but he felt decades older. At least right now. He didn’t want to go fishing. He was perfectly happy to sit here and think.
His mind wandered through Jo, Sierra, the men on his crew, and finally to Lisa. He appreciated the things and people he had in his life. He loved the business he’d been able to build for himself. He loved his crew, his daughter.
Everything surrounding those parts of his life were crystal clear.
When he got to Lisa, everything became a bit muddied.
“Where do I start?” he asked the palm trees surrounding him. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes.
It was always best to start at the beginning, and his memory cleared enough to remember the pretty blonde who’d approached him at the pool party on the twenty-sixth floor of the Sweet Breeze Resort and Spa.
She’d finished his drink, which he found odd but also extremely attractive.
She’d asked him to dance—something they still hadn’t done.
Something he still really wanted to do—and that told him so much. That desire told him he was willing to mingle. Willing to do whatever it took to get on the same path with Lisa.
He could only hope that by the time he found his way to that path, that she would be still available and willing to dance with him.
Chapter Nineteen
Lisa squealed as she saw Riley’s red hair bobbing through the crowd. Of course, she was easy to find because her rockstar boyfriend was a head taller than everyone, wore dark sunglasses, and had a security detail clearing a path for them.
“Riley,” she called, and her friend broke toward her. Lisa laughed at the same time she cried a little bit, hugging her best friend.
Summer had fully arrived on the island, and tourists streamed past them at the airport. “Oh, don’t cry,” Riley said, wiping her own eyes. “We’ll be here for a month, and it’s going to be so great.”
“Yeah, except I still have to go to work every day,” Lisa said. Evan Garfield approached, and Lisa shook his hand. “Let’s get to the office and get our meeting over with. I’m just so happy for you two.” Her voice broke, and she ducked her head away from the newly engaged couple whose wedding she was going to plan.
Just six short months until Riley and Evan’s beach wedding, and Lisa was determined to make sure every single detail was absolutely correct.
She hugged them both, and they left the airport together. She wanted to lounge by a pool with someone bringing her a cold drink as she told Riley about her relationship with Cal. Of course, that had been over for almost six weeks now, but Lisa couldn’t stop thinking about him. She hadn’t been out with anyone new, and she didn’t even want to see someone else.
She wasn’t sure how or when Cal had reached right into her chest and stolen her heart. She wasn’t sure if she loved him or not. She knew how to set an alarm and get up on time. She knew how to feed her dog, make coffee, and drive to work. She knew how to order pretty papers and pick out the perfectly pink petals for a ceremony.
Her friendship with Dierdre had broadened, and she’d actually been very helpful in understanding a little bit more about Cal and what he was going through.
Riley linked her arm through Lisa’s, and her loneliness these past few weeks faded a little. Riley had a ton of stories about the places she’d been, the things she’d been doing for Georgia Panic, and she somehow knew Lisa didn’t want to talk.
So Riley did, all the way to Your Tidal Forever. The reunion there was epic, as Lisa had made sure everyone knew Riley and her new fiancé would be coming in. Sunny had ordered sandwiches and cake, and several of their distributors and contractors had come in.
One of those contractors would’ve been Cal Lewiston, and Lisa had been sure to put his invite on Dierdre’s list so she wouldn’t have to contact him. Not that she expected him to show up. Sure, he knew Riley, but they weren’t the best of friends.
Cal had other jobs, and even when he had built something for Your Tidal Forever over the past six weeks, he hadn’t interacted with Lisa.
She had kept in touch with Sierra, and whether Cal knew or not, Lisa wasn’t sure. She’d asked Sierra to tell her father, make sure their communication was okay, but she’d never followed up with the teenager.
She also knew Cal checked his daughter’s phone, so unless Sierra was deleting their text string, Cal would know about the conversations whether Sierra told him explicitly or not.
The lobby of Your Tidal Forever had been decorated with white and yellow balloons, streamers, and all of the refreshments. When Lisa entered, everyone started cheering, and Riley stood there and cried until Charlotte rushed over to her.
“You guys are too much,” she said.
“Oh, you would’ve done this for any of us coming back,” Shannon said, and Lisa had to agree. Riley was the ultimate queen in keeping details and appointments and making sure everyone who walked through the door felt like royalty.
She mingled about, and Lisa stepped over to the refreshment table to get herself a piece of cake. This party wasn’t unlike the spring company party from a few months ago, and Lisa flashed back to the feeling of being an outsider she’d felt among that crowd by the pool.
Maybe there was someone else here she could get to know better. Make a new friend. Maybe another of their contractors was single and looking for a date.
She found a spot halfway behind Sunny’s desk, a safe spot she could watch the party as she sipped her soda. The festivities wouldn’t last much longer, and then she’d steal Evan and Riley away from their friends. Business would go back to normal at Your Tidal Forever, and Lisa would take notes with Charlotte and Sunny, detailing everything Riley wanted for her own wedding.
A stab of jealousy hit her heart, no matter how hard she pushed against it. She loved Riley and had always wanted her to find a man like Evan. Problem was, she wanted her own version of Evan Garfield too. A man who was her own personal rockstar.
Her phone buzzed against her leg, and she pulled it out of her pocket to check it. It was the height of the summer wedding season after all, and she did have four upcoming weddings before September.
But the message wasn’t from a bride. She sucked in a breath as she read Cal’s message—do you want to dance with me?—and immediately looked up to find him.
No one was dancing here the way they had been at the pool, but Lisa’s pulse didn’t care about that.
She also couldn’t find Cal, and then suddenly someone moved, and there he stood. Only a few feet away, he took two steps and took her drink and her phone from her.
He finished her soda and set the plastic cup, along with her phone, on the desk beside her. “So?” he asked. “Did you get my text?”
Cal had just gotten his hair cut. His sexy beard was neatly trimmed, and all Lisa could do was drown in the depths of his dark blue eyes.
He inched closer to her, completely cutting off her view of the rest of the party. “I’ve been attending my grief meetings again,” he said, his voice quiet enough to make Lisa lean forward to hear him. “I’m feeling so much better, and I’m hoping you’ll be available for dinner tonight.”
“Tonight?” Lisa asked, surprised her voice worked at all. Her mind whirred through her schedule, and she was pretty sure she was supposed to hang out with Riley that night.
“Let me know, okay?” Cal backed up a step and then another, expanding her world again. He returned to her and leaned down, pressin
g his lips to her cheek. “I hope you can make it,” he whispered, his voice delicious and soft, for her ears only.
She stayed against the desk as he fell back again, and when he turned and left, her eyes landed on Riley’s. Her friend abandoned the conversation she’d been having with Hope and came straight toward Lisa.
Lisa looked at the cup on the desk and back to Riley. “Who was that?” she said in half a hiss and half of a normal voice.
“Cal Lewiston,” Lisa said, still a little shocked at how different he’d seemed. More confident. More sure of himself and sure of what he wanted. More…ready.
She smiled at Riley, and added, “Okay, look, I know we were planning dinner tonight, but he just asked me out, and I didn’t tell you, but I dated him a little bit ago, and I really like him.” Lisa knew she was talking too fast, but Riley would be able to keep up. Her eyes sparkled, and she nodded.
“You go right ahead,” Riley said. “I’ll be here for a month, and there will be plenty of time for you to tell me all about him.” She glanced over her shoulder as if Cal would still be standing there, but Lisa knew he wasn’t. “Because, wow.”
“It’s Cal,” Lisa said, a burst of laughter coming out of her mouth next. “We’ve worked with him for years.”
“Sometimes the stars just need to align,” Riley said. “I can’t wait to hear about it.”
Lisa couldn’t wait to tell her. But at the moment, she also couldn’t wait to see Cal again. She grabbed her phone and sent him a quick text.
Yes.
“Okay, let’s go plan your wedding,” she said to Riley, another squeal coming out of her mouth. This time, it was for Riley—and for her date with Cal that night.
Chapter Twenty
Cal paced from the front door to the kitchen table, where Sierra bent over to light the last candle. “Dad,” she said. “You have to chill.”
“What if this doesn’t work?” He rubbed his hands together, so nervous. Lisa had only sent him one single word since this morning when he’d crashed her party at Your Tidal Forever.
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