by Rula Sinara
“It’s wonderful, Caden! Thank you.” She gave him a huge hug.
“My gift to you works well with his and we didn’t even plan it. Here.” Damon handed her a box. She opened it and looked at him like it was her turn to cry. She lifted the necklace out and held it up to her neck. He knew she’d understand. It was a small, silver ocean wave. Nothing fancy or gaudy because that wasn’t her style. But it represented water—a passion that connected them—and her visit here, so that she’d never forget.
“I have no words.” Her voice hitched and she cleared her throat.
“Here, I’ll clasp it for you.” He scooted closer and she pulled her hair to the side. He worked the clasp at the back of her neck. Her skin was soft and warm as it brushed his knuckles and he could see goose bumps trail along her skin from his touch. He sat back a few feet away from her and she let go of her hair.
“It’s really nice,” Caden said, leaning in to get a closer look.
“Thank you. It’s perfect.”
“That leaves two for you. Which one do you want to open first?” Damon asked Caden.
“Um. I’ll do Aunt Zuri’s first.” He ripped open the snowman wrapping paper and his eyes widened. “No way! Are you serious? But I’m not thirteen yet.”
“I think you’ve earned it and I’m convinced you shouldn’t have to wait.” She glanced over at Damon. She had listened to him and trusted his opinion and judgment about getting Caden a cell phone. That meant everything to him. “There will be rules of course, for safety reasons.”
Caden almost knocked her backward with his hug. She laughed and hugged him back.
“You’re pulling a Duck on me,” she said.
“This is awesome. Thanks, Aunt Zuri. Okay, last one.”
“Careful how you open it. It might rip with the wrapping,” Damon warned. Caden slowed down and peeled the tape off the ends and middle, then unfolded the wrapping paper. He froze. He didn’t move at all. Damon started to worry. Maybe he’d guessed wrong when it came to what his kid would like.
Caden let out a breath that sounded more like he was going to hyperventilate. He looked stunned.
“Hold it up,” Zuri said, trying to figure out why he was speechless.
Caden held the book up in what seemed like slow motion. A round, gold signed-by-the-author sticker glistened in the light from the Christmas tree.
“I... I don’t get it. I don’t believe it. This isn’t supposed to release for at least another month. Like, it’s not out yet.” His voice cracked as he got louder. He angled it for his aunt to see. “It’s the next Chase Falcon book.” He flipped open the front cover. “It’s signed. With my name! Look. ‘Caden, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. D. L. Dylan.’ How’d you get this?”
“I’m wondering the same thing. How’d you get a book that hasn’t been released yet?” Zuri asked. Sarcasm at its best.
“I know someone who knows the author’s agent and when I found out that you liked the series so much, I made a call and got an advanced release copy signed for you. They usually only give those to reviewers, but an exception was made for you. Sometimes it’s good to have connections,” Damon said, giving her a side look.
Caden pulled a Duck, as Zuri put it, on him, as well.
“I hope you like it.”
“Are you kidding me? I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”
“That’s an incredible gift,” Zuri said. “Thanks for going out of your way to get that for him. I actually read the one you brought on the trip and it was really, really good.”
“You read it before the first ones? Aw, man, Aunt Zuri. That’s worse than scraping your fingernails on a chalkboard.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty bad. You are really getting carried away with the rule breaking. Reading books out of order? I’m sorry but your stocking is getting stuffed with coal.”
“Come on, guys. What happened to forgiveness as a virtue?” Zuri gave them a sad puppy face.
“We’ll think about it,” Caden said. “I finished the last one, so I’m allowed to start reading this one right this minute. I can’t wait. Do you guys care?”
The plan was for them to stay the night so that Melanie could spend time with her family and, well, Caden could spend time with his. Damon had two bedrooms other than his office, so he was going to let Zuri use the extra room and Caden would sleep on the couch.
“I’m actually feeling really tired. I wouldn’t mind going to bed early,” Zuri said.
Damon had wanted to stay up longer with them, but he understood.
“Let me get a blanket for Caden. Follow me, Zuri, and I’ll show you the spare room.”
She did follow him, and he pointed out the bathroom on the way. He took down two extra blankets from the closet and put one on her bed.
“I’ll take this to Caden. If you need anything else in here, just let me know.”
“Thanks. I’m good. And thank you for this.” She touched the necklace. Damon lifted her chin and pressed his lips to hers. He wanted it to be a promise that every evening would be like this—the three of them together like a family—but she did look tired and he didn’t want to scare her with too much too soon.
“I’m glad you like it. Get some rest.”
He closed the door and took the extra cover to Caden. Duck was already taking up half of the couch next to him.
“You can use this if you get cold, but my guess is that Duck’s going to keep that from happening. I’m in the room at the end of the hall and Zuri’s in the one on the right, next to the bathroom. Okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
Damon turned off the kitchen light. He’d need to remember to wake up before Caden to sneak the other presents under the tree.
“Dad...” God, he’d never get tired of hearing his son call him that “...thanks.”
“You bet. Good night.”
* * *
TWO HOURS INTO reading and Caden needed to pee really badly, but it was so hard to put the book down. He also had to figure out how to get up when Duck was half covering his right leg.
He managed to get off the couch and he set the book carefully on the table. On second thought, what if Duck slobbered on it...or worse, chewed it up? He moved it over to the shelf where the stockings hung, then went down the hall to use the bathroom. He tried to be quiet and made quick time of his business. He really was getting sleepy, but he wanted to read more. Maybe he should just finish the book tomorrow. No, he needed to at least finish the chapter he was on. Chase Falcon was in the middle of a covert operation, sneaking through the house of a government traitor in search of evidence. From the way it read, he was about to get caught.
Caden left the bathroom but looked to his right when he heard a cough. It came from the room next to him. Was his aunt getting sick? The other door at the end of the hall was his dad’s room. Then what was the room across from him?
It wasn’t his business. His mom and his aunt taught him never to snoop. He was supposed to respect rules and people’s privacy, but it wasn’t like she’d never broken rules before. Surely she had. Besides, checking out a room was harmless. Breaking into the lighthouse with Sara had been more daring than this. He was just curious. He touched the doorknob. It wasn’t like he was going to steal anything. He just felt like he was channeling his inner Falcon. Be gutsy like him. Adventurous. He turned the knob.
The door opened and he stepped in, hoping Duck wouldn’t come and bark or knock something over and wake everyone up. He flicked on a lamp and looked around. Two big computer screens, that were turned off, sat on a desk near a window. A shelf of books and...what?
He looked closer. The entire Chase Falcon series was there. But not only one copy of each. There were multiple copies. There was a box next to the shelf with the upcoming release stacked in it. His pulse started racing. No, it couldn’t be. He went over to the piles of notes on the desk nea
r the computers. Handwritten notes. Some were printouts. Some were sticky notes. He couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t possible.
His dad wrote the Chase Falcon series? But wouldn’t he have said something earlier? Why didn’t he? Did everyone else know? Did Sara?
It didn’t make sense. His aunt had been worried about the books. Did his father not think that Caden was worth sharing this with? He’d given him a signed book and everything and flat out lied about how he’d gotten the autograph. Did Aunt Zuri know the truth and go along with the lie...just like before?
He hated this. He hated being treated like a baby. Sara was the only person he could trust around here. He needed to ask her if she knew Damon was D. L. Dylan. He really hoped she didn’t know about this. Because if she did, that would mean that she had lied to him, too. And he wouldn’t be able to handle that. It would be too much.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ZURI WASN’T FEELING so hot. She really hoped it wasn’t a cold. Maybe she was just suffering from holiday exhaustion. On the surface, Caden seemed to have had a great Christmas morning yesterday. Damon had surprised him by piling unexpected presents under the tree. She hadn’t bought nearly as many and felt a bit inadequate, but she understood Damon’s need to try and make up for lost time. As long as Caden was happy that was all that mattered. But something about her nephew was off. He had been quieter and a tad moody yesterday. When she had tried to put her hand against his forehead to check for fever, he swatted her away and told her to stop hovering. He insisted he was fine and just hadn’t slept well because he’d stayed up reading. But he was still irritable today. Maybe it was nothing more than a Christmas crash. Lots of people experienced it.
He’d spoken to his grandparents—her parents—to say Merry Christmas, but only after Zuri explained that they didn’t know about his dad and that they should wait to tell them in person. Luckily, he understood. He had sounded peppier talking to them, but then his tone had changed as soon as they hung up. She really hoped he wasn’t getting sick. Unless it wasn’t that at all. She closed her eyes and dried the corners with her hands. This was his first Christmas without his mom. Sobs tangled in her chest and she couldn’t get them out. She breathed through the pressure and blinked away the sting in her eyes.
I wish you were here, Vera.
That had to be it. Caden needed space and time. Except he was also invited to lunch at the boardwalk restaurant with Sara and her parents today and he hadn’t hesitated to accept. It was like he couldn’t wait to get away from Zuri. Was this about the Christmas gifts? Had he faked liking his presents just to be polite? Was he disappointed? Zuri scrunched her nose. Was this about a puppy? Oh God. When he first met Duck he had said he’d take a puppy any day over a cell phone. She didn’t think he was being serious at the time. He had Duck to play with and getting a pup was a huge deal. She wiped her palm across her eyes and sighed. Well, she’d have a talk with him later to get to the bottom of it.
Zuri walked along the beach toward Damon’s place. She was carrying the used copy of Damon’s—Dylan’s—book that Caden had bought and had promised him she’d get Damon to see if he could get it autographed by the author for him, like he did with the advanced copy. But she had forgotten her phone at the bed-and-breakfast, right where she’d plugged it in to charge that morning. Still, she didn’t feel the panicked need to retrieve it the way she always felt back home. This was a small town. A person didn’t need to go far to talk to another or to find out everyone’s news.
She and Caden hadn’t seen Damon since leaving his place after a pancake breakfast yesterday. He had told her he was going to be busy working. With the wind picking up again and the sky on the horizon looking overcast, she knew he had his hands full with ocean patrol duties.
They didn’t have much time before she was scheduled to head back to Boston, and she wanted to spend as much of it as possible with him. She also needed to know that he’d be okay with leaving things as they were with Caden. She didn’t mind him having rights, she just didn’t want him physically taking the boy away from everyone he knew up north, including herself.
But what if you became a family? What if this thing between you and Damon is more? Then everything else would be moot because you’d all be together no matter what.
Was that possible? She couldn’t make that assumption. Going from a few kisses to being a family...as in marriage...was a huge leap. They weren’t there yet. Were they? He hadn’t said anything to that effect. Not specifically.
Why was she so darn awkward and clueless when it came to relationship issues? She really needed to see him and talk to him. She didn’t want to interrupt his workday, but it was lunchtime, so she was hoping to catch him either at home or at the station. She knew he wouldn’t have much time to talk, but seeing him, hugging him, would be a reassurance and they could decide on when he’d have time for just the two of them.
Sand filled her sneakers as she trudged along the edge of where beach met dunes. The sounds of the sea and the life that depended upon it were becoming such a part of her. The scent of saltwater air and the seaweed and shells that lay listless along the shore filled her. She looked toward the horizon.
“In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.” It was her father’s favorite quote by the famous poet Khalil Gibran. Was the secret to finding happiness right here in Turtleback? Water droplets traveled and connected ocean to river to pond and every molecule that rained upon them. Had one of those drops led her here? Was this her destiny? How could it be? This would all be gone once she returned to Boston.
The sounds and smells of city traffic and restless people, of chemicals and restaurants and muddy snow piling along the roads rushed through her mind. Did she miss it? Or would she miss this? What about Caden? How would he react in a few days when she reminded him it was time to leave? How often would they be able to return to visit? There would be school and work schedules and the splitting of time between both sets of grandparents and relatives once they all found out.
The ocean was angry and petulant today, reaching higher onto the shoreline as the waves slapped and clawed in her direction. She turned her face away from the wind that shoved against her back and made her way through the dunes in front of Damon’s place. The clumps of reeds swaying to either side of her slashed their blades against her hands and jeans as she approached his house from the beach. The beam she’d leaned against when he’d first kissed her looked barren. Lonely. She touched her fingers to her lips then hugged her arms around herself. The temperature seemed to have dropped a little today.
She walked past the beam and other stilts that lifted the house above potential storm tides and made her way toward the front. She didn’t want to use the deck, since he wasn’t expecting her. She almost made it to the front but stopped when she saw the silver luxury car pulling into his gravel parking area. It wasn’t his. It looked out of place for Turtleback. Too shiny and new. A tall, gorgeous woman got out of the car, first unfolding long slender legs that were barely covered by her skirt, then the rest of her. She was dressed like she’d stepped off the runway of a Paris fashion show.
The old Zuri would have hidden behind the front steps. But she wasn’t that shy, timid girl anymore. She marched forward. Whoever this person was, they were on private property. Damon had told her he used a pseudonym for a reason. For protection. As she got closer, she was struck again by how beautiful the woman was. Zuri shook her head, confident in the blossoming relationship between her and Damon. He had made his feelings clear. He had assured her she mattered. She trusted him.
She just hated how jealous she was feeling, how her old insecurities edged back. She looked down at her jeans and old sweatshirt, then at the supermodel-like woman, who was fumbling in her purse for something. Yep, jealous and insecure. Just as she used to feel sitting in the lunchroom at school. You’re not a kid anymore. Stand your ground.
She hugged the book she was carr
ying to her chest and headed right for the car. The woman looked up and narrowed her eyes. Zuri could see her gaze flit from her sneakers and jeans to her sweatshirt.
“Hi. Can I help you?” she asked. Her tone sounded as if Zuri was the one intruding in her space.
“I was wondering the same.”
“I haven’t seen you before around here,” the woman said.
“I’m not from here, but—”
“Ah, I see. Well, you’re trespassing on private property. So, if you don’t mind, you’ll need to get back to the beach.”
“I’m actually here to see the owner of the house. Who are you?” Zuri asked.
“Scarlett. His girlfriend. He’s expecting me, so I know he’s not expecting you and he doesn’t take kindly to trespassers, so if you don’t want me calling the sheriff, you should go.”
Girlfriend?
Zuri kept as straight a face as possible. She forced a smile.
“No problem. My mistake.” Her stomach felt like it had been sucked out to sea by a riptide.
She spun on her heel and walked back in the direction she’d come from. She felt sick. Confused. Stupid. She marched over the first dune pausing only when she heard a door open and Damon’s voice. Keep walking. Don’t stop. She stopped and crouched behind some reeds and, against her better judgment, looked over to where Scarlett parked. Damon was walking toward the woman.
“What are you doing here? I told you this was a bad time and that I’d call you soon.” Damon sounded nervous.
Scarlett hugged him and planted a kiss on his face, then looped her arm in his. “Come on. You know why I’m here and I’m not leaving until I’m satisfied that I’ll be getting what I want.”
Zuri covered her face and retreated farther past the dunes. Everything from the past assaulted her—the dare, Damon’s rejection, the heartbreak she’d suffered the night he’d taken Vera to prom and, later, the news her sister was carrying his child. Tears streamed down her face. You two-timing, lying—
