Chapter 3
Marie couldn’t believe she’d almost blurted out that her finances were already stretched so thin she could read a book through them. Being around Reece was dangerous. He had a way of extracting things from her without her even knowing he was doing it.
The doors to the emergency room whooshed open, and the interior of the money-sucking facility loomed.
Okay, Lord, here we go. I could really use some help here. I’m sure You were looking over my shoulder when I was balancing my checkbook the other day? She paused. Why was it she never seemed to turn to God with her concerns before she worried and agonized about them till she was nearly a blubbering puddle? She winced a glance upward. Forgive me? You are probably wishing I would learn to quit fretting about You providing so You could move on to some other lesson, huh? If I quit stressing, will You drop a big check from the sky? She wrinkled her nose as they stopped before an unoccupied desk, behind which a door stood ajar. Probably doesn’t work like that, huh? I know. Okay, I’m trying to let this go. I trust You, I really do. And I’m so thankful for all the ways You’ve changed me. Help me to keep growing and learning to trust more.
Reece wore a worried frown. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yep. Just praying a little.”
An emotion she couldn’t quite peg softened his features and brightened his eyes. He opened his mouth like he wanted to respond, but just then a woman in blue scrubs bustled through the door and plopped into the chair behind the desk. She took in Reece and Alyssa first, and then her focus zoned in on Marie’s bloody shirt. One eyebrow quirked. “What can we do for you today?”
Marie lifted the offending appendage still clamped carefully in her other fist. “I cut my finger.”
The nurse was already pulling up a form on her computer. “I can see that. How did you cut it, and how deep did it look?”
“Uh…on a broken pickle jar, and I think it’s pretty deep.”
“How much pain are you in on a scale of one to ten? Ten being the most pain you’ve ever felt in your life.”
Marie scrunched up her face. Did it matter if she wasn’t in too much pain but might bleed a bucket on their floor? “Two, maybe three?”
The questions continued…and continued. Marie found a moment to be thankful Alyssa was sound asleep and that Reece was standing by so patiently and even digging out her insurance card for her when he really should be home with his groceries already. And then the dreaded words she’d known were coming.
“Your co-pay is seventy-five dollars. How would you like to pay for it today?”
Marie swallowed. It might as well be a thousand. She would just have to put it on the credit card she’d been trying to pay off. It still carried a good percentage of the medical costs she’d incurred when Alyssa was born a couple of weeks prematurely and had needed to stay extra days in the neonatal unit. And the percentage rate was outrageous, but she didn’t have any other options.
She glanced apologetically at Reece. “Could you grab the Visa card in my wallet? It has an Oregon Duck logo on it.”
Reece gave her an exaggerated wince as he angled his body so Alyssa would stay on his shoulder and dug into her purse for the third time that day. “The Ducks? Everyone knows OSU is the better school.” He winked.
A tremor of awareness shot through her. She really needed to put the brakes on her disobedient emotions. She’d barely thought of Dan since she’d heard Reece’s voice in the store, and then only because Alyssa had brought him up. Guilt niggled at her. After all, she’d promised the man she would think about his proposal.
Reece was eyeing her as though he expected a response.
She swallowed and shrugged. “The duck was cuter.” And would have been the school of her choice if she hadn’t gotten pregnant her senior year of high school.
Alyssa’s sweet face came into focus. Even though she was the best mistake Marie had ever made, it still pained her to know she’d never be able to tell Alyssa the name of her father. Wasn’t it going to be some conversation one day when Alyssa grew old enough to ask?
“Mom, who’s my dad?”
“I don’t know, honey, could be any one of a number of guys I met down at Pete’s Bar.”
Marie blinked herself back to the present and noticed Reece was still fumbling to find her card. It was only a moment before he seemed to recover, though, and he handed it to the nurse.
“All right, we’ll just get you to sign the slip after we can get your finger stitched up for you. Right this way, please.”
Thirty minutes later, they were on their way out of the hospital parking lot, Marie with a numb finger that had required seven stitches and a prescription for antibiotics she probably shouldn’t spend money on. Thankfully, they’d said she only nicked the tendon and it should heal up on its own.
It was only 1:00 p.m., but exhaustion gritted behind her eyelids, and there really wasn’t anything at the grocery store they couldn’t live without until tomorrow. Besides, if she didn’t get away from this man’s kind thoughtfulness real soon, she was going to forget she was as contented as a seagull at a picnic with her life just the way it was. Which was one of the reasons she’d been putting Dan off for a while now. “Reece, if you don’t mind, could you just drop us at my apartment? I don’t really need the groceries until tomorrow. I’ll just go back and make another run at it after church.”
He angled her a quick look, then returned his focus to the road. There was a bit of puzzlement on his face, but he only resettled his hat and said, “What about your prescription?”
She waved a hand and tried to come up with something that wouldn’t be an outright lie. “Alyssa can finish her nap at home. And we live close to the pharmacy.”
“Okay. Not a problem.”
“Thanks. Just turn right on Coral. And I’m only a block down on the right.”
“I remember. So…church? You still attend with Taysia?” Reece’s thumbs tapped out a rhythm on the steering wheel.
“Oh, yeah, we all still go together.”
“They picking you up?”
She frowned. “No. Why would they—Oh! My car!” She felt the burn of humiliation. He must think she was such a ditz. “Normally I drive Alyssa and me. But I’m sure they won’t mind picking us up tomorrow. I’ll just give them a call.” What was she going to do about the betrayal of her Corolla? She pushed the thought aside. Her Judas of a car was a problem for another day.
He cleared his throat and turned on his blinker as Coral approached. “I can pick you up, if you like.”
Hadn’t she just been telling herself she needed to eschew the man’s kindness? Yet, it would be easier just to have him get them. And she couldn’t just skip tomorrow, because she was on for Sweet Inspirations. Maybe she should call Dan and have him get them? But he lived on the other side of the church from them.
She bit her lip in indecision for a moment before finally saying, “I guess if you don’t mind, it would be a big help. Thank you.”
“Happy to help.”
Her pulse launched into a flat-out sprint, and she clenched her teeth in chagrin. He was only offering as a friend. And besides, if it was an offer of more, her answer would be a firm no. This was the man who had shredded her heart with the efficiency of a meat grinder. And on top of that…even if she was willing to risk her heart to him again, there was no doubt that a guy like Reece deserved a woman who didn’t come with so much baggage. Accepting his help would only complicate matters. So what was she thinking?
She wasn’t. That’s what. It was her exhaustion doing the thinking for her. She would just have to be doubly on her guard, that was all.
Reece eased to a stop in the space in front of her building, an old two-story house which had been converted into four apartments, two up and two down.
So he had remembered where she lived.
He hopped out and jogged around to her side to get Alyssa. “I’ll get her for you.”
Since she didn’t know how she would have managed
to haul Alyssa and the big car seat all the way up the narrow staircase with her numb finger that resembled a mini banana, she only stepped back and thanked him. “I’ll get the car seat.”
When they stepped into her living room from the upper hallway, Reece paused and looked around.
As Marie set the car seat into the small coat closet, where it would be out of the way for the moment, she followed his gaze around her apartment.
She’d never had a lot of money, and her tastes tended toward shabby chic. She’d repurposed an old, straight wooden ladder, painted white and distressed, into a bookshelf along one wall. Several of Alyssa’s books lay in a catawampus heap toward one end. An old window-paneled door, which she’d converted into a mirror with coat hooks along the bottom, hung just below the shelf. Even though she liked the scuffed-paint look she’d given the piece, Reece probably only saw scratched-up junk as he hooked his Stetson on one of the hooks.
The two white wicker chairs were cushioned with pillows she’d made from old jeans—she’d found both the chairs and the jeans at a garage sale and been hit with the inspiration for the project. And the loveseat which sat against the living room’s one blue wall had come from Goodwill. One of the cushions had been torn, but she’d duct taped it closed and then sewn a couch cover from white flat sheets. Two more of the jean pillows lay on the floor near the TV. Alyssa must have forgotten to return them to their place this morning before they left for the store.
Marie hurried to pick them up. “Uh…Alyssa’s room is just through here.” She tossed the pillows onto the couch and hustled down the hall, pushing open the door to Alyssa’s room and kicking aside stuffed animals in a path to the bed. She pulled down the blankets.
Reece gently deposited Alyssa against her pillow and stepped back.
Since it was such a warm day, Marie just pulled the sheet up over Alyssa and then turned for the hallway. But Reece hadn’t backed away more than a couple steps, and she almost barreled into him. She sucked in a gasp of surprise. But he didn’t seem to take notice. His attention roamed the room, taking in the eclectic array of crackled pink decor.
Marie pressed her lips together. The only thing she’d actually spent any real money on in this room was the mattress her daughter slept on. Everything else from the dresser to the headboard had been either a gift or ten dollars or less at garage sales or thrift shops. Even the paint in browns and pinks that she’d used to paint and then distress the bed and dresser had been in a free pile at a garage sale. She couldn’t tell by Reece’s expression whether he liked the look or not.
And why, oh, why did she care whether he liked it in the first place? Marie cleared her throat.
The sound seemed to jolt him into action, and he led the way back to the living room.
He unhooked his Stetson and fingered the brim, studying the décor in the room once more before pausing to assess her.
She rested her hands on the back of one of the wicker chairs and tried not to let her fingers fidget with one of the shaggy seams on the denim pillow. To no avail.
Reece’s gaze softened, and then warmed, and then twinkled. “It’s really nice to see you again.”
Drat her misbehaving heart. She swallowed. And instead of saying it was nice to see him too and shooing him out the door like she should, her mouth opened and offered, “I’m sorry to hear about your dad. Let me know if there’s any way I can help.”
He tapped the brim of his hat against his Levi-clad thigh, his eyes boring into hers. “You’re different.”
She chewed the inside of her lip. So he’d noticed. That ought to give her some measure of comfort. She dipped her chin in a nod.
She really had changed since he’d last seen her. Gone was the nurture-starved girl-woman who’d been looking for love in all the wrong places. Offering her body to—even throwing herself at—any man who would have her (or wouldn’t have her, in the case of Reece), in hopes of fulfilling the craving, the gaping need, the itch nothing seemed to be able to scratch. “I finally found the love I’d been searching for in all the wrong ways.”
“Alyssa mentioned a Mr. Jackson. Please tell me that isn’t Dan Jackson?”
Marie tilted up her chin.
Dan had been the consummate playboy in high school. If there was a party, Dan was there and likely had a hand in planning it. But he’d done a lot of growing up in the past four years and was a different guy now. He even came to church with her most Sundays. So what if he had some things in his past he was still dealing with? Heaven knew, she did too. Dan was good for her, and she was good for him. It was just easier to remember that when she wasn’t looking into a pair of green eyes flecked with amber and wanting to run her fingers over the indentation in dark curls caused by one black cowboy hat. “Yes, Dan Jackson. He’s different than you remember him.”
Reece tapped the hat against his leg again, and a furrow formed between his brows. “So you found the love you’d been searching for with Dan Jackson?”
A laugh popped loose before she could stop it. She scooped a hand back through her hair. “No. I meant Jesus.” Come to think of it, Jesus would probably want her to make a few things right with Reece. She glanced down and didn’t even try to stop herself from fiddling this time. “Reece, I really owe you an apology. That night when I…when I…” She clenched her eyes shut.
Visions of her younger self pressing her body hard against his as they lay on the warm beach sand at dusk. Of her fingers undoing the buttons of his shirt and gliding over the firm warmth of his torso as she kissed him passionately—Stop.
Her face felt like a frying pan ready to sear a steak for the umpteenth time today. “Reece, I’m very ashamed of many things, and that night with you is one of them. I hope you can forgive me. I’m trying to learn to lean on Jesus’ forgiveness and learning to forgive myself. And I want you to know I totally understand now why you broke things off the way you did. I must have…repulsed you.”
He chuckled, low and raspy.
Her gaze flew to his.
“You remember the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, Marie?”
He was changing the subject? She frowned but gave a little nod.
“I can tell you from personal experience he ran because he was tempted as all get out to give in.” With that, he tipped his hat back onto his head, lifted his chin to peer at her from under the brim, and then offered a wink just before he opened the door. “I’ll be by at nine thirty to pick you up.” Her door clicked shut behind him.
Marie’s legs gave out, and she sank to her knees on the floor.
Her thoughts returned for just a moment to the night so many years ago. The night Reece had left his shirt in her hand and quite literally ran to his car and left her in the sand alone. He’d texted her the next day to say he couldn’t see her anymore and had been only distantly friendly to her every time she’d seen him after that. Every time until this one.
Oh boy. She scooped the fingers of her good hand through her hair. This day was not going as she’d planned.
Chapter 4
Reece changed out of his blood-stained jeans and washed up, then started bringing in the bags of groceries from the truck. He set the last of the bags on Mom’s counter and swiped his finger into the bowl of cream cheese frosting she was spreading on his favorite carrot cake.
Without hesitation, she swatted the back of his hand with her spatula. “Reece Cahill, I taught you better!”
He grinned and unrepentantly stuck his finger into his mouth. Just like old times.
Well…except for the hospital bed sitting in the living room. But he wouldn’t linger on melancholy thoughts right now.
“Mmmmm. Good stuff.” He turned and cleaned his hands at the sink. “Listen, I’m going to check on Dad, then I have to run some groceries back into town, but I’ll be sure to be here by five thirty for tonight’s big shindig, alright?”
Mom eyed him speculatively. She never was one to miss a thing. But she didn’t pry, only said, “Why not bring her, whoever she i
s, to the barbeque tonight. I’m sure your father would love to meet her.”
He hightailed it from the kitchen and her prying eyes without responding. What would Mom say if she knew he’d bumped into Marie again? She’d never been thrilled by the fact that he’d dated her in the first place. And had been vocally relieved when he’d announced he’d broken up with her. But if he were honest, he’d have to admit that he’d never quite gotten over her. And now, maybe he wouldn’t have to… He swallowed at the dryness the thought put in his mouth. He needed to take things slow, but his heart had nearly tripped over itself in excitement when Marie had said she’d found the love she’d been searching for all her life in Jesus. And she’d laughed about it being Dan—that had also been a relief.
He stepped quietly into the living room. Dad’s head had slipped off his pillow and was canted at an odd angle. The TV still played a very grainy version of an old Bonanza rerun. Reece adjusted Dad’s head more comfortably onto the pillow and lowered his bed a little, then clicked off the TV. Softly, he dropped one hand onto Dad’s shoulder and squeezed. What were they going to do about running Serenity Shores when Dad passed? Reece pressed his lips together and pondered their options. There were really only two. Either they needed to sell, or he needed to move back home permanently to help run the place. There was no way Mom could do it on her own.
And Mom’s heart wouldn’t be in selling.
Running this place with her wouldn’t really be so bad. Especially not with one beautiful brunette and her cute little girl just across town. Thinking of Marie reminded him of the new cabins Dad had built along the little bluff overlooking the ocean last year before he took so sick. The minute he’d seen how she’d decorated her place, he’d thought of those bare little cabins and the potential Marie could bring to them.
Mom did a great job of helping Dad run this place, but she was more function over beauty. She kept the books and made sure all supplies were kept in stock. That, and her cooking. Her cooking was to die for.
Surprisingly it had been Dad who thought of several of the little aesthetic touches around the place. Dad was the one who’d taken the old red canoes and turned them into flowerbeds under the front windows. He was the one who’d thought to add the gazebo at the far corner of the lawn overlooking the beach, and had even draped fishing nets and tackle along the outside to make it look like it belonged.
Caught in the Current (Pacific Shores Book 2) Page 3
