Nope. Plunging underwater, feeling instantly weightless and free, she had no doubt that dumping Danny and her boss were two of the smartest things she’d done in one hell of a long time. She could only hope moving home turned out to be an equally good idea.
Doing her best to keep an eye out for everyone in her group, Ava also kept a lookout for something that might be especially fun for her people. Within minutes the first opportunity swam past her. Tucking her knees and spinning about, she waved her arm in the direction of the passing gray tipped shark. A common and generally harmless staple of the local waters, they didn’t always cooperate and come out to play with the tourists. So this one’s unlikely appearance she would take as a good sign.
For the remainder of the dive she pointed out the raccoon butterfly fish and a school of yellow tang. At one point Forrest tapped her to point out the whitemouth moray eel that seemed to be lounging about waiting for them. By the end of their time, Forrest was showing the other couple more colorful fish and corals than she was. At first it surprised her that he even noticed his surroundings, but something about the way he sought out the eager young couple, sharing his discoveries, tugged at her already-curious heart strings. If she were a betting woman, she’d wager that Mr. Can’t Put Down His Cell Phone would catch on quick to the concept of R and R. And, maybe, she’d make sure to be along for the ride.
Chapter Six
Rinsing off his mask in the clean-water barrel, John wished he’d brought an underwater camera. He’d learned to scuba dive as a teen on a cruise, one of the last vacations his domineering father had made time for as a family. John’s skills learned in the onboard pool were tested at the next few ports, and then again on another vacation with only his sisters and the nanny. But somehow the childhood memory wasn’t anywhere near as pleasant as the experience he’d just had.
It could have been that, as a teenager, he had had so little stress in his life to appreciate the contrast of moving nearly weightless among the Hawaiian sea life. Or perhaps he simply had been too young to appreciate the underwater beauty. What teen was impressed by a small yellow-and-black striped fish? Or maybe it was the company. There certainly hadn’t been any dive leaders with curves like Ava’s when he’d been learning. Even though he wasn’t looking for any recreational activities with the opposite sex, he’d have to be a blind man not to notice the way the wet suit hugged Ava’s form. And he’d have to be a eunuch not to react at least a little. And he was reacting. And more than a little.
“Here you go.” Ava handed him a plate with animal crackers and fresh fruit. “A small snack between dives.”
“Thank you.” He grabbed the paper plate. “I’d forgotten what it feels like down there.”
Big brown eyes smiled at him. “I know what you mean.”
“You?” He didn’t get it. With a business like this, he’d have thought the entire family lived in the water as much as on land.
Ava hefted a lazy shoulder, her smile fading. “Let’s just say, I’m working on making up for past mistakes.”
Tiny pins pricked at his skin. He didn’t like the sadness he saw flicker in her gaze. Nor the idea of what mistakes in her past might haunt her. “I think I know what you mean.” His play on her words was rewarded with her face brightening in another broad smile, and he decided he liked making her smile. Very much.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to hand out the rest of these.” She carried two similar plates to the young couple, who John would bet were on their honeymoon or something damn close to it. If they weren’t fresh off the altar, they were at least close enough after the ceremony for reality not to have crept into their world. A newly found soft spot in his chest almost envied them. Almost.
When he’d first started his business, there was no time for a social life. At least not one that consisted of more than an occasional dinner and, if he was lucky, a follow-up breakfast. By the time FJM Global Development and International Construction was established, and he’d made the effort to indulge in a relationship that might last past two meals, he found that the dating world had changed. Not only was the name John Maplewood on all the most-eligible-bachelor lists in the greater Los Angeles area but he’d made it on the radar of all social-climbing single women in the continental United States. Which wouldn’t have been such a horrible thing, if what seemed to be so endearing had been his charming smile more than his bank balance.
It turns out that obscene sums of money transformed the nicest of schoolteachers, nurses, and a myriad of other women in middle-class occupations into ambitious bloodsuckers with Christmas lists to rival that of an Arab sheikh.
“Would you like more?” Ava returned, holding the uncovered jar of animal crackers to him.
He shook his head, willing her to sit instead and visit. Talk. “You’ve got enough cookies there for the rest of the season.”
“Costco. Like Texas, everything is big.” The slight constant smile bloomed into something stronger. And a little unbalancing. “Don’t underestimate the appetite a good dive works up.”
His mind darted off down a wayward path with multiple ways to satisfy her appetite. Using a high dose of self-control, he dragged his thoughts, kicking and screaming, back to polite conversation. “I’ve heard said, many a person has gone broke saving money at the megawarehouse stores.”
“That sounds about right.” Laughing softly, Ava screwed the cover on the jar. “We’ll be arriving at the next spot in a few minutes.”
“Looking forward to it.” And he was. As a matter of fact, later, when they returned to the shop, he would pick up some equipment of his own. Who knows? Maybe if he actually owned his own diving gear, he might just use it after leaving Hawaii. Better still, maybe Ava could find the time to teach him a thing or two. Now didn’t that have encouraging possibilities?
* * *
“Here. You can take these inside. Someone will tell you where to put them.” Ava handed Forrest a tub of wet suits.
“Don’t be silly.” Billy slapped him on the back. “We can handle it. Besides, Nick is anxious to meet you.”
“Did I hear my name taken in vain again?” Grinning like a fool, Nick Harper, Billy’s best friend, former EOD navy team member and partner in the Big Island Dive shop, appeared at the side of the pickup and turned to face Forrest. “You must be Maggie’s brother.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“Nice to meet you. Come on inside, and I’ll introduce you around.” Nudging John toward the door, Nick looked at Ava. “You’ll want to come too. Kara is inside.”
“With the baby?” There was no need for Nick to answer. Ava had swooped past the lingering men and rushed into the shop in such a hurry to see Nick’s wife and their new daughter she almost didn’t notice Lexie at the register. Practically tripping over her own feet, she screeched to a halt. “Wow, two surprises. What are you doing here?”
“Same as everyone else. We came to see the baby.”
“We?”
“Yeah.” Lexie, the former manager of the dive shop, set down a small stack of papers and came around to stand beside Ava. “Jim’s actually got some leave, so we opted to grab the earliest available flight leaving Honolulu and come home.”
“And the first place you come is to work the register?”
A tinge of pink flushed Lexie’s cheek, as she shook her head. “Not exactly. Nick mentioned he couldn’t find the updated price sheets for the new line of wet suits, so I came out here to see if I could.”
“And you did.” It wasn’t a question.
“I did.” Lexie linked her arm with Ava’s. “I’ll flip you for who gets to hold Catherine first.”
At the open office door, both friends stopped in their tracks. Jim, Lexie’s husband, stood by the large window, cradling baby Catherine securely in his arms, while holding her up slightly to see outside. In a tone of voice suitable for lullabies, he softly explained to the infant the proper way to tie a slipknot. Slowly turning his head to look at the two women, he shifted the baby
against his shoulder and walked toward Catherine’s mother. “What? You don’t think a man who disarms ticking bombs for a living would know how to handle a baby?”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Lexie slid her arm out of Ava’s and sidled up beside her husband for a peck on the cheek.
Kara inched her way next to Ava. “Anyone taking money on who’s next to have a baby?”
“Nope.” Ava shook her head. With Jim stationed at Pearl Harbor, she’d had plenty of time to spend with Lexie during Jim’s deployments, and, if there was one thing Ava was sure of, Lexie and Jim were in no hurry to have any children of their own. The honeymoon stage for those two would last a bit longer than most couples. Ava glanced at her newlywed friends. “But they do look good together.”
“That they do,” Kara agreed.
“So we’re having a party?” Billy walked straight up to Jim. “Nice to see you. How long have you got?”
“Just a few days.”
“Not enough.”
“Never is,” Jim answered, still firmly holding the now sleeping baby in his arms.
“You know”—Kara lifted her chin to get a better look at her daughter—”you may have to come visit more often. She’s not usually much of a napper.”
“Nonsense.” Nick pushed his way past the crowd, kissed his wife on the cheek, stealing a few seconds to stare into her eyes long enough to make a promise for more private time later, and then continued to his daughter’s side. “I’ll take her.”
There was something comical in watching two well-muscled men, warriors, handing off a tiny baby with the ease of a pigskin during an afternoon of backyard football.
“I’m impressed.”
All heads turned to John.
Nick simply beamed, and Jim raised his hands, palm up, as if asking, did the entire world think he was a buffoon?
“Forrest, this is Lexie and her husband, my former teammate, Jim.”
“It’s a pleasure” made its way back and forth around the room, as Forrest got familiar with Magnolia’s closest friends on the Big Island.
“Maggie thinks very highly of all of you,” he said.
That didn’t surprise Ava. Her brother and his friends were very likeable people. It didn’t hurt any either that they were as honorable and loyal as the day was long. She seriously should have paid more attention to his navy friends.
“Suits are all hung and drying out.” Jonathan popped his head in the office.
“That reminds me,” Forrest spoke up. “I was thinking it might be worth it to buy my own gear—if I’m going to be here a while and all.”
Broad grins stretched across every person’s face in the room, each one understanding how diving could get under the skin and make itself at home. Even Kara, who had only recently taken on the sport since marrying Nick, understood the pull of the ocean for some. If Forrest Maplewood was one of those, Ava was pretty sure instead of worrying that her brother was overworked, Magnolia would be worrying that he’d slacked off to go diving. “Come on. I’ll show you the gear.”
“We’ve got a lot of new things. Maybe I shou—” Lexie was already moving away from her husband.
“That’s all right.” Ava held up her hand. The front of the shop wasn’t exactly a private hideaway, but she really wanted a few minutes almost alone with this guy to get to know him a little better. “What I don’t know, I can figure out.”
On her way along the hall to the front of the shop, Ava noticed Forrest pause to look at the wall of photos.
“Quite a collection.”
She retreated to stand beside him and pointed to the photo on the top left. “This is my favorite.” The older photo showed the entire Everrett family in front of the original dive shop. Her father grinned like a madman; her mom stood tucked into the crook of his arm, like she’d never belonged anywhere else, and their four children had picture-perfect smiles.
“The perfect family.”
“We were. Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“Well, I think this may have been the only time all four of us kids looked angelic in a photo. Usually someone held rabbit ears over someone else’s head. Or crinkled their nose, unhappy about who knew what. And a lot of pinching and crying was going on during picture taking. But since I’m pretty sure that’s normal—”
“It is,” he confirmed, looking closely at the surrounding photos.
“I’m also pretty sure none of us would change a minute of it.”
Forrest’s attention landed on a shot of Billy and Nick and some others.
Ava took notice. “That was Billy’s EOD team, around the last time Nick had re-upped.”
“I bet they made quite a team.”
Ava nodded. It was difficult to explain the depth of friendship and trust a Special Forces team had for each other. Most of the time, despite having heard so very many stories and knowing how many more she’d never be told, she didn’t think even she’d been able to grasp the strength of the bond.
“This one looks different.” A crease appeared between Forrest’s brows.
“That was taken after Billy had separated from the navy. An explosion cost him his leg, left Jim scarred, took the vision in one eye from another member of the team, Doug, but worst of all, it killed one of my brother’s closest friends.”
“Ouch.” Forrest shifted his attention to the most recent addition to the wall. Three men in front of the boat he’d been on today. “But here…”
“Things are as back to normal as possible. I give Angela, Billy’s wife, all the credit for that. Post-traumatic stress disorder manifests in a lot of different ways. I think, if she hadn’t come into his life, survivor’s guilt would have driven him to an early grave.”
This time it was Forrest who remained silent and nodded. War was hell, and death of loved ones was the part of history every military family member wished wouldn’t repeat itself. “I think I understand a little better why Magnolia and Annette Deluca don’t seem in any hurry to return to L.A.”
“I can’t even begin to imagine what Mrs. Deluca went through.”
“A formidable woman.” Lips pressed tightly together, Forrest bobbed his head and took a step back. “You were going to show me some gear.”
“Yes. Yes, I was.” Slapping her hands together in a bit of forced enthusiasm, she turned on her heel and marched into the shop area. “We’ll start with a suit.”
“Which is the best brand?” He fingered through a few hanging items.
“This one.” Ava touched one with thin colored lines along the seams. “But it’s also pretty pricey for a part-time diver. You might like this one.”
“But not pricey for a full-time diver?” He kept his attention on the first item she’d showed him, almost ignoring the more practical suit.
“It’s pricey for any diver. And the more bells and whistles you get in terms of color and design, the pricier it gets. This one on the other hand”—she lifted the suit she thought would be a better fit—”has a solid reputation and costs half of what the other one does.”
“So what you’re saying is, this one is like a Mercedes-Benz, solid built, well reputed and expensive, but this one is more like Toyota, will last one hundred thousand miles but costs half what a Mercedes does?”
“I guess you could look at it that way, though I’m partial to Ford.”
“You know cars?” One brow arched curiously on his forehead.
“No, but it’s the only used-car brand I’ve bought that didn’t fall apart on me at every turn.”
“I see.” One corner of his mouth inched up in a grin, and Ava could tell he was making an effort to hold back a full-blown smile.
“You’re making fun of me now.” Ava did her best to keep a straight face.
“No, ma’am.” He bit down on his lower lip in a further effort to contain his mirth. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
The way he struggled to keep a straight face had her almost laughing too. But she wasn’t ready to let him off the ho
ok yet. She was having too much fun playing with him. “Surely you’ve heard of brand loyalty?”
“I have.” He winked, let a full-out smile take over his face and pointed to the wet suit. “And I’ll take your advice and go with the Toyota of wet suits. I’ll need a mask, fins—”
“You’ll also want a snorkel, boots, a BCD, a regulator and Octo, and a dive computer. And don’t forget something to stow it in.” A little sorry they were back in full-business mode, Ava prattled on, covering everything and anything he might need. Partly because she was having fun back in her childhood element, but, more so, she was having fun unraveling this desk-jockey hunk. She almost doubted Magnolia had told them the truth about Forrest. So far nothing he’d done appeared even a little like a man who spent all his waking hours holed up in an office. And somewhere deep inside her, working its way up and out, she wanted to keep searching. Long enough to figure out, besides being brother to Magnolia, who was Forrest Maplewood?
Chapter Seven
John had come close to insisting on the Mercedes-Benz of dive gear, but, as Ava went to great lengths to defend his wallet, he suddenly realized he liked being thought of as a man with a budget.
What he seemed to like even better was not being thought of as a wealthy man, but just a man. With every word Ava spoke, the idea of taking on the role of ordinary workingman took root and felt…good. Not John Maplewood, owner and CEO of a world-renowned company, but Forrest Maplewood, Magnolia’s brother. Except that begged a new question. Who did they think he was, besides Magnolia’s brother? How did they think he afforded an extended vacation such as this? Though, now that he thought about it, none of the conversations involving Maggie mentioned her as anything other than the Delucas’ house manager. Could it be that Magnolia hadn’t told any of her new friends where they’d all come from?
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