“Hi, Rick. I thought we were meeting tomorrow?”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and I don’t want to wait to talk to you until tomorrow. Can we meet tonight?”
My heart fluttered in anticipation. This was my Rick. Open, forthright, didn’t play games. I smiled into the phone. “I’m kind of settled in for the night, but if you don’t mind casual, you’re welcome to come over.”
I gave him the address and slip number for the marina, and then ran to the head. I needed to look decent, even if I was going casual. Within the hour, I heard someone walking up the dock, and then there was a soft knock on the hull.
I stuck my head out. Rick stood next to the boat, hands in his pockets. He looked…distraught. Like tonight had already been a long night for him.
“Come on in.”
He stepped carefully onto the deck and made his way down into the salon.
“Have a seat. Can I get you a drink?”
“No, I don’t think so. Well, maybe some water.” He sat while I got a bottle from the fridge, filled a glass with ice, and gave it to him.
“So what brings you here?”
“You,” he said simply. “I’ve never forgotten you, and then to see you across the table at work, really shocked me.”
I smiled. “That makes two of us. What did you think, after things returned to normal?”
He cocked his head at me, not understanding the question. “I don’t know what you mean. When were things not normal?”
I opened my mouth, and then closed it. “Remind me of the last time we saw each other—it’s been a long day, and I’m a little fuzzy.” I pasted a smile on my face to hide the growing sick feeling in my stomach.
He leaned back, obviously more comfortable now that I asked something he could answer. “I think at graduation. You came to see me and Jake at graduation, remember?”
“Mostly you,” I said quietly, and he smiled. “I do remember. That’s right. You both went on a road trip that summer, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “What did you do afterwards, Tib? I always wondered.”
“I got a scholarship to Tech, and then went to DC for law school,” I couldn’t look at him. He didn’t remember. He didn’t remember! Why? Why would Dhameer tell me I could talk to him if he didn’t remember? It had been years, and the loss of being the only one to remember made my heart break all over again.
“That’s pretty impressive. Are you married?” He asked that last one hesitantly.
“No, haven’t found the right one.” I smiled at him sadly. “You?”
“Oh, yeah. Wife and two kids. They’re at her parents’ right now.” He leaned forward to pull out a wallet, and show me their pictures. She was beautiful, although I noted she looked a bit like me.
He looked up from the picture to me. “She reminded me of you when I met her.”
My heart cracked so loudly I was surprised he couldn’t hear it. I pasted a smile on my face.
“She’s lovely, Rick. So are your children. Thank you for showing them to me. I’m sure you’re a wonderful father.” I don’t know how I kept my voice steady. I’d thought about kids with Rick. Now he had them with someone else.
He smiled, unaware of anything amiss. “Thanks. They’re great. I’d love to have you and Bryant over for dinner, once we sort through this. I did a little reading when I got back to the office. You two are highly respected in the field. And you’re working with XTC, as well? Didn’t he live in the neighborhood?”
I was tired. This was not what I’d expected. Not even close. I didn’t have the strength for this small talk. Why had he come here if this was his intention? Why couldn’t this wait until tomorrow? “Yes, he did. We’re still good friends.”
“That must be exciting!” He laughed. Then he stood. “I appreciate you letting me barge in. I wanted to clear up any misunderstanding caused by my outburst this afternoon. I’m not usually so unprofessional. I didn’t realize you knew Seth, as well. He’s a great guy. But now that we’ve talked a bit, it’s all good, yes?”
I nodded. He smiled, and headed out and off my boat. I felt the boat rock as he stepped onto the dock, unaware of the devastation he left behind him.
He didn’t remember. He didn’t know what had happened. He’d never know. He’d found a great wife and had two great kids.
The weight of all that I lost from that first wish flattened me. I lay on the settee and cried until long after midnight.
***
The next morning, I woke when my cell phone rang.
“H’llo?”
“Tib, are you coming into work today? It’s after eight!” Bryant’s disapproval rang through my head. I felt like I’d been out all night partying.
“Bryant, I think I’m coming down with something. I need to take the day off.”
“Did you stay on the Hyacinth?”
“I did.”
“Did you see Seth McKay last night?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“It was hard. We had some history, some of it…challenging.”
“Oh. This is something you haven’t shared with me, Tib. Now I’m dying to know. But I’ll table my vulgar need to know to be your friend and ask you if you’re okay?”
“No, I’m not. I need a day or two. Can you cover for me? Then I’ll tell you everything.”
“Okay. I ought to warn you, though.”
“About?”
“Seth McKay already stopped by, huge bouquet of roses in hand. Rather put out that you weren’t here. I might have mentioned something about a boat.” Bryant almost sounded apologetic.
“Why would you do that?” Now I was mad.
“Because whatever it is, you need to face it. First, because you do, and second, because we’re going to see more of them through work. Funny as that meeting yesterday was, it can’t be like that again.”
“Message received, loud and clear, Captain.”
“Good,” he said, obscenely cheerful. “Deal with it, and then take notes. I want all the sordid details.”
“Bye, Bryant.”
“Love you! Bye!”
I ended the call and tossed the phone onto the settee next to me. Shit. Fuck. Hell. This was not how I pictured things going.
How did I picture them? If I was honest, I figured that Rick would remember, and it would be poignant, and touching, and I would finally get to choose. To make the choice I hadn’t been able to make—Rick or Seth. But Rick didn’t remember. The thought of being forgotten, hell, not even being known, of there not being any awareness, saddened me. It felt like someone had…died.
I needed to be honest though. Would I choose Rick?
I had to think on that, for a long time. I had a lot of guilt over jumping from Rick to Seth. Apparently, that hadn’t been necessary. He didn’t even remember, and in fact, took what I started in him and built a life with someone else. That fact alone really hurt.
But would I have chosen him? I wasn’t sure.
I didn’t want to admit it. I’d been so committed to the idea of my first love. But I was forced to admit that I had to say no. Rick would not have been my choice, if I’d been given the choice. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but I felt comfortable that it was at least in the nineties. Why? Why did I feel this way? Because he didn’t remember? Because it made it easier to accept that I was the only person, other than Dhameer, who knew about that year we spent together?
I thought it over some more. That wasn’t it, although there were definitely some sour grapes involved. It was, because, if given the choice, I had to look at how I felt with both of these men. It was a risk versus safety thing. Rick was safe. I knew that after the first wish, and I knew it now. I felt safe with him, and loved him for that. He’d given me safety when I felt I had none.
But Seth? Seth, as I’d noted before, had lots of risk involved. He represented the unknown, and the scary, as far as my feelings were concerned. I thought it about it some more.
He made me fee
l…incredible. Alive. Like I could do anything. I knew after the second wish had Dhameer left me there, I’d have fallen madly in love with him. I’d been well on my way.
I’d thought I’d gone over this to the point of insanity after the second wish, and settled how I felt. But seeing them together today, having both of them right in front of me at the same time threw all my previous assumptions and navel gazing right out the damn window.
I burst into tears.
I finally managed to get the tears to stop, and went to the head to see how bad the damage was. I looked dreadful. I gave up on fixing it and went and dug into the fridge for something to eat. I hadn’t been on the boat in a while, so the pickings were scarce. Thankfully, I always had cheese. I found some crackers, and of course, there was a split of wine. So with cheese and wine, I started to patch myself up.
My peace didn’t last long. There was a banging on the hull. I got up and popped my head out of the hatch.
“I can hear you just fine at half the volume,” I said. I knew I was grumpy sounding, but I didn’t care. Not today.
“Good. I’d hate for you to miss my visit.” It was Seth.
Great. I looked like shit. My eyes were red and puffy from crying. “Well. What do you want?” Is that really what I wanted to say to him?
“I want to talk to you.”
‘Fine. Come aboard.” I turned and went down the steps. Got another glass and poured the rest of the split for him. When he came down below, he looked around. “This is nice.”
“Thank you. Wine?”
“Definitely.”
We each drank for a moment. I took the bull by the horns.
“What do you know?”
He set down his wine glass. “I know everything.” The look on his face was full of longing, of desire, and maybe even of love. Maybe I hadn’t been alone in the falling in love bit.
It was too much. I burst into tears again, as though I hadn’t cried enough today and put my head down on the table.
Seth got up instantly and sat next to me. “That’s how I knew how you tasted after drinking my whiskey,” he whispered into my ear. He rubbed my shoulders, and he was holding me to him, kissing my hair, and my forehead. As before, I felt safe and alive in his arms. No matter what lay ahead.
“You know what I really want?”
“What?”
“To know what happened to that little pink number you were wearing the last time I saw you? If I recall, you left at a most inopportune time, Tabitha.”
I laughed. “I was so mad he yanked me then.”
“That makes everyone.”
“Everyone who?”
“Who was ready to kill Dhameer?” He lifted my chin up. “But we’ve found our way back, Tibby. I’ll buy you all the pink nighties you want to wear. Just don’t make me wait any longer.”
Oh glory and hallelujah! I stood up, and stripped off my clothes so fast that he didn’t even have time to blink before I was naked. I put my hands on my hips. “Well?”
“Well, what?” He seemed stunned by my supersonic loss of clothing.
“You going to make me be naked all by myself?”
He laughed, a loud, joyful laugh. Then he smiled, and it was the megawatt smile I remembered. And loved.
I took him, now appropriately undressed, into my arms. Snuggled up to those abs and that man that made everything better. “I love you,” I said.
“I’ve always loved you.”
He bent his head to my neck, and kissed me along the line of my jaw. My head tipped back, loving the feel of this man touching me. I’d never felt this light, this free, when being sexual with anyone. Not in any of my wishes, not in my initial run on life. Not, I thought with a pang, even with Rick. In the midst of all my realizations, and growing self-awareness, I’d almost missed the right thing for me right in front of me. True love was free, forgiving, accepting. It allowed for that in all—
“Hey.” His voice broke into my thoughts.
“What?”
“Stop thinking. It’s sex time.”
Oh my.
With those words, he picked me up. “Where on this infernal sardine can is the bed?”
I pointed towards the bow, and he moved in that direction immediately. For a boat, I’ve got a pretty swanky bed set up. Seth tossed me into my cushy bed without a second thought and was on top of me before I’d caught my breath.
“I’ve thought of you every day for years,” he whispered into my ear as his hands moved down my body. He cupped them under my ass, and I felt my entire body go up in flames.
“I’ve missed you. I’ve cursed that damn genie to hell and back, and he doesn’t even have the courtesy to answer. But now,” he took my nipple into his mouth. “Now, I can forgive him. He brought you back to me.”
He moved up to kiss me. “I don’t think I can wait all that long. I can’t be all lovey dovey. I’ve seen you in my head every day for the past three years, beckoning to me in that nightie.” He devoured my mouth.
I couldn’t get a word in. I found that I didn’t want to. I wanted to touch him, feel him, get so close to him that I felt I could crawl inside him.
“Then let’s not wait this time. We’ve got plenty of time afterwards.”
“I didn’t bring anything.”
“What? What kind of sailor are you? I am always prepared.” I reached into a small drawer at the side of my bed and handed him the small packet. He looked like he wanted to say something but I shook it in his face. “Time’s a-wasting, sport!”
He grabbed it, tore it open, and rolled it on. He looked as good naked as I remembered. Better.
Then he was on top of me again, and between my legs. In an instant, we were one. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever known.
He looked me in the eye, and even as we both got closer and closer, he never broke his gaze. When I cried out, he covered my mouth with his. A moment later, he groaned and dropped his head to my neck.
I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want him to move. We didn’t leave my boat for three days.
EPILOGUE
Granddad looked around the small group assembled on the deck. He smiled at me as we listened to Seth make his vows in a strong voice. Then I saw him looking with a hint of disapproval at X. Tough shit, old man. My best friend. I glared at him. For once, X was going solo. It was a good look on him.
Next to X was Bryant. Only I would have a wedding party that consisted of mostly men. But these were the friends who had been with me since we’d met, and I was lucky to have them. In honor of my color choice, both wore the saucy pink ties and waistcoats that matched my flowers. Next to Bryant stood Danni. Will was Seth’s best man, and she and I had rekindled our friendship. That meant almost as much as finding Seth again.
Someone cleared their throat. Oh. Apparently I was navel gazing. I gave an apologetic smile to Granddad. He lowered his brows and made another old man kind of noise in the back of his throat.
Granddad turned to Seth. “You got the ring?”
Seth pulled it from his pocket.
“Well then, let’s get it on her finger.”
He turned to me and held it out, an offering. A choice.
I put my hand up, and he slid it on.
“By the power probably mistakenly vested in me by the District of Columbia, I now pronounce you man and wife,” Granddad boomed. “You may now salute your bride!”
Seth reached a hand out to me, placing it gently on my cheek. He drew me in, caressing the line of my face.
“You’re all I’ve ever wished for, Tabitha McKay.”
“You’re my wish come true.”
His lips came down on mine. I could swear I saw a flash, but when Seth finally let me go, I gazed up at the sky, and I couldn’t see a thing.
Then I met Seth’s eyes and looked into my future.
Dhameer
If djinn were actually given to tears or excessive emotion, he might feel the need to cry. It was the only time he’d ever seen a paired set of wishes
end up like this. Oh, there had been wishes that spurred others, but never a paired set of them. Not like this. And for the pair to end up together? There ought to be a Hall of Fame, he thought. I’d be a first draft pick for it.
Something caught his attention below. It wasn’t Tibby or her groom. No, they were beyond him now. They had made the path they needed for their future.
He swirled down for a closer look. In the bright sun of the day, he was just another ray.
“Ah. There you are.” He smiled. “I still got it.” He drew in a deep breath, and then sent out of a puff of air that glittered down into the small group on the boat.
On the deck, Xavier, also known as XTC, badass rapper, shook his head. Where had that dust come from? He rubbed his hand over his face and head. He looked up. There was nothing in the sky. So what had just fallen on him?
“X, come on!” Tibby called him. “Cake!”
Still rubbing his head, Xavier followed her. He’d have to make sure to scrub down before getting into bed tonight. No telling what germs he might pick up.
Book 2 of the Heart of the Djinn series is coming soon.
Follow Xavier’s story in
FORGOTTEN WISHES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Manifold lives in the amazing state of Colorado with her husband, two Darling Boys, two dogs, and a perpetually offended cat. She is an avid reader, skier, and costumer. You can find her online at:
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Three Wishes: Time Traveler Romance (Heart Of The Djinn Book 1) Page 18
