by Marie Force
“Having a wife seems an awful lot like having a mother,” Riley said.
“Only with regular sex.”
Riley choked on his water. “Shut the fuck up,” he sputtered, wiping water off his chin. “Oh my God, you’re disgusting.”
Finn howled with laughter.
“Don’t put those images in my head.”
“Speaking of Mom…”
Riley groaned. “Stop!”
“Seriously, have you talked to her lately?”
“Not in a few weeks. You?”
“Nada. She’s been noticeably absent since she came to visit. I think she was really bummed—and surprised—that Dad is so serious about Chelsea.”
“Why should she be either of those things? She’s the one who left him. And Dad’s a good guy. Did she think he’d be alone for the rest of his life?”
“Who knows what she was thinking?” After a pause, Finn said, “Do you think she has regrets?”
“Of course she does. That was obvious when she was here. Dad was right to shut her down and not let her rehash it all. What does it matter now?”
“You sound like you’re still really pissed with her.”
Was he? He hadn’t given it much thought, but then again, he tried not to think too much about his mother or the way she’d chosen to end a thirty-year marriage.
“Are you?” Finn asked, glancing at him. “Pissed with her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a little. I just think the way she went about it was shitty. If you want out, get a divorce, but taking off with a younger guy and humiliating your husband of thirty years, who is a good guy? It’s just kinda…”
“Sordid?”
“Among other things. I’m so glad we aren’t still living in Westport, where the whole town knows what she did. I can’t believe she’s still there.”
“Being there would be hideous with everyone knowing that.”
“Definitely.” Riley had stayed far away from social media since his mother had left his father. He had no desire to know what the people at home were saying about his family.
“Why are we talking about this shit anyway?” Finn asked as he hung a left into the parking lot behind the Beachcomber.
“Because you wanted to talk about having regular sex with your mother.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Finn said, laughing. “I never said that.”
The lot, which would be full in the summer, had about five cars, one of them belonging to Chelsea and another to their father, Kevin.
“Looks like the old man’s in residence,” Riley said.
“As usual when Chelsea’s working. Let’s go see what he’s up to.”
Wind whipping off the water smacked his face as Riley ran after Finn, up the back stairs to the iconic white hotel that anchored Gansett’s downtown, if you could call a collection of hotels, restaurants and stores a “downtown.” They walked into the bar, where their dad was sitting with two other guys while Chelsea tended bar.
“Hey!” At the sight of them, Kevin McCarthy’s handsome face lit up with a huge smile. His obvious adoration of them used to mortify his sons when they were younger. Now they knew to expect it—and had come to appreciate his unwavering devotion. “It’s my boys. Riley, Finn, you know Shannon O’Grady, and I don’t think you’ve met Niall Fitzgerald. These two blokes have nearly got me talked into a trip to Ireland.”
“Nice to meet you.” Riley shook hands with Niall as Finn followed suit. “And good to see you again, Shannon.”
“Likewise,” Shannon said.
“What’re you guys up to tonight?” Kevin asked.
“Same as you—beer and food,” Finn said. “In that order.”
“Join us,” Kevin said as Shannon and Niall moved over to make room for them.
“Hey, guys,” Chelsea said, smiling as she came over to greet them. “Good to see you. Can I get you the usual?”
“Works for me,” Finn said, bellying up to the bar on the other side of Kevin.
“Me, too,” Riley said. “Thanks, Chelsea.” Riley liked the woman his father had fallen for, but sometimes it was still strange to see him with someone other than their mother. Over the past year, he and Finn had mostly gotten used to the two of them together.
Chelsea put a bottle of Bud in front of Finn and an Amstel Light in front of Riley.
“Does that stuff even count as beer?” Finn asked, as he always did.
Riley ignored him—as he always did—and took a healthy drink from his bottle.
“Are you guys eating?” Chelsea asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Finn said. “I’ll have a bowl of chowder and a cheeseburger with everything, please.”
“I’ll have the same, but make mine—”
“Plain,” Kevin, Chelsea and Finn said together.
“One burger, no gaggers, coming right up,” Chelsea said, using his favorite word to describe the gross shit everyone else seemed to put all over their food.
Riley made a face at them. So sue me, he thought. I don’t like my burger loaded down with crap. “That word is trademarked.”
“We’re just messing with ya,” Kevin said, nudging Riley with his shoulder. “You know that.”
“I know.” Riley focused on his beer, depressed to realize that it didn’t matter if he was at home or out. He still felt shitty.
The feeling stayed with him as they ate and visited with their father, Shannon and Niall. Shannon’s cousin, Seamus, joined them, as did Mac, Shane and Adam, all of whom seemed excited about an impromptu boys’ night out in the middle of the week. Their musician cousin Evan was touring in Europe this winter with his wife, Grace, and Grant was in Los Angeles, working on the movie based on the life of his wife, Stephanie.
Mac squeezed Riley’s shoulders. “How’s it going?”
“Good, you?”
“Excellent. I had dinner with my wife and kids and got a free pass on baths to have some beers with my boys. Life is good.”
Riley found it funny that a get-out-of-jail-free card was all it took to make Mac happy. What would it take for him to say that? Riley didn’t know. Maybe it was time he figured that out. The aimlessness he’d felt lately was starting to wear thin.
The bar filled up with more people he knew—his uncles Big Mac and Frank along with Big Mac’s best friend, Ned Saunders. Alex and Paul Martinez came in together, followed by Joe Cantrell and Luke Harris.
“Damn,” Chelsea said, smiling. “And here I thought it was going to be another quiet winter night around here.”
“Nothing quiet about it when the McCarthys show up,” Kevin said.
“Don’t I know it?” she replied as she drew one beer after another from the taps.
“Can we put the Bruins on, Chelsea?” Finn asked, scowling at the TV where one of the entertainment shows was previewing the Golden Globes.
“I get hockey after she gets her fill of celebrity gossip,” Kevin replied. “That’s our deal.”
Finn rolled his eyes.
Riley tipped his head, asking his brother to come closer.
“What’s up?”
“Just wanted to say thanks. You know, for asking the guys to come out tonight.”
“I hardly had to twist their arms.”
“Still, I know why you did it, and I appreciate it.”
“No problem. I figured out what’s wrong with you, by the way.”
“Gee, I can’t wait to hear this.”
“I saw this thing on TV about seasonal affective disorder. It’s when people get depressed at certain times of the year. You never have liked winter very much. That could be what it is.”
Riley loved his brother. He truly did. There was no one he’d rather hang out with—most of the time. So rather than laugh in his face when Finn was being dead serious, Riley only nodded and said, “Could be.”
“Ask Dad about it.”
“Ask Dad about what?” Kevin said, overhearing them.
Great, Riley thought. Just what I need is a consult with Dr. McCarthy.
“I think Riley has seasonal affective disorder.”
Kevin’s relaxed expression immediately sobered. “What makes you say that?”
“He’s depressed and gloomy. Has been for weeks.”
“Finn. Jesus. I am not depressed or gloomy.”
“Yeah, you are. You’re both.”
“Finn, give us a minute, will you, son?”
“Gladly.” Finn gave Riley a pointed look, silently urging him to talk to their father, and went to sit at the long table Mac and the others had made by pushing a bunch of smaller tables together.
“What’s going on?” Kevin asked, signaling to Chelsea to bring them refills.
She put the beers on the bar in front of them.
“Thank you, honey,” Kevin said with a warm smile for her. Then he glanced at Riley and raised that brow of his. He got a lot done with that damned brow. “So…”
“I don’t know what Finn’s talking about,” Riley said, unwilling to discuss the funk that had begun with Nikki’s sudden departure with his father, who’d want to pick it apart. It had happened. It sucked. He’d get over it. End of story. “Everything is fine.”
“Haven’t seen much of you since I moved in with Chelsea.”
“Phone works both ways, Dad.”
“True,” Kevin said with a sheepish grin. “I guess I got used to you being the one to hit me up rather than the other way around. You’re better than I am about keeping in touch, so I guess it’s noticeable when you stop calling.”
“I’ve just been busy. We’re hard into it at the Wayfarer and trying to meet a tight deadline. I’m exhausted after work most days, and all I want is to eat and sleep.”
“You’re not sick or something, are you?” Kevin asked, alarmed.
“Stop being a doctor, would you, please? I’m fine.”
Kevin studied him as he took a drink of his beer. He’d told Riley once that he nursed two every night that Chelsea worked so he wouldn’t get fat on beer. At fifty-two, Kevin McCarthy was a long way from fat. The guy looked forty on a bad day and was trying to have a baby with his much-younger girlfriend. Eighteen months after his marriage had ended, he’d found a whole new life with Chelsea.
“If you need me, you know where I am. Right?”
“Yes, Dad. I always know where you are. Thank you for your concern, but there’s nothing to worry about.”
Seamus came up to the bar to order another beer. Glancing at the TV, he said, “Hey, I brought her twin sister over today.”
Riley looked up and did a double take when he saw Jordan Stokes appear on the entertainment show. Then he realized she was with Zane, the rapper ex-husband who’d released the infamous sex tape. The headline on the bottom of the screen read: Reunited and it feels so good.
Oh my God! She’s back with that guy? After what he did to her?
Better still, Nikki was on the island? Riley pulled out his wallet, tossed a twenty on the bar and said to his father, “If I borrow your car, can you get a ride home with Chelsea? I’ll get it back to you tomorrow.”
“Where’re you going?”
“Something I gotta do, and Finn drove. Yes or no on the car?” Riley was unable to wait even one more minute to get out of there.
Kevin handed over his keys. “Been years since one of you took my car.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll take good care of it.” Riley bolted out of there before anyone could stop him or ask questions or get between him and…
He was in the parking lot when he stopped to ask himself what the hell he was doing rushing to see her the second he heard she was back on the island. In his father’s car, which bore the citrusy scent of the cologne Kevin had worn for as long as Riley could remember, he sat staring out the windshield for a long time.
Long enough that Finn had time to come after him and tap on the window.
Reluctantly, Riley put it down. “What?”
“Where’re you going?”
“I have an errand to run.”
“Out at the Hopper place, by any chance?”
“Fuck off, Finn, and go back inside, will you please?”
Rather than fuck off, however, his brother leaned against the car, apparently settling in for a chat. “What’re you doing, Ri?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Since when is your life none of my business? We’ve been in each other’s business all our lives.”
Riley couldn’t argue with that. But for some reason that he couldn’t explain to himself, let alone his brother, Riley wanted to keep where he was going and why to himself. At least until he better understood the immediate need to go to her after hearing she was back. “Could I just please have a little bit of space? Is that too much to ask?”
“Nope, not too much to ask as long as it’s not the start of a new pattern in which you act like I have no right to know what’s going on with you.”
“It’s not,” Riley said, eager to be on his way.
“Good. I’ll hold you to that.”
“Fine.”
“Fine. Go do your little errand.” Finn pushed himself off the car and headed back inside, his distinctive stride—part strut, part prowl—as familiar to Riley as anything in his life.
Riley started the car and backed it out of the parking space. His heart raced with excitement that he’d never felt before when it came to any woman. Why did he feel that way about one he’d seen exactly twice in his life before she disappeared without a word months ago?
Damned if he knew, but he was drawn to her anyway. He had questions, and he hoped she would have some answers. Maybe after they talked, he’d feel more settled and could put this madness—and the accompanying glum mood—behind him once and for all. That’d be a relief.
He drove toward the island’s north end, where Nikki’s grandmother’s house was located. The last time he’d been out that way had been in the fall when the trees had been turning and the sky bright with sun. Tonight, the roads were dark and coated with a thin layer of ice that made for treacherous driving.
He slowed to a crawl. The last freaking thing he needed was to wreck his father’s prized BMW in his haste to see Nikki. As he took the turn into the Hoppers’ driveway, the car fishtailed, but thankfully, he was able to maintain control. Riley wondered if the elements were sending him a sign that maybe this trip to the Hopper house in the dark of night wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had.
Recalling how skittish Nikki had been in the bright light of day had him worried that he might scare her by showing up this way. What if she had a gun in the house? Riley wished he had her phone number so he could call her and tell her it was him, but they hadn’t gotten that far the first time around.
The porch light came on along with security lights that lined the driveway and lit up the yard.
Leaving the car running and the lights on, he got out and held up his hands, just in case she had a gun. “It’s Riley McCarthy,” he called out. “I heard you were back, and I wanted to see you.”
A number of locks disengaged, the door opened, and there she was. Her big brown eyes were just as he remembered, the most dominant feature in a strikingly pretty face that was on full display. Her long dark hair was piled on top of her head in one of those messy buns that looked incredibly sexy on some women, including this one.
When it became clear she didn’t have a gun, he put down his arms. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“What’re you doing here?”
Right then, it occurred to him that the odd zing of attraction he’d felt for her had been one-sided—and he’d made a total fool of himself trekking out here in the dark to see her. “I… I’m not entirely sure.”
She seemed as confused as he suddenly felt. “My grandmother told me you finished fixing the roof.”
“Yes, I did.”
“So…”
“I heard your sister was back together with Zane and that you were here. I wondered if…”
“What did you wonder?”
God, he was a total ass on a fool’s errand. Since this couldn’t possibly get any worse, he went with the truth. “I wondered if you might need a friend.”
She was silent for so long, he questioned whether she had heard him. Then she said, “Do you want to come in?”
“I don’t mean to bother you.”
“I was watching TV and eating a frozen pizza. It’s no bother.”
“Let me turn off the car.” He got back in the car and shut off the engine. The lights were automatic and would shut off on their own. Jogging toward her front door, he told himself to calm down and take it easy. Oh, and stop acting like a fool. That would be good, too.
Chapter 3
With her heart in her throat, Nikki watched Riley as he came toward the front door, which she’d unlocked so she could speak to him. And now, a man she’d met only twice was going to come into the house, where they would be completely alone. This was not good. It wasn’t good at all. She didn’t do things like this, didn’t take these sorts of chances. Not anymore.
But he’d been so nice to her last fall. When she’d had a leaking roof and a devastated sister, he’d gone out of his way to help her. She knew the McCarthy family was well regarded on the island. Of course, none of the things she told herself in the two minutes it took for him to turn off his car and come into the house meant she was safe with him.
She’d learned that lesson the hard way—seemingly nice guys from good families weren’t always what they appeared to be.
“Hi there,” he said, smiling as he stepped into the vestibule, closing the door behind him.
The sound of the door latching might as well have been a shotgun blast for the effect it had on her. Alone. With a man. In a house on Gansett Island. If this went bad, no one would come to save her.
“Nikki?” He tipped his head in inquiry. “Are you okay?”
“I… I’m a little freaked out by the fact that I barely know you, and you’re in my house.”
“I’ll go,” he said without hesitation. “I didn’t mean to unsettle you. I thought about you after you left, and when I heard you were back… I don’t know what I was thinking, but I’ll go.”
“No,” she said, her anxiety settling at his willingness to leave if that was what she wanted. The bad ones didn’t go when asked to leave. They stayed. “Don’t go. I’m sorry. I’m being ridiculous.”
