The Firefly Café

by Lily Everett

  Dylan blinked. “I wasn’t trying to—but okay. Fine. Look, Penny, I’ll make this right however you want. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

  Lifting her chin, a challenge glinted in Penny’s hazel eyes. “I have to go to my shift at the café now. I want you out of this house before I get home. And if you ever come back to Sanctuary Island, I swear I’ll quit this job, because I never want to see you again.”

  Chapter 11

  “What are you doing?”

  The tense young voice jolted Dylan from his mechanical stuffing of dirty work clothes into his duffel bag.

  Matt stood in the doorway of the guest room, arms crossed tightly over his wiry chest and looking so much like his mother that Dylan went light-headed for a humiliating instant.

  He turned back to his packing and hoped Matt didn’t notice the way his hands shook. “I’m leaving.”

  “Why?”

  Dylan pinched his eyes shut, hanging his head over the bag sitting on his bed. “No one told you.”

  “That your name is Dylan Harrington and you’re related to the people who pay us to live in this house? Yeah, I know all that. I heard everything that went on downstairs.” Matt marched into the room and grabbed Dylan’s shoulder, jerking him around until they were face-to-face.

  “What I don’t know,” Matt continued, thrusting his chin out pugnaciously, “is why you’re running out on us like … like a coward.”

  The kid was trembling with the force of emotions too strong for someone so young to have to handle, and it hurt Dylan to see it. “Matthew. I lied to you and your mother. She doesn’t want me around anymore, and you can’t blame her.”

  Matt made a frustrated noise, his dark blond brows like thunder. “I don’t blame her. I blame you, for not getting it.”

  It was as if his rib cage had grown rows of lethally sharp spikes. Every breath hurt. “She told me she never wants to see me again. She was very clear. One strike and I’m out. What, Matt? Tell me what I’m missing.”

  Sending him a pitying look, Matt shook his head. “It’s totally obvious. Don’t you see it? Everyone leaves. She doesn’t want you to go. So she’s testing you, to see if you’ll fight to stay. And you’re about to flunk, man.”

  With that, Matt stalked out of the room and down the hall to slam his own door shut, leaving Dylan alone and staggering with his thoughts.

  What if Matt was right? What if Dylan hadn’t completely blown all his chances with Penny—but was about to, by skulking off the island with his tail tucked between his legs?

  The rough terrain of Dylan’s heart was too rocky to support a tendril of hope, but even in the midst of his overwhelming certainty that Penny would never deviate from her No Second Chances policy to forgive him, there was still a spark of desire to make sure she understood why he’d lied. But was that an entirely selfish impulse to salve his conscience, and nothing more?

  He needed a ruling on this. Staring down at his hands wringing the thin cotton of the white T-shirt that still sported a faint brown iced tea stain from that very first day, Dylan set his jaw.

  His brothers were never there for him when he was a kid. Logan could damn well offer up some advice now.

  He strode down the path whose creamy smooth paving stones he’d placed himself, and rapped on the door of the cottage at the back of the garden. Within seconds, Jessica Bell appeared on the front porch, with a forbidding expression on her perfectly made-up face.

  “Keep it down! If you wake him up—”

  From inside the cottage, a ragged voice rumbled. “Who’s at the door, Tink?”

  Without taking her accusing glare off of Dylan’s face, she called, “I’m handling it. Go back to sleep.”

  Dylan let himself into the screened-in porch, since Jessica was just standing there scowling at him. “Tink, huh?”

  It was only meant to be something to say, a quick tease to get her to smile instead of frown, but instead, she blushed. Fascinated, Dylan tracked the progress of the red flush through her pearly redhead’s complexion.

  “That’s Jessica to you,” she said severely. “Miss Bell if you’re nasty.”

  “What does Tink even mean?” Dylan had to ask.

  “Tink. Tinkerbell? Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Jessica Bell, personal assistant to the modern incarnation of Peter Pan.” Rolling her eyes, she sauntered over to fold her long limbs onto the floral-patterned glider. “Never mind. You’re here for romantic advice, right? I’ll be better at that than your brother, anyway. Once I get over laughing myself sick at the idea of a Harrington doing manual labor.”

  Taken aback for a moment at how quickly Jessica seemed to have put the pieces together, Dylan decided beggars couldn’t be choosers. Jessica wasn’t family, but she knew the Harringtons better than most—her advice would have to do.

  The whole story poured out of him as he paced the cozy confines of the little porch whose screens he’d patched himself. In the garden, bees meandered from hydrangea to rosebush, and the summer heat was like a humid blanket over the world.

  He finished with, “So what do I do? Should I leave, like she asked? Or should I stay?”

  Jessica gave a thoughtful look, but before she could answer, a rough voice came from the doorway into the cottage. “As the immortal philosopher collective, The Clash, noted: if you stay, there will be trouble. But if you go, it will be doubled.”

  Popping off the couch like a jack-in-the-box, Jessica waved her arms at Logan as if he were a bird who’d flown into the house. “Go back to bed! Do I have to tie you down to get you to stay put?”

  The scorching heat that entered his brother’s eyes at that made Dylan wonder if Logan had finally found something to distract him from his lab work. But instead of diving through the perfect opening she’d left him, Logan leaned one wiry forearm on the wall of the house and addressed Dylan.

  “Sorry if I messed up whatever scam you were running on the hot diner waitress.”

  Dylan was on his feet, fists clenched, without making a conscious choice to stand. “Don’t talk about her like that. And it wasn’t a scam, okay?”

  Satisfaction stretched Logan’s wide mouth into a wry smile. “Okay. But I’m not the one you need to convince.”

  Slumping, Dylan kicked at the leg of the glider to make the thing swing back and forth. It squeaked. He should fix that—except now he might not get the chance to fix anything else around here. “I told her already. I mean, I apologized.”

  “Did you explain?” Jessica asked. “Or did you give her the patented Harrington puppy eyes and expect her to fall all over herself to forgive you?”

  Dylan ground his teeth. “I don’t expect forgiveness,” he gritted out.

  Jessica, who was an expert at reading between the lines of the taciturn Harrington men, blew out a rude raspberry. “Psh, and you won’t get it, either, if you don’t even try to tell her why you lied to her.”

  “But I…” Dylan broke off, his head swimming. “I don’t know what to say to her.”

  “Yes, you do.” Jessica cocked her head, considering. “She opened herself up to you, stripped herself bare, but you were hiding behind a fake identity the whole time. Now it’s your turn. Lay it all out for her, and hope she likes what she sees.”

  “That’s the problem,” Dylan croaked, his throat achingly tight. “I kind of hate Dylan Harrington, Bad Boy Billionaire. How can I expect someone like Penny to fall for him?”

  “You’re more than the Bad Boy Billionaire,” Logan said suddenly. Dylan glanced over to find his brother watching him with the kind of laser intensity he usually reserved for his gadgets, eyes burning in his rough-jawed, angular face. “You know that, don’t you?”

  Bitterness soured the back of Dylan’s tongue. “Right, I’m a Harrington. Spare me the lecture on what that entails, I’ve already heard it from Miles.”

  “No.” Logan made an impatient slashing gesture with one long-fingered hand. “I meant that you’re smarter than you give yourself credit for, and a h
arder worker. And of the three of us, you were always the one who charmed people, who made friends the easiest.”

  “Because I have money.”

  “Because you’re a good person,” Logan snapped. “You’re fun to be around, you care about people, you aren’t afraid to show your emotions—cripes, you’re like the hero of one of those racy books Jessica thinks I don’t know she reads. But most of all … you’re my brother.”

  Dylan’s palms felt sweaty as he took a step toward Logan. “I haven’t felt like any of those things in a long time.”

  Pain tightened the lines at the corners of Logan’s eyes, but his smile was fierce, a challenge. “Well then. I guess it’s about time you reclaimed your birthright, don’t you?”

  Hope and gratitude expanded Dylan’s chest like helium blowing up a balloon. He glanced over at Jessica, who arched a brow and said, “What are you waiting for? Go strip naked for Penny Little. Show her what you got. I have it on good authority that Harrington men are pretty damn near irresistible, when they put their minds to it.”

  Chapter 12

  The ding of the bell over the diner’s door shattered Penny’s concentration. She nearly dropped her tray.

  Shooting her an alarmed look through the pass, Alonzo Chappelle wiped his hands on his white chef’s jacket. “You have been all over the place today. Do you need a break?”

  “No,” Penny said sharply, wincing when her boss stared at her. “I’m sorry. I’ll get it together, I promise. I need the tips.”

  I need the distraction.

  Lonz nodded and went back to slinging hash, too backed up with orders to keep worrying about his wait staff.

  Balancing the tray carefully, Penny smiled at the man who’d ordered the steak and eggs. Grady Wilkes was the big, rough, silent type—a bit of a loner, but a talented carpenter. And there was a kindness in those eyes, the deep green of the maritime forest where he’d built his cabin, that made Penny wish suddenly and fiercely that she’d had the sense to fall for the local handyman instead of an imposter from Manhattan.

  A tremor in the air made her pause, as if the very molecules she breathed in carried messages her heart could read. With a sense of inevitability, she turned to see Dylan Harrington standing at her shoulder.

  Undeniably, the first emotion that rushed through her was a terrifying thrill of joy—but it was followed closely by a comforting rush of rage. Tamping down the part of herself that wanted to drink in the sight of him in his hip-hugging jeans and battered black motorcycle jacket, Penny set her jaw. “So much for doing whatever I want. But then, you’ve never been very interested in what would make me happy, have you?”

  A muscle ticked in his temple, his eyes going dark, but he nodded. “I deserved that. And if you still want me to go after I’ve explained, I will. But please let me at least try to make you understand why I lied to you.”

  Penny hesitated, heart beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings. No second chances, she reminded herself. “It won’t make any difference, but if it’ll get you out of here without a scene, go ahead.”

  Brows lifting, Dylan tucked his hands in his back pockets as he glanced around the nearly full diner. Most of the patrons were staring back at him, with varying levels of avid curiosity. This was basically the most interesting thing ever to happen during the lunch rush.

  “Oh.” Dylan cleared his throat. “Do you have a break coming up? We could go out to the deck.”

  The deck, where he’d proven how well he understood her son, and offered to help him. But that memory threatened the foundations of the anger that was keeping her going, so she shook it off.

  Propping her tray on her hip, Penny stood her ground. “Nope. We’re doing this right here. These people are my friends, my family. Anything you have to say, you can say to me in front of them.”

  Deep inside, a sad voice whispered, There. Now you’ve done it, you’ve pushed him far enough. He’ll leave and you’ll be safe again.

  But Dylan didn’t leave. Instead, he planted his feet and tilted his chin down decisively, hardening his jaw until he looked like a stone monument to courage. All conversation in the diner had ceased by that point, every eye in the place trained on the confrontation between the stranger they’d befriended and their favorite waitress.

  Penny waited, her breath caught somewhere between her lungs and her throat.

  “I lied to you,” Dylan said again, not shying away from the reality of what he’d done. “But I never meant to hurt you. Which I know isn’t the same thing as having your best interests at heart—as you pointed out, from the beginning, I’ve been more concerned with what was best for me. What I wanted. And what I wanted, more than anything, was to see where things went between us, if you had no idea that I’ve got money.”

  Sucking in a breath, Penny felt her cheeks go hot. “Look, just because I work two jobs and have to scrimp to keep my kid’s college fund going—that doesn’t automatically make me a gold digger!”

  Eyes widening, Dylan lifted a hand. “No, that’s not what I meant. When I first met you, I didn’t know anything about you other than how gorgeous you are, and how hot and fun the sparks between us were.”

  Great, now Penny’s blush was never going to fade away. She was permanently pink in the face.

  “What I didn’t understand,” Dylan continued doggedly, “is that Sanctuary Island is nothing like the rest of the world. Where I come from, anyone who hears my name immediately looks at me differently. They care more about my bank account, my pointless tabloid fame, my connections—than they do about me. But I should have known that Sanctuary Island isn’t like that. Whatever magic you people have here, it makes everyone more real, more open. I should have trusted that. But I couldn’t, at first.”

  Penny didn’t want to be moved, but she was. Maybe Dylan’s name wasn’t what she’d thought, but he still looked and talked like the man she’d fallen for. It was more than a little confusing.

  Taking a deep, visible breath, Dylan laid it all out. “I couldn’t trust that I would be enough, just me, without the money, because three years ago, I found out that the woman I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with—all she wanted was a rich husband. You know I have a … difficult relationship with my oldest brother. Part of it, I already told you about, but the rest…”

  He paused, visibly steeling himself. “He got me to listen in on a phone call with Monique, to discuss the pre-nup I’d argued she didn’t need to sign. When he pressured her, she immediately asked how much he’d be willing to pay to make her go away. She never really wanted to marry me at all, you see. All she wanted was cash.”

  Penny swallowed. The lines on his face, the rigid way he held himself—she could see how much it cost him to share this awful piece of his past. And it explained so much about him. She could feel herself weakening, the walls she’d built crumbling like sand, and it scared her.

  “I don’t care how much money you have,” she said, frantically shoring up her defenses against the vulnerability in Dylan’s strong face. She lifted her chin. “There’s a name for people who lie down for money and nothing else, and it’s not gold digger. But I’m not sure I can forgive you for not seeing that I would never be that person. Not at first, maybe, but after everything we shared…” Her throat closed, and she stopped talking.

  He flinched a little, and she tightened her fingers around the tray until the plastic edge cut into her palm.

  “I get that,” Dylan said, straightening his shoulders. “And I understand your stance on second chances, but that’s exactly what I’m asking for. A chance to spend time with you, with no lies between us, no secrets.”

  Fear and temptation shuddered through her, all her limbs weighed down with the paralysis of wanting to simultaneously fling herself into his arms and push him away. In fact, she’d stopped paying attention to her tray, which abruptly tilted far enough for the last remaining plate to slide off it and shatter on the café floor.

  China cracked and grits splattered e
verywhere. For a breathless instant, Penny flinched in horror, the old familiar nightmare rushing over her.

  But no loud, angry voice shouted from the kitchen. Trent wasn’t here; he couldn’t ever hurt her again. And when she started to stammer an apology to Grady Wilkes, whose jeans leg was now speckled with sticky globs of white, he didn’t look at her coldly and impassively like the faceless café patrons in her dream. He leaned in and said kindly, “You’re fine, no harm done. Look, your friend there has it almost all cleaned up already.”

  Penny whirled to see Dylan on one knee beside the mess, carefully collecting the sharp pieces of broken plate.

  He looked up at her, the strength in every line of his body at odds with the humble pose. And when he said, “Don’t push me away,” there was no plea in his tone—it was all firm, gentle understanding.

  “You have every reason to be cautious,” Dylan said quietly. “But there’s a fine line between protecting yourself and Matt, and hiding from life.”

  Lord, he was right. No second chances—she wasn’t only denying Dylan if she stuck to her policy. She’d be denying herself, and her son, the possibility of a future with this handsome, flawed, deeply loving man.

  “Maybe I’m not the man you should take that next step with.” Dylan’s shoulders slumped. “You make me want to work hard to be better, for you and Matt. But I’m not there yet. At least I know better than to try and woo you with fancy cars or luxury homes, dinners out at gourmet restaurants and jewels for every finger … and crap, is that terrifying. Because without that, what’s left? What do I have to offer?”

  Penny’s heart cracked down the middle at the honest desperation and confusion in Dylan’s ragged voice. The fact that he truly didn’t know if she’d be able to love the man underneath the money battered down the last of the walls around her heart.

  “You dummy,” she said, getting a good grip on the collar of his leather jacket and hauling him to his feet. He dropped the pieces of plate he’d gathered. “Don’t you get it? What’s left is all that matters.”