by Marie Force
Tiffany was late getting home from the shop, which had left Blaine in charge of dinner. She never knew what he’d come up with when he made dinner. It could be anything from spaghetti with French fries to grilled cheese sandwiches with pickles. Whatever. It was food that she didn’t have to cook, which made it fine with her.
From the driveway, she could hear Addie crying and Blaine talking to her and Ashleigh in the low, patient tone he always used around them. Tiffany had once told him how Jim had often scared her and Ashleigh when he would yell at them. As a result, Blaine went out of his way to never raise his voice with her or the girls.
“She wants her pacifier,” Ashleigh told Blaine.
“How do you know?”
“Whenever she cries like that, that’s what she wants.”
Tiffany held a hand over her heart as she listened outside the screen door.
“Do you know where it is?”
“Of course I do.” She scampered off to get it.
“What would we do without your big sister around here?” Blaine asked Addie, who continued to howl with outrage.
“Here it is,” Ashleigh said.
“Thanks.”
Addie went silent as soon as she had the pacifier.
“You’re a magician,” he said to Ashleigh.
“You’re silly, Blaine.” She adored her stepfather, and he loved her madly. “I know what all her cries mean. Whenever you don’t know, just ask me.”
“I’ll do that.”
When Tiffany walked through the door, Ashleigh came running to greet her. Tiffany picked her up and hugged her. With the way Ashleigh was growing, she wouldn’t be able to do that for much longer.
“Blaine is a silly,” Ashleigh reported.
“What’d he do now?”
“He didn’t know that Addie wanted her paci. I had to tell him.”
“It’s a good thing you were here to set him straight.”
“I know!”
“I’m right here, ladies,” Blaine said. “I can hear you talking about me.”
Ashleigh lost it laughing.
Tiffany whispered in her ear, “Thank you for being the best big sister ever.” When she put her down, Ashleigh ran off to play while Tiffany went to Blaine to give him a kiss. “Rough night at the ranch?”
“Not bad until about five minutes ago, when Miss Addie became cranky after her bath.”
Now that she had what she wanted, Addie was snuggled into her daddy’s chest. The sight of him holding their baby made Tiffany love him even more than she already did. “She’s not long for this world.”
“Your mom said she didn’t nap much today.”
“It’ll be an early night for her.” Tiffany held out her arms to take the baby from him, eager to see her after too many hours apart.
The late spring and summer season was tough for all of them, with longer hours at work for Blaine and Tiffany. Thankfully, her mom and Ned loved being with the girls and pitched in whenever they needed help. With Addie snuggled into her arms now, Tiffany sat at the kitchen table. “What’s for dinner?”
“Spaghetti and broccoli.”
“Yummy.” As always, she tried not to giggle at the food combinations he came up with. God forbid he should quit cooking on the nights she worked late. “I’m starving.”
He served her a plate and then took the sleeping baby from her to put her down upstairs, returning a few minutes later. “You’ll never believe it. Ashleigh is out cold on the sofa.”
“Kindergarten is exhausting.”
“I guess so. I covered her up.” He brought a bottle of wine and two glasses to the table and then went back to make himself a plate.
Tiffany poured wine for both of them.
“Did you get any special visitors to the shop today?”
She knew exactly what he was asking and decided to have some fun with him. “Just the usual. Nothing special.”
He scowled. “Did you or did you not see my brother today?”
“Your brother Deacon?”
“I know what you’re doing, and he probably put you up to it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t.” Blaine ate in silence for several minutes, his focus entirely on his plate.
Tiffany began to feel bad about torturing him, but he’d brought it on himself by making outrageous accusations. “What do you have against Deacon anyway?”
Pausing midbite, he looked at her with fire in his eyes. “Nothing.”
“Now you’re going to add lying to your list of crimes?”
“I’m not lying. I have nothing against him. He just gets on my nerves.”
“Why?”
“Because! He goes through life acting as if he doesn’t have a care in the world and gets himself into situations that require me to bail him out.”
“Before this latest thing, when was the last time you had to bail him out of something?”
“Long time, but still…”
“So it’s not remotely possible that he’s changed in all the years since you last had to deal with one of his scrapes?”
“Recent evidence would suggest otherwise.”
“I want you to talk to him about what happened the night he got arrested.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“Yes, you are.”
He put down his fork and wiped his mouth with a napkin, keeping his gaze fixed on her. “Says who?”
“Says your wife who thinks you’re being a hard-ass for no good reason. Deacon seems like a really nice guy, and you need to get to know who he is right now. Not who he was as a teenager stuck on a remote island with too much time on his hands. You need to know the man he became when you weren’t around to see it.”
“He got arrested last week for being in a bar fight. What else do I need to know?”
“You need to know why he was fighting in that bar.”
“He said it was about a woman.”
“Get the details before you pass judgment. I like him, Blaine. He’s a sweet, funny guy, and I fear that you might be missing out on a closer relationship with your brother because you can’t get over the crap he did when he was a kid.”
“Half of what he did then was because he wanted to piss me off.”
“He was a kid. Didn’t you ever do anything you shouldn’t have done when you were a kid?”
“Yeah, but—”
“No buts. You need to ask him more about the fight.”
“Or else what?”
“No ‘or else.’ I’m asking you to do it for me.”
“You had to put it that way, didn’t you?”
She smiled widely at him, fully aware that there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.
His deep sigh had her getting up from her seat to stand behind his, rubbing shoulders gone tight with tension that was ever-present this time of year. October had become her favorite month. The weather was still nice, the tourists were gone, and she got her husband back.
“Did he tell you I apologized to him? Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
He stood so abruptly, his chair fell over sideways, crashing to the kitchen floor. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he lifted her off her feet and headed for the stairs.
“What’re you doing? We need to clean up from dinner and get Ashleigh into bed—”
He silenced her with a kiss that blew the top off her head. Mmm, pent-up Blaine was even wilder than regular Blaine, and regular Blaine was pretty wild. The kiss went on for what felt like hours as he lowered her to their bed, pushed up her skirt, pulled her panties aside, freed his cock from his uniform pants and sank into her. He broke the kiss to release a long sigh that sounded like relief. “Missed you.”
“You went without for one whole day.”
He gazed down at her, fierce and sexy and all hers. “I missed you and the scent of strawberries that tells me I’m home.”
“When I punish you, I punish myself, too, so here’s a big idea—don
’t be a jerk so I won’t have to punish both of us.”
Filling her to capacity, he stopped moving and looked into her eyes. Sometimes she swore he could see straight through to her very soul when he looked at her in that particular way. “I’m sorry, baby. I never for one second thought you’d be anything other than true to me. I shouldn’t have suggested otherwise.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. Thank you for apologizing to me and to Deacon.”
He scowled. “Don’t say his name when I’m inside you.”
“Stop being a jackass, and make love to your wife.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And you will ask him about the bar fight.”
“Shut up and make love to your husband.”
The puppy had Julia up most of the night, whining, crying, shaking and peeing. Even though she’d taken him out almost hourly before bedtime, he’d peed on her three times before he finally settled into sleep around five o’clock in the morning.
With her meeting with Mac McCarthy scheduled for nine, she felt frazzled and sleep deprived. Leaving the little guy to sleep in her bed, she went into the shower and stood for a long time under the hot water, trying to wake up and function.
As she’d never had a pet before, she’d had no idea what to expect. She hoped he wouldn’t be up all night, every night. Maybe just the first night when he was scared and uncertain of where he was or whether the person he was with would be kind and take good care of him. The poor little thing had been through so much. He probably had no idea if he was safe.
She knew what that was like and was determined to make sure he knew he could count on her to take good care of him, even if she could barely take care of herself sometimes.
Deacon had stayed with them until ten the night before. He’d left to go home so she could get some sleep. What did it say about her and her dick diet that she hadn’t wanted him to go? Today, he had training at the police station ahead of starting his job the next day. She hoped that he and Blaine could find a way to peacefully coexist, or Deacon would be in for a long summer.
Julia emerged from the shower, checked to ensure the puppy was still sleeping and took the time to blow-dry and straighten her hair as well as apply some concealer to cover the circles under her eyes.
She found a clean top and matching skirt that she quickly ironed on the bed as her stomach twisted with nerves that would make it impossible to eat breakfast before her meeting. She’d get something after.
Hopefully, Mac wouldn’t have a problem with her bringing the puppy to the interview. Even though he was supposed to be at home, she couldn’t bear to leave him alone. She’d read online that as long as she kept him away from other animals and people, it would be fine to have him with her. She could only pray that he wouldn’t pee on her before she got to her interview. After picking him up from the bed, she cuddled him into her shoulder, grabbed his leash and her purse and headed out.
She encountered Owen in the hallway. “Morning.”
“How’s it going?”
“Rough night with the baby. He was up all night.”
“Ouch.”
“Not sure how you handle three of them.”
“Now you know why Laura and I walk around like zombies. You’ve got your interview, right?”
“Yep.”
“I talked to Mac last night. He said he’s looking forward to meeting you.”
“Thanks for putting in a word for me.”
“Happy to do it. I’m so glad you’re staying awhile.”
“Me, too. It’s been too long since I spent a summer on Gansett.”
Owen reached out to gently scratch between the puppy’s ears. “You want me to keep him for you while you do the interview?”
Julia thought about that for a second. As much as she’d love to leave him with Owen, she didn’t want him to be scared when he woke up with a stranger. “I’d better keep him with me. I don’t want him to freak out if he can’t find me.”
“He sure is cute. What’s his name?”
She bit her lip. “I’m kinda afraid to give him one.”
“How come?”
“What if his owners show up and want him back?”
“If they do, they ought to be told that allowing a puppy to fall off a boat means they shouldn’t get to have him.”
“True, but we don’t know what happened. It could’ve been an accident. They’re probably heartbroken. I know I would be.” She already knew she’d be heartbroken if she had to give him up.
“Still, they should’ve been more careful with him. He’s just a baby.”
“I know. Well, I’d better go.”
“How’re you getting to the marina?”
“I figured I’d walk.”
“That’s a long walk. I’ll take you.”
“I’m sure you have other things you need to do.”
“Nothing that won’t keep for a few minutes. Let me grab my keys, and I’ll meet you out back.”
“Thanks, O.” As she continued downstairs, she whispered to the puppy, “That’s your uncle Owen. He’s one of the good guys.” The puppy never stirred. Figured he was going to sleep all day after keeping her up most of the night.
Julia hoped there would be coffee at this interview.
Owen parked one of the Sand & Surf trucks at the marina ten minutes later. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
She wanted to tell him he didn’t have to do that, but he was already out of the truck. Still carrying the puppy, she got out of the truck and followed her brother to a group of picnic tables outside a restaurant on the pier. Four men were seated at one of the tables, and she recognized all of them from the wedding.
“Julia, this is Big Mac McCarthy, his brother Frank, his best friend Ned Saunders and his son Mac.”
“Nice to meet you all again.”
“You, too, Julia,” Big Mac said. “Is that the puppy you rescued from the ocean yesterday?”
“It is.”
“My daughter Janey told me about that last night.”
“She was such a big help to us.”
“How’s he doing?”
“Other than being up all night crying, he’s doing great.”
“Awww, poor guy. He sure got lucky that you found him and saved him. Heard you dove right in after him.”
“I did, but Deacon was the one who got bitten when we tried to haul him out.”
“It was good of both of you to rescue him,” Mac said. “Deacon was just here with Blaine.”
Just hearing his name had Julia’s spine tingling as she thought of him kissing her good night and telling her he’d be by after work. She’d wanted to beg him to stay, but wary of repeating past mistakes, she’d let him go, telling herself to take it slow, don’t jump in with both feet, etc. Regardless of the warning alarms sounding in her own mind, she couldn’t wait to see him later.
Chapter 16
Mac stood and grabbed his coffee. “Let’s go inside where we can talk without these clowns disturbing us.”
“Who ya calling clowns, boy?” Ned asked with pretend indignance.
“You know exactly who.” Mac gestured for Julia to lead the way toward a table inside the large building where the marina’s restaurant was housed. “Can I get you a coffee?”
“That’d be great. Thanks.”
“Cream and sugar?”
“Just cream, please.”
“Coming right up.”
He was a handsome guy with dark hair and his father’s blue eyes.
Mac returned with a coffee and a plate with three sugar doughnuts.
The smell of the doughnuts made Julia’s mouth water.
She took a sip of coffee as he nudged the plate toward her and tossed some napkins on the table.
“You have to try one of my mom’s famous doughnuts.”
Julia chose the smallest of the three and took a delicate bite. The sweet, greasy flavor exploded on her tongue. “Dear God, that’s good.”
“Right? Our whole famil
y is addicted to them.”
“I can see why.”
“So let me tell you about the job. A couple of years ago, when I moved back to the island, I started a small construction company that’s grown to the point that I just can’t manage it all on my own, especially in the summer when I’m helping to run this place, too. My wife, Maddie, is expecting twin girls in September, and they’ll be our fourth and fifth children. The oldest is in kindergarten.”
“Holy cow.”
“Right? I need help, and I need it now.”
“I need a job, and I need it now.”
Mac laughed. “I’d say that makes us a perfect match. Owen says you’ve been an office manager for years in Texas?”
“Yes, I worked for a manufacturing company most recently. I loved the job until we got a new boss. We weren’t a good fit.”
Mac winced. “I hate when that happens.”
“Me, too.”
“Well, I’m the only boss you’d ever have on this job, and I’d like to think I’m pretty easy to work for. We have a lot going on all the time, so it’s really busy.”
“I like to be busy, and I’d do anything I could to make life easier for you. I’m not the kind of employee who can’t be asked to do anything outside of her job description. If something needs to be done, tell me, and I’ll do it.”
“That’d be so awesome, and there’s no job description. We’d be making it up as we go.”
“I’m fine with that.”
“Are you here only for the summer?”
“For right now, but I’m open to staying if the job is working out for both of us. I’m a little worried about being here in the winter. I’ve never done a winter on Gansett.”
“I was the same way when I first moved back here, but I’ve come to really appreciate the slower pace of winter after the insanity of summer.”
“Running two businesses that’re booming in the summer, I can see why you love winter.” The puppy chose that moment to wake up, whining and growling. “Stop it. Be nice. We’re at an interview, and we want Mac to hire us.”
“You’re already hired, and so is he. Our office needs a dog to keep an eye on things.”
“Really? You won’t mind if I bring him?”
“Absolutely not. You’ll be there by yourself a lot, so it’d be good for you to have the company.”
