by Jill Sanders
“Me, too. I was hoping we’d celebrate tonight,” she whispered.
Images of her flashed in his mind, causing him to smile. “Really? What would you be wearing?”
He heard her laugh. “I’ve been saving an outfit for just this occasion.” Her voice got husky and lower. “A white bustier, white fishnet stockings, and you.”
“Oh, God!” He held onto the steering wheel more tightly as his mind raced.
“Are you sure you want to stay there overnight?”
He couldn’t answer. All the blood had left his brain and ended up in his pants. He wanted to turn the car back around and drive as fast as he could to get back to her.
“Luke?” she asked, giggling.
“My God, I want you so bad right now.” He wished he could close his eyes and imagine her in the outfit, but the traffic was getting worse on the two-lane highway and he was just getting into town, where it looked like it was another busy weekend full of tourists.
“I want you, too. Tomorrow.” He heard her talking to someone else. “Listen, I have to go. Cole’s been in an accident. I’ll talk to you later.” She hung up and he immediately started worrying.
He was still a few minutes out of town, so he started flipping through the radio channels, trying to find something on the news. As he drove into the parking lot at Emerald Beach, he finally found a channel that reported that surfer Cole Grayton had been injured in a motorcycle accident outside of Pensacola as he was on his way to the airport. They listed his condition as fair, but didn’t have any more details.
When he walked into the building, he was so preoccupied by the news of Cole’s accident that he almost walked right by his mother and a couple of women standing in the entryway.
“Oh, there you are Luke.” His mother rushed over to him and hugged him lightly. His mother had always been elegant. She wore the latest fashions, stayed fit by playing tennis, and always had enough diamonds on to warrant a security guard.
“Hello, Mother.” He kissed her cheek.
“You remember Jenna Wallace and her daughter Angela. I was just telling them that you should be here any minute now. They were just down for a weekend visit from New York.” His mother took his arm in a vice grip and walked him towards the two women. Both of them were tall and blonde and could have been on the cover of a magazine. They looked like sisters instead of mother and daughter. He could see the slight difference in age when they approached. He could also tell that Jenna had had multiple surgeries to look as young as her daughter did naturally. But it didn’t negate the fact that they were both stunning women.
Upon seeing them standing in the lobby, he instantly knew his father’s next step. He’d dated Angela for a few months back before Calvin had died. The relationship had been a purely physically one, and they’d left it on good terms. But looking into Angela’s eyes now, he could tell that she had new motives. Thanks to his parents, most likely.
By the time he made it up to his office so he could check to see if there was any more news about Cole, he had a full-blown headache. Angela was a sensible woman, but her mother was quite the talker.
When he walked into his office, he was shocked to see it completely empty. His desk, his chairs, even his diplomas were missing. He should have known that his father would take this step. Walking into the conference room a few doors down, he pulled out his laptop and started searching for more news on Cole. He didn’t find much, so he texted Cassey, letting her know that if she needed anything to let him know.
He received a text back, telling him that Marcus was driving her to Pensacola to be with Cole and that she would let him know how he was once they arrived there.
After an hour of procrastinating, he packed up his laptop and headed to his father’s office. He wasn’t surprised to see his mother and Jenna and Angela sitting in his father’s office like they belonged there. He’d hoped to finally settle things with his dad. Knowing his father was using the Wallaces as a shield made him sure that his father was on the verge of caving.
“There you are, Luke. It’s about time you got here. Your mother told me you arrived over an hour ago.” His father looked at him and Luke could tell he was smirking because his office was no longer there.
“Just needed to tie up some loose ends.” He smiled back at his dad and sat down in the large leather chair next to his mother.
If his father wanted to play a game of cat and mouse, far be it from him to spoil it.
Cassey sat in the passenger seat of her brother’s work truck and felt like biting her nails.
“Can’t you drive any faster?” She leaned forward until her seat belt clicked, shoving her back into the seat.
“Wish I could, but it’s a school zone.” Marcus nodded towards the yellow flashing lights and the bus full of kids ahead of them. “He’ll be okay. Roman should be there soon. He’ll give us a—”
His statement was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. “Here, answer it.” He handed the phone to her.
“Marcus’ phone.”
“Cassey?” She heard Roman’s voice on the other line. “I’m here. Cole is doing fine, just a broken collar bone and arm.” She could hear stress in his voice.
“What is it?”
“What?” Roman asked back.
“Roman, I can hear you’re not telling me something.” She worried even more. If Roman was keeping something from her, she knew it was bad.
“It’s nothing to do with Cole. I swear, he’s sitting up flirting with all the nurses and eating Jell-O. Don’t worry about him.” She could hear Cole talking in the background and she relaxed a little.
“Then what?” She heard the noise level drop a little and thought that Roman had just walked out into the hallway. She could hear a lot of machines beeping.
“I think I saw Marissa.”
“What?” She sat up in the seat, the seat belt biting into her shoulder. “Where? When?”
“Here, just a few minutes before I walked into Cole’s room.” Her brother sighed. “When I tried to follow her, I lost her in the lobby of the hospital. Cass, she looks the same.”
“Oh, Roman.” She sighed and sat back. It was just like last time. To date, Roman had seen Marissa a total of ten times over the last ten years.
“What? Is the kid okay?” Marcus asked from across the seat.
She covered the phone and nodded. “Cool the jets. Broken collarbone and arm. He’s already flirting with the nurses.” Which, if Cole’s history was anything to go off of, was the best sign.
“That kid and nurses.” Marcus shook his head and focused on driving.
“Roman, we’ll talk about Marissa when we get there. As a family.” She heard him sigh.
“Okay, but this time I know it was her.”
When they arrived, they found Cole sitting up in his hospital bed, a young nurse standing over him taking his blood pressure and another checking his IV. Everyone knew it only took one nurse to do the job, so when another one walked in, they all laughed.
“Mr. Grayton needs his rest now,” a nurse told them two hours later. Cassey could see that her brother was looking tired so they headed out to dinner and the hotel that Marcus had set up for them for the night.
While they sat around eating po’ boys and drinking beer, Roman brought up Marissa.
“Are we all going to just ignore the fact that I saw Marissa earlier?” He took another drink of his beer.
“No.” Cassey set her drink down. “Are you positive it was her?” When he nodded, she continued. “It’s just that you seem to be the only one who ever sees her.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. It was her. Her hair is shorter, but she looks the same.” Roman closed his eyes.
Cassey could remember her sister perfectly, but she wondered if she would recognize her if she passed by her. It had been ten years. She’d changed so much over the years; Marissa was bound to have changed as well.
“I asked all the nurses. It seems that Marissa was asking after Cole, but whe
n she found out that he was okay, she left. The front desk nurse even confirmed that she said she was his sister.” He frowned. “But she gave the woman your name.”
“Mine?” Cassey frowned. “Why would Marissa use my name?”
“I don’t know, but it could be one reason why we haven’t found her before. We never thought about her using your name before,” Roman said, frowning into his beer.
After dinner, they headed to the small hotel, where she called Luke and left him a voice mail, updating him on Cole’s condition.
When she finally fell asleep, she dreamed of her sister and the day she’d arrived in Spring Haven.
She woke a few hours later to her phone ringing.
“How are you holding up?” Luke asked quietly into the phone.
“I’m okay. Better now that I know that Cole is okay. How did things go with your dad?”
She heard him sigh. “They didn’t. He used some old friends to distract everyone for the night. Looks like I’ll be stuck here until this weekend.
Are you heading back tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’ll be back in time to open up for lunch. Wendy said she would handle everything, but since Cole is okay and most likely being released tomorrow, I see no reason to stay longer.”
“That’s good.” He sighed again. After a moment of silence, he said, “Tell me about this white bustier again.”
She chuckled and proceeded to have some of the steamiest phone sex she’d ever had.
When she walked into the hospital the next morning with her brothers, they stopped at the admittance desk and asked after Marissa with no luck.
When they wheeled Cole out less than an hour later, there was a line of nurses waving goodbye to him.
“What can I say?” He smiled as Roman helped him into his car. “It was worth the pain.” She watched Cole cringe as he bumped his shoulder. “Almost.”
Riding back to Surf Breeze, she and Marcus talked about the possibility of Marissa using her name, and why she felt like she had to hide from her family.
“Do you think that it had anything to do with the fight we had the night before?” she asked. Everyone knew about the small fight, and even though she told herself it wasn’t a big fight— they’d had worse— the thought had still played in her mind over the years.
“No,” Marcus shook his head. “I think there was something else going on. Maybe she just wanted to get away? Maybe her mother had something to do with it”
“Her mother? What do you mean?”
Marcus cringed. “Nothing.”
“Marcus Wyatt Grayton, you’re hiding something from me. For some reason, I always thought that Marissa’s mother had died.”
Marcus shook his head. “She showed up a few weeks before Marissa’s seventeenth birthday. Scared the shit out of everyone. Looked like she’d been hit a few times and had needle marks all over her arms. But Marissa never saw her; at least we didn’t think so. We called the cops and had her removed, since the restraining order was still in effect back then.”
“I didn’t know.” Cassey looked down at her hands. The memory of her last night with Marissa played over again in her mind.
Do you believe in fate?
Fate, sure, I guess so.
I’m destined to be like my mother.
Now she wished she could travel back in time and change her answer. Anything that would have made her sister stay.
“I wish I could see her again. To tell her…”
Marcus reached over and took her hand. “Wherever Marissa is, whatever she’s doing, she’s making her own way for her own reasons. She was always smart—smarter than all of us put together.” He smiled over at her. It was a long joke how Marissa was a straight-A student and on honor roll.
“I know. I’ve never doubted that she’s out there somewhere doing what she wants.” She sighed and leaned against the window, watching the trees go by. “I’ve imagined her life so many different ways. I hope she’s happy. All I ever wanted for her was to be happy.”
Marcus squeezed her hand. “I’m sure she is.”
By the time they drove up to her place, Cassey’s mind was totally focused again on opening up the bar and grill. She was happy to see that all her employees were already there and looking very eager to open the doors. She rushed upstairs to quickly change into her work clothes, and then she headed downstairs to open. By mid-afternoon, she felt that everything was back to normal.
It took a while before she felt like she could disappear into her office, and when she did, she was greeted by a large manila envelope. She tossed it on her desk and went to answer the phone, which was ringing.
“How’s my favorite girl?” she heard the man she’d come to know as her father ask on the other side of the phone. Mark Grayton had been there for her since she’d arrived at his place so long ago. After his wife, Elizabeth, died almost seven years ago, Mark had been both mother and father to the five of them. And they’d never wanted for anything. Especially since their daughter Julie was like the big sister she’d always dreamed of.
“I’m doing great. Opened up shop again today.”
“So I hear. That brother of yours has talked my ear off. Seems he’ll be staying with me until he’s back on the surf board.” He chuckled. “That kid was always breaking something.”
It was true. Out of all the kids, Cole was the one most likely to have something in a sling, cast, or bandage. Maybe because he was the most adventurous out of the group.
She could remember several summers where he couldn’t go into the water due to having a cast on either his arm or leg. Once, he even had a cast on both. That was the summer Marcus dared him to drive their homemade go-cart off the docks and into the lake. But still, Cole had managed to get in more hours of surfing than most of his friends. Not to mention he’d won three trophies that fall and earned several major contracts.
Marcus was always challenging her other brothers into doing crazy things. Roman was too levelheaded to fall for most of them, whereas Cole was game for anything that sounded fun and dangerous.
She smiled, remembering her childhood with her three crazy brothers. “That’s good. I’m sure you’ll enjoy having him around.”
“Already driving his aunt crazy. Julie says she’s moving out if Cole insists on listening to his music too loud again like he did when he was younger.”
She smiled, remembering all the good times up at the old house.
“Well, I know you’re a busy woman, but I wanted to make sure you were coming for Thanksgiving in a few weeks.”
“Thanksgiving. It can’t be November already.” She looked at her calendar and, sure enough, it was November 7.
“You lose track of time when you stay too busy. You need a week off, and I know just the place for it,” Mark said, chuckling.
“That sounds wonderful. I’ll be there. I might even bring a friend.” She thought of Luke and smiled. A week in the country is just what they needed.
“Well, now, that’s a first. He’ll be welcomed with open arms. I’ll let you get back to work.”
“Thanks, Dad.” She hung up and wondered why she’d just promised to bring Luke to a family holiday. It was one of the most telling signs. Meeting someone’s family meant you were serious. So, the question waged in her mind—were they serious?
Chapter Thirteen
By the time Luke finally had a moment with his father later that week, he’d had enough of the Wallaces. It seemed everywhere he went, there they were.
When he worked in the smaller conference room on the second floor, Jenna just happened to be walking by after her massage three doors down. When he went for an early morning swim, there Angela was, lying by the pool, pretending she didn’t remember he swam every morning.
The pair had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with his mother and father, so he couldn’t get a meal with them if he tried.
It took hunting his father down in a restroom to finally get a moment alone with the man.
“Luke.” His fath
er looked shocked to see him in the lobby’s men’s restroom. “I was just heading—”
“You mean hiding,” Luke interrupted.
“What?” He watched his father wash his hands quickly. He leaned back on the marble countertop.
“Face it, Dad, you’ve been using Mom and the Wallaces as a shield. We’re going to have to talk sometime.” He watched his father’s face as realization came.
His father dried his hands and nodded. “Quite right. Why don’t you come on up to the office now.”
As they rode the elevators to the top floor, he built the courage he would need to say what had to be said. His father walked into his office and walked around his desk and sat down.
“Carolyn, hold all my calls,” he barked into his phone and then turned to Luke. “Okay, what’s all this about you buying land in Surf Breeze?”
Luke smiled a little. He’d known that his father had heard the news. After all, it’s what they had been fighting about when Cassey had broken in.
He took his time and sat down in the chair across from his father. “I told you.” He paused, waiting for the irritation to leave his father’s face. Instead, it intensified. “I’m using my inheritance to build a hotel.”
“The hell you are.” His father slammed his hands down on his desk and stood, his face going a deep shade of red. “You’ve known my plans for over a year. This goes against the family, and I won’t stand by and watch you destroy everything I’ve worked hard for.”
“You.” He watched his father start pacing in front of the large windows overlooking the clear-skied beaches. “Everything you’ve worked hard for. Great-granddad won this place by chance. Grandpa worked his whole life to make it what it is today, and you’ve maintained it.” He stood. “I don’t want to be a maintenance man. I want to set out on my own, using my own skills. If I succeed or fail, it’s on me.”
“You’re doing this because of that girl.” His father turned on him.
Luke shook his head. “No.” He thought about it. “Well, maybe Cassey had a little to do with it. I’m doing this because I’m tired of being in your shadow. Of being in Calvin’s shadow. He was the son who was supposed to be by your side, not me. I want to make something of myself. Find out who Luke Callaway is and maybe make a living out of something I love.”
