Could they really be discreet enough to fool everyone? Her sisters would be hard to fool, particularly Lilah, but she wasn’t really worried about them. Lora would simply frown and go on about fraternizing romantically with the patrons, and Lilah would probably warn her about getting hurt when the Westons left. It was Carys who worried her.
She didn’t want the girl to find out. The thought of facing Carys with the news that she was shacking up with Gabe made her stomach roll uncomfortably. She doubted Carys would simply punch her in the arm like a girlfriend and say, “Good job!” Egad. What was she thinking? Lindy fidgeted with the fringe on her sarong. The memory of seeing Carys angry and grieving for her mother came back to scratch at Lindy’s conscience. Hell, Lindy thought with real fear, the kid might end up hating her for messing around with her dad—and well she should. She had no business being with Gabe casually.
Of course, there was also an opposite problem to consider. What if—in a shocking reversal—Carys actually embraced the idea of Lindy hanging around in more than a friendly capacity with Gabe? Worse! Because neither Gabe nor Lindy were in it for the long haul and because of that, where would their arrangement leave Carys when they finally left St. John?
Crushed.
Lindy worried a hangnail on her finger and almost ran smack into Lora.
“There you are,” Lora exclaimed with a hint of exasperation. “How’d it go with your producer friend?”
Lindy grimaced. Well, now was as good a time as any to get this over with. “It didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. They’re not going to budge from their current location. I’m sorry, Lora. I tried.”
“It’s okay,” Lora said, smiling. “I knew it was a long shot. I made some inroads with Sears Holdings Corporation but it’ll be a few weeks before I can get a meeting with their travel VP. In the meantime, we’ll just have to see what we can scare up locally. I was thinking we ought to see which charter companies are looking to partner for a split profit. We’ve never done that before, but I think it might serve us well to diversify.”
“Billy might be up to partnering with us,” Lindy suggested, and Lora nodded.
“I’ll have Heath talk to him and see if he wants to sit down and talk business.”
“I’d suggest Heath do the talking. If you recall, you and Billy aren’t exactly close.”
“Right,” Lora said with a resigned grimace as she muttered, “That man can sure hold a grudge.”
“Well, before you got all lovey-dovey, you were a bit of a hard-ass, remember?”
“Is everyone going to hold that against me for the rest of my life?” she asked, irritated. “Geesh, what do I gotta do for a little forgiveness? It wasn’t as if I drowned kittens or something equally awful in my spare time.”
Lindy chuckled. “True. You ought to put that on your résumé.”
“Hey, on a separate note, I heard that Mr. Weston and his daughter were moving to the Worchester?” she asked, worried.
“No, I think we got that smoothed out. It was a small misunderstanding.”
Lora looked askance at Lindy. “Did you have anything to do with that misunderstanding?”
“Perhaps. But I also had something to do with the resolution. So I think I’ve been redeemed.”
Lora exhaled in exasperation. “Lindy, don’t go messing around with the patrons. We need them to leave happy and wanting to return or at the very least eager to give glowing reviews. Okay?”
“You worry too much,” Lindy said, smiling. “Loosen up, sis.”
“Argh. And you need to...oh, never mind. So he’s staying? Good. At least that’s one worry off my mind. Have you seen Pops? I need to talk to him about his birdhouse project. He has sawdust everywhere on the patio.”
Lindy turned wistful, remembering when Grams was alive. “Pops was always making her birdhouses. And they were so awful, but Grams acted as if she loved every single one of them.”
Lora allowed a short smile, but Lindy could tell memories of Grams were painful. “Yes. Pops could do a lot of things, but making birdhouses was not one of them. Not for lack of trying, though, that’s for sure.”
Each reflected for a short moment, lost in their own private recollections of Grams until Lindy remembered something she wanted to broach with Lora. “Hey, I’m still worried about Lilah.”
“Why?”
“It’s a gut instinct thing, but I think she’s getting worse. She may be depressed. She might need to talk to a therapist or something.”
“Yeah,” Lora said, her tone conveying her concern, as well. “I’ve been wondering the same, but each time I try to bring up the subject, she shuts me down pretty quick. I didn’t want to be the overbearing older sister so I’ve backed away, but it does worry me a bit. What have you seen?”
“Well, it’s nothing overt, but Billy said he sees her walking late at night on the beach and that’s just weird.”
“She likes to walk the beach at night—that’s not particularly strange,” Lora disagreed. “Heath takes an early-morning swim before the sun comes up.”
“This is different,” Lindy insisted. “Maybe it’s a twin thing, but something is off. I’m really worried. Billy said he’s seen her at two and three in the morning, walking the beach. That’s not a normal stroll after dinner.”
“Two in the morning? You’re right...that’s not normal. Okay. We’ll talk to her, but chances are she’s just, I don’t know, going through something that she doesn’t want everyone poking their noses into.”
“Maybe,” Lindy allowed, but still her gut told her Lilah was hurting and no one was paying enough attention.
“In the meantime, we need to start brainstorming again. The next IRS payment will be due in November and it will be here before we know it. I don’t want to be sitting around in October wringing our hands. I want a solid plan in action.”
Lindy did a mock salute and said, “Yes, ma’am!”
Lora sent her a short look, muttering, “You’re hilarious....” before heading off, leaving Lindy to go in search of Lilah.
* * *
GABE FOUND CARYS practicing painting with Lilah in the bright and sunny atrium. When Carys saw Gabe her expression dimmed and a pout started to form.
“Before you get all sass-mouthed again, we’re staying,” he informed her, then turned to Lilah and said, “Thanks for keeping her busy, but would you mind if we chatted in private?”
“No problem,” Lilah murmured, gathering her supplies. “Feel free to take as long as you need. The atrium is available to all guests.”
Lilah hustled out of the room and Gabe took a seat beside Carys with a grave expression. “We need to talk about your attitude, as in it has to improve.”
Carys remained silent and returned to her watercolors until Gabe plucked her brush from her fingers with a stern look. “Carys...I mean it. You can’t spew ugly words and a bad attitude every time something doesn’t go your way. How would you feel if I did that to you? Or worse, how do you think your mom would feel if she saw you acting like that? I know we raised you better than that and it kills me when you act like a spoiled brat because, deep down, I know you’re not like that.”
“How would you know? You weren’t around,” she said dully. “Mom was always the one there for me and now she’s gone.”
Gabe took a deep breath. “You’re right. I wasn’t there enough. I can try to apologize a million different ways, but it won’t change a thing. All I can do is promise to be better from this point forward.”
“But what about your work?”
“It’s true I work a lot, but maybe I need to start delegating more instead of taking on so much myself. Your mom made it so I could do that, but I realize now that I shouldn’t have put everything on her shoulders. I thought what I was doing was what was right for the family by being a good provider, but somewhe
re along the way I took it to another level.”
“Mom used to look sad,” Carys said softly, glancing at him to catch his reaction. Gabe felt her statement like a punch to the gut.
“Really?”
“Yeah...she tried to hide it but I saw her crying sometimes when you worked late.”
“Carys...I loved your mom but I could’ve been a better husband,” he said. “I wish I could make it right, but I can’t. That’s something I have to deal with on my own. But your mom was a beautiful, gentle person and we were both lucky to have her in our lives for as long as we did.”
Carys nodded, her eyes watering. “When will I stop missing her?”
“I hope you never stop missing her,” he said, surprising her. “She’s a part of you and that will never change. We will always miss her, but eventually it will stop hurting so much that she’s gone.”
Carys sniffed, then said, “Being here helps me to feel less lost. I like it here. Lindy and her family...they make me feel like I belong somewhere. They never shoo me away or tell me to find something else to do because they’re too busy to deal with me.”
“I’m sorry. I do that, don’t I?”
Again Carys nodded and wiped at the tears leaking down her face. She stared at her fingers as she said, “I don’t want to leave and you didn’t even give me the chance to tell you why I wanted to stay.”
“True. I should’ve taken your feelings into consideration. I apologize for that.” She glanced up at him, startled at his admission. He smiled. “What? Dads can’t admit to mistakes? Hell, I make plenty. But I also take responsibility for when I’m wrong,” he said, sending her a meaningful look. “Is there something you’d like to say?” When Carys looked sheepishly away, he prodded her gently. “C’mon, it goes both ways when people are wrong to each other.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“That’s my girl. Come give me a hug,” he said, and she climbed into his arms like a spider monkey. He hugged her tightly and closed his eyes against the pang in his heart. He loved this girl more than anything in this world. He should’ve been better at showing that everything he did, he did for her benefit.
She pulled away and wiped at the tears dribbling from her pretty eyes. “Daddy...why’d you want to leave?” she asked.
“I guess I was being a little overprotective. I know you’re a smart girl and you know what’s right and wrong. Besides, this is a great place. I doubt the Worchester has half the cool factor that Larimar has,” he said, teasing.
“Dang straight,” Carys said, recovering with a watery grin. “And Celly said you can’t swim at the Worchester beach cuz it’s full of parasites from all the yachts. They just dump their poo right into the water! Ewwww...”
He grimaced. “That’s pretty disgusting,” he agreed. “Glad we’re staying, then.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Carys smiled up at Gabe and then plucked her art from the easel. “See what Lilah showed me how to do? Isn’t it pretty? It’s a dolphin.”
Gabe admired his daughter’s handiwork with pride. “This is very good. Lilah taught you?”
“Yep. She’s a real artist. You should see some of her art. It’s amazing,” Carys said, her eyes sparkling. “Oh, Daddy, you ought to buy some of her art for your office. It would totally look great above your desk and I bet she’d give you a good price. We should ask her.”
“Maybe,” Gabe said, not quite sure if that was going to happen. It was one thing to appreciate the artistic talents of someone who helped an eleven-year-old produce a nice doodle, but quite another to purchase art for his business. But he figured there was no harm in checking out Lilah’s art for appearances’ sake. “Is her art in the gallery here at Larimar?”
“Oh no, she doesn’t let anyone see her art. She’s very private about it,” Carys answered solemnly. “She only let me see because I was so upset.”
“Oh. Okay,” he said. “Then how will I see it?”
“I’ll talk to her,” Carys said confidently. “Lilah is shy about her art. It takes a certain touch.”
The way his daughter sounded so mature made him chuckle, but it also gave him pause. His daughter was growing up faster than he would’ve imagined. It made him sad to wonder what he’d been missing out on in his quest to bury his grief in work.
“All right, how about some food?” he suggested, to which Carys jumped up and suggested Sailor’s. “Of course. I mean, you can never eat too many hamburgers when you’re on vacation, right?” he teased.
“And we should ask Lindy if she wants to go, too!”
“Sure,” he said with an easy smile, but inside he was hesitant. Would he be able to be around Lindy without giving away the fact that when he saw her, all he pictured was her without her clothes? Just the thought caused his heart rate to quicken and he ruefully wondered if he was on course for a disaster. He supposed there was only one way to find out.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
GABE FOUND LINDY with the intent of inviting her to lunch with him and Carys, but it was hard to quell the sudden rise in body temperature when he saw her standing in the lobby, chatting with another guest.
It took everything in him to wait patiently and not sweep her into his arms and plant possessive kisses all over her body. She simply sparkled. There was something about her that drew people like moths to a flame or butterflies to a flower. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before. It was more than just beauty; she had that effervescent quality that stars possessed and he was struck by the overwhelming desire to casually walk over to her and sling his arm around her shoulders like some hormonal teen with his first girlfriend. Damn, he thought to himself, more than mildly alarmed at his gut reaction. How was he supposed to remain discreet if he couldn’t even keep his hands to himself for two seconds? Thankfully, Carys took care of the immediate problem and didn’t wait for him.
“Lindy!” she exclaimed with the natural exuberance of a child. “We’re going to Sailor’s. Wanna come?”
The guest drifted away and Lindy grinned at Carys. “I never give up a chance to eat at my favorite place, but I was trying to find Lilah.” She glanced over at Gabe and he could’ve sworn sparks flared to life between them. Her cheeks pinked with high color and a small smile toyed with her lips as if she was replaying the same memory as he was. He coughed and looked away, breaking the spell.
“Maybe another time?” he suggested, and Carys reacted with visible disappointment.
“Why can’t we just invite Lilah, too?” Carys asked.
“I don’t know where she’s at,” Lindy admitted, glancing around the lobby. “I was hoping she was around so I could talk to her about something.”
“Celly probably knows where she is,” Carys offered helpfully.
“You’re right,” Lindy agreed, turning to Gabe. “If you wouldn’t mind waiting for a few minutes for me while I look for Lilah...”
“Of course,” he said, smiling around the giddy feeling that followed knowing she was going to lunch with them. “I’ll go start the car.”
“I’m going to help Lindy find Lilah,” Carys piped up, and slipped her hand into Lindy’s. The action surprised Gabe, but when Lindy smiled down at his daughter, something tightened dangerously in his heart. Things were happening at a terrifying pace. He’d never felt so wildly charged about another person. Seeing Lindy with Carys, so openly affectionate, made something else happen for him that he wasn’t prepared for. He recognized the feeling, but he pushed it away. He’d never disrespect Lindy by thinking of her as a good-time girl or island booty call, but he had to keep reminding himself that neither of them were playing for keeps. He watched as Carys and Lindy disappeared down the main hallway, clasped hands swinging as they walked.
It was too easy to imagine Lindy in his life permanently. He knew he had to nip those thoughts in the bud. But he had no idea how
to stop them from continually popping up.
* * *
LINDY AND CARYS found Lilah in the atrium, tending to Grams’s many tropical plants. She didn’t hear them enter and seemed lost in her own world.
Lindy’s earlier conversation with Lora came to mind and immediately worry returned to her thoughts about her twin. “Hey, Li,” she said, startling her sister into almost dropping the water can. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Carys and I wondered if you’d like to go to Sailor’s with us to get some lunch.”
Lilah smiled at Carys and smoothed her hair but shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m really not hungry right now. Plus, I have to get the watering done or else these plants will wither away to nothing and I’d never be able to forgive myself.”
“C’mon, Li, you need to get out for a while. When was the last time you just went and had some fun?”
Lilah sent her a strange look that caused a discordant tremble down Lindy’s back and murmured that she needed to return to her watering.
Carys looked to Lindy with a question in her eyes, and even though Lindy could tell by the way her sister’s shoulders were set that she wasn’t going to change her mind, she tried anyway. “Li, you know you can’t resist Sailor’s...cheeseburger with fries...root beer...” she said, trying to tempt her.
Lilah sighed, the sound slightly irritated, and said, “I’m not hungry. I’m actually going to finish the watering and then maybe go take a nap. I haven’t been sleeping well and I just want to lie down for a little bit, okay?”
“Oh,” Lindy said, relenting grudgingly, but she couldn’t help but add quietly, “Maybe if you weren’t walking from here to kingdom come every night till three in the morning, you wouldn’t be so tired.”
Lilah looked at her sharply and just when Lindy thought her twin was going to respond with something sarcastic for butting into her business, she shrugged and agreed with a nod. “Maybe so.”
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