Until Then

by McLaughlin, Heidi

Ned Keane added his opinion. “Heard he had a lady friend with him.”

  The three men laughed. “Hopefully, he brought her back,” R. J. snickered.

  “Lady in the water,” Isaac Davis pretended to yell.

  “Ha ha, very funny. A friend and I went to San Juan for a couple of days, and yes, I brought her back.”

  “Ah, we’re just giving you shit, Graham.” Ned batted his hand through the air. “How’s your brother?”

  Graham paused. His usual response would be something sarcastic, but since Grady had been in rehab, things had a positive outlook. “He’s thriving,” he told the men. Word spread fast about Grady going into rehab. Most people mumbled it was about time, which they weren’t wrong to say. Graham was thankful his brother was safe, and therapy seemed to work for Grady.

  Graham’s pile of notes started to dwindle as the day went on. Each time the phone rang, he tried to pick it up by the second ring, hoping each caller would be Rennie with a new cell phone number or notification that she had a new phone. He was hoping for the former, even though it would be a pain for her to change her number—he didn’t want Theo to contact her. One could call it jealousy or a streak of possessiveness, but Graham never wanted to hear the name Theo again, especially where Rennie was concerned.

  By late afternoon, the crowd started to pick up. People were coming in to watch the games: college football in the front, and the NBA toward the back. Bowie’s crew was in, playing their regular dart game, and there were enough food orders to keep Mark busy in the kitchen. The day was going better than Graham had anticipated, especially when Bowie, Brooklyn, and Brystol walked in.

  Graham nodded to them, and after they found a seat, Brystol came to Graham. “Want my help?”

  He paused and thought about it for a second and nodded. “Grab your apron,” he instructed her. Brystol ran off, and Graham went over to her parents’ table.

  “It’s okay if she works for a bit?” he asked them.

  “I’m fine with it. She’s still on vacation from school,” Brooklyn said. “Wanna talk about these past couple of days?” She waggled her eyebrows at Graham, whose cheeks heated up with embarrassment.

  “Can’t say I do.” But he did. He wanted to know what Rennie had said to Brooklyn. He would have loved to pull out a chair and listen to her tell him everything, but he would never betray Rennie’s trust in Brooklyn, no matter how desperate he was.

  “Probably for the best, man.” Bowie chuckled. “Those two were squealing like schoolgirls. I think one of my eardrums blew.” He put his finger in his ear and started to wiggle it back and forth. Brooklyn pushed his shoulder and laughed.

  “All I’m going to say, Graham, is you’ve made her happy.”

  A feeling of satisfaction washed over him. He took their order with a shit-eating grin on his face and excused himself to go help two others who had sat down at the bar. As soon as Brystol came out from the back, he felt a bit relieved. He could handle the drinks easily, especially with her taking care of all the food orders. They had a good little system between them whenever she worked.

  Graham finished helping the people at the bar and took Brooklyn’s and Bowie’s drinks over to them. He sat down again and sighed. He tried to think of a way to bring Rennie up without looking desperate for information but couldn’t.

  “What did she tell you about Theo?”

  “That dude was beside himself when he showed up,” Bowie said. “Pounding on my damn door like I owed him something. Pissed me off.” He leaned back, and Brooklyn rested her hand on his thigh. “The guy was yelling into my house, calling for Rennie, except he calls her Renee, which I’ve never understood, and I’m like, ‘She isn’t here. Haven’t seen her since she left with you,’ and then he says she left Canada, that he can’t find her, and all I can think is this guy did something to Rennie. Then I started to get really pissed.”

  “And then I come downstairs and ask what’s going on, and he tries to come into the house! But Bowie isn’t having that and pushes him back outside,” Brooklyn told Graham. “I ask him again, and he tells me he and Rennie got into a fight and that she left. He expected to find her back in Cape Harbor. I was confused because if she were in town, why wouldn’t she be at our house, right?”

  Graham nodded.

  “So maybe you want to fill us in, because the only thing she said to me was that you and she had an amazing time together, and things were going to change.”

  Graham tried not to smile or think about what her words could’ve meant. “Did either of them tell you what went down?”

  Bowie and Brooklyn shook their heads. “Rennie said you knew, that she’d tell me but had to get back to Seattle for work.”

  “She texted me and asked me to come and pick her up at the resort. I did. She didn’t say a word to me until we were in the middle of the ocean, and then she really let it all out.”

  “Let what out?” Brooklyn leaned forward and stared intently at Graham.

  Graham looked around the bar to make sure everything was okay. “Theo’s married.” He paused and let the words sink in. “And not in the ‘I’m separated and getting a divorce’ sort of way.”

  “What the—” Bowie bit back whatever he was going to say because Brystol approached the table. She set down their order of cheese curds and made her way to the next table. Bowie leaned forward and whispered, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Graham shook his head slowly. “Nope. There was a couple at the hotel who recognized Theo, and when they approached him, he referred to Rennie as hotel staff helping him to his room because he was drunk.”

  Brooklyn covered her mouth and gasped. “Oh my . . . Rennie didn’t seem too upset when she was at the house this morning.”

  A smile spread across Graham’s face. He hoped he was the reason she was no longer upset. Of course, he also knew how Rennie felt. “I think, regardless of his infidelity coming to light, they would’ve broken up sooner rather than later. She’s been unhappy for some time and said a lot of things over the holiday that led me to believe, even if he was single, Theo wasn’t the guy for her.” Graham was, though. He was, without a doubt, the man for Rennie, and he was going to do whatever he had to in order to prove it to her.

  “That son of a bitch. I was nice to him.”

  “You’re nice to everyone, Bowie. You don’t have a mean bone in your body,” Graham pointed out.

  “Still. He ate my food! Slept for free in our hotel! And this is the shit he does to our Rennie.” Bowie threw his hands up in the air. Brooklyn tried to comfort him.

  “Graham.” Brystol’s voice rang out from the bar area. She held the phone up in the air. He went to her, and she handed him the receiver. “Aunt Rennie is on the phone for you.”

  Another smile broke out. She had called.

  “Hello,” he said into the phone.

  “Hey, I wanted to let you know I’m back at my apartment, and I have a new cell number.”

  “Decided to go with a new one, huh?”

  “I think it was the best decision. Do you have a pen handy?” He did and told her to rattle off her number. He would put it in his phone once they hung up.

  “Do you want me to give it to Brooklyn? She’s here right now.”

  “Nah, I’ll text it to her. Her number and my parents’ are the only ones I had memorized. Although, I could probably download my contacts from a backup or something. If I had done that, though, I wouldn’t have had an excuse to hear your voice,” she said to him. “And Graham, I really wanted to hear your voice.”

  His heart soared and pounded loudly. “I know you just left, but when can I see you again?”

  “I’ll be up on Friday.”

  He knew his next question might not give him the answer he wanted, but he asked anyway. “Do you want to stay on the houseboat? If you already have plans with Brooklyn, I’d understand.”

  Rennie giggled. “I want to stay with you. I figure I can hang out with Brooklyn while you work. Whatever. I’m not picky.”
<
br />   “Oh, I’m totally picky. I want to spend as much time with you as possible.”

  “Me too,” she said. “We do need to talk, though—and I don’t want you to think it’s something bad—but we need to make sure this is right for us, because we have a friendship on the line to consider and our friends. I don’t want us to move hastily and regret our actions down the road.”

  Graham looked out over the bar. His eyes went to Bowie and Brooklyn, in love and happy after all these years apart. It was what he wanted, and he wanted it with Rennie. “We’ll talk, and we’ll make the best decision for us,” he told her. “The bar is filling up. I’ll text you, and don’t feel like you can’t text me back because you think I’m busy. I’ll always have time for you, Ren.” He wanted to end the call by telling her he was falling in love with her but wanted to give them more time to grow. Instead, he said goodbye and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He pressed the app for his contacts and went right to his favorites. She was there, the first on his list. He changed her number and sent her a message. Almost instantly, the message bubbles appeared, and when her words showed on his screen, he was grinning from ear to ear. Thank you for the most amazing couple of days. I can’t wait to see you on Friday!

  Graham smiled at the message. Amazing didn’t even begin to cover how he felt about the minivacation and Rennie. What started out as an escape for her turned into a life-changing experience for him. They were finally going to give this couple thing a shot.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Luck was on Rennie’s side when she pulled onto her street. There was a parking spot available not far from her front stoop. She parallel parked effortlessly, a skill she had mastered from living in the city for so many years; turned her car off; and grabbed her suitcase from the back seat. When she approached her front steps, she fully expected to find Theo there or a note, something he would’ve left behind to tell her he stopped by. Thankfully, there was nothing. She unlocked her door and, as she did, made a mental note to call the locksmith tomorrow to have her locks changed. She didn’t want Theo coming into her apartment, with or without her being there.

  Rennie turned on the lights as she entered her place. She called out, “I’m home,” even though she lived alone. It was something her father told her to always do when she entered her house.

  “Crap,” she said aloud. In her haste to throw her phone overboard, she’d forgotten about her parents. She rushed down the hall to her room, pulled her laptop from her bag, and booted it up. While she waited, she started to unpack. As soon as the zipper exposed the contents of her bag, she picked up Graham’s sweatshirt and held it to her nose. She missed him already and had a feeling her week was going to drag on until she could see him again. She unpacked and sent an email to her parents asking about their trip and telling them what she did over New Year’s. She also told them she broke things off with Theo, but not why, and how she planned to spend more time in Cape Harbor, figuring it was enough of a hint that her mother would get the underlying message, and closed her email with her new number. She thought about calling her parents but was a horrible daughter and couldn’t remember where in the world they were at the moment and wasn’t sure her mom would respond to an unknown number, regardless of what Rennie typed out.

  After her shower, she sent a message to Graham’s phone. I’m home and going to bed. You can text though because I’ll be reading for a bit.

  Graham texted her right back. I’m jealous of your bed and book.

  Don’t be. Inanimate objects have nothing on you.

  Graham didn’t respond right away, which she was okay with. He had a bar to run, and she wanted him to focus on his job and not her. Their time would come when she was in Cape Harbor over the weekend.

  When she finally turned her light off, she stared at the darkened ceiling. She couldn’t fall asleep and wasn’t keen on taking a sleep aid, other than drinking a cup of tea. At some point in the middle of the night, she got up and searched for the sweatshirt she had taken from Graham. She had made him put it back on when they were at his house because she wanted it to smell like him again. The scent of Old Spice welcomed her as soon as she laid her head on the shirt. She thought she would feel his presence, but all it did was make her miss him and miss the weekend they’d shared. She closed her eyes and imagined Graham lying next to her. Surely this would help her fall asleep.

  Except her thoughts drifted to Theo, which didn’t make sense to her. By all accounts, she should be heartbroken over Theo. She wasn’t. She was relieved and felt as if she had dodged a bullet, and she was angry. Brooklyn told her the anger would turn to loss and hatred, and at any given moment, Rennie could break down and cry because she missed Theo. Rennie refused to believe her. There was no way a strong, independent woman like herself would cry over the loss of someone who lied and cheated. But she had, and Graham had been there to hold her.

  Questions lingered in the back of her mind as to why Theo would do something so deplorable to his wife and her. To tell someone you loved them, to buy them gifts, to take them on work trips, only to live a lie with them made no sense to her. What did Theo expect to happen? Was he going to break up with Rennie? His wife? Was he ever going to come clean to either of them or just lead a double life? What would he have done if Rennie had agreed to move to Spokane? To get those answers, she’d have to communicate with him, and she had no desire to do so, but in order to move on and close this chapter in her life, she would need closure.

  And then there was Graham. Her Graham Cracker. The only boy turned man who ever treated her as his equal. To know Graham was to love him. But she never told him how she truly felt, and he had chosen another. That was on her and was something she planned to rectify in the coming months. Sure, in college, she didn’t want to be in a committed relationship but thought they would end up together. When he told her he started dating someone, she expected it to last a week—a month at best. That was how long girls stayed around, because they all thought Rennie was a threat to their relationship. When Monica didn’t leave, Rennie knew her chance with Graham had gone by the wayside, and it was her fault. In high school, college, and now, Graham Chamberlain was a catch.

  And she had finally caught him.

  As she lay in bed, she thought about what she would say to Theo when she inevitably saw him. His appearance in her office or at her front door wouldn’t be a matter of if, but when. He had gone to the inn and made a spectacle of himself, demanding to see her. Even if she had holed up at the inn, Bowie would’ve never let Theo in. Bowie protected Rennie at all costs because it was what Brooklyn would want. Same with Graham, which was why she called him in the first place. She knew he would drop everything for her and do whatever he could to keep her safe and happy, and he had.

  Rennie dreaded what the morning would bring. Thanks to her utter stupidity of throwing her phone in the bay, she had no idea what she was walking into at work. She left for vacation early and avoided every call and email. She had needed time to think and feared that if her phone was within reach, she’d look to see what Theo had to say or listen to his voice mails. Graham had been right. She should’ve just blocked his number.

  Rennie had a mediation meeting in the morning with Mrs. Soto and her lazy ex-husband, which Rennie suspected was not going to go very well for the ex with Rennie’s frame of mind. She also needed to touch base with Walter in regard to the snoop job she gave him. She wanted to work with Jefferson and find a quick resolution to whatever Donna had up her sleeve regarding Graham. The case was more than personal now, and she needed to make sure it was handled as professionally as possible.

  She rolled over, taking the sweatshirt with her, and finally felt a calm wash over her. Graham was there, with her. Her eyes shot open, and she sat straight up in bed. They were an hour from each other—on nights he closed early, he could drive down to her. In her mind, this made perfect sense, and they wouldn’t have to wait until the weekends to see each other. Rennie flopped back onto her pillow with a cheesy gr
in on her face and saw visions of her and Graham growing old together. Rennie could easily be happy in Cape Harbor, but what about her job? Opening a private practice made sense, but how many people were looking for a divorce in Cape Harbor or Skagit Valley? Those small towns with low populations wouldn’t yield enough of a client base to support a staff and salary. She needed to stop thinking. Her thoughts weren’t doing her any favors.

  By the time her alarm went off, she was exhausted. The sleepy-time tea didn’t do the trick, and her mind never shut off long enough to let her fall asleep. She started her morning routine, never missing a step, and replaced an existing part of her morning by sending Graham a text, which he would see when he woke up. Having responsibilities sucks. Let’s run away together.

  She stood in front of her closet and looked over her clothes. There wasn’t a single thing she wanted to wear in there. She wanted to be comfortable in jeans, but Lex Davey would have a fit if she showed up to work looking like it was Saturday. She pulled out a navy-blue suit with white pinstripes. The ensemble was one of her favorites. Rennie hung it on the hook by her closet and went to her dresser, opened a drawer, and found a picture of Theo. She picked it up, studied it, and waited for the tears to come. They didn’t. She stared at it with disgust. He was nothing to her.

  Next to her dresser sat a wastebasket. Rennie dropped the photo into it and then looked around her room. There were other images of Theo, some with her in them. She didn’t bother to take them out of the frames as she collected them. Each one made its way into the garbage, frame and all. There wasn’t a satisfying crunch of glass shattering. She wasn’t screaming. She was simply cleaning up what didn’t belong in her apartment anymore.

  From room to room, she collected things belonging to Theo. Some items were personal, some just random things that had accumulated over time, and she set them all on her coffee table. She’d box those and send them to his work. She didn’t care if she was outing him or not—at this point, he deserved whatever came his way. By the time she was done, she had worked up a sweat and an appetite, and she still had to go to work. Rennie went back to her dresser and pulled out a new package of nylons and worked her legs into them. She finished dressing and felt lighter and much better about the day. Maybe she just needed to totally eradicate Theo from her life before her day could start.