by Marie Force
When he saw nothing too gross or out of the ordinary in the last room, he breathed a sigh of relief. He’d already had enough contact with foreign DNA to last a lifetime. As he stripped the bed and quickly remade it, he decided something had to be done about the deplorable way Maddie was treated here. No wonder she’d called her employers bastards. They were!
“Having fun, darling?”
Speak of the devil. His mother leaned against the doorframe. “I’m having a blast.”
“This is entirely inappropriate, but of course you know that.”
“How’s it inappropriate for me to help a friend?”
“She’s not your friend! You just met her yesterday, for heaven’s sake.”
“Be careful, Mother. I’m not a child who needs you to define friendship for me.”
“I just don’t understand this, Mac. Why in the world would you want to lower yourself to” —she waved her hand around— “this. . . just to prove a point to me.”
He stopped what he was doing to stare at her, incredulous. “It’s got nothing to do with you! God, you’re unbelievable! You think everything revolves around you.”
“I think no such thing.”
“What I want to know is why Maddie gets all the crappiest rooms. Did that direction come right from you? Or does Ethel do that on her own?” He glanced at her in time to catch her guilty expression. “That ends today. Do you hear me?”
“You can’t come in here and start barking out orders.”
“Do you want my help at the marina?”
She had the good grace to at least squirm a little. “You know I do.”
“Then you’ll make sure she’s treated fairly here from now on, or I swear to God, I won’t lift a hammer down the street.” He had no intention of making good on that threat, because he planned to help his father no matter what. But he could let her think that he’d walk away if it meant improving Maddie’s situation.
“I can’t imagine what’s gotten into you to talk to me like this.”
“I’ve gotten an eyeful of the way you treat one of your employees today, and I don’t care for it.”
“She’s gotten her hooks into you, hasn’t she?”
He released a short bark of laughter as he ran the duster over the tables and dresser. “I wish.”
“What does that mean?”
“She doesn’t seem all that interested in me.”
Linda expelled what sounded like a sigh of relief. “Oh, well, that’s good, I suppose.”
Mac whirled around to face her. “No, it isn’t. I like her. I really like her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You could have any woman you want. Just this morning, I talked to Doro Chase. She can’t wait to meet you.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“I told her you’re home, and she’d love to meet you. I said I’d set it up.”
“That ain’t happening. I don’t need my mother arranging dates for me.”
“You need something because that woman you’re shacking up with in town is all wrong for you.”
“That woman I’m shacking up with is all right for me.” Mac enjoyed watching his mother blanch. “In fact, she’s more right for me than any woman I’ve ever met.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Deciding he’d said enough for now, he grabbed the last of the towels from his basket and headed for the bathroom. “We’ll see you at dinner.” He poked his head out the door and made eye contact with her. “You be nice to her, or I swear you won’t see me again for a long, long time.”
“Honestly. I don’t know what’s happened to you.”
“Believe me, you don’t want to know.” He’d fallen in love with a woman his mother had nothing but disdain for. Any doubt he’d had about the love part had disappeared during the long day at the hotel. He loved her. He wanted her. He couldn’t wait to see her again. He was going to do anything and everything he could to be with her.
And if his mother didn’t like it? Too bad.
Mac limped out of the hotel at three thirty. The long night without sleep, the long day without so much as a ten-minute break and the battle with his mother had left him weary and drained. He wanted to go straight back to Maddie’s and sleep until dinner. But first he needed to see his father, so he started the bike and headed for the marina.
The aroma of fried food and diesel fuel blended with sunscreen, dead fish and something being cooked on a grill. A group of boys raced crabs down the ramp into the water, and their shrieks filled the air. Overhead, a flock of seagulls watched the action onboard one of the big powerboats where the day’s catch was being cleaned. Just another summer day at McCarthy’s.
Big Mac sat at one of the picnic tables outside the restaurant, surrounded by a crowd that hung on his every word as he retold the story of hooking a great white in Long Island Sound—for what had to be the ten thousandth time since it happened twenty years earlier.
“Not that old fish story again,” Mac interjected.
His father’s face lit up with delight. “Hey! Look who it is! Fellas, meet my oldest boy, Little Mac.”
“Just Mac is fine.” He shook hands with the other men. “I dropped the little part years ago.” To his father, he said, “Got time for a beer?”
“Hmm, fellas, what do you say? Do I have time for a beer with my son?”
“You do own the place,” one of them said drolly.
“That I do. Luke!”
Luke appeared from behind the main building. “Yeah?”
“I’m cutting out. You’re in charge.”
“Right.”
“What happened with the shark?” one of the guys asked as Big Mac got up.
“He got away,” Mac said.
“Well, thank God for that.”
“No shit,” Big Mac said with that winning smile of his. “I’ll see you fellas around. Gotta spend some time with my boy.” He put his arm around Mac and led him to the Tiki Bar at the end of the main dock.
They pulled up stools at Big Mac’s latest brainstorm. The outdoor bar had been added two summers ago, and from what Mac had heard, it was turning a nice profit.
“Carol Ann, this here’s my boy Mac. He drinks on the house while he’s home. Two of my usual.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. McCarthy,” the pretty young bartender replied.
While she fetched the beers, Mac snorted behind his hand. “She calls you Mr. McCarthy?”
“She respects her elders. What can I say?”
Carol Ann put two frosty bottles down in front of them.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Big Mac said without an ounce of guile. Only on Gansett Island could an employer get away with calling a female employee “sweetheart.”
“My pleasure,” she said with a toothy smile, and Mac could see that it was. Everyone loved his father. You couldn’t spend ten minutes in his orbit and not be sucked into his effortless way with people. He was the heart and soul of the place, and Mac couldn’t imagine it without him.
Carol Ann moved to the far end of the bar to give them some privacy.
Big Mac tapped his bottle against Mac’s and then took a long drink.
“You’re really gonna sell this place, Dad?”
“I think it’s time,” Big Mac said, but Mac heard the sadness in his voice and saw it on his face. “Your mom wants to travel, get off the island some. You hear about people waiting too long to retire, then one of ’em gets sick. . .” Shrugging, he picked at the label on his bottle.
“I can’t imagine someone else owning it, running it.”
“Believe me, neither can I. But I’m not gonna live forever, you know.”
“Don’t say that.”
Big Mac laughed. “Okay, I won’t.”
Slipping into contemplative silence, they looked out over the bustling pond, which had thinned out as it always did on Sunday afternoons.
“I love this time of day around here,” Big Mac said. “Everyone who’s coming is in, everyone who’s leaving is
gone. Most of the work is done for the day. People want to hang out, pass the bull. Hardly feels like work most days.”
Mac knew they came back year after year to see his father, to catch up on the news, to hear the latest stories. He had a way of making each guest feel special, as if he’d been waiting all season just for them to arrive. It occurred to Mac that no one could ever replace him.
They watched Luke guide a latecomer into a spot next to another powerboat. The captain did a nice job of maneuvering the big boat into the tight space. After the boat was tied up, Luke and the captain exchanged a few words. The captain reached for his wallet, pressed a wad of cash into Luke’s hand, and nodded at something Luke said to him. Luke pocketed the cash and made his way back up to the main dock.
Mac watched the exchange with growing dismay. “Tell me that money will make it into the till.” He glanced over to find his father’s face hard and unreadable.
“Eventually, I’m sure.”
“But you don’t know?”
“I hope.”
“Dad! Is he ripping you off?”
“Nah, I pay him plenty. He doesn’t need it.”
Mac wanted to cause a scene but knew his father wouldn’t appreciate it. You could bet that he’d be keeping an eye on Luke while he worked on the renovations.
“You know, son,” Big Mac said tentatively, “if you have even the slightest interest in the place, all you have to do is say so. I’d never sell it if you wanted it.”
Mac knew it, but hearing the words made it real. “I know that, Dad.”
“Absolutely no pressure, though. I wouldn’t want you to feel obligated. Island life isn’t for everyone. Lord knows you and your brothers split the minute you were old enough.”
“It looks a little different to me this time around, for some reason.” The words were out of his mouth before Mac could ponder the consequences.
“That so?”
“Yeah.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe I stayed away too long. Maybe because things in Miami have been beyond insane lately. Or maybe it’s because I met someone yesterday who has my head turned all around.”
“Ahhh,” Big Mac said with a satisfied grin. “Now we’re getting to the heart of the matter.”
Mac smiled. “Remember me asking you how I’d know when the right one came along? You said, ‘You’ll know, son. You’ll just know.’”
“Sounds like something I’d say.”
“Well . . .”
Mac watched the awareness dawn on his father’s face. “No kidding?”
Mac shrugged.
His father’s eyes went shiny. “It’s about time,” he said softly. “Wow, just like that?”
“I took one look at her, and that was that.”
“And we’re talking about Maddie who cleans up the hill?”
“Yeah,” Mac said, still awed by the wonder of it all. Two days ago, he was in Miami. Two days ago, he didn’t even know she existed. And now his every hope and dream was somehow mixed up in her and her son.
“I don’t know her real well, but she seems like a sweetheart of a gal,” Big Mac said. “Had some tough breaks, though.”
“She sure has. And because of that, she’s kind of. . . skittish.”
“Can’t really blame her. That father of hers. . . No one could believe it when he just walked away from his wife and kids. That’s the thing about this place—you can jump on a ferry and run away from it all.”
“I don’t think she ever recovered from that.”
“Who would?”
Mac decided to level with his father. “I’m kind of in uncharted territory here.”
“How’s that?”
“You’re gonna laugh. . .”
His father did just that. “Spill it, boy!”
“It’s just that usually when I like someone, they tend to. . .” Mac combed his fingers impatiently through his hair as he searched for the words. “How can I say this without sounding like a total jackass?”
This time Big Mac howled. “They tend to fall at your feet in gratitude that Mac McCarthy has chosen to give them the time of day?”
“That is not what I was going to say!”
His father continued to laugh at his own joke. “Am I warm?”
“Sort of,” Mac said begrudgingly.
That set his father off again.
“I’m glad you’re getting such a kick out of this.”
Big Mac wiped the laughter tears from his eyes. “I’m very sorry, but I think it’s a riot that you finally find one who makes your head spin and she could take or leave you.”
“Well,” Mac said, thinking of their passionate kisses, “I wouldn’t say that, exactly. But she doesn’t seem to be jumping for joy that she’s attracted my interest.”
Big Mac had the good grace to at least try to hide his smirk. “She’s probably overwhelmed. A good-looking, self-assured guy like you would scare the pants off a gal who’s been treated the way she has by other men.”
“None of the stuff they say about her is true, Dad.” He thought of his brother Evan and the conversation they needed to have—soon. “None of it.”
“That so? Interesting.”
“What do I do? If she had her way, she’d send me packing, and I’d never see her again.”
Big Mac ran a hand over the white stubble on his jaw. “You gotta keep showing up, prove to her that you’re different than all the others who’ve let her down.”
“Make a nuisance out of myself?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“I can do that,” Mac said, settling into the idea. He’d done a pretty good job of it so far.
“’Course you can. But don’t grovel, son. Any woman would be lucky to have you. You remember that.”
Mac smiled. He could always count on his father to be on his side. “So would it be okay if, while I’m making a nuisance out of myself with her, I try this place on for size for a while? No promises or anything.”
Big Mac squeezed his son’s forearm. “That’d be more than okay with me.”
“Don’t say anything to Mom about what I said about Maddie. She’s got something against her, for some reason.”
“I won’t say a word.”
Mac downed the last of his beer. “Mind if I borrow your truck for the night? I’m bringing Maddie and her son over to the house for dinner.”
Big Mac withdrew the keys from his shorts pocket. “Have at it.”
Mac gave his father the key to the motorcycle. In an impulsive move, he leaned in and kissed his father’s cheek. “Love you.”
Big Mac hugged him for a long moment.
Mac realized he’d rendered his old man speechless. “Thanks for the beer. See you at dinner.”
Mac parked the truck in Maddie’s driveway and went up the stairs to the small deck where Libby was stretched out in a lounge chair, reading a book.
“Hey,” she said. “Back already?”
“How’s it going?”
“It’s been great. They’re both sacked out at the moment.”
“Thank you so much for hanging out today. I really appreciate it.”
“I enjoyed it. She’s really very lovely. I’m sorry I haven’t taken the time before now to get to know her better.”
Mac glanced at the door. “She could use a few friends in this town.”
Libby stashed her book in her tote bag and got up to give Mac a kiss on the cheek. “She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s damned lucky to have you in her life.”
Hit with an unusual burst of insecurity, Mac rolled his bottom lip between his teeth. “If she had her way, she’d never see me again.”
“I don’t think it’ll take all that much to change her mind. You know what you need to do.”
“Yeah.” He thought of what his father said about showing up and proving that he’d never let her down. “Thanks again, Lib.” He gave her a hug and watched her walk down the driveway toward town where
she lived in a suite of rooms at the Beachcomber with her husband and two children.
Taking a deep breath, Mac opened the screen door and stepped inside. Maddie lay on the bed with her uninjured arm hooked over her head and the sheet pulled up to her shoulders. It was the first time, he realized, that he’d seen her so unguarded. Moving carefully so as not to disturb her, he went to the bathroom, quickly showered off the grime from the long day and, wearing just his boxers, crawled into bed next to her, intending to sleep for at least an hour and a half of the two hours they had before they were due at his parents’ house.
But then she turned toward him, slipped an arm around his waist and drew him in close to her.
Steeped in her scent and softness, Mac was suddenly wide awake and fully erect. He had no idea if she was awake or having yet another of her vivid dreams. Curious as to what she would do, he put an arm around her and brought her as close to him as he dared.
Her breath skittered across his chest, stirring him even more.
With his heart beating a rapid staccato, he couldn’t move or breathe. This is love. Finally, he understood. This was what made sane men into fools. He smoothed his hand over her hair and down her back.
She released a contented sigh and burrowed in closer, until her lips were pressed to his bare chest.
Mac had never been happier in his life.
In her dream, Maddie was falling. From where or what she didn’t know, but the falling sensation had her flailing for traction. She woke up suddenly to find her face pressed to a hard male chest. His now-familiar scent found its way through the sleepy fog in her brain.
Mac.
Where had he come from? She studied his strong, handsome face, slack with sleep, and wanted to kiss him all over. Had she ever felt that way about any man before? No. Never. He was so big and strong, and he held her just right. She couldn’t even think about the pain radiating from her arm and leg when she was so wrapped up in his embrace. But then she remembered all the reasons why this was a bad idea and began to work her way free of him.
