She picked up an empty box and turned away from him. “Nothing I say will make a difference.”
Moving toward her, he took the box from her and covered her hands with his. His grip tightened when she tried to pull away. “Bailey, for the first time in my life, I’m feeling something real, something exciting. I haven’t been able to sleep or eat. My stomach turned at the mere notion of you with Adams...or anyone else for that matter.”
He paused. “Look at me, please.” His voice was gentle as he lifted her chin. He rested his forehead against hers. “I’m falling for you, Bailey, and my biggest regret is not having realized how perfect, how beautiful, how strong and compassionate you are before now...when it’s too late.”
Pushing him away, Bailey backed up until her back hit the wooden shelf. She shook her head, avoiding his eyes. “No, Ethan, I’m sorry. I don’t know what you think was happening between us....”
“Stop. You’re a terrible liar.” What was she saying? That she didn’t have feelings for him? That was crap and they both knew it.
Touching her cheek, he wiped a tear away, but another fell in its place. “I’m sorry.” The words were so empty, so meaningless. But they were all he had.
Her smile looked forced when her pained eyes met his. “You get her back. It was what you wanted.”
“You think this is what I wanted?” She couldn’t be more wrong.
“Please go now,” she whispered, moving past him.
“Bailey, what do we do now?”
“The same thing we’ve always done.”
“Can you do that?” he choked out.
“Maybe not today...or tomorrow, but eventually. Like you, I have no other choice. Bye, Ethan.”
* * *
“I’D LIKE TO propose a toast to my much older brother here,” Ben said with a wink as he raised his wineglass across the table at the Fireside Grill. “Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement.”
“Congratulations, Doug,” everyone chorused as their glasses clanked together.
Bailey took a sip of her merlot as her father continued. “I also want to take a second—not to intrude on Doug’s night too much—and offer another congratulations, this one to Bailey. I’m proud of you.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Doug said. “I couldn’t be leaving the shop in better hands.”
“Thanks, Uncle Doug,” Bailey said, before picking up her menu. Not that she had an appetite. For three days, the mere thought of food had made her stomach hurt and she’d barely slept. The few hours of sleep she had gotten had been plagued by nightmares of Ethan and Emily together.
She scanned the items and a familiar laugh caught her attention outside on the restaurant’s covered patio. Turning, she noticed Emily and her family take their seats at the reserved table in the corner.
Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. Of all nights. Grateful for the large wooden pillars between the tables, creating a more intimate dining experience, she peered over her menu to see if anyone else was with the Parsonses. No Ethan. The relief she experienced was overwhelming. She couldn’t handle seeing him tonight.
Then his familiar voice at the restaurant entrance made her hands shake. He was here. With his entire family. She shouldn’t be surprised. It made sense that the Parsonses and the Bishops would spend time together, discussing the baby. Still, witnessing Emily and Ethan together would tear a hole in her already battered heart.
Thankfully, the waitress led them around the other side of the restaurant toward the patio and they didn’t notice Bailey’s group. Bailey, however, couldn’t tear her eyes away. Dressed in a dark blue suit and light blue shirt, his dark hair gelled in a spiky mess and his jawline smooth, Ethan looked amazing. He’d obviously gone to a lot of effort for this dinner with the Parsons family, for Emily. She found it hard to breathe.
“Bailey,” Nick said to her right, waving a hand in front of her.
She blinked. “Yeah?”
“Looks like you’re going to have to choose something else.”
“What?”
He pointed to the menu. “The waitress just said they’re out of the salmon. That’s what you said you wanted. You’ll have to choose something else.” Then he noticed the Parsonses’ table and lowered his voice, giving her a sad smile. “Story of your life, huh?”
* * *
THE FIRESIDE GRILL, situated in a heritage home at the edge of the town park, overlooking the lake, bustled with patrons. Ethan scanned the inside dining room for the Parsonses’ table.
“We don’t have to stay long, do we?” his father muttered, yanking on the tie his wife insisted he wear to the upscale restaurant. As chief of police, Frank Bishop didn’t always see eye to eye with Mayor Parsons, despite their common goal of doing what was right for the community. Often, their ideas of just what that was seemed to differ. In the ten years that Ethan had dated Emily, family get-togethers such as this one had happened rarely.
“Shh,” his mother said. “We’re doing this for Ethan.”
“But what am I going to eat? You know I don’t like all this fancy stuff.”
“Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll take you to Joey’s for a burger after I drive Jill home,” Jim whispered.
The hostess, a teenage girl he didn’t recognize, approached with a smile and a stack of menus under one arm. “Are you folks meeting someone or do you have a reservation?” she asked.
“Mayor Parsons and his family,” Ethan said, straightening his tie. He hated wearing one, but the big-city chain restaurant had a dress code and enforced it even in the small town.
“Sure, please follow me,” she said, leading the way past the mahogany bar and the tables adorned in white linen, small candles flickering in the center. She led them to the outdoor patio, where four large tables were grouped for a more private setting. “Here you are. Enjoy your meal.”
“Thank you,” Ethan said, forcing a smile as he waved a greeting to Emily’s family at the far table.
Emily waved from her seat, gesturing to the chair she’d saved next to her. Dressed in a white strapless sundress, her long blond hair tied in a low ponytail over one shoulder, she beamed at him. Her small baby bump was hardly visible in the flowing fabric.
“You’re sure she’s pregnant?” Jim asked, earning him a slap on the shoulder from Jill. “What? She looks the same to me,” he said with a shrug.
“Everyone just get through this one night, okay?” Ethan pleaded in a hushed tone. Family meetings had been easy to avoid before, but with a baby on the way, he suspected the two families had better get used to spending time together, whether they enjoyed it or not. At least he’d be in Miami most of the time. Funny, he’d never expected to see a bright side to the move.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll keep everyone in line,” his mother said, sending the other men warning looks.
“Thanks, Mom.” Ethan was grateful for her. She was the one he’d been most worried to tell about the baby. They were close, and the idea of disappointing her bothered him. But she’d been encouraging and supportive of his decision, saying she only wished that this wonderful life experience wasn’t coming at such a personal cost. He shouldn’t have been surprised by her support. She’d always been there for Jim, Melody and him.
“Hi, everyone,” he greeted, pulling out the seat next to Emily.
“Hey, Ethan, Jim, Jill, June and Frank. Great to see all of you.” Mayor Parsons stood and extended a hand.
“You, too, sir,” Jim said.
Jill waved at everyone before taking a seat near Kim.
His father mumbled a hello and sat.
“Emily, you look beautiful,” his mother said. “We were just commenting on how tiny you still look for six months.”
“The doctor says it’s normal for a first baby.” The note of defensiveness in her voice made e
veryone pause for a beat.
His mother sailed through the awkwardness with ease. “Oh, I’m sure it is, dear. Lillian, I haven’t seen you since your annual Fourth of July party at your cabin....” She turned her attention to Emily’s mother.
The other woman, elegantly dressed in a white business suit, her slightly graying hair tied at the base of her neck in a style similar to Emily’s, offered a tight, polite smile. “We refer to it as the cottage.”
Cottage, cabin—it didn’t matter what they called it. The showy, rarely used summer home that the Parsonses owned an hour outside of Brookhollow was more like a mansion with antique furnishings and real fireplaces in every room. With six bedrooms and two full kitchens, the cottage was bigger than their extravagant four-bedroom, four-thousand-square-foot home here in Brookhollow. Ethan had always hated the place. It was pretentious, unwelcoming and not at all fun. Unlike Bailey’s family cabin in Beach Haven, a tiny two-room shack with lots of beachfront property where they could set up tents and sleep out under the stars. The realization that camping trips like that were probably not in his future anymore hit him.
“Speaking of the cottage, I thought we could hold the celebration after the baby’s christening there,” Emily said.
“What a wonderful idea,” Lillian agreed. “I’ll email our party planner next week.”
“Party planner?” June said. “I’m sure that’s not necessary. We could put something together at our place...something small and intimate—family only.”
“This baby is the mayor’s grandchild... first grandchild,” Lillian said. “I’m afraid there will be nothing small and intimate about the event. Besides, we wouldn’t want to put you out.”
“Well, either way, I think it’s a little early to be discussing it,” Ethan said. “The baby is not even due for another three months.”
“There’s a lot to do in three months,” Emily told him. “We don’t have that much time.”
He bit his cheek. They would have had plenty of time had she not kept this whole pregnancy thing to herself until now.
The waitress arrived to take their order and a collective sigh of relief could be heard across the table.
When she left, Mayor Parsons said, “Great performance on this year’s Fire Fit Challenge, Ethan.”
“Let me guess—you and Bailey took home the win?” Emily asked, turning to face him. The note of jealousy didn’t escape him. Odd how he’d never noticed any sign of that before.
He broached the subject of that day with caution, noticing the silent looks the others exchanged. Emily had yet to learn about his quickly developing relationship with Bailey, and he hoped she wouldn’t find out. It would just complicate things even further.
“Um, no, we came in last.”
“Yeah, they were doing great, but they had some trouble on the rappel wall,” Mayor Parsons said. “I couldn’t really tell from the podium, but it looked like Bailey froze. A little fear of heights?”
Jill shook her head. “No, Bailey’s not afraid of heights. She rock climbs at the YMCA all the time.”
Ethan cleared his throat. “No, Bailey isn’t. I am.”
“You are? I never knew that.” Emily looked at him in disbelief.
“Neither did I until I got to the top of the wall.” There were a lot of things he’d discovered for the first time that day. Not that any of it mattered now.
* * *
BAILEY KICKED HER feet free of her strappy, two-inch sandals and carefully made her way down the bank toward the lake’s edge. Their dinner over, she’d refused the offers of drives home, deciding to stay for a while, enjoying one of the last few mild evenings of summer. Soon the leaves on the park’s large maple trees would turn vibrant shades of red and yellow, and one violent wind storm in early October would loosen them all from their branches, littering the ground. She wished there was some way she could hold on to summer a little longer, but it was yet another thing beyond her control. She sat on the grass and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping the edge of her flowing skirt around her legs as she stared out across the calm, glass-like lake.
“I thought you left.” Ethan’s voice behind her made her heart pound. She hadn’t thought he’d noticed her in the restaurant.
She turned and shielded her eyes against the setting sun as she glanced up at him. “We did. I just thought I’d sit out here awhile before heading home.”
“Sorry I didn’t come over to say hi.”
“No, don’t be. It was totally understandable.”
He sighed, loosening the tie at his neck and shoving his hands into his dress pants pockets. “I’ve really made a mess of things, haven’t I?
“Yeah.” His saddened expression softened her a little. “But you had a lot of help in messing things up.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing, Bailey,” he said, lowering himself next to her on the grass. Having him so close was too much, so she shifted slightly away as he continued. “I feel as though I’m making the worst decision of my life, yet I don’t even feel as though it’s mine to make.”
“The baby changes things...for everyone.” Baby. His baby. The word still stuck on her tongue and sounded foreign to her ears.
“I just wish doing the right thing didn’t have to be so hard.”
In the past, she’d always been there for him. She’d been his best friend, sitting on the sidelines for years, hoping one day he would realize how perfect they could be together. She’d been his shoulder to cry on when Emily left and the kick in the butt he’d needed to pull himself together. And now she desperately wanted to be that woman again. His friend, his confidant, his savior. But she couldn’t. Too much had happened and things were different now. She wanted more and she couldn’t have it. Well, this time neither could he. She stood and collected her shoes. “Good night, Ethan.”
“Tell me it’s okay, Bailey,” he pleaded, anguish in his voice. “You are my best friend. I need to hear it from you.”
“I stopped being your best friend two weeks ago. Now I’m just someone who’s finally realized she can’t win this one.”
* * *
THE SMELL OF the salty ocean air on the warm breeze helped to ease her tension as Bailey drove slowly down Beach Avenue toward the boardwalk the next day. Families and couples lay about on blankets and lawn chairs, enjoying the two-mile stretch of beach along the Atlantic Ocean, basking in the last hot days of summer. Kids teased the lapping waves and local performers played guitars and saxophones near the pier. The smells coming from a hot dog stand to her right tempted her to stop and the sound of the ice-cream truck’s familiar melody playing in the distance brought back childhood memories of days spent building sand castles along the water’s edge with her brothers.
Parking her motorcycle in an angled parking spot a few doors down from her aunt’s shop, Bailey swung her leg over the bike and stretched. The two-hour midmorning drive had been almost traffic-free, and she’d been able to allow her mind to wander as she drove. Unfortunately, despite the back-and-forth game she’d played in her mind, the facts remained the same. Emily was pregnant and that was the end of whatever had been happening between her and Ethan.
She removed her helmet and grabbed her backpack. She refused to think about Ethan anymore on this trip. Okay, that was a stretch. She refused to think about him for at least the next hour.
A bell chimed as she entered Caroline’s Closet, and she forced a smile when her aunt waved her in, the shop phone cradled against her shoulder. “Yes, actually she just walked in.” Your dad, she mouthed.
Bailey nodded, setting her bag down near the door and checking her cell phone. Three missed calls from her father, one from her aunt Jeanette but nothing from the person she refused to think about. As she glanced around the shop, a sense of familiarity washed over her. Except for the stock, nothing had changed. Her aunt’s homemad
e wind chimes made out of beach shells and handcrafted metal charms still hung in the front window, and potted plants lined the shelves on the walls. Racks of clothing were positioned in the main showroom of the store and a single wall of shoes was displayed toward the back near the counter.
“Yes, I’ll ask her to call once she gets settled...Okay, you, too. Bye, Ben,” her aunt said, disconnecting the call. Setting the receiver back into the cradle of the old-fashioned rotary phone, she joined Bailey on the other side of the counter. “Bailey!”
Caroline wrapped her in a tight hug and then pulled away, studying her. “If I hadn’t known you were coming, I would have sworn I was seeing the ghost of your mom walking in. You look more and more like her all the time.” Caroline’s eyes misted. “You’re not even here thirty seconds and I’m a mess,” she said with a laugh.
“Hi, Aunt Caroline,” Bailey said.
“Your dad was starting to worry. Said he tried calling your cell a few times.”
“I turned off the ringer while I drove. I didn’t want to be distracted,” she mumbled. It was partly true. She also didn’t want to be haunted by the silence of a nonringing phone.
“That makes sense,” her aunt said, then hugged her again. “I heard about the shop. I’m so glad you’re okay and that the rebuild went smoothly.”
“Yeah, it was awful to watch it being destroyed, but it really does look fantastic now with all the new upgrades.”
“I wouldn’t let that insurance adjuster hear you say that,” her aunt teased.
“Heard the rumors all the way out here, huh?”
Caroline nodded. “People are crazy,” she said, studying her for a long moment.
“What?” The keen, piercing gaze made Bailey uncomfortable. It was the same look her aunt would give them as kids when they were trying to hide the shenanigans they’d gotten up to during the day while she worked.
“I’m just waiting to see if you’re going to tell me about him or if I’m going to have to ask?”
“Him who?” Bailey toyed with the zipper on her leather jacket. Unlike her father’s side of the family, where the men were mostly oblivious to personal issues until they hit them in the forehead, her mother’s family had always been intuitive to each other’s feelings. And unlike her father’s family, they wanted to talk about it.
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