The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge

by Stewart, Mariah

  “You should be proud. She’s got a great product and she’s in the right location.” Dallas added, “I’m sure your folks are proud, too.”

  “They are. I think they feel a lot better about leaving St. Dennis now that Scoop is doing so well. I think they were worried for a while that she wasn’t going to be able to support herself selling ice cream.”

  “Where did they go?”

  “They moved to Havre de Grace a couple of years ago. You know my dad was a waterman, like his dad, and his dad before that. But with the Bay having gotten so polluted there for a while and the crab and oyster catch falling off every year, he figured out that he’d need to find something else to do. So he went back to school and majored in environmental studies, got a job with a new outfit that was studying the Bay and how best to bring it back from the brink. One of the areas he’s working on is the Susquehanna watershed. The water that flows down through Pennsylvania into the Bay has been bringing pollutants, farm waste, insecticides, chemical fertilizers—” He stopped. “Sorry. I could go on and on. As you can guess, my dad’s pretty militant on the subject.”

  “No need to apologize. The Bay is … well, it’s the Chesapeake. I remember times when we were kids that the water was cloudy and Berry didn’t want us to go swimming.”

  “It’s improved a lot over the past few years. There have been a lot of new regulations and real efforts to clean it up, and from what my dad tells me, the efforts are paying off. This spring the population of blue crabs increased pretty dramatically.”

  “So your dad went from catching the blues to saving them.”

  “That’s exactly what he says. He’s pretty happy that he made the switch when he did. He loves the Bay, loves everything about it. He said that the Chesapeake took care of our family for the past two hundred years, it was time we started taking care of it.”

  “I’m surprised they’d sell the house. I seem to recall it had been in your family for a long time.”

  “They didn’t sell it. They rented it out. My mom has all intentions of coming back here someday.” Grant shook his head. “They’d never sell that house. Too many memories, you know?”

  “I’m surprised you or Steffie didn’t rent from them.”

  “Stef already had her place, and I hadn’t made the decision to move back here when they were looking for a renter.”

  Dallas shifted in her seat to better see Grant’s face. “Didn’t you have a practice already established somewhere else?”

  “I did. In Ohio, where we were living, but this just seemed like the right move. I never felt like I belonged in Camden Lakes, the town we settled in. I guess I always knew I’d be back here someday; at least that was always my goal. When my marriage broke up, it seemed like the right time.”

  “Is your ex-wife living in Ohio?”

  “Yes. She grew up in Camden Lakes. Her whole family is there. There was no question that she’d stay and I’d go.” He shrugged. “Besides, there was no way I was ever going to feel comfortable being around that situation after some other guy moved into my house.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah. How ’bout it?”

  “She’s remarried?”

  He nodded. “Last fall. He’s not a bad guy. I think it would have been easier if I hadn’t liked him as a person. But once I got over the shock that Krista had found a replacement for me—before I knew she was even looking for one—well, I had to admit he was a nice guy, a good guy. I think he cares a lot more about her than I did, to be truthful. And he’s a good stepfather to Paige. Never tries to come between us, never tries to override me, which I appreciate. So I guess it could be worse.”

  “Still, that couldn’t have been easy. I mean, I know what it feels like to have your spouse betray you.”

  “Well, she had her reasons, and I can’t say that I blame her.”

  “Were you …”

  “Cheating on her?” He shook his head. “No. I don’t believe in it. I figure, if the relationship is broken to the point where you want to look for someone else, you make a clean break before you start looking. I think we just sort of outgrew each other and I guess she thought there was no other place for her to go but to someone else.”

  Dallas wasn’t sure how to respond. I’m sorry? Or maybe, That’s a really mature way to look at it? Either of which was better than her first inclination, which had been, At least the press didn’t have a field day with it.

  She decided that this might be one of those times when she was better off saying nothing at all. She turned up the music. The Eagles CD was still playing as they arrived in St. Dennis.

  “It’s so early,” he noted. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into ice cream? Or a drink down at Captain Walt’s or maybe at Lola’s?”

  She shook her head. “No, thanks. But if you’d like to come in, I can offer you a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Sorry we don’t have any beer to replace the one you left on the table, though.”

  “You can buy me a beer some other time.” He made the turn onto Berry’s road, then moments later, into her driveway. “Do you think your aunt is still up? I have some information on the fencing she asked about.”

  Dallas stared up at the house. “Her bedroom light is still on. She turns in early, but she’s still awake.”

  He stopped the car and they got out. By the time they’d arrived at the front door, Berry was there to open it.

  “I wondered who was pulling in the drive and then I remembered that you were out for the evening,” Berry told Dallas. “Hello, Grant. It’s awfully early to call it a night, don’t you think?”

  “We had to leave the restaurant.” Dallas led the way into the house. “There were too many gapers.”

  “That’s too bad, dear. Next time try a dark wig.” Berry closed the door behind them.

  “Miss B, I have the names of several contractors who have been recommended to me for fence installation. You might want to make some calls and get a few estimates.” Grant took a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it over. “The one with the asterisk is Rexana’s brother-in-law.”

  “Oh?” Berry unfolded the paper to take a look. “Married to Rexana’s sister Marsha, no doubt. I believe I may have met him a time or two down at Captain Walt’s. The other names …” She scanned them quickly. “None of them ring a bell. Thank you, Grant. I’ll make some calls in the morning.”

  Berry started toward the stairwell.

  “Berry, want to join us in the kitchen? The choices are wine or coffee.” Dallas stood in the doorway leading to the back of the house.

  “Thank you but no. I’m reading and enjoying a cup of herbal tea. Mint always does so much to soothe, you know.”

  “I thought that was chamomile,” Dallas said.

  “Highly overrated.” Berry wrinkled her nose. “I never cared much for the smell.”

  “I’ll see you in the morning, then.” Dallas turned to Grant. “Have you decided what you want?”

  “I believe I have,” he said softly.

  Dallas backed into the kitchen. “The only choices right now are coffee or wine.”

  “What will the choices be later?”

  “Stop it.” She laughed and opened the refrigerator and took out the bottle of pinot grigio she and Berry had opened at dinner the night before. “From the Friuli region of Italy. It’s quite good.”

  “I’m game.”

  Grant went to the back door and unlocked it. He went out onto the porch and disappeared from view. Dallas poured two glasses of wine and took them to the door.

  “Grant, would you …” She started to ask him to open the door, but he did so before she finished her sentence. She handed him one of the glasses and said, “Thanks for grabbing the door. Would you like to sit up here on the porch?”

  “We did that the other night. Let’s go on down to the river, see what fish are jumping tonight.” He took her free hand.

  “We don’t get too many jumping fish out this way.” She walked down the steps
slightly behind him. When they reached the bottom step, she asked, “Berry had a spotlight installed last summer. Want me to turn it on so you can see where you’re going?”

  “I can see. Besides, it’s more romantic with just the lights from the house.”

  “I thought this was supposed to be a just-friends dinner.”

  “It was. But dinner’s over.” He led her down to the dock and they walked to the end of the pier just as a boat came around the river’s bend at a leisurely pace. When Grant waved, the driver sped up and went past them, the wake sloshing against the sides of the dock.

  “Do you know that person?” Dallas asked.

  “No, but I think I know the boat, so I guess it was just a reflex. Old Carter Harwell was in a few weeks ago with his greyhound and he mentioned his kids didn’t think he should be driving anymore and they talked him into hanging up the keys to the car as well as the boat. He has a property that he rents out, about a half mile upriver from here, and he was thinking about including the boat with the house so the renters could use it. Said he just couldn’t bring himself to sell it. It had been an anniversary gift from his wife, who passed away last year.”

  “Maybe that was the renter.”

  “Maybe.” Grant took a deep breath of the air that was perfumed with the scent of the lilies that grew in Berry’s garden. “Beautiful night.”

  “Mm-hmm.” She took a sip of wine and swallowed hard. There was such an air of anticipation about them both, she could hardly stand it. Someone, she told herself, was in deep denial—probably both of them—for thinking that they could be nothing more than friends.

  She knew before he turned her face up to his that a kiss was coming that was going to turn her world upside down, and she tried to brace herself for it. When he found her lips with his, for a split second, she was sixteen again, kissing him for the first time. Back then, she’d waited for weeks for him to make that move. This time, so many years later, the thrill was just as new, the kiss just as perfect. She eased her body into his and he pulled her closer, then closer still. His breath was fragrant with the wine, and his lips were warm and demanding, and when he parted her lips with his tongue, she invited him in just as eagerly as she had that first time. He teased the corners of her mouth and she couldn’t stop herself from pressing into him, wanting as much of him as she could have in a few brief moments. When he broke from her, it was to take her glass from her hand.

  He placed both glasses on the deck, then backed her up against one of the pilings, and she braced herself, leaning back and reaching up for him. Winding her arms around his neck, she pulled him toward her, meeting his lips halfway. She felt him all through her body, as if every vibrating cell remembered him, remembered other nights like this, and responded the only way they knew.

  “Grant,” she whispered as reason began to trickle back into her consciousness. “I think—”

  “No, no. That’s the worst possible thing you could be doing right now.” His lips traveled to her chin, then the side of her face, then to her neck. “And besides, didn’t you hear? Thinking’s banned in St. Dennis on Thursdays.”

  “Today is Friday,” she reminded him.

  “Then, too.” When his lips began to trail down the V of her dress, she forced herself to break away.

  “Grant, I really think we need to stop and … and think about what’s going on here.” She pushed him slightly from her, hoping to gain a little breathing room. “All things considered, this isn’t a good idea.”

  He sighed deeply, and a moment later asked, “What things are being considered?”

  “We haven’t seen or spoken to each other in twenty years. We don’t know each other anymore.” She stepped back another step and his arms caught her.

  “You’re, ah, a little close to the edge, there,” he pointed out.

  Dallas looked down into the water that was less than three feet away.

  “Well, that would have added a bit of drama, wouldn’t it? Me going off the end of the pier into the river?”

  He laughed. “Look, you’re right on one thing. It’s been twenty years since we’ve been together. But I don’t agree that we don’t know each other anymore. I’m still the same guy I was back then. Older, hopefully a bit wiser, but I really haven’t changed a whole lot. I doubt you have, either.”

  A breeze off the river tossed her hair around her face, and he tucked it back behind her ear.

  “I think regardless of the fact that you are now a famous and highly celebrated star, you’re still the same girl who came to St. Dennis every summer. I’d be willing to bet that inside, you haven’t changed a whole lot. At least, I hope you haven’t.”

  “It’s not as easy as that.”

  “Sure it is. I’ll bet you still walk barefoot as often as possible, get pissed off every time you see someone drop trash on the sidewalk, and you still eat your burgers rare. Though never from a fast-food place.”

  She laughed. “Yes, but—”

  He continued. “These days, the beef is from pastured cattle that have never been injected with hormones or antibiotics and all of your food comes from a market that only sells organics. In your garage back in California, you have a hybrid SUV and a bicycle that you never ride. You still blush when people gush over you and you still don’t have a whole lot of girlfriends because most women are jealous of you and you sense that and so you pick your friends very carefully.”

  “Where did that come from?” Dallas frowned. “That last part?”

  “From the week I spent at your place in New Jersey. It was very obvious that you only had one or two friends. Equally obvious that the other girls in that summer theater group didn’t like you a whole lot but for no reason other than the fact that you were prettier and had such clear and amazing natural talent.”

  “What was obvious? What made you think that?”

  “When you were onstage, rehearsing, I sat in the audience, remember? With the cast members who were waiting to be called up to rehearse their lines?”

  She nodded slowly.

  “Well, there was always a group of girls who sat behind me who talked about how you …” He froze, apparently realizing this was not a good idea. “How you hadn’t been in summer stage there the other years but that you just walked in the first time and got the biggest role. That sort of stuff. You know.”

  “And you didn’t think to tell me that back then?”

  “I didn’t think it would be a good idea.” He bit his bottom lip. “Probably about as bad an idea as it was just now.”

  His discomfort was endearing, and Dallas knew there’d been more discussed among that group of girls than he was letting on. She’d heard it from someone else that summer. Still, the fact that he’d hidden it from her back then to spare her feelings only served to remind her of how sweet a guy he’d been at eighteen.

  “My only point is that some things never change. There was something between us back then that was one of those things. I know it’s still there because I feel it, and you still feel it, too. That pull—whatever it is, I’m not going to try to put a name on it—is still there.”

  She nodded slowly. “I need to think this through, Grant. I don’t know where this could go.”

  He rested his forehead on hers. “Where do you want it to go?”

  “I don’t know that, either, and until I do, I think we need to slow this train down.…”

  Chapter 14

  Man, you are so smooth. Grant mocked himself as he drove home, his head still buzzing from that last goodnight kiss. You sure do know how to play it cool, keep a woman guessing …

  Idiot.

  Earlier that night, before he picked up Dallas, he’d had a pretty stern talk with himself. Reminded himself that he needed to stick to the plan, to keep everything friendly and to not even try to make romance a part of the equation. Things had ended badly for him the last time around, slamming him with the greatest heartache he’d ever known, and only a fool would step up to that plate again. And yet there he was
, his arms around her, his lips on hers, drinking her in like a man who’d just come to an oasis after walking across the Sahara.

  Couldn’t keep your hands to yourself, could you? Moron.

  She’s leaving at the end of the summer, just like last time, he reminded himself. And she’s going to leave you hurting—just like last time.

  She’d said that come September, she was going to go back to her own life. He considered what that life might be like. By the time he pulled into his driveway, he mentally envisioned Dallas on the arm of some high-powered star—hadn’t he heard just last week that Chase Winston was getting divorced? He and Dallas had made several movies together, one of which had a pretty spicy love scene. Yeah, she’ll probably hook up with Winston or someone just like him—someone equally famous and wealthy and great-looking—and it’ll be another twenty years before she’s back in St. Dennis.

  And sucker that you are, twenty years from now, you’d do the same thing all over again, because the truth is, you never really loved anyone but her. Never really felt complete with anyone but her. Never dreamed of happily ever after, except with her.

  Yeah, well, we know how that worked out, don’t we?

  The dogs in the shelter began to bark when he slammed his car door, and by the time he got around to the front door, the dogs he and Paige had adopted eagerly spilled out of the house to welcome him home, their geriatric tails wagging, their grayed heads butting against his legs for attention.

  “Okay, guys, I’m glad to see you, too.” He patted each dog’s head. “All right. As you were, fellas.”

  One by the one, the dogs drifted away, and it was then that Grant noticed that all the downstairs lights were on. He was certain he hadn’t turned on any of them before he left the house, except one in the front hall. Just then, Paige came out of the kitchen, her feet bare, a large cookie in one hand.

  “Hi, Daddy,” she said with somewhat exaggerated nonchalance.

  Grant stood in the hallway. “I thought you were at Quinn’s house for a sleepover.”