Leila slowly hung up the phone. The call was over. The relationship was done. Just like that.
She wished Marsh could be handled as easily. She wished her heart wasn’t involved. She wished she could just call him up and say, “Sorry, bad mistake.” But she couldn’t. Because if her night with Marsh had been a mistake, it was the best mistake she’d ever made.
Never before had she felt so cherished, so loved. Never before had she felt so in tune with another person. Never had she felt so completely happy.
Despite everything she’d said to Simon, the real truth was that Leila was actually considering moving back home to Sunrise Key. Her career wouldn’t suffer that much. She’d only lose maybe a third of her clients if she played her cards right. The others would stick with her, particularly if she reduced her rates. And the cost of living was lower down here. She’d probably wind up ahead in the long run.
Still, the idea of coming back to this small town, of moving back to her childhood home, was frightening.
She wanted Marsh’s love, but at what price?
And when the time came, would she be willing to pay it?
When Leila returned to Simon’s house, he met her at the door.
“Who let you out? You’re supposed to be taking it easy again today.”
She brushed past him, and he closed the screen door behind her. “I didn’t realize I was being held prisoner,” she retorted. All of her confusion and doubt and frustration was instantly redirected as anger—anger at her brother. After all, this mess was partially his fault. If he had told her the truth about her ninja right from the start…
“Did you talk to Dev?” Simon asked. His normally serene blue eyes were icy and crystalline.
Leila crossed her arms. “No.”
Simon crossed his arms, too, undaunted. “If you’re really leaving in three days with the intention of marrying Elliot the clown, you probably shouldn’t wait until the last moment to discuss this with Marshall.”
Leila went into the kitchen. “I don’t need you to butt in. In fact, you better not, or—”
Simon laughed as he followed her. “Too late.” He jumped up and sat on the kitchen counter. “I’ve already butted in. I told Dev what you told me.”
Leila spun to face him. If he’d told Marsh that she was going to marry Elliot anyway, Marsh would think that the night they’d spent together had meant nothing to her. “I can’t believe you did that!”
“If you drop a bomb, kiddo, you have to deal with the fallout. Dev happens to be my friend. I figured you were about to emotionally eviscerate the man, and I thought at least by giving him a warning, I might be able to make the event a little less painful.”
“Emotionally eviscerate? Who said anything about emotional evisceration?” Leila said. “I wasn’t serious about marrying Elliot, you idiot! I was just trying to make you mad.”
“So what are you saying? That you’re going to marry Dev?”
“He hasn’t exactly asked.” Leila turned away from him.
“Give him half a second and less than half a chance and he will.”
Leila took a bottle of seltzer from the refrigerator. Her hands were shaking as she poured herself a glass. She took a sip before she spoke.
“I don’t think he will. I think he knows as well as I do that there’s no real future in our relationship.”
“There can be,” Simon said. “It just depends on how far you’re willing to go. It depends on the risks you’re willing to take to make it work.”
“Moving back home isn’t any kind of risk.”
“Maybe you have to stop thinking about it as moving back home.” Simon slid off the kitchen counter. “You’re really moving ahead—your destination just happens to be Sunrise Key. And Marsh Devlin. Maybe you should try thinking of it that way.”
He ruffled her hair as he left the kitchen.
Marsh wasn’t in his office downtown.
But Leila ran into Frankie on the sidewalk in front of his office building.
“Hey, I heard you did a nosedive onto the deck a few nights ago.”
Leila looked at her friend. Frankie’s shiny black hair was damp with perspiration, and she was wearing a torn T-shirt and a pair of paint-splattered cutoffs that had seen better days. “You must’ve been talking to Nancy Sullivan.”
Frankie sat down on the hood of Leila’s car and fanned herself with the file folder she was carrying. “Actually, I heard it from Jeanette Miller who heard it from Laura Beauchamp who got it directly from Nancy.”
“God, is nothing secret around here?” Leila let her annoyance slip through. “Does the entire town know?”
“Yep,” Frankie said cheerfully. “And there’s a betting pool on the baby’s due date.”
Leila’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “They all think I’m…”
“Preg-o.” Frankie grinned. “Can’t pass out around here without a group discussion afterward. The majority consensus is that you’re With Child. Capital W, capital C.”
Leila groaned.
“Of course, the fact that your alleged fiancé-to-be was a no-show at the biggest party of the year is adding a slice of intrigue to all of the speculation,” Frankie continued. “Especially since Paul Casella swears he saw a woman who looks an awful lot like you practicing mouth-to-mouth with Liam Halliday one evening last week, out on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Main Street.”
“Oh, damn.”
“And just this morning I ran into ol’ Liam. Apparently the rumor that he’s fathered your illegitimate child is spreading like wildfire. He’s looking for you, wants to talk. I think he’s worried.”
“Worried about what?” Leila sputtered. “Surely he knows that one kiss doesn’t get a woman pregnant.”
Frankie shrugged. “How’s he know he didn’t bed you in some drunken fog? For all he knows, he did get you pregnant.”
“This is terrific. This is really terrific.”
“Of course, there’s the contingent who’s certain the baby’s Marshall Devlin’s. Ellen Hartman is positive she saw you kissing Marsh at Simon’s New Year’s Eve party—right before Marsh took off his ninja costume and went to go deliver Kim Kavanaugh’s baby.”
Leila glanced at her friend, who was watching her closely.
“You already knew,” Frankie said. “You knew Marsh was your ninja.”
Leila nodded.
“You knew because you kissed him, right?”
Leila nodded.
“Ah-ha. Just as I suspected. Kissed him and maybe, um…?”
Leila closed her eyes. “Too much sun. I fainted from too much sun. I’m not going to have Marsh Devlin’s baby or Liam Halliday’s baby or anyone’s baby.”
“And you kissed Marsh Devlin because…?”
“Why do you kiss a man, Frankie?”
Frankie’s grin broadened. “Either because I’m wildly attracted to him…”
“Well, there you go.”
“Or because I’m in love with him?”
It was a question Leila didn’t want to answer. But Frankie was watching her intently, reading every flash of emotion that crossed Leila’s face.
“I knew it.”
“Don’t you dare tell anyone.”
Frankie made a zipper motion across her mouth.
Yeah, right. Leila gave it exactly fifteen minutes before the entire town knew that she was in love with Marsh Devlin.
“This small-minded, gossip-mongering, no-privacy, stupid little town is driving me insane,” Leila fumed.
“It’s not that bad.”
“You’re not the one everyone thinks is pregnant.”
“Oh, that’s just talk. They’re not being malicious, just curious. Interested, if you please,” Frankie said. “They’ll all get over it.”
“When?”
“As soon as the next good topic of conversation comes around. Simon and Amanda, for instance. Simon’s within a few days of jettisoning Amanda. I can tell by the look in his eyes when he’s out with her. There�
�s lots of white showing. She’s starting to talk about ‘we’ this and ‘our’ that and he’s running scared. As soon as they split, everyone’ll stop talking about you. Guaranteed.”
“Great,” Leila grumbled. “If it’s not one Hunt providing townwide entertainment, it’s another. Oh, Frankie, how did I get myself into this?”
“Into what?” Frankie asked. “You’re nuts about Marsh, he’s nuts about you. Ninety-nine percent of the population is trying to get into a situation like that. You should be happy.”
“But the thought of moving back here…”
“Yeah, imagine being able to hang out with me whenever you felt like it. That would be the real pits.”
“I didn’t mean that.”
“Sunrise Key isn’t exactly one of Dante’s levels of hell, Lei. Some people actually want to live here. Back when we were kids, you liked living here.”
“I grew out of it,” Leila muttered.
“Are you sure? Or did you just get temporarily sidetracked? Remember how you always used to say that when you had kids someday, you wanted to give ’em a chance to grow up in a small town like this? Do you really want to raise your children in a city?”
Leila was silent.
“There may be no privacy here,” Frankie pointed out, “but there’s also no crime. And no snow. And no pollution. And no traffic jams…. You feel up to taking a ride?” Frankie asked. “I want to show you something.”
Leila looked over at her friend. “What?”
Frankie smiled. “I want to give you a reminder about the good side of living on Sunrise Key.”
Leila heard the sound of buzz saws and hammers from inside Frankie’s pickup truck as they drove down Point Road. Frankie drove slowly, squeezing through the lines of cars and trucks that were parked along both sides of the narrow street all the way to the corner.
“What’s going on?” Leila asked. “What’s happening?”
And then Frankie rounded the curve and pulled up in front of Marsh’s house.
It was amazing.
The last time Leila was there, the house had been a sagging pile of rubble and ashes. But now, the burned-out shell was down, the foundation cleaned out, and a brand new, fresh wood frame was already up.
She could see Ron Hopkins, still on crutches, standing beside a truckful of wood, supervising five strapping teenaged boys—his sons—who were unloading it. Duke Torrelson and Kevin Beauchamp were up on the roof, nailing down the sheathing. Axel Bayard, Noah Kavanaugh, John Knudsen, and about ten men and women Leila didn’t recognize were hammering the studs and beams of the inside partition walls into place. John McGrath, Nancy Sullivan, and Kelly Beauchamp were constructing the stairs up to the second floor. Liam Halliday and several uniformed policemen were framing off the windows and doors. Dozens of other people, many of whom Leila didn’t know, swarmed over the structure.
It was good, old-fashioned barn raising. Well, a house raising in this case. The entire town was pitching in, doing the work, rebuilding Marsh’s house.
“This was actually Marsh’s idea.” Frankie pulled her truck into a space recently vacated by a departing car. “The electrician and the plumber are going to do the work for a discount, and everyone else is working for free—even the architect, courtesy of Pres Seaholm. Marsh is giving everyone in town a chance to pay off all their debts to him. But to tell you the truth, I think everyone’d be here regardless of that. In fact, I see a lot of people who don’t owe Marsh Devlin one cent. But on Sunrise Key, it’s not a matter of who owes what to whom. It’s a matter of being a good neighbor and a good friend. Marsh is both of those things to everyone in town.”
Marsh had always talked about investing in people. Leila realized she was looking directly at the payoff.
She cleared her throat to get rid of the lump that had suddenly appeared. “Did he know this was happening today?”
Frankie shook her head. “No. We didn’t know ourselves—not until the supplies came in this morning. The weather forecast calls for no rain for the next five days, so we figured we’d get started.” She looked back at the house. “If we keep up this pace, the exterior will be completed well before that, even though most of the work will be done in the evening, after the regular workday. The inside’ll take a little longer, because of the plumbing and wiring, but…” She shrugged. “Marsh’s jeep is in the driveway, so I guess he’s here somewhere. He’s probably really happy.”
Leila shielded her eyes with one hand, searching for Marsh’s familiar brown hair.
“I’m going to get back to work,” Frankie continued. “If you want to pitch in, talk to Pres. He’s assigning jobs.”
Leila watched as Frankie joined the team building the inside stairs.
Back when we were kids, you liked living here, Frankie had reminded her. And suddenly, in a rush, it all came back, the feelings of intense happiness she’d had as a child, the sunshine-swept days and warm tropical nights, surrounded by friends and laughter.
All of these people were going to spend the better part of their time off over the next few weeks right here, helping a beloved neighbor. It was old-fashioned and sweet, and it made Leila’s chest ache. She could see friendship on every smiling face—and even on the frowning ones. Axel Bayard was arguing with his old friend John Knudsen, but their affection for each other was evident even in their raised voices.
She’d never seen anything remotely like this in her uptown Manhattan neighborhood.
And she probably never would.
It was true that in New York she wouldn’t have dozens of nosy neighbors betting on the due date of her nonexistent baby.
But she also wouldn’t have Marsh.
Marsh.
He was here somewhere.
Leila went to look for him.
Marsh stood alone on the beach, looking out over the ocean. Up above him, on the bluff, the newly constructed frame of his house loomed. He could hear the sound of hammers and saws, the sound of voices and laughter.
The water sparkled in the early afternoon sunshine. Seabirds soared and dipped, their raucous cries muted by the sound of the gentle surf.
Ever since he first came to Sunrise Key, Marsh had loved the view from this part of the island. He used to rent one of the dilapidated touring bikes from Millie’s Market for his entire vacation, and ride out every day with a book to read and his lunch in a paper sack. He’d sit for hours, not too far from this very spot, looking out at the ocean, feeling the warmth of the sun on his face, breathing in the fresh, salty air—and healing.
He’d come to accept the fact that his mother was gone. He’d loved her, but she was gone. There was nothing he could do—except learn to live without her.
It had taken some time. Time, and the brilliant turquoise-blue vastness of the Gulf, the sparkling white at the edge of the water, the healing power of the sun, the soothing sounds of the wind and waves and gulls.
On Sunrise Key, Marsh had left the last of his childhood behind him. He’d let go of the bitter anger he’d felt toward his mother for deserting him the way she had. He’d made the decision to move forward, to embrace his future rather than linger in the past, defeated by grief and disappointment. He’d found peace and security, and eventually a real sense of belonging.
True, his life wasn’t perfect by any means. Financially, he was earning far less than he’d been accustomed to having as a child and a teenager. And the fire had been a rather nasty blow. But he had more friends than he could count on all of his fingers and all of his toes.
Marsh looked up at the house, at the walls and roof that were going up. They were tangible proof of his strong and lasting friendships with the people of Sunrise Key.
He looked back at the ocean, at the incredible, splendid view. Yes, this was right where he’d always wanted to be.
Except Leila wasn’t with him. And deep down inside, he knew that all the water, sand, sun, wind, and time that Sunrise Key had to offer wouldn’t help him learn to live without her. It wouldn’t help
him one bit this time.
And whether or not Leila loved him, he knew he really had only one choice.
With one last look back at the house, Marsh flipped open the cellular phone that Preston Seaholm had lent him.
It was time to make a few phone calls to some old med school friends. It was time to call in a few favors, make a few new connections, and find himself a new job.
In New York City.
Preferably within walking distance of Leila’s uptown apartment.
Because if Leila was going to get married, she wasn’t going to marry Elliot. She was going to marry him.
ELEVEN
LEILA COULDN’T FIND Marsh.
She searched the construction site but didn’t see him until he stood in the center of the newly constructed plywood floor of his house and called for his friends and neighbors’ attention.
“Thank you,” he said loudly as the group quieted down to listen to him. “First of all, I’d like to thank you all for coming over here today. Your kindness is deeply appreciated, and I will always remember it. However…”
He sighed, looking around at all of the different faces in the crowd. His eyes fell on Leila, and he started in surprise. But he held her gaze, his eyes almost challenging as he said, “However, I’m going to be leaving Sunrise Key—”
“No!” The word was out of Leila’s mouth before she even realized it. All eyes turned to look at her.
“Yes,” Marsh chided her gently. “I’m moving to New York. It really wasn’t that difficult a decision.”
The crowd murmured its displeasure at the news, and Leila took the opportunity to cross the room toward Marsh.
“You can’t be serious about this.”
“I’m dead serious,” he replied. “If you’re going back, I’m following. I haven’t quite figured out what to do about Elliot, but I’m working on it.”
His eyes swept her face, then lower before returning to her eyes. Leila knew that if they hadn’t been standing in front of an audience, he would have taken her into his arms and kissed her.
Kiss and Tell Page 16
