He adjusted his ball cap up and down as if he couldn’t find a comfortable position for it over that full head of hair. “Um, I’m not implying that... I mean, I’m not arguing for you...” He cleared his throat. “To be clear, I’m not trying to convince you to mother my children. Not at all.”
He didn’t make eye contact. He stared straight ahead and gestured forward with one hand, as if helping him to stay on track. “I get that I’m not the guy, Rachel. That’s not my point. If I had my wish, we’d go back twenty minutes ago and avoid this conversation.”
“I know.” Her voice barely came out as a squeak.
He sighed. “I’ve handled this so badly I can’t even begin to apologize, Rachel. First, I—I tried to kiss you,” he said. “And I didn’t even ask your permission or ask you on a date...and then I practically belittled you for what is probably a very wise decision. It wasn’t my intent, but I know it probably came out that way.”
“You saw the failed logic.” It was her turn to speak in monotone.
“I saw the holes in the logic,” he said, much softer. “In an otherwise fearless woman, it seemed incongruent. It didn’t take in account any feelings, convictions or, most importantly, prayer. I’ve been operating on steam and acting insensitive. Please forgive me.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a petition. Add that to the long list of things no one had asked her before, for forgiveness. And while her thoughts still swam with everything he said, it was a no-brainer. “I will.”
The air around them felt electric, as though a spotlight had been shining on them for the past hour inside a counselor’s office with no exit. He thought she was fearless? She huffed at the thought. It couldn’t be further from the truth at the moment. She sighed, slightly worried where any more thinking or talking might take them.
* * *
Except for a quick stop at a gas station, he drove as fast as the speed limit allowed. On little sleep, the hours driving in silence seemed like they’d never end. James tried to block out the conversation with Rachel, but it played on a loop in his mind. The rolling hills, the stretches of fog and the gorgeous silver-blue ocean water in the distance all fought for his attention, but it didn’t work. He’d never intended to talk about the kiss that barely happened, but in the event he did, he’d never imagined it having gone so poorly. How did a guy recover from something like that?
“Why do you think the risk will be over once we get past Sunday?” Rachel asked. “You said the launch is scheduled for then, right? Won’t they still need you?”
“No. Scheduling a launch is incredibly complicated. They can’t just change the date without doing significant figures and program modifications. The processes I wrote will only stall the launch on Sunday. After that they can reschedule a launch with no problem.”
“Why? Won’t your virus still be hindering them?”
He shook his head. “I wrote the process with the orbital values in mind. If they change the launch, they have to change the orbit, which will render my work void. But they will want to do everything possible to not reschedule. It’ll shine more attention on what they’re doing, and the permits will need to be updated. They’ll have to request recertification.”
“So we’re just going to wait it out, and then?”
“I haven’t thought that far,” he admitted. “I’m still praying Derrick pulls through and can help us out. If not, I pray God makes it obvious what I’m supposed to do.” He exhaled a giant breath of air. “I’m sorry. It’s all I’ve got.”
“It’s better than nothing.”
The sign for Pismo Beach prompted him to slow down and turn on his left-turn signal. “We’re almost there.” And now he would be spending time, alone, in a big beach house with the boys and Rachel. Yeah, it wasn’t going to be awkward at all.
Rachel told him to take yet another left. She’d pulled up the address on her burner phone. Without a map, he would have driven in circles around the tourist area. It was still early in spring so the Spring Break craze had yet to begin. So far the side streets were empty of both people and vehicles.
“Take the next left.”
James studied the layout of the neighborhood. “David got us a place on the southern end.”
“That’s good?”
He nodded. “Away from the restaurants and closer to the secluded dunes.”
She pointed at the single-story California Craftsman surrounded by palm trees. “This must be it. It looks huge.”
He parked on the side of the street next to three pickup trucks. Seemed a bit odd in this area to have so many oversize pickups, the type his brothers and dad were so fond of in the construction and housing business. Usually he saw more fuel-efficient vehicles. “Okay, time to gather our things.”
She popped open the console between them. He stared at the gun resting inside. Would he still need it?
“Take it,” she urged. “You might want to go ahead of us and check it out. Just in case.”
He slipped the gun underneath his shirt as he looked over his shoulder to make sure the boys were occupied with the Silly Putty he’d purchased in a gas station. He groaned as he saw strings of it stuck in their hair. “Add that to my list of great ideas,” he muttered.
She followed his gaze and cracked a smile. “It’s fine. I can get that right out with a little conditioner or baby oil.”
What would I do without you? The words were on the tip of his tongue. He almost said it but, thankfully, he’d finally regained control of his tongue.
Rachel opened the van door, and the breeze made her shiver. She pulled on his sweatshirt. Bloodstains decorated the front and back. She cringed. “I hope no one sees me like this.”
They formed a line as they walked on the sidewalk leading to the back of the house...or in this case, the front of the house, which faced the beach.
He pointed to a palm tree and told Rachel and the boys to wait for him to check it out. He rounded the corner and placed a hand on his stomach, ready to grab the weapon if needed. The crash of ocean tides made it hard to listen for warning signs as he stepped closer to peek into the windows.
Heat rushed to his face. Sitting on two couches were two of his brothers, their wives and his mom and dad.
He was going to kill David.
David jumped up from the couch at the sight of him. “You’re here,” he hollered.
“What is it?” Rachel stepped backward into the shadow of the palm trees, holding Caleb’s hand in her right and Ethan’s hand in her left.
“It’s fine,” James muttered. Though it wasn’t.
David opened the sliding-glass door. “Hey.”
“What are you trying to pull?” James demanded.
David held up both hands. “You asked for a beach house. You didn’t ask for an empty one.”
“You knew what I meant.”
“We were already here. You just never asked.”
James tried to digest that little tidbit. “You guys went on vacation without me?” He shook his head. That wasn’t the point. “None of you should be here.”
David raised an eyebrow. “Why?” His eyes drifted over James’s head and onto Rachel. His mouth hung open for half a second. “Uh. What’s going on, bro?”
“I’m afraid your little omission has put you all in danger.” James said it softly so no one else would hear.
“Uncle David,” the twins cried. They wrenched free from Rachel’s grasp and ran toward David.
“Then it means you’re in danger,” David said. “And from where I stand, that makes it a good thing we’re here.” He took a knee just as the boys reached him and opened his arms wide for a giant hug.
Aria, Luke, Gabriella, Mom and Dad all piled through the door, attacking his boys and him with hugs and exclamations. “Guys, guys, we need to get inside,” James tried to ar
gue. He looked over his shoulder and grimaced. “Rachel, meet my family.”
FOURTEEN
Rachel’s heart pounded fast, which made her shoulder throb painfully. His family was here?
James accepted a one-armed hug from one of the men as he waved her forward. One man shared the same tall, streamlined build as James, except with a full head of dark blond hair. While the first one—David, she thought the boys called him—was built like a lean football player with wavy hair. The older man was somewhere in between the two types with silver hair. All in all, the McGuire men made a handsome crew.
The older woman’s hair, pulled back in a loose chignon, looked most like David’s with its copper highlights. The other two women were both gorgeous but very different. One blonde, one dark brunette, they both had smiles that could light up a town.
The older woman’s eyes met Rachel. She smiled the same way James did, a smile that seemed genuine and friendly, but before she could say anything the dad caught her gaze. “Whoa, son, what do we have here?” he asked.
Rachel’s entire body burned with embarrassment. What must they think? A romantic getaway? She wasn’t that type of girl, and she almost said it aloud. She stepped out of the shadows of the palm tree and approached them.
“Dad, stop,” James said. “There’s been an attempted...several actually...” He patted the top of the twins’ heads while he mouthed the word, kidnappings. “It’s a long story, but Rachel’s my neighbor and because of me, she’s also been targeted. We need a place to lay low.”
His mom walked out of the pack and put her hands on Rachel’s shoulders. “I don’t know what happened, but my boys seem to have a knack for getting beautiful girls into danger.”
“Mom—” Two of the brothers started to object in unison.
“I apologize for all of them,” the mom said, ignoring her sons. She studied Rachel and paled. “Are you bleeding? What happened?”
James stepped closer. “She was shot, Mom. I tried to patch her up, but I’d appreciate it if you took a look.”
His mom’s jaw dropped. “Inside now. Everyone.”
They stepped inside a beige kitchen with a large round table for eight. The twins took off running through the house, eager to be out of the car. The rest of the family introduced themselves and Rachel tried her best to commit their names to memory.
She sat still while James explained the entire situation to his family. His mom checked her son’s handiwork. “Unorthodox, but this should heal nicely. We need to watch for infection, though.”
Gabriella rushed in with a clean cotton jacket for Rachel. The men remained impassive as James finished his recap. They listened, nodded and asked the occasional question. Aria and Gabriella kept looking at Rachel with wide eyes but said nothing.
His mom, who chose a seat directly to her right, grabbed Rachel’s forearm each time James mentioned the men who chased them. “You saved the boys,” she whispered.
All the attention was enough to drive Rachel batty. She needed space, time to think...
“You need a plan,” his mom cried.
“Mom, the plan is to wait it out so I don’t put any more family members in danger.” James sent a pointed look in David’s direction. “What I’d really like to know right now is why my entire family is taking vacations without me.”
“Oh, please. This isn’t a vacation,” his mom replied. “We were already here when you called for your brother’s business. Tell him, David.”
“We were already here when you called. It’s how I had the address handy.” David placed his elbows on the table. “There’s a property here that’s about to go up for auction.”
James leaned back, the surprise evident on his face. “You’re ready to start another conference center?”
“It’s why I asked Dad and Luke to join us. I wanted a contractor and a real-estate developer’s opinion.”
“What, you didn’t need Matt? Isn’t he managing a conference center in San Antonio?”
Luke stretched one arm around his wife’s shoulders. “He couldn’t get away.”
James shook his head. “I see how it is.”
Rachel didn’t realize he was the only one in the family that didn’t have a job somehow related to the rest of his family. And, she hadn’t heard about Matt, but the other two brothers had wives. Judging by how close the couples sat to each other, they were very much in love. Did James feel like an outsider in his own family?
Aria leaned forward. “James, we didn’t call you because your mom told us you had a launch scheduled. We know how crazy it gets.”
“We were going to ask you on Tuesday to come spend a couple days with us,” his mom added. “I know you can never leave before a launch. And if I’d asked you beforehand or told you about it, you’d be stressed, feeling like you were missing out or disappointing us. Am I right?”
James rolled his eyes. “Maybe.”
She frowned. “Which brings us back to your situation. You need a plan.”
James slapped a hand on the table. “Sunday is the launch. Since you’re here, I’ll leave the boys and Rachel with you and take the risk of going to the authorities. But I’m praying Derrick recovers before then. You guys need to pretend we’re not here, but you also need to stop using your phones.” He pointed at the windows. “I should be watching. Someone always needs to be on the lookout.”
“Phones,” Rachel repeated. “James, we should call Cynthia.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t want to argue with Cynthia at the time, but it’s still kind of risky to call her. They might be tracking her phone.”
“Didn’t you say a prepaid is harder to track? Besides, she said she wouldn’t even answer if she didn’t have news.” Rachel hated the thought of sitting around, waiting. If Derrick had pulled through his surgery, Cynthia could relay information, maybe even tell them what to do...
James stood and paced, peeking through the front windows at the road. “I’d want to get far away from here before I do that. Just to be safe.”
David glanced at his smartphone. “We actually have a meeting. How about you let us take the boys? There are some sand dunes and a giant golf course they could run around on. The boys can give us an opinion if kids would like the place.”
Uncertainty crossed his features. “I’m not—”
“You said it yourself. No one knows you’re here. And you’ve got two uncles, two aunts and a grandpa standing guard who would do anything for them,” his dad said.
“I’ll stay here with Rachel,” his mom added. She patted Rachel’s hand. “We’ll get to know each other and get the rooms ready for you guys. I imagine you’ll want to call it a night early. You look like you could fall asleep standing up.”
“You have no idea, Mom.”
The family moved as one, everyone standing up and getting ready to leave. The boys squealed in excitement when Uncle Luke asked them if they wanted to go run on sand dunes. Within moments the house quieted as everyone left.
Rachel’s heart pounded in her throat. James was going to leave her here with his mom? She tried to send a signal to James by widening her eyes, but when he looked at her he just smiled.
“Dad, I’m borrowing your beach hat.” He picked up a floppy brown hat that looked ridiculous. It certainly worked as a disguise. “I’m going to walk a couple miles south and call Cynthia. Mom, keep watch,” he said and walked out the door.
“So you’re the neighbor,” his mom said. “I’ve heard loads about you.”
Ah, the Sunday phone chats James had told her about. Wasn’t his mom the one that advised they stop car-pooling? So that meant she knew Rachel dated other men. Did that mean she automatically didn’t like her? Did she think she was taking advantage of James for the gas savings? Rachel jiggled her knee up and down, trying to release the anxiety, trying t
o focus her thoughts.
“The boys and James speak very highly of you.”
The sun streaming in through the windows heated her to the core. At least, she told herself it was the sun’s fault.
“Want to keep me company while I start on dinner?”
“I think I better keep a lookout, Mrs. McGuire.”
“Call me Beverly. You can do both at the same time.”
“I’ve got just a great taco bake recipe on my tablet.” Beverly propped up her tablet on the counter. The screensaver displayed a slide show of pictures of her boys then wedding photos...including a photo of James and Nikki. The boys had Nikki’s bright smile and blond hair.
Beverly caught her gaze. “It took me over a year before I could put that picture back in the slideshow, but Nikki was the type of woman who wouldn’t want us to wallow forever. She will always be missed.” Beverly took a deep breath. “But I know she’d have wanted James to find a partner in parenting the boys. She’d want what was best for all three of them.”
Rachel wanted to run out of the room. It was likely her imagination, but it was almost as if Beverly was insinuating...
“Of course, I’d never push James,” Beverly continued. “I’m not one of those meddling moms. My friends think I should give him a little nudge, but that seems a bit much, don’t you think? No, matchmaking doesn’t suit me one bit.”
While a relief Beverly didn’t want to interfere, the entire topic made her uneasy. The slide show switched to a family photo of all the boys and their parents. “You must be very proud,” Rachel said, hoping she’d switch subjects.
Beverly put her hands on her hips and nodded. “Yes, by God’s grace.”
“Sure, but you can take some credit. You made sure they had a good start,” Rachel added.
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