by Noelle Adams
They could talk a lot. They could see each other a couple of times a month since the three-hour drive between them wasn’t really very long.
They could go slow.
Rebecca suspected it wouldn’t take her very long to know for sure that Phil was ready to commit, but she wasn’t going to go all in until she was positive.
She wasn’t going to do that to herself again.
When she parked her car, Tommy ran off to watch Ed on a tractor, leaving Rebecca to take his shoes inside.
She found Olivia and Laura in the office, and she frowned at their expressions. “What’s wrong?”
“Come sit down,” Laura said.
Rebecca set down the bag and walked over, a knot of fear tightening in her gut. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Olivia met Laura’s eyes with an expression that made Rebecca’s heart lurch.
“Tell me,” she demanded. “What’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
“It’s nothing bad,” Laura said. “At least I don’t think it’s bad. It’s just surprising. At least it surprised me.”
“What did? Tell me what’s going on right now.”
“Are you really okay with how things are with Phil?” Olivia asked.
“Yes. Yes, of course I am. I’m happy about it. I’m afraid to let myself be any happier since I’m still not sure... I just need to be really sure that he’s serious about committing, about putting the past to rest. But I think he is. We’re going to go slow, but you know he’s always been the one for me.”
“I know. Everyone always knew it. You’ve been a couple for most of your life, even when you were apart.” Olivia was smiling now.
Laura rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly. See, here’s the thing, Becs. Phil talked to Russ and me after you left with Tommy.”
Rebecca froze. “What?”
“He talked to us. About that partnership deal we offered him four years ago. He wanted to sign it.”
“What?” This time the word was barely a rasp.
“I guess he’s pretty serious about the whole thing. I’m naturally suspicious, but I don’t know how we can doubt this.” She handed Rebecca a stack of papers. “We worked it all out exactly as he wanted. He’s accepted the share we offered him, but he doesn’t want to be involved the way Russ is. And he doesn’t want to take the profits. He wants to roll his share of the profits back into a fund we can use for community outreach, giving local girls and boys a chance to develop their gifts. That’s what he said, so that’s what we wrote up. He’s signed it. It’s a done deal. I think... I think he’s as serious as serious can get.”
“He’s crazy in love with you, Rebecca,” Olivia said. “It’s written all over his face. I think he’s really trying to put the past to rest so he’s free to love you the way he needs to.”
Rebecca’s vision had blurred over, and she couldn’t catch her breath. She was staring down at the top page of the contract in her hands.
This was it. A symbol. Confirmation.
She knew now that Phil was ready. That this was real.
“Rebecca,” Laura prompted when she couldn’t get anything said. “Is this okay? I thought you’d be happy about it. Even I can’t deny that the man has got it bad for you and he’s really trying to turn his life around.”
Rebecca made an embarrassing sobbing sound.
Olivia laughed. “I think that means it’s okay with her.”
“I’m sure!” Rebecca burst out, her voice suddenly freed. “I’m sure now. I’m sure about him!”
Olivia clapped her hands with a little squeal.
Laura shook her head. “That didn’t take long, did it?”
“I’m sure,” Rebecca said again. “I’m sure now.”
“So maybe give him a call,” Laura suggested.
“No, no,” Olivia said. “Calling isn’t enough. You should go see him.”
“But he just came here.”
“So? Why should that stop you?”
“You mean drive out to the Eastern Shore again?”
“Yes. Why not?”
“Because he was just here.”
“So? What’s your point? Do you want to see him or not?” Olivia demanded.
“Of course I want to see him.”
“So get in your car and go. You’ll just be an hour or so behind him. I guarantee he’s going to want to see you in person when you tell him you’re sure.”
Rebecca glanced over at Laura, who just shrugged. “Tommy’s not going to be happy when he finds out his favorite aunt has deserted him again.”
“I’ll be his favorite aunt for the weekend,” Olivia said with a laugh. “You want to see him, right?”
“Right.”
“And I thought you were going to start doing more of what you want.”
“I am.”
“So go, Rebecca. Go now.”
Rebecca sat where she was for another few seconds, trying to contain the tidal wave of feelings inside her.
Then she jumped out of her seat and ran to her room to pack a bag.
She was in her car and on her way to Phil in less than thirty minutes.
Fourteen
AT ALMOST SEVEN, PHIL was back on the Eastern Shore, parking his bike on the side of the building, stopping in to make sure everything was fine with the shop, and then walking into the restaurant to let Larry know he’d returned.
Stella didn’t work the bar on Friday evenings, so Max was there tonight, filling up drinks quickly and laughing about what someone had said. Phil waved to him as he passed the bar on the way to the kitchen.
Larry never had time for small talk at dinnertime, but he glanced up from the piece of trout he was plating, gave Phil a quick look, and asked, “Everything good?”
“Everything’s good.”
Larry nodded and went back to his work.
Phil was chuckling as he left.
Maybe it was ridiculous since he and Rebecca hadn’t ridden off into the sunset, but he was happy.
Happy, relieved, and pleased with what he’d done.
It felt like he’d done something good, and he had hope for the future. Rebecca hadn’t rejected him. She wasn’t angry or expecting him to jump through a bunch of hoops. She needed time, and he understood that.
Time he could do.
He wasn’t going to mess things up with her again.
He went to the shop to get his fishing rod and tackle bag, and then he headed out to the pier. There were a lot of people out and about tonight—a Friday evening in the summer. The parking lot of the restaurant was full and so was the public beach parking.
He’d just stepped onto the pier when someone called out from behind him.
He turned at the familiar female voice and saw Stella getting out of her old Cadillac, which she’d pulled over on the side of the road.
“Why are you back already?” Stella asked, speaking loudly to be heard over the distance as she hurried over to where he was standing. “She didn’t forgive you after all?”
“She did,” Phil said when she’d reached him. “She did forgive me. It’s good.”
“Then why are you here and not with her?”
“I needed to work tomorrow, and we’re going to take it slow.”
“Why are you taking it slow? You’re in love with her, aren’t you?” Stella’s eyes were wide and knowing.
“Yeah.” Phil glanced away. “But it’s been twice now that I’ve left her high and dry. She’s trying to make sure this is right for her. I don’t want to take it slow, but she does. So we will. As long as she wants it.”
Stella’s face softened, and she reached out to squeeze his arm. “You’re a good one. You know that, right? I’ve always seen it.”
Phil cleared his throat, feeling ridiculously self-conscious. “I haven’t always been good.”
“Well, you’re good now. Your girl is going to see it too. I don’t think it’ll take very—” She broke off just then, her face changing dramatically into surprise and pleasure and amazement, like sh
e’d seen some sort of miracle over his shoulder.
Bewildered, Phil turned to see what had distracted her.
What he saw was a small blue sedan, which had pulled onto the side of the road behind Stella’s Cadillac. Neither vehicle was parked legally.
Then Phil saw who was getting out of the sedan. She was small and pretty and wearing a ponytail and beaming as she started to run toward him.
Rebecca.
His mind wasn’t working. He wasn’t sure how she could have possibly gotten here since he’d left her a few hours ago at Holiday Acres.
She was supposed to still be there. He was going to call her this evening.
She wasn’t supposed to be here. At the pier. Running toward him like her life depended on it.
But she was here, and she’d nearly reached him now.
He dropped his bag and his rod just in time to catch her as she launched herself at him. The momentum spun them both around, and he wrapped his arms around her. She was laughing or crying or maybe both at once.
“Wh—” He couldn’t get the whole word out. He buried his face in her neck.
“I’m sure,” she burst out, pulling away so she could look up at his face. “I’m sure.”
He blinked. “You’re...”
“Sure.” She was smiling so fully it was shining out of her, but her expression momentarily faltered. “I mean, if you still want—”
“Oh my God, baby.” He pulled her into another hug so tightly he was shaking with it. “Of course I still want it. I thought it was too soon.”
“It was this morning. But it’s not now. I’m sure. I want to be with you. Only you. For as long as you’ll have me.”
“I’ve never wanted anyone else.” He was still hugging her, rocking her just slightly. His mind was finally starting to catch up, and it was almost too much. Too much emotion for him to contain.
“Well, kiss her, dummy!” That was Stella, who was still standing nearby. “This is your big moment.”
Phil gave her a wry look and then turned back to Rebecca, who’d withdrawn slightly, although her arms were still wrapped around his neck.
Then he kissed her, and she kissed him back, and it was eager and clumsy and real.
Stella and everyone else on the pier started clapping, but Phil didn’t even care.
Rebecca was blushing and smiling when they finally broke the kiss. She dropped her eyelashes. She’d never liked to be the center of attention.
“Should we go somewhere to talk?” Phil asked. “Somewhere a little more private?”
“Don’t you need to fish? To work, I mean?”
“I’ll just tell Mary I’m leaving. I can take the evening off.”
Rebecca finally let him go. She had to brush away a tear. “Okay. Private sounds good to me.”
IT TOOK THEM A FEW minutes to make their escape since they had to accept the well-wishes of Stella and some of the other locals who were hanging out on the pier. But eventually Phil was able to let Mary know he was heading out for the evening. Then he got into Rebecca’s car with her, and they drove to his place.
When she parked the car behind his truck, he said, “It’s not like your vacation house. Just to warn you.”
“I’m sure it’s fine. I really don’t care.”
So Phil showed her up to his run-down studio, and she laughed at the Spartan design but didn’t seem particularly put off by anything. He got them both a cold beer, and they went to sit out on his roof deck, which had the best view of the bay.
The evening was humid and still hot, but there was a good breeze from this vantage point, so it wasn’t unpleasant.
Phil felt good, and Rebecca was smiling. He didn’t have a complaint in the world.
“You must have left just an hour or so after me,” he said, taking a swallow of his beer.
“I did. I saw that contract you’d signed—and hadn’t even told me about—and I just... knew.”
He hadn’t seen Rebecca smiling like this since she’d been a teenager, as if all the sunshine in the world was concentrated in her heart and bursting out.
It made him strangely proud. “I didn’t sign it as some sort of gesture. Or maybe it was a gesture but not for you. For me. I wanted to really... resolve things.”
“I know you did. I know why you signed it and why you didn’t make a big deal about it. And that’s how I knew for sure. Because you meant it. Whether or not we were together, you meant it.”
He nodded. “I do mean it. But I do really want us to be together.”
“I want that too. I think we can make it work. And I want it to be for real. As real as... as we can make it.”
He reached over to take her hand. “I want that too.”
They sat like that for a couple of minutes, drinking their beer, holding hands, staring at the sea. And Phil wondered if he’d ever been so perfectly, purely happy in his life.
Responding to this thought, he said, “I can move back home, if that’s what you want. I don’t want to leave Larry in the lurch, but I’m sure I can work something out. I can move home—or to Richmond while you’re in cooking school there—or whatever works best. I’ll give up anything I need to give up to make things work with you.”
“I don’t want you to give up things you love, Phil. And I’m not sure either of us will need to give up everything. I was thinking while I was driving here about how it might work, and I have an idea.”
“Yeah?” That was something he hadn’t expected, and he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to handle any more good news.
He’d fully prepared to give up his fishing shop in order to be with Rebecca. He’d assumed it was a necessary sacrifice, and he hadn’t begrudged it at all.
“Yeah. You were saying there’s hardly anything for you to do in the fall and winter here, and of course the fall and winter is when we’re busiest at Holiday Acres and when they’ll need my help the most. So I was thinking...”
“Shit,” Phil breathed. “You want to split our time?”
“Maybe. If you think it would work. Doesn’t it make sense? We could spend half the year here and the other half at Holiday Acres. And then all we’d be missing is the off-seasons of both places. Do you think Larry would go for that?”
“I’m sure he would. I’m sure he would. Shit, that might just work.” Phil was shaking his head, amazed that such an obvious solution had never occurred to him.
But then he’d never really been looking for solutions. He’d just been running away.
“So you want to try that?” Rebecca asked, her eyes full of excitement. “I know my sisters would be fine with it. They keep telling me I can leave for good if I want to, but I do love Holiday Acres and I want to stay involved if I can. But I want you to hold on to your life too, and I do really love it here.” She paused and then flashed him a quick smile. “But if we’re going to be here several months a year, then maybe we could find a slightly nicer place than this to live in.”
Phil burst into laughter. “I’m sure we could.” He reached out again to take her hand. “So you don’t have any doubts, baby?”
“No doubts. No doubts at all.”
“So we can... really start planning our future?”
“Definitely.”
“And it’s okay to tell you I love you?”
Her breath hitched, and her hand jerked in his grip just slightly. Then she gave him a wobbly smile. “It’s okay with me since I love you too.”
He stifled a groan and leaned over to kiss her.
For a moment he was drowning in her, but it wasn’t the kind of drowning that would kill him.
It was the kind that would teach him to swim.
THEY STAYED ON THE roof, talking and making plans for a couple of hours. By then it was dark and they were hungry, so they fixed a simple dinner and ate it at Phil’s tiny table.
Rebecca had brought an overnight bag with her, and she took a shower before she got ready for bed. Then Phil took a quick one and came out wearing just his underwear to fin
d that Rebecca was waiting for him in bed.
She was smiling at him from the pillow, and his heart gave a ridiculous gallop.
It wasn’t just excitement—although it certainly was that. It was more than that. It was emotion so deep Phil hadn’t thought he was capable of it anymore.
He crawled into bed beside her and rolled over to kiss her.
They kissed for a long time before he started to stroke her body. He took off her little gown and kissed her all over until she was squirming and whimpering. She was openly eager, clawing at his back and tugging on his hair and trying to wrap her legs around him, and her responsiveness was intoxicating.
“Phil, I’m ready any time,” she said at last.
His mouth was working on one of her breasts, teasing her nipple until she couldn’t lie still. “I know you are, baby. But this is for you.”
“It’s for both of us.”
“It’s for both of us,” he agreed, giving her a tug with his teeth that made her cry out loudly. “Nothing in the world is better than making you come.”
“Oh God, Phil,” she gasped, arching up dramatically as he felt between her legs. “You’re gonna kill me before the end of this.”
“Maybe. But you’re going to enjoy the end.” He was smiling as he felt how hot and wet she was. He couldn’t believe his sweet, quiet, little Rebecca could get so turned on, could lose all her inhibitions this way.
He slid a finger inside her and rubbed her inner walls. They clenched around him hard, and Rebecca cried out loudly.
“That’s right, baby,” he murmured since he knew she loved when he talked her through it. “I can feel how much you want this.”
She clenched around him again, biting her lower lip and tossing her head on the pillow.
He lowered his mouth to her breast again and suckled as he joined the finger with another and moved them hard and fast.
She was coming apart quickly, shaking and whimpering and reaching out to clutch at the bedding. She was babbling out pleas for him to make her come, how much she needed it, how only he could give it to her.
Phil’s erection was a throbbing presence at his groin, but nothing in the world was going to distract him from this, from giving Rebecca everything she needed. He pumped his fingers hard and sucked hard on her breast.
