Keeping You Forever (A Harbor Love Series) (12 page)

 “Just let her go Tyler. You have me. You have everything you need right here,” Missy said. She wrapped her arms around his waist and began kissing him on his neck.

 “Would you stop, and let go of me. We are done Missy. Get it through your head! What we had is over and is never going to happen again! I don’t love you anymore and I don’t want to be with you! I want Grace. Just leave already all you’re doing is fucking this up for me, just like you fucked up my life in California. Go back home and don’t come back here looking for me, it’s over!” He left her standing on the porch with her mouth open in shock as he went after Grace.

 It didn’t take him long to get to her house. He saw that her car was gone and he hoped that maybe one of her sisters had taken it. He needed to tell her that Missy meant nothing to him, that she was all he wanted and needed. He made it to the front door just as it swung open and Paige stormed out looking like she was ready to kill him.

“What the hell did you do to my sister? Give me two good reasons I should not kick you in the balls right now!”

 “Where is she? I need to talk to her!”

 “I don’t think so. You’ve done enough damage; she came in here in tears. I’ve never seen her like that before! She wouldn’t even talk to me, she just said she was sick and tired of men like Denny and you taking advantage of her and she was done with all of it and she left. How dare you do this to my sister!” she said shouting and pushing him, making him stumble on his feet.

 “I didn’t do anything I swear. Missy showed up I had no idea she was coming over. She kissed me! I don’t want her, I want Grace. Tell me where she went please. I need to talk to her and tell her this is one big misunderstanding and that Missy means nothing to me!” the panic was rising in his voice as the seconds passed. He wanted to talk to her and tell her it wasn’t what she saw. But most of all he wanted to stop the hurt she was feeling. It was killing him thinking she was somewhere thinking he didn’t want her. When the truth was, he wanted her more than he ever wanted another woman in his life.

 “I don’t know where she is! And who the hell is Missy?”

 “My ex fiancé she left me at the altar. She showed up here yesterday and told me she made a mistake and wants me back.”

 “Whoa! Your fiancé? That’s who you were with when Grace showed up?”

 “Yes, but it’s not what she is thinking. I was telling Missy that it was over. She kept telling me that we were good together and then she kissed me. I tried pushing her off of me but she kept coming at me and wouldn’t stop.”

 “Oh sure, a strong man can’t get one woman off of him! You do know that line never works, right? It only makes you guys look like jackasses!”

 “Just tell me where she is. I know how this looks alright. It looks pretty fucked up I know it does, but it’s not what she is thinking.”

“She is never going to trust you again. I know Grace. You pretty much put the last nail in the coffin with her heart. It took her forever to get over Denny and now this happens. I don’t know how she is going to get over something like this now. You screwed up big time mister! But… I can tell you’re telling the truth by the look of sadness on your face right now. I think my sister deserves to be happy so I am going to help you. If you fuck with her again… I swear your balls are going to get it!”

“Would you stop talking about my balls? It’s kind of weird. Just tell me where to find her please, so I can make this right.”

 Paige sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning on the door frame. “If I know my sister and I think I do, she is probably down by the harbor or by the water. Those are the only two places I can think of. You better hurry up, because a storm is rolling in. I don’t want my sister out in a storm crying again over another man.”

 “I promise I will find her and bring her back home. I won’t stop until I find her,” he said as he turned around running back toward his house to go find Grace.

 Tyler was in his car when the rain started and cursed at the flash of lighting. Being from California he wasn’t aware that November in Bar Harbor, Maine called for rain, and lots of it.. He wasn’t about to let rain or a storm stop him from getting to Grace. Finding her was the only thought on his mind as he drove toward the harbor and praying for luck to be on his side for something today and find her there.

 It didn’t take him long to get to the harbor. He was out of his car not even looking to see if he was parked illegally, all he wanted to do was find Grace. The rain was picking up now and he was soaked as he searched all over the harbor for her but he saw no site of her or her car. He turned around running back to his car to go look at the other place Paige told him she might be. The storm was approaching and was getting bigger as it rolled into the shore. Lighting lit up the dark skies and thunder rumbled through out the town as he approached the shore line and parked on the side of the road, leaving his car door opening as he made his way down to the water. He searched up and down the shore line hoping to find her and tell her everything he wanted to tell her, but she wasn’t there. He didn’t know where else to look and he drove back to her house to. His clothes were soaked and he was freezing but none of that mattered at the moment. Seeing her and telling her how he felt was all he cared about. Her car wasn’t at the house when he pulled up and his heart dropped. She wasn’t at the two places Paige she said would be. He started to worry because the storm picked up and was only getting worse.

 “Did you find her,” Paige shouted over the rain from the door step.

 “No I checked the harbor and down by the shore line she isn’t there. Where is she Paige I need to know?”

 “I don’t know those are the only two places I can think of!  I called Autumn at work and she suggested the same two spots. I am worried now, where could she be. What if something happened to her? You know her car isn’t the best and in weather like this…”

“Don’t even think about that right now please. She has to be somewhere! She couldn’t have gone that far.”

 “My sister knows this town like the back of her hand. She could be anywhere Tyler. The storm is getting worse I am really getting worried. What if she is hurt somewhere and needs help. Why didn’t she just stay here and talk to me? Why did she have to leave and run off the way she did?”

 “I’ll find her. I don’t care if I have to drive all day and night, I’ll find her. She has to be ok Paige. If something happened to her… because of me…. I don’t even want to think about that.”

“I don’t think it’s smart for both of you to be out in this storm. What if she comes back and you are still out looking for her?”

“I can’t just sit around here waiting for her to come back. I need to find her and tell her everything.” He was getting in his car before she had time to tell him it was a bad idea. It was raining harder now, and he could barely see a few feet in front of him. In this rain her car didn’t stand a chance. It was old, needed new tires and wasn’t very reliable to start when she needed it to get her to work. It this kind of weather she would either pull over and wait it out, or not go out if she could avoid it at all cost. Right now she wasn’t home and Tyler hoped she was somewhere safe on the side of the road waiting it out.

  The rain continued to come down with no signs of letting up. Grace sat in the back of the diner listening to the hammering of the rain coming down on the roof, as the memoires of Tyler kissing his fiancé came rushing back into her mind with every passing second. She was soaked, but the cold wet clothes against her body didn’t faze her. She felt numb as she sat their staring out of the window into the evening skies, mesmerized at the falling rain as it hit the street leaving puddles and thrumming on the window.  “Let this be a lesson for you and stick to your plan of lonely nights and lots of cats,” she thought to herself as she sat back in the booth picking at her peach cobbler.

“Do you need anything else dear? More coffee? You haven’t eaten much of your cobbler, is something wrong with it?” asked Betsy, the waitress at the diner.

 Betsy watched Grace and her sisters grow up and she even gave them free meals some nights when their mom left. Betsy loved the Carter girls and would do anything for them. The night Denny left Grace, Betsy nursed her broken heart with a big fat brownie and vanilla ice cream after Grace came into the diner looking like a drowned wet rat. She told Grace that night that there wasn’t anything chocolate and ice cream couldn’t fix, especially a broken heart.

 “The pie is perfect Betsy, just not in the mood tonight I guess.”

 “Ok, spill it! I have known you since you were a little girl, and you have never turned down peach cobbler or even left a crumb. Did Denny go and screw something up again? I swear that man needs to be hit over the head with a cast-iron skillet,” said Betsy, with both her hands on her hips as she eyed Grace, trying to figure out what was going on with her.

 “It’s not Denny, although he could use a good knocking over the head. It’s really nothing that chocolate and ice cream can’t fix, you always told me that remember.”

“Oh hell, scoot over dear” she said, sliding in next to Grace. “Katie, bring us the biggest brownie with two scoops of vanilla ice cream,” Betsy shouted to the other waitress behind the counter. “Tell me what’s going on and who is this man?”

“Is it that obvious? I must look like the most pathetic person in here right now!” “Gracie sweetheart, this is a small town. Most people know your business before you even know it. You do not look pathetic. You are a wonderful, beautiful young woman that any man would be lucky to have. You just have to learn to open up that sweet little heart of yours and forget about Denny Marshall. That man is a nuisance to society and women’s hearts. He was in here a couple of nights ago, going on and on about some hot little thing he brought home from the bar. I was just about ready to whack him over the head with my coffee pot.”

 Grace sighed and sank further down into the booth letting her head fall back against the wall and thought about Tyler.

 “I opened my heart and look what it got me. I am sitting here turning down a delicious peach cobbler and I am soaking wet. Why do I always manage to go through these things as a storm is coming in?”

 Just then Katie brought over the quick fixer upper of broken hearts brownie and vanilla ice cream and two spoons. “There is more where this came from if you need to drown yourself deeper in chocolate heaven ladies,” Katie said before walking away.

 The first bite was always her favorite and a little part of her felt a little moment of happiness when she put the piece of brownie in her mouth. “This really is good. I think I feel better already,” she said with a mouth full of brownie and ice cream.

 “I told you! This cures a broken heart better than whiskey. You never have to worry about the hang over. So tell me who is the man and what did he do that has you sitting here devouring a brownie like it’s the first meal you have eaten in a week.”

“I can’t help it you know, I love your brownies. His name is Tyler, he is new in town. From the first night we met I felt like he was different and something kept drawing me into him, even after I told myself to not even think about it. I let myself open up to him like I haven’t done with anyone since Denny. I thought we had something special… I was wrong, because I found him kissing his fiancé this morning.”

 “Wait a second are you talking about Tyler Reese, the cutie who moved from California? The one who fixed Carl’s car the other day?” Betsy asked, grabbing another scoop of ice cream.

 “The one and only. He probably won’t be in town much longer since he obviously made up with his fiancé. They are probably planning their honeymoon right now…. or practicing for it on his kitchen table...” The thought was enough to make her want to throw up and she pushed the brownie and ice cream away. “I don’t even think a brownie and ice cream are going to cure me this time Betsy. I just have to face the fact that I’m going to be the old cat lady.” She said with a sigh.

 “You don’t really think that do you? I don’t believe for one second that you will not find love. To be honest with you Tyler doesn’t look like a man who is planning his honeymoon on the kitchen table right now, he looks like a deer caught in the head lights right about now,” Betsy said as she watched Tyler walk through the door looking like his world was coming down around him.

“I am pretty sure he is having crazy make up sex on some surface of his home right now with Missy,”

“You might want to open your eyes dear. The man is making his way over here right now and he does not look happy,” she nudged Grace on the knee, getting her attention.

 “
W
here the hell have you been all day? I have been looking for you everywhere! Why did you just leave like that?” He stood there looking at Grace and felt all the worry drain from his body. He spent the last hour driving all over town hoping to find her and it was only by luck when made a wrong turn that he saw her car in the parking lot of the diner.

 “Why would you be looking for me? Shouldn’t you be packing up your things to go back home with your fiancé.  You two did seem kind of… busy this morning.”