Long Way Home (7 page)

Alexis doubted very much that this gorgeous man had any intention of blending. Movie star good looks aside, he wore a hot pink collared shirt and navy blue checked shorts with leather sandals. His beach bum aspirational attire didn’t wash with Alexis. He reeked of money and entitlement.

“Alexis has been living in London for the past decade and change,” Tyler explained.

Caspian’s face brightened. “How is The Big Smoke these days? Haven’t been for ages.”

“Grey and elegant, just as you left it, I’m sure.”

“Tyler, I didn’t know you had friends in London. You’ve never mentioned her.” He clucked his tongue. “All those late night conversations at the Heron and nary a word, you naughty boy.”

Alexis stepped to Tyler’s defense. “We’ve only recently reconnected. He didn’t even know I lived in London.”

“Lived?” Caspian zeroed in on her use of the past tense.

“Live,” Alexis corrected herself, her cheeks reddening.

Tyler gave her a quizzical look but said nothing.

“Well, I see a ridiculously well-proportioned young lady at the bar who seems desperate for my attention.” He stood and gave Tyler a hard whack on the back. “Good to see you, mate. Cheers for the music. You’re wasting your talents here.” He dipped slightly toward Alexis. “Lovely to meet you, Alexis.”

“And you,” Alexis said politely. As soon as he was out of earshot, Alexis narrowed her eyes at Tyler. “Is he seriously a friend of yours? Where did you meet, at the yacht club?”

Tyler shrugged and smiled. “He’s a character.”

“You don’t say.”

“He spends a fair amount of money on the island when he’s not sailing his yacht to bluer waters.”

“Let me guess, St. Tropez?”

“One of many destinations.”

“He’s about as posh as they come.” Alexis shook her head in disbelief. She’d had her fair share of dealings with members of English society through her firm and couldn’t believe there was one lurking right here on Mangrove Island.

“He’s fairly harmless unless you’re a woman under the age of thirty, although rumor has it he’s not very welcome in England. That’s why he sails from place to place.”

“Avoiding arrest?” Alexis was intrigued.

Tyler shook his head. “No, I think he served his time or had his day in court or whatever it was. A politician with a past.”

“Aren’t they all?” Alexis snorted.

Tyler polished off his beer. “Enough about the peerage, back to the steerage.” He pointed to himself. “Based on what you heard tonight, would you be interested in seeing me play again? Because I can give you the calendar right now.” He reached into his jeans pocket for his phone.

He wanted an excuse to see more of her. If he could gaze at her in the audience every time he played, it would be the best holiday season imaginable. He noticed the way Caspian had checked her out. Of course, Caspian checked out anything with breasts over an A cup, but he was justified in giving Alexis the once-over. She was breathtaking.

“Are you sure you’re not trying to recruit me into your groupie set?” she eyed him suspiciously.

“I don’t have groupies,” he insisted.

“What about them?” asked Alexis, gesturing toward a trio of young women in the far corner of the room. She’d noticed them during the show, singing along to the lyrics. One of the women had her gaze fixed on them now. She quickly glanced away when Alexis caught her eye.

“Oh, you noticed them, huh?” Tyler said sheepishly. “They may turn up for a gig or two.”

“Have you dated any of them?” Alexis asked out of curiosity. She hoped he didn’t take it the wrong way. She didn’t want him to think she was interested.

“Nope,” Tyler replied firmly. “Too young for me.”

Alexis coughed. “Too young? I didn’t realize that was an option for men.”

Tyler took her reaction in stride. “I like a woman with a mind of her own. Girls like that don’t have enough life experience and I’m not interested in having a lapdog.”

“Well, now I know why you never became a rock star,” she quipped.

“Isn’t it past your curfew?” Tyler teased. “Wouldn’t want your parents to send out a search party.”

Alexis tried to ignore the push and pull of her emotions. Although she felt drawn to Ty, she didn’t want to admit it, not to herself and certainly not to him. She wanted to use this trip to focus on mending fences as well as herself. Forge a new path. She did not want her new path to lead to a new man. She wasn’t ready. Eighteen months wasn’t enough time.

“Now that you mention it,” Alexis said, “it probably is time to go.”

Tyler fervently wished he could take back his last comment. “No, I’m kidding. It’s early still.”

“Is that why the bar is slowly hemorrhaging customers?”

He glanced around and realized that she was right. It was later than he thought. Only Caspian remained at the bar, charming the skirts off two dark-haired women while a few other people lingered over tables in the seating area. Even the groupies were heading out. One of them, Natasha, waved to Tyler as they left. He nodded politely but didn’t return the gesture. He didn’t want Alexis to think that he’d lied. Although he never actually dated any of them, he’d had a few sexual encounters with Natasha in the past. He wasn’t interested in dating her, though, and that seemed fine with Natasha. Although she was pretty, she wasn’t his type. His type was seated across from him and she was one-of-a-kind.

“Would you object if I walk you home?” he asked.

“It’s not like it’s a date,” she said, a little too quickly.

“Of course not,” he said. He knew he should ask more probing questions, but he didn’t want to scare her away. Maybe his own feelings were clouding his judgment, but he sensed that she was attracted to him. Something was clearly holding her back, though.

“Anyway, I drove my mom’s cart,” she said, “so you don’t need to walk me.”

“So you’ll come to another show?” he asked, trying not to sound too eager. “I tend to play more this time of year and in the summer. Mangrove Island is becoming quite the hot holiday destination.”

“Good to know I’m on trend,” Alexis said with a wry smile. “You can text me with details of your Mangrove Island holiday tour.” She gave him her number and he deftly programmed it into his phone. She guessed hers wasn’t the first number to be typed into his phone at a bar since he seemed to have no shortage of admirers.

He walked her outside to her lone cart. Everyone else had left or intended to walk home. It was a clear night and the stars shone brightly, drawing Alexis’s eyes skyward.

“God, I forgot how pretty it could be,” she breathed.

“I haven’t,” Tyler said. When she glanced at him, she saw the flicker of desire in his deep, blue eyes.

“Thanks for tonight,” she said and slid into the cart.

“My pleasure,” he said and Alexis could hear in his voice that it truly was.

As Tyler watched her drive off, he wanted to kick himself. Way to play it cool, he chastised himself. On the other hand, he’d been waiting more than seventeen years to get her attention, so playing it cool didn’t really seem like the right approach anyway.

His mind went back to her comment about London. Lived. Past tense. But she said she was only here to see family for the holidays. He knew something was up, but he needed to be patient. There was a skittishness to her now that he didn’t remember from high school. Tyler knew there was a story there; he simply would wait until she was ready to tell it.

Alexis didn’t ride straight back to Rumrunner Road. Instead, she drove to a nearby beach and sat in the cart, gazing up at the stars. The way she felt tonight upset her and she didn’t want to go back to her parents’ house brimming with emotions. She wanted to work through some of her feelings. Her therapist had recommended that Alexis allow herself to ‘feel her feelings,’ but Alexis hadn’t been ready at the time. As she listened to the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline, Alexis decided that she was ready to try.

She closed her eyes and let the soothing sound wash over her. The way she felt when she looked at Ty triggered strong memories of Mark. They seemed like polar opposites, though. Alexis had a hard time believing that she could be attracted to two such completely different men. She relaxed into the seat, allowing the memory of Mark to fill her.

She’d met him at work, of course, because that’s where she spent the majority of her waking hours. Her desk had been in its normal state, strewn with books, files and empty coffee cups. As usual, she’d been reading through a contract and fighting off a headache. A knock at the door had interrupted her and she’d glanced up to see her boss.

“Hi, Hal. What’s up?”

Hal Brookman was an older gentleman and a senior partner at her law firm. He was a familiar presence in her doorway, often stopping by to chat about world events or American pop culture. He was a huge Seinfeld fan, even though it had been off the air for years, and enjoyed quoting his favorite episodes. This particular day, Hal was accompanied by a man Alexis didn’t recognize. He wore dark trousers, a cashmere sweater and black boots and, although stylish, he looked completely out of place in the firm’s formal offices.

“So sorry to disturb, Alexis, but I would very much like you to meet Mark Steamer. Mark is in-house counsel for our new client, Biomyte.”

Alexis stood up to shake his hand. “Alexis MacAdams, nice to meet you.”

“Alexis is a key member of our team. Her work is impeccable.”

“Thank you, Hal,” said Alexis.

“You have the oddest English accent I’ve ever heard,” Mark remarked.

Alexis opened her mouth to answer, but Hal cut her off. “Alexis hails from the States. She joined us from our New York office a few years ago. She is — oh, how would those Yanks put it — our resident ballbuster.”

“I’ll keep a close watch on my balls then.” Mark blushed, realizing what he’d said.

Again, Alexis opened her mouth to speak, but Hal seemed to have a case of verbal diarrhea. “I’m afraid Britain hasn’t quite won her over. She finds Wimbledon boring, won’t touch Marmite and, if memory serves, she refused to listen to the Queen’s speech at Christmas last year.”

“Refusal to listen to the Queen’s speech should be grounds for deportation, surely,” Mark said.

Alexis smirked. Hal didn’t realize Mark was mocking him.

“Hal’s right,” Alexis interjected. “Instead, I draped myself in the American flag and watched Top Gun while eating a hot dog and stroking my pistol.”

Mark’s smile broadened and Alexis’s life as she knew it was over.

Chapter Six

Alexis didn’t have to wait long to hear from Tyler. The next morning he texted her his show schedule, as well as a link to Lottie’s Greenhouse with a question mark. Lottie’s Greenhouse was a lovely garden center and landscaping company that hosted special events throughout the year. It was where she’d gone to see Santa as a child and where they’d go for their Christmas tree every year.

Sitting at the kitchen table nursing her second cup of coffee, she clicked the link to see whether he expected her to sit on Santa’s lap. The link took her to a page about a Winter Wonderland skating rink available now through January second. Alexis bit her lip. A skating rink definitely seemed more like a date than two classmates catching up.

“You’re up late again this morning,” her mother’s voice said from behind her.

“I am on vacation,” Alexis said defensively.

“I’m not making a point about your work ethic, dear. When you were younger, you were always up before the sun.”

“I think I used to hear Dad getting up,” Alexis said, although it was true that she liked to wake up early. ‘The early bird gets the worm’ was her private mantra and it had served her well in law school when the library study cubicles were all taken hostage by nine o’clock.

“Well, you’re sleeping through it now,” her mother commented wryly. She walked to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee. “Betsy called to see if you’d like to do some Christmas shopping with her.”

“Today?”

She shrugged. “Seems so. I left her number there,” she said, pointing to a piece of paper on the counter. “She also wants to confirm that you’re going to Owen’s Nativity play at the preschool. Apparently, he insisted on your attendance and she needs to tell them how many tickets.”

“Clearly, he recognizes his core fan base. When is it again?”

“Tomorrow morning, assuming you’ll still be here,” Tilly said archly.

Alexis didn’t take the bait. “I’ll be here.”

“Great, then you can let her know when you return her call.” Tilly slurped her coffee. “So how does it feel being back here? Bored yet?”

Alexis rolled her eyes. “I’m not twelve. I don’t get bored.”

“You roll your eyes as well as any twelve-year-old.”

Alexis felt her cheeks burn hot. She may have become a successful lawyer in a big London law firm, but one snide comment from her mother made her feel as small as a thumbnail. She wished she could extract all the hurt and misunderstandings from her family dynamics and start over. A clean slate. No preconceived notions. Her phone buzzed again. Another text from Tyler.

“Galleon at six followed by Lottie’s,” it read. “You in?”

Well, he certainly was persistent. She glanced at her mother’s pursed lips and rigid face, a face that seemed so resistant to change, so unwilling to forgive.

“See you there,” she typed back, and then she dialed her sister’s number.

Alexis stood in the middle of a mobbed JCPenney, wondering what possessed her to accompany Betsy to a mall on the mainland right before Christmas. Too much holiday cheer and sisterly guilt rolled into one, no doubt.

They tried in vain to carry on a conversation while walking through the endless throng of people. The regrettable underbelly of Christmas. Christmas songs hurt her ears as young and old alike rudely jostled one another. Although Alexis was used to the hustle and bustle of a big city, in a place like this it aggravated her more. Probably because she expected better of them. Or maybe because she’d already spent enough time on the island to forget the reality of crowds.

“Brian is definitely the competitive one,” Betsy was telling her as Alexis strained to listen. “The kid used to victory spike his baby bottle when he finished it. I was glad I wasn’t breastfeeding anymore.”