Love Everlasting (Isle of Hope series Book 2) (30 page)

Sam grinned along with Zach and Reece. “Close. Shannon Terese O’Bryen. And you’re right, Reece—she is an angel.” His smile faded when Reece exchanged a quick glance with Zach. “What?” he asked, the caffeine in his system morphing into overdrive.

“Hey, man, I don’t know how to tell you this, but my wife’s friend knew a Shannon O’Bryen at Georgia State and she was no angel, but it’s probably not the same girl.”

Sam blinked. Shannon went to Georgia State before she transferred to Armstrong State in her senior year. His heart slowed to a hard thud. “Probably not,” he said calmly, forcing a casual demeanor despite the sweat glued to his collar. “What about her?”

Reece’s gaze flicked to Zach and back before a knot ducked in his throat. “It was a big deal, Sam, made the papers and everything, according to my wife.” He hesitated for several seconds before he continued, all humor gone from his eyes. “She was a home-wrecker, man. Had an affair with one of the top professors, busting up his marriage in a messy soap-opera story. The wife was so devastated, she tried to shoot them both when she found them together, right before she drove off a bridge. She survived, apparently, but the marriage sure didn’t.”

Sam couldn’t breathe, the air in his lungs like toxin.

“Yeah, there was a big scene in the quadrangle caught on video, apparently,” Zach said, his eyes as somber as Reece’s, “where the wife was screaming and waving a gun, calling this Shannon a whore and saying she ruined the lives of her and her five children. It’s all you saw on the news for days, especially after this Shannon tried to run, ending up driving off a bridge just like the wife. I’m telling you, man, it was freaky—a veritable reality show that rocked the campus.”

Sam’s voice was a barely a whisper as he stared at Reece like he could see straight through him. “Was she from Atlanta?” he rasped, hoping against hope that she was.

Reece’s gaze never budged from Sam’s as he thumbed the side of his empty glass, not answering right away while he gave it a slow spin. “No, man … Isle of Hope,” he said quietly, expelling a wavering sigh.

Clink.
“Here you go, boys.”

Sam almost jumped out of his skin when Emily set the drinks and steaming cappuccino on the table, her brows in a bunch when she noticed the zombie look on his face. “Can I … get you … anything else?” she said softly, as if aware something had just rocked Sam’s world.

“Yeah.” He gave Emily a glazed look while he slumped back in his seat. “A double Chivas,” he muttered, desperate to numb the awful ache in his heart. His body felt sick as he took a heavy swig of his cappuccino, the strong brew burning as much as the angst in his gut. He stared straight ahead while fury surged through his bloodstream along with the caffeine. “And keep ’em coming.”

Chapter Forty-Two

“Okay, Shan, something’s fishy here,” Lacey said with a pursed smile, fishing rod in hand and brow angled high, “and I don’t think it’s that bass you just caught, girlfriend.”

Shannon glanced up from where she was hooking her nice-sized catch to the stringer, a smile tiptoeing around the edges of her mouth. A crisp sea breeze ruffled her hair while a pale white moon danced on the water, reminding her that these unseasonably warm October nights wouldn’t last forever. “Why, whatever do you mean, Lace?”

Cat popped her hook from her Adirondack chair, casting a sideways smirk at her sister. “She
means
, Shan-
none,
” she said with a wicked grin, employing the nickname she’d coined for her sister after Shan told them about her strict moral policy with Sam. “Your lips have been squirming all night like they’re just aching to laugh, and those stars in your eyes are so bright, I’m tempted to wear shades. So you may as well spill it, sis—what juicy facts are you keeping from us?”

“Nothing,” she insisted, unable to thwart the smile that inched across her lips. “I promise.”

“All righty, then …” Lacey strolled over to where Shannon was rebaiting her rod, and lasered her with a look that said Shan was on the hook along with her fish. “Then what do you
think
you know, Miss Squirmy Lips, because something’s up between you and Sam, and we want to know what it is.”

“Yeah, you two getting serious or something?” Cat said, tongue rolling inside her cheek. The gleam in her eyes assured Shannon there was a tease on its way. “You know, like maybe you’ve graduated from holding hands to a kiss on the cheek?”

The cheeks in question immediately heated over the memory of countless goodnight kisses at the door that focused on far more than her cheeks …

“Well …” Shannon plopped back in her chair between Lacey’s and Cat’s to deliver a sideways peek with a chew of her lip. “Maybe …”

Lacey whirled in her Adirondack chair, pinning Shannon with a threatening smile. “So help me, Shannon O’Bryen, if you don’t give us the scoop, I’ll get it out of Sam myself.”

“
No!
” The furnace in Shannon’s face cranked all the way up to flashpoint, her mortification blazing that Sam might think she put Lacey up to it. She put a cool palm to her heated skin. “Please don’t say a word to Sam, Lace, because I would just die if I was wrong, but I think …” She nibbled the tip of her pinky, the hint of a smile just barely sneaking through. “He may be pretty serious. Like … marriage serious.”

“
Squeeeeeeee!
” Lacey dropped her rod and launched to her feet to squeeze Shannon in a noisy hug while Cat stared, open-mouthed, a smile slowly curling on her lips.

“Well, holy bucket of worms, sis, that has to be some kind of record for a guy like Sam Cunningham or
any
guy!”

Shannon put both hands to her burning face, shoulders in a scrunch. “Stop it, you guys! Just because I think it doesn’t make it true. Sam and I are just dating, and for all I know, that’s all it might ever be.”

“Oh,
puh-leez!
” Lacey said with a roll of her eyes, retrieving her rod to make another cast. “Jack says the man is so far gone, he should be committed.”

Committed.
Shannon caught her breath, her dream of Sam committed to her sapping all oxygen from her throat.
Oh, Lord, if only …

Cat put her rod down to focus on her sister, shimmying her chair around till she was facing her dead-on. “So, why do you think that, Shan?” she asked with a probing stare, knees bunched and bare feet curled over the edge.

Shannon shrugged, almost wishing she hadn’t been born with this crazy sixth sense that could bode either good or bad. Good if she was right that Sam was serious enough to commit to her alone. But bad if this uneasy feeling she’d been having all night was more than indigestion. “It’s a bunch of little things, really,” she said carefully, hoping she wasn’t reading too much into Sam’s words or actions the last month.

“Such as?” Lacey laid her rod aside, now sideways in her chair with knees to her chest.

Shannon sighed. “I know this sounds silly, but he’s had this look in his eyes ever since Mom and Ben’s wedding last week. Kind of a heated intensity that defies his typically casual air.” She pursed her lips, head in a tilt. “It’s … almost like a horse at the gate, you know? Eyes searing the track while its body stills, every muscle twitching till the stall opens up.”

A husky chuckle tripped from Cat’s lips. “That sounds like Dr. Love, all right—a thoroughbred just waiting for that doggone gate to swing open.”

More heat pulsed in Shannon’s cheeks as her teeth tugged at the edge of her smile. “I hate to say it, but that’s it exactly. And then he keeps saying over and over how he wants to take the time to really get to know me better.”

“So?” Lips pinched to the right, Lacey peered at her through squinted eyes, as if trying to assess each word out of Shannon’s mouth. “That’s a good thing, right?”

Shannon tipped her head, mouth compressed in thought. “Yes, but it’s almost like the man doth protest too much, you know? Like he’s trying to throw me off track or something. Plus, I don’t know the details because Sam doesn’t like to talk about it, but he had a really bad experience with a girl he was engaged to in college that shook him up pretty good. So he’s made it perfectly clear that when he
does
get engaged again, he plans to take lots of time to make sure it’s the real thing.” She huffed out a sigh as she stared out at the water. “And let’s face it, one month does not a commitment make.”

“Ahem … almost six months,” Lacey corrected, “since you two forged a close friendship the night of the fundraiser.”

One side of Shannon’s mouth nudged up. “Driving a soused Romeo home with puke on his tie hardly qualifies as a close friendship, Lace.”

Cat grinned, eyebrows jiggling. “Apparently it does for Dr. Love.”

“
Anyway
,” Shannon said with a patient smile, “he’s taking me to 700 Kitchen Cooking School on Saturday night for our official one-month anniversary—”

“Wait a minute—a cooking-school date?” Cat’s feet thudded to the wood planking when she sat up in the chair, posture stiff as two tiny lines puckered above her nose.

The indigestion that had been churning in Shannon’s stomach all night kicked up a notch because she knew what Cat was asking. Why would Sam resurrect painful memories with a date that included a cooking class, when it was the very thing Eric had loved to do? “Sam already knows Eric and I loved cooking together
and
that since the breakup, I avoid it like the plague.” A wispy sigh drifted from her lips. “But he told me he doesn’t want anything to remind me of Eric, so he wants to erase those painful memories with good ones.”

“
Or,
”
Cat said with a sly cock of her head,
“he wants to make good and sure he eats well if you two do tie the knot.”

A shy giggle slipped from Shannon’s mouth. “I thought of that.”

“Well, I think it’s sweet and very smart, but then we already know Sam is a genius because he’s in love with you.”

Ridges buckled Shannon’s brow as she slumped back in her chair. “I sure hope so,” she whispered, “because I sure am with him, and to be honest, I never thought I could feel this way again or ever trust another man.”

“Oh, get real, sis.” Cat settled back, palms flat on the wide arms of her chair. “Anybody with eyes in their head can see how gaga Sam Cunningham is over you, so as far as I’m concerned, you’re home free.”

“Maybe not,” she whispered, the roiling in her stomach starting to rival the roll of the river.

“What do you mean?” Lacey studied her with a sober gaze, as if she already knew what was coming.

“I mean, I never told Sam the whole truth about Eric,” she said quietly, wishing a hundred times over that she had.

“What?” Cat sat straight up once again, mouth gaping.

Shannon shook her head, understanding her sister’s shock perfectly. She and Sam were best friends, confiding in each other about almost everything. But fear had kept her from revealing her most debilitating secret, something that no one in her life knew but her family. Because the shame was still too deep, and Sam’s faith had been too shallow, hinging so precariously on the very morality that Shannon espoused. And yet, here they were in a relationship that might be heading toward something more, and the guilt was eating her raw. Because if Sam and she were getting serious, this was something he needed to know.

She blinked hard to thwart a sudden sheen in her eyes. “When we were just friends, I couldn’t tell him, Cat, not only because I was ashamed, but because he always made such a big deal about my so-called wisdom and morality, saying that was the biggest reason he trusted me like he did.” Her gaze trailed out to the water, the river dark and ominous as the moon crept behind a threatening billow of clouds. “So when we started dating, I knew I needed to tell him, but every time I got up the nerve, it seemed like something derailed it. Then at Mom and Ben’s wedding, I sensed things might be moving more quickly between us, so I tried to tell him that night, insisting I had something painful he needed to know about my past. But he just shook it off, saying that he did too, but it could wait because he didn’t want to spoil the moment.”

Her eyelids flickered closed, the weight of her guilt prompting a fresh wash of tears. “So I didn’t push it, rationalizing that we’d just started dating and I would tell him if we got more serious.” A muscle convulsed in her throat. “But now I’m worried we have and Sam still doesn’t know. And to be honest, I’m worried sick that it will ruin everything.”

“Oh, honey.” Lacey squatted in front of Shannon’s chair to hug her, the tenderness in her voice helping to ease Shannon’s fear. “If Sam truly loves you—and I suspect he does—this may come as a shock, yes, but it won’t change what you have.” She paused several seconds, her silence heavy with conviction. “But you have to tell him soon, Shan,” she said softly, “whether he wants to hear it or not.”

“I know.” Shannon’s hand quivered as she brushed the moisture from her eyes. “So I guess I’ll tell him Saturday night, then, although I don’t know if he’ll want to see me anymore after I do.”

“Stop it!” Cat jumped up to grip Shannon’s arms, bending to peer into her sister’s eyes. “The guy loves you, Shan, anybody can see that, so I doubt he’s going anywhere.”

“And more importantly,” Lacey said quietly, “God loves you and redeemed you, my friend, just like He redeemed me from all the horrible mistakes I made before I came back to Isle of Hope.”

“And, man, were there some doozies!” Cat gave a sober nod, earning a thin smile from Lacey before her sister-in-law turned back to Shannon.

“Besides,” Lacey continued, “it’s not like Sam was a Boy Scout before you stirred his faith, so if anybody should understand, it should be Dr. Love.” She gave Shannon’s hand a pat. “So don’t you worry, sweetie. We’ll just pray about it right now, and everything will work out, you’ll see.”

Tears blurred in Shannon’s eyes as she gripped Lacey’s hand, craving her assurance. “You really think so, Lace?” she whispered, the barest trace of tremble in her tone.

“Nope.” Lacey stood to her feet, her stance strong like a woman whose faith had been through the fire and back. “I know so, Shan, because we serve the very God Who created hope for moments like this.” Her eyes brimmed with moisture, just like Shannon’s. “And God’s hope, my sweet friend,
never
disappoints.” She reached to give Shannon a tight hug that coaxed even more tears from her eyes. “And neither does God.”