Moonlight Cove (19 page)

“It would probably be good for her,” Thomas said thoughtfully, once the initial shock had passed. “She was used to having her days filled with your family. She’s probably bored to tears now.”

Mick’s scowl only deepened. “I didn’t come here to talk about Ma’s dating plans. I have something to say about yours.”

Now it was Thomas’s turn to scowl. “Tread carefully, big brother,” he warned. “You’re heading onto dangerous turf. My social life is none of your concern.”

“It is when I hear you’re about to make a fool of
yourself with some girl who’s young enough to be your daughter, a girl who’s like part of the family.”

Thomas sighed. “So you’ve heard about Connie and me.”

“I have,” Mick confirmed. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m not going to defend myself to you, if that’s what you’re hoping for. Connie is hardly young enough to be my daughter. Not even I was that precocious. She’s certainly old enough to know her own mind. We’ve both gone into this with our eyes wide open.”

“‘This’?” Mick said. “Exactly what is ‘this’?”

“A relationship,” Thomas said readily.

“Then it’s true. You’re having an affair?” he said, his expression incredulous. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“That she makes me happy,” Thomas said, refusing to let Mick’s attitude rattle him. “And, thanks be to God, I seem to make her happy, too.”

“And what about Jake? How’s he supposed to feel about you taking advantage of his older sister?”

Thomas frowned at him. “Nobody’s taking advantage of anybody. I can assure you of that. As for Jake, he and I have looked each other in the eye and reached an understanding, so I’m guessing the problem is you, not Jake.”

“Okay, what if it is? It’s wrong. How can you not see that?”

“What I can see is that this is none of your business,” Thomas said. “Connie and I aren’t flaunting this in anyone’s face. We’ve been discreet.”

“And why is that?” Mick demanded. “I’ll tell you why. Because even you know you ought to be ashamed
of yourself. You’re scared Ma will get wind of this and have a stroke.”

Thomas stood up, slamming a fist on his desk as he rose. “That’s enough, Mick. You may be my older brother, but I won’t have you or anyone else trying to turn this into some sleazy, back-alley affair. Nobody respects and admires that woman more than I do. I won’t let you insult Connie or me by suggesting what we’ve found is something tawdry. And leave Ma out of it, too. The only thing she’s ever wanted for any of us is that we find happiness.”

Mick didn’t look appeased. “If you’re so all-fired sure that there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing, then why haven’t you brought it out in the open? You haven’t escorted Connie to Sunday dinner, have you?”

“Because this is exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping to avoid,” Thomas declared. “I won’t have Connie embarrassed, Mick, and apparently that’s the only kind of behavior I can expect from you.”

For just a moment, Mick looked taken aback by his vehemence. His gaze narrowed. “You really care about her? Seriously?”

“It’s getting to be damned serious,” Thomas said, even surprising himself.

Mick nodded slowly, as if absorbing the information. “I see.”

“Do you?” Thomas challenged. “I hope so, because I thought you and I were finally starting to make some progress in mending our relationship. I’d hate to see it go off track again, if only for Ma’s sake. How’d you find out about this, anyway? It seems clear to me that Jake didn’t tell you.”

“I overheard Connor and Kevin talking,” Mick ad
mitted. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I decided to come straight to the horse’s mouth.”

“Well, I suppose I should be grateful you came directly to me, instead of talking about it to everyone else in the family,” Thomas said grudgingly. “Once all the O’Briens start dissecting the news, it could put so much pressure on Connie it’ll scare her off.”

“I don’t imagine she’d be scared off if you put a ring on her finger,” Mick said slyly.

Thomas froze. “An engagement ring?” The out-of-the-blue thought didn’t make him half as nervous as it should have.

“Or you could skip straight to a wedding ring,” Mick said. “You’re not getting any younger. The two of you could probably still have a kid together, if you got busy in a hurry.”

Thomas gave him a wry look. “Thanks for the suggestion.”

“I’m just saying—”

“I know what you’re saying,” Thomas said impatiently. “But I think Connie and I will have to decide the pace of this relationship ourselves.”

“Up to you,” Mick said agreeably. “You’ll bring her to dinner this Sunday.” He said it as if it were a foregone conclusion. “Get this out in the open. Connie deserves that kind of openness, especially when it comes to your family.”

Thomas couldn’t disagree. He was just afraid she’d listen to the invitation, then turn around and run the other way. He could hardly blame her. He wasn’t much looking forward to the occasion himself.

“Maybe,” he began, hoping to put it off.

“This Sunday,” his older brother said. “Or I’ll speak
to Ma. I imagine she’ll give you an earful about showing some respect for a woman we all care about.”

That was the last thing Thomas wanted. “We’ll be there,” he promised.

Or they’d both head to Tahiti for a few months, where there wouldn’t be an O’Brien in sight.

“You have to be kidding me,” Connie said when Thomas called to tell her there was a command performance scheduled for Sunday.

“I was going to break it to you when I came over on Friday, but I had a feeling you might need a little time to adjust to the idea. Or maybe to flee the country.”

“You just didn’t want to tell me when there was a cast iron skillet within reach,” she retorted.

He laughed. “That, too.”

“Thomas, is this what you really want? Are we ready to go public? We’re still finding our way.”

“I don’t think we really have a choice. Half the family already knows. And now that Mick knows, it won’t be long before the others do. I don’t want anyone to get the idea that we have anything to be ashamed of. I love what’s happening between us.”

“So do I, but we haven’t even defined what it is,” she said. “Maybe it’s just a fling.”

Even as she said it, she held her breath, praying for a denial.

“Connie Collins, is that what you’re really thinking?” he demanded, his voice thick with indignation. “You’re not the kind of woman to have flings. Surely you know I’m more respectful of you than that.”

Relieved by his vehemence, she allowed herself to
smile. “I was hoping that’s how you felt, but you never know.”

“Because of my wild and reckless reputation, you mean?”

“You’ve been a bachelor for a while now. Maybe that’s the lifestyle you want. For all I know, I’m just a convenient dalliance because you’ve been bored.”

“Absolutely not,” he said flatly. “Besides, I’m lousy at being a bachelor. I liked being settled down and married, even if I wasn’t very good at it.”

“Wrong women,” she said succinctly.

“Maybe. Or it could have been me. The jury’s still out on that.”

“I know,” she said. “We’ve only been together, I mean officially together, a couple of weeks now, and I’ve already seen the kind of man you are. You’ve been treating me the way any woman wants to be treated.”

“Like a queen?” he teased.

“No, like a real partner. I don’t just like sleeping with you, Thomas. I like the way you talk with me, the way you share what’s going on in your life, the way you ask for my opinion and seem to genuinely care about what I say. That is such a refreshing change for me. I mean, Jake listens to me from time to time, but my ex-husband never did. Jenny’s a teenager. She hardly listens to anyone.”

“Well, I will always listen because you’re smart. I value your insights,” he said at once. “I think we make a good team.”

Connie sighed. “So do I,” she said softly.

“So you’ll put on a brave face and go to Sunday dinner with me?”

“I could just meet you there,” she suggested, not sure
why the thought of walking in the door with him in front of all those expectant looks terrified her so. “Maybe ride over with Jake, Bree and the baby. Then, if things go okay, I could leave with you.”

“No way. We do this together, hand-in-hand. Otherwise I might chicken out,” he joked.

She laughed. “As if. I think you’re anxious to throw this in their faces.”

“Not at all,” he said, his tone sobering. “I’m anxious to show them that I’m the luckiest guy around.”

Connie blinked back unexpected tears. “Sometimes you say the sweetest things.”

“Did I make you cry?” he asked worriedly.

“Only for the best possible reason,” she said. “You made me feel like the luckiest woman, not just in town, but on the entire East Coast.”

And no one had ever, ever done that before. Forget the daunting O’Briens. She could face down an entire firing squad for a man like that.

W
hen Will walked out of his office after seeing his last patient, he saw Jess leaning against the fender of his car in the parking lot. She lifted her hand in a tentative wave, then let it drop back to her side.

Will approached slowly, trying not to leap to any conclusions about her presence. “What brings you by?”

“I’ve come to thank you and to make amends,” she said at once.

He didn’t pretend not to understand. Instead, he nodded. “Feel like going to dinner? It’ll give you time to grovel.”

Her wary expression gave way to a grin. “Who said anything about groveling?”

“I think it’s the only thing to do under the circumstances,” he replied solemnly.

“I guess that’s one more thing we can discuss over dinner,” she said. “I’m no good at the whole groveling thing. Saying I’m sorry is tough enough. It goes against my nature to admit I was wrong.”

“Do you have any idea what you’re sorry for?” he
asked, curious to find out exactly how she’d explained her actions to herself. “Absolutely.”

“Okay, then, you can tell me that, too. Where would you like to go? Brady’s?”

“I think we should reserve Brady’s for celebrations. Since this is all about penance, let’s go to the French café on Shore Road.”

“Seriously?” Will said, surprised. “Why there?”

“Have you ever sat on those chairs?” Jess demanded. “An hour of that is sufficient punishment for just about any crime short of murder. You should hear my dad on the subject. He’s quite vocal, since it’s apparently Mom’s favorite restaurant ever since their honeymoon in Paris. The fact that he goes there because she likes it tells me a lot about how happy he is these days.”

Will laughed. “You’re crazy.”

“Please don’t say that,” she pleaded. “You’re an expert, and I’d have to take you seriously.”

He draped an arm over her shoulders and guided her around to the passenger side of his car, then held the door for her. Before closing it, he met her gaze. “I’m glad you came by, Jess.”

“Me, too.”

“I’d like to kiss you, but it might not be wise, considering we haven’t gotten to the groveling yet. It might send a mixed message.”

She chuckled. “Now who’s the crazy one?”

Ten minutes later, they’d been seated on the café’s uncomfortable wooden and metal chairs that were too small for normal human beings, much less a man more than six feet tall. Will had ordered two glasses of wine, then gave the menu a cursory glance. He didn’t
recognize half of the dishes and so settled on salad and quiche, wincing at Jess’s amused look. “Hey, I’m a real man. Eating quiche doesn’t scare me,” he told her.

“Good to know,” she said, then ordered the same thing.

He stretched out his legs in a futile attempt to get comfortable, then looked at Jess. “Okay, anytime you’re ready.”

“You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”

“Any reason I should?”

“No,” she admitted. “But if you’re so mad at me, why’d you send the candy?”

“To make you smile,” he said. “And maybe to pile on the guilt.”

She gave him a startled look. “Really?”

“I knew you probably started feeling bad about running off five minutes after you did it.”

“I did,” she said. “And I really am sorry. Mornings after, at least the kind that matter, are new to me. I panicked.”

“Of course you did,” he said. “The step we took last night was a big one. It probably didn’t help that I’d told you there would be no turning back. Asking you to make a public announcement about it by going to Sally’s was probably insensitive on my part.”

She waved that off. “What you’d said did throw me for a minute, but by this morning I’d convinced myself you didn’t really mean it. Men say a lot of things in the heat of the moment.”

“I don’t.” He leveled a look into her eyes. “I meant it, Jess. I’m in this for the long haul. Of course, if you make me sit on these chairs very often, I may not be
able to move well enough to ever make love to you again.”

“I suppose that just because I deserved to be tortured for treating you the way I did, I shouldn’t have subjected you to it,” she conceded with what almost sounded like genuine regret. The twinkle in her eye, however, said otherwise. She might have been forced into groveling, but she was making him pay in her own clever way.

She hesitated, then said, “I don’t know if that’s enough groveling or not, but I need to thank you for the candy, too. Not only did it make me smile, but Ethel’s penny candy is the best. It takes me straight back to being a kid, when I had to hide all that sugary junk from Gram. At least now I don’t have to sneak them.” She opened her purse and pulled out a fistful of individually wrapped candies. “See. I brought my stash with me. If you’re good, I’ll even consider letting you have one for dessert.”

Will chuckled. “I wouldn’t dream of taking even one away from you.”

Their meals came, and for a moment, they fell silent. Then Will felt compelled to ask, “Are you feeling better now about where we are?”

She paused, her fork in midair. “I’m still scared to death, if that’s what you mean. I’ve never gone all-in with a guy before.”

“Just loved ’em and left ’em?” he said.

She nodded. “I don’t want to do that with you, Will. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’ll only hurt me if you’re not honest with me or if you run without giving us a real chance. It’s okay to be scared. This is new territory for me, too.”

She seemed surprised by that. “Really?”

“I’ve dated plenty over the years, even had a couple of relationships that could have gone somewhere, but they always ended.”

“Why?”

“Because I knew my heart belonged to you,” he said candidly. She needed to hear the truth, not some spin designed to protect his ego or to keep her fear at bay. “Up until a few weeks ago, I kept trying to find someone who could make me forget about you, but it was useless. Now I’m going for broke, Jess. I’m going after the woman I want, no-holds-barred.”

She looked troubled by his words. “But what if I can’t live up to your expectations?”

“The only expectation I have is that you’ll give us a fair shot at something that could last. No more running off or hiding because you’re scared.”

She nodded slowly. “Fair enough.” She glanced over at him. “I almost came after you this morning. I got as far as Sally’s.”

“Why didn’t you come in?”

“Connor,” she said succinctly.

“You saw your brother with me?”

She shook her head. “I saw his car. That was enough. I wasn’t ready to face him, to have him start piecing together what had happened.”

“He knows,” Will said, then added hurriedly, “I didn’t tell him. He figured it out all on his own.”

“But you confirmed it?”

“Pretty much. He’s the one who told me not to give up.”

She regarded him with dismay. “You were going
to give up just because I wouldn’t go with you this morning? What happened to being all-in?”

“My ego,” he conceded. “Or maybe fear that you’d never be ready for a real relationship. Then Connor made me see that turning my back on you now would only prove what you believed all along, that nothing lasts, that everyone walks away and promises mean nothing.”

“I see. I guess I owe my brother, after all. Who knew Connor would be the one to come up with really helpful advice?”

“I would have come to the same conclusion on my own,” Will assured her. “It was just a momentary lapse of faith.” He reached for her hand, enfolded it in his. “Then I reminded myself that anything worth having is worth fighting for, Jess. A future with you? It’s worth just about anything.”

“No matter how much trouble I am?” she asked, the wistful note in her voice telling him that she’d gone back in time to Megan’s departure.

He brought her hand to his lips. “You could never be too much trouble. Not for me.”

“There’s a good chance I’m going to test that,” she warned him. “Probably over and over again.”

He smiled. “I’m ready for that.”

And he was. Today was the last time he was going to let doubts overrule his heart, even for a minute.

Though Jess was relieved to have cleared the air with Will, she knew that every day was likely to present a new challenge. She’d spent too many years doubting herself to suddenly believe that she was totally one hundred percent lovable. She also recognized that she was going to have to continue to make some overtures herself,
prove to Will and herself that she was truly ready for whatever the future might hold between them.

Though she hadn’t seen Will since earlier in the week, she’d spoken to him several times. She knew he’d been spending a lot of time at the hospital with a troubled patient and playing catch-up with the Lunch by the Bay business. She’d suggested he hire someone to do some of the matchmaking work, but he insisted he needed to be hands-on with the process, at least until he was satisfied that his system was valid.

On Saturday, frustrated at not having snagged even a few minutes with him, she called his cell phone.

“Where are you?”

“In my office.”

“Obviously not with a patient, right?”

“No, I’m busy playing matchmaker.”

“Maybe you should be worrying more about your own love life,” she teased.

“For a woman who wasn’t sure she even wanted to date me, you sure are getting to be demanding,” he replied, his voice laced with humor.

“I’ve never had a real boyfriend before, at least not the kind who’s declared himself, not one I could take home to my parents. I’m thinking maybe it’s time for you and me to make this official, in front of all the O’Briens at once.”

Will fell silent at the suggestion. “Official?” he said eventually.

Jess laughed at the startled note in his voice. “I’m not suggesting we hit them with an engagement, Will. Just that we show up together for dinner tomorrow. Most of them have guessed about us, anyway. Let’s just get this public announcement thing over with.”

“You know that’s likely to unleash even more pressure,” he said.

“I’ve thought about that. Meddling is just what they do. I can take it. The only thing that really matters is how we feel, right?”

“Right,” he agreed readily. “And if you’re feeling that comfortable with the way things are, then tomorrow works for me.”

“Really?” Now she was the one surprised. She’d half expected more resistance, more caution.

“Of course. If you’re ready for the questions, I certainly am.”

She laughed. “Actually, there’s a reason I picked tomorrow for our debut. Fewer questions.”

“Why’s that?”

“Connie and Thomas are making their first appearance as a couple. I figure we’ll just be a background footnote.”

“You’re a far more devious woman than I’d realized. I like your plan. Shall I pick you up at noon?”

“How about eleven-thirty? I don’t want to miss their arrival, just in case people faint.”

“Do you really think anyone’s going to be that shocked?” he asked. “I’ve heard the word on the street. Of course, maybe that’s just because Jake came to lunch reeling when he found out. And Kevin and Connor have known for a while. Who do you think hasn’t figured it out?”

“Well, the way I hear it, Dad knows. That means Mom knows. Shanna and Heather are in on it and have been almost from the beginning, even before Thomas and Connie were admitting it to each other. I’m not sure about Abby and Trace. I doubt they’re in on the secret.
And Uncle Jeff’s family’s probably in the dark, unless Mack said something to Susie. I suppose the real question mark is Gram.”

“Seems to me she’s used to having surprises thrown her way,” Will said.

“But she’s always had strong opinions about divorce. Not only has Thomas divorced twice, but Connie’s divorced, too. Gram’s liable to head straight off to church to pray for their souls. It’s going to upset her, Will.” She hesitated. “Maybe I should warn her, so she’s not caught off guard.”

“Sweetie, it’s not your secret to share,” Will reminded her. “I’ve watched your grandmother take a lot of hits over the years and bounce right back. I think she’ll surprise us all and give them her blessing.”

“What makes you say that?” she asked, curious to understand his rationale.

“Your grandmother’s lived a long time. She’s seen just about everything, and she’s far more tolerant than judgmental, even when it comes to the things she believes in deeply, like her religion.”

“You could be right,” Jess conceded. “But bring some smelling salts, just in case.”

Will chuckled. “Will do. And if I dig my way out from under all these Lunch by the Bay applications, I’ll give you a call later tonight or stop by. Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven-thirty.”

“I’m counting on it,” she said.

And as she hung up the phone, she realized it was one of the few times she’d counted on anything without holding back a part of herself in anticipation of someone letting her down.

Mick’s gaze narrowed when he saw Will walking up the path with Jess, her hand held securely in his.

“You two are getting mighty brave,” Mick said.

Jess gave him a surprisingly contented look. “We’re working on things. Stay out of it.”

Mick laughed. “I got that message the other night, and if it hadn’t sunk in then, your mother’s been repeating it just about daily.”

“I guess Mom is a better influence on you than I realized. I’ll have to thank her.”

Mick held out his hand to Will. “Good to see you again.”

Will chuckled. “You, too, sir. Since you’re waiting out here on the porch, I gather the main attraction hasn’t arrived yet.”

“If you’re talking about my brother, you’re right,” Mick said. “Wouldn’t put it past him to take the coward’s way out and stay away, or try to sneak past me and go in the kitchen door.”

Jess frowned. “He’ll be here, Dad, with Connie. And I don’t think they’re going to be sneaking around. I hope you’re not going to create problems for them.”

“Hey, I’m the one who pushed him to get things out in the open. No reason to make that girl feel they need to hide their relationship.”

“Does Gram know what’s going on?” Jess asked worriedly.

Mick shook his head. “I thought about saying something, but your mother told me to stay out of that, too. Dang woman won’t let me meddle anymore, leastways not half as much as I’d like to.”