You Smiled (5 page)

“Nice.”

“Yeah. It’s been scary at times. I’d like to have him more involved, but I also like running the show.”

Alex grinned. “What does he do, besides invest in his sister?”

She smiled. “That’s where the whole thing gets interesting. He’s kind of between jobs right now. He plays football - professionally.”             

Alex whistled.

“Except that he got injured at the end of last season, and his contract didn’t get renewed. Recurring injury. Papers said his career is over. He says he’s recovering.” She drew a design in the sand on the rock. “He’s only thirty years old. I’m sure he planned on playing for a few more years.”

“What position does he play?”

“Linebacker.” She smoothed over the drawing with her hand. “So, anyway, he just kind of disappeared - for months - wouldn’t talk about it to anyone - not even me. ”

“I’m sorry,” Alex replied. “I can’t imagine how devastating that must be.”

Grace hugged her knees and shivered a little. “When I got a hold of him to talk about the shop, I thought he might get excited about the possibility. You know, something different. He was great about underwriting my venture, but other than that, we hardly talked at all. He finally showed up here - just before you did, apparently. He’s recouping and planning his next step, so he says.”

“Is he staying with you?”

Grace gave a half laugh. “No, he wouldn’t fit. My apartment is tiny and he’s, well, he’s huge. Not that I didn’t invite him. I guess he just needed some space.”

“Makes sense.”

“He’s staying at Maddy’s Inn, a B&B up the beach.” She gestured toward the north. “Though I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”

“Your secret’s safe with me,” Alex smiled. “I think I saw that inn online. New place, right?”

“Yeah. Maddy opened up on Labor Day, I think. I met her this summer, and I’ve gotten to know her sister Becky pretty well. She moved here about the time the inn opened, and is running it now while Maddy’s on her honeymoon.”

“She got married and opened a business at the same time?”
             

“Yep. She fell in love with her contractor. He’s a local guy. It’s a sweet story, at least the way Becky tells it.”

“Must have happened fast.”

“
Yeah, pretty much over the summer. Anyway, they use our coffee at the inn, so I see Becky fairly often. When my brother showed up last week, I asked her if they had any room for him. I think he’ll probably rent his own beach house when he finds something he likes. Or when he gets out of his funk.” She squinted up into the sun. “I really should call him. I’ve tried to give him his space, but I think it’s time to give him a nudge.”

“It’ll probably do him good.”

“I hope so.” She turned to look at him. “You look comfy.”

Alex had stretched out flat on the rock with his hands linked  behind his head. “Very. You should try it.”

Grace contemplated the man lying beside her, his eyes closed, enjoying the warm sun on his face. She’d lived in this town for almost half a year and she’d never sat on the beach with anyone.

He opened one eye and caught her staring. He grinned. “You need to relax, Grace.”

“Easy for you to say, you’ve been on vacation all week.”

“It definitely takes practice.” He stretched his arms and re-situated them behind his head.

Grace faced the water again. “So, isn’t it time for you to bare your soul a little bit?”

“Why, because you bared your brother’s?”

She pushed his jean-clad leg with her foot.

“You won’t dislodge me that easily.”

“Who said I’m trying to dislodge you?” She shoved his leg a little harder.

He bent his knees and squinted up at her.
“You are a physical thing aren’t you?”

“Oh please, you haven’t seen anything yet,” she huffed, drawing her knees back up to her chest. “If I decided to get physical, you’d know it.”

Alex chuckled. “Spoken like the sister of a professional football player.”

“Right.” She grinned over her shoulder. “At least tell me about your family. You said you have a brother. Any other siblings?”

Alex stretched out again, eyeing her as he put his hands back behind his head. Apparently he was reconsidering this rather vulnerable position.

“Just David. He’s four years older than me. Lives in the suburbs.”

“Is he married?”

“Yep. Has a great wife and three boys.” He smiled.
“Being close to them is probably the best part about living in Chicago.”

“I can imagine,” Grace replied. “What kinds of uncle-y things do you do with them?”

“We love the Lincoln Park Zoo - that’s our favorite place. Otherwise we just hang out at my brother’s. They have every toy imaginable. We keep busy.”

Grace smiled at the thought of Alex keeping busy with every toy imaginable. “I’ll bet your brother’s happy to have you close by.”

“Yeah, we have a good time.” He glanced up at her. “You should lie down and relax a minute. The sun feels great.”

She leaned back on her elbows. “How’s this?”

“It doesn’t count unless you lie back and close your eyes.”

“Doesn’t count? Who’s counting?” Grace mumbled as she eased her back down onto the warm rock. It wasn’t bad.

“You did it.” Alex smiled approvingly and faced the sun again.

She waited for more commentary, but there was none. She sighed and made up her mind to relax.

A few minutes later she heard him shift, and opened her eyes to find him propped on an elbow looking down at her. Not particularly comfortable with this perspective, she resisted the urge to move and looked up at him expectantly.

“Can I ask what happened with Jim?”

She shifted her gaze to the clouds meandering across the sky overhead and contemplated sharing this particular part of her life. She considered Alex again, and saw genuine concern on his face.

“Well, we were pretty serious in high school - I guess you knew that.”
She sat up and crossed her legs. She didn’t want to do this lying down; it felt too much like she was talking to a therapist.

“W
e agreed to date other people when we went to college. That basically meant that he dated, and I didn’t. Not much, anyway. I felt pretty sure that we were supposed to be together.             

“After college, I got my job in New Jersey, and he was in New York. We got engaged, and married a year later. It lasted two years.”

“I’m sorry.” Alex shifted so he was sitting next to her. He took off his sunglasses, hooking them in the collar of his shirt, and turned to listen.

“We had fun the first year - we both enjoyed the city. There were plenty of distractions; I liked the shows, and he … he liked the night life.” She bit her bottom lip. Anger had replaced the sadness, but it was still painful to think about. “Apparently, the night life he enjoyed involved another woman - a college ‘acquaintance’ - and I decided I’d had enough. He didn’t contest … I’m sorry, what?”

“He’s an idiot.”

“Oh, right, well, thanks, I guess.” She wasn’t sure she could handle the concern on Alex’s face, so she reached for her socks and shoes and started to put them on.

“After the divorce, I moved back to Connecticut - got a job in Hartford, and lived at home again while I got my life back together. Then I started to think about the coffee shop I’d always wanted to open.” She shrugged. “I developed a business plan, and started looking for locations. When that spot opened up on Fremont, I knew I’d found it.” She smiled a little. “I love my shop. I feel like it’s where I’m supposed to be.”

“You should be proud of yourself for making your dream happen. Most people don’t even try.” He leaned into her with his shoulder. “Pretty inspiring.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks.”

He looked into her eyes, and Grace found it difficult to look away.

“So,” she said, leaning back into him, “What’s your story? I imagine you’ve broken a few hearts in the last ten years.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Oh, come on. I’ll bet women throw themselves at you.”

He looked out over the water. “There have been a few who expressed interest.”

“I imagine that’s an understatement.” Grace suddenly found herself very intrigued with Alex’s romantic past.

“I just never clicked with any of them. I tried, in my own way, but,” h
e shrugged his big shoulders.

“Well, what’s your way?” She tried to tease more information out of him, but he wasn’t very forthcoming. She also wasn’t particularly good at teasing. She watched his profile as he squinted at the waves. “You’re almost thirty, there must be
someone
...”

He turned to look at her with his Alex-like intensity. “Nope. Not a lot of experience in that department.”

Grace searched his eyes, trying to make sense of what he was and wasn’t saying. Was he claiming that he’d never really, what? Dated,
anything?
That was a little hard to believe. She didn’t know what to think.

“You must have disappointed a lot of women,” she finally conceded.

He smiled and got to his feet. “I don’t know about that.” He reached out to help her up.

She took his hand and stood, unsettled by the whole conversation. She brushed off her pants, stalling while she tried to sort through her response to his ‘revelation.’ It wasn’t like he’d said much; he was being evasive, like always.

Maybe that’s the problem.

What did she really know about him? Alex had stepped down off the rock and held his hand out to her - expecting her to walk further down the beach with him. She glanced back to the end of the line of cottages, about fifty yards back. Ahead there was nothing but rocks and sand.

Suddenly everything seemed implausible. A man almost thirty years old who looked like Alex did and had never had a serious relationship? She could buy that if he hadn’t implied that he didn’t have much experience with women at all. It was crazy. How gullible was she? She really didn’t know this guy, although he claimed to know her. What if this was what he did to get women alone in secluded areas? She knew her imagination was running away with her, but she couldn’t stop it.

She didn’t take his hand. “I should check back in at the shop.” She began navigating through the rocks, trying not to look like she was in a hurry.

She could hear the thud of his feet landing as he jumped through the rocks to catch up with her. She quickened her pace as soon as she hit the sand. Seconds later, she felt his hand on her arm.

“Grace.”

Panic finally overtook reason and she shook him off. “I’m going home.” She started to jog, and it took a minute to realize that he wasn’t following her.

“I would never hurt you, Grace.”

She slowed her step, not sure if she really heard him call out over the sound of the waves. She turned, half fearful, half hopeful.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, an attempt, she supposed, to look less threatening. Still, there was over six feet of mostly unknown man standing just a few yards away on a relatively secluded beach. Her self-protective instinct was functioning perfectly well.

“I just don’t know what to believe about you,” she replied, crossing her arms against the chill of the late afternoon breeze.

He sought her eyes earnestly across the space between them. “I’m not sure how I upset you.”

“It just doesn’t sound believable.”

“What doesn’t?”

“All of it. Guys never want you thinking they’re womanizers.”

“I’m not.” Alex stood his ground, but he didn’t approach. “I know it’s weird. Believe me, it’s not like I made up my mind to abstain. It’s just …” he paused, still looking at her intently. “I was really messed up that year in high school - almost suicidal. Then you smiled at me and I just locked onto you - like a lifeline.” He drew a deep breath. “I have gone out, but every time I started to get close to someone, I’d think of you, and it just seemed dishonest.”