All I Want Is You Page 15

  “Spit it out, girl,” her grandpa said.

  Oh hell, apparently she would have to put this on the table, like it or not. “Well, between you and me, Grandpa,” she said, “you’re about to get kicked out of here—­and I can’t stand to let that happen. Okay?”

  And at this, he flinched. “Good Lord, girl, what does one thing have to do with the other, for heaven’s sake?”

  In response, Christy drew in a breath, let it back out. An open window carried a salty sea breeze in and she let the scent soothe her senses—­then forced herself to get even more honest. “I just think . . . if I met the right guy . . . well, maybe he could bail us out. And how can I meet the right guy if I’m . . . with Jack?”

  When a troubled look came over her grandpa’s face, she wished she hadn’t let the conversation go this far. “My living arrangements aren’t your responsibility, honey,” he said.

  “I know that—­of course,” she assured him. “But . . . I’m all you have. And ever since you told me about the situation . . .”

  Now, though, he was shaking his head. “Well, maybe I shouldn’t have done that. It never occurred to me you’d take on my burdens as your own. And if I’d had any inkling you would, I’d have kept my big trap shut, believe you me.”

  “But I’m glad you told me. I’m glad we can be open with each other. We’re family and we need to stick together.” She reached down to squeeze his soft, wrinkled hand, desperate to take away any guilt or worry she’d caused him.

  “Well, be that as it may,” he replied, “sticking together doesn’t mean goin’ so far as lookin’ for some money bags type of fella on my account.” Then he narrowed his gaze on her more tightly. “Now listen to me, darlin’. I don’t want you to worry—­because whatever happens, I’ll be fine, ya hear? And you’re young and beautiful, with your whole life ahead of you, and you need to date whoever you feel drawn to, not whoever has the biggest wallet—­got it?”

  Christy took all that in. Of course he would say that. Of course he wouldn’t want her to feel responsible for him. It only made sense. What she wasn’t sure of anymore was . . . whether her plan made sense. Maybe he was right.

  Yet, either way, there was another factor here, more truth to share. “Okay, I got it,” she conceded. “But the upshot is . . . I don’t know that Jack wants anything romantic with me anyway. Because he thinks I’m a gold digger.”

  At this, Grandpa Charlie smacked his hand to his forehead. “You told him about this plot to find a rich man?”

  She let out a long-­suffering sigh, beginning to realize what a mess she’d created here. “Sort of. Accidentally,” she explained. “Before I realized it would matter.”

  “Well, that’s a shame,” Grandpa Charlie said. “A damn, cryin’ shame. Because that’s not who you are, my dear. Not by a long shot. And it pains me to know you’ve let him think you are.”

  “It pains me, too—­believe me,” she said, feeling tired of the whole situation.

  “But I guess once you let a cat like that out of the bag,” her grandpa said, sounding grim, “it’s hard to put it back in.”

  IN the days that followed, Christy and Jack alternated between spending time at the beach and hanging out with Grandpa Charlie. Over the next few nights they sat at the pier during the Sunset Celebration and Christy sold more jewelry. Certainly not enough to pay Grandpa Charlie’s way at Sunnymeade, but enough to continue raising her confidence and even help her begin to believe she might somehow build a future in this. And a really wonderful and unexpected by-product of the last few days was that she suddenly felt she fit here now, among the other talented vendors—­she believed she was an artist now.

  But she’d have to make more than she could at the beach. And now that she knew ­people liked her creations, it was a matter of figuring out how to turn that into more money.

  It was Thursday evening, as the sky blazed a brilliant purple over the horizon in the distance, that a familiar-­looking guy with a ponytail and beard picked up one of the necklaces she’d made with her grandma’s fake pearls and said, “This is beautiful—­I’ll take it.”

  “Aren’t you the tightrope walker?” she asked, tilting her head as she peered up at him.

  “Fletcher McCloud, at your ser­vice,” he replied with a grin.

  Jack, who’d walked away to get them sodas, returned just then. “Good show tonight, man,” he said in greeting. “We watched from up here.”

  “I know you did,” Fletcher said with a small wink that made Jack chuckle as he leaned his head back.

  “I forgot,” Jack said. Then he dropped his gaze to Christy. “Fletcher here has excellent observational skills from atop his tightrope.”

  Jack had told her he’d had an interesting discussion with the tightrope guy, and as she wrapped his purchase in tissue paper, she smiled up at him and asked, “Who are you buying this for?”

  “My wife,” he replied.

  She caught the slightly surprised look on Jack’s face as he settled in the folding lawn chair next to hers, soda cups in hand. “I don’t know why,” Jack said to Fletcher, “but you didn’t strike me as a married guy.”

  And Christy thought the other man’s slight smile held a hint of mystery as he said, “Do married men act or look a certain way? Still got that beer ready for you. Stop on by some afternoon.”

  “I might just do that,” Jack replied with a nod.

  It was only a few minutes after Fletcher had departed that a woman with long, dark silky hair paused to look at Christy’s offerings. And as Christy glanced up at her to say hello, she real­ized she wasn’t a stranger. Not at all. But how could this be? “Anna?” she asked, perplexed. To her shock, before her stood her friend, Anna Romo, from back in Destiny.

  Clearly surprised to hear her name, Anna flicked her gaze to Christy’s and her eyes went wide. “Christy Knight? Is that you? What on earth are you doing here?”

  “Visiting my grandpa—­he lives here,” she explained. “What are you—­” But then she stopped, remembering. John and Nancy Romo lived here. Why hadn’t she thought about this before. “Oh, you must be visiting your parents!”

  “Yes,” Anna said with a pretty smile. “Duke and I got here just last night.”

  As if on cue, Anna’s rugged biker boyfriend, Duke Dawson, stepped up behind her and they all exchanged greetings.

  And once Christy got over her surprise, she couldn’t help feeling some sense of . . . almost relief to see Anna here. Anna had been a real friend to her in Destiny, and she couldn’t deny that suddenly seeing a familiar face, a girlfriend to turn to and maybe confide in, appealed immensely. “I’m sure you’re busy with your family,” Christy said to Anna, “but I’d love to get together while we’re both here.”

  “That sounds great,” Anna said. “Maybe we can hang out at the beach. My parents aren’t big sun worshippers, and while Duke looks hot in a pair of trunks, he gets bored just lying around in the sun.”

  At this, Duke slanted her a look that made Christy think he was a little embarrassed, but then he dropped his gaze to Jack to say, “You fish?”

  “Some, yeah,” Jack replied.

  “Her dad and I are planning to fish off the pier tomorrow if you’re interested. Could let these two do their girl thing.”

  And though Christy appreciated that Jack did enjoy the beach, she was also pleased when he accepted the invitation so she and Anna could have some alone time. Which was when it hit her. “Grandpa Charlie used to love to fish,” she said to Jack. “Maybe if he thinks he could handle it on his walker, you could bring him, too.”

  “Sounds good to me,” he said. “I’d be happy to.”

  And Christy couldn’t help smiling. More and more things seemed to be going right all the time. Yes, she was still heartbroken over the ways she’d screwed up with Jack—­letting him think she was only interested in money. And yes, her b
ody ached with wanting him almost all the time now. But maybe if she just quit worrying about that and tried to focus on all that was going well instead, the rest would somehow work itself out.

  THE next day Christy and Anna stretched out on towels on Coral Cove Beach, soaking up the rays and watching kids build sand castles and play in the water near shore. It was another beautiful day in paradise and Christy never wanted to leave.

  “So you’re selling your jewelry at the Sunset Celebration,” Anna said. “I’m thrilled to see you moving forward with that!”

  Christy smiled in reply. “Thanks—­me, too. I was nervous about it at first, but it’s been going well.” Then she glanced toward the long pier in the distance. It was far enough away that she couldn’t see Jack or her grandpa, but she knew they were there somewhere, holding fishing rods over the railing and waiting for a bite. “In fact, if we decide we’ve had enough sun before the guys are done fishing, I may explore an idea I have for selling even more.”

  Anna raised her eyebrows. “Oooh, that sounds mysterious and top secret.”

  “It is,” Christy confided. “Kind of. But I’ll let you know if it starts looking promising.”

  Another added benefit of hanging out with Anna was the opportunity to get caught up on all things Destiny.

  “Amy and Logan are doing great, and the bookstore is still the town hotspot,” she reported.

  “I’m so happy to hear that.” Amy had been another good friend to her. And Amy’s husband, Logan, was a fireman who had felt a lot of unnecessary responsibility for her parents’ deaths, so she hoped he was getting over that. “And how are your brothers?”

  “Lucky and Tessa are both busy with their businesses, which are doing better than ever.” Lucky did custom paint jobs on motorcycles and Tessa was in interior design. “And as for Mike and Rachel—­well, my worst fear has come true,” Anna announced. “They had their baby and it’s a girl! And Mike is so overprotective that I’m about ready to kill him, but I’m making it my personal mission to be sure he doesn’t hover over her for her whole life, and to make sure she gets to have lots of fun—­whether he likes it or not.”

  After Anna groused a bit more about her oldest brother’s protective ways, Christy asked, “And everyone else?”

  Anna tilted her head in thought as she peered out over the ocean. “Let’s see. Sue Ann and Adam are always keeping busy with their work and the kids, and—­oh—­Jenny had her baby, too, an adorable little boy who’s going to break lots of hearts someday. She seems so happy to be a mom, and Duke has gotten friendly with Mick and says he seems to be adjusting to fatherhood well.”

  From there, Anna informed her the bed-­and-­breakfast she ran was doing a healthy business, but not so much that she and Duke couldn’t take a week away to come to the beach. “Duke is building lots of custom furniture and has practically more orders than he can handle,” she went on. “Right now he’s making new picnic tables for Edna’s backyard at the apple orchard. And kitty Erik is still his clingy but lovable self.”

  Then she took on a thoughtful look and said, “You know, saying all that makes me realize how lucky I am, how happy I am. And there was a time when I couldn’t have imagined having such a perfect life. It can happen, you know, when you least expect it.”

  She tossed Christy a speculative glance, and Christy understood that it was both encouragement and Anna wanting to know how she was doing. But when she didn’t begin volunteering information, Anna went ahead and asked, “So, about this Jack guy. He’s pretty hot, and he seems nice. But I didn’t get the vibe that you guys are a ­couple. So what’s the deal?”

  And so then Christy told Anna the deal—­all of it, spilling her guts in a way you could only do with a close girlfriend. With Grandpa Charlie, she’d worked hard to sound like everything was fine, like even if she’d screwed up with Jack it was okay—­but with Anna she let her emotions flow. “I’m such an idiot!” she said. “Why did I tell him I needed a rich guy? Why did I admit any of that to him at all? Because even though I don’t know for sure if that’s what’s standing between us, I’m pretty sure it is. And I don’t know how I can possibly fix something like that.”

  “You could just tell him,” Anna suggested. “The whole truth. Like that you thought you knew what you wanted, but that now you realize you want something else—­him.”

  Christy sucked in her breath imagining that and felt a little nauseous. “But I have no idea if he’s into me that much, like in a way that sounds so serious. After all, he’s done a pretty great job of keeping his hands off me ever since we got here—­so maybe it was just a brief, fleeting physical attraction and he’s really fine with just being friends. So to just put all that out there without knowing where his head is would be . . .”

  “Scary, I know,” Anna said, her voice filled with understanding. “I took a risk like that with Duke.”

  “And it clearly paid off,” Christy acknowledged, thinking how happy they were. “Not every risk does, though.”

  “But . . . what if I hadn’t taken it?” Anna asked, looking over at her. “That’s why I did, you know? Because things were looking awfully grim between us, but I knew that if I didn’t make it really clear to him exactly how I felt that I’d spend the rest of my life wondering if it would have made a difference.”

  Christy couldn’t help being in awe of Anna’s courage. To put your heart on the line like that, to risk that kind of rejection, took nerve. “You’re so brave,” she said. “I envy that.”

  But Anna just laughed. “You’re brave every day. I’ve known that since I met you. You’ve gone through so much loss and yet you’re out there facing life, moving forward, not letting anything get you down for long. I envy that.”

  Christy took in what Anna had just said. It wasn’t new information—­she knew she’d been brave, because she’d had no choice—­but maybe she’d forgotten that lately. Maybe new challenges made it easy to forget past triumphs. “Somehow, though, with Jack it’s harder than some other bravery-­requiring things have been. I’m not sure why.”

  “Because you value him and you’re afraid of losing what you already have with him.”

  Ugh, she was right. When had that happened? When had she started valuing Jack so much?

  From the start.

  She didn’t know where the words had sprung from inside her, but it was true. Almost from the moment she’d set eyes on his gorgeous, scruffy face. And then he’d kicked down her door, and been kind enough to repair the very damage she’d asked him to do—­and she supposed if she was honest with herself, she’d already been falling for him even then.

  “So . . . nothing romantic or physical since you got here?” Anna asked. Christy had told her about their near-­sex at the Colonial Inn in Nowhere, Georgia.

  “Nope. Though I feel it all the time.”

  “It?” Anna asked, reaching for a bottle of sunscreen planted next to her in the sand.

  “I guess it’s . . . tension. And maybe it’s just me, not him. But it’s just this feeling . . . as we’re moving around each other in the room, passing each other coming and going from the shower, or anywhere, this urge to touch. This . . . awareness of his body. I notice everything. The way a T-­shirt stretches across his chest. The way his hair falls across his forehead when he’s just come out of the shower and it’s still wet. I even like to watch him brush his teeth—­how wacky is that?”

  Yet Anna only smiled wistfully as she replied, “Ah, I remember noticing that kind of stuff with Duke early in our relationship. How everything about him—­no matter what it was—­made me feel all dreamy inside.”

  Christy sighed because Anna had nailed it—­Jack made her feel dreamy. “And in Georgia, when we stopped and didn’t do it, and when he said we’d see where things went once we got here, I thought . . . I thought things would go somewhere. But it seems like that’s not happening. Maybe I’m the only one
of us noticing all those little things.”

  She bit her lip, thinking it through. “Although I could swear I’m not. And it’s breaking my heart to think he really doesn’t want things to go any further, because I think we could be really great together in that way. But at the same time, I just try to be grateful for how much fun we have together and how good I feel when I’m with him. I mean, I feel more of that dreamy feeling just sitting next to Jack at the beach or in a restaurant than I have when I was making out with some guy I thought I was crazy about. And really,” she stopped, weighing it in her mind, “for a girl who’s sexually frustrated and in love with a man I can’t have, I’m actually pretty darn happy these days most of the time.”

  And it was as Anna’s eyes widened that Christy realized what she’d just said.

  “Oh God,” Christy murmured. “Oh wow.”

  “Yep,” Anna said, smiling. “Wow.”

  “This is what it’s like to be in love,” Christy mused.

  And Anna nodded. “You got it, girlfriend. And it can be a double-­edged sword—­I remember. Crazy happy just because he exists and you’re with him, but crazy sad because you’re not with him that way.”

  “That pretty much sizes it up,” Christy said, forlorn. In fact, she experienced the warring emotions even now. And she let out another heavy sigh as the revelation seeped into her soul as intensely as the rays of the hot Florida sun seeped into her skin. She was in love. With Jack.

  And maybe she’d never really been in love with Kyle at all—­because that . . . that had been nice—­even wonderful—­but it had felt . . . so much more like a choice than this.