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I snuggled further into his side, needing his strength and not caring if our parents saw us canoodling. Hopefully he wouldn’t push me away. “Yeah, I think so. You got more out of her than I ever have.”
Dec shrugged, looking sheepish. “I’m not as nice as you.”
I snorted softly. “Ain’t that the truth.”
“It’s okay, love,” Daniel was saying, trying to console Mom when the laughter stopped and only the tears continued.
She shook her head, one hand clenched around a tissue in a fist and the other hand jammed to her mouth. She drew in a ragged breath and dropped her hand. “It’s not okay. I left my sister and never forgave her. I was too proud to put the past behind us and now I’ve lost Maeve forever.”
Mom fell into Daniel’s shoulder, her face crushed in his chest as she sobbed. Daniel wrapped his arms around her and looked at us over her head. He glared at Dec, as if my mother’s hysterics were his fault. I stood up to take the photo album off her lap and sat back down, flipping through the pictures myself. In every single one, the girls looked like twins, Mona just slightly smaller than her big sister. They were smiling, some in dresses and others depicting them with dirt or food all over them.
The second to last picture showed a young auburn-haired boy between the two sisters, Mona’s hand on his torso like she was claiming him. There was cursive writing below the picture.
I promise you I didn’t even kiss Ronan. He only had eyes for you and I’m sorry for not seeing how serious you were about him.
After I stared for awhile at the one and only picture I had of my father, cataloging the similarities and differences, I flipped to the next page. The last picture in the album was taken probably in high school before Ronan came into the picture, their arms wrapped around each other as they grinned at whomever took the photograph. There was more cursive writing below the picture.
This is how I will always remember us.
I squeezed my eyes shut and felt sorrow move through me. So much sadness because these two sisters didn’t talk. Didn’t air their grievances and make things right between them.
Dec eventually stood to get the steaks on the grill. Dinner was a somber affair, all of us grieving Maeve in our own way as Mom told stories about her sister. When Daniel left for the night, taking Mom with him in the rideshare back to his place, I asked Dec for some privacy tonight. He nodded, understanding that I needed some time to process everything I’d learned. Dec kissed me goodbye and headed for his house.
I went upstairs and got ready for bed, eyeing the hideous urn in the closet, safe from all the construction dust.
“Good night, Aunt Maeve,” I whispered, closing the door and climbing into bed.
While I grieved for my aunt Maeve and the father I never knew, I also grieved the eventual end of whatever this was with Dec. If he couldn’t talk to me about his past, we’d end up as wrecked as the two sisters. I didn’t know what it would take to get him to open up to me, but I was starting to lose hope.
And the last thing I would ever do again is give a man my everything while he gave nothing in return.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dec
If I thought the first weekend of the Boozer Cruiser was bad, the second one had me sticking to the shadows and growling more than usual. Tourists flooded the parking lot of the boat club, towels and sunglasses and sunscreen spilling out of their bags, incessant chatter destroying the sound of the midday lapping of the water against the dock. I tugged on my hat, bringing the bill down even lower before I skulked into the office and headed for the back room where tourists weren’t allowed. Shouts rang out inside, youngsters ready for a bawdy day at sea while they used the restroom before boarding. Irene shot me a harried glare that matched my own.
I was only here because Kenna had threatened me with dumping yet another potted plant on my porch if I didn’t show. She’d already taken up half my square footage with Maeve’s plants in an attempt to spread the plant riches. Shit, even Irene had a familiar succulent on her desk which she was currently using as an ashtray.
“Oh good, you’re here!” Kenna came around the tiny desk she’d shoved against the wall when she realized that sharing a workspace with Irene would be problematic long term. She looked gorgeous, her big blue eyes highlighted by makeup and her lips carrying a glossy sheen. A predatory grin took over my face when I noticed she’d left her hair curly for today’s press interview. Every time I saw that auburn hair in a riot of curls, I wanted to slide my fingers into it and get her naked. Kenna wrapped her arms around my waist for a hug, which eased the discomfort of the sleepy boat club being taken over by loud tourists.
“I said I’d be here.”
She snorted against my chest and pulled back to look up at me. “Yeah, but I know how you feel about crowds, so I wasn’t sure. Thank you.”
Fuck. A simple thank-you in that soft voice and I’d agree to do just about anything. Including wreck the haven I’d made here in Sunshine Key.
Leaning down, I kissed her, enjoying the feel of her against me, the way she melted in my arms. She was so damn capable, opposite of how she’d seemed when she arrived here in Florida, and yet she still softened for me.
I’d thought long and hard about what I was doing with her these last few weeks. What all this could eventually lead to if I just opened up to her. As much as it pained me to admit, Harley was right. I needed to tell her everything and trust her to see me for who I was now. Going down this path of lies and omissions would lead us to the same disastrous end that Mona was now living with. It had been too late for her to make things right with her sister. I wouldn’t make the same mistake.
But now was not the time. I pulled back, not wanting to ruin her makeup when I knew she’d taken great care to put together this interview with the Key West newspaper. “Let’s go wow the crowd, huh?”
Her smile fueled me through the next hour of getting the tourists on the boat and off to sea. All the other boats had been rented as well, everyone wanting to participate in this year’s boat parade that signaled the start of the tourist season. Normally my boat would be out there too with Maeve sitting beside me, but this year had brought significant changes.
The newspaper’s photographer was a quiet guy who maneuvered through the crowd effortlessly, getting shot after shot. It was the reporter, a guy named Lars Francis, who worried me. He had a thousand questions to ask and not one thought that maybe Maeve wouldn’t want a microscope up her ass postmortem. Kenna and I kindly explained the basic terms of the will and Kenna’s idea for the club’s reinvention. Lars seemed to love the angle of a thriving boating community persevering even when battered by storms and death.
“You know, I had no intention of staying here in Sunshine Key when my aunt left me the boat club. But then I settled in and fell in love with this place.” Kenna gestured to the serene dock and the water that spread out for miles all around us. “Sometimes we find our home in the strangest of places.”
