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For the first time, he felt a little bit of hope. Maybe he shouldn’t give up on everything just yet. Maybe Laura was right. Maybe he could still win the race.
“You really want to learn to sail? To race?” he asked.
Her eyes lit up. She nodded fiercely.
“Then what have we got to lose? Lessons start tomorrow, first thing.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LAURA WOKE UP bright and early, ready to learn how to sail. She rolled over, expecting to find Mark there, but his side of the bed was empty. Where had he gone?
She pulled herself from bed, realizing she was still naked from the night before. Her muscles felt deliciously sore from all the exercise. She’d never tried so many positions in one night. Mark was adventurous, and she’d never felt as wanted or as sexy with any other man. She pulled the top sheet from her bed and wrapped it around her.
“Mark?” she called but heard no answer from her condo. He wasn’t in the kitchen or bathroom. Where was he? She glanced around for a note but found none. Her phone was also void of messages from him. Her dreamy mood from the night began to evaporate. Maybe he went to get coffee. Or breakfast. Or…maybe he just ran out on me.
The thought jarred her. Had the condoms pushed him away? She thought back about falling asleep in his arms the night before. Things had seemed fine then. So what had happened? No. Don’t panic. Maybe he went downstairs.
Laura pulled on some clothes, slapped on a baseball cap and headed downstairs to his condo. She knocked on the door but got no answer. Then when she glanced in the parking lot, she saw his truck was gone.
He could still be getting breakfast, she thought hopefully. Even though the small little ball of dread in the pit of her stomach told her otherwise.
She hated this. The insecurities that bubbled up in her when she least expected it. There was always that little voice in her head that told her she wasn’t good enough, that men wouldn’t stay, that she wasn’t worth the effort. The same little voice told her I told you so when Dean went back to his wife.
Now it told her that Mark had tired of her, that he’d sneaked out because he hadn’t wanted to hurt her feelings or because he was scared to tell her that he didn’t really care that much about her, after all.
She hated that she couldn’t stop the wheels in her mind from turning, but the more she tried, the louder her insecurities became. She told herself she just needed to get busy. Maybe she’d clean her condo, put her hands to work, and then when Mark resurfaced, she’d figure out what was going on.
Still, a nagging doubt lingered.
Where was he?
* * *
MARK RANG GARRETT’S doorbell several times in a row. He’d gotten his friend’s text message that morning. Come over. Urgent.
Usually, Mark never heard from Garrett, Dave’s brother. He hadn’t even talked to him since before Dave had broken the news he was bailing on helping him restore the Timothy.
When Mark had asked Garrett what it was about, he’d simply responded, The race.
Garrett, a bachelor, opened the door to Mark.
“Good. It’s you. Come in.” Garrett was a younger, leaner version of his brother, Dave, with sandy blond hair and clear blue eyes. Garrett was five years younger than Dave and almost as good a sailor. He held open his front door and gestured for Mark to come in.
“I was surprised to hear from you,” Mark admitted as he walked across the threshold into a small condo overlooking the ocean. “I assumed you were in Dave’s camp and wanted nothing to do with me.”
“Look, first off, man, I want to tell you that Dave bailing, that was his idea, not mine.”
Garrett’s condo was decorated with surfboards hanging on the wall—boards that Garrett sometimes used—as well as brightly colored upholstered furniture and a big round leather ottoman in the middle of his living room. But it was a signature bachelor’s pad. The condo was a mess, with empty pizza boxes lying on the kitchen counter and dirty clothes on the floor.
“I heard about Katie, so I get it.” Mark stepped over a pair of dirty board shorts to get closer to the kitchen. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”
“Okay, so…just that I’m not bailing. I’m not with Dave on this. I want to sail for you.”
“What?” Mark couldn’t hide his surprise. “But why not with Dave and Edward?”
“Because I know they’ve treated you badly. And I don’t think it’s right. We promised to sail with you first.” Garrett narrowed his eyes. “Anyway, the point is, we promised you. We should stay with you. That’s what I told Dave.”
“But won’t he need you? To race for Tanner?”
