She spun and lifted her hand in a wave only to freeze midway through the motion. She pulled her hand back, wiping the crumbs off her face.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked. But he didn’t wait for an answer. He strode toward his desk, pulled out a drawer, and set a bottle of whisky and two crystal tumblers on the soft, leather inset top.
“Where did you get that?”
He shrugged. “I keep it in the bottom drawer.” He opened the bottle and poured two glasses. He approached her, holding out a glass. “For emergencies.”
She accepted, her fingers briefly touching his in the exchange. “Have you had many of those?” She laughed and lifted the glass in cheers before sipping.
The liquor washed away the remaining cookie, burning her throat. She wasn’t much for straight alcohol. Her preference was something fruity and frozen while lounging around poolside. A beach was definitely head and shoulders above a dimly lit office after midnight. They’d reached the only conclusion they could have for their ill-fated romance. The never part of now or never.
An apology tickled her tongue, but she struggled with stringing together a coherent, unemotional speech.How do I voice my regrets? That she understood how wrong she’d been to put him in the middle. That leaving only hurt her. That he was so clearly better off without her. But she wanted another chance though she didn’t deserve him.
She wanted the ghost to be real so she could fool herself into thinking Dad hadn’t given up on her. He hadn’t died in his sleep without a chance to put their differences aside. She told herself a story to make everything okay. She couldn’t keep up the tale anymore. She’d lost the plot. She had no spin to make her situation pretty for social media.
He eyed her warily.
She crossed to the chairs, still facing the windows. Sitting, she tucked her legs underneath, resting the glass on her knees. “Thanks for the drink. I’m not one to rely on alcohol to unwind. But today has been exceptional.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever had a day quite like today.” He lowered himself into his chair, stretching his legs out in front and crossing his ankles. He sipped.
She wanted to ask how he acted so calm after the charge in the air and if he would have kissed her. She wanted him, but, if she put him on the spot now, she’d force his hand. The most alarming revelation wasn’t her continued attraction. In the aftermath of the arrest, she had to focus on what had just happened.
“Are they…” She wasn’t sure how to phrase her question. She had never been afraid for her safety. After the fire, she’d come to the Inn. Following the explosion, she’d more or less walked away. But this? Their denials only scared her more. If Lonnie and Zach could convince themselves they hadn’t attempted to kill her in order to steal a non-existent treasure, what else were they capable of?
She cleared her throat. “Are they taken care of?”
He frowned. “They were arrested and are currently on their way to our local jail. I’ll fight hard against bail. They don’t deserve to go about their lives in town after trying to end yours.”
She nodded. She believed him. He’d been a fierce opponent in the aftermath. When she’d hung back to call for help, she’d accidentally tested Zach’s theory. Every word spoken on the tiny island carried as if delivered through a megaphone. Christopher had saidmy wifewith so much emotion. He couldn’t have been faking. He’d never been a good enough actor to get them out of trouble as kids. Why lie now?
“I can’t believe I was right.” He sighed.
From the corner of her eye, she caught him, shaking his head and taking another sip. “You’re rarely wrong. Isn’t that one of your strengths? Finding the winning hand?”Letting the losers drop.
“For the record, I think they must have started the fire to get you out of the lighthouse. I’m not sure how. Lawyers will find out. I don’t think they intentionally tried to kill you with the collapse.”
No, two men she’d known her entire life hadn’t set out to kill her. But her murder would have been incidental to pursuing their own goals. She shuddered. “Not exactly the warm and fuzzy homecoming I expected.”
Why had she thought, for a second, she could come back here?Because I love him.
She faced him and drained the rest of the whisky like a shot. As soon as she swallowed, she sputtered and coughed, raising her elbow to her mouth.
“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.” He drained his glass and reached for hers, setting both on the coffee table. “I’m sorry, Ashley. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I wanted to see you again. I never imagined you’d have to endure so much on my behalf.”
She cleared her throat and tucked her hands under her legs. If she didn’t get a hold of herself, she’d do something reckless and irrevocable. Like using the liquid courage that hadn’t even hit her bloodstream yet as an excuse for a kiss. A real one. With tongue and hands and moaning. Instead, she threw a bucket of ice water over them both. “Do you think, if I would have come back earlier, he’d have become my mentor? Do you think he ever would have accepted me as his apprentice?”
Christopher frowned. “Are you sure you want to go down this path?”
“No. But I am.” She smiled, leaning her head back against the smooth leather chair. A surge of self-annihilation pumped through her. She’d nearly died at the hands of a neighbor. Truth was all she’d accept. He’d answer her and then she could circle back to the other sore subject.
“I don’t know,” he murmured.
Christopher’s softly uttered uncertainty shook her to her bones. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked if she wasn’t prepared for honesty. She had no choice. She needed answers. Continuing in ignorance wouldn’t help her in whatever future she approached.
“He missed you,” Christopher said with the surety she expected. “I won’t pretend he asked about you. I knew pretty quickly not to mention your name. But I’d catch him lingering near your pictures, at the cottage, in the attics, along the shore near the bridge. Any spot that reminded him of you drew him like a magnet.”
She scrunched her ticklish nose. She’d missed Dad too. The problem with being an almost exact clone of one’s parent was in the shared stubborn willfulness. Neither of them would ever yield an inch. If either of them had weakened, the other would have raked them over the coals mercilessly until the end of time. She accepted her blame in the estrangement. Learning to saysorryorI was wrongwould have been invaluable.
