Barefoot at Moonrise (Barefoot Bay Timeless Book 2) (21 page)

She nodded slowly, vaguely aware that she put her hand on her stomach, that place where their baby grew and formed an incredibly tenuous bond between them.

“I…I’m going to Sanibel today,” he said, all that lust channeling into frustration so palpable she could taste it. “I need some time and space. You know what that’s like, right?”

All too well. Except, right now, she didn’t want time or space without him in it.

But she didn’t argue as he walked out of the room and left her standing there, all alone with her doubts and fears and uncertainties. She’d fed off his optimism, drank in his hope, and when it was gone, she felt so empty inside.

Chapter Sixteen

Beth was still trying to make sense of the roller coaster that was her morning while she drove to meet the water damage team at her house. When her cell phone rang, she felt her heart rate kick up with hope, like a car chugging to the top of the track before the next big drop. When she saw RJ’s name on the caller ID, she thudded back down again.

On a sigh, she tapped the speaker and opened her mouth to answer, but RJ’s voice cut off her greeting.

“Listen, Beth! Listen to this!”

She cocked her head toward the phone, listening to nothing. Well, a faint…swoosh.

And back she went for the next stomach-flipping loop on the roller-coaster ride.

“Did you hear it, Aunt Beth?”

Yeah, she did. She heard pure joy in the voice of a man who hadn’t experienced a lot of it in his life. She simply couldn’t deny him a second of it no matter how she felt about her current situation. “You have a heartbeat.”

“And a gender.” His voice cracked a little.

She beamed. “Are you sharing?”

“It’s a girl.”

“Oh, RJ.” Her throat swelled with emotion. “I’m really happy for you. And I assume I get to meet Selina now that I’ve been called from the doctor’s office.”

“Yeah, we’re going to work something out,” he said, clearly distracted. “Give me a few days and we’ll get together.”

“Sounds good.” She wondered if he’d heard anything from Dad or even Landon—though that was unlikely—about the company “split.”

“Beth, can you believe it?” he exclaimed. “I’m going to be a father. It’s the most amazing thing in the world.”

“I know,” she said, her own eyes filling at his unbridled joy. “I’m thrilled for you both. Have you told Dad yet?”

“I called the office, but Jennifer said he took a sick day.”

“Really?” She thought about Josie’s insistence that they call 911 yesterday, which, at the time, seemed a tad overdramatic. But could something be wrong?

“Yeah, he’s probably home practicing his putting,” RJ said. “I’d bet anything on it. Anyway, I don’t have time now. We’ll get around to telling him soon enough.”

She couldn’t blame him for the lack of enthusiasm. Who knew how Dad would react to the news? He’d always been so tough on RJ, so disappointed in him.

“Gotta go,” her brother said.

He said good-bye just as Beth crossed the causeway and drove onto Mimosa Key, stopping at the four-way intersection. Impulsively, she swung left and headed toward Pleasure Pointe. It didn’t take long to drive to the waterfront home Dad and Josie had built a few years ago. She pulled into the circular drive and immediately spotted Landon’s Infiniti SUV parked there as well. Rebecca drove that car, and it came stocked with four kids, which meant Dad couldn’t be too sick.

Josie opened the front door and greeted Beth with a tight smile. “Hello, Beth,” she said, standing right in the middle of the doorway, not inviting her in.

“I came to see Dad.”

“Maybe another time. He’s resting comfortably.”

Just then, one of the boys went zooming by, screeching at a high pitch, followed by one of the twins, who screamed, “You’re it, Cooper! You’re it
now
!”

Beth gave Josie a look. “Not that comfortably.”

Josie turned and let out a sigh, then stepped back. “Rebecca and I are up to our eyeballs planning the twins’ birthday party here tomorrow.”

Beth hadn’t been invited. She didn’t even know it was Capri and Catalina’s birthday. “Oh, well, I want to say hey to Dad. I won’t stay long,” Beth said, following her stepmother over the creamy marble, past the elegant tufted furniture of the living room to the back of the house where Rebecca sat at an expansive coffee table covered with arts, crafts, and party favors.

“Oh, Beth, hi.” She pushed up immediately, coming around the table. “Didn’t expect to see you here today.” Rebecca was, as always, dressed in country club chic, flawless makeup, shampoo-commercial black hair, and a flash of diamonds that let anyone who saw her know her economic status was in the top one percent.

“I just dropped in to see my dad for a second.”

“Yes, but…” Rebecca grasped Beth’s arm, eyes wide. “How are you?” There was always a tinge of sympathy in her tone when Rebecca talked to her, as though Beth couldn’t actually be happy or fulfilled, not like Rebecca, happily married mother of four, was.

“I’m fine.”

“I heard about the flood and the delay in that house you’re working on.”

“Good news travels fast,” she said.

“Was it awful?” she asked, concerned.

“No, it could’ve been much worse. We’ll be back on schedule soon. I heard you’re—”

“Look, Mommy! Look!” One of the twins came tottering in on high heels, wearing a heavily bedazzled crown. “I’m the princess!”

“I am Princess Capri!” The other one, a mirror image, barreled in and tried to snag the crown. “Catalina! Stop!” Capri wailed.

The situation went south in seconds.

“I want that crown, Mommy!” Catalina screamed at deafening decibels.

Josie took Beth’s hand and pulled her back. “Your father’s outside.”

“I’m right here!” Dad’s voice boomed over the noise from the open French doors, and Beth turned to find him holding a putter, looking one hundred percent healthy. RJ had been dead-on about the putting practice, she mused.

“Dad. I heard you called in sick.”

He shot a look over her shoulder at Josie. “My wife
thought
I wasn’t feeling well, but as you can see, I’m great.” He put a hand on her shoulder and led her out through the pool patio, taking her off to the side of the yard where he’d created a beautifully manicured putting green. “Let’s get away from the mayhem.”

“Party here tomorrow, I understand.”

He blew out a sigh. “They’re bringing in some kind of giant bouncy thing and at least twenty-five six-year-olds.”

For a moment, she closed her eyes, trying to picture twenty-five six-year-olds in her yard…except she didn’t even know where she’d be living when this child had a bouncy-house birthday party.

Yeah. She did need some security. But not on Dad’s terms.

“That can’t be good for anyone’s health,” she joked.

He laughed. “Thankfully, I just have to show up and pay the bill. I hope you’re here with good news for me.”

Maybe. Maybe not. “I really did stop by to make sure you’re okay.” She followed him to the putting green, inhaling the smell of fresh-cut grass as they walked.

“
Are
you okay?” she asked.

“Oh, I had a little, you know…incident.”

She stopped short on the well-trimmed lawn. “What kind of incident?”

“Little dizzy spell, is all.”

“Did you talk to the doctor?”

“I told you I’m seeing him soon.” He got in front of a ball, lining up a shot. “So have you decided to agree to my plan?”

She crossed her arms and squinted into the afternoon sun. “I have a different plan.”

He tapped the ball much too hard, puffing with disgust when it passed the hole. “I like my plan.”

“Well, I like mine, and if you don’t, my answer to yours is no.” She shocked herself a little by the pronouncement, not having even fully articulated it to herself yet. But with the sound of her brother’s exuberance still ringing in her ears, she knew what she had to do.

He looked up from his shot, waiting.

“Split the company three ways if you like, but give the commercial development to RJ.”

He stared at her.

“He’ll work hard, Dad.”

He took the next putt then lifted his head and scowled at her. “Are we talking about the same RJ?”

“He wants to be given a chance. Landon is an investment pro. I love residential work, and it feels like something I could handle with a…” She stopped short of the word
baby
spilling out. “With no trouble,” she finished. “But I think it’s only fair that RJ get a piece of the business, too.”

“No.”

“Why not?” she demanded.

“Because he’s not responsible enough for it,” he said. “Because he’ll run it into the ground. Because he’s thirty-six going on seventeen. And there was the little part about me wanting to stay involved in the company.”

Which was exactly what she didn’t want. “You’re wrong about RJ. I believe in him, Dad. He deserves a shot. He’s your son, too.”

He shook his head.

“He’s not?” she asked with a choke.

“Of course he’s my son.” He leaned closer to her, glancing toward the house. “But it will put Josie over the edge, honey, to give a third to RJ.”

What difference did it make to Josie? “It doesn’t matter. He has a right to a piece of the company as much as I do. Or Landon.” More, since RJ was blood, but she wouldn’t go that route.

“I don’t disagree completely,” he admitted. “But Jo wants Landon to have it all. This would be a huge compromise. If I bring RJ in, a move I’m not fully certain is a good one, she’ll go crazy. What should I do?”

She let out a soft laugh.

“What’s funny?” he asked.

“Nothing, and everything. Honestly, I don’t think in my entire life I recall you asking me for advice. You like to give advice, not take it.”

He managed a smile. “Maybe I
am
sick.”

“Nor do I ever recall you letting someone else call the shots, especially with regard to EDC. It’s like Josie has some strange power over you.”

He shrugged. “I love her,” he said simply.

“Love usually makes you tell people what to do, not listen to them.”

He sighed, nodding. “Then you’ll understand why I say what I’m about to say even if you don’t like it.”

She stiffened. “Can’t wait.”

He switched the club to his other hand to lean on it and get a little closer to her. “You’re still seeing Ken Cavanaugh, aren’t you?”

Seeing? She managed not to snort or touch her stomach in a dead giveaway. “He’s helping me with the flip.”

Dad sighed. “Have you read those papers I left with you? About the Cavanaugh case?”

“Actually, no. I have no interest in them.”

“Grandpa!” The two matching girls came running out, each wearing a glitter crown on platinum tresses. “We’re both princesses!”

He dropped the putter and spread his arms to capture both of them. “So you are, and I’m your royal servant.”

Suddenly, she wondered…would he love her daughter—or son—like that? Or would he look at her and always be reminded of a mistake he’d made and covered up years ago?

“Dad, listen, I need to—”

“Girls! Girls!” Rebecca marched outside, clapping like a preschool teacher with a rowdy class. “Grandma JoJo has cookies, and you have to leave Grandpa alone. He’s not feeling well.”

He shot her a harsh look. “I’m fine, Rebecca.”

She shook her head. “Josie needs you inside, stat. Time for your meds, Grandpa.” She managed to get the putter out of his hand and put it down as she walked back inside, leaving them.

Dad sighed and threw a wry smile to Beth. “See?” he said. “This is the life of an invalid.”

“They love you, and you’re not an invalid.”

He harrumphed. “Feel like an invalid. Now, about those papers I gave you—”

“Wait, Dad. I have to ask you a question about them. Did you tape that envelope closed or was it sealed when you gave it to me?”

He frowned for a second, long enough for Beth’s fists to tighten into balls. “So you
did
look at them?”

“Taped or sealed?” she asked.

“I taped it. I never lick envelopes.”

She actually exhaled in relief. She had been imagining things.

“Beth, when you read them…” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t judge too harshly.”

Oh God.
Was
he responsible for John Cavanaugh’s death? She inched away from his touch, hating the thought.

“Raymond Endicott!” Josie’s voice cut off the discussion, and Beth couldn’t have been more grateful.

Chapter Seventeen

Ken powered his little Boston Whaler over crystal blue water to Sanibel, a barrier island not much different from Mimosa Key in size and scope, wishing like hell that Beth was with him instead of Sally. Well, in addition to Sally.

He docked in the public marina and leashed up Sally to come along on the errand, spying Law sitting on a bench near the wharf, barefoot, hat over his eyes, looking sound asleep.