Caught in the Current (Pacific Shores Book 2) (18 page)

Even though the words were directed at her daughter, the quick dart of a glance he gave Marie as he returned to his feet let her know the words had mostly been directed her way.

Chapter 14

Tuesday afternoon Marie glanced at the clock as weariness settled over her. Three in the afternoon. She had an hour break before their series of evening classes started. But the bathroom in the locker room needed cleaning, and the garbages needed to be taken out, and since Taysia had a meeting with the accountant right now, it was up to her to get those done.

She pulled open the cleaning closet that stood right behind her desk and dragged the cleaning cart toward herself.

“Can I get that for you?”

She spun around at the sound of Reece’s voice, her heart hammering in her throat. “What are you doing here?”

He held Alyssa by one hand and an iced coffee from Sherri’s Java in the other.

He held the drink out to her. “Alyssa said you liked these.”

Liked them. She could practically live on those things. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation. She hadn’t had one in so long she really was surprised Alyssa even remembered she liked them. They didn’t fit into her budget.

“Thank you.” She took her first long sip and then closed her eyes, sighing in satisfaction. “Oh man. That is good.”

A satisfied gleam lit his green gaze, and he dropped one lid in a quick wink. “And one more thing.” He lowered his attention to her daughter, who still clung to his hand, her little arm disappearing nearly to her elbow behind his big palm. Marie realized for the first time that Alyssa had been strangely silent where usually she would have burst right in and wrapped Marie in a loving hug. Now she noticed that one of Alyssa’s arms remained firmly behind her back, and there was a hint of mischief about her features.

She tilted her daughter a glance. “One more thing, huh?”

Alyssa gave a definitive nod. “Yep.”

“Well…” She searched Reece’s face. What was he up to? “Let’s have it.” Marie had to admit that her curiosity was getting the best of her.

“Close your eyes,” Alyssa instructed.

Marie narrowed Reece another look.

He gave her a reassuring bob of his head.

“Alright.” Marie closed her eyes and held out one hand, expecting something to be deposited there, but instead she heard some scuffling feet, felt a brush of air, and then heard a few scrapes near her desk. Alyssa giggled. Reece shushed her dramatically. Marie chuckled and sipped her delicious drink. She probably shouldn’t be allowing him this moment. It was only going to soften her to him. And she must resist that.

“Okay! Open!” Alyssa proclaimed.

Marie did, and her eyes just kept on widening. A huge bouquet sat on the corner of the gym counter just above her desk. All of it wildflowers.

“You didn’t have those flowers behind your back, missy!” Marie bent down to poke her conspirator daughter in her tummy.

Alyssa guffawed and wiggled away from her fingers. “We trickded you!”

“Yes, you did.” Marie quirked a you-shouldn’t-have brow at the handsome man standing before her.

He only folded his arms and leaned into his heels, pleasure and promise tugging up the corners of his lips.

Marie forced her attention back to the bouquet.

Hot pink wild peas. Dainty white daisies combined with a few yellow ones. Three large sunflowers. Several sprays of deep pink wild roses. And ferns—both maidenhair and sword fern varieties. The huge pink bow tied around the vase was covered with silver hearts.

Marie felt the heat that touched her cheeks.

Alyssa jumped up and down, clapping her hands. “She likes it! She likes it!”

She did like it. Way too much. “Reece—”

“Come on, Superwoman. Time to fly and let your mom get back to work.” He snapped his fingers at Alyssa, and when she ran over to his side, he wrapped his hands around her little ribs and literally flew her to the door like a mini superhero, complete with sounds.

“Bye, Mommy!” Alyssa called, arms stretched wide like wings.

“Bye, baby,” Marie called after them.

Reece didn’t leave her with any parting word, but Marie still faced her tasks with renewed energy, much to her chagrin. How was she supposed to keep a man who did things like that at arm’s length?

It wasn’t until she arrived back at her desk to find Taysia standing next to the bouquet that she even noticed the card.

Taysia held it out with a bit of a guilty look. “Sorry, there was no name on the envelope, so I thought they were from Ky and read the card.” Her brows shot up. “Oh la la, girl. Do not let this man get away.”

Marie’s face heated, and she snatched the card from Taysia’s fingers, now worried what Reece might have said. But she offered Taysia a grin. “Guess this is payback for the times I used to read the cards on the ones Kylen sent you, huh?”

Taysia laughed and headed for her classroom. “Yeah, let’s call it that.” She tossed a wink over her shoulder.

Marie gasped. “You knew!”

Taysia’s cheeks pinked. “Well, I was honest that there was no name on the envelope, but the minute I saw your name at the top of the inside, I could have quit reading.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, look at the time! Better get my room set up.”

Marie chuckled, knowing full well Taysia always set up her room for her next class at the end of her previous one. “Uh-huh. You just run like the chicken you are.”

Taysia made some clucking noises as she disappeared behind the door to her classroom.

Marie turned her focus to the contents of the card, her heart starting to beat as if she’d just finished teaching a class instead of being about to start.

“Marie, I’m always short on words when it comes to describing my feelings for you. But allow me to say this bouquet reminded me of you. Wildflowers can grow in the most uncanny of places. (Saw some wild peas growing right in the middle of a rock cliff the other day.) I know you didn’t have an easy childhood. And you let that push you into some mistakes. But we are in the now. You’re raising a wonderful daughter in circumstances that can’t be easy. And you are doing it with God’s help. I’m blessed to know you. You’re blooming from rock. Always, Reece.”

Marie’s legs collapsed out from under her, and it was a good thing her chair happened to be right behind her, or she would have ended up in a heap on the floor. “This is so unfair, Reece Cahill,” she murmured.

The outer doors of the gym burst open, and a gaggle of women bustled in, all chatting and joking with one another.

“Oh, flowers,” one of them catcalled.

“Who are those from?”

“Probably from Kylen for Taysia,” another piped up.

“Actually…” Taysia sauntered their way and either ignored the fact that Marie was shaking her head, or didn’t see it. “Those are from Reece Cahill to Marie. Aren’t they beautiful?”

“Oh, honey”—one of the older mothers in the group flapped a hand at Marie—“we’re so thrilled for you! Come here, doll!” The woman hustled around the desk and pulled Marie into her plump embrace, then pushed her into the crowd of women all waiting to hug and congratulate her.

No matter that Marie sputtered numerous protests that she and Reece weren’t really together; the women all ignored her. Finally she gave up in exasperation and hollered it was time for classes and everyone better go to Taysia’s today because she was going to make their muscles burn so bad they’d all be feeling it for weeks.

“Sure,” one of the women in First Trimester Fitness, the class Marie was slated to teach next, complained to the rest, “make those of us in her class pay! Everyone leave her alone!”

The gaggle of women only chuckled and dispersed to their respective rooms still clucking like geese pecking at juicy morsels of corn.

Marie was thankful to see Riley Ross heading for her classroom. She’d been trying to talk the woman into leaving her abusive boyfriend and getting the help she needed. Had been inviting her to church for weeks. Maybe tonight would be the night she accepted the invitation. Please, Lord, help me to reach her. Marie sighed and headed for her classroom.

Every class for the rest of the evening followed the same pattern, and by the time the night came to an end, Marie was ready to strangle Taysia for her part each time in informing the women that Reece had sent her the flowers. But it wasn’t until they were locking up the door and heading for their cars that it hit her. She froze in her tracks, turned on Taysia, and plunked her hands on her hips. “He enrolled you in his scheme, didn’t he?” Her eyes widened. “And if he did, then you knew and didn’t need to read the card at all!”

“No. No. No!” Taysia laughed. “There, I really am guiltless. But I did get this text from him right after I left so you could read that yummy card.” She fished out her phone and opened a text, holding it out for Marie to read.

All the message said was “Tell everyone” with a wink after it.

Taysia tucked her phone away and gave an innocent shrug. “I’m always very obedient when I’m told to do something.”

Marie growled her disgust. “Just see if I show up for work tomorrow, Mrs. Sumner.”

Taysia only laughed and waggled her fingers. “Better go pick up your daughter from her very handsome babysitter. Don’t be tempted to linger long, or anything. You have to be at work bright and early tomorrow.”

Marie was still chuckling when she sank into the seat of her car and still in high spirits when she pulled in at Serenity Shores. She tipped her head against the headrest and wondered what the sense in fighting for the reputation of a man who didn’t seem to care what others thought of him might be. She dredged up the conversation between the twins from the night before, reliving all the pain of it. The way it had made her feel to know they were saying all of that about him because of her. But then she reminded herself not one of the women from the gym today had been anything but super pleased about the fact that she and Reece might be together. She sighed. “Yeah, but those are my girls.”

She propelled herself from the vehicle. She wasn’t going to solve this dilemma after a twelve-hour workday.

Reece met her at the door with a steaming cup of tea that he held out to her.

For one tiny moment she wondered what it might be like for them if she just gave in. Would it lead to her coming home from work every night to that five o’clock shadow below green eyes that held the power to take out her knees? Or would he soon tire of her and realize his mistake?

She gave herself a little shake and inhaled the tangy steam. “Thank you. It smells wonderful.”

“It’s herbal. I wasn’t sure if caffeine would keep you awake?”

She chuckled. “Most days I’m drinking caffeine right up till I brush my teeth and fall into bed, but this is lovely. Tastes great.”

He nodded in the direction of the living room. “Alyssa insisted on sleeping on the couch in near Dad.”

Marie moved past him, still cradling the warmth of the cup in her palms. If there was one thing she never tired of, it was watching her daughter sleep.

In the center of the room, in the hospital bed, the soft rattle of Mr. Cahill’s breathing grated through the silence.

The couch where Alyssa slept lay beyond him, on the other side of the room. The floor-to-ceiling windows on the ocean side of the living room let in moonlight that spilled a blue glow over her daughter’s slack features. Her bunny was hugged close with one arm, her tiny rosy mouth full and pouty, and her curls splayed in disarray around her head.

She felt Reece standing in the doorway, but stepped over to look out the windows instead. A full moon cast a swath of gossamer light over the flat gloss of the Pacific and etched the evergreen trees to the right of the yard a stark black against the deep blue of the sky. Far out on the water, a ship’s lights cast golden reflections off the surface. Somewhere an owl hooted.

And behind her two beings breathed. One, a death rattle. The other, soft sibilances of new life.

Had Mr. Cahill’s mother once stood over him and loved the sound of his soft breathing? Had she brushed back locks of his hair and dropped kisses on his forehead? And how long ago would that have been?

She turned to look at her daughter once more. Life was so short. What did the future hold for her? Marie felt nothing but gratitude that God had opened her eyes to the Truth. What would life have been like for her daughter if she had continued to reject God?

Her thoughts turned to Riley Ross. The woman had once again arrived for class with a large bruise on her shoulder. And she’d once again ignored Marie’s gentle urgings to get herself out of her situation for the sake of her child, while she still could. What would life be like for that baby, if she could never reach that woman? She sighed.

Suddenly she realized Reece was by her side. He stood, hands clasped behind himself, watching her. “Everything alright?” he whispered.

She nodded. “Long day at work. A woman I’m trying to help…” She waved the explanation away. “She needs to leave a guy she’s with, but she won’t listen to me. I worry about her.” She gestured from Alyssa to his dad and back. “Life’s short. And I just…” She sighed. “I don’t know. It’s been a long day and I’m just tired.”

Reece moved to stand behind her and set to gently massaging her shoulders.

“Mmmm…” She closed her eyes and huddled over the warmth of the steam still rising from her cup.

He bent forward, and she felt the brush of his lips against her head. “You are a wonderful, caring woman with lots of pearls in your life.”

“Pearls?”

“I heard a man describe life that way. Each mistake we make is like a grain of sand that enters our life, but God can take each trouble and make a pearl out of it. We can later take the wisdom we learned while pearls were being made in our own lives and use them to help others.”

“I like that,” she mused. “I do have a lot of pearls.”

He gently turned her toward him and pulled her close. “Yes, you do. And sometimes when others look at our pearls, all they can see is the sand that put them there.”

Tears blurred her vision. How true that was. “I should get going. We’ll have to be here again bright and early in the morning.”