McCarthys of Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-3 (37 page)

He suppressed a groan. The last thing Janey would want was Linda McCarthy all over her about what had happened during her eventful trip to the mainland. “Do me a favor,” Joe said. “Don’t let your mom swoop down on her tonight. Janey is kinda fragile right now.”

“I’ll do what I can, but you know how my mother can be.”

“Which is exactly why she’s the last thing Janey needs tonight.”

“I hear ya. I’ll talk to her.”

“Are you meeting the boat?”

“Yep.”

“Mac. . .”

“Yeah?”

Joe cleared the huge lump of emotion that lodged in his throat. “Take good care of her, will you?”

“You know I will.”
 

“Thanks.” He hated the idea of turning her over to anyone else, even her doting older brother.

“Everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine,” Joe said with forced cheer. As much as he’d love to unload on his best friend, he couldn’t. Not about this. Not if he wanted to live through the night. Mac would assume Joe had taken advantage of his sister at her lowest moment, and Joe couldn’t deny that if the roles had been reversed, he’d probably see it the same way. He and Janey knew how it had happened, which was all that mattered.

“We’ll see you at the party?” Mac asked.

Joe’s heart did a small happy dance at the reminder that he’d see Janey later in the week at the Fourth of July cookout Mac and Maddie were hosting at their new house. “I’ll be there.”

“Thanks for everything,” Mac said.

“It was my pleasure.” Surely that had to be the understatement of the century, Joe thought as he ended the call and took the metal stairs to the lower deck. Approaching Janey, he noticed tears on her cheeks that could probably be blamed only in part on the brisk sea breeze. It pained him to think that her time with him might’ve added to her torment.
 

“Hey.” He squeezed her shoulder and ran a hand down her back, aware of the watchful eyes of his employees. The second to last thing she needed was to be the brunt of the island’s vicious gossip machine.

“Hi.” Her wan smile said it all.
 

They stood together at the rail, watching the bluffs on the island’s northern coast emerge from the fog.

Joe took a deep breath and told her about Mac’s call.
 

Janey winced. “I can’t believe David called my mother. That’s
just
what I need.”

“I guess he was worried when he couldn’t reach you.”

Her snort was loaded with sarcasm. “Should I feel honored he cares enough to worry?”

“You’ll have to talk to him at some point.”

“Not until I’m good and ready.”

“I’m sure your mother told him you’d gone to surprise him. He may have figured out why you disappeared.”

“Good. Let him wonder.”

At some point in the last few days, her disappointment had turned to anger. Joe supposed that was healthy, but he wouldn’t be satisfied until she’d officially ended it with David. He didn’t expect her longtime fiancé to go without a fight and couldn’t bear the idea of him causing her any more pain than he already had.

As the ferry steamed toward South Harbor, Joe wanted to stop time, to go back to this morning when he’d held her naked in his arms, to when they’d had a whole day to spend in bed together. A tremendous sense of foreboding came over him as they got closer to the island. He wanted to howl and rage and grab hold of her and never let her go.
 

“Janey.”

She looked up at him with those bottomless blue eyes, and he lost the words he’d been prepared to say. All he could do was stare at her and drink her in.
 

Mindless of the prying eyes that surrounded them, she dropped her head to his chest and rested her hands on his hips. “I never would’ve survived this without you.”

Joe ached. How could he tell her he’d never survive the rest of his life without
her
? He couldn’t. It would be so unfair to add to her burden.

He drew her into his embrace. “You know where I am. You know how I feel. You know what I want.”

He felt her nod.

“No time limit, no statute of limitations, no pressure.”

She looked up at him again, slaying him with the array of emotions that danced across her expressive face. “Thank you.”

Gratitude was the least of what he wanted from her, but being the needy fool he was, he took what he could get. He kissed her forehead, and even though it cost him more than he could bear, he let her go.

Chapter 6

With Joe’s steady presence giving her courage, Janey stepped off the ferry onto Gansett Island. She immediately noticed her brother pacing back and forth, filled with restless energy.
 

He looked up, saw them coming and rushed over, stopping short in front of them, his hands opening and closing into fists.
 

Janey smiled at his restraint and uncertainty. No doubt he wanted to toss her over his shoulder, carry her off and hide her away until he’d disposed of David’s dead body. She put him out of his misery by reaching for him.

Mac put his arms around her and lifted her right off her feet. “Hey, brat.”

“Don’t call me that,” she said as she always did.

He set her back down and took a good long look at her face. “What can I do? Tell me what you need.”

Joe placed her bag at her feet and took a step back.

Mac finally seemed to register that his friend was there, too. He reached out to shake Joe’s hand. “Thanks, man.”

Joe shook Mac’s hand. “Sure.”

Janey turned to Mac. “Will you give us a minute? Please?”

Mac’s sharp eyes shifted from Janey to Joe and then back to his sister. “Okay. I’ll wait for you in the truck.” With one more wary glance at Joe, Mac picked up her bag and took it with him.

“You’ll make him suspicious,” Joe said when they were alone.

“Because I want to say a proper thank you to my good friend?”

“He knows, Janey. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t forget anything. That’s all I wanted to say.”

His eyes went soft. “Neither will I. Take care of yourself, you hear me? It’s all about you and whatever you want and need. That’s the only thing that matters.”

Overcome by his softly spoken words and the emotion behind them, Janey nodded and hugged him one last time.
 

“I’ll send your car over as soon as it’s ready.”

“Thanks. Would it be okay if I called you?”

“Yes, Janey,” he said with a laugh, “it would be okay if you called me.”

“Well,” she said, taking a deep breath, “here goes nothing.”

“You’ll get through this. You can do anything you put your mind to.”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

Joe gave her a little nudge. “Go. Before I kidnap you and take you back home with me.”

She gave him a last reassuring smile. “See ya around, sailor.”

He returned her smile, but she noticed it was tinged with sadness and didn’t engage his eyes. “See ya.”
 

Janey slid into Mac’s black SUV, preparing to answer a million questions. However, her brother surprised her with his silence.

“Where’re we going?” she asked as he drove them out of town.

“My place. I figured you might not be ready to be alone just yet.”

Janey appreciated his thoughtfulness. Her house was full of pictures of her with David that someone would have to get rid of before she could return there. “Thanks.”

“So what was all that just now with Joe?”

Her stomach rippled with nerves. She should’ve known he’d tune right into any secret she tried to keep from him. He always had. Except for times like this when he stepped back into the role of overbearing big brother, the seven years between them had disappeared once she reached adulthood. “He was really great. I just wanted to thank him.”

“And that’s all?”

“What else would it be?”

Mac studied her for a long moment before accelerating through an intersection. “David called Mom again.”

Janey was glad her brother had moved on from interrogating her about Joe. “What did he want?”

“Since he still can’t reach you, he said he’s coming over tomorrow.”

“Fabulous.” She’d hoped to have some more time to prepare for that confrontation, but at least this way she could get it over with sooner rather than later. “I have to work tomorrow.”

“I saw Doc Potter at the liquor store earlier,” he said, referring to the island’s veterinarian. “I told him you were dealing with a situation, and he said to take the rest of the week off. It’s slow because of the Fourth anyway.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“I hope you don’t mind that I talked to him.”

“It’s fine.” His interference, which would’ve irritated her under normal circumstances, was the least of her concerns at the moment. “What’d you do about Mom?”

“I told her you’d call when you’re ready to talk about it.”

Janey glanced over at her handsome brother. He was tanned from long hours at the marina, his dark hair was damp from an earlier shower and stubble sprinkled his jaw. Being in love clearly agreed with him. He’d never looked better. “What makes you suddenly so good at Mom management?”

He grimaced at the backhanded compliment. “Fighting with her over Maddie.”

Their mother hadn’t approved of his relationship with one of the housekeepers who worked at the family’s hotel. Mac had knocked Maddie off her bike by accident and then insisted on caring for her and her infant son until she was recovered—including taking her shifts at the hotel until she could work again. Unlike their mother, who had since come around, Janey had been delighted to watch her stubbornly single brother fall flat on his face in love.

“How’s it going at the marina?”

“Surprisingly well.”

“I still can’t believe you’re really taking the place over and moving home to the island.”

“Some days I can’t believe it, either, but I seem to be exactly where I belong. Finally.”

“I’m happy for you, Mac. I really am.”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I know you are, brat. I’m sorry all this is happening to you, especially with our wedding just around the corner.”

“I certainly don’t want what’s happening to me to detract from your happiness. Please don’t give that a thought.”

“Are you still up for being Maddie’s maid of honor?”

“Absolutely! I’d be heartbroken if she asked someone else.”

“Good,” he said, sounding relieved. Clearly, they’d given that some thought since they heard about what had happened with David.
 

It occurred to her just then that Mac had asked Joe to be his best man, since he’d refused to choose one of their three brothers. Her stomach took a nervous dip at the thought of serving as maid of honor to his best man at the upcoming wedding. That ought to make for an interesting day. Fortunately, it was almost two weeks off, and a lot could happen in that amount of time.

Mac took the last turn onto Sweet Meadow Farm Road, to the house he and Maddie had only recently moved into.
 

“How’s the unpacking going?”

“We’re getting there. My stuff arrived from Miami the other day, so it’s a bit of a disaster area,” he said with a note of apology. “We’re praying for clear skies on the Fourth so we can have the party outside.”

“Even if it rains, everyone knows you just moved in.” Janey didn’t care if the place was a disaster area. Even chaos would be better than stewing alone in her house full of memories from her long relationship with David.
 

“Thomas is all about the bubble wrap,” Mac said, chuckling. The ten-month-old had captivated his new daddy from the instant they first met. “He goes crazy when it pops.”

Janey smiled at Mac, appreciating his efforts to take her mind off her troubles. “I’d like to see that.”

They pulled up to the house, and Mac killed the engine. “Hey.”

Janey looked over to find him gazing intently at her. “Whatever you need, anything at all, just ask me—or Maddie. We’ll do whatever we can to help you through this.”

She leaned into his one-armed hug. “Thanks. I’m glad you’re here. I couldn’t have dealt with Mom tonight.”

He planted a kiss on the top of her head. “That’s what big brothers are for.” Retrieving her bag from the back of the truck, he guided her to stairs that led to an expansive deck. “You’re sure I’m not allowed to kill him?”

“May I put that offer on hold until after I hear his lame excuses?”

“By all means.”

After Mac and Maddie had wined and dined her and allowed her the privilege of giving Thomas his bath and bottle, Maddie tucked Janey into the guest room. Her soon-to-be sister-in-law had fawned over her, surrounding her with love and friendship that touched Janey’s battered heart.
 

“I’m sorry it’s kind of blah in here,” Maddie said of the unadorned walls and windows.