Storm Shells (The Wishes Series #3) (25 page)

I knew exactly what she meant. She wasn’t the only one who’d had an escape plan after Parker-Gate exploded.

“I’m glad you’re happy, Kinsey.”

She touched my arm, batting her eyes at me. “What about you?” she asked.

“I’m great.”

I could tell she was desperate to broach the subject of Charli. Thankfully, she decided against it.

“You’re a lawyer now,” she announced, throwing her arms out wide.

“Nearly. I still have to sit the bar exam in July.”

“You’ll ace it,” she said.

After a few more minutes of banter, I told her to enjoy the party, excused myself and slipped into the crowd.

* * *

The night went on forever. My mother paraded me around the room a hundred times like some prize. I shook hands with guests of her choosing, smiling until my face ached.

Ryan and I had borne her wrath before the party even started. She’d turned up at our apartment at six o’clock, raided our wardrobes and laid out our clothes as if we were kids.

“For goodness sake, snap out of it,” she’d barked, noticing my lack of enthusiasm. “This is supposed to be a joyous occasion.”

“For you or me, Mom?” That comment resulted in her nearly strangling me with the tie she’d chosen.

Ryan wasn’t such a pushover. He chose his own tie and ordered her out. “We’re grown men, Mom,” he told her. “Go home.”

As it turned out, he wasn’t entirely grown. He ended up wearing the shirt she’d picked out for him.

* * *

I finally managed to escape the party by sneaking up to the empty mezzanine, but the peace was short-lived.

“Hiding out?”

Whitney stood at the top of the stairs. I hadn’t seen her coming. If I had, I might’ve hurled myself over the balustrade.

“Whitney Vaughn.” I dragged out her name.

“How are you, Adam?” she asked, sauntering toward me.

I shrugged but said nothing.

Whitney pulled out a chair and sat down. “Your mom is looking for you.”

“Is she?”

“She is. Your father was too, earlier. He was talking to Judge Lassiter. You start your clerkship with her soon, right?”

“Yup.”

“It was nice of her to come to your party.”

“It was,” I agreed.

I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that my father knew Judge Lassiter. I’d been deliberately secretive when applying for my clerkship. I wanted to do it off my own bat, without using his influence to gain any favours. Seeing him downstairs, chatting with her as if they were old friends, made me wonder if it had been such a coup after all. Chances were he’d pulled strings anyway.

“I thought you’d be more excited about it, Adam,” said Whitney. “This is everything you’ve ever wanted.”

“How do you know I haven’t changed my mind?”

“Have you?” she asked softly.

I stared down at the party below. “A career in law,” I announced resentfully. “That’s my calling, right? I’ve had my eye on the prize since I was ten. My whole life has led to this moment.”

She stared at me, chewing her bottom lip. “You’ve always been ambitious.”

She was right. I was hardly multi-faceted. I’d been focused on that one goal my whole life. Nothing had stood in my way – not even Charli. Now I’d achieved it, the cost of what I’d lost was finally starting to sink in, and I’d become a miserable human being because of it.

“I’m probably not good company right now, Whit,” I told her.

“I’ve dealt with worse.”

I had a long history with Whitney Vaughn. At one point I thought I loved her. Then I met Charli and realised I’d never even come close. Whitney didn’t challenge me. I’d lived my life and she’d lived hers. We’d met in the middle when it was convenient.

“Have you ever been in love, Whitney?” I asked curiously.

She shook her head. “No.”

At least the mediocrity had been mutual. For some reason, I smiled at her. “You should stop wasting time with assholes. Find someone who’s going to be good to you.”

“You weren’t always an ass, Adam. You have a good heart.” Whitney reached out and fussed with the corner of my collar. “We were good for each other once.”

I let out a slow groan of disapproval. “What are you doing, Whit?”

She smiled in reply, giving me her best flirty look. It had been a long time since I’d been on the receiving end of a Whitney charm offensive. It wasn’t awful. It was just pedestrian and did nothing for me, which made my next move absolutely unfathomable. It also obliterated my good-heart status.

“Do you want to get out of here?” I leaned in close and whispered the question, expecting to be struck down by lightning at any second.

With a tiny smile, she slowly nodded and the soulless deal was complete.

We left via the service stairs at the back, leaving any sense of decency and the last bit of my conscience behind.

* * *

I hailed a cab and took Whitney back to the apartment. I knew Ryan wouldn’t be home early. He was too much of a control freak to let my mother take his restaurant over, and would probably be the last to leave Nellie’s because of it.

“You’ve redecorated,” she noted, wandering around the living room.

“Ryan’s domain,” I replied, searching the fridge for a bottle of water. “I just sleep here.”

Whitney stopped pacing to study the Pipers Cove canvas on the wall.

“Is this one of Charli’s?”

I cringed at the mention of her name. The whole exercise of bringing Whitney home was a ploy to get my mind as far away from Charlotte as possible. “Yes,” I confirmed. “That picture was the very beginning.”

Whitney frowned, having no idea what I meant. I didn’t explain.

“Did she take a picture of the ending too?”

I wondered what it would look like if she had. I didn’t answer. I offered her a bottle of water instead.

Whitney walked around the counter at a ridiculously slow speed. I used the time to figure out what the hell I was doing. One-night stands had never been my forte. They just weren’t my thing. And yet here I was, on the very edge of a new all-time low.

Whitney set the bottle of water down, linked her arms around my neck and pressed herself against me.

I didn’t move.

Whitney was pretty – an elegant, well-put-together brunette with doe-eyes that were anything but. But it wasn’t enough for me. My mind was on a blonde whose beauty extended far beyond pouty looks and flirty innuendos. There weren’t words to describe how lovely Charli was. I’d never even tried. She was sunshine and warmth. She was my heart. And she was gone.

Coming to my senses happened quickly. I broke Whitney’s lock on my neck with both hands. “Whit, I shouldn’t have brought you here. You need to leave.” I felt appalled with myself and embarrassed for her. “I’m so sorry.”

She pulled in a breath and frowned. “Is it because of Parker?” she asked quietly. “That’s over now. It has been for a while.”

I shook my head, taking a step back. “No. It’s because of Charli. That will never be over, no matter much I want it to be.”

She stepped forward, and as she reached for me I grabbed her wrist to keep her at a distance.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything, Adam,” she said softly.

I released her and walked to the living room to get her out of my space. “That’s the whole point, Whit,” I said, turning back. “It wouldn’t mean a damn thing to me, which means I am really not what you need right now. I’ve done enough damage lately.”

I just wanted her gone. I did the kindest thing I could think of. I called a cab and got her out of my apartment.

Desperate to put an end to the day, I fell into bed as soon as she left. I couldn’t even be bothered turning the light off. I turned my head on the pillow, immediately noticing the photo on the nightstand. I stared at the Polaroid picture for a long time, studying the couple smiling back at me. It was the picture Charli had taken of us on New Year’s Eve – one of the last good nights we’d had before everything went to hell. Until then, I hadn’t realised how symbolic it was.

“She did photograph the ending,” I muttered aloud.

* * *

Ryan surfaced before me the next morning. He was sitting at the table poring over paperwork when I got to the kitchen.

“Hard night?”

“Nope. I came home early.”

He looked at me, smiling wryly. “With who?”

I poured myself a cup of coffee. “No one.”

“Liar.”

Ryan pointed to the couch. A blue shawl thing was draped over the back of it. I’d paid so little attention to Whitney that I wasn’t even sure it was hers.

I had no choice but to explain the sorry events of the night before, purely to stop Ryan jumping to conclusions. “I’m glad your brain kicked into gear,” he muttered. “The last thing you need is that level of guilt.”

He was right.

I pulled out a chair and joined him. “What are you doing?”

He shuffled papers. “Your errant little wife has left me with one hell of a mess,” he grumbled. “She hasn’t returned any mail in weeks. You should’ve done me a favour and retained Billet-doux in the divorce.”

“It wouldn’t have made any difference. She didn’t sign off on the divorce.”

“Really,” he drawled, sounding too interested. “Holding out for more glitter money?”

“No, she just didn’t want to sign.”

“So where does that leave you?”

I shrugged. “Married, I guess.”

He pulled a face. “You two are ridiculous, her especially.” Charli was turning into a giant pain in Ryan’s ass. Her lack of aptitude when it came to Billet-doux was letting the side down and he was close to breaking point. “I think it might be time that I paid her a little visit.” He sounded like an assassin gearing up for his next hit. He gathered his papers. “I haven’t had a vacation in a long time. I could visit Never Never Land, buy her out of my business and be back by the end of the week.”

He’d made it sound so simple. Life in Pipers Cove didn’t run that way, but I was prepared to let him find that out for himself, mainly because it would benefit me too. I wanted to know if Charli was okay, and wasn’t above sending a spy to find out.

The only plan more flawed than Ryan’s idea of a quick visit to Pipers Cove was the one he came up with of me overseeing his restaurants while he was out of town.

“No way,” I protested.

“It’s the only way it can work, Adam. It’s not like you have anything else going on at the moment.”

Sadly, he was right. I still had over a month to go before the start of my clerkship. I had no real excuse not to help out.

“Fine,” I relented, after just a few seconds. “I’ll do it.”

“Right.” He leaned back, resting his hands behind his head. “Well, it looks like I’m bound for Never Never Land. I should call the travel agent and book. What’s the quickest way? Through LA?”

Peter Pan
flooded my head. “Second star on the right, and straight on ’til morning.”

May 27

Charli

Just like my waistline, the secret of my pregnancy was well and truly busted. The news that Alex Blake’s wayward daughter had returned to the Cove pregnant and alone spread like wildfire. No one ever asked me about Adam, but I suspect his name was constantly being bounced around town. For the most part, I didn’t care what was said behind my back. People were respectful enough to be kind to my face.

Once the secret was out, my body responded accordingly. By the time I reached the thirty-one week mark, I looked like I’d swallowed a beach ball.

Floss Davis had become my one-woman fan club. Every week she presented me with a new gift. The latest was a pair of hand-knitted booties. She took great pleasure in informing me that they were made from organic wool. I tried hard not to appear confused. Wasn’t wool a natural fibre anyway?

Nicole’s mother, Carol, was also an unlikely supporter – sort of. “I’ll cut your hair short for you,” she offered. “Once the baby comes you won’t have time to shower, let alone wash and style your hair. You’ll be a mess.”

According to her, I was destined to become an exhausted, unkempt new mother. I was also set for a lifetime of stretch marks and very little sleep.

“Mum!” scolded Nicole, mortified. “Leave her alone. We came here for a pedicure, not a lecture.”

“I’m educating her, Nicole,” hissed Carol, dismissing her with a flick of her head. “Someone needs to offer Charli some guidance. God knows her father isn’t able to do it.”

Carol Lawson’s lack of tact wasn’t intentional. It was just her way. The cringeworthy
educational
chats she used to subject Nicole and me to when we were younger had scarred us for life. Until then I’d never heard anyone say the word
noo-noo
. Funnily enough, I’d never heard anyone other than Carol say it since.

Filling my days with shifts at the café, taking pictures or getting obligatory pedicures wasn’t exactly enthralling but it kept me out of the house – and away from my neighbour. In fairness, I hadn’t seen much of Flynn lately. Maybe my belly made the prospect of dating me unappealing. Whatever the reason, I was glad he was over me.

* * *

Some days I had no choice but to stay in – usually when I ran out of things to wear. I looked at the mountain of clothes on the laundry floor and groaned, resigned to the fact that I’d found my calling for the day.

I was bundling a load into the machine when someone started beating at my screen door. The urgent pounding frightened me half to death. Through the weave of the mesh screen I got a perfect view of my caller. And it was the last person I expected it to be.

“Open the door, Tinker Bell,” Ryan demanded, like the egotistical jerk he was.

The full gamut of emotions surged through me. I was excited to see him and yet I was fighting the urge to close the curtains and pretend I wasn’t home. I was feeling like a cornered felon. The minute Ryan Décarie laid eyes on me, my life on the lam would be over.

“Hurry up, Charli. I know you’re in there!” He pounded harder.

Abandoning my hiding spot in the laundry, I ambled to the door, but it did nothing to stop his impatient hammering. It occurred to me that he couldn’t see through the privacy mesh. It allowed me a few more minutes to keep my secret.

“I’m here.” He jumped at the sound of my voice. “Stop bashing my door.”

Ryan put his too-handsome face up to the mesh, trying to see inside. “Well, open it then,” he purred menacingly.

“Why are you here, Ryan?” I did my best to sound annoyed – or at the very least, inconvenienced.

He took a step back, arms outstretched.

“I’ve just spent twenty-something hours in the air and you’re seriously going to converse with me through a closed door?”

“Answer my question.”

Ryan groaned. “I’m sleep deprived and off my game. What was your question?”

“Why. Are. You. Here?”

“Charli, as much as it pains me, we are business partners,” he said. “It’s not working out is it?”

I agreed wholeheartedly, but my response didn’t suggest it. “I guess not.”

“All you had to do to keep things running smoothly was keep up with the paperwork. I keep sending it to you but get nothing back.”

I felt a little bad. After the phone call from Michael Fontaine, I’d stopped opening my mail. Poor Ryan was paying the price.

“So you came all this way to get me to sign some papers?”

“Yeah, because that’s entirely logical. I’ll just fly to the end of the earth once a month to make sure you’re doing your homework.”

I couldn’t blame him for the sarcasm. To Ryan, his businesses were everything. He’d travelled to the other side of the world because I’d dropped the ball. He had every right to be annoyed.

“I’ll sign whatever you want me to.”

“It’s gone beyond that, sweetheart,” he said in his usual patronising tone. “I’m here to make you an offer. I think it’s time we put this to bed and I just buy you out. Agreed?”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Agreed.”

I would have heard his sigh of relief from across town. “Brilliant. So are you going to let me in or would you like me to just write you a cheque and slip it under the door?”

“I’ll let you in.”

“Today?” he asked, rattling the door handle.

I’d reached the end of the line. Ryan was three seconds always from seeing my belly. I made one last-ditch effort to retain control. “You have to promise me something first.”

Perhaps thinking that negotiations might be ongoing for a while, he grabbed a deck chair and sat down. “Why are you such a damned child?”