With This Kiss (17 page)

And the way things were going with her foolish heart, odds were his mother’s heart wasn’t the only one that would be broken when he left.

Bill cleared his throat, looking a little nervous. “Actually, Sean, if you’ve got any free time, now that we’ve had what looks to be our last snowstorm of the year and the ice is melting fast, I was thinking about climbing the high peak in a few days.”

Rebecca didn’t see how it was possible for Sean to have anything against his father. Bill was a very, very sweet man. And yet Sean didn’t exactly jump at the clear offer to spend time together.

“I’ll have to see how my schedule looks.”

Oh, the disappointment on his father’s face was hard to witness.

Reluctantly giving up on his reticent son, Bill said, “How’s the festival coming along, Rebecca?”

Rebecca should have known the question was coming.
After all, she’d been talking incessantly about her Tapping of the Maples Festival to anyone who would listen for a while.

“It was coming along fine, but—”

She wasn’t at all sure how she should put things. Even though Mr. Radin had totally overstepped his boundaries, even though she thought he was a big fat jerk, she would never say anything nasty about him.

In lieu of pointing fingers, she opened her mouth to say something about park regulations cropping up, when Sean smoothly said, “We’re currently dealing with some Adirondack Park regulations.”

Rebecca lost sight of everything but the
we
at the beginning of the sentence. How many times had Sean told her to drop the festival altogether? She knew he wasn’t happy about what Mr. Radin had done, but she thought he’d be happy with the result. No festival. No pull on her time and focus.

But Sean had just said
we.
As if they were a team.

“Is there some sort of problem?” Bill sounded concerned.

“Stu said everything was going well,” Elizabeth added. “Before he left, in any case.”

Ah, there was so much to Elizabeth’s statements. First, that she’d never actually directly asked Rebecca any questions about the festival, had always gone through Stu. And, of course, there was a world of blame in those three words—
before he left
. Clearly the implication was that Rebecca not only was a master at driving away Elizabeth’s sons, but she couldn’t manage to keep her festival on track without Stu to guide her.

Rebecca’s stomach cramped around the few bites of the delicious pork loin she’d eaten.

Yet again, it would have really come in handy to know how to lie, or to brush things under the rug. But she didn’t have the first clue about how to do either of those things.

“I have to cancel the festival.”

“Why?”

“It’s a bit complicated.” Sean’s eyes were on her, dark and clearly concerned as she said, “It looks like there might be some problems with Adirondack Park rules and the preservation council.”

“But you’ve worked so hard on it.” Bill shook his head. “Is it anything I can help you with?”

“Can I get back to you on that?”

“Of course, Rebecca.”

She thought some sort of silent message passed between father and son, then, but she was too mortified by having to admit her own failure with the festival to do much more than stare pointedly at her plate.

She was just about to ask if she could help clear the dishes when Elizabeth suddenly said, “I still don’t understand what happened with Stu.”

Everyone at the table went perfectly still. Rebecca wasn’t actually sure any of them were breathing anymore. Especially her.

Funny how she kept thinking things were as bad as they were going to get.

And then they got worse.

“Someone doesn’t just pack up and leave like that. Was there a fight? Did something happen that you haven’t told any of us?”

With each word out of Elizabeth’s mouth, Rebecca’s face grew hotter and hotter. How could she possibly continue keeping Stu’s secret under direct scrutiny?

God, she hated keeping something so important from his family. From his own mother. Especially when she knew how worried her mother would be if she disappeared one day, leaving nothing behind but a note.

“What happened between them is between them,” Sean told his mother. “It’s none of our business.”

Rebecca didn’t even come close to masking her surprise. Not only had Sean stood up for her, but he’d said more in that one sentence than he had to his parents all night long up to that point.

“He’s my son,” Elizabeth protested. “He’s your brother. Don’t you even care what’s happening to him?”

Sean pushed his chair back. “I didn’t ask Rebecca to join us for dinner tonight so that you could harass her and make veiled accusations. My mistake.”

Rebecca was caught between Sean and his mother. She looked at Bill for help, but, clearly, he was just as stuck as she was.

No, she thought a split second later. The situation was far worse for him. This was his wife, his son, who couldn’t get along. Who couldn’t see eye to eye. Who could barely hold a civil conversation.

“Thanks for dinner,” he said stiffly. “Are you ready to leave, Rebecca?”

She realized she had to make a choice. To stay with the Murphys. Or to go with Sean. The Murphys lived permanently in town and disappointing them would have long-term ramifications. Whereas Sean was planning to stay for only a little while.

Which was why it made no sense that she allowed him to pull her chair all the way back.

It made no sense to choose Sean.

But she couldn’t have made any other choice. Not when he’d come to mean something to her in the past days they’d spent together. The little sweet things he did so unconsciously. The way he looked at her, with more heat than she’d ever known before. Plus, he’d defended her in front of his mother, had stepped in front of an out-of-control truck for her.

“Sean.”

Bill’s voice had both Sean and Rebecca stopping their progression out of the kitchen.

“Please stay for dessert. Your mother went to all the trouble of baking a second cherry pie after the first burned.”

Leaving would be easier. So much easier than staying. But at the same time, Rebecca knew deep in her heart that although Sean desperately wanted to leave his parents’ house, if he left like this it would only make things worse between them.

She put her hand on Sean’s arm. “I do love cherry pie.” She forced herself to hold his gaze, even though she suspected that was the last thing he’d wanted her to say.

Again, everyone was holding their breath. Rebecca was half expecting one of them to turn blue and pass out at this point.

Finally, he said, “Can the inn survive without you for a little longer?”

She didn’t just want to squeeze his hand this time. She wanted to pull him down for a kiss. Because he was a good son.

And family meant everything to her.

“Absolutely.” She turned to Elizabeth with a smile. “Do you have vanilla ice cream to go with that pie?”

The relief in the other woman’s eyes nearly brought tears to Rebecca’s own. “I wouldn’t serve warm cherry pie without it.”

The next twenty minutes were entirely made of small talk about the town, the weather, pro baseball prospects. Finally, they were able to leave without making a scene and they said their good-byes.

As they walked out to the car, Sean deadpanned, “I thought that went well.”

His sarcastic comment was completely unexpected. And just what she needed to unravel the tension that had coiled up all of her muscles in his parents’ house.

And for the first time all night—in days, possibly even weeks—Rebecca truly laughed, hard enough that tears came.

So many times she’d been on the verge of tears over the past weeks, but she hadn’t let them fall. Until now.

All because Sean had made her laugh.

“Did you see that?”

Elizabeth was standing at the kitchen sink trying to wash dishes but her hands were shaking so hard a plate knocked into the porcelain and almost broke.

Bill saw the steam rising up and hurried over from the table that he was clearing to pull the faucet down and shut. “Jesus, you’re going to burn yourself!”

But Elizabeth felt numb. Too numb to notice a little hot water.

“There’s something going on between them.” She turned away from the window where she was staring at the black night over the lake and looked at her husband. “Didn’t you see it?”

“See what?”

There was annoyance in her husband’s voice. He never used to talk to her like that. Even though she’d likely deserved it many, many times before now.

Only, couldn’t he see how scared she was now? Couldn’t he see how much she needed his support, more than she ever had before?

She knew she was irritable. She knew that she could be bossy. But she also knew that she’d never love anyone the way she loved Bill.

She used to think it was true for him, too. But now… well, she wasn’t so sure anymore about that.

For twenty years she’d worked to convince herself that she wasn’t afraid anymore of her horrible mistake coming to light. But then Stu disappeared and Sean reappeared and suddenly it felt like twenty years had been pulled away.

Leaving her just as scared as she once had been.

But she didn’t want to think about her and Bill right now, couldn’t possibly focus on the two of them, not when she’d witnessed something she’d never thought would come to pass in a million years.

Sean.

Rebecca.

Falling for each other.

Sure, like everyone else, Elizabeth thought the young woman was nice and did a good job running the inn. But Stu was gone. And as a mother, Elizabeth believed her younger son likely never would have run if not for Rebecca.

“Didn’t you see the way Sean looked at Rebecca at dinner?”

Her voice was shaking now just as much as her hands were. Her skin felt tight and tingly from the hot water and steam that she had left them in for too long already.

“He likes her. Everyone likes her.”

She couldn’t hold back a snarl. “Are you blind? He could hardly take his eyes off her. And she blushed every single time he spoke to her.”

“Fine. So maybe they like each other as more than just friends. What business is it of yours?”

She whirled around from the sink, water and suds flying all over the kitchen floor. “She already drove away one of my sons. I’m not going to let her drive away another. I’m not going to let her ruin their lives one by one.”

“Whatever Stu’s reasons for leaving, that sweet girl couldn’t have driven him away.”

“Stop saying how sweet she is!” She was yelling now, long past the point of being rational.

“Damn it, she is sweet. You say I’m the blind one. Now it’s time for you to open your eyes. Can’t you see that a woman like Rebecca is exactly what Sean needs?”

“You don’t think I know what my own son needs?”

“No.”

“And you do?”

“Love. He needs love. He needs a woman who will love him no matter what. Regardless of how hard things get. He deserves a woman he can love with his whole heart. A woman he isn’t afraid to share anything with.”

Oh god, he wasn’t talking about Sean and Rebecca anymore.

He was talking about the two of them.

About what they used to have.

And about who they used to be.

Until she went and stupidly ruined everything in one weak and horrible moment that she’d regret for the rest of her life.

“Bill.” She needed to tell him. She should have told him twenty years ago. She shouldn’t have held it all inside. Because instead of the years making it seem less bad, every single year, every week, every hour had magnified her mistake a thousand times over.

But before she could tell him anything at all, he said, “Stay out of it, Elizabeth. Whatever is going on with Sean and Rebecca, let it be. If they’ve got something growing between them, it’s their business and no one else’s.”

She knew he was right. She could feel it deep inside her torn-up heart. But the fear had her saying, “She was Stu’s fiancée.”

“If Stu and Rebecca were meant to be together they would be married right now. You read his letter. He didn’t want the marriage any more than she did.”

“But it isn’t right for her to be with his brother. What will people think?”

“Hopefully, they’ll think they’re a beautiful couple. Hopefully, they look at the two of them and see love. Real love. Hopefully, all anyone will want is what’s best for Sean and Rebecca.”

With that, he got back to work loading the dishwasher and she was so tired, so weak—so scared—all she could do was sit down on a kitchen chair and watch him work.

How had she ever forgotten what a beautiful man her husband was? Thirty-six years after she’d met him, he was still muscular, with a wide chest, broad shoulders, and strong arms and legs. His brown hair was mostly gray
now, but it looked great on him. She could see both of her sons in Bill: Sean’s build, his hands and serious eyes, Stu’s artistry, his ready smile, the way he could get along with absolutely anyone.