Caught in the Current (Pacific Shores Book 2) (12 page)

Reece tipped his head, and she suddenly wished he’d worn his Stetson today—to cut down on the glitter of emerald fire burning in his eyes. “Do you love him?”

Oh boy. Yet another question she needed to avoid. She glanced pointedly at her watch. “Do you mind if we get going? I don’t want to keep Mr. Novak waiting.”

The fire in his gaze faded into all-out humor. His left arm buckled until his forearm rested on the glass by her head, which brought him so close her skin pebbled with awareness. With his other hand he had the audacity to lift one of her curls and smooth it around a finger. His gaze drilled into hers. His movements were unhurried.

Her heart forgot that its sole job was to pump.

When he spoke, his words were a low rumble not unlike a purr. “You know the only reason I broke things off was because you weren’t serving the Lord, right?” He waited for a beat, offering her a chance to reply.

But after the way his breath had warmed her cheek, she couldn’t come up with a single coherent thought.

“Since that’s changed, there are a couple things you should know…” His thumb stroked over her curl one more time; then he loosed it. “I’m not interested in Dakota.”

She held her breath.

He pushed away from her and dug his keys out of his pocket. “And Dan is going to get a run for his money.” He gave her a bold wink and then turned away, calling for Alyssa to climb in because they were leaving.

Chapter 10

I’m not interested in Dakota. Dan is going to get a run for his money.

I’m not interested in Dakota. Dan is going to get a run for his money.

Reece’s words from last Sunday kept running through Marie’s mind as she did chores around the house Tuesday evening. Alyssa splashed and sang happily from the tub while Marie did the dishes and wondered what she should fix for dinner.

All day she’d tried not to think about Reece’s declaration. All day she’d lost the battle. He’d texted yesterday to say he was working on getting her added to their payroll and covered by their property insurance and he would get ahold of her later.

Her brow tightened when she remembered that. So he’d been serious about paying her more than she could pay him for watching Alyssa. She was torn by encouragement on the one hand that her budget might actually balance this coming month, and discouragement on the other because she didn’t like to be indebted to anyone. And this felt like he was doing her a huge favor.

Thankfully Mr. Novak had been able to figure out what was wrong with her engine, and the parts had been available at the local auto store. It had been a perfect storm of both her alternator and her starter dying at the same time and had cost her so much it made her nauseous. But she didn’t know what she would have done without her car all week. And she’d baked Mr. Novak a batch of brownies out of sheer thankfulness for his help.

She grinned as she recalled Reece’s piqued expression when he’d dropped her off at the Thrift and Save on Sunday. “I’d planned to work on this for you after lunch,” he’d said as she’d helped Alyssa from his truck. Which she had known. That had been another reason she’d been thankful for Mr. Novak’s offer of assistance. The more time she spent with Reece, the less control she had over her errant heart.

Which brought her back to the reason she was thinking about him, again…

His last text had said he’d see her soon, but maybe the lunch his mother had set up for him and Dakota had gone better than he’d anticipated, because she hadn’t heard from him since.

She squirted soap into the dishwasher’s dispenser and slapped the lid shut, angry with herself for dwelling on him for the millionth time today.

The doorbell rang and her pulse quickened. What if it was him?

She pressed start on the machine, grabbed up a towel, and dried her hands as she hurried to the door.

The peephole revealed Dan.

Relief and disappointment mingled in a frustrating mix. She eased her head against the door and gripped the towel tightly. It was so unfair that after only a few days of having Reece back in her life, he was totally consuming her thoughts and emotions. How was she going to fight this?

The doorbell rang again.

She jolted. She’d left Dan standing in the hallway. Turning the latch, she pulled back the door and smiled at him. “Hi.”

He held up a pizza box and a case of Pepsi. “I brought dinner.”

She stepped back and gestured him in. He’d brought dinner? And no doubt an apology. She hadn’t seen nor heard from him since Saturday night. She hoped her skepticism wasn’t too apparent in her expression.

He set the food on the table and spun toward her, arms held out for an embrace. She let him pull her into a hug but pressed a hand to his chest when he leaned in, obviously angling for a kiss. “Where’ve you been?” She scooted around him and lifted three plates from the cupboard. “Alyssa, honey! Time to get out of the tub. Mr. Jackson is here, and he brought pizza for dinner.”

“Alright!”

Several loud squeaks and a sploosh had Marie cringing and wondering how much water she’d find on the floor later.

She turned to face Dan with the plates in her hands and cocked an eyebrow at him, knowing she wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding her irritation.

He rubbed the back of his neck and then set to tearing open the Pepsi box. “I went camping. Needed to do some thinking.”

Marie’s jaw jutted to one side. “You didn’t call. Not even a text.”

His gaze still on the blue case, he nodded. She saw his throat work, and then he folded his arms and focused right on her. “Neither did you.”

She opened her mouth to contradict him, but then realized he was right and shut it. She hadn’t called him. Or texted. Hadn’t even thought about it, actually. Her heart started to pound against her sternum, and she knew she must look like the proverbial deer in the headlights. She pushed herself into motion. “You’re right, I didn’t. I’m sorry.” The plates clattered when she set them down. A frown etched a furrow between her brows.

Dan took one of the plates and set it across the table in Alyssa’s spot. Then stepped over to the counter and grabbed up the roll of paper towels.

Alyssa rushed in, her nightgown on backward and askew. “Mr. Jackson!” She threw her still-damp arms around him.

“Hey, tyke. How’ve you been?” When he swung her up, she wrapped her legs around his torso as well. “Wow, you are getting strong!” Dan tickled her gently.

Alyssa giggled and squirmed and finally released him.

But as Dan pulled out his chair and took his seat, no humor illuminated his features.

Marie swallowed her sudden dread. Why was he here? “Alyssa, honey, sit down and let’s say thanks.”

Alyssa obediently scrambled into her seat and folded her chubby hands.

“Dan?” Marie deferred to him.

He nodded and said grace with a solemnity she’d rarely seen in him. She considered carefully all his actions since he’d walked in the door. Every nuance of his expressions. Each thing he had said. And with each consideration her dread mounted. He was here to break up with her.

She clenched her jaw.

Dan cleared his throat. She returned to the moment with a start. How long had the prayer been over? Her face heated.

Dan was helping Alyssa get a piece of pizza out of the box, but his gaze was on her.

She tried to offer him a smile. “I’m glad you’re here.”

He pursed his lips and twisted them to one side, wiping grease from his fingers onto his paper towel. “Yeah, the guy who brings dinner is always nice to see, huh?”

“No, that’s not—” She suddenly had a flash image of them ten years down the road. Both of them with a few more wrinkles and pounds, sitting exactly where they were now. Alyssa would be on her phone—or whatever new device had been developed by then—and she and Dan…

She couldn’t see it. She and Dan. Ten years from now. No image came to mind.

“I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.” She tried to focus on eating, but couldn’t seem to find any taste to the pizza.

Marie knew they couldn’t have the discussion they needed to in front of Alyssa. The meal was filled with awkward silences hanging between stilted conversation.

Finally, Alyssa finished her second slice and asked to be excused.

Marie nodded. “Take your plate to the sink, please.”

Alyssa hadn’t been gone more than two seconds when Dan folded his arms on the table and pegged her with pain-filled eyes. “We need to talk.”

She sighed. Nodded.

In the living room Alyssa’s favorite DVD began to play.

“I’ve been pretty patient. You said you needed time. But then…at Reece’s place the other night…”

Marie’s heart rate kicked up. She started to shake her head.

Dan held up a hand. “I saw the way you looked at him. The way he looked at you. Marie, it wouldn’t be fair of me to keep you from that.”

“Dan.” She stood and hurried to his side, squatting next to him and peering up into his face. “I told him I was with you.”

He reached out and fingered one of her curls. “You’ve never looked at me the way you looked at him.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t look at him any way.”

“Yeah, you did. I followed you inside to help once I asked Dakota to watch Alyssa. I saw you two in the hallway. You’re in love with him and you don’t even know it, Marie.”

“Dan, I’m not. It’s been four years since—” She batted the past away with a sweep of her hand. It was water under the bridge, and there was no sense in dredging it back up. “We can do this, Dan. I just needed a little more time.” She poured every ounce of emotion she felt into her eyes. Willed Dan to believe her. Not to leave her.

He couldn’t break up with her. Not now, when she needed him as an excuse to keep Reece at arm’s length.

Guilt gripped her. What was she thinking? Dan wasn’t some tool in an arsenal she could pull out at a moment’s whim when needed. He was a man. A man she cared for. She did care for him. A lot. Didn’t she?

Just not enough to call him when he goes missing for three days.

Her shoulders slumped. “Maybe you’re right.”

He stood and grabbed a Pepsi for the road, then strode to the door and opened it slightly, but stilled and turned back to her. “I thought you’d be relieved. Even happy.”

A sardonic smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She shook her head. “No. But I think you are right, Dan. You deserve a woman who is head over heels for you. And I’m sorry to say that as much as I do care for you, I’m just not her.”

His whole body seemed to shrink and sag. “Yeah, that’s what I figured. I really do wish you all the best, Marie. I hope he makes you happy.”

Marie started to rebuff him, but let it drop instead. Let him think what he wanted. “Good night, Dan.”

He cupped the side of her face and trailed a thumb over her cheek. “Night, Marie. You take care of yourself.”

“I will. You too.”

He swung the door the rest of the way open to reveal Reece on the other side looking a little guilty.

Her heart did a flip. How much of the conversation had he heard?

Dan huffed a shot of air through his nose, but then turned to look right at her. “I mean it. Be happy.” And with that he brushed by Reece, only offering him a clap on the shoulder and a “Good to see you” before disappearing down the stairs.

Marie’s heart broke a little more. Only because she knew Dan so well could she see how much that had cost him.

Reece watched him disappear into the dark before turning back to her with a questioning look. In each hand he gripped several plastic grocery bags.

Marie felt more than a little vulnerable at the moment and was totally not ready for another battle with her emotions where Reece was concerned. Or for him to know she and Dan had just broken things off.

Had he heard? She tilted her head.

Judging by the gleam in his gaze, he’d overheard plenty.

And by the looks of all the bags he was laden down with, he’d brought more groceries than she could afford for the month. “Why are you here?” The question emerged with much more of a snap than she’d intended. “Sorry.” She stepped back and gestured him past. “Please come in.”

He deposited all the bags on the end of the table not covered by the remains of dinner, and then headed for the door again. “Just a few more bags in the truck.”

“Reece…”

He didn’t seem to hear her.

Marie pinched the back of her neck and examined the table overflowing with groceries. Cereal and strawberries and bread. Cookies and soda and potato chips. Yogurt and butter. Jam and several small blocks of cheese. And those were just the first four bags she peered into.

She willed down a swell of appreciation tainted with frustration and settled her hands on her hips. There was no way she could accept all this without trying to repay him. And she couldn’t afford all this. He was really putting her in a spot. And she didn’t have the energy at the moment to figure out how to handle it.

Reece breezed back in, and she blinked hard and spun away on the pretense of taking the leftover pizza and Pepsi into the kitchen, but he must have seen her expression, because he followed her.

“Hey,” he said softly as he set the bags he’d been carrying on the floor.

She glanced down to see flour and sugar and several packages of meat.

A little bit of anger started to smolder. How could he put her in this situation?

He took the pizza box and the Pepsi case from her and set them on the counter, then cupped her shoulders and peered into her face. “What’s going on? Did Dan hurt you?” Consternation crinkled his brow.

“Dan? No.” She rotated her shoulders out of his grasp and stepped back to lean against the counter with arms folded. “What is all this?” She swooped a hand over the bags by his feet, feeling her teeth grind together.

He hooked his thumbs into his belt loops and tilted his head. “This is a spur-of-the-moment gift.”

She threw her hands up in exasperation. “Reece, you can’t spend this much money on me! And I can’t afford to pay for it.”

He snatched off his hat and tossed it on top of the pizza box. “This isn’t about a few groceries, so what is it about?”