Love Everlasting (Isle of Hope series Book 2) (5 page)

Chapter Five

“You’ve been a godsend, Cam.” Carrying two tall, frosty glasses of her famous peach iced tea out to her patio, Tess O’Bryen placed one in front of Cameron Phillips—the uncle of her daughter-in-law, Lacey—who had just taken her out to lunch. “I can’t thank you enough for all the help you’ve been.”

“My pleasure, Tess.” Cam hoisted his glass in a toast, his smile solid, steady, and warm, like the friend he’d been to her the last five months since her ex-husband Adam passed away. “I remember all too well the grief of losing Susan to cancer, which is one of the reasons I’ve spent so much time at sea on various naval commissions. Despite the fact it’s my job, it was one of the few ways I found I could cope. So trust me—I count it a privilege to be here to help you shoulder your grief.”

Offering a grateful smile, she sank into her white wrought-iron chair, welcoming the comfort of the heron-blue striped pillows that were beginning to show wear and tear.
Like me
, she thought, shamefully exhausted from their trek through the cemetery, where she and Cam had attended a Memorial Day service before lunch. They’d both put flowers on Adam’s and Susan’s gravesites. She laid her head back on the chair and closed her eyes, grateful that Cam understood her moments of silence and didn’t press her to talk.

She’d only officially met Cam briefly last August at his daughter Nicki’s wedding. And then again at her son Jack’s and Lacey’s wedding the next month after he’d finished his naval commission on the
USS George H. W. Bush.
So when he showed up at Adam’s funeral, she’d been surprised. And
so
utterly grateful! Somehow, she hadn’t expected her ex-husband’s death to affect her so, especially since she hadn’t seen him for two years prior to last summer, when he’d come back to make amends to his family.

Amends.
Tears pricked her eyes. And then some. The pastor husband who had left her almost eight years ago after an adulterous affair with her friend and neighbor, Karen—Cam’s sister—had somehow managed to burrow into his family’s heart all over again. He’d been a changed man on a mission—to heal the wounds he’d inflicted before God called him home. And, oh, how he had! Becoming a best friend to her all over again and an unlikely hero to his children, making the last five months since his death oh, so hard.

And yet, oh, so wonderful! Knowing he was now in the presence of His Savior while his family no longer bore the burden of bitterness.

Only grief.

She took a sip of her iced tea, gaze trailing into her once-lush garden and yard, which now suffered neglect as much as she. But she hadn’t expected Adam’s death to bruise her so badly, imposing an awful malaise that was so unnatural for a woman Ben Carmichael once called “annoyingly perky.”

Ben.

Loneliness struck with such force, a flash flood stung at the back of her eyes. With two daughters, two sons, a brand-new daughter-in-law she adored, and a crotchety blue heron who resided in her oak as an unofficial pet, she shouldn’t be lonely. And yet, from the moment Ben—her crotchety neighbor, Lacey’s father, and now love of her life—had kissed her goodbye in that empty hallway before Jack and Lacey’s wedding last year, a hint of loneliness had crawled into her heart.

“So help me, Tess,” he’d said, nudging her to the wall with an agony that had shocked both of them to the core. “I am so in love with you …”

Her answering moan had melted into his mouth before she gently pushed him away, the same torment in his face that she felt in her own. “Ben, I’m in love with you too—
desperately
—but this is not the time nor place.”

And so he had left after the wedding, one of the country’s top cardiac surgeons opting for a six-month medical missionary trip a friend had been badgering him about for years. To give her time with Adam and then time to grieve. Only six months had turned into eight, so when his once frequent letters and emails tapered off to only here and there, her loneliness had spread like the vile disease that had taken Adam’s life. A sharp stab of pain wrung more moisture from her eyes. What if he had changed his mind about marrying her? What if he’d met someone else? What if he didn’t need her anymore like she needed him?

Oh, Ben, where are you?

“Tess.” Cam’s voice was gentle as always.

Her eyes jerked open, so lost in her thoughts that she had to blink several times before Cam’s face came into view. “Yes?”

She startled when he reached across the table to tenderly brush a tear from her cheek. “You know I don’t mind the moments of silence between us because I understand.” He slowly sat back down, kind eyes probing hers with a concern that had been a balm to her soul these last five months. “Because the silence is comfortable, like our friendship.” He paused, a crease above a classic nose on a face most women considered attractive, she supposed, although she’d been too depressed to notice. One side of his full lips lifted into an off-center smile that popped a dimple, and she blinked, suddenly caught off-guard by military-short sandy hair and hazel eyes the exact shade of Ben’s. “But when the friend I’ve come to care for starts shedding crocodile tears …” He cuffed the back of his neck with an adorable grimace that made her smile. “Well, I tend to revert to Navy mode, and the Rear Admiral in me takes over.”

She caught her lower lip with her teeth, a glimmer of the former “Miss Perky”—Ben’s nickname for her—twinkling in her eyes, no doubt. “Uh-oh … should I salute?”

He grinned and rose, downing most of his iced tea before pushing in his chair. “That might be best since we’ll be at sea.” He rounded the table and hooked her arm, plucking her up.

“What? W-Where are we g-going?” she stammered, too aware of his commanding hold as she stumbled along while he led her down her driveway.

“To test-drive a boat.”

She skidded to a dead stop, her one-inch pumps digging into her red paver driveway now crisscrossed with moss. “Are you crazy, Cam? I’m not dressed for a boat.”

He scanned head to foot and back. His slow perusal of the
way
-too-short pencil skirt Cat talked her into and her sleeveless lavender silk blouse was so deliberate, it toasted her cheeks. “I’ll wait. Go change.”

She blinked, mind racing in a hundred different directions, none of them along the lines of grief counseling with a friend. He turned to buff her arms, thumbs slowly grazing the crook of her elbow. Her throat went dry as her neck craned
up, up, up
to a handsome face sporting a patient smile.

Good grief, when did he get so tall?

“It’s Memorial Weekend, Tess, and you’ve been in a funk for five months now. The sun and sea air will do you good and who knows?” The hazel eyes twinkled like topaz. “You might even have a little fun.”

“B-But … but …”

He glanced at his watch. “I have an appointment at 1500 hours—three o’clock your time—so we have to cut and run, Mrs. O’Bryen, because I’m never late.”

“But you’re not dressed either,” she said, swallowing hard as she did a quick scan of his crisp shirt and tie and neatly pressed Dockers.

He grinned as he tugged off the tie, then unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt with a wink. “I have shorts, Sperrys, and a Polo in the back seat, along with drinks and snacks in a cooler.”

She crossed her arms with an open-mouthed smile. “Why does this sound premeditated, Admiral Phillips?”

“Because it is,” he said with a swagger as cocky as his smile on the way to his Land Rover, “so get crackin’.”

Shaking her head, Tess scurried inside, almost shocked at how giddy she felt. It had been years since she’d been on a boat other than Adam’s dory, and she actually found herself humming as she changed into her white shorts and a nautical blue and white tank top. She hadn’t even been on Ben’s cabin cruiser, for heaven’s sake.
Specifically
because their relationship was on the sly since Tess didn’t want her family to know she and Dr. Doom—the name her children had coined for the grouch next door—were smitten. And as small as Isle of Hope was, there’d be too many tongues wagging if Ben had taken her out on his boat.

She gathered her shoulder-length blonde hair into a messy ponytail, then dug on her knees in the closet for casual shoes that weren’t dirty or stained with paint. “Yes!” she shouted as she found the white deck shoes she’d bought late last summer, slipping them on before hooking her purse over her shoulder. Shooting a glance in the mirror, she wondered if she should put on some gloss, then paused. Her heart cramped when she remembered how much Ben loved her peach lip gloss.

Especially
kissing it off.

“No! You are
not
going to ruin my mood, Ben Carmichael, not when you’ve been AWOL for almost two months!” With a thrust of her chin, she snatched her peach lip gloss from where she’d tossed it in the drawer after Ben left. It had been too painful a reminder of what they had lost, but now she slathered it across her pinched lips. “Take that, Dr. Doom,” she muttered as she stashed both the gloss and sunscreen into her purse and marched out the door.

It was a perfect day. A cerulean blue sky and a sea-scented breeze billowing Cam’s loose sea foam Polo as he test-drove a 50-foot Princess Motor Yacht that Marv, his salesman friend, let him take out on his own. They’d laughed all the way to the marina, then some more on the boat, where Cam—the consummate sailor—commandeered with feet straddled at the wheel while Tess lounged on the leather seat. When he finally dropped anchor, they bobbed on the water to the music of seagulls and waves, dining on cheese and fruit while Cam nursed a beer and she sipped a Seven-Up. The time flew faster than the seagulls winging overhead, and Tess couldn’t remember a more relaxing day in a long, long while.

When the sun sank lower in the sky and brought a whisper of dusky pink to the horizon, Tess didn’t want the day to end. “This is sheer heaven,” she said as she tipped her face to the sun, arms hooked around knees tucked to her chest.

“I would have to agree.” He shifted to the rear seat across from her, appearing very relaxed as his arm rested over the back. “Not just the boat and the water, mind you, but the company too.”

Her heart stuttered as she shielded her eyes, more to deflect the interest in his than the glare of the sun. “So, what do you think?” She patted the seat with a smile, anxious to steer the conversation in a safer direction. “Are you interested in this beauty?”

He stared at her for several endless seconds before he answered, that maddeningly calm half smile skittering her pulse. “I think so,” he said, eyes fused to hers while he upended the last of his beer. “And I’m not sure about the boat yet.”

Gulp.

“Cam …” She sucked in a deep swell of sea air for courage, wondering how she could have been so stupid to not see this coming.

He held up a palm. “I’m not rushing you, Tess. I know what you’ve been through, but I thought it fair to let you know I enjoy your company and would like to spend more time with you, beyond our mutual grief.”

Oh, boy.

Setting his beer down, he rose to sit next to her, fingers almost touching her shoulder as he draped an arm over the seat. “I’m seriously thinking of retiring from the Navy to spend more time with Spence, Mamaw, and any rug rats Nicki and Matt may have in the future,” he said quietly, “especially if there were another reason to stay.”

She all but leapt up from the seat, wringing the front of her tank till the stripes weren’t straight anymore. “Cam, I enjoy your friendship, I do, b-but I think there’s something you should know.”

He peered up beneath shuttered eyes that had seemed so safe and soothing before, and she sat back down to face him head-on, scooting a hair away when his fingers casually brushed her shoulder. His patient smile never faltered. “Too soon?”

The lump in her throat bobbed like the boat in the water. “No … not too soon … a little more like too late.”

He barely blinked, the look on his face far more serene than the waves churning all around.

“You s-see,” she stumbled on, “I’m … pretty serious with someone else.”

A breeze stirred one of his clipped tawny curls the wind had disheveled, and yet his demeanor remained unruffled. “I expected as much, although you never made mention. You’re an amazing woman, Tess, and I’ve spent the last five months wondering why someone hasn’t snatched you up.” He paused, his manner casual. “Anyone I know?”

Heat broiled her face like a bad sunburn. It was awkward enough turning Cam down. If he found out it was Ben—the ex-brother-in-law he despised as much as Ben despised him—that unflappable calm of his would blow like a dozen foghorns. Besides, nobody was supposed to know, right? So, Tess was completely within her limits to withhold the truth for now. She thought of how Ben had barely contacted her in the last two months and not at all in the last two weeks, and her ribs constricted.

If it’s even the truth anymore …

“It’s someone with whom I was pretty serious before Adam returned,” she said slowly, sidestepping the issue of identity, “so he left town for a while to give me time and space until …” Her voice trailed off, and she hated the stupid tears that blurred in her eyes.

But they only gushed all the more when Cam pulled her into a firm hug. The smell of Coppertone and a hint of his cologne—Guilty, by Versace, no less—only reminded her of what a good friend he had been when she’d needed one most. “It’s okay, Tess,” he whispered against her hair, the massage of his hand on her back providing a tranquility she’d come to expect from this rock-steady man. “I completely understand, and he’s a very lucky guy.” He pulled back to fish a Kleenex out of his pocket—a staple of his since he’d been spending time with Tess—and carefully dabbed at her tears. “But if it doesn’t work out” —he paused, handing her a fresh tissue as he fixed her with that penetrating stare that always settled her down— “you know where I am.”