Someday Beach

Someday Beach

~ The Graytons ~

Marcus & Shelly

© 2015 Jill Sanders

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To all my beach buddies…

Shelly has always dreamed of going back to Surf Breeze. When she finally sets out on her own and buys a rundown building along the popular boardwalk, she hires a sexy contractor to help her turn it into her dream boutique. But she hadn’t counted on slowly changing with her surroundings. Fighting against an overbearing family, she learns to not only follow her own dreams, but to stand up for something she believes in.

Marcus has been waiting his whole life for a woman who could see through the horrors he’d been through as a child and the humor he uses to mask it all. Now that he’s found her, he’s not quite sure what comes next.

Someday Beach

by

Jill Sanders

For a complete list of books, visit
http://JillSanders.com

Prologue

His whole body throbbed. Closing his eyes only made him think more about the pain, so he kept his eyes focused straight ahead of him in the dark. He could hear cars zip by outside his window on the freeway, which was only a few feet from his back patio. The small two-bedroom apartment was on the ground floor, and everything shook whenever a semi went by too fast.

When he heard a noise, he hoped it wasn’t Mike, his mother’s latest boyfriend, moving around in the next room. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed that his mother would come home from the bar soon.

When he didn’t hear anything for what seemed like an eternity, he chanced opening his eyes to glance at his Batman alarm clock. Its yellow numbers read one a.m.

He knew that the bar was just closing now, but since his mother was making extra money on the side by dancing, she wouldn’t be home for at least another hour. Which meant that it
was
Mike moving around.

Squeezing his eyes closed one more time, he prayed again that the man had gotten his fill a few hours ago. His six-year-old body began to shake when he heard his bedroom door open slowly.

Wrapping his little fingers around his protection, he prayed that this time he’d have the guts to use it against the bigger man. When Mike had woken him up for the first time that night, he’d been dead asleep and had forgotten all about his plan to rid himself of the horror that he’d lived through over the last eight months.

His heart stopped when he heard the floorboard next to his bed creak and he took a deep breath. Not giving himself enough time to question his actions, he lunged from his bed. Mike had only enough time to see the gleam of the fillet knife as it arched downwards towards his heart.

One year later
…
             

M
arcus glared at the big house as the car bumped up the dirt road. The place looked like monsters lived there. Half of the shingles on the roof were a different color than the rest. The siding on the massive place had been sanded down to the bone by the wind, and some of the boards needed replacing. The front porch was caving in and when he leaned up a little, he could see that the front yard was a jungle of green that needed to be clipped, or better yet, burned. For that matter, the whole place should be torn down.

“You can’t be serious!” He turned to the pretty blonde woman he’d come to know only as Lilly. She’d shown up at the boys’ home a few weeks ago. At first, all the guys had whistled at her and made crude comments. All of them, except Marcus. Maybe that’s why she’d taken an interest in him at first.

She’d asked Mr. Everette, the head of New Hope Boys’ Home, if she could meet with him. It had been just over a year since his mother had dropped him off at the front door of the home for troubled boys. A little over a year since he’d tried to kill a man, defending himself. Of course, his mother hadn’t believed his side of the story, nor had she called the police that night. Mike had a few outstanding warrants against him.

Instead, she’d stitched up the large gashes on his shoulder and neck herself. When she caught him stashing another knife under his pillow that next week, it had taken her less than an hour to abandon her son.

Good riddance. Now he was a ward of the state and he liked it that way. Glancing over at the blonde again, he frowned and crossed his arms over his chest to make his point clear.

Lilly just smiled back at him as she stopped her car at the end of the drive. “The old place could use some work, but you’re going to like the Graytons.” She reached over and patted him on the shoulder. He didn’t jump at her touch, nor did he flinch. Women didn’t bother him much.

He leaned forward and looked at the house again. “Don’t they have any money? I mean, sheeeesh.” He shook his head. “If you have a house that big, ain’t you supposed to be rich?”

“Aren’t,” she corrected him. She smiled over at him and then leaned forward and looked at the house herself. “Mark and Elizabeth have two daughters, Karen and Julie. They’re older and only Julie lives at home still.” She glanced over at him. “They could use someone like you around the house.”

He frowned a little. “Like me?”

She chuckled. “Mr. Everette has told me that you have a talent with building and fixing things.”

He shrugged his shoulders when she didn’t continue. “I guess I like tools.” He thought about all the birdhouses he’d made over the last few months. He was getting better at making them, faster too.

“Well, I figured we could try this out. You know, get you out of the city. Just look around here.” She quickly opened her door and got out. He followed her a little more slowly.

When the fresh spring air hit him in the face, he closed his eyes. He’d never felt or smelled anything so wonderful. He could hear birds chirping in the tall trees that surrounded the old house. Looking up to the sky, he marveled at how blue it was. Living in the dirtiest part of Miami hadn’t allowed him to really appreciate the sky.

Lilly walked towards the house, but he didn’t want to follow her. Instead, he looked around some more and spotted a large three-car garage near the back of the house. When he walked towards it, he noticed an old band saw and table saw were sitting right out in the open.

“Here they are now,” Lilly said behind him, causing him to stop. When he turned around, he saw three people walk out onto the old front porch. They all looked at him with huge smiles on their faces. He’d never seen people so happy to meet a complete stranger before.

There were two women. One was older and much larger than the other. The younger one had short, curly brown hair that was pulled back from her tan face by a bright scarf. She had a soft face and kind eyes.

Then an older man stepped forward. He looked so frail that Marcus no longer wondered why he had let the place go. The old man looked like he could barely walk down the stairs, let alone get up on a ladder and paint. He doubted he’d have a hard time fighting this guy off if he ended up being anything like Mike. But something in the man’s eyes told Marcus he wasn’t in danger here. Still, it was better to be cautious, at least for a while.

“Well, hello,” the old man called out as he waved to them.

Lilly walked over to Marcus and took his hand in hers, then knelt down in front of him until they were eye to eye. “If you don’t like it here, all you have to do is call me, and I’ll come take you back to New Hope. Okay?”

He nodded and then looked over to the three people, who looked more nervous than he did.

It took him precisely two days to decide that he never wanted to leave the Graytons. Two days of Mr. Grayton teaching him how to use all the tools in the massive garage. The man had even told him that he could build anything he wanted. All he had to do was ask and they would have the materials delivered from the local hardware store.

Two weeks later, he’d sanded and replaced a lot of the siding on the old house. He didn’t want to stop there, so he asked Mr. Grayton if he could fix the porch.

The old man had sat in his chair and scratched his chin. At first, Marcus had thought he was going to say no.

“Don’t you want to run around and play like other kids do, instead of work?”

He frowned a little. “No, I like fixing things.” He looked down at his hands, noticing the calluses that he’d earned from hard work.

“It’s up to you. You’re free to do whatever you want.” Mr. Grayton had chuckled. “I’ll have the lumberyard deliver the wood as soon as they can.”

“I’ve…” He pulled out a piece of paper. “I’ve got a list here.” He handed it over to him.

Mr. Grayton looked at it and frowned as he read the long list.

“You put this together?” He looked up at Marcus. When Marcus just nodded, he watched a smile creep onto Mr. Grayton’s face.

“You’ve a talent for sure.” He laughed. “Damned if I’m going to stand in your way. Why don’t we ride into town tomorrow and you can show this to Jim down at the lumber mill yourself.” He handed the material list back to Marcus.

It had taken Julie, Mark, and him a whole month to finish the new porch. Julie was strong for a woman. She said she enjoyed wearing overalls and getting her hands dirty. Mr. Grayton had insisted that Marcus call him Mark.

He quickly came to realize that the old man wasn’t as frail as he looked. He carried most of the heavy wood up to the porch and had even helped hold the new supports in place while he’d screwed them in. When all the work was done, they had painted the entire thing. Even Mrs. Grayton had come out of the house to help.

The day after all the paint was finally dry, he stood outside admiring his handiwork. He turned when he heard a car drive up the long drive, and frowned when he saw that it was Lilly’s car. His heart skipped a beat. The first thing that flashed into his mind was that she was here to take him back to the home. Maybe the Graytons hadn’t liked him? Maybe he’d done something wrong?

Lilly stepped out of the car and waved at him. Her smile caused his heart to slow a little. She didn’t look like she was here with bad news. Then a boy around his age stepped out of her car. The dark-haired boy looked a lot like he did except for the black eye and broken nose. His left arm was in a thick white cast and he walked with a slight limp.

Lilly rushed over and helped the boy walk towards the house. “Good morning, Marcus. Are Mark and Elizabeth home?”

He shook his head no. “They went into town to pay the water bill.” Lilly and the boy walked up the stairs he’d just finished painting the day before.

“Wow! Doesn’t this look wonderful?” She exclaimed. Then she did a quick turn, looking at everything. “Did you do all this?”

Marcus nodded, not taking his eyes off the boy, who was staring at him like he was going to rush across the new porch and punch him.

“Is Julie home?” Lilly turned back towards him.

Marcus nodded again. “She’s inside making sandwiches.”

“I’ll just let myself in. This is Roman.” She turned back towards Marcus, holding the screen door open as she looked at him. “If everything works out, he’ll be staying with you here for a while.” She smiled at them both, then turned and disappeared into the house.

“How’d you break your arm?” Marcus asked.

Roman looked down and shrugged his shoulders. His brown eyes had opened wide when Marcus had talked to him, and he figured the kid was scared to death.

He could remember a time not so long ago that he’d felt that way. Walking over, he stood in the corner of the porch and sighed. “It needs a swing, doesn’t it?” He waited and when he didn’t get a response, he turned back towards Roman.

The kid was staring at his shoes like it was the most important thing in the world.

“Right here.” He motioned to the spot just below the front windows. “Maybe I can hang some chains from those beams there.” He nodded above him and tilted his head sideways. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Roman look up at the ceiling of the porch.

“Maybe some planters?” He folded his hand and rested his chin on his fingers, much like he’d seen Mr. Grayton do when he thought about what Marcus had suggested. “Course, planters could go here.” He motioned to the windowsills. “Or here.” He walked over to the railings he and Mr. Grayton had finished putting up a few days ago. Really, it was Julie who had helped the most. But Mr. Grayton had sat on his stool and helped Marcus place each rung in the railing himself.

Marcus couldn’t ever remember laughing or having such a good time with a man before. Mark Grayton was a joker. Marcus could never really tell when he was being serous or pulling his leg. He loved every moment of it and wanted to be just like the man when he grew up.

“Your yard needs mowing,” Roman said from behind him. His voice was small and, at first, Marcus questioned whether he’d heard correctly.

Turning he smiled at him. “What it needs is a few dozen goats.” He chuckled. “Do you know, I was walking to the pond the other day and got lost in it.” He laughed at his own joke.

He thought for a moment he saw a slight smile on Roman’s face. “So, do you think you’d want to help me build some flower boxes and mow the grass? I mean, after your arm is all better?”

Roman glanced down at his arm again. Marcus thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then his dark head nodded. “I suppose.”

“Good.” He smiled and walked over and held out his hand. “I’m Marcus… I have a feeling we’re going to get along just great.”

That night, he lay in his big bed and listened to Roman cry in his sleep. He knew it wouldn’t do any good to go to the kid. It had taken him almost seven months to stop crying about what he’d gone through.

The least he could do was keep the kid busy over the next few months, to keep his mind off of his pain.

*******

That summer, Roman and he became best friends. They were inseparable. Roman had a good eye for some of the finishing touches that Marcus didn’t have the patience for. Together they finished the swing and flower boxes and built over a dozen colorful birdhouses that they hung in trees all over the property. They had even built one that looked like the big house itself. It hung off the front porch in a place of honor.

Less than two months later, they watched Lilly’s car drive up again. This time, it was a little blond boy that stepped out. He didn’t have a broken arm or a scared look in his eyes.

It had taken less than a week for Roman and Marcus to accept him. Julie had taken them to the beach one day, and they’d sat in the sand watching Cole bodyboard. Marcus had never seen anyone do flips like that in the water before. It was like the kid was part dolphin and that had earned him all the respect he’d needed to be part of the family.

Over the next few years, Lilly’s car would come only two more times. These times, instead of boys, she’d delivered girls.

Marissa was first; she was very small and had short blonde braids. Even though she was tiny, she sure knew how to boss all three boys around.

The next month, Lilly’s car came up the driveway and a dark-haired girl climbed out slowly. Marcus had known without a doubt that she’d gone through something far worse than any of them had. She was so skinny, he thought the wind would knock her over.

Instantly, Marissa had taken Cassey under her wing. By the end of that next year, the Graytons made it official and formally adopted every one of them.

That evening, after signing papers at the courthouse, the five of them stood out by the pond and made a promise to one another that nothing would ever break up their new family.