Page 28 of Grounds for Love

Chapter 9

Rod

AsIpullinto the marina, I’m no less confused than I was when I left two weeks ago. After the disastrous date with Jenni, I had to get away. I called Barbara and told her to take me off the schedule for the foreseeable future. She bitched and complained about the lack of captains and I’d barked back at her to hire as many as she needs.

I loaded the yacht with provisions and headed out to where I didn’t care. I ended up weighing anchor in various places around the island and fishing, reading, or doing anything to keep me from drowning in my mixed-up thoughts.

I’ve had little sleep because every time I close my eyes, I see the hurt I caused in Jenni’s. That night, I’d wanted to go to her house and make her talk to me. To apologize. That’s another reason why I had to do a disappearing act. Continuing to see her would be nothing but a mistake. We tried. It was phenomenal.

But it didn’t work. We didn’t work. It’s best to forget it ever happened.

But I can’t.

I miss her smile, and her laugh, and the way she feels in my arms. I even miss the way she makes me happy. The smartest thing I can do is stay away from her. All I do is hurt her.

I dock and start the cleaning process. I could hire someone at the marina to do it, but I like the work. I rub my hand over my two-week beard. Yeah, I need a shave as soon as I get home. And a good, long, hot shower. I never feel clean after showering on the yacht.

After that, my first stop needs to be the office to deliver an apology to my sister. I should probably treat her to a day at the spa and shopping on the mainland, or she may take my head off as soon as I poke it in the door.

“Hey, you’re back.”

I look up to see Blake walking down the dock. I toss him the line to tie the boat down. “Yeah. The fish weren’t biting.”

They weren’t biting because I never cast a single line in the water. Fishing without Jenni didn’t hold the same appeal as it used to.

My brother gives a patronizing chuckle. “I can’t believe you forgot this isn’t the time of year for fishing.”

I screw my lips up and glare at Blake. I know he’s doing a different sort of fishing, but I’m not biting either.

“I didn’t forget,” I snap and start carrying crates to the deck to put in my truck.

“What’s been going on around here?” I ask to get him onto a safer topic. My brother is a talker and once you prime him, he can go for hours.

“Not much. That treasure hunting crew will be coming to town a month earlier than expected. Kimberly and Shyanne are both pregnant.”

That’s great news. The babies, not the damn treasure hunters. I’ll have babies in the family to spoil. I drop the crate I’m carrying onto another one and ask, “Both of them?”

“Yeah. It was a happy accident. They didn’t know they were both trying at the same time, but they’re thrilled to be going through it together. Bode and David have formed a father-to-be support group.”

“They will need that for sure. Thank God Grace and I didn’t have kids for me to mess up on my own.”

“You wouldn’t have messed them up. You would have loved them and you wouldn’t have been alone. You would’ve had your family backing and supporting you. I know without a doubt that you would have been a great father.”

Water under the bridge. “Two decades earlier, with a healthy wife, and I would agree with you. I’ve been happy being an uncle to your kids.”

Blake starts lugging the crates onto the dock and offhandedly says, “Oh, and Jen over at the coffee shop has been the new it girl of the town. You know, like Kimberly was when she first arrived. Since you two called it off, I think every man between twenty and ninety has been asking her out. Even Dexter Long. There’s a betting pool going around of who she’ll go out with first. My money is on Steven over at the pharmacy. He’s handsome, has a good job, and owns his house. Plus, I think they would look cute together. But Mom thinks that Homer Brockton over at the Stop N Shop is in the running.”

My temper flares, my stance widens, and my hands curl into fists. Fists that want to punch every man that thinks he has a chance with Jenni in the face. “Steve’s at least ten years younger than she is and Homer... really? He doesn’t have his own hair or teeth, and he must eat a can of beans a day as much as he farts all the time. The last time I went in the store, I’d wished I had a gas mask.”

Blake barks out a laugh and nods in agreement. “That’s true, but…”

Just the thought of Jenni with another man makes me see red and twists my stomach in knots. “I can’t believe these fools are bothering Jenni like that. She’s too intelligent to go out with any of those delusional losers,” I bellow, and then can’t stop from asking, “Has she… accepted any offers?”

Blake shrugs and lugs another crate to the dock. “Not that I know of, but it won’t be long. I mean an attractive and nice girl like Jen…”

On instinct alone, I jump from the yacht to the dock. I have no plan. I have no intentions. I only know I have to get to Jenni before it’s too late.

“I’ve got to go,” I call over my shoulder and start to jog to the marina parking lot.

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