Ex on the Beach (31 page)

He’d been too quick to run. Too quick to find an excuse and abort.

And then on the boat, Rob had said he’d once killed a girlfriend.

Her instincts told her that whatever had been behind his actions before was still in place today. He might want more in his life. He might want the wife and kids and the house in the suburbs.

But she thought he might just balk before ever taking them.

And she did not want to find herself with dreams again, only to have her heart ripped open and bleeding.

Therefore she and Mark were having a fling. And that was all.

She’d simply enjoy it until it was over.

Andie hurried through the halls of the Turtle Island Hotel, where she’d spent the majority of the day, heading to the room that would hold Penelope’s bridal shower.

The event had originally been planned to be held on the grounds of the hotel, but they’d gone to plan B due to the high temperatures. Everything was currently being moved from under the massive oaks to the air-conditioned space inside the hotel. Kayla had been following along throughout the whole process, fussing over every detail, as Andie had roamed between the new location and the lobby, where Ginny had planted herself, greeting arriving guests and welcoming them with gift bags.

It was midafternoon now, and Andie found Kayla in the overlarge sitting room, picking at small details. The shower would be lovely in the comfortable space. The room was pale yellow and had warm wood flooring, with white-framed floor-to-ceiling windows that opened onto a view of the lush hotel lawn.

Thanks to the tent set up just outside the sitting room doors — where guests would later mingle with drinks and hors d’oeuvres—no sunlight would stream through the many panes of glass to shine directly on any guest.

Andie stopped in the middle of the room and took in the sedate cream and pink flowers arranged throughout the area. They’d been intended as centerpieces for the round-tops that had been part of the original plan, but the shower would now be a bit more relaxed, with guests seated on sofas and casual chairs. White folding chairs had been brought in as additional seating, but overall the feeling remained elegant and sophisticated.

“They’ve done a wonderful job,” Andie murmured to Kayla as they stepped outside into the tented area and surveyed the preparations. A large fan was stationed at each corner of the tent, keeping a nice breeze moving.

Kayla nodded and took a sip of the lemonade she’d brought outside with her. “I think I like this better, actually. The more casual seating seems to fit more with our bride.”

Andie had to agree. Penelope knew how to do class, but Andie sensed that deep down she was an easy-to-get-along-with, laid-back girl. Which, once again, made her feel bad that Penelope would be marrying Rob.

She pushed the thought from her mind. It was none of her business. Seaglass had been hired to do a job, and that’s what they would do. She checked her watch and saw that guests should start arriving soon, then she accepted her own lemonade from a passing server.

A table was being set up that would hold various platters of the best food the hotel served. Kayla wandered over to discuss details with a worker, and Andie took a sip of her drink as she watched the action. The tart liquid was refreshing as it slid down her throat.

“Andie, sweetheart.”

Andie turned to find Celeste Kavanaugh approaching from the side walkway. She wore a pale green dress, with a flounced skirt, that was simply too cute.

“Celeste.” Andie greeted the woman with a warm hug. “I’ve barely seen you this week. Have you and Wayne been enjoying yourselves?”

Celeste practically giggled. “Once I got him to forget work, it’s been like a second honeymoon. I can’t wait for our trip later in the year,” she confided but then let out a tiny sigh. “I just wish I could take everyone with us.”

Andie studied the glow coming from her ex-almost-mother-in-law and then leaned in to whisper, “Something tells me that isn’t really true. Looks to me like you’ll enjoy the time alone with your husband.”

A pretty blush touched Celeste’s cheeks. “I will. But I’ll also miss the family. And the grandkids. We’ll be gone for a couple months.”

“Then you must learn to Skype.”

Celeste laughed. “I definitely must learn to Skype.” She accepted a proffered glass of lemonade and took a moment to look around. “It’s lovely out here, Andie. You do good work.”

“Kayla does most of it.” Andie pointed out her event director, who was rearranging the stacked serving dishes that had been placed on the tables. “You’ve met Kayla, right? She’s the secret behind everything Seaglass does. We’d be lost without her.”

“Oh yes, I met her. Considered trying to talk her into a move to Boston.” Celeste winked. “One of my charities could use a talent like hers.”

“I’m afraid I’d have to hunt her up and drag her back.”

They laughed together, then fell into a comfortable conversation, similar to many they’d had years before. They had been at ease with each other since the day they’d met.

Which brought to mind the question of why Celeste had once said she didn’t think Mark should marry Andie. That had bothered Andie a lot. She’d struggled to feel like she fit in with the Kavanaughs since they were so high profile but had felt she was holding her own. Maybe she hadn’t quite belonged, but she hadn’t seen herself as an embarrassment, either.

To hear Celeste say that she didn’t want her in their family had hurt. It had damaged Andie’s pride.

They headed inside to the cooler air, and Andie considered bringing up the topic as she held the door open for the other woman. She didn’t want to put Celeste on the spot, yet she wanted to know — what had been so wrong with her? Had it simply been the lack of money? Class?

Had Celeste thought Andie couldn’t do the Kavanaugh family proud at events?

None of it felt right. Celeste had never struck her as that type of woman.

“This is simply gorgeous, Andie.” Celeste breathed out the words as she got a look at the room. She crossed to admire the picture mounted above the fireplace on the far wall and ran a hand along the wood of the mantel. “Everything about this fits with what I’ve learned about Penelope. She’s a good girl, right?” she asked, turning back to Andie. “I’ve talked to her a few times this week, and she seems like someone with a level head on her shoulders.”

“Yes.” Andie nodded. “I think that describes her well. She’s sweet and smart, and very down-to-earth.”

“Exactly what Rob needs.”

Andie didn’t reply, as she had other thoughts about what Rob needed. A good swift kick in the crotch, for one thing. She joined Celeste by the fireplace and decided to ask about the past. There were only a couple of days left before everyone would depart. This could be her only opportunity.

If the conversation caused a strain between the two of them … well, Celeste would soon return home, and Andie wouldn’t see her again.

“Can I ask you something, Celeste?”

The woman turned to her. “Absolutely. Anything, dear.”

Nerves battled in Andie’s stomach, but she forged ahead.

“I once overheard you saying that you didn’t think Mark should marry me,” she said. She held her head high, her chin out, unwilling to appear as anything but an equal. “
After
we were already engaged,” she added.

Lines formed in the space between Celeste’s eyes as if she were thinking, and then she murmured, “Oh dear.” Embarrassment stained her cheeks. “I never realized you’d heard that.”

“You remember saying it, then?”

Celeste nodded. “To my sister. She’d come out to visit one afternoon, and I remember talking about our boys. You and Mark came up.”

For some reason it bothered Andie more that Celeste remembered her comment so clearly. “Can I ask
why
you said that? What it was about me that was the issue?”

“Oh, darling.” Celeste reached out and took Andie’s free hand. “It wasn’t about you. It was about Mark.”

“Mark?” Andie shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand. If you didn’t want him to marry me then—”

“I would have loved having you in our family, Andie. Very much. And I could see how much you two loved each other.”

Andie stared at her. The words didn’t make sense.

“What then?” she whispered. “It’s bothered me since I heard you say it.” Andie glanced away, taking in the opulent surroundings and knowing that she still sometimes felt like a fraud, even in this world she was a part of every day. “I didn’t come from prestige, but my family has done fairly well for themselves.”

“Oh, sweetheart. Let’s sit down.” The older woman tugged Andie to a settee. They put their lemonades on a low table in front of the sofa and then sat, knees angled toward each other.

“Mark was …” Celeste began, then paused as if considering what to say. She gave Andie a hesitant smile before lifting a shoulder in apology. “I felt like he was bulldozing you. He’d always been that way. He sees what he wants, and he makes it happen.”

He did. It was a trait Andie liked about him.

She never would have guessed his mother thought he was doing it to her, though. “How so?” she asked.

“You moved into his place only two months after you met him.”

“Because we got engaged.”

“Right.” Celeste gave a little nod. “But
why
did you get engaged so fast? Was that really what you wanted?”

Andie started to say that of course it had been what she’d wanted. But then she thought back to that time.

From the moment Mark had first taken her out, she’d started falling hard for him. He had put the full-court press on her, but that had been fine. She’d loved it. She’d enjoyed being around him and his family, and had loved the devotion he’d bestowed on her.

But she had been shocked on her birthday when he’d pulled out his grandmother’s ring and asked her to marry him.

She hadn’t been expecting a proposal because of the short time they’d been dating. And she certainly hadn’t expected him to slide the old-fashioned heirloom onto her finger. His doing so had added pressure to the whole situation.

In the end she’d said yes because they loved each other, but they’d agreed upon a long engagement. That had more to do with her job than with anything else, though. She’d first needed to
get
a job, and then she had needed to establish herself. There hadn’t been time to plan a wedding.

“You don’t think I was ready to be engaged?” she asked Celeste, thinking about Aunt Ginny’s words of only a few days before. It made sense that if she hadn’t been ready to get married, she of course wouldn’t have been ready to be engaged.

“Honey, I don’t think either of you were ready to be engaged.
You
hadn’t spent time in the real world figuring out who you were yet. And
he
didn’t want to risk losing you. He moved fast because of it. Even got his father to help get you the job there in Boston.”

“But I wanted that job.” And then she remembered Mark being the one to suggest that his dad could help her get it.

She’d thought it lucky at the time, but looking back, she wondered if that had been the right move. She hadn’t even applied anywhere else. She’d merely taken Mark’s word that Wayne could get her in. And he had.

Then she’d failed, of course. Getting fired certainly hadn’t been in the plans.

But that hadn’t been Mark’s fault. That was all her.

Because … she studied the woman before her and pulled in a deep, lung-filling breath as she realized something for the first time. She’d failed at that job because it hadn’t been right for her. It hadn’t been the right
career
for her. Not necessarily because
she
had been a failure.

Wow. Talk about taking a long time to realize the obvious.

Celeste gave her a small smile, as if she understood the moment Andie had just experienced. Then she leaned in close, the scent of her light perfume wafting between them, and gave Andie a hug. She whispered, “And it pissed me off that he fussed so much about you working long hours. To succeed there, you needed to work hard.”

Andie nodded. “It’s a competitive field. You have to be driven to be an investment banker.”

“Mark worked just as hard, too,” Celeste said, sitting back and reaching for her lemonade. “Only it seemed to me that he saw
his
job as the one that was the important one in the relationship. It made me angry on your behalf, sweetheart. He was taking advantage of you because he saw himself as the more important one in the union. I’d taught him better than that.”

Her last words were said with such disgust that Andie couldn’t help but grin. She loved Mark’s mother.

“I always thought he’d be happier if I quit,” Andie admitted. “If I’d be a stay-at-home wife and mother, but he swore that wasn’t what he wanted. He said he just wanted me around more.”

Celeste smiled wistfully and patted Andie’s hand. “Deep down he probably did want that, even if he didn’t realize it. He’d grown up with that lifestyle. He was used to it.”

“That’s what I thought, too.”

“But you wanted more,” Celeste stated. It had been clear to anyone who’d known Andie back then. She’d wanted a big-time career.

She’d wanted to be like her mom.

It wasn’t what she wanted now. Though she still didn’t know where her true desire lay.

“You’ve done well here, Andie,” Celeste told her. “I’m so proud for you. And I’m sorry my words hurt you before. I never meant anything negative about you. I simply didn’t want you to wake up one day with regrets because my son had pushed you before you were ready. Before you figured out who you were. Have you done that now, sweetheart? Are you happy?”

Andie started to nod but paused, her gaze holding on the woman in front of her. Of course she was happy. She had her aunt, her business. Great friends. And she was doing what she wanted.

Only, she also had a hole in her heart that had become obvious since Mark had shown up.

She wanted more.

She wanted it all.

Nodding carefully, she shifted her gaze so she didn’t lie to Celeste’s face. “I have a great life now. I’m thrilled with it.”