Harbor Lights (16 page)

“About what I should be doing with myself.”

She gave him a puzzled look. “I thought you were getting your captain’s license so you could do fishing charters.”

“That was the plan,” he agreed. “But she reminded me I always threw the fish I caught right back out to sea.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “Which means?”

“I might not make the best fishing charter captain,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes. “Fishermen usually prefer to take their catch home. They might not appreciate a captain who snatches it right back out of their hands.”

“Aha,” she said as understanding dawned. “But she planted another idea in its place.”

“She did. You know my uncle Thomas is an environmentalist?”

“Of course I do. He’s mentioned in just about every article I’ve read on what’s happening to the bay.”

“My mother thinks I should talk to him.”

Again, Shanna saw the excitement lighting his eyes. It definitely hadn’t been there when he’d talked about fishing. “What do you think?” she asked carefully.

“That she’s right. I have to say it grates a little that she knows me so well, but I’m not going to ignore the idea just because it came from her. Do you have any books in here about the bay? Not tourist books, but the more serious stuff?”

“Of course,” she said, her sandwich forgotten as she went to the right shelf. Kevin followed.

“Here are a couple,” she said, handing him two heavily illustrated volumes. “I’ve glanced through these and I think they’re the most comprehensive.” She tapped her finger on the top book. “And your uncle is quoted extensively in this one. He’s also acknowledged in front by the author.”

“Perfect. I’ll take them,” Kevin said, setting them beside the register, then drawing a second stool up beside the counter.

Shanna sat back down, took another bite of her sandwich and chewed slowly. “You know,” she said eventually, “it might be interesting to have your uncle give a talk in here sometime. I’ve been wanting to do that kind of thing. I could ask him which books he recommends, then have plenty of stock of those titles, and he could get people excited about the fight to save the bay.”

“That’s a great idea,” Kevin said with enthusiasm. “Want me to ask him for you?”

“If you’re planning to speak to him anyway, please do,” she said, warming to the idea. “Saturdays are insane in here, but maybe on a Friday evening, late enough that the weekenders could attend. I could serve wine and cheese or have Jess cater something light.”

“I’d come to that,” a customer chimed in as he appeared from the back of the store, where he’d apparently found an armload of science fiction paperbacks.

“Me, too,” another one said as she waited at the register.

Shanna went to handle the sales, then turned to Kevin. “This could be a really good thing. I think more people than we know care about saving the bay, but maybe they don’t know what they can do. I hope your uncle will agree to come. This wouldn’t just be good for business. It would be a great public service.”

“He’ll come,” Kevin said confidently, then grinned. “If only to annoy my dad by giving the lecture right here in Mick’s town.”

“I thought they developed Chesapeake Shores together. Doesn’t he live here?”

Kevin shook his head. “No, he lives in Annapolis. He vowed not to set foot in this town after he and Dad fought over every single tree that Dad took down when he was building here. The irony is that because of my uncle, Chesapeake Shores is probably the most ecofriendly development anywhere around here. Thomas just thinks Dad could have done more.”

“No one’s ever going to be a hundred percent happy in this fight,” Shanna guessed.

“Not if they’re an O’Brien, anyway,” Kevin said.

“Where do you come down on the issue?”

“I can see both sides,” he admitted. “But I lean toward my uncle’s point of view.”

“Which means working with him might suit you perfectly,” she concluded.

He nodded. “I’m beginning to think it might.”

She met his gaze. “Which is going to make that boat you bought a very expensive toy.”

He shook his head. “Where better to study the bay than on a boat in the middle of it?”

For the first time since Shanna had met him, she saw a sense of renewed energy and purpose in Kevin’s eyes. It appealed to her on a whole new level. If she’d thought him devastating to her system before, this man was beyond seductive. He was all but impossible to resist.

First thing Monday morning, Kevin turned Davy over to Abby, who was working from home for the day, and drove to Annapolis to his uncle’s office, glad that he had his little hybrid car rather than his dad’s gas-guzzling SUV. Otherwise, Thomas would have started their meeting with a stern lecture on his carbon footprint.

After reading the books he’d bought from Shanna, Kevin was more intrigued than ever about joining the fight to preserve the Chesapeake and its delicate ecosystem. It felt right to him in ways the fishing charter never had.

The offices of the Chesapeake Preservation League were housed in what had once been a ramshackle warehouse along the Severn River. The exterior had been spruced up with gray vinyl shingles and the interior had been carved into offices, but there was no mistaking the building’s origins. Kevin thought Mick must cringe at the lackluster, piecemeal renovations every time he walked inside, assuming he ever did.

Kevin asked for his uncle and was directed outside to a dock. He found Thomas on board a boat that looked as if it was only days away from sinking straight to the bottom of the river. It mostly seemed to be held together by rust. To add to the impression of disrepair, his uncle had the motor apart on a grimy drop cloth and was studying it intently.

“I assume you know how to put that back together again,” Kevin said, leaping on board.

“Of course I do,” Thomas said, grinning up at him. The youngest of the three O’Brien brothers, he wasn’t yet fifty. His skin was tanned and weathered, his curly hair sandy, as Nell’s had been rather than black like Mick’s, and without a single thread of gray. His eyes were the same vivid blue as the rest of the family’s. He looked younger than his age.

He gestured toward the motor. “Of course, putting it back together’s a whole lot different from fixing it.”

Kevin hunkered down beside him. “What’s the problem?”

“Old age.”

“Looks to me as if that’s affecting more than the motor,” Kevin said, glancing pointedly around the boat.

“Yeah, we’ve budgeted for a replacement next year. In the meantime, I’m trying to baby this old girl along.”

“I might have a solution for you,” Kevin said.

Thomas lifted his perplexed gaze from the motor and studied Kevin. “Oh?”

“I just bought a fishing boat a few weeks ago. You’d have to take a look at it, but I’m pretty sure it could be outfitted to do the kind of work you need.”

He definitely had his uncle’s full attention now.

“You want to give us a boat?”

Kevin nodded. “I’d come with it. At least if you think I could make any kind of contribution.”

Thomas wiped the oil off his hands with an old rag and stood. “Let’s go inside and talk. It’s too hot out here for me to be sure I’m not hallucinating.”

Kevin grinned at his reaction. “Took you by surprise, did I?”

“Not exactly,” his uncle said. “I’ve been wondering what took you so damn long to figure this out. And now that you apparently have, what Mick has to say about it.”

“Dad’s out of town. He doesn’t know about this yet.”

Thomas shook his head. “This gets more interesting by the minute,” he said, leading the way inside and filling two glasses with iced tea. He handed one to Kevin, then shoved some papers off the only spare chair in his office. “Sit down and talk to me.”

Kevin filled him in on the epiphany he’d had over the weekend, thanks to his mother.

“You sure you’re not interested just because it will rile Mick?”

“You know better. Mom reminded me of the way I used to pester you with questions when I was a kid. Somehow I got sidetracked by being an EMT, then in the army, but I think the time is finally right for this. I need to do something new, something challenging and, most of all, something that really matters.”

“In my view there’s not much that matters more than this,” Thomas said. “Our future depends on what we do right here and around the rest of the country to protect our natural resources.”

“I get that,” Kevin said. “My only question is whether I can be useful.”

“If you can pilot that boat you said you’re willing to bring with you, I can teach you everything else you need to know.” He gave Kevin a hard look. “Did you pass biology?”

“Yes.”

“Chemistry? Zoology?”

“And a lot more science besides,” Kevin told him.

“Then you’ll fit right in,” Thomas said. “The pay’s
lousy, but we’ll pay you something for the boat and we’ll cover the fuel.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Kevin said. All he cared about at the moment was that this felt a hundred percent right. In recent months, very little else had. This…and kissing Shanna.

B
efore leaving his uncle’s offices, Kevin met most of the other scientists and employees. There were a surprisingly small number of them, given the magnitude of the task they were trying to accomplish. He was also able to convince Thomas to agree to give a talk at Shanna’s bookstore.

“Have her call me and we’ll work out the details,” he told Kevin, then gave him a penetrating look. “Does this woman mean something to you? It sounds as if—”

“I hardly know her,” Kevin said out of habit.

Thomas chuckled. “When it comes to attraction, time doesn’t always factor into it.” When Kevin started to respond, his uncle waved him off. “Never mind the denials. I’ll see what’s going on for myself when I come down there to give this talk.”

For the first time since Shanna had suggested inviting his uncle to speak at the store, Kevin was starting to view it as a bad idea. Thomas had been twice married and twice divorced. Ironically, he’d lost both wives because, like Mick, he’d really been married to his work.

But even though he had trouble sustaining a relationship, Thomas genuinely appreciated women. His intui
tion was finely tuned. He could read them in a way that Kevin sure as hell hadn’t been able to.

Water under the bridge, Kevin told himself, even as he caught Thomas studying him with a knowing expression. He draped an arm around Kevin’s shoulders as he walked him outside.

“I think I’ll take a drive down to Chesapeake Shores tomorrow,” he said, taking Kevin by surprise. “I should drop in and see Ma, maybe take a look at that boat and see what modifications it’s going to need, if you’re serious about selling it to us.”

“I told you I’d donate it,” Kevin reminded him.

“It’s a new boat, Kevin. We have some money put aside. Let’s make it a business deal, even if it won’t be for the kind of money you could get elsewhere.”

“Whatever you want,” Kevin said warily.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kevin sensed that his uncle had something else on his agenda for this sudden visit. He was pretty sure the boat was the least of it. Thomas proved the point by adding, “After we take a look at the boat, I can drop in at the bookstore and finalize things there, too,” he said, his expression all innocence. “I’ll bring along a list of recommended books for your friend. Shanna, is it?”

Bingo,
Kevin thought, his stomach sinking. There was the real mission in a nutshell. “Shanna Carlyle,” he said.

“Okay, then,” Thomas said cheerfully. “I’ll be looking forward to it. You going to be at the house?”

Kevin nodded. Unless he could get a ticket to Antarctica before then.

“I’ll meet you there. We can drive over to the marina, then into town. You can make the introductions.”

“Sounds great,” Kevin said, though he knew his voice lacked enthusiasm.

His uncle gave him a questioning look. “You’re not having second thoughts about your decision, are you?”

“Of course not,” he said at once, then shrugged. “Maybe a few.”

“About the boat?”

Kevin shook his head.

“Working with me?”

“Absolutely not.”

A grin spread across Thomas’s face. “Then it’s Shanna. Not to worry, I won’t embarrass you with my questions. I’ll just be observing, trying to get the lay of the land, so to speak. I’m sure she must be used to being under a microscope with O’Briens everywhere she turns in Chesapeake Shores.”

Kevin regarded him with dismay. “What is it with this family?” he asked. “I know all the women are inveterate matchmakers, but you, too? Is it in our damn genes?”

“Since there’s a long, long list of O’Briens here and back in Ireland, I’d have to say yes,” Thomas said unrepentantly. “We want our own to be happy. And we’ll do whatever it takes to make sure of it.”

“By marrying them off?” Kevin asked incredulously. “You can say that after two bad marriages?”

“They weren’t bad, any more than Mick’s was to Megan. They were flawed, maybe, not bad. Both Gillian and Diana were wonderful women. I just couldn’t give them the attention they deserved. Truth be told, I’d marry either of them again in a heartbeat, if they’d have me.”

“Dad seems determined to win Mom back, as well,” Kevin admitted.

Thomas seemed surprised by that. “Is that so? Well,
God bless him for that. It was a shame he ever let her get away. How does Megan feel about it?”

“She’s a tough sell,” he admitted. “But my money’s on Dad.” He was even starting to get used to the idea. Having her around recently hadn’t been awful. And he did owe her for planting this idea in his head about working with Thomas.

“My money’s on my brother, as well,” his uncle said. “I’ll have to give him a bit of encouragement if I see him tomorrow.” He shrugged. “Not that he’ll appreciate it coming from me. Will he be around?”

“He should be. He’s coming back from Seattle tonight.”

“And Megan?”

“She’s gone back to New York in a huff,” Kevin said. “Which probably means Dad will go chasing after her in a day or two. He’ll want her to have time to cool down.”

Thomas chuckled. “Now you’ve given me yet another reason to be grateful to you for turning up here today—the perfect excuse to watch the fireworks between those two. It was lively enough the first time around. Now that Megan obviously has her sass and vinegar back, it’s bound to be spectacular.”

“You certainly have an unusual outlook on our mixed-up family dynamics,” Kevin said, wishing he could reach a similar combination of fascination and objective distance.

“It’s hard to see things clearly when you’re in the thick of it,” Thomas said, then gave Kevin a wicked wink. “That’s why I’m looking forward to getting a firsthand glimpse of you and this Shanna you claim you hardly know. I suspect I’ll see plenty you’re not admitting to me or to yourself.”

Yeah, that was exactly what Kevin was afraid of.

Shanna’s cell phone rang so rarely she almost didn’t recognize the sound, especially with her purse tucked away in a nook in the back room. By the time she reached her purse and located the phone, it had stopped ringing. And the caller hadn’t left a message. When she saw the number of the caller, she muttered a curse, then immediately hit the button for a call-back.

“Hello.” Henry’s soft little voice was tentative.

“Hi, sweetie. Did you just call me?”

“Uh-huh,” he said, then asked, “Is that okay?”

“Of course, it is. I’ve told you that you can call me anytime.” Thank heaven, the court hadn’t denied that, just in-person visits.

“But Daddy says I shouldn’t bother you, that you’re not my family anymore. He gets really mad when I call you Mommy.”

“I will
always
be your family, Henry,” she said emphatically. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. You need me, you call, okay? Now tell me how you are.”

He hesitated, then said, “Daddy’s sick. That’s what Greta says, anyway.” His voice, filled with worry, gathered steam. “Do you think if he’s sick for a long time, he should go to the hospital? What if he dies? What would happen to me?”

She could imagine his precious little face, the expression on it way too serious for his age. “Nothing is going to happen to your daddy,” Shanna said, trying to sound reassuring. She knew exactly what was going on with Greg. He was on some kind of a bender and had probably locked himself away in his suite of rooms, leaving the nanny to try to come up with an excuse that would make sense to a seven-year-old.

“But what if it does?” Henry persisted. “Could I come to live with you, then?”

Shanna bit back a sigh, knowing the court would never agree to that. Only Greg or his parents could arrange that, and it would never happen. “You’d live with your grandparents,” she told him. “You know how much they love you. They would take very, very good care of you, Henry. But this is not something you need to worry about. Your daddy is going to be fine.”

She hoped that wasn’t a lie, that Greg wouldn’t drink himself to death or wrap his car around a tree on one of the too-frequent occasions when his judgment was impaired.

“I wish you were here,” Henry said.

“Me, too, baby. Me, too. But even though I’m not there, I love you and miss you. Don’t forget that.”

“I gotta go,” he said. “Somebody’s coming.”

“Bye, Henry,” she whispered, but she was talking to dead air.

She set the phone aside and rested her head on her arms. Tears stung her eyes. She couldn’t help wondering sometimes if it wouldn’t have been easier on Henry, on her, if she’d never come into their lives. Henry wouldn’t have grown so attached to her. She wouldn’t have started thinking of him as her own son. And leaving wouldn’t have ripped out her heart and left him scared and alone.

“Shanna?”

Kevin’s voice startled her. She glanced up too quickly, without thinking about the fact that she’d been crying. He was at her side in an instant, hunkering down in front of her.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded, gently brushing at the tears on her cheeks, his eyes filled with concern. He glanced at the cell phone on the desk. “Bad news?”

She shook her head, afraid if she spoke she’d start sobbing. Since she didn’t think she could explain about Greg and Henry and her messed-up mistake of a marriage, she forced a smile.

“Sorry, I was just feeling emotional for a minute.” She found a tissue in her purse and dabbed at her face, glanced in her compact’s mirror and added a dash of lipstick. “Too many changes, too fast, I suppose. I’m fine now.”

He didn’t look as if he believed a word of it.

She mustered another smile, hopefully a more convincing one. “How about lunch? I think there’s enough of a lull that I can run to Sally’s for a half hour. Besides, I want to hear all about how things went with your uncle this morning.”

“Are you sure you feel like going out? I could bring something back here.”

“Am I that much of a mess?”

He shook his head. “You look gorgeous, just a little sad.”

“Like I said, it’s been one of those days. Being around people will be good for me.” And it would keep her mind off the call from Henry and off the temptation to call Greta and demand to know what was really going on with Greg.

She picked up her keys and purse and headed toward the front of the store. Kevin tagged along behind her, then held the door. When she walked outside, she nearly gasped at the heat and humidity, which had climbed since early morning. It was like a slap in the face, immediately stealing breath and sapping energy.

“How about the Panini Bistro today?” Kevin said as she locked the door. “I think it’s time for a change, and Bree says their sandwiches are great.”

“Okay,” she said slowly, reading between the lines. “Any particular reason you don’t want to go to Sally’s?”

“Just tired of the same old thing, I guess,” he said unconvincingly. “Aren’t you?”

She shrugged. “A change will be nice.” It seemed they were both in odd moods.

There was enough of a breeze off the bay to make sitting outdoors an option despite the heat, so Kevin led the way to a table. They were silent as they quickly glanced over the menu. Not until after the waitress had taken their order did Kevin face her again.

“Okay, what was the real story back there?” he asked. “You weren’t crying just because you’d had a tough morning. You hardly shed more than a few tears when the store flooded, so today would have had to be a doozy to bring them on.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said.

“It does,” he said firmly. “Somebody called and upset you. Was it Laurie? Your folks?”

“Kevin, really, it was nothing,” she lied. It was everything and much too hard to explain. Someday she’d tell him everything about the little boy who’d stolen her heart and the man who’d broken it, but not today. Right now she needed to think about something more cheerful. “Tell me about your morning. How did things go with your uncle?”

Though he looked as if he didn’t want to abandon his own line of questioning, he couldn’t contain the eagerness sparkling in his eyes. “We’re going to work together,” he told her. “And he’ll do your event for you, though I have to warn you he has an ulterior motive.”

“What’s that?” she asked. “Does he want it to be a fund-raiser? That’s okay with me. In fact, it’s a fantastic idea. I’ll donate a percentage of the sales.”

“I’m sure he’d appreciate that, but no, this motive is personal, not professional.” He hesitated, then said, “Some
how, he’s gotten the impression that there’s something going on between the two of us. I swear I didn’t say anything to put the idea into his head. Just be prepared to fend off a lot of questions when you see him. It seems he’s no more immune to meddling than anyone else in my family.”

She was so excited by the prospect of putting together an event at the store, the rest of Kevin’s words barely registered. “I’ll call him right away and make the arrangements. And I need to call Jess and get her ideas for some easy appetizers that won’t be outrageously expensive.” She reached in her purse for paper and pen, then jotted down notes. “Can you give me your uncle’s phone number? I’ll call when I get back to the shop. Or right now, if you think he’ll be in. He’s probably out to lunch, though.”