Ex on the Beach (6 page)

Of course she’d looked into his life. He would have done the same thing. “And if you’d found that Beth and I had gotten married?”

“Then Mr. Masterson and Ms. Jordan would have found another venue for their wedding.” With those words, she rose, reaching around to swipe at the sand on her backside. “People may think I’ve done nothing my last thirty years but hang out on the beach and play bridge with my friends, but I also protect what’s mine. And that girl, she needed me. She doesn’t so much anymore; she’s done a lot of growing. But I’m still taking care of her just the same. And just like the last time you and I talked, I’ll say it again. You do not go near her without making sure you don’t hurt her again.”

“I didn’t come here to hurt her.” Mark had risen with her, but didn’t know what to do next. He wanted to head down the beach and search for Andie. Instead, he caught Ginny’s eye. “I swear I didn’t,” he stated passionately.

She nodded. “I believe that. And I believe it was time for you to finally seek her out. Fate and all. But it doesn’t mean hurting her can’t happen. You may both need closure, but you take very good care, son, to make sure it happens in a way that doesn’t leave that child brokenhearted over you ever again.”

With her words, she turned and marched back the way she’d come. Mark watched her go. What he wanted to do was shout after her that it had been he who’d been left brokenhearted. Andie might have been upset when she’d quit her job to get away from him, but it hadn’t been the loss of him that had destroyed her.

He, on the other hand, had been a ridiculous mess. In a way he didn’t care to ever be again. Which had been part of his and Beth’s final discussion.

He only wished he knew what to do about Andie now. He had two weeks, and he’d be a fool not to use them wisely. But he’d be damned if he knew what the wise path was.

Not to mention that the thought of seeking her out scared him to death. Just seeing her for the brief moments he had earlier that day had made one thing clear. There was still something between them. She’d felt it too.

Which did not bode well for closing that door and moving on with his life.

Andie pulled her arm back and released the Frisbee, watching it sail through the air before a small arm reached up high to snag it. The little girl who’d caught it laughed and bounced up and down.

“You’re the best Frisbee thrower in the world, Andie,” little Maggie Walker shouted as she pulled in the disc and readied to send it back across the beach.

“Me! Me!” Roni Templeman and Ginger Atkinson, Andie’s best friends since she’d met them on the very same beach over twenty years ago, both shouted and jumped up and down just like the kids they were playing with.

Maggie giggled and slung out her arm, sending the Frisbee in a crooked arc heading straight for the ocean.

“Geez, Maggie,” said Hunter, her twelve-year-old brother. “You’ve got to use your wrist.”

Hunter clomped into the water since the Frisbee had landed nearest him, shaking his head at his little sister’s poor aim. Andie made a habit of playing with several of the local kids on the evenings when there wasn’t an event she had to attend. She looked forward to this time of the day. It was relaxing, fun, and just pure pleasure.

And far better than sticking around some party where one of the main attendees had been shooting her dirty looks, and another had been silently watching. She hadn’t wanted to give either Rob or Mark the opportunity to corner her, so she’d talked Aunt Ginny into fulfilling the hostess duties for the evening.

Hunter flicked his wrist like a pro and sent the green circle flying, and Roni ran for it.

“So …” Ginger started, both of them watching Roni as she splashed along the edge of the water. She made quite a picture in the fading light with her short bob and cut-off jeans. She could almost pass for a teenager instead of twenty-eight. “Mark, huh?”

Ginger had lived on the island her whole life, and had taken over the ferry business when her dad passed away. She’d been working hard at growing the business ever since, adding boats for dinner cruises and dolphin watches. And she’d been Andie’s other maid of honor at the wedding that didn’t happen. Given the three of them were such good friends, Andie knew that Roni would have spent the afternoon filling Ginger in on everything that had happened at the bar earlier that day.

Andie nodded, knowing they had to have the conversation, but regretting the stress she could already feel returning to her shoulders at the thought of it. “Yep,” she said. “Mark.”

Roni squealed, and Maggie clapped when Roni’s toss went sailing perfectly to Hunter.

“Roni said he showed up at Gin’s today, unaware you were there.”

“But not unaware she was here on the island, apparently,” Roni tacked on as she jogged back to the group.

Andie shot her friend a hard look. “And someone just let him waltz back through the restaurant to search for me. Come on, Roni, what was that about? You had to know I didn’t want to talk to him.”

The Frisbee whizzed past, close to Ginger’s head, and Andie smiled at Maggie as she fell to her knees in a giggling fit.

“Did you do that, Maggie Moo?” Andie asked.

“No!” The girl giggled harder and pointed to Hunter. “It was him.”

Hunter shrugged his slim shoulders. “Y’all weren’t paying attention. I was just making sure you didn’t forget that we’re playing here.”

“I see.” Andie grabbed the Frisbee and shot both kids an evil grin. “Then you’d better beware! Because I have it now.”

Maggie giggled louder and Hunter’s eyes went wide. He held up his hands in a sign of surrender. “I’m sorry.” He laughed.

“Too late for that, kid.” Andie pulled back and sent it sailing well over his head so he’d have to run hard to catch it. He had a wide competitive streak. Not going after it was not an option.

Maggie took off after him, arms flailing and laughter ringing out, and Andie turned back to her friends. She really did enjoy playing with the kids. Few moments in her life were this laid-back. She loved it.

“Roni?” she asked. “What was that about? You know how I feel about Mark. Why would you let him come back there?”

Roni twisted up her mouth as she stood in front of her friend, then eyed Ginger as if looking for help. When none was forthcoming, she finally blurted out, “Because I’m not sure I do know how you feel about him.”

“How can you not? He left me at the altar. How do you think I feel? I hate him!”

“Yeah,” Roni started. “But that was four years ago. And Andie, you haven’t dated anyone since.”

“So what?”

Ginger nodded, catching the Frisbee as it came back and sending it sailing once again. “She has a good point.”

“What point?” Andie asked. “I haven’t heard a point.”

“That you should be dating by now. You should be over Mark,” Roni added.

“I am!”

“Then why won’t you date? You’ve had plenty of guys ask you out. And why did you look so shaken when you saw him today?”

Andie clenched her fists at her sides as she glared at her friends, ignoring the disc that flew over their heads. She forced herself to lower her voice to keep from screaming in frustration. “I don’t date because I have a business to run, and I looked shaken because I was not expecting him to show up in my bar.”

“But you looked …” Roni paused, once again turning to Ginger. “Help me out here. Tell her how she looks right now, just from talking about him.”

Ginger shot Andie an apologetic look and nodded. “I see what she’s talking about. You look kind of … uh …”

“What? Upset? Because the man left me to explain to everyone that the wedding they’d come to see was not going to happen. Why wouldn’t I be upset about that?”

“Yes, we understand that, but it’s — ”

“You think that since it’s been four years I should be past it and welcome him with open arms?”

“No! Of course not. We’re not saying you shouldn’t still be upset. We’re just saying …” Ginger flapped her arms in Andie’s general direction and then dropped them to her sides, all the fight gone out of her. “Your eyes, Andie. Your eyes are your weakness, sweetheart. They tell everything.”

Andie stood unmoving, barely noticing when Hunter mumbled something at them as he ran past to get the Frisbee. She looked from one friend to the other, then followed Roni’s gaze toward the boardwalk in the distance. Mark was standing there watching them, the sky, purple and pink from the setting sun, outlining his broad frame.

She faced her friends and pinned them with a hard look. “And what do you two think my eyes are telling you?”

“That it’s not over,” they said in unison.

Andie turned from them without another word and motioned with her hand to Hunter, forcing the movement to look normal. “Sorry, kiddo. Toss it here. I promise to pay attention.”

And she would not pay attention to her friends. Because they were wrong.

“We’re not saying you need to do anything other than get some closure, Andie,” Ginger said, her voice soft and urging.

“I had closure on my wedding day.” Andie said through gritted teeth. “My fiancé chose
not
to marry me, and I moved on. And I am over it. Completely.” She swung back to her friends. “And how could you not support me on this? You’re my friends. You’re supposed to be there for me when I need you.”

They both nodded. “We are here for you,” Roni said. She made a move with her hand that let Andie know that Mark was now heading in their direction. “And we’ll destroy him if he hurts you again — trust me, I’ll be first in line for that — but we think you need a chance to finish this once and for all. Face-to-face.”

She did not want to finish anything with him. “He finished it years ago.”

“Then why is he back now?” Ginger asked.

The same question had been running through Andie’s mind all afternoon.

Mark stepped up beside her and Roni sent him a hard look, making it clear she would have her eye on him, then dragged Ginger off to fetch the kids.

What worthless friends.

Andie did not turn to Mark. Instead, she stood there in the disappearing light, watching Roni and Ginger walk Hunter and Maggie over the dunes, where they would deposit them home safe and sound. And she wanted to cry. She wanted someone to make her feel safe and sound. And she did not want to finish anything with Mark. Because she honestly had no idea what that would even entail.

“Are you going to at least acknowledge that I’m here?” he finally asked, his voice as hard as she wanted hers to be.

She merely shook her head. No. She was not.

She started walking slowly down the beach in the direction her friends had gone, fighting the tears that begged to be released.

CHAPTER FOUR

M
ark remained where he was, his shoes in hand and his pant legs rolled up above his ankles, taking in the slow, carefully modulated movements of Andie’s stride. At least she wasn’t running from him.

He figured he could either walk away and forget why he’d come — which would definitely be the easiest thing to do — and thus spend the remainder of his time on the island avoiding her, or he could go after her and force the conversation they needed to have. But the decision had to be made right then. Whatever he did, it would impact the remainder of the trip.

If he walked away, it would be over. For good. No more conversations, no more Andie.

That thought jabbed a pinprick of pain at the base of his chest.

But if they talked …

He watched her, studied her stiff posture as she moved. If he forced a conversation, she would fight it. She wouldn’t want him to see her pain, but he knew it was there. Of course he knew. He’d caused it. He’d caused his own in return. And then he’d reopened everything by showing up on Turtle Island.

He nodded to himself. They had to talk, though chances were good nothing was truly fixable at this point.

And then there was the other issue.

The one where he wanted to beg her forgiveness and ask for another chance. And how ridiculous was that? But as he’d watched her laugh and have fun out here on the beach, he’d been reminded of those early days, of the dreams he’d made with her. She’d once been that happy with him. She’d danced every night whether music was playing or not. And he’d built his world around dreams of the two of them growing old together. Raising a family together. He’d even planned to have a weekend home on the beach, just for her.

And he’d given it all up in the blink of an eye.

He’d never really doubted his decision until tonight, but as he’d stood watching her, his insides had howled at the injustice of it all. Had he given up too easily?

Was it too late to find out?

Was he a moron for even having the thought?

Yes.

“Andie,” he called out. Maybe it was too late for them, but she did deserve an apology.

She didn’t turn, but she did stop walking. It was so dark now that she was merely one of the shadows, but he could see her well enough. She was soft and curvy, standing there with the loose skirt of her dress billowing around her knees and her bare feet digging in the sand. She had the ankle bracelet on, too. The one she’d always worn. Something about it had always added to the need he’d felt to protect her.