Searching for Moore (30 page)

“He is just beautiful to watch.” Seth stopped just short of drooling.

Holly looked at Mia, “He must’ve been amazing when you two were in school.”

“He was the rising superstar,” Mia confirmed, “In his freshman year, the coaching staff was already talking to him about being team captain. He’s just a natural athlete.”

They watched him bouncing the ball with his racquet, getting ready for a serve. Just a few weeks of playing and Schooner was already formidable again on the courts.

“They used to clock his serves at over 140 MPH.” Mia looked at him, still in awe.

“Holly, Holly!” Paola came running up to them and Holly scooped up her new little friend. Gaby and Charles were several yards behind.

“Damn, you’re getting bigger by the week.” Charles greeted Mia.

“I’d say something nasty to you, except it’s true.” Mia laughed, hugging him and Gaby.

They all stood watching Schooner for a few minutes. “I am never getting on a court with him.” Charles mumbled.

“He moves so gracefully.” Gaby commented, “He is so tall, but he almost floats out there.”

“Where did you tell Schooner to meet us?” Charles asked Mia.

She pointed, “Just right across the street at The Albatross.”

They started toward The Albatross, but Mia hung back for a minute watching Schooner cover the courts with his lithe grace. His agility was truly a sight to behold as he slammed a return at his opponent.

She wondered if she’d ever get over the rush she felt at just the sight of him. It was the same heart stopping flash today as it was walking up the path to Brewster Hall when he turned around and smiled at her coming toward him. He had looked at her, head slightly cocked to the side, with a look on his face of both bewilderment and excitement. Her heart had skipped a beat at just a glimpse of his oxygen-stealing smile. He was so beautiful, but it wasn’t just that, there was something in his eyes that said he had the spirit to run with her.

Mia caught up to them on the small outside deck at the front of The Albatross, or the “Tross”, as it was known on the island.

“We ordered some Cajun Calamari,” Seth informed her, “and I got you water.”

“Not Iced Tea?” Mia pouted.

“No BBC, you should not be having caffeine.” Mia made a face at Seth.

“You two are very funny.” Gaby laughed.

“I’m surrounded by men who want to control me,” Mia complained, “including this little devil.” She tickled her stomach, causing the baby to move and her stomach to do the wave.

They all laughed. “Do that again.” Charles requested.

Mia got Paola’s attention, “Paola, do you want to see the baby dance?” Paola nodded vigorously, pigtails bouncing. Mia tickled her belly and the baby scurried to the other side. They all laughed and Paola came over and started to tickle Mia’s belly.

Schooner came up to the table and stood there watching with a huge smile on his face as Paola tickled Mia. Mia looked up at his handsome smiling face with a beaming smile of her own.

He bent down and gave her a big sweaty kiss and put his racquet down. “Kick butt out there?” Charles asked.

“Oh yeah, annihilated him,” they high fived, “I just signed up for a tournament.” Schooner was back in his element and the happiness beamed off of him like a solar flare.

Mia turned to Holly and winked. Mia knew she was wondering who this man was.

The waiter delivered the drinks to the table and Schooner immediately downed his water, “What time is everyone getting in today?” He grabbed a menu from the center of the table.

“Jared’s going to be on the 2:30 Ferry.” Holly was all smiles and anticipation.

Seth pulled out his iPad, “Yoli and Kami are hoping to make the 4:10, if not, they said they’d definitely be on the 5:10.”

“Perfect timing for cocktails.” Charles concurred.

This was it, finally the big beach bash for Mia’s 41st birthday. Lobsters and steamers and corn on the cob on the beach. She looked for Schooner’s hand under the table and squeezed it. He looked at her with an “Are you ok look?” and she just nodded and smiled. She was more than ok. She was experiencing the brimming heart syndrome that Schooner knew well from falling in love with Mia.

Stuffed with buttery lobster as the sun was setting, Yoli sat down next to Mia on the deck.

“You know our boy sold me a bill of goods,” she confided in Mia.

“Rut-roh…” Mia was not quite sure with what Yoli was going to hit her.

Yoli smiled, running a hand through her bright red hair that was now standing straight up from the humid beach air, “The guy gives me all of California to run and this is how you people are living.”

Mia laughed, “I know people think California is La-La Land! They clearly have not spent a summer here.”

“This is amazing. It is like no place I have ever been before. I’m really glad you are getting to take care of yourself and the baby and spend the summer out here, Mia.”

Mia looked into Yoli’s big brown eyes and reached for her hand and squeezed it. “As crazy as he makes me sometimes, that man is the most amazing gem in the world. I have never met anyone with such a deep sense of responsibility for those he loves.”

They were both looking at Schooner across the deck talking to Jared and Charles. “He’s the best friend I’ve ever had, Mia. And it’s really refreshing that you don’t have an issue with that.” Mia knew she was referring to CJ’s disdain for their relationship. Mia gave her hand a squeeze and Yoli reciprocated, “And what’s so wonderful is I finally see him as one whole person. The way he’s always been with me is the way he is 100% of the time now. He’s not so conflicted anymore.”

Schooner looked at them across the deck holding hands and talking and his heart was soaring in seeing the harmony amongst the people he loved the most in his life, “I’m in so much trouble,” he said to Charles and Jared, indicating the two women. They laughed.

Across the deck, Yoli and Mia laughed, “You’ve got that right.” Mia yelled at him. “He’s freaking out right now.” Evil laughter came from the two women, who just looked at each other smiling.

“So, tell me about Zac.” Mia asked Yoli. Yoli leveled a glance at Mia. “That bad, huh?”

Yoli shook her head and exhaled. “You’re going to want to like him because it’s like looking at a young Schooner. So for you, I can imagine it might be even more intense — because you have memories of Schooner at that age. But make no mistake, Zac is not a young Schooner.”

Mia cocked her head, taking it in, as Yoli continued, “Schooner is intense, but if he loves you, he loves you. That’s the way he’s made. If you cross him, watch out, because he can be deadly.” Mia’s eyes were wide, not blinking, as she listened to Yoli, “I’ve seen people cross him in business, Mia and I would not want to be on the other end of that wrath. But with Schooner, it has to be provoked for him to go there. He goes into protect mode. It’s reactive, not proactive.”

Mia nodded, “Schooner is very protective of what or who he feels is his.”

Yoli agreed, “But it comes from a place of love with Schooner and you know that, so there’s a way to wrap your head around it,” she paused, thinking, “Zac doesn’t have that inherent goodness that Schooner does. He’s arrogant, entitled, calculating, manipulative, rude, dismissive…”

She paused and Mia couldn’t pass up the opportunity, “And those are just his good qualities,” they both laughed.

“There’s just something missing behind those beautiful blue eyes.” Yoli finished.

“A heart?” Mia asked, seriously.

Yoli nodded, “And there’s a very wide mean streak.”

“I want to meet him, because I want things to be whole in Schooner’s life again.”

Yoli just shook her head, “Not going to happen, Mia. I mean, yes, at some point you will meet him. He’ll be back east in the fall to go back to Exeter, but what you and Schooner have with Holly, you will never have with Zac. So, promise me this, you will not beat yourself up over it, because that leopard is never going to change his spots.”

It was almost dusk as Charles carried a sleeping Paola in his arms and he and Gaby bid the rest of the party a goodnight.

Sitting out on the deck, under the stars, everyone in shorts and sweatshirts, Mia asked Seth, “Are you going to take everyone out to Cherry Grove dancing tonight?”

“But BBC, it’s your birthday.”

Mia smiled at him, “That is exactly why I think you, Kami, Yoli, Holly and Jared should go catch a water taxi to The Grove and dance until some ungodly hour. Just make sure you return Holly and Jared safely.”

“Are you sure?” Seth triple checked.

“Don’t make me hurt you.” Mia threatened.

When the five finally left for a night of partying Fire Island style, Mia turned to Schooner and wrapped her arms around his waist (they weren’t wrapping around quite as far, now that her stomach was putting more distance between the two of them). He kissed the top of her head and they made their way out onto the deck off of their bedroom and she curled up in his lap on an Adirondack chair, his long legs stretched out with his feet perched up on the deck rail.

“This is the first time we’ve been alone all summer,” he played with her curls that refused to stay straight in the sea air.

Mia smiled, “This — right here, right now — is my birthday present. Me. You. The beach. The stars. Alone. It does not get more perfect than this, Schooner.”

He tightened his arms around her, “You are correct, Baby Girl.”

They stayed like that for a long while, listening to the waves lick the shore. This was their calm before the storm and they both recognized that. The fall would bring the opening of L9/NYC and the winter would bring the baby. Both would churn their lives in ways they could only imagine. For now, it was just the two of them celebrating Mia’s birthday, savoring their happiness.

“I have something for you.” Schooner whispered. Mia got up off of his lap and he went into the house. He came out with a large manila envelope.

They sat down again and he handed her the envelope. “Happy Birthday, Baby Girl. I love you more than anything in this world.”

Mia kissed him and opened the envelope. She pulled out a half inch of papers bound together with a large silver clip. She held them up in a stream of light from the house that was flooding the deck, so that she could read what they said. It was the deed to the beach house. Schooner had put the entire house in her name.

She looked at him and he was smiling. She kissed him softly. There was so much she wanted to say to him, this man who was so serious about taking care of what was his. This was his protection for her and their unborn baby. He was leaving nothing to chance this time. She brought his hand to her mouth and kissed it. Her eyes never leaving his. “I love you,” she mouthed.

“Smoochal,” he mouthed back.

Mia stood and extended a hand to Schooner, he took it and hand-in-hand they walked in from the deck to their bedroom.

Schooner took Mia’s face in both his hands and kissed her passionately.

“Now can I have the rest of my birthday present?” Mia asked, devil grin on her face.

“Yeah, let’s fuck like wild animals.”

She laughed and grabbed his hand, pulling him to the bed, “Yeah, let’s!”

Twenty-four years after she found it, on her forty-first birthday, Mia finally attained the full realization of her secret dream.

Mia and Seth sat at the kitchen table in the beach house, windows open and a breeze blowing the white sheer curtains. On the table, Mia’s laptop was open and they were Skyping with the gang in the city — Schooner, Yoli and Kami.

“I’m floored at the response on the guest list. Have you guys fed Charles the most updated version. I know he’s going to want to rendezvous with some of these stars personal security to make sure everyone is in sync. I think we should be giving his people twice a week updates at this point and if anything or anyone big pops up in between, just make sure we let him or his organization know.”

“I’ll up my contact with his people to twice a week formal reviews.” Kami wrote down the task.

“Kami, do we only have Isabelle running PR at this point?”

“Yes. Do you want to step it up?”

Mia nodded. “I want you to put both Lisa and Denise on this. Have we been working the Los Angeles press in addition to New York, health & wellness and fashion press?”

“No. We haven’t gone near Los Angeles.”

“Let’s do it. Schooner are you ok with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I think it’s a great idea.”

“From a business standpoint I totally agree. I just don’t want to rock any boats, if you know what I mean.” Mia’s look conveyed her fear of causing more problems for Schooner with CJ and Zac.

“Mia, this is business and you’re right, utilizing the LA press for even more buzz and possibly to alert members and press who will be in New York that week is just a good business idea, so I say we run with it.”

“Ok, we’re going to have three people on PR from now through the event. I told you I was willing to commit all my resources,” she smiled at him her devil grin.

“That’s why I like giving you the business,” he was giving her a pure sex look via Skype.

“Stop it you two or I’m going to get hard!” Seth complained.