Shady Bay (9 page)

I shook my head, laughing. “You’ll just have to see.” I held the door open for him and he all but ran to the counter. Mercy was sitting nearby at a stool, with thick-framed black glasses on, knitting or sewing or whatever the hell that was that she did. I was glad she was good at it. The bathing suit she’d made and worn the last time I saw her and June at the beach damn near killed me.

“Mercy.”

She looked up and smiled. But when her eyes found Donovan, she lit up like the fourth of July. “Who is this handsome guy?” She batted her lashes. Literally.

Donovan stepped in front of her and held out his hand. Mercy took her glasses off revealing her golden brown eyes, surrounded by thick black lashes. “I’m Donovan. Jax is my uncle and I’m staying with him for the week. My folks are on some mushy anniversary cruise.”

The pair shook hands and Donovan didn’t let hers go. She blushed and looked briefly at me with widened eyes. “Well, I’m glad
you’re staying with Jax. You guys will have a lot of fun together. There are a ton of things to do here at the beach.”

“Like what?” Donovan narrowed his eyes in a challenge.

“Oh, there are so many things! There are amusement parks that sit right on the ocean, there’s mini-golf, parasailing, shelling, sandcastle-building, bocce ball on the beach, and you can’t forget the most important thing.”

His eyes grew wide. “What’s the most important thing?”

“Swimming in the ocean! The waves are so much fun. Oh, and maybe Jaxon can take you fishing off the pier! I’ve heard you can catch sharks that way.”

“Sharks! Can we go fishing for sharks, Uncle Jax? Please?!”

“Sure, little man, but only if Mercy goes with us.”

Donovan bounced on his toes. “Can you go with us, Mercy? Please?”

“I have to work every day and evening this week. I’m so sorry. Can you still take him, Jax?”

“Well, how about I just give you an evening off and then you can come with us. A couple of the servers that were with us for the season last year
are back and could use a shift or two.”

Mercy pushed her hair back behind her ears. “I really need the shifts, though.”

“One evening. Take one night off. Come fishing with us. Please?” I pouted my lips and blinked sadly.

“Please?” Donovan parroted, mimicking my facial expressions.

Mercy smiled. “Okay.”

“Sweet!” Donovan jumped.

“What are you boys doing for dinner tonight? I close at Shady tonight. So, I could cook for you before I have to leave.”

Donovan jumped at that offer and requested lasagna and garlic bread. Mercy gave us a list of ingredients and we took off toward the grocery store. We’d decided that Mercy would come to my place after she got off work.

Celeste was running
a little late. She came through the shop’s front door at five twenty-five p.m. “Sorry sweetie. I just read at a private residence and lost track of time.”

“I didn’t know you read anywhere but here.”

“I usually don’t, but this was for a friend.”

I nodded.

“Do you want a quick reading? Just your palm?”

“Um, sure. I guess. But then I’ve gotta run. I’m cooking dinner for Jaxon and his nephew.”

Celeste grinned at me and I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like that. The little boy is going to starve this week if someone doesn’t take charge. And I make a mean lasagna.”

“Of course, dear. Palm?”

“Which one?”

“Let’s start with your dominant hand, but I need to see both. One shows me what you came into the world with and the other tells me what you’ve been dealt since you’ve been here.”

“Okay.”

She looked at my right hand and then my left, her leathery fingers tracing the lines along my palm. Her bangles jangled with each movement and her chandelier earrings bobbed up and down with each ‘hmmm’ and ‘very interesting.’

“You are very romantic. You lead with your heart. You’re very intelligent, too, but the heart always wins. You guard it because of the heartaches you’ve had.”

“I haven’t had that many boyfriends.”

She laughed. “Heartaches can be caused by anyone you love who hurts you, Mercy-girl.” She straightened up and continued. “You are so strong. Of course, I knew that without looking at your hand.”

“You need to open yourself up to love. You date these boys here and there, but sometimes you don’t see what’s right in front of you.” She laughed, her eyes twinkling. “Or beside you.”

I furrowed my brow. She squinted and grabbed my hand tighter. “Have you ever been sick?”

“Hasn’t everyone?” I laughed.

Celeste didn’t laugh. “I mean really sick, Mercy. Something serious.”

“No. I haven’t. I’m healthy. Always have been.”

She studied the lines more intently, the corners of her mouth pinching together, before she smiled. “Go cook the boys some supper. I’ll give you a real reading another time.”

We kissed
each other’s cheeks and hugged before I gathered up my crochet work and headed out the door. That was weird.

Donovan greeted me from the steps of Jaxon’s porch and though I really wanted to change into something more comfy, I couldn’t disappoint the little guy. So, I headed straight to Jaxon’s to whip up some Italian magic.

I let Donovan help me brown the ground beef and add in the sauces and spices that made it so much better. Donning an anatomically-correct apron of Michelangelo’s David, in which his head replaced the sculptures, I tried my best not to laugh at him or look at his apparel.

“Mom never lets me cook. She says I’ll burn myself.”

“Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t let you. Or maybe you can listen carefully to everything I say and cook up a masterpiece so that she will know you are a man and can help in the kitchen of a woman.”

“Yeah. I like the second one.”

Jax stood nearby watching us with his narrow hip resting on the counter’s edge, a sexy smirk on his face. He was dressed in loose-fitting jeans and a plain white t-shirt.

“Talked to Brody today.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“You didn’t mention the incident from the other night when I talked to you this morning.”

I waved him off. “It wasn’t a big deal. I took care of the little...” I looked at Donovan. “...problem.”

“You could’ve been hurt, Mercy. You shouldn’t have gone outside.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I prepared for battle. “I’ve known how to shoot since I was twelve and I’m da...rn good at it. Trust me. I wasn’t in danger. The only one in danger was the maggot that messed with June.”

He huffed. “I wish I’d been there.”

“You shoot?” Donovan asked, his eyes wide.

“Yes.”

“What do you shoot? Arrows? Guns? Both!?”

“I know how to shoot guns. I’ve never tried arrows, but the crossbows at the pawn shop look pretty badass. Oops. Sorry. I didn’t mean to curse in front of you, buddy.”

Donovan puffed up his chest. “I’m a man, damn it! Cuss all you want.”

I giggled and looked to Jaxon who was laughing, too.

“Better lay off those words, buddy. Girls, especially hot girls, don’t like guys who talk like sailors.”

“Really? Mercy, do you like guys who talk nice?”

“It’s true. I love guys who talk nice, especially in front of ladies.” I pursed my lips together.

“Okay.”

Donovan stirred the sauce in the pot with a wooden spoon. “Hey, Mercy?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re really pretty. Don’t you think she’s hot, Uncle Jax?”

My cheeks warmed and I laughed slightly and shifted my feet. Jaxon’s voice caught my attention. “Yeah, I do, buddy. She’s beautiful.”

Two evenings later
, Jaxon, Donovan, and I walked onto the pier. Its planks were dried, and warm underfoot. These boys weren’t just here to have fun. They meant business. Jaxon had rented enormous fishing poles, and the fish in their bait bucket were nearly big enough to eat. Donovan had repeated the old fisherman’s advice at least seven times since we’d left the truck.

They’d even rented a pole for me. No way I was gonna squish a slimy fish onto a hook, though. After Jaxon set us all up, spaced far enough apart so that the lines wouldn’t get tangled, I curled my bottom lip under and held up my hook.

He laughed and rolled his eyes. His dark hair was longer and shaggy now. It was fun. It was sexy. There wasn’t much about him that wasn’t, truthfully. He baited my hook and was getting ready to demonstrate, when I put my hand on his forearm. “Hand it over. I know how to cast a line, I just don’t like baiting the hook.”

Jaxon handed me the pole with a royal flourish and bow, laughing as I moved over to my spot. He baited Donovan’s hook and was teach
ing him how to cast. I laughed at him. He was so technical about everything. “Oh, you wanna help him, Mercy?”

I shrugged. “Sure. See this button?”

“Yep.”

“Hold your pole back and before you throw it forward, push the button and hold it in. It will release your line. Okay?”

“Okay.”

I asked him to watch me and I cast the line perfectly from the end of the pier. I moved back so I wouldn’t get hooked--just in case--and waited for Donovan to cast his line. He climbed onto the wooden bench a few feet from my pole and cast
ed like a pro. He did a happy dance and cheered, pumping his fist in the air. “Thanks, Mercy!”

I ruffled his fire-engine red hair. “Welcome, buddy.”

Jaxon grinned.

We spent all evening on that pier and only caught two things, a fish that was too small to eat and a sting ray. Jaxon let Donovan reel both in, his muscles straining and his face scrunched in determination and delight. I backed up and let them handle the slimy thing. No way I was getting anywhere near it.

As Jaxon loaded the pickup he had borrowed from Brody with our poles and gear, I helped Donovan climb into the back seat and made sure he buckled up. He didn’t even protest. He was worn out. “I can make you guys some dinner. Not fish, but I can throw something together.”

“You sure?” Jaxon asked.

“Positive. But dinner is at my place tonight, boys.”

“Yes, ma’am,” smarted Jaxon.

An hour later, I had made green beans, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese--for Donovan--and was in the process of mixing salmon cakes. They were just like crab cakes, only they used salmon instead. My mom had made them for me when I was little. I’d helped her mix the ingredients. Of course, that was long before everything went to hell.

I poured oil into the skillet and let it heat up before easing each patty into the sizzling golden liquid. When I placed the final patty, hot, molten grease splashed onto my fingers. I screamed and time ticked slowly until my brain kicked in and I ran to the sink, turning on the cold water and submerging my hand.

My right ring finger and pinky were already turning red from the burn. I felt like my skin was still on fire. Jaxon ran in from the living room, where he and Donovan had been reminiscing about their fishing adventure and how they would catch Jaws the next time. “What’s wrong?”