Authors: Mariah Stewart
“Dallas?” Grant reached across the table and touched her arm. She was vaguely aware of a flash from somewhere off to her left. “All of a sudden there are a lot of people staring at us.”
“Shit.” She slid her glasses back down onto her face.
“Oh, good move,” he deadpanned. “Now they’ll never know it’s really you.”
“I wasn’t thinking. I should have left them on,” she said, referring to the glasses.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know that they do all that much to disguise you. At first, yeah, you could be any beautiful blonde walking by. But even with the dark glasses, anyone who looks at you for more than a minute is going to realize it’s you.” He took a swallow of beer from the mug he’d been holding, then put it down quietly. “Would you like to leave?”
“How bad is it? I don’t want to look around.”
“It’s … well, it’s pretty much spreading like wildfire, from where I sit. Lots of whispering, then people turning to look this way. Of course, we are sitting at the last table on this side, so maybe they’re looking at something behind me. Or maybe they all just recognized me.” He lowered his voice. “Hey, you think it’s easy being the Dog Rescuer? It’s the same everywhere I go. The whispers. The cameras. Everyone wants a piece of me.”
“I’m sure that must be it.”
He used one of the wet wipes to wash the Old Bay from the crabs off his fingers. “So what do you think? Want to split?”
“I think I want one of those wet things to clean my hands. I smell like … well, like crabs.” She busied herself wiping off both hands. When she finished, she said, “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind? Are you finished …?” She pointed to the few crabs that remained uneaten.
“I’m fine. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“All right then, as long as you—”
“Don’t say it. Just smile, stand up, and walk out as if you are not aware that you’ve suddenly become the main attraction.”
She tossed the wipe onto the table and stood, grabbed her bag from the deck near her feet, and waited for Grant, who, having signaled the waiter, handed over enough cash to cover the check and the tip. Then he took her hand and casually led her to the exit. Several times she was stopped and asked for her autograph, and each time she politely complied.
“Is it always like that?” Grant asked when they got to the car. “People gawking and taking your picture and stopping you every time you go out?”
“Not so much in L.A.,” she replied. “People there are more used to seeing film people. In St. Dennis, people mostly leave me alone, and even the tourists are very considerate. Most of the time, I’m not bothered by anyone. Tonight … I guess one person pulling out their camera just encouraged everyone else to do the same.”
“I’m sorry your dinner was ruined.”
“My dinner wasn’t ruined,” she protested. “It was delicious. Was your dinner ruined?”
“Well, no, not really.”
“It’s no big deal unless it bothered you.”
“I thought I toughed it out pretty well.”
“You did. You were very brave.” She patted him on the shoulder and buckled her seat belt.
“Yeah, well, you know, like I said, I have to deal with this sort of thing all the time, so I’m used to it.”
“That’s what happens when everyone knows your name, pal. It’s the price you have to pay for your fame.”
“So what do you think?” He turned the key in the ignition. “We head back to St. Dennis?”
“Sure.”
“We can stop for ice cream if you want dessert. I heard my sister made something today with raspberries and fudge.”
Dallas groaned. “Your sister is going to be the death of me. And as tempted as I am, I’m trying to limit my visits to Scoop to three per week. I was just there yesterday.”
“Stef’s got a good thing going.” Grant waited for a car to pass before pulling onto the roadway. “She’s worked really hard to get her business off the ground. I’m really proud of her.”
“You should be proud. She’s got a great product and she’s in the right location.” Dallas added, “I’m sure your folks are proud, too.”
“They are. I think they feel a lot better about leaving St. Dennis now that Scoop is doing so well. I think they were worried for a while that she wasn’t going to be able to support herself selling ice cream.”
“Where did they go?”
“They moved to Havre de Grace a couple of years ago. You know my dad was a waterman, like his dad, and his dad before that. But with the Bay having gotten so polluted there for a while and the crab and oyster catch falling off every year, he figured out that he’d need to find something else to do. So he went back to school and majored in environmental studies, got a job with a new outfit that was studying the Bay and how best to bring it back from the brink. One of the areas he’s working on is the Susquehanna watershed. The water that flows down through Pennsylvania
into the Bay has been bringing pollutants, farm waste, insecticides, chemical fertilizers—” He stopped. “Sorry. I could go on and on. As you can guess, my dad’s pretty militant on the subject.”
“No need to apologize. The Bay is … well, it’s the Chesapeake. I remember times when we were kids that the water was cloudy and Berry didn’t want us to go swimming.”
“It’s improved a lot over the past few years. There have been a lot of new regulations and real efforts to clean it up, and from what my dad tells me, the efforts are paying off. This spring the population of blue crabs increased pretty dramatically.”
“So your dad went from catching the blues to saving them.”
“That’s exactly what he says. He’s pretty happy that he made the switch when he did. He loves the Bay, loves everything about it. He said that the Chesapeake took care of our family for the past two hundred years, it was time we started taking care of it.”
“I’m surprised they’d sell the house. I seem to recall it had been in your family for a long time.”
“They didn’t sell it. They rented it out. My mom has all intentions of coming back here someday.” Grant shook his head. “They’d never sell that house. Too many memories, you know?”
“I’m surprised you or Steffie didn’t rent from them.”
“Stef already had her place, and I hadn’t made the decision to move back here when they were looking for a renter.”
Dallas shifted in her seat to better see Grant’s face.
“Didn’t you have a practice already established somewhere else?”
“I did. In Ohio, where we were living, but this just seemed like the right move. I never felt like I belonged in Camden Lakes, the town we settled in. I guess I always knew I’d be back here someday; at least that was always my goal. When my marriage broke up, it seemed like the right time.”
“Is your ex-wife living in Ohio?”
“Yes. She grew up in Camden Lakes. Her whole family is there. There was no question that she’d stay and I’d go.” He shrugged. “Besides, there was no way I was ever going to feel comfortable being around that situation after some other guy moved into my house.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. How ’bout it?”
“She’s remarried?”
He nodded. “Last fall. He’s not a bad guy. I think it would have been easier if I hadn’t liked him as a person. But once I got over the shock that Krista had found a replacement for me—before I knew she was even looking for one—well, I had to admit he was a nice guy, a good guy. I think he cares a lot more about her than I did, to be truthful. And he’s a good stepfather to Paige. Never tries to come between us, never tries to override me, which I appreciate. So I guess it could be worse.”
“Still, that couldn’t have been easy. I mean, I know what it feels like to have your spouse betray you.”
“Well, she had her reasons, and I can’t say that I blame her.”
“Were you …”
“Cheating on her?” He shook his head. “No. I don’t believe in it. I figure, if the relationship is broken to the point where you want to look for someone else, you make a clean break before you start looking. I think we just sort of outgrew each other and I guess she thought there was no other place for her to go but to someone else.”
Dallas wasn’t sure how to respond.
I’m sorry?
Or maybe,
That’s a really mature way to look at it?
Either of which was better than her first inclination, which had been,
At least the press didn’t have a field day with it
.
She decided that this might be one of those times when she was better off saying nothing at all. She turned up the music. The Eagles CD was still playing as they arrived in St. Dennis.
“It’s so early,” he noted. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into ice cream? Or a drink down at Captain Walt’s or maybe at Lola’s?”
She shook her head. “No, thanks. But if you’d like to come in, I can offer you a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Sorry we don’t have any beer to replace the one you left on the table, though.”
“You can buy me a beer some other time.” He made the turn onto Berry’s road, then moments later, into her driveway. “Do you think your aunt is still up? I have some information on the fencing she asked about.”
Dallas stared up at the house. “Her bedroom light is still on. She turns in early, but she’s still awake.”
He stopped the car and they got out. By the time they’d arrived at the front door, Berry was there to open it.
“I wondered who was pulling in the drive and then I remembered that you were out for the evening,” Berry told Dallas. “Hello, Grant. It’s awfully early to call it a night, don’t you think?”
“We had to leave the restaurant.” Dallas led the way into the house. “There were too many gapers.”
“That’s too bad, dear. Next time try a dark wig.” Berry closed the door behind them.
“Miss B, I have the names of several contractors who have been recommended to me for fence installation. You might want to make some calls and get a few estimates.” Grant took a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it over. “The one with the asterisk is Rexana’s brother-in-law.”
“Oh?” Berry unfolded the paper to take a look. “Married to Rexana’s sister Marsha, no doubt. I believe I may have met him a time or two down at Captain Walt’s. The other names …” She scanned them quickly. “None of them ring a bell. Thank you, Grant. I’ll make some calls in the morning.”
Berry started toward the stairwell.
“Berry, want to join us in the kitchen? The choices are wine or coffee.” Dallas stood in the doorway leading to the back of the house.
“Thank you but no. I’m reading and enjoying a cup of herbal tea. Mint always does so much to soothe, you know.”
“I thought that was chamomile,” Dallas said.
“Highly overrated.” Berry wrinkled her nose. “I never cared much for the smell.”
“I’ll see you in the morning, then.” Dallas turned to Grant. “Have you decided what you want?”
“I believe I have,” he said softly.
Dallas backed into the kitchen. “The only choices right now are coffee or wine.”
“What will the choices be later?”
“Stop it.” She laughed and opened the refrigerator and took out the bottle of pinot grigio she and Berry had opened at dinner the night before. “From the Friuli region of Italy. It’s quite good.”
“I’m game.”
Grant went to the back door and unlocked it. He went out onto the porch and disappeared from view. Dallas poured two glasses of wine and took them to the door.
“Grant, would you …” She started to ask him to open the door, but he did so before she finished her sentence. She handed him one of the glasses and said, “Thanks for grabbing the door. Would you like to sit up here on the porch?”
“We did that the other night. Let’s go on down to the river, see what fish are jumping tonight.” He took her free hand.
“We don’t get too many jumping fish out this way.” She walked down the steps slightly behind him. When they reached the bottom step, she asked, “Berry had a spotlight installed last summer. Want me to turn it on so you can see where you’re going?”
“I can see. Besides, it’s more romantic with just the lights from the house.”
“I thought this was supposed to be a just-friends dinner.”
“It was. But dinner’s over.” He led her down to the dock and they walked to the end of the pier just as a boat came around the river’s bend at a leisurely pace.
When Grant waved, the driver sped up and went past them, the wake sloshing against the sides of the dock.
“Do you know that person?” Dallas asked.
“No, but I think I know the boat, so I guess it was just a reflex. Old Carter Harwell was in a few weeks ago with his greyhound and he mentioned his kids didn’t think he should be driving anymore and they talked him into hanging up the keys to the car as well as the boat. He has a property that he rents out, about a half mile upriver from here, and he was thinking about including the boat with the house so the renters could use it. Said he just couldn’t bring himself to sell it. It had been an anniversary gift from his wife, who passed away last year.”
“Maybe that was the renter.”
“Maybe.” Grant took a deep breath of the air that was perfumed with the scent of the lilies that grew in Berry’s garden. “Beautiful night.”
“Mm-hmm.” She took a sip of wine and swallowed hard. There was such an air of anticipation about them both, she could hardly stand it. Someone, she told herself, was in deep denial—probably both of them—for thinking that they could be nothing more than friends.
She knew before he turned her face up to his that a kiss was coming that was going to turn her world upside down, and she tried to brace herself for it. When he found her lips with his, for a split second, she was sixteen again, kissing him for the first time. Back then, she’d waited for weeks for him to make that move. This time, so many years later, the thrill was just as new, the kiss just as perfect. She eased her body into his and he pulled her closer, then closer still. His
breath was fragrant with the wine, and his lips were warm and demanding, and when he parted her lips with his tongue, she invited him in just as eagerly as she had that first time. He teased the corners of her mouth and she couldn’t stop herself from pressing into him, wanting as much of him as she could have in a few brief moments. When he broke from her, it was to take her glass from her hand.
He placed both glasses on the deck, then backed her up against one of the pilings, and she braced herself, leaning back and reaching up for him. Winding her arms around his neck, she pulled him toward her, meeting his lips halfway. She felt him all through her body, as if every vibrating cell remembered him, remembered other nights like this, and responded the only way they knew.