Wind Chime Café (A Wind Chime Novel) (27 page)

He nodded. “It helps to have an extra set of hands.”

“I can imagine.”

“Annie.”

Her gaze flickered back up to his.

He took her hand, prying the receipts from her fingers. “Ryan invited us out on his boat to watch the sunset. Can you come?”

“Ryan’s boat?” she asked, struggling to concentrate when he brushed his thumb gently over her knuckles.

He nodded. “It might be the last time we can get out before winter sets in. Ryan wants to show us a few of the projects he’s been working on. Taylor will love it.”

Annie drew her hand back, catching the surprise and disappointment in his eyes. “I wish I could say yes, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I have a meeting with Shelley Needham, the principal at Taylor’s school, in an hour.”

Disappointment shifted quickly to concern. “Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just a standard meeting. We agreed to check in once a week, talk about how things are going.”

“But everything’s okay?” he pressed.

“Yes. Everything’s fine. Shelley just wants to stay on top of the situation. Becca fills her in on everything that happens in class and we discuss Taylor’s overall progress both at school and at home.” She took a deep breath, looking away. “In case…”

“In case
what
?”

“In case anything like this ever happens again.”

Will’s jaw hardened. She caught the flash of anger, the cold fury that swam into his eyes. He had spent the last ten years of his life hunting down the people who’d murdered his mother and sister. The thought that something so cold-blooded would happen at home, in a school, to innocent children, wasn’t easy to swallow.

“It makes me angry, too,” she said quietly. “But it helps to talk about it. These weekly meetings with Shelley are the one chance I get to discuss Taylor’s progress with someone face-to-face, someone who cares about getting it right as much as I do.”

“Taylor doesn’t go with you to the meetings?”

“She does sometimes,” Annie admitted. “Della offered to watch her for me last week, but she’s got a church meeting tonight, so I’ll probably take her.”

“I could watch Taylor for you tonight.”

“Thanks,” Annie said, reaching for the receipts, “but I’ve got it covered. Shelley downloaded a bunch of games on her laptop. Taylor has no problem popping in a pair of earplugs and tuning us out.”

“You’d rather she play computer games than come out for a ride on Ryan’s boat with me?”

Annie looked up at him. “She’s not going out on the water without me.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” Why was Will doing this? He’d made it clear he didn’t want anything permanent. She was trying really hard to keep things light and simple between them. He wasn’t helping by asking to hang out with Taylor without her. “Because I don’t feel comfortable.”

“It’s just a boat ride, Annie. If she’s going to grow up on this island, she needs to get out on the water. She needs to start learning about the Bay.”

“And we’ll get out on the water,
together
, another time.”

“You don’t trust me.”

Annie took a deep breath. “It’s not that I don’t trust you.”

Will walked around the counter and took her shoulders in his hands, turning her to face him. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you to keep her safe.”

“Then, what is it?”

How could she tell him she didn’t want her daughter hanging out with him because she was afraid Taylor would get too attached and start looking up to him as some sort of father figure?

“Becca will be there,” Will said. “Ryan, Colin, and I will be there. Both of Ryan’s dogs will be there. You know how much she loves spending time with those dogs.”

Annie looked out at the porch, where Taylor was sprawled out on the floorboards laughing while Riley chewed on her hair.

“Trust me,” Will said gently.

Annie looked down at her hands. “She’s not a strong swimmer. I’m going to sign her up for lessons at the YMCA soon. I know she needs to learn. We just haven’t had time yet.”

“Nothing’s going to happen.”

Colin walked out of the kitchen, catching the tail end of their conversation. “I can vouch for Will’s swimming skills, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Will smiled.

Annie felt herself cave. She knew Taylor would love to go out on the boat. It wasn’t fair to make her stay inside and play computer games when she could be out on the water, watching the sunset. “You’ll bring her back as soon as the boat ride is over?”

Will nodded.

“And you’ll make sure she’s wearing a life jacket.”

“Of course.”

“And you won’t leave her side.”

“I won’t leave her side.” He took her hand, leading her out from behind the counter.

“Hey, kiddo,” he said to Taylor when they got to the porch. “Want to go for a boat ride?”

Taylor sat up, her eyes widening. “A boat ride?”

He nodded. “We might even put a few lines in the water, see if we can get a fish to bite.”

Taylor looked up at Annie expectantly. “Mom?”

Annie slipped her daughter’s jacket off the coat rack by the door. “You can go, but you have to promise you’ll be careful.”

“I promise!” Taylor scrambled to her feet, grabbing her jacket. She stuffed her hands into the arms, looking up at Will. “Can Riley come?”

“Of course.”

Riley jumped up, wagging her tail. Taylor followed Colin down the steps, heading toward the marina with the dog on her heels.

Annie’s gaze fell to Taylor’s broom, lying on the floor, forgotten.

Will squeezed her hand. He bent down to pick it up, and dropped a light kiss on her lips before heading down the steps. When he caught up with Taylor and Colin, Taylor glanced over and noticed her broom in his hand.

Annie waited for her to reach for it, to take it from him and drag it along the sidewalk through the leaves. Instead, she reached for Will’s hand.

“Isn’t that a sight?” Della murmured.

“He’s leaving,” Annie breathed. “In two weeks.”

Della was silent for a long time as she watched them walk down the street toward the marina. “You’re sure about that?”

Annie looked over at Della. “His career is in San Diego.”

“Lots of people change careers,” Della said lightly.

Not Navy SEALs, Annie thought, looking back at her daughter and Will holding hands. Especially not one who’d dedicated his life to going after the people who’d killed his family.

“Besides,” Annie said. “I need him to leave. I need him to sell the inn to Morningstar so I can open my French restaurant.”

“Is that really still what you want?” Della asked, her voice sad.

“Yes.” Annie nodded. Of course, it was. Wasn’t it? “You knew this was only temporary.”

The wind picked up, the chimes singing in the salty autumn breezes.

“I know,” Della said quietly. “I just keep hoping you’ll change your mind.”

W
ill kept Taylor’s small hand in his as they motored out of the marina. The setting sun painted the marsh grasses a fiery copper. Fingers of water snaked in and out of the meandering shoreline. Flocks of Canada geese flew overhead, their calls filling the sky.

Taylor’s face was turned up to the pink clouds, her wispy red hair flying out in the wind. Her broom was lying at their feet. She hadn’t reached for it since they’d left the café. He wished Annie could see her. He wished she could see how relaxed and happy she was.

Whenever he thought about what had happened to Taylor at that school in D.C., a hard knot of anger formed in the pit of his stomach. He had joined the SEALs to protect this country, to prevent another attack like 9/11 from happening, to make sure that no one else lost their mother and sister to terrorism. But Taylor had been through her own personal war here at home.

Who was here to protect her?

Becca walked over, leaning against the railing on the other side of Taylor. “Ryan’s telling Colin the story about the time you guys went crabbing in your grandfather’s canoe and tipped it over.”

Will looked back at where Colin and Ryan stood at the helm laughing. “There are
two
versions of that story.”

Becca smiled and lifted the top of the cooler, fishing out a soda for Taylor. “You might want to set the record straight.”

Taylor let go of his hand to take the soda, and Will caught the beer Becca tossed to him. Twisting the cap off, he strolled back to the helm.

“We’d been out on the water for a few hours,” Ryan was saying, “catching maybe five or six crabs at a time.”

Will leaned a shoulder against the center console.

“We had this old bushel basket sitting between us,” Ryan said. “It was wet and kind of soggy at the bottom, but neither of us paid much attention to it. It held the crabs; that’s all that mattered.”

Will took a sip of his beer, remembering all the carefree days he and Ryan had spent out on the water, fishing and crabbing and chasing after girls on sailboats.

Ryan lifted his hand, waving to three fishermen in a yellow boat heading back to the marina. “We’d filled the bushel about halfway, and Will was leaning over the side of the canoe pulling up the trot line, when a tiny crab, probably half the size of my hand—”

“It was at least three times that size,” Will cut in.

Ryan looked back at Colin. “This
tiny
crab pinched Will’s toe and he let out this huge shout and started kicking his leg to try to get it off. I tried to help—”

“You did not try to help.”

“He was flailing around—”

“I did not flail,” Will corrected. “I have
never
flailed.”

Ryan’s shoulders shook with laughter. “He knocked the bushel over and the bottom fell out. At least three dozen live crabs escaped into the canoe.”

Colin laughed. “Who jumped out first?”

“Will,” Ryan said at the same time Will said, “Ryan.”

Will shook his head while Colin laughed louder and Ryan launched into another story about their childhood. To this day, neither one of them would admit to being the first who’d bailed.

When the canoe had tipped, they’d lost the crabs, both paddles, and Will’s grandfather’s favorite fishing rod.

His grandfather had not been happy when he’d found out.

Especially since Will and Ryan had both been grounded the day before and shouldn’t have even been out in the canoe. He couldn’t remember what they’d been grounded for now, but it was probably something stupid like putting a toad fish in Grace’s backpack or a bag of bloodworms in Becca’s locker.

Looking out at the water, Will took another pull from his beer. He’d forgotten how simple life could be, how easy it was to grow up on this island. Before he’d come back here, that time in his life had felt like a million years ago. Now, out on the Bay with two of his childhood friends, it didn’t seem so far away anymore.

He thought about Becca who hadn’t left the island except to get her teaching degree, and Ryan who’d left and come back. They had both chosen this life, and even though Becca said she was marrying Tommy and moving to D.C. next year, Will had his doubts.

She was happy here. And so was Ryan.

A sudden overwhelming desire to stay, to become a part of this place again, swept through him. He thought he’d changed too much to come back here. He hadn’t considered how easy it would be to fall back into a rhythm with the friends he’d left behind.

“We used to spend hours catching bait fish off Will’s dock,” Ryan said, his hand resting on the wheel as they motored toward the open Bay. “We’d fill big buckets of water with perch and leave them overnight to take out fishing the next day, but Will’s sister would go down at sunset and feed them little bits of bread. She’d take her dolls with her and let them play with the fish. By the time we were ready to take the fish away the next morning she’d grown so attached to them, she’d make us throw them all back.”