The Driftwood Promise Read online

  “Besides,” he continued, “I thought we were going to stay up and watch the stars come out.”

  She shifted her gaze to Gideon. The way he held her gaze, begging her to stay….

  He needed something from her. What, she had no idea, and she doubted he did, either. That scared her. A jesting, nonchalant man she could handle, but one fighting an emotional battle that tugged at her heartstrings was dangerous. She was alone for a reason, even if watching her brother fall in love with Hope tempted her to forget that.

  “Fine,” she said with dramatic exasperation. “I’ll stay a bit longer.”

  “Don’t make me twist your arm or anything,” Gideon teased.

  The return of some of the playfulness that had captured her attention at their families’ summer solstice party made it easier to reach into her brother’s fridge and pull out the pitcher of lemonade. She grabbed three glasses and filled them.

  “No arm twisting necessary,” she said as she handed a glass to Gideon and nodded her head toward Owen’s deck.

  The men followed her outside, and she perched a safe distance away on the railing while they took seats at the glass-topped table to enjoy a cold lemonade on a sultry night. Erin studied Gideon covertly, but he seemed to have pushed his worries away for the time being, and she let out a breath. As much of a relief as it was to see him smiling again—even if some of the twinkle was missing from his eyes—she couldn’t quiet the sympathy triggered by his vulnerability. It was the same ache she’d felt deep in her soul watching her brother suffer.

  Sighing, she took a long drink of lemonade. I hope I don’t end up regretting not walking away when I had the chance.

  Two

  Gideon stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles, and knitted his hands behind his head. As twilight deepened and the stars began to appear, winking against the indigo, the day’s heat finally abated, chased out by a cool sea breeze. Around Owen’s deck, flames danced in the half dozen lanterns fixed to the railing. It wasn’t the same as when he or Hope or Christian lit dozens of candles and lanterns on the deck of their family’s cottage the first night home, but it reminded him of it. Maybe tomorrow, when Hope and Daphne returned from Montana, he’d be able to indulge in that magical tradition. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it tonight. Not without Liam.

  He reached for his lemonade, drained the rest of it, and set the empty glass back on the glass-topped table.

  He shifted his gaze to Owen’s sister, who was currently perched several feet away on the railing, gazing across the ocean. What a stunning picture she made with the blue-green twilight as an exquisite backdrop and the warm glow of a nearby lantern outlining the contours of her face. Suddenly, he wished he’d thought to bring his camera.

  A light flickered in the gloom of his mind—a delicate spark of interest. As soon as he acknowledged it, it flared to life, brighter than it had at their first meeting on the summer solstice. What was it about Erin McKinney that had captured his attention that night and held it every day since? With long, sun-gilded brown hair, a youthful face, and a toned, athletic body, she was beautiful. But so was Hannah. His ex was stunning, in fact, and if she was of a mind to cash in on it, she could be gracing the covers of magazines, maybe even the silver screen.

  No, there was something else about Erin that drew his attention. It was her eyes. The same blue-green as the sun-caught barrel of a wave, they exuded innocent delight but were also tempered by the shadows of some deep-seated wariness. Right from the moment Owen had introduced them, he’d sensed that she was hard to get close to, that she liked to keep people at arm’s length. Maybe it was the challenge of peeling back her defenses that so appealed, but he doubted it.

  Abruptly, he turned his gaze higher, toward the glittering stars. He drew the thick coastal air deep into his lungs and let it out in a contented sigh. “God, I love it here.”

  “Are you seriously thinking about moving here?” Owen asked. “Hope said you were considering it.”

  “I am. I have so many fond memories of this place. I’d love for Liam to grow up here and make his own.”

  As soon as he mentioned his son, he wished he hadn’t. The familiar ache returned, and he winced. He glanced at Owen and found sympathy in the other man’s gaze, but rather than easing that ache, the reminder of what Owen had lost did the opposite. Even without Liam here to need a playmate, it was weird not having Sean around. And Samantha… Generous, incredible Sam.

  He mourned their beautiful souls. He couldn’t say he’d known them well, but he and Hannah and Liam had spent enough time with Owen and his family that he thought of them as his friends. With their house just two doors away from his family’s cottage, it was only natural that the two men, who were the same age and had sons the same age, would come together.

  Of course, looking back, spending time with them hadn’t always been beneficial. Next to Sam’s confidence and graciousness, Hannah’s juvenility had been more apparent than ever.

  And that day Sean and Liam had slipped down to Hidden Beach by themselves? Three and a half years later, the memory still infuriated him. Hannah was supposed to have been watching them while Gideon helped Owen and Sam cook dinner. Sensing something wasn’t right, he’d walked out on the deck to check on the boys and had found her sitting at the very table where he sat now, texting her sister and oblivious to the fact that her son and their friends’ son had vanished.

  Gideon had never been so panicked in his life, and after they’d found the boys safe and sound building rudimentary sand castles, he’d laid into Hannah for her irresponsibility. She’d bawled, of course, and he’d felt guilty afterward, but that day had been a turning point for him. He hadn’t trusted her with their son since.

  After that, it had been impossible to ignore—no matter how much he wished it weren’t true—that Hannah was more like Liam’s apathetic older sister than his mother. She’d gotten pregnant at twenty only a few weeks after they’d started dating, and he wished he could blame her age. But he couldn’t anymore. She was twenty-eight now, plenty old enough to step up and start acting like an adult.

  “All right. I’m hungry,” Owen announced, rising from the table. He snatched Gideon’s empty glass. “That picnic lunch Erin and I had in the kayaks wore off a while ago, so how about I bring out some snacks? Gideon, you hungry?”

  He started to say no, but his stomach had other ideas. “Actually, yes, I could eat. Thanks.”

  Owen walked over to his sister to take her empty glass, and for almost a minute after he went inside, Gideon thought Erin planned to remain silent. Then she hopped down from the railing, sauntered over, and settled into the chair Owen had vacated.

  “You’re sure you don’t want me to leave?” she asked. “I’d understand if you did.”

  “Positive. Why would I want you to go?”

  “I don’t know. I thought maybe you’d want to talk to Owen alone. Discuss father things.”

  “I enjoy your company as much as your brother’s, you know. And to be honest, talking with a woman who isn’t making my life a living hell might be rather beneficial.”

  She lowered her gaze to the table. He couldn’t be sure if it was shyness or something else that made her do it, but he smiled. “I appreciate your concern. And your compassion. It’s refreshing.”

  Frowning, she lifted her eyes to meet his again. “I can’t imagine how hard this must be.”

  “It’s not like she wants to be a parent, so I don’t get why she’s fighting me for custody,” he muttered, unsure if he was talking to himself or asking for Erin’s opinion. “I wasn’t ready to be a father, and certainly not with her, but that’s what happened. Life throws you a curveball, and you deal with it.”

  “You think she’s doing this to spite you?”

  “I know she is. She’s making everything as difficult as she can. I wouldn’t care if she did it behind closed doors where Liam couldn’t see, but she’s doing it in front of him.”

  He dragg
ed his hands over his face.

  “Is that why Liam didn’t come with you?”

  Nodding, he dropped his hands into his lap and hunched over his legs. “She knew I’d be coming home today, but when I got to her apartment to get him, she wasn’t home. So I called her, and she told me she and Liam were already at her sister’s in San Francisco. She wanted to head down earlier than planned. Okay, fine. Why didn’t she call me so I could swing by the city and get him on my way home? It was out of my way, but not that far out. And why did she want to take him with her, anyhow? He hates going to his aunt’s house, and I can’t blame him. Emma’s always been pretty nasty to him.”

  With anger tightening its grip around his chest and making it hard to breathe, he tipped his head back. Closing his eyes, he drew as deep a breath as he could and let it out. “Tell me she isn’t being spiteful. And since I don’t have a court order that says she has to bring him back, there’s nothing I can do about it. Oh, she’ll get tired of him soon enough and expect me to drop everything and go get him.”

  “And you will because he’s your son and he needs you.”

  He lifted his head again and nodded, his eyes locked on the lantern flickering beyond Erin’s shoulder. “She acted like it was such an inconvenience to take Liam for a week while I went down to San Diego to shoot my cousin’s wedding, and she made me out to be the bad guy. I already felt bad enough, but it wasn’t something I could bring him to. And even if I could have, he would’ve been absolutely miserable. No kids, just a bunch of drunk adults. Plus two days in the car each way, me running around taking pictures all day for three days straight, and a god-awfully uncomfortable couch or the floor to sleep on.”

  “Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. You shouldn’t have to explain yourself to her, either,” Erin remarked. “She should want to spend time with her son.”

  “She should, but I’m not going to hold my breath. I’d die of asphyxiation long before that happened. She’s made it too clear too many times that she has no desire to play Mommy. Which, fine, I get that. But she is a mother, and she needs to either let me have him or step—”

  He snapped his mouth closed.

  It was like she’d flipped a switch. Her demeanor shifted that quickly from sweet sympathy to delightful mischief.

  “Is that why you still have the Will Turner vibe going on?” she asked. Her eyes sparkled merrily and her lips twisted into a smile that dared him to resist. “To spite her back?”

  Gideon relaxed into his chair, surrendering to his companion’s well-timed and intuitive mood shift. There was that shy sense of humor he remembered from his too-short visit in June. The spark flared again, and despite himself, he chuckled. “Maybe a little bit. It’s grown on me, though.”

  “Literally and figuratively. And Liam likes it, as I recall.”

  He narrowed his eyes with the smile still curving his lips, surprised she remembered that. “He said I have to dress up as a pirate for Halloween this year.”

  “You could totally pull it off.”

  He tilted his head. “Is this your idea of flirting?”

  She sat up. It was a subtle shift in position, but noticeable enough to catch his attention and tickle his curiosity.

  “I don’t flirt.”

  Despite her comment, there was a gleam in her expression that straddled the line between friendly and flirtatious. She was a fascinating blend of innocence and confidence, and while he’d come across that combination before, she was different somehow.

  “My apologies,” he said.

  “For what?”

  “Upsetting you. I didn’t mean to unload on you like that, but you’re very easy to talk to.”

  “So I’ve been told. And you haven’t upset me. I’m happy to listen.” She flashed him another smile. “I’m just not a flirtatious person. Never have been.”

  “Then you fooled me at the summer solstice.”

  “That wasn’t flirting. That was….”

  He waited at least fifteen seconds for her to finish her thought, but she only stared through the windows into the kitchen where her brother was plating something that looked a lot more elaborate than anything Gideon would term “snacks.”

  “That was what?” he pressed, turning back to Erin.

  She met his gaze, and the warmth in her eyes was so inviting and poignant that his pulse accelerated. Another shift in mood, another glimpse into her intriguingly multi-faceted spirit.

  “That was me being giddy for my brother. Do you know that Hope is the first woman he’s dated since Sam died?”

  “I didn’t. Doesn’t surprise me, though. It’d take a long time to move on after a woman like Sam. But my cousin’s a good woman, too.”

  “Yes, she definitely is. I’m glad they found each other.”

  “Me, too.”

  Silence fell over the deck, disturbed only by the peaceful rhythm of the waves braking lazily against the bluffs. It wasn’t the kind of quiet he felt the need to fill with chatter. Rather, he was content to enjoy Erin’s company and the fondness for her brother that radiated from her. There was something else about her, something he sensed more than observed, and it was in the way she sat, so still and alert even when contentment radiated from her, like she was savoring the moment with all five senses. She was constant, and it sharply contrasted his ex’s hummingbird-like flitting.

  She regarded him with a brow lifted. “Find me fascinating?”

  “Riveting.”

  “Uh-huh,” she remarked slowly, angling her head like she either didn’t believe he was serious or didn’t believe he could find her interesting.

  Owen returned then with the snacks—coconut shrimp, a veggie tray, and cheese and crackers—and refills. Perfect timing. Erin accepted her glass and drank the contents with a speed that spoke of someone preparing to make a hasty exit. Gideon wasn’t surprised when she rose from her chair just moments after finishing her lemonade. She piled a few shrimp in her hand and gave them a polite but shallow smile.

  “It’s been a fantastic day,” she said, “but I really do need to head home. Five AM isn’t that far away. It was great seeing you again, Gideon.”

  “Likewise,” he replied.

  “See you on the beach tomorrow evening?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She leaned down to hug her brother and kiss his cheek, and then she vanished down the stairs of the deck and into the night. Gideon stared at her empty chair long after he heard her car start and drive away. Why did it feel like she’d taken the evening’s warmth with her?

  Across from him, Owen watched him with an amused gleam in his eyes, tapped his fingers idly on the rim of his glass, clearly wanting to say something. Gideon took a long drink of his lemonade and waited.

  He didn’t last thirty seconds before curiosity got the best of him.

  “All right, spill it. What are you thinking?”

  “Just wondering what you said to my sister while I was in the house.”

  “You think something I said chased her off?” he asked, afraid that it might be true.

  “Something like that.”

  Gideon slumped and folded his arms on the table. “I said a lot more than I planned to. About Hannah. You think that made her uncomfortable?”

  Owen shook his head and sipped his lemonade, but he never took his eyes off Gideon. “Uncomfortable isn’t the word I’d use. Not in the way you’re thinking.”

  “Then how?”

  “She was excited to see you tonight. She tried to hide it, but she was.”

  He started to ask how that would make her uncomfortable, but he already knew. She preferred to keep people at a safe distance, and there was undoubtedly a reason why. It was tempting to ask Owen what that might be, but he didn’t want to cheat. Wasting so many years of his life trying to hold on to a hollow relationship had shown him beyond a doubt that he wanted more, and the clues he’d been picking up since June made him believe Erin might be exactly that. More. She might even have the capability
for the kind of deep, lasting love that had prevented his father from remarrying after his wife’s death in childbirth. That’s what he wanted—a love so consuming it would fuel his heart for the rest of his life and beyond.

  “I want to ask her out,” he admitted, “but now’s the worst possible time. I’m in the middle of a custody fight that shouldn’t even be a fight, for God’s sake.”

  “But…?”

  Gideon hunched over his knees again for a moment while he gathered his wits. When he straightened again, Owen looked at him expectantly. “She made me laugh tonight when I shouldn’t have been able to. I can’t ignore that. And she’s….”

  More than a minute passed in silence as he wrestled the words to explain what he felt when he wasn’t even sure why he felt it. All he knew was that something had happened in June when he’d watched Erin building that elaborate driftwood fort with Liam and Daphne. Liam hadn’t stopped talking about it since, and it was never the fort at the center of his praise.

  “She’s what?” Owen prompted.

  “She’s a big part of the reason I finally filed for custody of Liam.”

  Three

  “Hey, big brother.”

  Owen dropped his spoon in his clam chowder. “That’s it. I’m eating in my office from now on.”

  Erin rolled her eyes at his teasing. “Oh, come on. I’m not that bad.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re mean. I just wanted to know what you and Gideon talked about after I left last night.”

  “Do you now.”

  “Well, don’t you always say I have a bad habit of pushing people away?”

  “You do.”

  “Well, it seems to me Gideon could use a friend right now, and he’s a nice guy, and… maybe I don’t want to push him away.”

  “You want to know if he’s interested in you,” Owen surmised.