Can't Get Over You (Fortune's Island, Book 2) (7 page)

Jillian laughed. “Nothing like last-minute shopping.”

Darcy waved that off. “You know me. I didn’t want anything fancy for my wedding. Kincaid wouldn’t care if I wore a bathing suit down the aisle, as long as we walked back up it as Mr. and Mrs.”

Jillian was happy for her friend’s upcoming wedding and new life, but a little envious about their happiness. It was the kind of fairy tale most girls dreamed of, the same fairy tale Jillian had thought she had with Zach—

But no.

“Anyway, I also saw a great maid of honor dress. Want to go check it out?” Darcy asked.

Jillian thought of the tuition bill she’d just paid, the car repairs waiting to be paid. “How about after payday?”

Darcy nodded. “Sounds good. We’ll make a day of it. Lunch and shopping. I still feel like I never see you except at work.”

“Sorry,” Jillian said. She still hadn’t developed a ready-made batch of excuses for when people asked her where she was during the day. Either she needed to start telling her friends and family the truth about college, or come up with some time-consuming fictional hobby.

Darcy drew Jillian into a one-armed hug. “One of these days, you’re going to have a Kincaid of your own,” she said. “Maybe this Ethan guy or maybe Zach will get a clue finally. Either way, you gotta have the sparks.”

“Maybe.” Kincaid and Darcy’s relationship was not Jillian and Zach’s. When it counted, Kincaid had fought to keep Darcy in his life. Zach had just let her go. “I had those crazy sparks once before,” Jillian said. “And look where it got me.”

“So you’re going for safe and dependable now? Like trading in the Porsche for a Toyota?”

“I wouldn’t call Ethan a Toyota.” Jillian laughed. “But he is a nice guy. Handsome, polite, treated me amazing.”

“And…” Darcy arched a brow. “Did anything else happen last night?”

“Zach showed up.” Jillian let out a long breath, and fiddled with the salt and pepper shakers. “And he tried to beat Ethan up.”

“What? Really?” Darcy shook her head. “
Zach
? As in, the Zach you dated forever who wouldn’t hurt a fly? The
same guy who mows Mrs. Greenbow’s lawn every week for free? The same Zach who gives a ride to Mitch Connors every Wednesday morning so he can see his granddaughter on the other side of the island? That Zach?”

Zach was a nice guy—there was no one who could doubt or argue against that. Jillian had always liked that about him, how he could be thoughtful and considerate one moment, funny and silly the next. From day one, he’d been the kind of guy who was easy to get along with, easy to like. Easy to love.

Until last night. She’d never seen an angry side to Zach. Maybe she’d been wrong about him after all these years, or maybe she was just letting one jealous moment override eight years of history.

“Do you think it was just that he got really jealous?” Darcy said. “I mean, the guy did love you. Probably still does. It had to be hard to see you out with someone else.”

“Maybe. That’s what I was thinking, too.” Jillian shivered, and wrapped her arms around herself. “It just brought back all kinds of bad memories for me, which is crazy. It wasn’t even the same situation. At all.”

Darcy drew Jillian into a quick hug. “Aw, sweetie, that’s totally normal. I’m just surprised that Zach, of all people, got angry like that. I think he’s really upset about losing you and doesn’t know what to do.”

“Well, he could start with not being a stalker.” Jillian moved to the next table, and straightened the condiments in the repurposed six-pack box. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter to me what Zach does, not anymore.”

“Because you have Ethan now.” Darcy grinned. “So, did anything else happen with Mr. New Guy?”

Jillian blushed. “He kissed me.”

“And…?”

“That’s it.” She shrugged. “Just a kiss.”

“Very gentlemanly of him.” Darcy grabbed the next napkin holder and added another stack. “How was the kiss?” She put up a finger. “And you’re not allowed to say nice.”

“But it was nice. Sweet. Tender.”

“No fireworks?”

“There were some.” She smiled again. “Like I said, it was nice. And it was only one kiss. Not enough to make a final assessment.”

“I take it a second date is on the horizon?”

Jillian nodded. Ethan had asked her out again at the end of their first date. He’d texted a few times, called her once and talked to her for a half hour before she had to go to work. It was nice to be pursued like that, Jillian realized. Very nice. “I’m getting off early tonight. Carter is coming to the island for the weekend. He said he’d finish my shift, and then Ethan is taking me to the bonfire on the north side of the island.”

“The north side? Hobknobbing with the rich and famous now?”

Jillian laughed. “Hardly. That’s your department.”

“Kincaid still prefers this side of the island. Even his dad has journeyed down a few times.” Darcy smiled. Although her fiancé came from a well-known and monied family, Kincaid had always preferred the easier life the folks on The Love Shack end of the island lived. “When they’re here, his parents still stay in the family monstrosity on the northern part of the island, but they seem a lot more okay with visiting their new grandbaby at Abby’s house, or coming over to see Emma at my house next door.”

“Is Emma still being a great aunt?” Darcy’s seven-year-old daughter had sported an “I’m the Auntie” pin for weeks after Abby’s daughter was born. Kincaid had gone around with a doubly goofy smile, between his pride for his daughter and for his sister.

“She’s awesome. She’s fed the baby a few times, but keeps asking me when Caroline will be able to play Barbies.” Darcy gave the restaurant one last lookover, then nodded. “We’re all set.”

“Great.” Jillian had that little nervous flutter of excitement in her belly. Just a few more hours, and she’d be out on her second date with Ethan.

She wasn’t so sure how she felt about a bonfire on the north side of the island—very few of the people there were actual residents of Fortune’s Island. Most of them were rich landers, as she and Darcy called them—people from the mainland of the Eastern seaboard. When Fortune’s Island had enjoyed a brief period as the place to vacation, a number of landers had built or bought property up north, and the restaurants and shops had followed. It was as if Fortune’s Island was divided in half, by the uppercrust northern part with its Brighton belt stores and hundred-dollar wine restaurants, and the southern half, with the raucous late night parties at The Love Shack and stores like Betty’s Sundries, which carried everything from
I <3 Fortune’s Island
coffee mugs to handcrafted necklaces. This end of the island had always been where Jillian felt most at home, most comfortable. But maybe it was time to expand her horizons. After all, wasn’t that part of what dating Ethan was all about?

And maybe, while they were together tonight, she could pick his brain some more about the music industry. She wasn’t quite sure what she was doing at school, or where she was going to put that degree to use once she was done, but it was fascinating to hear Ethan’s perspective about the same world that Zach had shut her out of.

As Jillian headed into the kitchen to help her mother with the prep work—and go through another recap of her date with her mom—the little flutter of anticipation began to grow. Yes, maybe expanding her horizons was going to be a very, very good thing.

SEVEN

Carter Matheson had spent his entire life trying to get off of Fortune’s Island. As soon as high school was over, he’d applied to colleges in Boston and moved to the mainland. Once he got his degree in accounting, he took a job with a large firm in the financial district. He put on a suit and tie every day, working the nine-to-five grind—which was a misnomer because no one in a big corporation logged anything less than ten hours a day—and tried to put Fortune’s Island in his rearview mirror.

Yet, he still ended up back here pretty much every weekend. Mostly to help his parents with The Love Shack, and to tease his kid sister, Jillian. The couple of days he spent on Fortune’s Island were a nice break from the busy city, a way to recharge but not feel imprisoned within those few square miles.

Then last week, he’d spent a hundred waking hours in the office, and needed a break in the worst way. For the first time in a while, he’d taken off a couple extra days and, instead of spending them in the city—where it seemed every school tour had descended to trot along Paul Revere’s trail—he opted to take the ferry across to the island.

“I appreciate you letting me and Sophie tag along with you.” Brian Pierce, who had worked at the firm with Carter for the past two years, rested his arms on the railing and drew in a deep breath of salty air. If there was one person at the firm who worked as hard as Carter, it was
Brian. He’d recently been promoted to director, and his entire life seemed to revolve around the office. Maybe that was what had made them such good friends. No one understood the constant workload and pressure like someone else in the same boat. Brian and Carter operated in the same world of broken promises and ruined plans, and commiserated over insane deadlines and crazy schedules.

Relationships were often the first to go. Brian’s first marriage had broken up a year ago, a marriage that had already been fractured, then fell apart completely during Brian’s ascent in the company. After the divorce, Brian had thrown himself even further into work.

The stress had begun to take its toll. Brian snapped at people more, stopped showing up for after-work basketball games or beers in the Irish pub across the street, and when Carter decided to take four days off, he asked Brian to come, too.

Brian stood beside Carter on the deck of the ferry. With each passing mile that distanced them from the mainland, his face grew more and more relaxed. He let out a long, happy sigh. “I haven’t had a vacation in years. I really needed to get away. Guess I didn’t realize how much until we actually got out of sight of Boston. As for my sister,” he nodded toward Sophie, who was sitting inside the ferry’s cabin area, huddled over an open laptop, “I doubt she’ll end up vacationing at all. I swear, she is married to that thing. It’s no wonder my mom is constantly on Sophie’s case about that ticking biological clock.” Brian chuckled. “In my evil sibling thoughts, I’m glad, because it keeps my mother from nagging me about getting married again. As long as Sophie keeps on being a workaholic, I stay under the Mom Radar.”

Carter didn’t know Sophie well—only as the always-working, perpetually moving younger sister of Brian. He’d seen her a few times at cookouts at Brian’s house, but she rarely joined in on any of the fun, mainly sticking to a corner of the house with her laptop.

That didn’t make her any less noticeable, though. Sophie Pierce was a stunning woman, tall, leggy and brunette, with deep green eyes and a tendency to tuck her hair behind her left ear whenever she was thinking. He’d exchanged maybe a dozen words with her over the years, so he couldn’t really say he
knew
her. Only that he was aware of her. Very aware.

But she was Brian’s sister, and if there was one thing Brian made clear on a regular basis, it was that his little sister was off-limits. Brian was as protective of Sophie as Carter was of Jillian, so he could understand Brian’s big-brother attitude.

Still, a little part of Carter had been hopeful when Brian asked if Sophie could come along on their four-day weekend. Carter had thought maybe, just maybe, he’d have a chance to get to know the workaholic brunette. But given the way she was hammering at the keys on that laptop, it didn’t seem likely.

“She works more than us, and that’s saying something,” Brian said. “I wish she would chill once in a while, maybe take a breath, go get a massage or whatever it is girls do when they want a break. But Sophie’s one of those people who worries that if she takes her eye off the ball for one second, it’ll end up in someone else’s court.”

“Sounds like both of us,” Carter said.

“Exactly. Which is why I hammer on my sister all the time to take a day off. I’d hate to see her life end up like mine.” Brian sighed. “She needs a vacation more than I do, I think.”

Carter knew Brian worried about his little sister, the same way Carter worried about Jillian. Both of them were older brothers, trying to steer their siblings away from mistakes already made. Carter had heard that Sophie was engaged, but her left hand was bare now. Another relationship casualty to a world of Type-A overachievers. Maybe Carter would do well
to learn from his friend and his friend’s sister, and start thinking about a different life than the crazy one he already led. “Won’t be much of a vacation for Sophie if she’s working.”

“It will be if I burn her laptop.” Brian grinned. “Nah, I’m not going to do that. If I did, Sophie would probably throw me off a cliff. But I am going to do my best to drag her out to a bar a couple times, maybe even convince her to lie on the beach and get some color.”

That made Carter think of Sophie in a bikini, which was not a good thought. At all. Especially not with former high school linebacker Brian standing a foot away. “The island’s winding down a bit from tourist season, so you guys should have plenty of beach to yourselves.”

Private beach. Sophie in a bikini.

Yeah, not a good train of thought.

“Sounds good.” Brian nodded. “And maybe we’ll find a couple beach bunnies of our own.”

Carter chuckled. “We only have four days.”

“That’s more than enough time.” Brian shrugged. “Love ‘em and leave ‘em.”

Carter put up a hand. “Wait, is this coming from the same guy who said he will eviscerate any man who tries to date his sister?”

“Hey, my sister’s not a woman. Well, she is, but not…not one I want other men to dog. I mean, she’s my
sister
, man.”

“Yeah, I get it. My sister broke up with her fiancé and it was all I could do not to strangle the guy and tell him he was a complete moron for letting her get away. That was after some serious years hating him in general because he was…” Carter shrugged.

“Putting the pole to your—”

“Hey! I don’t even want to think about that. And besides, Zach is a nice guy. I just don’t like the idea of any guy ever…” Carter grinned. “Okay, yes, you’re right. I do hate every single man who even looks at Jillian sideways.”