Cape Cod Kisses (30 page)

Chandler raised an imperious eyebrow in his grandson’s direction. “Quinn.”

“I have an emergency with my company and have to leave the island for a few weeks.” Quinn spoke with certitude and without a hint of defiance, something Shelley had rarely been able to pull off with her parents.

“We’ll soon know where your priorities lie.” Chandler’s eyes skittered over Shelley. “Didi.” He motioned for her to wheel him to his office.

Didi flashed an apologetic smile, then turned Chandler’s wheelchair around and began to push him away.

Quinn’s hands fisted at his sides. “Grandfather.”

Chandler said something to Didi, and she turned the wheelchair around but didn’t advance toward them.

Shelley stiffened at Chandler’s challenging stare, but Quinn reached for Shelley’s hand with cool confidence. “I can only assume that you failed to notice Shelley was here with me. Otherwise I’m sure you would have acknowledged her with a greeting.”

Chandler’s eyes shifted to her, and she was beyond shocked when his lips suddenly curved up in a half smile, softening many of his sharp edges. He nodded slowly, never breaking their connection.

“I do apologize, Ms. Walters. I’m afraid I’m not having one of my better days. But it is a pleasure to see you again.” With a final nod, he said, “Good day,” then gestured for Didi to wheel him away.

Once his door closed, Shelley let out the breath she’d been holding and wrapped her arms around the amazing man beside her. “I love you, Quinn Rockwell.”

She could read the love in his eyes as he gazed down at her even before he said, “I love you, too, Shell. More than you can even imagine.”

But she didn’t need to imagine anything at all, because he’d just proved it to her yet again.

THIRTY MINUTES LATER they were standing inside the small island airport. It was the size of a fast-food restaurant, with one long counter off to the left and a glass-walled room to the right, where passengers waited to board the plane after going through a brief security check.

Standing within the confines of Quinn’s embrace for what would be the last time until he returned in a few long weeks, Shelley was determined not to make their parting any more difficult than it already was. He had been nearly silent since they’d arrived at the airport, and every time he looked at her his eyes became hooded and he rubbed the back of his neck as if a winter chill had settled into his bones.

She had to be strong. She refused to be one of those clingy, weak women who made her man feel guilty for doing what he had to do.

Quinn touched her shoulders, keeping her at arm’s length, his handsome features downturned as if he were readying them both for his departure. Shelley nuzzled against his chest again. She didn’t want space between them. Not yet. Not until they were about to close the airplane doors and she had no other choice. They stood off to the side as passengers filed through the security gate, and somehow it still felt like they were the only two people in the room.

“Shell, before we saw my grandfather you said you were proud of me for not shirking my responsibilities and that it must not be easy to leave the island. The truth is, before meeting you, it
was
easy to leave the island. You’ve changed everything, and…”

He paused, and she took in the pained look in his beautiful blue eyes. Knowing that he was fighting the same devastation she was tugged even harder at her heart.

“I just want you to know I meant everything I’ve said to you.” His hoarse whisper nearly broke the dam and set her emotions free. “I love you. I’m not leaving
you
. I’m just fulfilling my obligations and then I’m coming back.” Determination radiated from him as he repeated, “I’m coming back.”

As the last call for passengers on his flight came through, Quinn pulled her in close again, and with one last tender kiss turned to walk through security. He glanced over his shoulder and blew her a kiss as he passed into the room where others were already lining up to board the plane.

Shelley pressed her palm against the glass wall. In three determined steps, his palms met hers through the glass. Quinn mouthed,
I love you,
then disappeared into the small plane.

THE FLIGHT FROM the island to Boston was less than thirty minutes. Quinn had thought that by the time they touched down, the longing that clutched his chest would have eased and the guilt that lay buried deep inside his heart would have subsided. After all, he’d left his family dozens of times without feeling as though he’d left a piece of himself behind, hadn’t he?

He followed the other passengers off the plane and rushed to the standby desk to check in for his connecting flight. Maybe he just needed to get back to work to get his mind back on track.

“Sir?”

The woman behind the counter held his driver’s license out toward him a handful of minutes later. He had forgotten he’d given it to her. He felt as though he was moving on autopilot.

“You’re all set. Your flight is boarding now.” She pointed to a line of people standing off to the side.

He put his license away and walked mindlessly into line, still thinking of Shelley. He glanced out at the setting sun and wondered if she was watching the sunset from the deck of the cottage.

Was she already missing him as much as he was missing her?

His phone buzzed as he walked down the Jetway and onto the plane. Shelley’s smiling face filled the screen with the caption,
I got the gristmill!

He typed in a response on his phone as he took his seat.
Congratulations, sweetheart! We’ll have to celebrate.

But before sending, Quinn hesitated with his finger over the screen. Celebrate? When would they get a chance to do that? Six or eight weeks from now?

He deleted the second half of his message, wishing she’d received the call hours earlier so he could have held her in his arms and felt her enthusiasm with his whole body.

I’ll call you tonight and we’ll make plans for the renovations.

Before sending this second text, he also worked it over in his mind. She’d need time to get her licensing figured out, and plans needed to be drawn up. Drawing up plans was tricky, even if Derek agreed to help her. And the contracts with subs would need overseeing. He knew his family would help her with all of those things. His brothers would never leave her hanging, but damn it, he should be the one helping her.

“Sir, you’ll need to put your cell phone away,” the flight attendant said as she walked past.

He hesitated again, his fingers hovering over the screen as he tried to figure out what to say to Shelley that wouldn’t only highlight the distance between them.

“I’m sorry. Now, sir,” she said with a polite but firm tone.

He powered down his phone without sending a text back, then shoved it in his pocket. But even as he flung open the document on his lap, he knew his enormous workload wouldn’t do a damn thing to help mask the dull ache of loneliness gnawing at his gut.

SHELLEY CLOSED HER fingers around the broom handle and took a few quiet moments to look at the interior of the gristmill, which was soon to be hers. With Abby’s help, a little finesse, and the charm of doing business on an island, the verbal agreement to purchase the gristmill was as solid as the ground Shelley stood on
and
she was granted access to the property to begin cleaning even though they still had to go through the formal closing.

It was the perfect way to work off the ache of missing Quinn.

Sierra and Abby had come by her cottage shortly after he had left to give her the good news about the gristmill and to bring her a housewarming gift for her newly rented cottage. Now they were here with her, scrubbing and mopping, helping to clean up the amazing building that she couldn’t wait to make her own.

“I think it’ll take you a week just to get the dust out of this place,” Sierra said as she wrung out the mop.

“I don’t care if it takes a month. Look at how incredible it looks after just two hours! I swear this place was put here just for me.”

Abby stopped scrubbing the counter she was cleaning and wiped her hands on a towel. “I think you’re right, Shelley. And,” she said with a soft smile, “I think Quinn has been waiting his whole life to meet you, too.”

Shelley had been working hard to keep from pining over him, but at the mention of his name, loneliness crept back in. “Is it silly that I miss him already?”

“Not at all,” Abby said as she began scrubbing again. “If I know Quinn, he’s missing you just as much.”

Sierra set the mop on the floor again. “I miss him, too. It’s funny, when Quinn, Trent, and Derek are gone for months at a time, I’m pretty much okay. I miss them, but I get used to it and I get busy. But when I’ve spent a bunch of time with them, I miss them
more
after they leave.”

With every scratch of the broom on the aged hardwood, Shelley wished Quinn were there with her. But short of that impossibility, she couldn’t have asked for a more enjoyable evening than spending time with, and being supported by, Abby and Sierra as they helped prepare the gristmill for her café.

QUINN BECAME MORE agitated by the second as he walked behind what had to be the slowest family in the world while trying to get off the plane.

He’d tried to bury himself in work on the flight, but his mind was drenched in thoughts of Shelley’s smile, her laugh, the way she touched him, inside and out. She was everywhere. Every thought, every scent sparked memories of something they’d done together or something she’d said.

He’d gone into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face in an effort to center his focus on the work that he needed to be completely on top of, but when he’d looked at himself in the mirror, it was as if he was finally seeing himself—and what he
really
wanted—for the very first time in his life.

Yes, he’d worked his ass off to build his corporate empire, but what good was it if he couldn’t be with Shelley? He already knew he didn’t want to be like Chandler, a resentful old man whose true love turned him away because he was a workaholic. And he’d vowed to never put disappointment in Shelley’s eyes again, either.

Damn it, there was no way in hell that she was going to play second fiddle to his job. She deserved to come first, and she was going to come first.

Starting
now
.

When he finally broke free from behind the other passengers, the first thing he did was make a quick call to his fleet manager to arrange for a private plane back to the island—one that he found out was closing its doors in a matter of minutes. Quinn ran through the airport, weaving through the crowd. He reached the gate with less than a minute to spare, the door closing behind him as soon as he took his seat.

All it had taken was one short trip off the island for him to realize that he was done putting work ahead of starting his life with Shelley. He knew how much he loved her. And he knew he was capable of changing whatever he needed to in order to keep from hurting her and to give her the fulfilled and happy future she deserved. He didn’t need to be stuck in Annapolis, missing her every single second, to prove to himself that she was what really mattered. He already knew that.

Stuck in Annapolis
. A week ago he’d felt
stuck
on the island. Shelley had not only opened his eyes to the beauty of the island he had once found too confining, but she’d also made him realize he needed something more than a shipping empire to fill his soul. Shelley had also reminded him of the importance of family.

Trent’s parting words came back to Quinn as the staff did their final preparation for takeoff:
I was young and stupid. What’s your excuse?

Even though Trent’s marriage had failed, his brother clearly seemed to recognize that it wasn’t because love was fundamentally flawed, but because Trent and Reese had been barely more than kids when they’d gotten married. Which also meant that Trent had seen Quinn’s leaving the island, and Shelley, as a mistake before Quinn had. Everyone had probably seen it, but they respected him enough not to rush or push him.

Maybe now it’s time to let your heart have a turn at living,
was what his mother had said before dinner. Abby Rockwell had always been wise. But never more than when she was gently counseling him on finding—and keeping—true love
.

Before the flight staff made everyone turn off their devices, Quinn dialed Rich’s number and drew in a deep breath, mentally preparing for his business partner’s anger.

“Where are you?” Rich barked. “The driver said he can’t find you.”

“He’s not going to find me. I’m on a flight back to the island.”

“Quinn, you can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious.”

“What about Joseph? We’ll lose him.”

Quinn still loved the company he’d started from little more than an idea and the gumption to succeed. He’d given years of his life to building the shipping empire that he and Rich now treasured. But Quinn had only so many hours in the day to give—and now he wanted to give lots of those hours to Shelley. What’s more, he also now knew that he
needed
to be on the island as much as he
wanted
to be there.

How could he have thought it was fair to leave when his family was doing exactly what they’d committed to doing? And who knew he’d learn the most important life lessons of all from the naked beauty he’d seen flitting about in the cove the night he’d arrived on the island?

Quinn hadn’t known if he believed in fate before he met Shelley, but now he believed that things
did
happen for a reason. In this case—his leaving the company was actually the perfect way to get Joseph to stay.

“Let’s promote Joseph and give him most of my current responsibilities, including negotiating the fair trade issues I was coming back to deal with. He’s been a loyal employee for years, and right now, with the way my life has changed course, he’s exactly what our company needs—a gung-ho employee who wants to take it to the next level.”
While I focus on creating a life with Shelley. A life she deserves with a man who is there for her. A life both of us deserve.