CelebrationAfterDarkKobo (14 page)

“I can’t believe Luke has been keeping secrets from me. I’ll have to give him a piece of my mind.”

“You’ll do no such thing.” She had called Luke to let them know they were on their way. It was hard to say who was more excited about this surprise—Linda or the young man who’d been like an extra son to them.
 

After a ride that took twice as long as it should have due to the snow, they pulled into Luke’s driveway.

“Go on back to the barn,” Linda said, referring to the building where Luke did his boat restoration work.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Mac said.

“Just hush and do what you’re told.”

His grunt of laughter made her smile. “You’ve always been such a bossy little thing.”

“You’ve always needed to be bossed.”

He placed his big hand on her thigh and squeezed. “Oh baby, boss me. Please boss me.”

Rolling her eyes at him, she said, “I keep thinking one of these days you might actually grow up.”

“That ain’t never gonna happen.”

Which was fine with her, not that she could say so to him.
 

Luke waited for them with the doors to the barn open. The surprise was covered with a tarp, and Linda couldn’t wait to see Mac’s reaction when he realized what was under the cover.

They got out of the truck and went into the garage.

Linda gave Luke a quick hug, and he shook hands with Mac.
 

“Happy anniversary, you guys,” Luke said.

“Thank you, honey,” Linda replied.

“What’re you two up to?” Mac asked.

Luke looked to her. “You ready to show him?”

“So ready.” They’d been working on this surprise for almost a year.

“It’s under there,” Luke said, gesturing to the tarp.

Mac approached the tarp like it was wired with explosives, tentatively lifting it.

“Oh, for crying out loud, Mac,” Linda said. “Just pull it off, will you?”

He did as directed and gasped at the sight of the gleaming boat. “Is that a…”

“Nineteen thirty-six Chris-Craft five-five-seven,” Luke said.

Mac had a smaller classic Chris-Craft runabout that he loved, but they couldn’t sleep on that one.

“Holy moly,” Mac said, running his hand over the shiny brightwork and creamy white paint. “What a beauty.”

“It is now,” Luke said with a chuckle. He’d been working on the boat for six months, ever since Linda located it rotting away in a boatyard in Wisconsin. “You’ve got the pictures?”

“I sure do.” Linda produced an album from her purse that documented the boat’s journey from broken down to fully restored.

“Wow,” Mac said as he flipped through the photos. “This is incredible. What a great surprise.”

“I figured we could do some cruising on this one,” Linda said.

“We sure can.” He hugged her tightly. “Thank you so much, Lin. And Luke, you did an amazing job, as always.”

“It was fun. The best part was pulling one over on you.”

Big Mac laughed. “Which is not easy to do.”

“No, it isn’t. Hope you guys are having a really great day. You surely deserve it after not only raising your own family but also helping out with a few special cases.”

Big Mac released Linda to put both hands on the shoulders of the man who’d showed up at the marina as a fatherless fourteen-year-old looking for a job and had become one of them in the ensuing years. “You’re family to us, Luke, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Luke swallowed hard. “Thank you,” he said softly. “You’ve both meant more to me than you’ll ever know.”

Big Mac hugged him, and then Linda did the same.

“We love you,” she said.

“Same,” Luke said.

Sensing they were about to reduce him to tears, Linda took Mac by the hand. “Luke has graciously agreed to keep the boat here for the winter.”

“You can keep it here every winter. I’ve got plenty of room for it.”

“Thanks again, you guys,” Mac said, taking another long look at the boat. “I love it.”

Smiling at Luke, Linda gave him a giddy thumbs-up, thrilled that their gift had been such a hit with the man who was almost impossible to surprise.
 

It was still snowing when a car service delivered Adam and Abby to the Westerly airport for the late-afternoon flight home to Gansett. Since their conversation earlier, Abby had been quiet and withdrawn. Though she’d agreed to his plan to get married on New Year’s Eve, he knew their accord was fragile and could shatter at any moment.
 

The same could be said for Abby. He was afraid to touch her for fear that she, too, might shatter.
 

While Abby went to use the restroom, Slim Jackson, his pilot friend, met him with a bro hug. “Good to see you, buddy.”

“You, too,” Adam replied. “How’s Florida treating you?”

“Oh, you know, nonstop sun and fun. It gets a little boring after a while.”

“Sure, it does.” Adam gestured to the snow that continued to fall. “This is so much better.”

Slim laughed. “It does make things interesting.”

“We’re okay to fly to the island?”

“Absolutely. It’s barely freezing, so we’ll de-ice and go. I wouldn’t want you to miss your parents’ party. Hell, I don’t want to miss it, either.”

“Are Evan and Grace here yet?”

“They’re about fifteen minutes out.”

“Oh, good. When I heard the ferries were canceled, my heart sank. Months of planning and two of us might miss it?”

“I’d never let that happen.”

“Today I’m thankful for old friends who know how to fly.”

“Who you calling old?”

They were laughing and joking around the way they usually did when Abby joined them, giving Slim a perfunctory hug.
 

“Nice to see you,” she said in a dull, flat tone that had Slim raising a brow in question to Adam.

He dodged the inquiry and put his arm around her.
 

“Good to be home,” Slim said.

“Are you sticking around after the holidays?” Abby asked.

“I’m not sure yet. Depends on a few things.”

Adam wanted to pursue that further because Slim always had the best stories, but the arrival of Evan and Grace a few minutes later had them all heading for Slim’s Cessna Citation for the flight to the island.
 

Grace was worried about flying in the storm, but Slim assured her they’d be fine.
 

“I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t sure it was okay,” Slim said.

“He’s the best pilot I know, baby,” Evan said.
 

“He’s the
only
pilot you know,” Grace replied with a saucy grin that made Adam smile. He looked over to find Abby gazing out the window, a blank expression on her face that reignited his earlier worries.
 

Though she’d agreed to marry him, her heart wasn’t in it, and that killed him after everything they’d been through to get to this point in their lives together. Both of them had overcome failed relationships and heartbreak to take a chance on each other, and he’d never been happier than since the magical week they’d spent together last summer.
 

That had been the start of everything, and their wedding needed to be a celebration of their love, not a Hail Mary play to save a relationship that hadn’t needed saving before yesterday.

As they taxied to the runway for takeoff, Abby sat right next to him, her thigh touching his, but she was a million miles from him, the gulf between them so wide it was frightening. What would he do if she permanently checked out of their relationship? Adam shook off that thought as quickly has he had it.

He wouldn’t let her do that. Reaching for her hand, he linked their fingers and held on tight as they hurtled down the runway, lifting off into the cloud-filled sky on the short flight home to Gansett. The thick clouds made for a bumpy climb.

Abby tightened her grip on Adam’s hand. She was unnerved by the bumps and hung on to him for comfort. How sad was it that such a small thing filled him with hope?

He released her hand to put his arm around her, encouraging her to rest her head on his shoulder, which she did. “Everything’s going to be okay, Abby.” Adam hoped she knew he was talking about far more than the bumpy flight.
 

She released a deep breath and relaxed against him.
 

Adam ran his fingers through her long, dark hair. He loved her silky, shiny hair, and the thought of her losing it killed him. But that would never change the fact that his heart belonged to her, completely and absolutely.
 

In front of them, Evan and Grace giggled like high school kids on a first date. And then they were kissing like two people who’d spent most of the last month apart and were thrilled to be back together. Good for them. Adam would never begrudge his brother the happiness he deserved. He just wished that he and Abby could go back to yesterday morning, before they had real problems, before they knew the results of tests she’d had two weeks ago.

He wanted to go back in time twenty-four hours, when it would’ve been impossible to imagine her saying the things she’d said this morning, things that had rocked the foundation under him. How could she think for one minute that he would leave her rather than face whatever might happen to her? How could she give voice to such a thought? How were they supposed to go forward now that she’d said such things out loud?

Adam no sooner had these disturbing thoughts than he shook them off, determined to file them under things Abby said when confronted with a life-changing condition. It wasn’t her talking. It was the fear. That had to be it, because any other possible explanation didn’t bear consideration.

His Abby, the woman he loved with his whole heart and soul, didn’t want to spend a day apart from him, let alone the rest of her life. The very idea of a life without her at the center of it left him feeling bereft. He would be, quite simply, inconsolable if she gave up on them.
 

Which was why he was insisting on a wedding next week. He had to get that second ring on her finger before she could do something stupid like actually break up with him. He couldn’t let that happen.
 

“You okay, honey?” he asked, speaking close to her ear so she could hear him over the drone of the plane’s engines.

She nodded.
 

Right next to him but still a million miles away…
 

Twenty minutes after they took off, Slim began the final approach to the Gansett Island airport. And as the wheels touched down on the island, Adam relaxed ever so slightly. They were home, and he could wage war—if that was what it took—to keep Abby right where she belonged—with him.
 

 
At six o’clock, Ned and Francine arrived at the “White House,” as the locals called the McCarthy home. Big Mac’s best friend was turned out in a blue sport coat, khaki pants, new boat shoes, a blue shirt and a
tie
. Ned, who preferred his clothes old and holey, had worn a
tie
for him.
 

“Must be one hell of an occasion,” Big Mac said as he hugged his longtime best friend.