Meant to Be (26 page)

Lola glanced up from her worktable, pinning Beth over the reading glasses perched on the end of her nose. “Hey there, sugar. What’s got you so riled up?”

“Nothing,” Beth replied, struggling to stand still. “Do you have any of that calming herbal tea around?”

Lola’s brows shot up. She removed the glasses, letting them dangle from a purple tether around her neck. “You better sit down and tell old Lola what has you so lit up. You’re as jumpy as a juniper bug dancing along a berry patch.”

The mention of a bug made Beth itchy, increasing her fidgeting. “It’s been a rough couple days and I’m a bit nervous about this afternoon.”

Lola pressed Beth into her favorite chair, a tall-backed armchair upholstered in a light blue material covered in white mums. Beth tried to relax into the soft cushion but failed.

“Close your eyes and try to breathe while I get that tea. Looks like we’re going to need the whole pot.”

Beth attempted to follow Lola’s instructions. Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Steady breathing always helped with the panic. Three deep breaths later, her left foot slowed its tapping. Three more and her hands unclenched.

“Here’s the water now.”

The mention of water sent the foot tapping double time. “There’s no way I can do this. I thought I could and Joe says I can, but I can’t. I’ll just tell him I changed my mind.”

“Whoa, child. You’re about to crawl out of your skin. What’s Joe say you can do?”

“Get on a boat.”

Lola blinked. “That’s it? Get on a boat?”

Beth recognized her shallow breathing as a bad sign. “To think, this was my idea.” Leaning forward, she flattened a hand over her heart. “I might need a paper bag.”

“Don’t go having a heart attack else you’ll give me one, and I’m not about to die before Marcus gets here.”

Beth was not having a heart attack, though sometimes she thought cardiac arrest might be easier to deal with than the panic attacks. “Marcus is coming here?” she asked, rubbing above her left breast. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know myself until last night. Tried to talk him out of it, but he’s determined. Hard to argue with a determined man.”

“When will he be here?” Beth asked. “I’d love to meet him.”

“He’s sailing down on his boat.” Lola paused and watched Beth for a reaction.

Beth waved a hand in the air. “Keep going. I’m good.” Snagging a magazine off the table beside her, she used it as a fan. “I’m so excited for you.”

“If this is you excited, I’d hate to see you on a bad day.”

Beth shook her head. “Panic attack. This happens every time I even think about getting on a boat.” The quick breathing made talking difficult. “It’s a phobia.”

“How in the world did you get on this island if you don’t like boats?” Lola asked, handing her an oversized coffee cup filled with the herbal concoction.

“With Joe.”

“I thought you didn’t know Joe before you got here?”

“I didn’t.”

“It’s not nice to tease an old lady,” Lola said, crossing her legs and kicking one foot in impatience. “How did Joe help you make the ferry crossing if you didn’t know him?”

A good-size gulp of tea made talking easier. “I didn’t know it was Joe. We were on the same crossing and he found me in the throes of an attack.” He’d made her laugh that
day. Stopped to help a total stranger. Joe Dempsey was a nice guy under all the gruff. “He talked to me until we reached the other side.”

“That sounds like Joe. Never can pass up a creature in distress.”

“That’s Joe?”

Lola smiled the same knowing smile she’d flashed the night of the Merchants meeting. “Whether it’s a bird with a broken wing or a cat stuck in a tree, everyone on the island knows to call Joe.”

Beth thought of Joe as many things. Grumpy. Cranky. Bossy. Sexy. Knight in shining armor did not make the list. But there was that time with her blisters.

“You look surprised,” Lola said. “You just said yourself he helped you before he even knew who you were.”

“He did. But then he insulted me before we reached the island.”

Lola scoffed. “I don’t believe it.”

“Well,” Beth hedged, “he didn’t know he was insulting me at the time.”

“You’re talking in riddles again.”

Beth searched for the indignation she’d felt that day, but found it strangely absent. “During our talk, he said he was meeting his brother’s fiancée that weekend. He’d never seen her but knew she’d be some long-legged blonde bimbo after Lucas for his earning potential.”

The snort of laughter took Beth by surprise. Lola’s eyes twinkled. “That does sound like Joe. What did he say when you told him who you were?”

Avoiding Lola’s gaze, Beth admitted, “I didn’t.”

“What do you mean, you didn’t? Girl, you let him go on like that without knowing he was talking to the woman he was insulting?” The older woman pursed her lips, shaking her head. “That’s just wrong.”

“I wanted to make a good impression with Lucas’s family,” Beth defended. “I was warned Joe would be the hardest sell, and embarrassing him right out of the gate didn’t seem like a good way to start.”

“He must have been fit to be tied when he found out.”

Beth exhaled. Fit to be tied for sure. “Let’s just say it made for a rocky start.”

“You two seem to be getting along well enough now.”

“Maybe too well,” Beth said, before catching herself.

Lola sat up straighter. “Do tell.”

She had to tell someone, and Lola was the one person on the island she could trust not to judge or spread gossip. Beth looked around for prying ears. “I did the worst thing.”

“You didn’t…” Lola wiggled her brows.

“No!” she answered, cringing at the thought. “I wouldn’t still be on this island if we did that.”

“But you did something. Throw an old woman a bone.”

Beth stared at her knees and blurted, “I kissed him.”

Lola remained silent, forcing Beth to glance her way. The woman looked as if someone spit in her tea. “That’s it?”

“I’m engaged to his brother, for heaven’s sake. That’s enough.”

“Honey child, you got me all excited over nothing.”

“Nothing? That kiss wasn’t nothing. I practically climbed him like a…a spider monkey.”

“When you put it that way, it does get more interesting.”

Beth shook her head. “I was so drunk I didn’t even remember what happened until several hours into the next day. Then it all came screaming back in vivid detail. If Joe hadn’t stopped, I don’t know how far we would have gone.”

“Was Joe drunk?” Lola asked, running a gnarled finger around the rim of her mug.

“No,” Beth said. “Sid’s brother, Randy, called him from the bar to come pick me up. He was trying to get me home safe, and I threw myself at him.”

“But he hadn’t been drinking?”

“No.” There was that grin again. “I know what that look is. Lola, I’m engaged to Lucas, and I’m going to marry Lucas, so you just get those ideas out of your head.”

“You promised me.”

“I promised you what?” Even contemplating what Lola was insinuating made Beth ache, knowing the pain it would cause Lucas.

Lola stopped smiling. “Don’t ever let the real thing get away. That’s what I told you. And you promised you wouldn’t.”

Pain shot through Beth’s chest. But not from panic. “Joe isn’t the real thing. Lucas is the real thing.”

“Take it from a wise old woman,” Lola whispered. “We both know that’s not what your heart is telling you. The sooner you face the truth, the easier this will be.”

Beth leaned close, taking Lola’s hand in hers. “I am following my heart. I won’t hurt Lucas. I can’t. And I won’t destroy this family. They mean too much to me now.”

Brown eyes stared into green ones. A dark hand reached up to slide a curl across Beth’s forehead. “Just think about it. For me. I don’t want to see you make the same mistake I did.”

The care in her eyes moved Beth to tears. She repeated the words Lola had once said to her. “Everything is going to work out.”

“I hope you’re right,” Lola said, shaking her head. “Back to this boat thing. Did you say this was your idea?”

The shaking returned. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Patty and I were talking, and she said Lucas loves to go out sailing when he comes home and she hoped he’d come home more often, which requires riding the ferry, of course. And I realized I’d be the one holding Lucas back.”

Beth scooted to the edge of her seat. “I’d be afraid to ride the ferry, and I’d never go out sailing with him. Sometimes I feel like I’m not as ambitious as Lucas would like, and I thought maybe if I could overcome this fear, that would be a good start in being more like Lucas wants me to be.”

Now Lola sat forward. “You’re doing this to become what some man wants you to be?”

“Well, yeah,” she said, the concept sounding less positive when Lola said it. “That’s what you do when you care about someone.”

“Honey, when you care about someone you accept them for who they are. You don’t try to change them. Would you try to change Lucas?”

“This is about me, Lola.” And it was. Deep down, Beth was doing this for herself, too. “As freaked out as I am, I want to do this. I need to face my fears head-on.”

“Then you’ll do it,” Lola said.

Just then the store phone rang, jarring Beth back to the present. The older woman rose to answer the phone and after a quick hello, Lola went silent for several moments. Then she turned toward Beth and said, “I think I have someone who can help. Let me send her over.”

Beth didn’t like the sound of that. What was she being volunteered for? Once Lola had ended the call, Beth asked, “What was that?”

“You need a distraction to get your mind off this boating thing. Helga has too many babies, and her helper is out sick. Go hold some babies.” Grabbing their mugs and heading for the break room, Lola said over her shoulder, “Ain’t a soul alive can worry about anything when they’re staring into the sweet face of a child.”

“But I want to hear more about Marcus.”

Lola turned but continued walking away. “He’ll be here by the end of the week. I’ll tell you all about him before then.” Waving the mugs toward the door, she added, “Go on now. Those babies are waiting.”

J
oe could hear the screams from the parking lot, which should have been a warning. The second he stepped inside, high-pitched wailing made his ears ring. Four round tables took up the four corners of a large room, surrounded by tiny, bright-colored chairs. Foam squares covered the floor, and the walls were decorated with ladybugs, bumblebees, and butterflies.

Messy, finger-painted mobiles hung from the ceiling, forcing Joe to bob and weave while simultaneously avoiding the little people spinning around his knees. He’d never have believed four munchkins would be enough to send his balls into hiding.

How the hell did Helga stay sane dealing with these creatures every day?

One pudgy little person attacked from the right, wrapping his arms around Joe’s calf and plopping a mushy-feeling bottom onto his foot. Joe’s first instinct was to shake the kid off, but his brain kicked in before his leg took action.

“Spencer, let go of Joe’s leg,” yelled Helga from the far corner, where she was wrestling a large chunk of her hair
from another toddler’s grip. To Joe she said, “He thinks every adult is a ride for his enjoyment. I’m guessing his dad does that with him at home.”

Spencer looked up at Joe and made his demands clear. “I wanna wide.”

At that same moment, something slammed into the heel of Joe’s left boot. The new assailant sported black curls and big brown eyes, which grew round as quarters when he looked up and spotted Joe staring down at him. “You’re in da way,” he said, defiantly slamming the yellow dump truck into Joe’s heel for a second time.

Helga peeled off the pudgy one first, then turned to the reckless driver. “Take the trucks back to the highway rug. We’ve talked about this. Trucks drive on the highway, not on people.”

Shooting Joe the evil eye, the boy picked up his Tonka and stormed off. Joe made a mental note to pick up a new box of condoms. Not that he was having much sex lately, but better safe than pudgy munchkins.

“Sorry about that.” Helga collected four small cups from a nearby table. “The weather was so nice, I let them go outside. They were supposed to wear themselves out, but I think they came back in with even more energy.”

“You’ve got my vote for Merchant of the Year, Helga. Beth around here somewhere?” She wasn’t in the main room. Maybe the rug rats had sent her screaming into the sound.

“You mean Elizabeth? She’s in the baby room. Thankfully, I’m down to one baby, and these little ones’ parents should be here soon.” Helga walked away and Joe followed, afraid she might leave him alone with the wild ones. Pointing
to a door to her left, she said, “You’ll find her in there. That girl was a lifesaver today.”

Helga continued her way back to a kitchen area while Joe peered over the closed half door. What he saw set off something in his chest. Beth was swaying along a narrow space surrounded by empty cribs and playpens. A little box step up then over and back. Her own humming accompanying the dance, her eyes locked on the infant in her arms. She was oblivious to his presence.

Joe smiled and leaned against the wall to watch, unwilling to disturb the dancing pair. A thought floated through his mind. Beth would make a great mom someday. He imagined a headstrong little boy with her green eyes and his dimple. Then reality punched him in the gut.

Beth’s children would be his nieces and nephews, not his own. A fact he couldn’t and wouldn’t change. No matter how much he wanted things to be different.

Beth belonged to Lucas. End of story.

Another twirl to her right and Beth spotted him. “Oh.” She jumped then checked the baby, whose eyes had popped open at the sudden movement. “Fudge. I’d just gotten her to sleep.”

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Joe said, sliding by the half door then closing it behind him. “You look like a natural with one of those.”

“To tell you the truth, I was scared to death when Lola volunteered me for this. I can’t remember the last time I held a baby.” She looked down at the infant waving its fists in the air. “This is Cecelia. She’s been very tolerant throughout my crash course in baby care.”