Sex and Key Lime Pie (13 page)

She caught up with her son on the pier. He looked upset, but when she rested her hand on his slumped shoulders, he stood a little taller. She seemed to have that effect on men of all ages.

“I am going to assume that because you live on your own, you are dense, not cruel. Couldn’t you see he wanted to go?”

“Why would he want to go with me?” Luc asked. The boy barely knew him.

“My sentiments exactly. But kids aren’t so picky. You put Alicia in a difficult position. Keep on doing that and someday you aren’t going to be the one she chooses.”

“Okay, I get it. I’ll tell Alicia to go find him when she’s finished changing.”

“No. You will go ask his mother first. I’m not sure she will trust you.”

Not trust him?

Luc seethed as he crossed the road. Did Cheyanne really think he would deliberately hurt her son? He caught up with her in the bait and tackle shop. He stood next to her as she looked at the assortment of crab cages and clam rakes. Her son checked out the live bait containers.

“You left the diner without saying hello.”

“I wasn’t aware you were talking to me again,” she said without meeting his eyes.

She’d dropped a bombshell on him the last time they were together. She had to know she’d get a reaction, or she would have told him sooner.

She shifted back and forth between her feet. “What are you doing here?”

“It seems I failed to notice that Sam might be interested in going on the boat.” He stumbled over the words but he didn’t usually admit fault, even when dead wrong.

To his surprise, she laughed. “What did she do, kick you in the shin or smack you in the head?”

“Smacked me in the head,” he mumbled sheepishly. Only Isabelle would get away with it. And only while pregnant.

“This time, she’s wrong,” Cheyanne assured him.

“He doesn’t want to go on the boat?”

“Of course he does. He’s a child. He wants everything, but he’ll get over it.”

“Are you trying to make this hard?”

“Actually, I was making it easy. You have a family commitment. Your sister is wrong to guilt you into inviting Sam along.”

That look! That blank stare she adopted as she tried to hide her emotions sent him reeling back nine years. He hated the way it made him feel, then and now.

“Sam.” He waved the boy over. “Do you want to go fishing with Alicia and me?”

Sam turned questioningly toward his mother. “It’s up to you,” she said.

He nodded tentatively.

“Okay, but you have to change out of your soccer gear.”

He dropped to the floor in the middle of the store, and pulled off his cleats, shin guards and dirt crusted socks. He left the items in a pile as he sprang to his bare feet. “My sneakers are in your van. I’ll go get them.” He darted from the bait shop as if he feared Luc would leave without him.

“I’d better go find my niece.”

She took his hand. Her fingers felt soft against his more calloused ones. “Thank you.” She rose to her toes and brushed her lips across his mouth. The taste of her lingered after she pulled back. It struck him that she’d never initiated a kiss before. “See what happens when you’re nice, Luc?”

He cupped her waist and inched her closer. “We’ll see if you’re still grateful later.”

“We’ll see if my son is still happy later,” she whispered against his ear.

Her small smile left him with an unfamiliar but pleasant feeling of peace. Nice was not a word associated with him. Cold, unfeeling bastard, yes. Nice, never! He had better be careful or Cheyanne might ruin his bad reputation.

An hour later, Luc stretched out in a deck chair. The warm sun and cool breeze made for ideal conditions. He looked out over the horizon. On days like this, he felt like master of the universe. If he’d known two children were easier than one, he would have had Alicia bring a friend along sooner. As long as no one fell overboard, he didn’t have to do a thing. Obviously, Sam proved more entertaining to his niece than her crabby old uncle.

Alicia sat cross-legged on the cushioned seat at the bow of the boat, half-heartedly dipping her fishing pole into the surf. Sam leaned across the guardrail and looked into the water below.

A boy of few words, he answered Alicia’s nonstop questions without losing patience. At the same time, his intense focus reminded Luc of himself at that age. Sam would catch a fish, or die trying! And finally, he did. The first of his young life. An ugly, inedible, blowfish that must have seemed like a marlin for all the pleasure it gave him.

“You never went fishing before?” Alicia’s voice pitched in surprise.

He attached a worm to the hook and cast the line out into the water again. “I went clamming with my mom when we lived in Portugal.”

“I’ve been going fishing with my father since I was five. Didn’t you have anyone to take you?”

“Pierre left before I was five.”

Luc leaned forward in the chair. The boy referred to his father by first name. More intriguing was the lack of emotion. Did Sam have bad memories of the man or no memories? He knew he should rein in his niece’s questioning, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to discover more about Cheyanne’s life.

“Oh, right, he died,” Alicia said. “My mother told me. I’m sorry.”

Sam shrugged. “He left even before that.”

“They got divorced?”

“No. He just didn’t live with us.”

“I would hate to live without my father. All my family lives in Rhode Island,” Alicia said. “Right, Uncle Luc?”

“That’s right sweetheart.”

“Mine, too,” Sam said. “Grandma and Morris.” “That’s it? No aunts and uncles? No cousins? No second cousins?”

“Enough, Alicia. I think he got the point.” Damn, he felt bad for the kid. Why hadn’t Cheyanne brought him back sooner? At least here she had friends. Isabelle had practically adopted Sam. He even looked like he belonged to her with his dark hair and olive colored skin.

Was Cheyanne too embarrassed to return after a failed marriage?

“Where are we going for dinner guys?” Luc asked to change his chronic thoughts.

“Pier 51,” came the expected answer from Alicia.

“Sam’s never been there.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to eat junk food then hang upside down from a roller coaster until he brings up his dinner.”

Sam’s eyes brightened. “Yes I do.”

Of course he did. He was a child and he wanted everything. In the scheme of things, he wanted very little. A lot like his mother, Luc grudgingly admitted.

****

Cheyanne glanced out the window at the darkening sky. She should have asked Luc what time to expect them back. She had figured a couple of hours were all he would be able to handle. Isabelle and Elisabeth had stopped by to visit, but she couldn’t concentrate. She glanced at her watch again.

“They’re fine,” Isabelle said.

“I know,” Cheyanne said with more confidence than she felt. But children didn’t always censor their words. What if he mentioned he would turn nine in a few short weeks? Or that her late husband was not Sam’s natural father?

“He took them to Pier 51. Remember our first trip there?” Isabelle said.

Cheyanne smiled. Luc had taken the three of them to the amusement park when they were much the same age as her son. Of course Luc had been seventeen at the time and he’d wanted no part of babysitting three little brats at the pier. Upon their arrival, he put them on Thor’s Lair, the biggest, fastest, scariest ride on the boardwalk. When it ended, Isabelle cried, Elisabeth threw-up and Cheyanne begged to ride again. She hoped her son inherited her love of roller coasters.

Ten minutes later, the truck pulled into the driveway. She glanced out the window as Luc lifted Sam from the seat and carried him inside. The sight of Luc holding his son in his arms touched her heart. She met him at the door. “Is he okay?”

“Nothing a night’s sleep won’t cure. Where should I put him?”

She looked over Sam’s sticky hands, messy hair, smudged face. He needed a bath, but he slept so soundly she didn’t have the heart. “The bedroom right there.”

Luc stepped through the door and placed Sam on the bed, then joined the women in the living room. He gave his sister a kiss on the cheek. “How do you feel?”

“Pregnant.” Isabelle rubbed her belly. “You’re not your normal shade of green, so I guess you escaped a ride on Thor’s Lair.”

“Only two to a seat. I couldn’t let one of the kids ride alone.”

“You are so selfless,” Elisabeth teased.

“At least I don’t toss my dinner when I get off,” he joked back.

He sat next to Cheyanne on the sofa and dropped his arm across her shoulder. The possessive gesture stunned all three women. A long pause hung in the air.

“So...” Luc began.

“So, what?” Cheyanne asked.

“Happy child, grateful mother,” he reminded her.

Heat infused her cheeks. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“The promise you made me in the bait store.” She shot him a silencing glare that he either missed or chose to ignore. “We’ll discuss it later.”

“No. I’ve waited all evening for this.”

Her entire body flushed hot. What was he trying to prove, and to whom? She leaned closer and whispered, “Then take a cold shower. I have company.”

He roared with laughter. “Hey, I figured you’d show your gratitude with a piece of key lime pie, but I like your way better. I’ll wait for them to leave.” Before she could elbow him in the ribs, he pulled her into his lap and pinned her arms.

“You’re a dip-wad. Do you know that?” she said.

“I don’t even know what it is.”

“It’s the ladylike way of saying you’re a sh—”

He covered her mouth with his hand. “Never mind.”

“Come on, Dizzy, he got you good.” Elisabeth came to her feet and offered a hand to Isabelle. “I think we should leave and let them settle their deal.”

Isabelle hesitated. “Cheyanne?”

Her friend’s expression mirrored Cheyanne’s own confusion. His hot and cold moods forced her to remain guarded. More bewildering was Elisabeth’s blatant matchmaking. Why push an affair that might end in heartbreak? She seemed to want to recapture their high school days, when they were all friends and none of them could imagine life beyond the Cove.

“You need your rest.” Since she had a pie in the refrigerator, she should be safe. At least physically. Her emotions were another issue.

****

Luc moved his truck to allow the two women to leave. When he returned to the house, a plate with a piece of pie sat on the coffee table, but Cheyanne was gone. He found her in her son’s room, removing his sneakers and gently covering him with a blanket. He went back to the living room to wait. The scene felt too Norman Rockwell for comfort. Every time he put up an unbreakable wall, she found a way to blast through his defenses. They were not the happy couple putting their child to bed. She was his lover and she happened to have a son.

“He had a great time,” she said when she returned to the living room.

“How can you tell?”

“He’s filthy.”

Luc smiled proudly. “I do what I can.”

“I’m sure it was no big deal to you, but it’s something he’ll remember when we’re gone.”

He didn’t want her to leave. Not yet. As she reached for an empty cup on the table, he took hold of her hand. “He doesn’t like moving every few years.”

A frown creased her forehead and her eyes clouded over. “I know. I took the job out west so we could settle down.”

“Why not settle around here where he has family?”

She shook her head, as if she didn’t understand his question. “What?”

“Your mother and Morris.”

“Oh. I tried, but there aren’t too many nine to five jobs in my field. Especially with summers off.”

“At the risk of ticking you off again, it’s not like you need the money. It’s pride that keeps you from using your inheritance.”

“Pride, Luc? You’re a good one to talk. It’s your father’s money. Why wouldn’t you take it from me when I begged you to instead of...” She stopped and sucked in a deep breath.

In that split second he saw a play of emotions as dark and wide as the night sky.

Then just as quickly, she buried them. “I will not do this again. I am so tired of paying for Harlan’s sins. Nine years is long enough.”

Luc swallowed the anger that rose whenever Harlan’s name came up in the conversation. This time he couldn’t discount the anger with himself. For years he’d blocked out that last night with Cheyanne. He couldn’t recall what he said back then, but he knew he was cruel. And he clearly remembered that empty look in her eyes. It haunted him for years. She didn’t cry, but something beautiful had died in her.

Apparently she never forgot because it took her this long to even return for a visit. She only stayed the summer out of some misguided sense of loyalty to his sister. Had she wanted to get him out of her head once and for all? He wasn’t about to let her when he hadn’t been given that luxury the entire time she’d been gone.