Playing the Part

CHAPTER FOUR

GABE’S HEART WAS racing and his stomach had turned queasy. He’d pushed Carys too hard; he should’ve backed off. But he was at a loss as to what to do with her. He knew deep in his bones that Carys was guilty of all the things she’d been accused of and probably even a few things that hadn’t been caught yet but he just couldn’t understand why she was being such a terror. He’d tried about everything under the sun to help her heal—

Disneyland, a new pony, the best birthday party money could buy—and it seemed her attitude only worsened.

And now this? If something happened to her he’d never forgive himself. He never should’ve listened to that woman when she talked him out of going straight to the police. They needed a search party right now. Changing direction, his thoughts almost manic, he startled when he heard Carys’s voice behind him.

“Hi, Daddy,” his daughter said, smiling as if she hadn’t scared the living daylights out of him. She walked beside Lindy as if they were old friends, which made him do a double take. An hour ago Carys had been hollering for the woman’s head. Now they were buds? Lindy’s brow went up ever so slightly, as if encouraging Carys. His daughter drew a deep breath and—Lord help him, he was going to have a heart attack—apologized. “I was real upset but I shouldn’t have run off like that. I’m sorry, Daddy.”

With his daughter looking up at him with those gorgeous baby blues, appearing more sincere than she had in months, Gabe found himself floundering with the wind sucked from his sails. He’d been prepared to yell, cry, kiss and chastise but instead he simply nodded, unsure of what to do. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said, shooting an uncertain look Lindy’s way. He was willing to bet she had something to do with this remarkable transformation.

If he wanted answers, he would find them with the woman he really wanted to avoid. When Charlotte had been alive, he’d been a faithful man and even after her death that hadn’t changed. He knew he wouldn’t be much of a partner to anyone new after Charlotte died and he’d wanted to make sure he was making good choices, particularly now that the parenting burden fell squarely on his shoulders. So that meant smothering the inevitable awakening of his libido, which chose to flare to life at inopportune moments. And up until that moment, he’d been successful. But there was something about this woman that made his decision to remain single and celibate very difficult.

“I’m hungry,” Carys announced, grabbing her dad’s hand. “Let’s go to that hamburger place we went to the other day...Sailor’s, I think?” She looked to Lindy for confirmation and Lindy nodded.

“Best burgers on the island, maybe even all the islands, but then I’m partial. I’ve been eating there since I was a kid.”

“You grew up here.” Gabe suddenly remembered, wondering if her unique, exotic environment had created the slightly wild persona he saw now, or if it’d been her nature to begin with. A shudder threatened to shake his spine as his thoughts touched on an off-limits area. Of course, she had a body men dreamed about, but there was more to Lindy Bell than her body. He had to admit, he was curious. Which was exactly why he needed to steer clear. Curiosity led to seeking answers and sometimes the answers only spurred a deeper hunger for information. There was no way he was going to get mixed up with this wild woman. If he were truly ready to start dating, he’d start looking in more traditional pools, such as the country club, or the endless stream of fundraiser dinners that he was invited to because he owned his own Fortune 500 company. Realizing late that Lindy and Carys were already engaged in a conversation that didn’t include him, he interjected himself with a firm smile. “Thank you, Ms. Bell. I think we can take it from here.”

“I drove you here, remember?”

“We can take a taxi back to the resort.”

Carys’s expression fell, clearly displeased, but he needed to have a conversation with his daughter that didn’t include strangers. Lindy seemed to understand his need for some privacy and smiled. “Well, sounds like you have everything under control here. Glad the rug rat is safe and sound.” To Carys she said, “And remember what I said...” She held up her hand and pointed at the center of her palm, which appeared empty to his eyes but to Carys there seemed to be something of value there. “Catch you later, kiddos.”

Once Lindy was out of earshot, he turned to Carys and asked, “What was that all about?”

“We made a deal,” Carys answered without hesitation but failed to elaborate. “I’m starving, Daddy. Let’s go. Can we walk to Sailor’s from here?”

Distracted, he glanced around, not quite sure how to find Sailor’s from the plaza. He hadn’t been paying enough attention, and even though the island wasn’t overly large, one could still get turned around. “We’ll find a taxi, sweetheart. Now tell me more about this deal you made with a stranger?” he prompted, trying to keep his voice light and amused, but really he was uncomfortable with the idea that Carys had made some sort of deal with a woman she barely knew.

Carys turned and seemed to evaluate him, as if testing whether or not he could be trusted with the information and then when she simply shrugged, he realized he must’ve failed the test. Pressing his lips together, he made a mental note to talk with Lindy herself about what was going on, then switched gears and hailed a cab for them.

Once they had their burgers and were eating their weight in perfectly cooked beef—Lindy might be right, the burgers at Sailor’s were pretty damn good—he tried to strike up a conversation with his daughter. Once they used to talk about everything under the sun; now they barely managed two words without it turning into a fight. “I was thinking we could take a drive to see the sights tomorrow. Maybe go parasailing or something?”

Carys shrugged without answering and continued eating her thick-cut fries. “Lindy is pretty cool,” she announced, clearly demonstrating her attention was nowhere near the conversation Gabe had been having. He withheld an aggravated sigh and shrugged, not quite sure how to answer. What did he know about Lindy Bell aside from the superficial? She was hot-tempered, but beautiful in a way that made his teeth ache, and he had to focus really hard not to allow his imagination to run wild with all the pent-up desires he’d been trying his best to smother for over a year.

Carys continued, thankfully oblivious to Gabe’s struggle. “I didn’t like her at first but she’s better than I thought. She’s just got this way about her that’s, I don’t know, really cool. Like when I talk to her I feel like she’s really listening.”

“I listen,” he countered, mildly offended. He felt as if he’d been bending over backward to get Carys to open up to him but she’d rebuffed his every attempt. “You know if you ever want to talk—”

“What if I want to talk about Mom?” she queried sharply and he shifted in discomfort.

He knew he needed to tread carefully but talking about Charlotte... It was so painful for them both so why would he want to encourage that? “Your mom would’ve wanted us to go on with our lives, not wallow in sadness. You know that, right?”

“When people die it’s sad,” Carys countered bluntly. “Lindy said it’s good to talk about it. Somehow it makes you less sad.”

He drew back, freshly irritated. “Talking isn’t going to bring Mom back,” he told Carys firmly. “Of course we miss her. But the best way to honor her spirit is to move on with our lives in a positive manner.” At that Carys’s eyes flashed and she shoved a fry in her mouth. He was losing her again. Damn it. “Carys, you know I loved Mom more than anything, right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” she answered, shrugging.

“What do you mean, you guess?”

Carys glared. “If you loved her like you say you did I don’t understand why you won’t ever let me talk about her. You never even mention her name. It’s like you’re trying to erase that she ever existed.”

“That’s not true,” he said, stung. “I just don’t want to get stuck in an unhealthy pattern of emotional pain. And I don’t want that for you, either.”

“What are you talking about?” Carys asked, confused and annoyed. “I don’t even know what that means. Emotional pain? What else are you supposed to feel when someone you love dies? I guess I didn’t get that memo on what’s supposed to be healthy and whatever.”

Somehow, once again, their conversation had eroded into an angry standoff and he was bewildered how they got there. He sighed and gestured at her cooling food. “Eat your burger.”

“I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Fine. Then we’ll take it with us. You can eat it later.”

“Whatever.”

“Can we not do this?” he asked, hating that he was pleading with his daughter.

“Do what?”

“Fight.”

“I want to talk to Lindy,” she said, folding her arms across her small chest.

“What?”

“I want to talk to her.”

“About what?” he asked, incredulous. Carys’s mouth tightened, telling him he wasn’t going to get an answer. He signaled for the check with a brusque motion. “This is getting ridiculous, Carys. I’ve tried to be understanding. I’ve tried to be accommodating but you’ve stonewalled me at every turn. What does Lindy Bell—a stranger, I might add—offer you that I haven’t?”

“You wouldn’t understand because you don’t listen,” she muttered, glancing away. “She understands because she lost her mom, too. And she says it’s good to talk about it.”

Gabe stared, hit by the knowledge that in one conversation Lindy had managed to reach his daughter when he had failed repeatedly. He also realized that Lindy had forged a tenuous bond with Carys through a similar experience. But Lindy wasn’t the kind of person Gabe would like his daughter hanging out with on a regular basis. From what he could tell, it was likely Lindy didn’t care about the things he felt were important and hoped to instill in his daughter. Maybe it was unfair to judge a book by its cover but he didn’t have the luxury of getting past the surface when his daughter was involved. “I’m sorry, Carys. I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t know Lindy very well and she might seem like a very nice person but I’d rather not invite strangers into our business.”

Once again he was the bad guy, he thought with an unhappy sigh. But he had broad shoulders. He could take it. Carys would realize someday that he was only doing what was best for her.

He just hoped their relationship didn’t sustain irreparable damage between now and then.

CHAPTER FIVE

LINDY RETURNED FROM the marina and went in search of something to eat. She found her grandfather puttering around in the kitchen, fixing himself a sandwich. She slid onto the barstool and smiled with love in her heart for the old guy. He hadn’t changed much physically. Maybe his hair had a bit more gray and he wasn’t as robust as he once was but he still had that same indescribable quality about him that made him Pops. Even if he was slowly losing his grip on reality.

“Whatcha got there, Pops?” Lindy asked, bending to take a sniff of his plate and opening her mouth as if she were going to gobble it down right there in front of him.

“Hey now, get your own,” he warned and pulled the plate from the snap of her jaws. “There’s plenty. Celly just stocked the pantries.”

Lindy cocked her head. “Celly?” she asked, curious. “She does the shopping now?”

“Well, your grams...she’s hard to find these days for the little stuff, like grocery shopping and whatnot, so Celly offered to do the shopping. She’s also a great cook. Have you tried her boiled bananas yet? Damn near as good as anything they sell at The Wild Donkey.”

“The Wild Donkey,” Lindy murmured, remembering the popular local hangout. “I can’t believe they’re still in business.”

“Nothing much changes around here, just the people,” Pops remarked, taking a hefty bite of what appeared to be a turkey and cranberry sandwich with lots of sprouts. “Mmm...that’s good,” he said with a grunt of approval. “Your grams talked Celly into all this healthy stuff and at first I was skeptical, but damn if she doesn’t have me eating like a rabbit and liking it, besides. Wonders never cease, huh?”

Lindy smiled as she pulled the fixings for her own sandwich. “So...Pops...how is Grams feeling these days?” she asked, feeling out the framework of Pops’s elaborate fantasy. “She okay?”

“Fit as a fiddle,” Pops answered with a faint scowl as if he were annoyed that Lindy had even asked. “Why? She say something to you?”

Lindy’s mouth curved in a faint smile as sadness brushed across her thoughts. She’d been fifteen when Grams had gotten sick. It’d been a horrible time. Sometimes she wished she could forget, too. Lindy blinked back the sudden moisture in her eyes and focused on her sandwich. “Nope,” she answered brightly, slathering mayo on her bread. “Just making sure everyone’s good and healthy. I’ve been gone awhile so you know, just want to make sure I haven’t missed anything important.”

“Everything’s fine, sugar bird,” he assured her with a smile, biting into his sandwich. “Everything’s just fine.”

“Good.” She dumped a handful of turkey on her bread with a little more force than necessary. Pops looked up with a quizzical expression and she forced a laugh. “Oops. My bad.”

Pops switched subjects without her needing to, saying, “Lindy...I’m worried about Lilah. I think she’s going through something...and you two have always been so close. Maybe you could talk to her?”

“Sure, Pops,” Lindy answered, sprinkling her sandwich with a liberal dose of salt and pepper. She liked it almost inedible to most tastes. The first time her friends had watched her doctor her Subway sandwich they’d nearly fallen over in shock. Of course, it could’ve also been for the fact that she was eating a full six-inch instead of cutting it in half to save for the following day. She sank her teeth into the sandwich and groaned in happiness. “What makes you think Lilah is bothered by something?” she asked around the bite in her mouth. “She seemed okay to me yesterday.”

Actually, that wasn’t entirely true, now that she thought about it. But then Lilah had always orbited her own planet and no one thought to question her flight pattern. Lindy loved her twin desperately, but she did worry about her at times. She’d tried to get her to move to Los Angeles, but even as the offer had fallen from her mouth she knew that was never going to happen. Lilah in Los Angeles would be like feeding a lamb to the lions. She’d stick out like a sore thumb in Lindy’s circles; worse, some sleazy producer type might try to sleep with her. Lindy sighed and took another bite. “Yeah,” she repeated, mostly to herself. “I’ll talk to her, Pops.”

“I knew I could count on you.” He rose from the table and tossed his trash, then brushed a quick, smacking kiss on her cheek. She smiled at the contact and watched as he went on his merry way, likely to go find his wife.

How did someone lose their grip on reality like Pops? He seemed completely lucid, unless you considered the fact that he held conversations with a woman who’d been dead for almost ten years. It broke her heart, but what could she do? Pushing reality on him seemed to make it worse—Lora had learned that the hard way—but eventually his grip on everything was going to slip, right? She hated to think of that moment, so she didn’t. Finishing her sandwich, she burped with total satisfaction just as Lora walked in and gave her a disgusted look. “What? In Europe that’s considered a compliment to the chef.”

“We’re not in Europe,” Lora reminded her. “Hey, I’m glad I found you. We’re going to have a family meeting tonight to discuss the situation with Larimar. It’s time to start implementing some strategies.”

She groaned at the overly bright light in Lora’s eyes. In her previous life—before she lost her job and Heath dragged her back to St. John to help fix this mess facing the resort—she’d been something of a marketing shark. And judging by the look on her face, she missed the action. Likely, if she saw a spreadsheet she’d shudder with ecstasy. But Lindy wasn’t hardwired that way. She hated the words marketing strategy, loss leader and anything that would compel someone to open an Excel spreadsheet. But she hadn’t returned home to hang out and spruce up her Caribbean tan. She was here to pitch in. More’s the pity. She sighed grumpily. “What time?”

Pleased with the fact that Lindy hadn’t tried to get out of it, Lora actually smiled as she grabbed a banana on the go. “How about seven? That way dinner is out of the way.”

“Good. And drinks can follow,” Lindy quipped, adding drily, “and they should. Lots of them if we’re going to get through the evening without killing one another.”

Lora’s smile faded, but she didn’t call Lindy out for her bad attitude. Thank God for small favors. Lindy wasn’t in the mood to start a word war with her older sister.

“Did you apologize to Mr. Weston?”

Lindy chewed her bottom lip as she quickly processed an easy answer to her sister’s pointed question. She could tell the truth, but then that would lead to all sorts of exclamations and recriminations over her bad attitude and the consequences of her sharp tongue—blah, blah, blah—and since it had all turned out fine in the end...

“Yep,” Lindy answered with a short smile.

“Good.” Lora smiled, seeming relieved. “I have to confess I was a little worried you might make things worse.”

Lindy scowled. “If you thought that, why’d you insist I apologize?”

Lora’s smile widened. “It was a leap of faith. I think.”

Lindy bit back the sarcasm dancing on her tongue. She supposed she couldn’t be too peeved; in a way her sister’s fear had been accurate. But at least Lindy had managed to fix things, and that’s what counted anyway.

“One less reason to worry. Thanks, Lindy,” Lora said and breezed from the room.

Lindy rubbed her full stomach and headed to her room to grab her iPod. She was hoping to catch some rays before the day was finished, and the sun was quickly sinking into the horizon.

Of course, as luck would have it, that was not in the cards.

“Miss Bell?” A voice called out at her back and she grimaced, recognizing the firm timbre as belonging to Carys’s father, Gabe Weston. She pivoted on her heel and pasted on a perfunctory smile for his benefit in an effort to be nice.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“I wondered if I might talk to you for a minute.... It’s about Carys.”

A ripple of unease followed. “What’s wrong? Everything okay? What’s the kid done now?”

“Nothing,” he answered with a faint scowl.

“Oh, c’mon. You and I both know the kid’s got devil juice running through her veins. Don’t get me wrong...I like her, but...yeah, she’s a handful. We pulled out another tie, by the way. Would you like me to show you the plumber’s bill now or later?”

“Another one?”

“Well, to be fair, we think it was part of the original batch she sent whizzing down our pipes, but it got stuck and the plumber managed to fish it out. Something tells me you aren’t going to want it back.”

“Ah...sorry about that. Send me the bill. I’ll cover it.”

“Oh, it’s on your bill,” she assured him with a smile. “At this rate, the plumber is going to send you a fruit basket in appreciation.”

At his sharp look, her grin brightened and he faltered, clearly not quite sure what to think of her. She didn’t hold his confusion against him. Most people didn’t know what to think of her. It was part of her charm. At least, that was how she liked to think of it. He recovered after a moment and returned to his original train of thought. “Listen, my daughter seems to have taken a shine to you....”

“Yeah? That’s cool. I take back what I said about the devil juice. She’s obviously a kid with a great judge of character.”

“Uh...yeah, about that,” he continued, uncomfortable. “Here’s the thing, I’m just going to give it to you straight—”

“Great. I hate when people blow smoke up my ass. Makes me burp.”

At that he almost laughed and she was struck by how handsome he could be when he wasn’t acting like a stiff jackass. She regarded him with as much seriousness as she could muster. She was already bored with the conversation—mostly because she had a feeling whatever he was struggling to tell her wasn’t going to make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside—and she wanted to get it over with.

“You have to understand, my daughter is very impressionable and it’s not personal, really, but—”

“Oh wait, this sounds like a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ conversation, which is funny because we’re not even dating. Also funny because I’m usually the one delivering that line.”

He flushed and shot her a short look as if to say, will you stop interrupting so I can finish this difficult conversation? But she was way ahead of him and simply said with a sigh, “I get it. You don’t want her hanging out with someone as ultracool as me—an almost famous celebrity—because you wouldn’t want to set her up with an unreal expectation of what life can be like. I get it. It’s okay.” She patted him on the shoulder. “But honestly, Gabe— Can I call you Gabe? Okay. Good. Here’s the thing. I think we should give kids a high bar to reach for. You know? So they can rise to the occasion. But that’s just me. You do what you feel is right. She’s your kid.”

And with that, she left him, staring with his jaw open slightly and a serious what-the-eff just happened? look on his face. And Lindy tried not to laugh.

Lindy left a lot of people with that very same expression. She suspected one particular director had pegged it precisely: she simply didn’t accept anything she didn’t want to hear and therefore created her own reality.

Now that she thought about it, maybe she had more in common with Pops than she realized.

Huh. Interesting.

But she had to admit Gabe Weston was not hard on the eyes. Not at all, she thought as she grabbed her beach towel and sunscreen.

Too bad she didn’t date guys with kids. That was a deal-breaker in her book.

No matter how hot they were.

No matter how much she kinda liked the kid.

No. Matter. No. How.

Rules were rules, which ordinarily she delighted in breaking, unless they were her own rules, then she stuck to them religiously.

Yep. She was funny like that.

She spied Lilah and waved. “Hey, wanna hit the beach with me?”

“You bet. Gimme a sec.” Lilah grinned with a nod before disappearing to grab her own towel and beach bag.

While she waited for her sister, Lindy’s gaze strayed in the direction of Bungalow 2 for just a minute, then she sighed.

What a tragedy.

Rules sucked.

* * *

GABE WAS FAIRLY certain the hot woman had just bamboozled him.

Worse, he wasn’t sure how it’d happened or how he’d allowed it to happen.