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By the time the sun started its descent the following day, Franny had changed clothes three times and posed for too many pictures to count. She’d skipped lunch and spent an hour going over the preliminary layout for the article with Will. When she checked her phone after five, she found three messages.
Can’t wait to see you later! Chloe had texted. Thanks sooooo much for saying yes.
I’m sorry about last night. Thinking of you, Heath had written around noon.
Need anything for tonight? came his second message, almost an hour ago.
Franny started to type a reply and then stopped. She didn’t know what to say, and besides, she wanted to talk to him in person. Anyway, he was probably already on his way back from work. Chloe was supposed to arrive any minute, but Franny didn’t see her car in the growing sea of them parked outside. By the looks of things across the road, the folks from Transformations had pulled out all the stops for the wrap party. Three enormous tents. A DJ. An open bar and food from one of the premier catering halls in Bluffet Edge. She still had a hard time believing this was all for her.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Will said. She put her phone away without answering Heath. “Ready to celebrate?” He held out a glass of champagne.
“I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing for the last two days.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” He gave her a long look. “Love the dress.”
“Thank you.” Music started up and echoed across the water.
“Ah. Party time.” Will took her arm. “May I?”
She looked around the yard for Heath. Maybe he’d already headed for the beach. The entire town had been invited to the event, and from the looks of the crowd, most of them had shown up. “Ah, sure. Yes.” She could mingle once she got there. She didn’t need to stick to Will’s side. Together they crossed the road and joined the others.
###
HEATH STARED AS THEY walked into the tent. He couldn’t help it. He still couldn’t get over this new Franny, made up and hair sprayed and poured into a dress that left nothing to the imagination. He loved it. He hated it. He hated himself for resenting her happiness as one person after another oohed and aahed over everything from her hair to her jewelry to her shoes.
“Oh, my God look at her!” Chloe squealed. “You didn’t tell me she was so...different.” She spilled part of her seltzer down her dress as she stood on her tiptoes and tried to look over the crowd.
“They did one hell of a makeover, huh?” Finn said from Heath’s other side. He popped the top off a beer and handed it over.
“Thanks. Yeah, they did.”
“Dad, I’m gonna go closer to the stage, okay?” Chloe pointed, and before Heath could nod, she’d darted away.
Finn opened his own beer and looked around. “Can’t say Lindsey Point sees many shindigs like this.”
“No?” Already Heath’s neck itched and sweat slid down his spine. Too many people here. Too many voices talking all at once, and too many unsecured entrances and exits. He tried to keep one eye on Chloe and one eye on everything else.
“You all right?” Finn asked.
Heath nodded rather than voice the lie. He’d left Bud closed up back in the house, but now he wished he’d brought the dog with him. At least when Bud leaned into his leg, or shoved a cold nose into his hand, Heath could escape the demons in his head for a few minutes.
“What’s the story with the guy?” Finn asked.
“Which one?”
“The one glued to Franny’s side. I don’t like him.”
“Neither do I.”
Will handed Franny’s empty glass to one of the waitresses and offered her a new one. Franny shook her head, cheeks pink. He whispered something in her ear, and her cheeks turned even pinker. Heath’s hands tightened. He was the one who should be over there getting Franny’s drinks and making her blush, not Mister Smooth Talker from New York. Of course, he’d screwed things up royally last night, and they hadn’t had a chance to talk or be alone at all today. That needed to change. He didn’t care if they were surrounded by a hundred people. He took a long drink and looked around for someplace to set his bottle.
“I’ll be right –”
He didn’t get a chance to finish. The DJ played a drum roll that drowned out all conversation, and Will led Franny up onto a stage in the middle of the tent. He said something, but away from the mic, so Heath couldn’t hear it. The knot of people close to the stage laughed. So did Franny. Will lifted his glass, toasting something. Probably his own good taste in choosing Franny and the Hideaway for his stupid magazine contest.
Heath gripped his bottle and finished the beer.
“Scallop?” a waitress asked. She held out a cocktail napkin and a silver tray. Heath took three. His gaze never left Franny and Will. Will said something else, and then Franny took the microphone. Unlike him, she was smart enough to actually talk into it.
“Hi,” she said in a small voice. Everyone applauded, and Heath tried to imagine how this must feel for her, this acceptance washing over her after years of feeling like she lived on the edges of Lindsey Point. His jealousy eased. Be happy for her. She’s probably never had anything like this before. He remembered what a heady rush of adrenaline felt like, the night he led his football team to the playoffs. Or the day he received his final promotion, surrounded by his best friends and brothers-in-arms.
“I want to thank everyone who’s made these last two weeks so amazing. Most of you out there have known me since I was a kid.” She looked down at herself. “And you know I never looked like this.” Someone in the audience wolf whistled, and everyone laughed. “I’m honored that Transformations chose me and the Hideaway to take such a chance on. It means a lot.” More applause. “Anyway, please stop up and see the new Hideaway whenever you can. And tell all your out-of-town friends and relatives to come see it too! I hope everyone has a great time tonight. Thanks so much for coming.” She turned and put her hand on Will’s arm. Thank you, she mouthed as she returned the mic to the DJ.
“Nice speech. Good for her. Franny deserves this.” Finn took a handful of mozzarella sticks from the next waitress who passed. Heath didn’t answer. His tongue felt too thick in his mouth to form words.
The DJ put on some kind of classic rock, and Finn left to find Aubrey. Heath tossed his empty bottle and roamed the length of the buffet line. So much to choose from. Too much. He didn’t even know what half this stuff was. He settled for shrimp and steak and went to stand in a corner with his back against the tent.
“Hey, stranger.” Connor materialized from the crowd. “Some party, huh? Where’s your woman?”
Heath had no idea. “Talking to people, I guess.” He checked his watch. Chloe was supposed to arrive sometime around nine, and he didn’t want to miss her.
“You okay?”
Why the hell did everyone ask him that? “Yeah.” He turned away. “Gotta take a piss. See you later.”
He stalked in the direction of the lighthouse. He didn’t have to use the bathroom. He just couldn’t stand under that tent any longer. The sun had almost set, and long shadows crossed the beach. Others must have had the same idea of escaping the crowd, because he could see silhouettes here and there along the beach.
“...so beautiful tonight,” said a voice close by.
Heath froze.
“Even before the makeover, before they did anything, you were beautiful.”
“That’s nice of you to say.”
He simultaneously saw them and recognized their voices, with an awful stirring in his gut. Franny and Will stood near the base of the lighthouse.
“I’m not saying it to be nice. I’m saying it because it’s true.” Will took a step toward Franny. She took a step back. Heath stayed where he was.
“Listen, I know you’ve got something going on with that guy,” Will went on. His voice sounded thick. Drunk. “Is it serious? Because if it isn’t, then...” He leaned forward and kissed her.
Franny pushed Will away. Her heels caught in the sand, and she turned her ankle.
Will caught her and pulled her up. “I’m sorry. But please. Give me a chance.” He didn’t let go of her arm. Instead he tried to kiss her again. This time he backed her up against the lighthouse, and his hands went to both arms, pinning her there. Franny struggled. Fabric ripped, and her dress split all the way up one side.
“Get your hands off her.”
Will turned as Heath emerged from the shadows. “Mind your own business.”
At that, Heath hauled off and punched him. It happened without thought, without warning, without even a hitch in his breath. He saw Franny’s panicked face, heard her dress rip, and he connected. Fist to jaw.
“Heath!”
Will’s hand went to his face, and he staggered. “Son of a –”
Someone whistled, and they all turned. When Heath looked back, Will had scurried to the tent. Franny remained where she was.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She looked at him like she’d never seen him before. “You hit him.”
“He was forcing himself on you. Trying to kiss you.”
She bunched the torn fabric of her dress in one hand. “I know. But he had too much to drink.”
“Are you saying it didn’t bother you? That you wanted him to kiss you?” All the pieces inside Heath, all the pieces she’d made whole again, began to break apart.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what?”
“You can’t fight your way through life, Heath.”
He took one step back, stunned. “I wasn’t fighting anyone. I was protecting you from a drunk, aggressive asshole. That’s what real men do.” But his resolve wavered. Seemed like no matter where he turned, people looked at him like he was about to explode twenty-four seven, just because he was a big guy, a soldier who stood up for himself and the people he cared for. Everyone assumed. Everyone judged. I’m not violent.
But maybe he was. Maybe the calm he felt with Bud, the love he had for Franny, was a mistake. A mirage. Maybe everyone around him was right after all.
Franny pressed her lips together and looked like she might cry. “I don’t know if I can keep doing this,” she said, so quietly he thought he might have guessed the words.
He took another step back. Shoved his hands into his pockets. And began to shut himself down. Don’t feel. Don’t think. Just do. You won’t get hurt that way.
“I care about you so, so much,” she went on, but the words fell like drops of rain on his skin. Simple wetness, nothing more. In a moment they’d be gone. They meant nothing. They’d leave no trace.
“Heath?” She took his hands in both of hers, and the touch almost made him soften, but he fought it. Don’t feel. Don’t think. Everything was temporary. Everyone left. Beth. Roberto. Now Franny.
“Please. I need you to hear me. I love you. I do. But there’s so much anger inside you, so much I can’t touch, can’t even try to heal –”
“I don’t need you to heal me.”
“Maybe those were the wrong words.”
He forced his gaze to the lighthouse.
“I’m worried about you.”
“Don’t be.”
A single explosion rocked the beach. Heath winced. The wind picked up, and he bent his head against the sand that flew into his eyes. Another explosion. His insides turned to jelly. “Go,” he said through clenched teeth. He wouldn’t let her see this. The fireworks lit up the sky, red and blue and yellow, and his anxiety ballooned. Pulse skipped. Palms grew wet.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. You made yourself clear. You can’t do this anymore. Neither can I.” It took all his effort to turn and walk away.