It was a chilly morning with a biting wind, but Ismay had gone to the beach anyway. She wasn’t about to hang around the house and have Bastian suggest they do something together. Apparently, he had some friends from college who were on the island for a few days—she’d heard him talking to one of them on the phone—so she was hoping he’d start hanging out with them and forget about her.
But she had a feeling she was part of the reason he’d come to the island. She just didn’t understand what he was after...
She’d chosen to go to the public beach, since it was farther from him. But even the public area was almost deserted. That didn’t bother her, though. In her current frame of mind, she preferred to be alone. Remy had called to see how she was doing, but it was a perfunctory call—one made out of obligation—and, as usual these days, he’d been in a hurry to get off. That final part of his board exams. She understood his need to study, but she couldn’t help the nagging feeling that she was just something he’d collected along the way and now took for granted.
She zipped up the windbreaker she’d worn over her swimsuit, figuring she could take it off if the weather warmed up as the day progressed. She wouldn’t be getting much of a tan this summer if it was going to be as cold as it had been. But she had bigger worries. Leaving her bag where she’d spread out her towel, she carried her cell phone as she walked along the beach.
It was good to be out, regardless, she told herself. It beat being stuck in the cottage during that terrible storm—or staying there and trying to avoid Bastian. She’d been tempted to stop by Bo’s to see how he was doing before coming to the beach. But she knew it was sort of odd that she wanted to see him so soon. It was just that he was her only friend while she was here.
Her phone dinged, signaling a text. She hoped it was from Remy and that he’d say something so sweet and conciliatory she’d be able to let go of some of the resentment that was building up inside her. But it wasn’t Remy; it was Jack—at last.
I’ve decided to come.
Stunned, she stopped walking. Did he mean to Mariners?
Instead of texting back, she called him, and this time he picked up.
“You’re serious?” she said.
“Totally,” he replied.
“When can you come?”
“If I’m going to cut out of here, I might as well do it right away, when it’ll have the biggest benefit.”
“As in...this week?”
“As in...as soon as I can make the arrangements. I’ll stay in a hotel, if I have to.”
But he wouldn’t be able to afford a hotel on Mariners. A cheap hotel was three hundred dollars a night, and with Bastian at the cottage, she didn’t dare do anything as presumptuous as have her brother join her there.
She thought of Bo and the neighbor Honey. He’d indicated there was a possible opportunity for Jack to house-sit, but she needed to confirm. “I’ll figure out someplace for you to stay. Just...get on a plane. I can meet you at the airport.”
Silence.
“Jack?” she said.
She heard him suck in a long breath, as if he were finally able to breathe after an extended period of finding it difficult. “That feels good,” he said.
She was confused. “What feels good?”
“To know if I make this jump, my big sister will be there to catch me.”
“Of course,” she said. “Always.”
But she was afraid she might have trouble living up to that promise. After they disconnected, she hurried back to where she’d left her stuff, balled up her towel, shoved it in her beach bag, and called an Uber.
Bo was repairing the roof when a car pulled up at the end of his drive. He watched as Ismay got out and hurried across the lawn, her long shapely legs bare beneath an oversized white sweatshirt, her feet in matching flip-flops. She also had her hair pulled up into a ponytail, a colorful beach bag slung over one shoulder and sunglasses resting on top of her head.
She looked good. Too good for a guy who hadn’t been with a woman in so long. He’d had a few encounters after he got out of prison, when he was looking for someplace to belong. But that was before he made his way to Mariners. He didn’t dare do anything here that might create complications. If he allowed anyone to get too close, it could threaten the secret he guarded, and ultimately mean he’d have to leave the island and the safe haven he’d found here.
Even if he didn’t have to keep everyone at arm’s length, the last woman he could ever get involved with would be his employer’s son’s fiancée.
But Ismay not only looked like everything a man in his position would dream about, she acted so happy and eager to see him, with her wide smile and bright eyes, that he couldn’t help feeling something he’d rather not feel—a measure of excitement to see her, too.
He’d been too friendly with her, he realized. He needed to back away...
“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked, standing.
She shaded her eyes with one hand as she looked up at him. “I just talked to Jack.”
“Your brother...”
“Yes. He said he’s catching the first flight he can get out of Salt Lake.”
“And coming here?”
She nodded, seemed to remember she had a pair of sunglasses, and put them on to help cut the sun’s glare. “Is that okay? Do you think that house-sitting gig is still a possibility?”
He’d barely mentioned it to Honey. He doubted she could leave quite this soon, but would definitely follow up. What if she said no? He felt he’d have to find a backup. Or...why couldn’t he stay at the cottage? Bastian was there, yes, but there was certainly room for all three of them.
“I’ll let Honey know he’s coming—and that he’s coming right away. But if that doesn’t work out, can’t he just stay with you at the cottage until we can find something else?”
“If Bastian wasn’t there, I’d talk to Remy and possibly risk it. But with Bastian around, taking note of everything I do and painting it in the worst possible light, I’m afraid he’d complain to his parents, and I’ve never even met them. I don’t want them to think I’m abusing their generosity and hospitality by bringing more guests into their home.”
Bo considered his second bedroom. He definitely wasn’t looking for a roommate. He didn’t want someone who might ask nosy questions, then come away feeling he was being cagey or deceptive. Letting anyone into his life was a risk, especially letting them get that close. But maybe he could take in Ismay’s brother for a night or two...
Except he couldn’t say the Windsors would like that any better, worrying it would make them look bad to have their potential daughter-in-law’s brother relegated to the caretaker’s bungalow.
Still, he couldn’t dash the hope that was in Ismay’s face. He was pretty certain that surviving the storm together had made her think of him as her ally. “We’ll figure something out,” he heard himself say.
“Thank you! I hope Honey will be open to this. Tell her...tell her we’ll pay some rent besides. Maybe that’ll help. Neither one of us has a lot, but this means so much to me. I have to help him get out of Tremonton as soon as possible. He’s depending on me.”
“Right. Just...let me know when he’ll be here.”
“Okay.” Her smile showed her teeth as she waved. “Thank you! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
He waved back, then cursed himself as she left. Remy should be the one trying to help her with her brother—not him. So why wasn’t that happening? Had she even asked him?
If not—or he’d refused—could it be that their relationship wasn’t as solid as it should be?
That thought excited Bo. It meant Ismay might also know, on some level, that she wasn’t with the best guy. He thought she was asking for heartbreak getting with someone as entitled, spoiled, selfish, and domineering as Remy—and he’d essentially told her so on that very first night.
He couldn’t even imagine how good it would feel to take Remy’s place—to have her step up to him and slide her arms around his neck as he lowered his mouth to hers.
Jerking his mind away from a precipice that was all too tempting, he swore. He had nothing to offer her. It was dangerous just to let himself entertain the idea.
Quickly blocking her from his mind, he got back to work.
Ismay sat in the chair swing on the porch as she drank a kombucha and talked to Remy. She was careful not to bother him unless she absolutely had to tell him something, so she had been surprised when he called her just as it was getting dark.
“You done studying for the day?” she asked.
“Yeah. I need a break. I don’t think I’m retaining anything anymore.”
“Don’t stress over it,” she said. “You’ll do great. You always do.”
“I hope you’re right. How’s the weather there now?”
She gazed out at a tranquil sea. It was so peaceful and calm, it was hard to remember how rough it’d been only a day or two earlier. “Beautiful.”
“Awesome. And how are you getting along with Bastian?”
“Fine,” she replied, even though she still didn’t know how she was going to get through the days Bastian spent on the island with her. “Why?”
“I feel kind of bad you’re stranded there with him. He can be...a bit much.”
In her opinion, Bastian was someone only a mother could love. But she wouldn’t allow herself to say so. “He’s out right now with some friends.” She hoped he wouldn’t get home until late—after she was in bed. He’d invited her to go with him, but she’d said she was planning to wander along the seashore, looking for shells.
“Is Bo going with you?” Bastian had asked.
She’d acted affronted. They had no plans. But once she’d finished her walk, she did find herself wondering what he was doing.
“You might want to stay away from Bastian when he gets back,” Remy was saying. “We always fight when he’s been drinking.”
She rolled her eyes. Great. More good news. “I’ll steer clear.”
“That’d be smart. How’s Jack doing?”
She’d texted to tell him what’d happened to her brother’s marriage, and he’d responded with the appropriate amount of surprise. But she suspected he didn’t truly care.
He’d never even met Jack. So maybe she was expecting too much—especially considering the way she felt about his brother. She and Remy probably couldn’t have gotten through the last three years without the support they’d given each other. He’d covered some of the expenses she would’ve been hard-pressed to cover while putting herself through school, and she’d served as an anchor for him—had helped keep him stable under the pressure and had done a lot of the housework so he could focus on his studies. So far, their relationship had been about sticking together and getting through their demanding curriculums. That didn’t necessarily mean they cared deeply for each other’s families. Not yet. “He’s having a hard time.”
“That’s too bad. What he’s going through...” He whistled. “That’d be rough. I mean...humiliating, right?”
Whether it was more humiliating than it would be if Ashleigh had left Jack for a guy was a whole other conversation. She didn’t want to go there, because she knew it might cause an argument. As far as she was concerned, Remy wasn’t as kind or tolerant as he should be.
She considered telling him that Jack was “thinking” about coming to the island, so that he wasn’t blindsided when she told him Jack was there. But she also knew he’d resent the added complication when he was already dealing with so much.
She deliberated over that point until they’d discussed a few more things—their future life together, her career plans. These were topics they discussed often because they had yet to arrive at any solid conclusions. So she wasn’t all that invested in the conversation. She was too busy trying to decide what to do about Jack.
But she knew if her brother was coming, she had to say something eventually. Deciding to get it over with, she said they’d talk more about when to return to LA and whether she should join an established firm once Remy was on Mariners. Then she steered the conversation back to her brother. “My mom’s really broken up about what happened with Jack. It’s been hard on the whole family.”
“Of course it is,” he said, but she couldn’t detect much empathy.
“I told him he should get out of Tremonton—out of Utah. He doesn’t want to be a farmer, anyway. So why stick around for all the gossip and awkwardness? If he leaves now, he might be able to cut the ties that have held him in place with my parents, freeing him up to do anything he wants.”
“That’s true,” Remy agreed. “With such a big upheaval, now would probably be a good time to raise that issue—get it all over with at once.”
“Except he doesn’t really have anywhere else to go. So I told him to come out here for the summer and see what it’s like on the island.”
“Wait...what’d you say?” Remy asked.
She curled her fingernails into her palms. “I told him to come out here. I’d love for the two of you to meet. We could...we could have a lot of fun together.”
“While he’s busted up over the failure of his marriage? How much fun will that be?”
“We could cheer him up, help him get over it.”
“But this is our summer off,” he argued. “We’ve worked hard for this. Why would you want to get involved in someone else’s divorce, especially now?”
“Because it’s not just someone else’s divorce, Remy. It’s my brother’s divorce. And he’s only twenty-five.”
“I don’t think having him come to Mariners is the answer. He wouldn’t have a job. Wouldn’t know anyone else. For God’s sake, what would he do all summer?”
“The same things we’re going to do,” she said. “Meditate. Read. Relax. Go to the beach. Enjoy the food, the art, the shopping. He could catch up on his sleep and think about where he wants his life to go.”
Silence. She could tell Remy wasn’t pleased. She could even sort of understand. They had really been looking forward to a certain experience and having Jack around would change that. But it didn’t have to be for the worse. She wasn’t happy about his brother showing up out of the blue, either. At least her brother wasn’t an asshole like Bastian was.
“He’s a cool guy,” she insisted.
“Ismay, we’ll have to entertain him twenty-four/seven. And where will he stay, anyway? With us?”
She was glad she’d been intuitive enough to know Remy wouldn’t want her brother at the cottage with them. “There’s a neighbor here who wants to travel to the mainland for at least part of the summer and needs someone to house-sit for her. Maybe he could do that. It’d be free, and he wouldn’t have to stay with us.”
More silence.
“Remy?”
“Surely, he doesn’t want to come clear across the country. I mean, your dad’s a farmer, and we’re going into summer and fall—how will your folks get by without him?”
“Hank just graduated from college, so he’s home now. And he likes working the land. This might be the only opportunity Jack has to escape a life he doesn’t truly want.”
Remy sighed audibly. “It’s just that...it won’t be the same, Is. I don’t have anything against your brother. But this was our big reward, our last hurrah. I’d hate to let anything ruin—er, change it.”
“Having Jack here wouldn’t ruin anything. It wouldn’t even change it that much.” She wanted to say she hadn’t expected his brother to be around, either. But she couldn’t complain because it was his family’s vacation home. She was lucky to have the use of it. “Will you give it a chance?” she asked instead.
“Wait.” He sounded suspicious. “Don’t tell me he’s already agreed to come...”
She winced. “He has. He could change his mind, but—”
“So the house-sitting gig is a go?”
She didn’t have an answer on that yet, but Remy had confirmed, by his reaction, that she wouldn’t be able to offer Jack a room at the cottage. Although...if she handled her brother’s lodging and he stayed elsewhere, she didn’t see how Remy could be that upset about having him on the island. The Windsors didn’t own all of Mariners. “If not, I’ll find him a hotel.”
“With what money?” he asked. “You’re always scraping to get by!”
Because she didn’t have rich parents who paid for everything! She opened her mouth to say so but thought better of it. He’d just accuse her of being too sensitive or jealous. “He has some savings.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “He’s going to come, isn’t he?”
Finally irritated beyond her ability to hold back, she felt her patience snap. “Why not? Maybe he and Bastian can hang out together,” she said and disconnected.
Tossing her phone on the seat of the swing, she got up and began to pace. She shouldn’t have agreed to come here. It’d sounded so fun at the time, but she didn’t like being at the Windsors’ mercy, having to be so grateful to be using the cottage that she couldn’t feel free to help her own brother.
She was mumbling all the things she wanted to say to Remy—that she wouldn’t let herself—when her phone dinged. That had to be him. No doubt he’d texted her, angry that she’d hung up on him. She could already hear him berating her for not having more understanding when he was under so much stress, saying that if he failed his exams, it’d be because she distracted him and couldn’t take care of herself and her own problems for a few weeks.
Reluctantly, she scooped up her phone to see if she was right. Remy had tried calling back—three times. But he hadn’t texted her. The text had come from Bo. And there were no words, just a picture of a chess board on his kitchen table.