Page 10 of Love Everlasting

She caught her lower lip with her teeth, a glimmer of the former “Miss Perky”—Ben’s nickname for her—twinkling in her eyes, no doubt. “Uh-oh … should I salute?”

He grinned and rose, downing most of his iced tea before pushing in his chair. “That might be best since we’ll be at sea.” He rounded the table and hooked her arm, plucking her up.

“What? W-Where are we g-going?” she stammered, too aware of his commanding hold as she stumbled along while he led her down her driveway.

“To test-drive a boat.”

She skidded to a dead stop, her one-inch pumps digging into her red paver driveway now crisscrossed with moss. “Are you crazy, Cam? I’m not dressed for a boat.”

He scanned head to foot and back. His slow perusal of the way-too-short pencil skirt Cat talked her into and her sleeveless lavender silk blouse was so deliberate, it toasted her cheeks. “I’ll wait. Go change.”

She blinked, mind racing in a hundred different directions, none of them along the lines of grief counseling with a friend. He turned to buff her arms, thumbs slowly grazing the crook of her elbow. Her throat went dry as her neck craned up, up, up to a handsome face sporting a patient smile.

Good grief, when did he get so tall?

“It’s Memorial Weekend, Tess, and you’ve been in a funk for five months now. The sun and sea air will do you good and who knows?” The hazel eyes twinkled like topaz. “You might even have a little fun.”

“B-But … but …”

He glanced at his watch. “I have an appointment at 1500 hours—three o’clock your time—so we have to cut and run, Mrs. O’Bryen, because I’m never late.”

“But you’re not dressed either,” she said, swallowing hard as she did a quick scan of his crisp shirt and tie and neatly pressed Dockers.

He grinned as he tugged off the tie, then unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt with a wink. “I have shorts, Sperrys, and a Polo in the back seat, along with drinks and snacks in a cooler.”

She crossed her arms with an open-mouthed smile. “Why does this sound premeditated, Admiral Phillips?”

“Because it is,” he said with a swagger as cocky as his smile on the way to his Land Rover, “so get crackin’.”

Shaking her head, Tess scurried inside, almost shocked at how giddy she felt. It had been years since she’d been on a boat other than Adam’s dory, and she actually found herself humming as she changed into her white shorts and a nautical blue and white tank top. She hadn’t even been on Ben’s cabin cruiser, for heaven’s sake. Specifically because their relationship was on the sly since Tess didn’t want her family to know she and Dr. Doom—the name her children had coined for the grouch next door—were smitten. And as small as Isle of Hope was, there’d be too many tongues wagging if Ben had taken her out on his boat.

She gathered her shoulder-length blonde hair into a messy ponytail, then dug on her knees in the closet for casual shoes that weren’t dirty or stained with paint. “Yes!” she shouted as she found the white deck shoes she’d bought late last summer, slipping them on before hooking her purse over her shoulder. Shooting a glance in the mirror, she wondered if she should put on some gloss, then paused. Her heart cramped when she remembered how much Ben loved her peach lip gloss.

Especially kissing it off.

“No! You are not going to ruin my mood, Ben Carmichael, not when you’ve been AWOL for almost two months!” With a thrust of her chin, she snatched her peach lip gloss from where she’d tossed it in the drawer after Ben left. It had been too painful a reminder of what they had lost, but now she slathered it across her pinched lips. “Take that, Dr. Doom,” she muttered as she stashed both the gloss and sunscreen into her purse and marched out the door.

It was a perfect day. A cerulean blue sky and a sea-scented breeze billowing Cam’s loose sea foam Polo as he test-drove a 50-foot Princess Motor Yacht that Marv, his salesman friend, let him take out on his own. They’d laughed all the way to the marina, then some more on the boat, where Cam—the consummate sailor—commandeered with feet straddled at the wheel while Tess lounged on the leather seat. When he finally dropped anchor, they bobbed on the water to the music of seagulls and waves, dining on cheese and fruit while Cam nursed a beer and she sipped a Seven-Up. The time flew faster than the seagulls winging overhead, and Tess couldn’t remember a more relaxing day in a long, long while.

When the sun sank lower in the sky and brought a whisper of dusky pink to the horizon, Tess didn’t want the day to end. “This is sheer heaven,” she said as she tipped her face to the sun, arms hooked around knees tucked to her chest.

“I would have to agree.” He shifted to the rear seat across from her, appearing very relaxed as his arm rested over the back. “Not just the boat and the water, mind you, but the company too.”

Her heart stuttered as she shielded her eyes, more to deflect the interest in his than the glare of the sun. “So, what do you think?” She patted the seat with a smile, anxious to steer the conversation in a safer direction. “Are you interested in this beauty?”

He stared at her for several endless seconds before he answered, that maddeningly calm half smile skittering her pulse. “I think so,” he said, eyes fused to hers while he upended the last of his beer. “And I’m not sure about the boat yet.”

Gulp.

“Cam …” She sucked in a deep swell of sea air for courage, wondering how she could have been so stupid to not see this coming.

He held up a palm. “I’m not rushing you, Tess. I know what you’ve been through, but I thought it fair to let you know I enjoy your company and would like to spend more time with you, beyond our mutual grief.”

Oh, boy.

Setting his beer down, he rose to sit next to her, fingers almost touching her shoulder as he draped an arm over the seat. “I’m seriously thinking of retiring from the Navy to spend more time with Spence, Mamaw, and any rug rats Nicki and Matt may have in the future,” he said quietly, “especially if there were another reason to stay.”

She all but leapt up from the seat, wringing the front of her tank till the stripes weren’t straight anymore. “Cam, I enjoy your friendship, I do, b-but I think there’s something you should know.”