Part 17 (1/2)
Oh. My. G.o.d.
And how did the mayor's wife find out about her and Bryce?
”What are you texting back?” Honor asked, watching s.h.i.+rley text faster than she did.
”That he's your s.e.x slave.”
”What?” This was a bad dream and any minute now Honor would wake up and go straight to work. Do not walk down Main Street. Do not stop for coffee. Run in the opposite direction if she ever saw the Street Team again.
s.h.i.+rley looked up. ”Kidding, sweetie.”
Midge put her hand on Honor's arm. ”We love you. And we're happy you're finally moving on with such a nice young man.”
What did that mean? Moving on. No one knew what was inside her head. How could they? ”You ladies need to find something else to talk about.” She stepped around them and waved an arm over her head. ”Something more age appropriate,” she added over her shoulder, ”like adding fiber to your diets.”
”She's definitely in love,” Mrs. Landry said, prompting Honor to hurry her steps.
Love? That was crazy talk. And d.a.m.n it all. She'd be the talk of the town now. Everyone would speculate and whisper and watch her every move. She knew no one meant any harm, but she hated being under a microscope.
Love, she mentally repeated, and her heart did a wheelie. She rubbed a few fingers across her chest to banish the uncool display from the stupid organ.
Instead of going to the mayor's office, she took off in a different direction. Palm trees shaded most of her walk, but by the time she got to her destination tiny beads of sweat trickled down her sides. She knocked on the door. It swung open. ”Hi, Uncle Tuck.”
He took one look at her and opened his arms. She stayed in the coc.o.o.n of his embrace for a good long while before they moved outside to the deck.
Still they didn't talk, just sat in companionable silence and watched the waves roll onto sh.o.r.e in the distance. Like her, Uncle Tuck didn't always need words to fill the s.p.a.ce.
”I got a fish.”
”Gold?”
”Puffer.”
”Even better.”
”His name is Jaws.”
”No better name than that.”
”I'm pretty sure he's worked his way into my heart.”
Uncle Tuck turned away from the sea and looked at her. She kept her attention straight ahead so all he saw was her profile. That would be enough for him to figure out she wasn't only talking about a fish.
Her uncle heard things too. He was fooling around with Mrs. L., after all, and that right there meant a front row seat to everything going on in the cove. Honor hadn't been hiding her relations.h.i.+p with Bryce. But they wouldn't be seen together again and how did she explain that? Would people look at her with pity and a.s.sume she'd screwed up again?
”Did I ever tell you the story about how I met Veronica?” he said.
”No.”
He settled back into his Adirondack chair. ”I'd just finished surfing. It was late in the day and most of the other guys had left. I'd parked my car in the bike lane and was changing out of my wetsuit. I had a towel around my waist and nothing else when I closed the driver's side door and my towel got stuck.”
Honor twisted to face her uncle and brought her knees up to her chest. She fought a smile.
”When I tried to open the door, it was locked. I looked through the window and my keys were right there on the front seat. I'd locked my G.o.dd.a.m.n keys in the car and was stuck with nothin' but a towel on.”
A little giggle escaped through her pressed lips.
One corner of Tuck's mouth lifted into an impish grin. He never took himself too seriously.
”So a car pulls in behind mine and parks. This knockout gets out. Long legs, great rack, blond hair. She goes around to her trunk and starts pulling out camera equipment. A tripod, big black canvas case. Then her head peeks around the corner of the car and her eyes lock on mine. 'Need some help?' she says. 'You offering?' I ask back.
”She picks up her stuff and strides over to me, her eyes never leaving mine. They're green and bright and they're laughing. She's laughing at me and right there I knew I was gonna ask this woman to marry me. She tells me she's a photographer. I tell her I'm a surfer. 'Got anything on under there?' she says. 'Nope,' I say. She sizes me up then, says, 'Tell you what, I've got a box full of swimwear in my backseat for shoots. I'll get you a pair of trunks if you model for me with your surfboard.' 'Deal,' I tell her. She smiles and walks around to the pa.s.senger side of her car. I follow her.”
”Tuck!”
He grinned. ”She didn't even flinch. Checked out my junk and told me this was gonna be the start to a beautiful relations.h.i.+p. It was.”
Honor cast soft eyes on her great uncle. The man could make her laugh and sigh at the same time. ”Do you ever regret walking away?”
”Ah, the ”R” word.” He ran a hand along his tanned, clean-shaven jaw, his skin creased from all his days spent in the surf and sun, but still handsome as ever. ”That word comes back like a pesky fly that won't go away.”
”Or like a scent that clings to you no matter how many times you wash your hands.” She could still sometimes smell Lance's bodywash and she hated that.
Tuck gave her arm a quick squeeze. ”Here's the thing. Walking with our heads down trying to pull the weight of our mistakes doesn't make them go away. Choice is the only thing that conquers regret. Choosing to learn from our past and waking up with hope on the pillowcase beside us rather than remorse.”
”I wish there was a magic pill.”
”There is. It's called Vi-”
”Stop!” She sent him her sternest, most forbidding glare. He was almost as bad as the Street Team.
He chuckled. ”Do I regret not marrying Veronica? Yes and no. She ended up marrying a great guy and they've got a boatload of grandkids. Do I regret all the days I spent with her? No. h.e.l.l no. Some of my greatest memories are of the two of us. So you see, there's good wrapped up in things we might regret, too.
”I've learned to wake up with the conviction that I'm better than my past. And you are too, Suns.h.i.+ne.”
She blinked back tears. ”I can't... I don't...” She'd gotten so used to the idea that she couldn't commit to anything for the long haul that she didn't believe anything else. She and Bryce had said goodbye on good terms. But if there was the possibility of more... ”I'll fail him. I know I will.”
”I don't see how that's possible. Fish are very simple creatures.”
The corners of her mouth lifted up. Tuck smiled in return before he said, ”So are men.”
Yes, but she wasn't.
Tuck studied her. ”I can see your mind working between what if's and what not's and whether or not you deserve to be happy. You do, Suns.h.i.+ne. For a long time now, you've been lost, and here's what I want you to do.
”Find yourself in the present. See the possibilities right in front of you and hold on tight to the ones you want to keep.”
She let all his words sink in. She did that already, didn't she? Lived impulsively and for fun. Independent and uninhibited.