She's Up to No Good(83)

Wait. I pulled away. That wasn’t his tongue. His had been quite busy with mine. We both looked at Jax, then at each other and started to laugh.

“Bedroom?” I asked. He nodded. I stood and he followed, his shirt untucked and half-buttoned.

Jax ran down the hall ahead of us and jumped onto the bed. “Oh, come on, Jax. Out!” She wagged her tail happily from the middle of the bed, but Joe repeated his command and she slunk sadly into the hall. He shut the door and turned to me. “I have a confession. I haven’t actually brought anyone here since—well—I got Jax three years ago. So . . . this is new to her.”

It was sweet. And special. And desperately romantic.

He really likes you, Sofia’s voice said in my head.

He moved closer to kiss me again. I looked at the king-sized bed that he had shared with Emily and no one else since.

And I panicked.

“I can’t do this.” I pulled the dress strap back onto my shoulder self-consciously and turned around, looking for my purse, not remembering that it was on the kitchen counter. “I—I need to go back. I’m sorry—I—”

“What just happened?”

I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t know how to answer that question. The honest answer was that it got too real, and I was scared. But I couldn’t say that. I couldn’t admit that. Instead, I opened my mouth and something else came out. “I don’t want a one-night stand.”

He touched my elbow. I hadn’t realized I’d crossed my arms. “I don’t either. That’s not what this is.”

I stepped back. “It is though. I’m going home in a few days. And I’m still married. I don’t want to get over one guy by getting under another.”

Joe recoiled and was quiet for a long moment. “I’ll take you home.” He began rebuttoning his shirt.

“I can walk.”

He blinked hard, clearly refraining from saying what he wanted to. “You’re not walking two miles in the dark by yourself.”

My shoes were in the living room, but they were heeled sandals. I could take them off on the beach, but the walk up the road to the cottage would probably result in a broken ankle. I nodded and opened the bedroom door, Jax bounding through to jump back onto the bed.

We drove in silence, my head spinning as I argued with myself over whether I had done the right thing or whether I should try to fix this. Joe didn’t look at me.

He pulled to a stop in front of the cottage. I unbuckled my seatbelt but didn’t open the door. I turned, looking at him in the dim light from the porch. “I’m sorry.”

He was staring straight ahead, his thumbs playing on the steering wheel. “Yeah. Me too.”

I got out and ran up the cottage steps without looking back, the tears starting to fall before I was even on the porch. I opened the front door, shut it behind me, and then slid to the floor against it, sobs shaking my body as I heard his car pull away into the darkness.





CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN


June 1952


Hereford, Massachusetts


Evelyn’s bare feet hung out the car window as they crossed the bridge, her head pillowed contentedly on Fred’s lap. Her left hand rested against her thigh, where she could see the diamond, shimmering whenever the sun hit it, sending sparks of fiery light bouncing around the car.

“Do you smell that?” she asked, sitting up suddenly.

Fred inhaled. “Fish?”

She smacked his arm lightly. “Salt. Seaweed.” She paused, taking another deep breath. “Home.”

He looked at her, making sure she wasn’t changing her mind. He had just graduated and accepted a position at an engineering firm in Boston, but there was a bigger job in New York that he had his eye on. Their plan was to stay in Boston the next two years while she finished school, hopefully marrying and getting an apartment together before she finished, and then . . . Well, they’d see how his job situation played out.

She sat up and leaned on her crossed arms at the open window to better breathe in the sea air, and Fred smiled, watching her.

When they pulled up to the house on Main Street, he held out his hand.

Evelyn pouted and held her left hand to her chest, covering it with her right.

“Come on. You promised.”

“I changed my mind.”

“About me or the plan?”

She smiled coyly. “I think it’s stuck. We’ll just have to leave it and tell them together.”

“Evelyn.”

“I don’t see why this matters so much.”

“Because we want your father’s blessing. Now give me the ring. If all goes well, you’ll have it back tonight.”

She would have kept it going, but there was a flicker at the drawing room curtain, which meant Miriam was watching. “Fine.” She pulled the ring off, low enough to avoid prying eyes, and passed it to Fred, who put it in a velvet box that he then slid into his pocket. “But if he says no, I’m taking it back anyway.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Fred opened his car door and went to her side before retrieving their bags. He had been to the Main Street house during each of Evelyn’s breaks from school this year, but this time was much more important.

She climbed the steps holding her handbag and a hatbox, while Fred carried a suitcase. Her trunk would require two people to lift if she didn’t empty it first. Throwing open the front door, she announced loudly, “The prodigal daughter has returned for the summer!”