Pelican Court (Cedar Cove #3)(48)

Eddie rubbed his eyes and sniffed.

Zach walked into the room and gathered his boy in his arms. It wasn’t often that Eddie crawled onto his lap anymore, but the nine-year-old came willingly now. He wrapped his arms around Zach’s neck and sniffled loudly.

“I wish you and Mom had never gotten a divorce,” he said.

“I know,” Zach whispered. With all his heart he wished he’d fought harder to save his marriage. Whatever it cost him would’ve been worth it to avoid the pain he and Rosie had inflicted on their children. Now it was too late. They couldn’t undo what they’d done.

Grace looked across the Thanksgiving table at Cliff and smiled, but her mind was a thousand miles away—in Georgia, where Will was spending the holiday with his wife and longtime friends.

After two days without word from him, she was suffering withdrawal symptoms. Her fingers itched for a computer keyboard so she could log on and talk to Will. When she’d inquired, Grace learned that Lisa and her husband had a computer, but it was kept in a corner of their bedroom. She felt awkward about asking to use it. Lisa hadn’t offered, and Grace had been forced to drop the matter. The fact that chatting online with Will had become so important confused and bothered her. Only a few months ago he was a boy from her past, a high school crush, and suddenly he was so much more.

Then there was Cliff, and her feelings toward him were equally confusing. She was grateful to spend Thanksgiving with him and at the same time regretted accepting his invitation.

“Grace?” Cliff broke into her rambling thoughts.

She glanced at him and realized she’d missed something. She shook her head. “I’m sorry?”

“Lisa was asking if you’d like more turkey.”

She stared down at her plate and shook her head. “Thank you, but no, I’m stuffed.” She placed her hands on her stomach to give the impression that she’d overeaten, but she’d barely touched her dinner.

This trip to Maryland was more difficult than Grace had anticipated. They’d made the cross-country flight without problems, but sitting with Cliff for several hours the day before had been…uncomfortable. At one point early on, Cliff had reached for her hand, lacing his fingers with hers, creating a mood of intimacy she didn’t want and couldn’t feel.

Lisa and her husband, Rich, were at the airport when Cliff and Grace landed. Cliff’s three-year-old granddaughter, April, had raced to his arms and he’d lifted her high in the air.

Thanksgiving morning, Grace had spent some time with Cliff’s daughter. Grace had liked Lisa immediately. She was very close to her father, and her adoration reminded Grace of the way Kelly had felt about Dan. As far as Kelly was concerned, Dan was about as perfect as a father could be. Lisa felt protective of her father, as Kelly had, drilling Grace at every opportunity to find out more about the relationship between her and Cliff.

When they’d finished their meal, the men wandered into the living room, to watch a football game on television. April went down for her nap, and Grace helped Lisa clear off the table. During her trips from the dining room to the kitchen, Grace noticed Cliff watching her. When he realized she knew, he smiled sheepishly and looked away.

Grace’s heart fell. Cliff was obviously in love with her. For a while she’d been convinced she loved him, too, but now she was no longer sure of that—or anything.

“You’re the first woman my father’s shown any interest in since he and my mother divorced,” Lisa said as Grace set the last of the dirty dishes on the kitchen counter. The house was cozy, and Lisa had decorated it in a kind of English-cottage style. She was a tall, lithe blonde; Grace wondered if that was how Susan, Cliff’s ex-wife, had looked, too.

“I think the world of your father,” Grace told her, and it was true.

Lisa ran water into the sink, adding detergent, and slid the pans into the suds. “Mom hurt him badly. It’s taken a long time for Dad to get over the divorce. I was beginning to wonder if he ever would.”

“Some wounds go very deep,” Grace said as a niggling guilt worked on her conscience—because it was Will who dominated her thoughts, Will who sent her pulse soaring. If she’d needed anything to prove how strongly she felt about him, these last two days had done exactly that.

Accepting Cliff’s invitation had encouraged the relationship, and that had been wrong for both of them. Although Grace liked Cliff, enjoyed his company, she considered him a friend, a very dear and good friend, but nothing more.

“Dad’s been so busy lately, he’s worried that you’ve given up on him,” Lisa said. “We talk every week, and you’re the main topic of conversation.”

“Me?”

“You and the guy who turned up dead at the bed-and-breakfast,” she joked, then grew serious. “He asks my advice. I was the one who urged him to ask you out that first time.”

“Then I should thank you.”

“He admired the fact that you refused until your divorce was final.” Those had been bleak days in Grace’s life, as she’d confronted the unknown. Dan’s body had yet to be found, and she’d felt certain he was with another woman. Her self-esteem had been in tatters, and then along came this handsome rancher who courted her with gentleness and humor.

“I told Dad he should hire a full-time trainer, otherwise he was going to lose you,” Lisa said. She opened the dishwasher, a model as old as Grace’s, and arranged the dishes inside.