Playing the Part. Kimberly Meter Van
fell, clearly displeased, but he needed to have a conversation with his daughter that didn’t include strangers. Lindy seemed to understand his need for some privacy and smiled. “Well, sounds like you have everything under control here. Glad the rug rat is safe and sound.” To Carys she said, “And remember what I said...” She held up her hand and pointed at the center of her palm, which appeared empty to his eyes but to Carys there seemed to be something of value there. “Catch you later, kiddos.”
Once Lindy was out of earshot, he turned to Carys and asked, “What was that all about?”
“We made a deal,” Carys answered without hesitation but failed to elaborate. “I’m starving, Daddy. Let’s go. Can we walk to Sailor’s from here?”
Distracted, he glanced around, not quite sure how to find Sailor’s from the plaza. He hadn’t been paying enough attention, and even though the island wasn’t overly large, one could still get turned around. “We’ll find a taxi, sweetheart. Now tell me more about this deal you made with a stranger?” he prompted, trying to keep his voice light and amused, but really he was uncomfortable with the idea that Carys had made some sort of deal with a woman she barely knew.
Carys turned and seemed to evaluate him, as if testing whether or not he could be trusted with the information and then when she simply shrugged, he realized he must’ve failed the test. Pressing his lips together, he made a mental note to talk with Lindy herself about what was going on, then switched gears and hailed a cab for them.
Once they had their burgers and were eating their weight in perfectly cooked beef—Lindy might be right, the burgers at Sailor’s were pretty damn good—he tried to strike up a conversation with his daughter. Once they used to talk about everything under the sun; now they barely managed two words without it turning into a fight. “I was thinking we could take a drive to see the sights tomorrow. Maybe go parasailing or something?”
Carys shrugged without answering and continued eating her thick-cut fries. “Lindy is pretty cool,” she announced, clearly demonstrating her attention was nowhere near the conversation Gabe had been having. He withheld an aggravated sigh and shrugged, not quite sure how to answer. What did he know about Lindy Bell aside from the superficial? She was hot-tempered, but beautiful in a way that made his teeth ache, and he had to focus really hard not to allow his imagination to run wild with all the pent-up desires he’d been trying his best to smother for over a year.
Carys continued, thankfully oblivious to Gabe’s struggle. “I didn’t like her at first but she’s better than I thought. She’s just got this way about her that’s, I don’t know, really cool. Like when I talk to her I feel like she’s really listening.”
“I listen,” he countered, mildly offended. He felt as if he’d been bending over backward to get Carys to open up to him but she’d rebuffed his every attempt. “You know if you ever want to talk—”
“What if I want to talk about Mom?” she queried sharply and he shifted in discomfort.
He knew he needed to tread carefully but talking about Charlotte... It was so painful for them both so why would he want to encourage that? “Your mom would’ve wanted us to go on with our lives, not wallow in sadness. You know that, right?”
“When people die it’s sad,” Carys countered bluntly. “Lindy said it’s good to talk about it. Somehow it makes you less sad.”
He drew back, freshly irritated. “Talking isn’t going to bring Mom back,” he told Carys firmly. “Of course we miss her. But the best way to honor her spirit is to move on with our lives in a positive manner.” At that Carys’s eyes flashed and she shoved a fry in her mouth. He was losing her again. Damn it. “Carys, you know I loved Mom more than anything, right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” she answered, shrugging.
“What do you mean, you guess?”
Carys glared. “If you loved her like you say you did I don’t understand why you won’t ever let me talk about her. You never even mention her name. It’s like you’re trying to erase that she ever existed.”
“That’s not true,” he said, stung. “I just don’t want to get stuck in an unhealthy pattern of emotional pain. And I don’t want that for you, either.”
“What are you talking about?” Carys asked, confused and annoyed. “I don’t even know what that means. Emotional pain? What else are you supposed to feel when someone you love dies? I guess I didn’t get that memo on what’s supposed to be healthy and whatever.”
Somehow, once again, their conversation had eroded into an angry standoff and he was bewildered how they got there. He sighed and gestured at her cooling food. “Eat your burger.”
“I’m not hungry anymore.”
“Fine. Then we’ll take it with us. You can eat it later.”
“Whatever.”
“Can we not do this?” he asked, hating that he was pleading with his daughter.
“Do what?”
“Fight.”
“I want to talk to Lindy,” she said, folding her arms across her small chest.
“What?”
“I want to talk to her.”
“About what?” he asked, incredulous. Carys’s mouth tightened, telling him he wasn’t going to get an answer. He signaled for the check with a brusque motion. “This is getting ridiculous, Carys. I’ve tried to be understanding. I’ve tried to be accommodating but you’ve stonewalled me at every turn. What does Lindy Bell—a stranger, I might add—offer you that I haven’t?”
“You wouldn’t understand because you don’t listen,” she muttered, glancing away. “She understands because she lost her mom, too. And she says it’s good to talk about it.”
Gabe stared, hit by the knowledge that in one conversation Lindy had managed to reach his daughter when he had failed repeatedly. He also realized that Lindy had forged a tenuous bond with Carys through a similar experience. But Lindy wasn’t the kind of person Gabe would like his daughter hanging out with on a regular basis. From what he could tell, it was likely Lindy didn’t care about the things he felt were important and hoped to instill in his daughter. Maybe it was unfair to judge a book by its cover but he didn’t have the luxury of getting past the surface when his daughter was involved. “I’m sorry, Carys. I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t know Lindy very well and she might seem like a very nice person but I’d rather not invite strangers into our business.”
Once again he was the bad guy, he thought with an unhappy sigh. But he had broad shoulders. He could take it. Carys would realize someday that he was only doing what was best for her.
He just hoped their relationship didn’t sustain irreparable damage between now and then.
CHAPTER FIVE
LINDY RETURNED FROM the marina and went in search of something to eat. She found her grandfather puttering around in the kitchen, fixing himself a sandwich. She slid onto the barstool and smiled with love in her heart for the old guy. He hadn’t changed much physically. Maybe his hair had a bit more gray and he wasn’t as robust as he once was but he still had that same indescribable quality about him that made him Pops. Even if he was slowly losing his grip on reality.
“Whatcha got there, Pops?” Lindy asked, bending to take a sniff of his plate and opening her mouth as if she were going to gobble it down right there in front of him.
“Hey now, get your own,” he warned and pulled the plate from the snap of her jaws. “There’s plenty. Celly just stocked the pantries.”
Lindy cocked her head. “Celly?” she asked, curious. “She does the shopping now?”
“Well, your grams...she’s hard to find these days for the little stuff, like