Wind Chime Point

3



The custom cabinetry Wade had built for a kitchen in an oceanside condo was giving him fits. Though his measurements had been checked and rechecked, once he started the installation, it was clear something was off. Tommy Cahill, the contractor who’d hired him for the renovation, was as bewildered as he was.

“I can’t deal with this now,” Wade said, glancing at his watch. “I have to be somewhere at six.”

Tommy nodded. “I’ll give it some thought. There has to be something obvious we missed. The top cabinets fit perfectly. These bottom cabinets...” He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“I have an idea,” one of Tommy’s helpers chimed in, clearly eager to impress his boss.

“Oh?” Tommy said, his skepticism plain.

The young man, barely eighteen and wearing jeans that looked destined to fall to his ankles at any second, took a marble from his pocket and set it on the floor at one end of the room. As Wade and Tommy stared, it took off rolling toward the other end of the room. The two men exchanged an incredulous look.

“The blasted floor’s not level,” Tommy muttered. “Not even close. How the devil did I miss that?”

“We both did,” Wade said, shaking his head. “Jimmy, you win the prize for figuring this out. What made you think of it?”

The kid shrugged, his cheeks pink. “No big deal. I helped my dad fix up our place. There wasn’t a level floor in it. We had to compensate for that in every room.”

“Well, it’s going to make my life a whole lot easier tomorrow when I get back here.” Wade met Tommy’s gaze. “I assume you don’t want to fix the floor.”

“No way. Not in the budget.”

“You need to double-check with the owner? Maybe they’d like to get it resolved now.”

“They balk if I buy an extra box of screws,” Tommy said with disgust. “Cheapest sons of a gun I’ve ever worked for. Let’s just get this over with.”

Wade nodded. “I’ll do some fiddling with the base of the cabinets to level things out,” he said, considering the problem and potential solutions. “I have more of the cherrywood in my shop. I’ll bring it along in the morning. Thank goodness the guys measuring for the granite countertops aren’t due for a couple of days. We should have this straightened out by then.”

Tommy nodded. “That’s what margins for error are all about. I never give a customer a schedule without building that in. Since the hurricane, with renovations and repairs going on all up and down the coast, I allow even more cushion. I work with great subcontractors, but they’re all busier than ever right now.”

Wade turned to the young man. “I owe you, Jimmy. Later this week we’ll pick a day and your lunch will be on me. I’ll take you to Castle’s. Best burgers on the beach.”

“Not that the food is the attraction for you,” Tommy taunted, a grin spreading across his face. “I heard Gabriella’s back in town.”

“She is,” Wade confirmed. “But I doubt she’ll be at the restaurant that much.”

Tommy looked surprised. “I thought Cora Jane put her granddaughters to work over there the minute they hit town.”

Wade wasn’t about to explain. He said only, “Not this time.” He glanced at his watch. “Now I really do need to hit the road. See you tomorrow. I might be a little later than today. I have another project that could take some time first thing in the morning.”

Since Tommy knew Wade would never blow a deadline for him, he merely nodded. “See you when you get here.” He looked a little more closely at Wade and grinned. “You seem awfully eager to go. Hot date?”

Wade felt himself coloring. “Just dinner and a movie with a friend.”

“A female friend?” Tommy pressed. “Gabi, maybe?”

“No comment,” Wade replied emphatically, hoping to end the guesswork.

Tommy seemed to consider the remark telling enough. “Thought so,” he said. “It’s about time, if you want my opinion.”

“Which I don’t,” Wade retorted. No more than he’d wanted his sister’s or anyone else’s.

His attraction to Gabriella might be the first step on the road to recovering from his grief, but he had a hunch given her pregnancy, this particular road he’d chosen was going to be a bumpy one. In the past twenty-four hours since he’d first laid eyes on Gabi’s baby bump, he hadn’t allowed himself even a second to consider just what a huge mistake getting involved with her might be. He’d been worried about her fragile emotional state, not his own. That, he suspected, would come later.

* * *



Gabi looked at the pitiful wardrobe of loose pants and T-shirts spread out on her bed and sighed. She couldn’t go out with Wade looking like a refugee from a thrift shop. Maybe it wasn’t a date, but she had more pride than that. Why hadn’t she brought anything fancier with her from Raleigh?

Because she hadn’t anticipated being seen in public any more than necessary, she reminded herself ruefully. Now not only was she going to be on display, tonight was going to be perceived as a date no matter how cleverly she or Wade tried to spin it.

She looked at the assorted pieces hoping to spot some combination that hadn’t occurred to her before, but the sad truth was, even if she’d brought along everything in her closet back home, nothing would fit anymore. Who’d have thought a tiny little baby could have such an effect on her figure so quickly?

“Ah, just as I suspected,” Samantha said, coming into the room again, this time without even bothering to knock.

“Whatever happened to the concept of privacy in this family?” Gabi grumbled.

Samantha merely grinned. “We’re sisters. We have no boundaries. Besides, you’re going to be very glad I’m here.”

“Really?” Gabi said skeptically. “Why is that?”

“Because I’m about to save the day,” Samantha told her, tossing a shopping bag onto the bed.

Gabi eyed the bag from a boutique with interest. “For me?”

“Of course. And maybe a little bit for Wade,” Samantha added with a twinkle in her eyes. “Open it.”

Despite the worrisome reference to Wade, Gabi seized the bag and peered inside, then drew out a simple A-line dress with a deep V-neckline. It was a shade of blue just slightly deeper than her eyes. She recognized at once that it had the potential to be stunning with her coloring.

“It’s too soon for maternity clothes,” Samantha said, explaining her choice. “And there’s not a huge selection to choose from close by, but this is loose-fitting.” She grinned. “And trust me, with that neckline, nobody’s going to be paying attention to your baby bump.”

She gestured toward the bag. “There’s more. Keep looking.”

Gabi retrieved a lacy bra and a matching pair of thong panties. She lifted a brow. “Seriously?”

Samantha laughed. “Hey, I told you I kept Wade in mind while I was shopping. The man’s tongue will be hanging out.”

“Wade Johnson will never lay eyes on these panties or this bra,” Gabi said firmly, though her cheeks heated at the thought.

“Maybe not tonight,” Samantha conceded. “But I predict the time will come when you’ll be very happy to have on sexy underwear.”

“Sure. Maybe in about seven months,” Gabi said. “Or after this experience, possibly a whole lot longer. Men, in general, are not real high on my trustworthiness scale right now.”

“Please, please allow room for an exception,” Samantha advised. “You might be reeling right now, but keep your heart open.”

“And my legs clamped permanently shut,” Gaby countered. Still, she leaned down and hugged her sister. “Thank you so much for thinking of this. I was starting to panic.”

“Hey, Emily and I will always have your back,” Samantha said. “That’s what sisters do.”

And these days, Gabi had never been more grateful for that.

* * *



Given his late departure from the renovation site, Wade was running close to a half hour late by the time he got to Cora Jane’s. Samantha opened the door and gave him a pitying look.

“Not a good way to start,” she whispered under her breath as she let him in.

Wade’s eyes, though, were on Gabi, who seemed to be regarding him with a malevolent look. She’d obviously put some effort into getting ready, but at the moment, she was seated at the kitchen table with a half-eaten sandwich in front of her. He winced at that.

“I am so sorry I’m late,” he apologized. “A job got complicated and it took too long to figure out the problem. I needed to get home, take a shower and change. Given how beautiful you look, you wouldn’t have wanted to be seen with me at the end of a long day at work.”

He caught the faint softening in her eyes at his flattery, but she kept right on eating.

“You’re going to spoil your dinner if you finish that sandwich,” he said.

“I’m reconsidering,” she said, speaking at last.

“Reconsidering what?” he asked, though there was little doubt what she meant.

“This whole dinner and a movie thing. I’m pretty sure it’s a terrible idea.”

He grinned. “And I’m equally certain it’s a fabulous idea. Well, maybe not the dinner if you keep on eating now, but seeing a movie. It’ll take your mind off things. And you did say you wanted your own bucket of popcorn.”

She set the remainder of the sandwich back on the plate and regarded him with caution. “With extra butter?”

“However you want it.”

“And a large soda, even if it means I have to visit the restroom every twenty minutes?”

“You can sit on the aisle,” he said. “Take off whenever you need to.”

“I might want candy, too.”

He held back a laugh. With negotiating skills like those, no wonder she’d been a success. “Done,” he said agreeably.

She stood at last. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

“Are you satisfied that you’ve negotiated a deal you can live with?” he asked.

She appeared to give that some thought before nodding. “Yep. I think that’s it.”

“Okay, here are my demands,” he said, drawing a startled look. “Don’t look so shocked. The other side always has counterdemands. I’m sure you’re aware of that.”

“Fair enough, I suppose,” she said, eyeing him suspiciously. “Tell me.”

“We don’t mention the baby or your job all evening.”

“Done,” she said without hesitation.

“Since I’m skipping dinner, we stop by Boone’s Harbor for dessert after the movie,” he added.

“Sounds reasonable,” she agreed.

“And you forgive me for being late without calling,” he added for good measure.

She met his gaze. “This time,” she said solemnly.

“It won’t happen again,” he assured her. “At least, not without a call.”

He heard a chuckle and realized Samantha had taken in the whole exchange. He frowned at her. “Anything you’d care to add?”

She shook her head. “Nope, I think you two have this under control, though the battle over the candy choices promises to get interesting. I can hardly wait to hear how the rest of the evening goes.”

Gabi frowned at her. “Don’t wait up.”

Samantha’s brows shot up. “My, my, are you thinking of moving things along that fast?”

Her sister gave her a look of dismay. “Stop that. You know that’s not what I meant. I just meant I do not intend to come in here later and fill you in on my evening.”

“Darn,” Samantha said. “I was hoping to live vicariously.”

“Well, forget it,” Gabi told her emphatically, then nodded toward the door. “Let’s get out of here before she starts with some kind of cross-examination. I’m pretty sure Grandmother designated her to be tonight’s interrogator.”

Wade laughed. “Where is Cora Jane?”

“Out with Jerry. Don’t be one bit surprised if they’re in the back row behind us at the movies,” Gabi said, sounding resigned. “Are you beginning to see why I thought this was a bad idea?”

“So far, nothing you’ve said or anything that’s happened has scared me off,” Wade assured her. If anything, knowing how much her family cared about her made him that much more certain that she was a woman worth getting to know.

* * *



“Oh, come on,” Gabi protested as she and Wade were seated at a table by the window at Boone’s Harbor, the flagship restaurant of Boone’s small chain of upscale seafood establishments. “Are you seriously telling me you believed anything about that movie was realistic? It was a glorified cartoon with live action.”

“Okay, so maybe you needed to suspend disbelief just a little,” Wade agreed. “But it was fast-moving and exciting.”

“And that’s all it takes for you to like a movie? Blow up a few things, drive at a breakneck pace through city streets, dangle from a ledge?”

Wade scowled at her. “You agreed to an action movie,” he reminded her.

“I was being polite.”

“Was that it, or were you looking for a choice that we’d wind up fighting about the way we are right now? You get to complain that I have no taste, that I’m insensitive, just a dumb guy, what?”

Gabi laughed. Those were all things she’d intended to throw in his face before she was done. “I may have to take it back. You might be just the teeniest bit sensitive if you picked up on all that.”

“I’ll have you know I was perfectly willing to go to a chick flick tonight,” he said, his expression stoic.

“Oh, really?”

He pulled a wad of tissues from his pocket. “See. I was totally prepared for the tears.”

Gabi regarded him with astonishment. “You’re actually serious.”

“Of course I am. I did not foist this movie on you, Gabriella. You picked it.”

“Then I will take all the blame for selecting something mindless and unbelievable. You can hold it over my head, if you like.”

“How about this? Next time, I’ll choose the movie. I bet I can come closer to picking something you’ll like than you did making a choice for me.”

Just then the waitress came over to take their orders. “Hey, Wade,” she said, giving him a friendly wink. “Are you having dinner or just drinks?”

He glanced at Gabi. “Feel like a meal or just coffee and dessert?”

“It’s probably sacrilegious or something in a seafood restaurant, but I could actually eat a burger,” she admitted. “I’m starved again.”

“Two burgers, then,” Wade told the waitress. “What to drink, Gabi?”

“Just water.”

“And I’ll have a beer,” he said.

“Sure thing.”

“Is Boone around?” Gabi asked.

“Actually, he left about a half hour ago with his fiancée.”

Gabi grinned. “That would be my sister.”

The woman’s expression brightened at once. “You’re one of the Castles.” She frowned slightly. “Gabriella, I bet. I’ve seen Samantha on TV a couple times, and her coloring is different.”

“Good eye,” Gabi told her.

“This is Francesca Daniels, better known as Frankie,” Wade said. “She was in the class ahead of me in school.”

“Since we didn’t go to school over here, I didn’t know that many of the locals, even though I was around every summer,” Gabi said. She glanced from the woman to Wade and back. “Were the two of you close?”

Frankie laughed. “No way. Wade only had eyes for one girl back then.” Suddenly at a warning look from Wade, her expression turned solemn. “I’d better get your order in before the kitchen closes,” she said hurriedly.

After she’d gone, Gabi studied Wade. “She certainly took off fast. What was it she almost said that obviously bothered you? Was it about whoever you were interested in back then?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said.

She could tell from his expression, though, that it did. “Secrets already, Wade? Come on. You know mine. Fill me in on yours. Was the relationship back then serious?”

“Probably not so serious in high school,” he admitted with obvious reluctance. “But we stayed together.”

“For how long?”

“Until a couple of years ago,” he said, then lifted his gaze to meet hers. “When she died.”

Gabi felt her heart plummet. “Oh, my God, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

“We’d been married, though briefly. Kayla was pregnant. Right before the baby was due, there was an accident. Neither of them made it.”

He made the recitation in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, but she could see the turmoil in his eyes. “Oh, Wade,” she whispered, and reached for his hand, twining her fingers through his. He pulled away.

“I don’t talk about it,” he said flatly.

She frowned at that. “That can’t be good. Not that I think you should pour out your soul to everyone you meet on the street, but this was a huge deal, Wade. It had to be devastating.”

“It was,” he said simply.

When she would have said more, he held up a hand. “We put the baby and your job off-limits for tonight. Let’s add this to that list.”

“But it’s obviously part of who you are. How are we supposed to get to know each other if all the important stuff is off the table?”

“For tonight,” he said emphatically. “Tonight the goal is to distract you from your problems, not to saddle you with mine.”

Gabi heard not only the warning note in his voice, but the plea behind it. Obviously his emotions were still raw. While she’d never been through anything as terrible as what he’d faced, she understood all about it being too soon to discuss some topics.

“Fine. I’ll drop it for tonight,” she agreed.

But something told her that until they could talk about it, there would be a huge part of Wade Johnson she couldn’t possibly understand. The fact that she was suddenly a little more intrigued than she’d expected to be was definitely disconcerting.

* * *



Relieved to have killed the subject of his marriage for the moment, Wade hurried Gabi through their meal, claiming he needed to get her home so she could get some rest. In truth, he needed some time to settle down, remember this was about distracting Gabi from her problems, not letting her get inside his head. It most definitely wasn’t supposed to be about seducing her, which seemed to be all he could think about at the moment.

Good grief, the woman was having another man’s baby, and his mind was on sex. It had been on sex since he’d first laid eyes on her months ago. He needed to make a few adjustments for the current and very unexpected circumstances.

When they walked outside, she looked up at the sky full of stars, her expression enchanted. “The sky never looks like this in Raleigh,” she said. “Too many city lights.”

“I’ve never known anything else,” Wade said. “Lived here all my life, and not much interest in trying anyplace else.”

“You didn’t go away to college?”

He shook his head. “I knew early on that I wanted to work with wood. My dad taught me custom cabinetry. He’d made a good living at it and claimed I had a knack for it, too. I just eased into the business, then took it over from him when he retired.”

“Boone says you’re the best around,” Gabi told him.

“He seems to like the work I’ve done for him.”

“So did Cora Jane.” She grinned. “At least, I assume that’s why she kept dreaming up jobs for you to do at Castle’s.”

He laughed. “Sweetheart, that was all about keeping me firmly planted in your path. She assumed if we brushed past each other enough, sooner or later we’d set off sparks.”

She winced. “You knew that? How embarrassing!”

“I didn’t object. You were just about the prettiest woman I’d seen in a very long time. The work was easy enough. The eye candy was something special.”

She frowned. “Thanks, I think.”

“Trust me, it was a compliment.” He noticed she was still staring up at the stars. “Want to walk along the docks before we head back to your place?”

“Yes,” she said eagerly, heading for the closest one in the marina.

She stumbled slightly at the edge. Wade caught her hand, then kept it securely in his. “You warm enough?” he asked, almost hoping she’d say no so he could justify putting an arm around her.

“Perfect,” she assured him.

“No doubt about that,” he murmured before realizing he’d spoken aloud.

Gabi regarded him worriedly. “Wade, I’m far from perfect.”

“Not from where I’m standing,” he insisted.

She regarded him with frustration. “This can’t go anywhere. You know that, right? Things in my life are just too complicated. I’ll go back to Raleigh eventually, start over.”

“Maybe,” he agreed. “Nothing says we can’t be friends, though, right?”

“I got the feeling just now that you might want more,” she admitted.

“You’re a beautiful, smart, funny, desirable woman,” he said solemnly. “Any man who didn’t think about having more with you would be a fool. That doesn’t mean I expect it to happen.” He grinned. “At least not overnight.”

“I just don’t want to lead you on,” she said, stopping at the end of the dock and studying him with an earnest expression. “I’ve messed up a lot lately. You seem like a really nice guy. I don’t want you to be one of my mistakes.”

He took her by the shoulders and held her gaze. “You’re making way too much of an innocent remark,” he said quietly. “We’ve had a nice evening out. We’ve gotten to know each other a little better, shared a few laughs. Nobody’s asking for more. Nobody’s jumping ahead, least of all me. Believe me, I know all about not being ready for any complications.”

She seemed to take in his words, then finally nodded. “As long as we’re clear about what’s going on.”

“We’re clear,” he assured her. “No worries, okay?”

“Okay.”

“We’ll hang out when it feels right,” he added.

“Hang out?”

“Get together,” he explained. “Have a meal, maybe some conversation, whatever. No big deal.”

Gabi might be the spin master in the Castle family, but Wade thought he was doing a pretty good job right now of putting together a line that would assure she’d let her guard down with him. One thing was definite—whatever he had to say or do to pull it off, he didn’t intend to let tonight’s date be their last.