Page 71 of Seeing You

“Too much work…I don’t suppose you brought a cabana boy with you?” she teased. “You know, one who could just bring us our dinner and drinks right here?”

His soft laugh told her the answer, and the next thing she knew, he was standing up and pulling her to her feet as well. “Marcus…” she whined.

“Billie…” He gave her a quick kiss before picking their discarded bathing suits up off the floor and placing them on the bed. “The faster we put these on, the faster we can enjoy our tropical dinner.”

She wanted to be annoyed a little longer, but her stomach growled. “Ugh…fine.”

“That’s my girl.”

Within minutes, they were back in the living room. Marcus set up a blanket while Billie got plates and silverware. Music was softly playing, the lights were dimmed, and the candles were lit. “Wow…you really know how to set a mood.”

They worked together to set up the food before sitting on the floor. When she caught him grimacing a bit, he gave her a boyish grin. “This is how I know I’m getting old—my knees creak when I try to sit on the ground. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not easy for me anymore either.” They both had a good laugh about that before they started eating.

“What are these appointments John needs to get to? I thought he had an aide who stayed with him once a week.”

“He does, but when I left on Monday, he just seemed a little…I don’t know…overwhelmed with going to the orthopedist. He played it off like it wasn’t a big deal, but I could tell it was. I call him every night now and decided to be here for him. I was able to rework my schedule a bit—plus I can do a lot of things remotely—and then I’ll head back to D.C. again.” He shrugged, popping a chunk of pineapple into his mouth.

“We haven’t talked about it, and I don’t mean to pry, but…it seems like you and John have gotten close again.”

Nodding, he offered her a piece of pineapple and fed it to her. “We have. Once I realized that it was awkward as hell to be in that house without talking to him, it just happened. We each got to say what was bothering us, and it seems like I really misjudged a lot of things back when my mother died.” Pausing, he studied his plate for a moment. “Apparently, it’s not uncommon to have anger toward the surviving parent. I blamed him for her dying, and I blamed him for living. How messed up is that?”

“I think it’s only natural,” she said quietly. Reaching over, she placed her hand on his thigh. “You were hurting. We’re not always rational when we’re dealing with such a devastating loss.”

“I guess not. It just sucks that it took me ten years to figure that out.” He took a forkful of his dinner. “Mmm…that is good.”

She had to agree.

“Speaking of dads and complicated relationships, I didn’t ask when we were at Levi and Jade’s, but it sounded like you’ve all made up with your father. How did that happen?”

“It’s a crazy, long story, but basically, we all found out our mother had lied a lot about what exactly happened when Dad left. She sort of orchestrated the whole thing and then painted him as the villain. I still blame him for allowing that to happen, but we’re taking things slow. He’s moved back here and he’s a part of all our lives.” She sighed. “He got sick—heart attack—and it seemed like the kick in the ass we all needed to work toward being a family again. Then my mom was in a horrific accident, and he was the one who came to help care for her! It was wild!”

“I don’t even know what to say to that. All the years you and I have known each other, the only time I ever heard anyone mention your father was to say that he abandoned his family. It’s wild—in a good way—that you’re close now. Gives me hope that maybe it can happen for me and Dad and Max.”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always easy. There are a lot of disagreements, and we all have very strong opinions; the key is to respect each other. It also helped that my dad came into the whole situation with low expectations. He knew he screwed up and knew how we felt about him. It’s safe to say he’s thrilled that we’re all spending time together now.”

Another nod. “Do you ever still find yourself getting angry with him for things that happened in the past?”

“Sometimes,” she admitted. “But what’s the point? We can’t change it. We can’t go back and suddenly become a version of the Donovans whose parents didn’t get a divorce. There are always going to be hard feelings about things he missed, but we’re working on making new memories now. It’s kind of nice.”

For several long moments, Marcus simply watched her until she started to squirm. Sitting there in a bikini seemed like a good idea at the time, but she honestly felt a bit self-conscious. Shewasn’t a young woman anymore, even though at thirty-five she still felt it at times. The fact was her body wasn’t what it used to be and right now she wished she had maybe taken up jogging or hiking or something. He still had a very athletic body, and hers was a little softer in places than she was comfortable with.

“Thank you for letting me be here tonight,” he said gruffly. “I know we had said our goodbyes, and I really took a chance on showing up like this. It’s prolonging the inevitable, but…”

“Don’t, okay? We both know this is…well…it’s temporary. Eventually your dad’s going to get better and you’re going to come around less frequently. No strings, no pressure…” Pausing, she swallowed hard. “No commitments. Right?”

And yet another nod. “Right.”

They were both in agreement, so why did they sound so miserable?

After their Hawaii date, Marcus took his father to his orthopedic appointments, spent another night at Billie’s, and then went back to D.C.

The following week, he came back to meet with contractors to replace the roof. While he was in town, he and Billie spent two glorious nights together. They watched movies, cooked dinner together, and even played a couple of their favorite board games.

The week after that, he was back to meet with landscapers and a house painting company about the exterior of the house. He had only been in town for less than forty-eight hours, but he spent the night at Billie’s where they enjoyed hot fudge sundaes—and each other—in bed.

And the week after that one, he came to take his father to meet with a physical therapist and turned the old guest roominto a gym so he could exercise properly at home. He’d worked it out so he could have a four-day weekend and took Billie up to Summit Ridge for a romantic dinner and booked a suite for them to spend the night. Plus, they did some of the tamer activities on the property and avoided the mountain coaster.

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