Then Comes Marriage (19 page)

“It’s the same with nursing!” I tell him. “Well, except for the killing. But we all hate working on full moons. I usually get stuck on a double during full moon phases too.”
 

He laughs. “Some of my best stories come from nights with a full moon. And not just homicides. Other crazy-ass shit I got called out for.”
 

“I can only imagine.” We step off the sidewalk into the sand, trekking along the beach for a while. We’re just about to give our name for a table when someone calls to Derek.

His mother stands from a table and waves. “Derek! Derek!” She hurries out of the open-air cafe and comes to us. Her eyes go to Derek’s hand in mine and smiles. “Well, good morning, honey. Don’t you look lovely today. Seriously, you’re too pretty.”
 

“Hey Mom,” Derek says, tensing a bit. “I thought you guys already ate. You left over an hour ago.”
 

“We got distracted by some hunk by the pool.” She laughs loudly, reaching out and touching my arm. “You know what I mean, don’t ya darling? When you get to be my age you stop and admire what you can when you can. Want to join us? We have a table with a great view too.” She puts her hand to her mouth in a false attempt to muffle her voice. “And by that I mean those foreign guys in the skimpy suits.”
 

“Mom,” Derek whisper-talks and I can taste how awkward he feels.

“It’s okay,” I say. “I’d love to join you, if that’s all right with Derek.”
 

His shoulders relax and he squeezes my hand. “As long as you don’t mind subjecting yourself to fifty shades of crazy over there, that’s fine with me.”
 

I’d subject myself to fifty shades of anything if it involves him.
Dammit Lauren for making me read those books.
 

“Great!” DeeDee exclaims. “Come on, this way. We’ve been waiting to order.” She waves and leads the way to the table.

“You know they purposely waited so they could drag you in, right?” I ask him, trying not to laugh. “Because they knew you’d be with me.”
 

“I’m sorry. They mean well, but they’re—”

“They’re great. Really. You don’t see too many families taking care of each other like this anymore, let alone extended families. You’re lucky.”
 

He gives me a sideways glance, eyes sparkling. “I’m glad one of us thinks so.”
 

“Shut up. You know you’re lucky too.”
 

He blinks and looks ahead, as if the thought is really occurring to him for the first time. I take a seat between Derek and his sister, Margery. He told me his cousins’ and aunt’s names but I forgot already. I’m horrible with names. I grab a menu and look it over. Pancakes sound good, but I kinda want something traditional to the island. I go back and forth, feeling a little panicky because the waiter is taking everyone else’s orders.
 

Breakfast, why do you have to be so stressful?
 

I end up ordering the same thing as Derek to save myself the anxiety over picking a freaking meal.
 

“What did you two do yesterday?” DeeDee asks once our orders have been placed.

“We went to the Twin Falls and then had dinner,” Derek answers. I can tell he still feels a bit awkward about this.

“Ohhh, and how was it?”
 

“Really fun,” I say. “I even jumped off the cliff, and I’m not a fan of heights.”

“Me neither,” DeeDee says and turns to her sister, who agrees that neither would get anywhere near the top of the waterfall.
 

I turn, looking into Derek’s eyes. “I wouldn’t have done it if Derek hadn’t gone. He convinced me to jump, and I’m glad he did.”
 

“He’s always been a bit of a thrill seeker,” DeeDee explains. “Scared me half to death more times than I can count when he was a boy.”
 

“I can see that,” I agree, nodding my head. “I’m not, so it worked in my favor.”
 

Derek’s cousin—Jake? Dustin? Justin?—is staring at my cleavage. I should have put on the undershirt after all. I cross my arms, realize that only pushes my breasts together, then reach for my hair to bring across my chest. Oh right. I cut my hair. Instead, I settle my gaze on the boy’s face, waiting for him to look up and realize he was caught staring at my tits. Ten seconds later, his death stare hasn’t faltered.
 

“Are you spending the day with Derek again?” Derek’s aunt asks.
 

I turn to Derek, stomach fluttering when I look into his eyes. It catches me off guard. All I did was look at the guy and I’m getting butterflies. “If he wants to put up with me again.”

“I think it’s the other way around,” his sister says. “You’re putting up with him. You deserve an award.”
 

I smile. “I’ll take an award. I do like shiny things. And he’s fun. It’s not
that
bad.”
 

Margery raises an eyebrow. “You think he’s fun? Are we talking about the same person here? Derek’s a lot of things, but fun isn’t one of them. Responsible, yes, and I’ll even give him brave. But fun—hah! We had to force him to come because he doesn’t know how to have f—”

“Rachel,” DeeDee interrupts, giving Marg a stern don’t-talk-crap-about-your-brother look. “I hear you’re a nurse. My mother was a nurse, God rest her soul, and she loved it. She delivered babies. What do you do?”
 

“I had done long term care. But I’m looking for a change now that I …uh … relocated due to recent events. I worked in the ICU before, so I might try and get back into that. Really, I’ll take the first thing I can get. Beggars can’t be choosers and all, right?”

“She’s smart,” DeeDee tells Derek. “Smart girls are hard to come by these days. No offense, Margie.”
 

Margery waves her hand in the air. “None taken—hey!”
 

The table erupts with laughter, and the waiter brings us drinks. Derek puts his hand on my thigh and I’m tempted to scoot it up further, shocking myself a bit with my own dirty thoughts.
 

“So what are your plans today?” Derek’s Aunt Becky asks.
 

“Uh,” I start, looking at Derek, who is oblivious to my already made plans…even though the plans for today were nothing more than lounging on the beach and having honeymoon sex. And since that ain’t happening…“I’m not sure,” I say. “Probably just hanging out at the beach, though it looks like it might rain.”
 

“You can come to the Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm with us!” DeeDee exclaims.
 

“Oh, you’re going? I read all about that online and it looks so pretty!” Travis wouldn’t let me book a tour of the farm, saying it was boring and he didn’t want to waste time doing something he didn’t like. It’s only thirty minutes. Thirty minutes out of the whole two weeks we would be here and he couldn’t do it.
 

Why the hell did I think marrying the guy was a good idea?
 

“Do you want to go?” Derek asks.

“I do, but we can do something else if you don’t want to.”
 

Derek smiles. “If you want to see the lavender farm, then let’s go. I have no idea what the hell a lavender farm is, by the way.”
 

“It’s just a farm. With lavender.”
 

“Real descriptive, Rachel,” he laughs. “When are you going?” he asks his mom.
 

“We have a tour booked for noon, and the shuttle leaves half an hour before then. There’s a winery nearby we planned to go to after that. There’s enough to do on that side of the island to have dinner there as well.”

“Sounds fun,” I say, smiling at Derek.

 
“You’re going?” DeeDee can’t hide her excitement, much to Derek’s chagrin.
 

Breakfast goes on with everyone talking and laughing. Derek’s family is great, really, and I admire the way his mom and aunt get along. His sister and cousin are less than a year apart and are good friends. While my own extended family gets together several times a year for holidays and special occasions, we’d never do something like this.

Though someday in the future when my siblings are married off, and
if
I accept another proposal and have a family, going on a family vacation like this is something we have to do. Family is important to me, and it seems harder and harder to find a man who shares my values.
 

Derek pays for my meal before I even have a chance to grab the bill, and I’m again left feeling awkward. He gets up to use the bathroom, leaving me alone with his family, which is totally fine by me since I like them all.
 

DeeDee watches Derek leave then leans across the table as soon as he’s out of earshot. “Thank you,” she says. “For doing whatever you’re doing. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him smile like that.”

I’m not sure how to take that compliment, and can’t picture Derek anything but the funny, caring guy I’ve gotten to know. “Um, you’re welcome. He’s a great guy.”
 

“He really is,” DeeDee goes on. “Isn’t he, Becky?”
 

“Oh yeah,” his aunt agrees. “He is. He’s been a great role model to Justin since my divorce.”

“We just want to see him happy again,” DeeDee says. “It’s what every mother wants for her children.”
 

“Mom,” Marg hisses and shakes her head, not wanting her mother to get into whatever she’s about to tell me.

“What?” DeeDee shrugs, widening her eyes. “Don’t you want your brother to be happy? He’s been through a lot, that boy, more than anyone should. What that witch did to him—”

“Hey!” Becky interrupts. Obviously, the rest of the family wants Derek’s dirt to stay underground. “I heard that Aiden Shepherd is vacationing here with his wife.”

“I heard that too,” I say. “My best friend is restraining-order level obsessed with him and told me.”
 

“Who’s Aiden Shepherd?” Justin asks.

“An actor,” Amy answers, raising her eyebrows at her brother. “You seriously don’t know? He’s Gavin on
Shadowland
. He was last year’s sexiest man alive.”
 

Justin shrugs like that means nothing to him.
 

Becky fans herself. “I’d love to get me some of that. If he’s here, I’m gonna find him.” Justin gags and the rest of us laugh.
 

“Did you watch that video he posted a few weeks ago about his wife and the horse she saved in a fire a few years ago? Made me bawl my eyes out.”
 

“You know I can’t handle that type of stuff,” Amy says. “I watched like the first three seconds and had to turn it off. Just like those ASPCA commercials. Can’t handle it.”
 

“What video?” DeeDee asks, and Margery gets out her phone to pull it up. I know what they are talking about because Lauren, the animal love that she is, shared it on her Facebook timeline. I watched it, already emotional from the breakup, and cried for an hour afterward. I don’t want to watch it again any time soon. Yet I can’t look away.

“What’s so interesting?” Derek says and I turn, ripping my eyes away from the phone. My heart flutters when I see Derek. “Celebrity videos. Supposedly Aiden Shepherd is here.”

“Ohhh,” he says, smiling and rolling his eyes. “Marg is into all that stupid celebrity gossip.”
 

“Shut up, it’s not stupid. And if I see him, I’m so getting his autograph.”
 

“Let the poor guy enjoy his vacation,” Derek says and sits back down next to me. My heart skips a beat. Famous actors don’t hold a candle to Derek. It’s actually hard for me to keep my hands to myself right now. Derek is just too yummy.
 

Breakfast is over, and we part ways temporarily with his family until we need to meet in front of the hotel. The sun momentarily comes out, so I reach inside my purse for my sunglasses. What happened to Derek? I can’t come out and ask him…can I?

Derek takes my hand and the butterflies are having a field day in my stomach. And now I’m thinking about that kiss again, making another part buzz to life.

“We have some time before we need to leave. What do you want to do?” I ask, secretly hoping his answer is “you”. My will is weak right now. “We can lounge on the beach.”

“That’s fine with me.”

“You sure?”

 
He takes my hand. “Yes. I meant it when I said I came here with nothing in mind.”
 

His sister said something about him not wanting to come…and he’s here with no plans. He hasn’t smiled or been happy in a while…and his mother eluded to something “that witch” did to him, so I think it’s safe to say he’s not a widower, tragically mourning the loss of his one true love.
 

“That works for me. And I’m kind of tired.”
 

“Me too. The jet lag is just now hitting me,” he agrees.
 

“I’ve kind of gotten used to being awake at all hours. I worked a really wonky schedule and would do doubles from midnights into days, or evening into midnights. As long as I had coffee and at least four hours of sleep, I could function.”
 

“I did the graveyard shift my first year on the force. I don’t miss it. Though now I’m never really off the clock. If there’s a body, I get called in.”
 

“Sounds fun.”
 

He shrugs. “It’s not so bad.”
 

We step off the path and walk in the warm sand, finding a secluded shady spot under a cluster of palm trees. I sit in the sand, inhaling deep.
 

“Everything about this place is perfect.”
 

Derek sits close next to me, and we look at each other. “It is.”
 

Completely at ease, I exhale and rest my head on Derek’s shoulder. He slips his arm around me and puts his head on mine. We stay like that for a while, watching the water and enjoying each other’s company.
 

“I could fall asleep like this,” Derek mumbles. He takes a deep breath, chest rising and falling, and runs his fingers through my hair.