Kiss and Tell (15 page)

He lived in Florida; she lived in New York. How the heck were they going to make
that
work? Compromise, and live in North Carolina?

No, it would be unfair to ask Marsh to leave Sunrise Key. He
loved
it there. And over the past week and a half, Leila had gotten a real reminder of what there was to love about this place.

It was more than the turquoise water and the clean, white sand. It was more than the weather and the waves. It was the community, the town, the odd collection of people who had become Marsh’s friends.

On the other hand, the small size of the town didn’t allow for the sense of anonymity that Leila felt living in New York City. On Sunrise Key, all you had to do was sneeze loudly, and you’d receive five get-well cards in the next day’s mail.

Face it, for all its charm and friendliness—or maybe
because
of its friendliness—Sunrise Key had an absolute dearth of privacy. Particularly since Simon, the nosiest brother this side of the Mississippi, lived there.

Simon…

Leila sat up.

He had known right from the start that Marsh was her ninja. He had known…and he hadn’t said a word.

Leila pulled on her bathrobe and tied the belt tightly around her waist. She ran a brush quickly through her hair, and then went out into the hall.

Simon’s bedroom door was open a crack, and she peeked in. His bed was empty but obviously slept in. Despite the early hour, he was awake.

She went down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Her brother was standing at the counter, cutting himself a slice of watermelon. He looked at her in surprise.

“What are
you
doing up?” he asked. “I thought Dev told you to take it easy again today.”

“You knew,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Knew what? You know, you scared us all to death. Since when do you pass out from too much sun? You were always the kid who could outlast any of us when it came to sunbathing. Shame on you for proving you’re human.” He took a bite of watermelon for punctuation.

“I can’t
believe
you knew all along that Marsh was the ninja, and you didn’t tell me,” she shouted.

“He asked me not to,” Simon defended himself, holding his watermelon like a shield. “He told me in confidence. I couldn’t turn around and tell
you.
”

Leila sat down at the kitchen table. “I feel like such a fool.”

“Hey.” Simon took the last bite of his watermelon and tossed the rind into the garbage. “If you want
my
take on the situation, Marsh found it impossible to walk up to you and just blurt out the truth.” He rinsed his hands in the sink, looking over his shoulder at her. “
I
would’ve found it tough to do, and Marsh is a hundred thousand times more bottled up than I am. I mean, can you picture him just walking up to you and saying, ‘Oh, by the way, I love you’?”

Leila shook her head.

“Yet at the same time,” Simon continued, drying his hands on a towel, “without getting into any of the intimate details of what went down last night, I’ve got to believe that Marsh must have made
some
mention of love and—”

“Whoa.” Leila held up one hand. “Last night? What do
you
know about what happened last night?”

Simon shrugged. “Obviously Marsh told you the truth and nature took its course. I’m happy for you both.”

“Oh, perfect.” Leila raised her eyes to the ceiling. “Marsh
told
you about last night? That’s absolutely perfect. Do you suppose there’s anyone in town who hasn’t heard about it yet?”

Simon sat on the kitchen counter, directly in front of her. “Don’t be an idiot.” He crossed his arms and looked down at her. “Dev didn’t say a word. He’s not the kind to kiss and tell.”

“Then how do you know I…that ‘nature took its course’?” Leila demanded. Her face flushed with embarrassment.

“I know because I answered the phone when Ed Andrews called about Megan’s fever at six-thirty,” Simon said evenly. “I went to Dev’s room to wake him up, but he wasn’t there. I went into your room, thinking he’d fallen asleep in the chair, the way he did the night before, when you were sick. He was there, and he was asleep all right, but he wasn’t in any chair. He was in the bed. With you. And it was quite clear that he wasn’t acting in the capacity of your personal physician. Sorry if I infringed on your privacy, Lei.”

“What privacy? There
is
no privacy on Sunrise Key. And there’s certainly no privacy in your house!”

“I honestly didn’t know you guys were…you know. Involved.” He smiled and Leila wanted to punch him. This is what it would be like, living here. Everything she did, every move she made, somehow Simon would find out about it. God forbid she ever got pregnant. No doubt Simon would somehow find out the test results before she did.

“I have to confess,” he added, “that I’m really glad you’re not going to marry that bozo, Elliot—”

“But I am,” Leila lied, wanting to wipe Simon’s smug smile off his face. “I’m going back to New York City where privacy isn’t a miraculous occurrence. I have to tell Elliot what happened, of course. But if Elliot will still have me, I
am
going to marry him.”

It worked. Simon’s smile was gone.

There was a pay phone on the corner in front of the gas station. It was a secure line. There was no chance of Simon or anyone else overhearing her call. And that was good, because this was not a call that was going to be any fun to make.

She dialed Elliot’s office in New York and waited while his secretary patched her through to his desk.

He sounded rushed and didn’t seem to notice or particularly care when Leila told him she was thinking about spending another week or so down on Sunrise Key. So she went a step further, and told him that she’d decided not to marry him.

He stopped shuffling the papers on his desk for all of seven seconds. But he bounced back quickly, wishing her all the best, telling her to stay in touch.

Leila slowly hung up the phone. The call was over. The relationship was done. Just like that.

She wished Marsh could be handled as easily. She wished her heart wasn’t involved. She wished she could just call him up and say, “Sorry, bad mistake.” But she couldn’t. Because if her night with Marsh had been a mistake, it was the best mistake she’d ever made.

Never before had she felt so cherished, so loved. Never before had she felt so in tune with another person. Never had she felt so completely happy.

Despite everything she’d said to Simon, the real truth was that Leila was actually considering moving back home to Sunrise Key. Her career wouldn’t suffer that much. She’d only lose maybe a third of her clients if she played her cards right. The others would stick with her, particularly if she reduced her rates. And the cost of living was lower down here. She’d probably wind up ahead in the long run.

Still, the idea of coming back to this small town, of moving back to her childhood home, was frightening.

She wanted Marsh’s love, but at what price?

And when the time came, would she be willing to pay it?

When Leila returned to Simon’s house, he met her at the door.

“Who let
you
out? You’re supposed to be taking it easy again today.”

She brushed past him, and he closed the screen door behind her. “I didn’t realize I was being held prisoner,” she retorted. All of her confusion and doubt and frustration was instantly redirected as anger—anger at her brother. After all, this mess was partially his fault. If he had told her the truth about her ninja right from the start…

“Did you talk to Dev?” Simon asked. His normally serene blue eyes were icy and crystalline.

Leila crossed her arms. “No.”

Simon crossed his arms, too, undaunted. “If you’re really leaving in three days with the intention of marrying Elliot the clown, you probably shouldn’t wait until the last moment to discuss this with Marshall.”

Leila went into the kitchen. “I don’t need you to butt in. In fact, you better not, or—”

Simon laughed as he followed her. “Too late.” He jumped up and sat on the kitchen counter. “I’ve already butted in. I told Dev what you told me.”

Leila spun to face him. If he’d told Marsh that she was going to marry Elliot anyway, Marsh would think that the night they’d spent together had meant nothing to her. “I can’t believe you did that!”

“If you drop a bomb, kiddo, you have to deal with the fallout. Dev happens to be my friend. I figured you were about to emotionally eviscerate the man, and I thought at least by giving him a warning, I might be able to make the event a little less painful.”

“Emotionally eviscerate? Who said anything about emotional evisceration?” Leila said. “I wasn’t serious about marrying Elliot, you idiot! I was just trying to make you mad.”

“So what are you saying? That you’re going to marry Dev?”

“He hasn’t exactly asked.” Leila turned away from him.

“Give him half a second and less than half a chance and he will.”

Leila took a bottle of seltzer from the refrigerator. Her hands were shaking as she poured herself a glass. She took a sip before she spoke.

“I don’t think he will. I think he knows as well as I do that there’s no real future in our relationship.”

“There can be,” Simon said. “It just depends on how far you’re willing to go. It depends on the risks you’re willing to take to make it work.”

“Moving back home isn’t any kind of risk.”

“Maybe you have to stop thinking about it as moving
back
home.” Simon slid off the kitchen counter. “You’re really moving ahead—your destination just happens to be Sunrise Key. And Marsh Devlin. Maybe you should try thinking of it
that
way.”

He ruffled her hair as he left the kitchen.

Marsh wasn’t in his office downtown.

But Leila ran into Frankie on the sidewalk in front of his office building.

“Hey, I heard you did a nosedive onto the deck a few nights ago.”

Leila looked at her friend. Frankie’s shiny black hair was damp with perspiration, and she was wearing a torn T-shirt and a pair of paint-splattered cutoffs that had seen better days. “You must’ve been talking to Nancy Sullivan.”

Frankie sat down on the hood of Leila’s car and fanned herself with the file folder she was carrying. “Actually, I heard it from Jeanette Miller who heard it from Laura Beauchamp who got it directly from Nancy.”

“God, is nothing secret around here?” Leila let her annoyance slip through. “Does the entire town know?”

“Yep,” Frankie said cheerfully. “And there’s a betting pool on the baby’s due date.”

Leila’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “They all think I’m…”

“Preg-o.” Frankie grinned. “Can’t pass out around here without a group discussion afterward. The majority consensus is that you’re With Child. Capital
W,
capital
C.
”

Leila groaned.

“Of course, the fact that your alleged fiancé-to-be was a no-show at the biggest party of the year is adding a slice of intrigue to all of the speculation,” Frankie continued. “Especially since Paul Casella swears he saw a woman who looks an awful lot like you practicing mouth-to-mouth with Liam Halliday one evening last week, out on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Main Street.”

“Oh, damn.”

“And just this morning I ran into ol’ Liam. Apparently the rumor that he’s fathered your illegitimate child is spreading like wildfire. He’s looking for you, wants to talk. I think he’s worried.”

“Worried about
what?
” Leila sputtered. “Surely he knows that one kiss doesn’t get a woman pregnant.”

Frankie shrugged. “How’s he know he didn’t bed you in some drunken fog? For all he knows, he
did
get you pregnant.”

“This is terrific. This is
really
terrific.”

“Of course, there’s the contingent who’s certain the baby’s Marshall Devlin’s. Ellen Hartman is positive she saw you kissing Marsh at Simon’s New Year’s Eve party—right before Marsh took off his
ninja costume
and went to go deliver Kim Kavanaugh’s baby.”

Leila glanced at her friend, who was watching her closely.

“You already knew,” Frankie said. “You knew Marsh was your ninja.”

Leila nodded.

“You knew because you kissed him, right?”

Leila nodded.

“Ah-ha. Just as I suspected. Kissed him and maybe, um…?”

Leila closed her eyes. “Too much sun. I fainted from too much sun. I’m not going to have Marsh Devlin’s baby or Liam Halliday’s baby or
anyone’s
baby.”

“And you kissed Marsh Devlin because…?”

“Why do
you
kiss a man, Frankie?”

Frankie’s grin broadened. “Either because I’m wildly attracted to him…”

“Well, there you go.”

“Or because I’m in love with him?”

It was a question Leila didn’t want to answer. But Frankie was watching her intently, reading every flash of emotion that crossed Leila’s face.

“I knew it.”

“Don’t you dare tell
any
one.”

Frankie made a zipper motion across her mouth.

Yeah, right. Leila gave it exactly fifteen minutes before the entire town knew that she was in love with Marsh Devlin.