“No. She told Tank she needed the day off. I’m heading over to the Cape. I’ll touch base when I know something.”
“Do you think she’s out hiking? She does that when she’s upset, and she was upset yesterday. She was fine by the time I left last night, but maybe she’s walking off her feelings?”
“Maybe. I’ll let you know what I find out.” He ended the call, consumed with worry. “Abby hasn’t heard from her. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to get over to the Cape and make sure Cait’s okay.”
“Go,” his grandfather urged. “We can take care of things here.” His last few words were drowned out by the sound of static and a female voice blasting through a loudspeaker.
“Excuse me . . . Hello?” Then softer: “Is this loud enough? Can they hear me?”
“That’s Cait!” Brant spun around, spotting a water taxi in the harbor. He sprinted toward the docks.
“Attention, Silver Island residents!” Cait’s voice rang out. “My name is Cait Weatherby, and I love Brant Remington!”
Brant bolted down the last dock, unable to believe his ears, as Cait came into view standing in the water taxi speaking into a megaphone.
“That’s right, folks,” she announced as people started popping up on the decks of their boats and looking over from the other docks. “I want everyone to know that I am madly and passionately in love with the kindest, most loving and patient blue-eyed dimpled-cheeked man on the planet!”
“I love you, Caity!” Brant hollered, bursting with excitement as her eyes caught on him.
“I love you, Brant! I did it! I . . . I’m coming!” She climbed up on the side of the boat and jumped into the water.
“Oh shit!” Brant dove in, swimming as fast as he could toward her—and she was swimming, too!
Then she was in his arms, smiling and kicking her feet, and they were kissing, and sharing I love yous as cheers and applause rang out around them.
“I did it! I confronted my father and everyone believed me!” Tears streaked her cheeks. “They believed me, Brant!”
His chest constricted. “You went to see him? Alone?”
“I had to. You were right. I needed closure, and he needed to pay for all he’d done. I had to leap! And I’m free! We’re free!”
“God, baby. I love you.” He showered her with kisses. “I was really worried. You’re okay? He didn’t try to hurt you?”
She shook her head. “He can’t hurt me anymore, and I’m done living in the shadows of that pain and shame and . . . Oh, Brant! I love you, and I want to grab hold of the life we’re building with both hands and never let go!”
Their mouths came together, and more shouts and cheers rang out. They sank beneath the surface, and he kicked his feet, propelling them back up. They laughed and kissed as they made their way toward the dock.
“I’m not sure I can swim that far,” Cait said with an apologetic look. “I haven’t slept since Saturday night.”
“Don’t worry, angel. I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SEPTEMBER SNUCK IN with cool, sunny days, brisk romantic nights, and views of a future that was clearer and brighter than Cait could have ever imagined with the man she loved wholly and completely. She hadn’t just leapt with her heart after breaking away from her past. She’d jumped into a new life with both feet and hit the ground running.
And she’d never looked back.
She stood on the sidewalk, surrounded by the sugary aroma of the Sweet Barista and the comforting scent of the sea, watching Brant take down the DAILY NEWS sign from what was soon to be her new tattoo and piercing shop, Anchor and Tail. Brant smiled down at her, handsome as could be in tan shorts and a forest-green Henley, his thick hair poking out from beneath his baseball cap. It was hard to believe she’d ever been scared of walking into his safe, loving arms. He was the reason she was free from her past. He had given her the courage to stand up to her father, to move to the island, and to ease out of working at Wicked Ink so she could take out the lease on the newsstand. He’d taught her the meaning of unconditional love, and she was truly, madly, deeply in love with him.
She gave Scrappy a treat, thinking about how much her life had changed since she’d confronted her father last month. One of her father’s business partners had contacted her the following week to let her know they’d fired the monster, and they’d offered to pay for her legal expenses if she chose to pursue charges. She’d declined because she knew the harrowing legal battle she’d face had a slim chance of a reasonable outcome, and more importantly, because she was done with the past and busy living her beautiful present.
Between their family and friends at the Cape and on the island, they’d had more help than they’d needed moving Cait into Brant’s cottage. Into our cottage. She sighed inwardly. Life was so much sweeter starting and ending each day in the arms of the man she adored. Over the last month they’d enjoyed another movie night at the beach and several dinners and bonfires with friends and family. They’d gone to the Cape when Tank and Leah’s son, Leo, was born, and had even gone a few times since to hang out with the Wickeds and her other friends. Brant had grown to love them as much as she did, and ever since he’d met Tank and Leah’s children, he’d been gathering goodies to give them the next time they visited. But the best part of their new life together was when it was just the two of them and their spoiled little dog. Cait no longer walked into other people’s homes and got jealous of the love they shared. Their life together was built on love, and their home radiated with it.
The icing on her new-life cake was the mural for the town hall, which had been approved, complete with the drawings of Ava watching Olivier paint at the Bistro and Brant’s family announcing movie night from his grandfather’s truck. Cait was set to begin working on it in November, and that made her feel even more like she belonged there, with the community that had embraced her birth mother.
“It’s almost ready, angel,” Brant said, drawing her back to the moment. He stood on the ladder holding the old sign.
He’d made her a gorgeous wooden sign for her shop, on which she’d painted ANCHOR AND TAIL TATTOOS AND PIERCINGS with the logo of an anchor with a mermaid tail wrapped around it, just like her and Brant’s matching tattoos. Cait’s was on the underside of her right wrist, and Brant’s was wherever he chose each time the Sharpie ink wore off. He was due for a new one soon.
She thought about her old tattoos, which she no longer saw as warnings but rather as markings on her journey to this wonderful life she’d found. Everyone followed their own path, and that happened to be hers. Luckily, she’d found something better than a pot of gold at the end. Or rather, at the juncture of her past and her new beginning, because she and Brant had a long, loving life ahead of them.
He flashed a sexy smile, stirring the butterflies she’d grown to treasure. She was learning that love was ever-growing, and without the weight of her past bearing down on her, it came as naturally as breathing.
“You keep looking at me like that, and we’re going to end up naked in this shop instead of fixing it up.” Brant winked.