Just One Kiss: A Harbor Pointe Novel Read online

  The music quieted and the float came to a stop in front of them.

  “What’s going on?” Carly glanced at Jaden, who stood stock-still, the perfect model for Grady’s new business venture. Despite the oddity of the parade coming to a halt, she still found herself grateful to God for giving her such a good son. Growing up the way he did, without a father readily available until recently, she’d always worried that somehow the parts of him that a dad was supposed to nurture would fall short.

  She knew it was still early and her son was only sixteen, but so far, he seemed to be well-adjusted, thoughtful and kind. She thanked God for answering her prayers that her son would possess those qualities.

  “Quinn Collins.” The name came over a loudspeaker attached to the float, and Carly’s sister straightened.

  “What in the world?”

  Seconds later, Grady appeared on the back of the float. People had said many things about her sister’s boyfriend, but one thing no one could deny was how handsome he was. With his athletic build and just the right amount of facial hair, eyes that crinkled at the corners when he flashed that killer smile, the man had a whole lot going for him in the looks department.

  And in other departments too. Quinn was different now that she and Grady were together. She took chances. She smiled more. She’d come out of her shell.

  Grady Benson, reckless downhill skier, had actually been good for the reserved owner of a small-town flower shop. Who would’ve guessed?

  “I’m not big on public displays of affection.” He spoke into a microphone, his voice echoing down the block. The crowd had stilled. The parade had stopped. Anyone within earshot was now looking at the Olympic gold medalist who’d infiltrated Harbor Pointe only a year before and only because his community service demanded it.

  “But I thought I’d make an exception this one time because when you feel the way I do about you, you can’t help but make sure the whole world knows.”

  Quinn covered her face with her hands, and Carly glanced at Jaden, who’d broken character to turn and watch as the guy who’d barreled his way into their lives a little over a year ago hopped off the float. As he approached Quinn, he never took his eyes off her, and Carly wondered if anyone would ever look at her like that. Genuine happiness, tinged with the slightest trace of jealousy, bubbled inside of her.

  Quinn had found what most people never do—a man who kept his promises. A man who now got down on one knee in front of her, with a bevy of onlookers whom he seemed unaware existed. A murmur made its way through the crowd as people visibly strained to see what was happening.

  “I want you to spend the rest of your life with me,” Grady said. He turned to Carly. “Will you hold this?” He handed her the microphone and pulled a small, blue velvet box from his back pocket.

  People grew even quieter, as if they could hear what was being said without the assistance of the mic.

  “Let’s get married.” Grady opened the box and set it on Quinn’s lap.

  Quinn stared at the ring for several long seconds—seconds that felt like an eternity, even to Carly—then she nodded.

  “Yeah?” Grady’s face lit.

  “I thought you’d never ask.” Quinn stood and threw her arms around his neck as he picked her up and spun her around. The happy moment ended, as it should, with a kiss that was slightly too intense for public consumption.

  Carly’s dad, Gus, stood. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. You’re holding up the festivities.” But their father’s eyes crinkled into a bright smile.

  A smile reserved for his youngest daughter.

  Quinn pulled away, but her gaze was still fixed on her new fiancé. “I love you.”

  He kissed her again, then turned to go back to the float, but as he did, the crowd let out a collective gasp and someone from behind Carly shouted, “Is that boy okay?”

  Carly followed the pointed fingers back to the float, expecting to find Jaden still in position, but instead she found an empty spot where her costumed son had been.

  “Where’s Jaden?” Her heart kicked up. “Jaden?”

  “He was just there,” Quinn said. “Grady, where’s Jaden?”

  “We need a doctor over here!” someone from the other side of the float yelled. “This kid just fell from the top of the float.”

  The world turned to slow motion as anxiety clenched Carly’s heart like a vise. She sprung forward into the street and followed Grady around to the other side of the float, where Jaden lay on the ground, motionless.

  “What happened?”

  Grady knelt at Jaden’s side. He glanced up at Carly and shook his head. “I don’t know.” Then out to the crowd he yelled, “Someone call 9-1-1.”

  Carly knelt down on the opposite side of her son. Grady had pulled the ski goggles off him, and his cheeks were red. She smacked her hand against his cheeks, shaking him and praying that he would open his eyes, that this was all just a big joke they would laugh about later.

  But none of those things happened. He lay there, unmoving, unresponsive, a crowd of people closing in as the sirens from an ambulance wailed in the distance.

  And all she could think was God, please protect my baby.

  2

  The sun shimmered on Lake Michigan as Josh Dixon stared out over the city from the thirty-second floor of a high-rise. Who would’ve ever thought he’d end up here? Certainly not Josh.

  Once upon a time, it had seemed unlikely that he’d be successful at anything, but software development? Something about that didn’t fit and he knew it.

  Nobody back home would’ve ever believed his little side hobby of developing mobile video games would lead to this kind of success. Owning his own business that developed apps for other companies had never been a goal or a dream, but here he was.

  He was his hardest-working employee, and he didn’t see that changing anytime soon. It didn’t matter that one app had been monstrously successful—that kind of popularity was fleeting.

  So, he worked on the next thing. Always the next thing.

  But it didn’t hurt to enjoy where he was in the moment every once in a while, and, well, frankly his office had a stellar view of the lake.

  Odd how that same body of water looked and felt so different back home. In Chicago, the lake took on a shiny, silvery, sleek look—the perfect backdrop to all the city promised.

  But back home, Lake Michigan was all peace, quiet and one giant exhale.

  Not that he would call Harbor Pointe “home” anymore—he’d been away too many years.

  He balled up a blank sheet of paper and tossed it into the garbage can.

  Rebecca appeared in the doorway. “That’s productive.”

  “What are you doing here?” he asked his assistant-turned-partner. “It’s Saturday.”

  “If you’re not taking the day off, I’m not taking the day off,” she said. “Though I’m really not sure what to do with myself. It’s a holiday weekend.”

  “You should go home.” He left the window and sat behind his desk. “Or better yet, get out of the city for a few days. We can afford to take some time off now.”

  He’d brought Rebecca on after his first solo-designed app had a modicum of success, but neither of them could’ve predicted what the second one would do. The free video game with in-app purchases and strategically placed ads had caught on like wildfire among the middle and high school crowd, making Josh Dixon, royal screw-up, royally rich.

  And other businesses had come knocking. Everyone, it seemed, wanted Josh and his team to develop their apps. Never mind that “his team” had been only himself and Rebecca until very recently.

  Hiring a few other employees had given Josh and Rebecca the breathing room they both needed, but they were still swamped.

  He couldn’t complain. He’d take this over an open calendar any day.

  “Are you going to take some time off?” Rebecca asked.

  He leaned back in his chair. “Maybe?”

  She shook her head. “I can hear the qu
estion in your voice, which means you absolutely aren’t, so neither am I. I don’t want you dreaming up the next big thing while I’m not here.”

  “Really, Becks,” he said, “go home. I promise I’m not going to do much today. Just came in to grab a few things.” And I couldn’t stand that apartment for one more second.

  Her eyebrows drew down in a tight V. “You sure?”

  “Have I ever lied to you before?”

  “Not that I know of.” Her eyes twinkled.

  “Go find your boyfriend and spend the day with him,” Josh said.

  Rebecca grinned. “He did ask if I wanted to go with his family to their cottage up North. Probably one of those little towns like the one you’re from.”

  The sting of memories caught him off guard. “Probably,” he muttered.

  “Who will you spend the weekend with?” she asked.

  His mind produced no viable options, so he tossed Rebecca a look and said, “Will you stop worrying about me? You deserve the time off, so get out of here or I’m firing you.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “You’d be lost without me.”

  He responded with his own raised eyebrow accompanied by a smirk. She was right, and they both knew it, but he wouldn’t admit it out loud. Rebecca did all the things he hated, like schmoozing investors, talking with clients, marketing and generally anything that wasn’t coding or creating.

  Plus, she was brilliant—a fact he didn’t take for granted.

  “All right,” she said. “You’ve convinced me. But you have to promise to call me if you need anything.”

  “I won’t call you no matter what,” he said. Rebecca had worked tirelessly during the latest app’s launch—she’d been the one to recognize the value in his little side project in the first place. She’d worked with test groups and managed their feedback, taking Josh’s little video game idea and turning it into what it now was—an overnight sensation.

  The game might’ve been his idea, and the artwork might’ve been his, but the finished product was theirs. And he’d paid her handsomely for her loyalty and her insight. She was so much more than an assistant now.

  He’d plucked her out of a programming class he’d taught at a local university, recognizing immediately that Rebecca’s mind didn’t work like everyone else’s. Not only did she understand coding, she understood marketing and she worked well with people—something that wasn’t exactly Josh’s strong suit.

  They were a good team. Never mind that she was ten years younger than he was. He valued what she brought to the table. But she needed a break or she was going to burn out.

  “Josh,” she said.

  “Look, Becks, the last thing I want is for you to end up like me—”

  “You mean brilliant and loaded?” she joked.

  “I mean a workaholic with no social life.” He stood, took her by the arms, turned her around and gave her a push out the door.

  “Maybe we should do something about that,” she said. “I could hook you up with one of my older sister’s friends. They’re super needy, but don’t guys like needy girls?”

  Josh rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t know.”

  “That’s right, because you don’t date. Or eat out. Or have friends.” She faced him. “I’m actually kind of worried about you.”

  “I’m brilliant and loaded,” he said. “I’m doing just fine.”

  But the words fell flat, as lies had a way of doing.

  She stared at him, and Josh wished Rebecca wasn’t so observant. He’d done all he could to keep his personal life personal, but she had a way of paying attention.

  Still, he maintained a bit of distance with her—part of himself that he protected from everyone, really. He wasn’t in a hurry to make new friends or have deep relationships. After all, he’d found a way to disastrously ruin the ones he’d had.

  “Go,” he said.

  “Fine. But I’m going to call tomorrow to make sure you’re not working.”

  He practically pushed her out of the office and closed the door on her, though it didn’t have a solid impact given the fact that it was made of glass.

  He watched as she packed up her things and walked out of the office into the hallway, leaving him alone with his fancy new office and his view of the lake.

  The phone on his desk buzzed, vibrating off the glass and disrupting the quiet. He looked down and saw Carly’s name lighting up the screen.

  To his dismay, his ex only called him for one reason: Jaden.

  Josh’s mind raced. With the launch of the app, and juggling a fair amount of new clients, he’d been so busy, but every promise he’d made to Jaden went into his phone with a special alert so he didn’t miss anything. He hadn’t missed anything, had he? He’d been so vigilant.

  He had to be—he had a lot to prove.

  “Carly, hey,” he said as he tapped the button to answer. “Everything okay?”

  On the other end, he could hear people talking. “Car?”

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey.”

  His heart rate kicked up a notch. Why was she calling? It had been so long since they’d had a conversation. And yet, hadn’t he wished for the day she called him just to talk?

  Even after all these years, he’d never quite gotten over her . . .

  “Josh, it’s Jaden.” She interrupted his thoughts.

  “What about Jaden?”

  His heart lurched, mind spinning with endless possibilities of things that may be wrong, the stuff his nightmares were made of. Only nightmares were usually fiction—his were filled with real memories.

  The screaming baby. The high fever. The day he realized he was more like his father than he cared to admit.

  Her voice pulled him back to reality.

  “We’re in the emergency room. He collapsed during the Memorial Day parade.”

  “Is he okay? What happened?”

  “They’re doing some tests now. They aren’t sure.”

  He paused, unsure what to say. He’d always felt so helpless in these situations. He didn’t have a way to fix it. What words would make it better?

  And Carly had always been the kind of person who had everything under control. Still, he was Jaden’s father—he wanted to be there for his son whether they wanted him there or not.

  “Is it serious?” he finally asked.

  She paused. He could practically picture her, chewing the inside of her lip, her brown hair pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head. He hadn’t spoken directly to Carly in a long time, in spite of his renewed relationship with Jaden over the past year. She left most of the planning to their son, which he supposed was best. But sometimes he wished for a reason to talk to her.

  Not this, though. This wasn’t the kind of reason he was hoping for.

  “It could be,” she finally said. “It could be serious. It could be nothing. He could be dehydrated or maybe he overheated. But they mentioned that something could be off with his protein levels. They aren’t sure.”

  “I’m going to head up there,” Josh said matter-of-factly.

  “No, Josh, don’t,” she said. “It’s not necessary. It might be nothing.”

  “But it might not be nothing,” he said. “And I don’t want to take the chance.”

  Carly sighed.

  “You can’t seriously think I’m going to stay here while my kid is in the emergency room.”

  He could practically feel her biting her tongue. He knew what she was thinking. How many other things had he missed over the years? There had been plenty, and he was well aware of that, but he’d made a promise to Jaden over a year ago. He was late to the party, but he was in for the duration.

  Carly didn’t believe him then, and she didn’t believe him now.

  I’m going to prove to you that I’ve changed.

  “Can you text me updates?” he asked, ignoring her silence. “I have to run home and pack up a few things, but I’ll leave right away, and I can be there in a couple of hours.”

  S
he hesitated before saying, “Okay.”

  He made a conscious decision not to let it bother him. She had a right to be skeptical. Their history wouldn’t give her a reason to be anything but.

  “But are you actually coming, Josh?”

  Her question loomed in the air, pointed and direct. Same old Carly. He’d earned her skepticism. He’d own it now. “Yes, Carly, I’m actually coming.”

  “Because I don’t want to tell Jaden you’re on the way if you’re not going to make it.”

  He chewed the inside of his own cheek now, to keep from saying something he’d regret. She was trying to spare their son another disappointment. It was fair. But when would she finally realize he was different now? It had been nearly a year of keeping every promise. Would she ever forgive him?

  Would he ever forgive himself?

  “I’ll be there,” he said.

  “Okay.”

  She hung up, but he sat for several seconds with the phone still pressed to his ear.

  Memories of everything he’d done, things Carly didn’t even know about. Things nobody knew. Would there ever be a day the past stopped haunting him?

  Leaving had been the right decision—he didn’t doubt that—but the repercussions of it were overwhelming. And while Carly had made it abundantly clear she wanted nothing to do with him—that woman could hold a grudge like a toddler held a kitten, tightly and around the neck—Jaden had been open to the idea of starting over. Almost like his son had simply been waiting for him to finally show up.

  So Josh vowed to commit. To step up. To man up. To do what he should’ve done all those years ago, to become a consistent presence in Jaden’s life.

  And he prayed he wasn’t too late.

  Since then, Josh had spent two weekends a month with Jaden, and in all that time, he’d only seen Carly in person once.

  But once was all it took. It sent his mind spinning, his regret twisting, his heart lurching. He’d done everything he could to move beyond his failed relationship with his high school sweetheart, but he’d failed at that too.

  Never mind she couldn’t even look him in the eye she was so angry. Never mind that she was better off without him.