A Match Made Perfect
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Anna J. Stewart
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15
CHAPTER ONE
“CHIN UP, MANDY.” Sebastian Evans tapped a finger under his own chin as he palmed the softball. “That’s better. Bat up. Just a bit. Even weight on your feet.”
Beneath her San Francisco Giants baseball cap, his nearly fifteen-year-old daughter wrinkled her freckled nose as she always did before a smile broke out on her face. She wiggled into better position, her eyes shifting down to his hand. “You’re going to curve it,” she called. “Your thumb’s off-center.”
Cheeky kid. She didn’t miss a thing. Sebastian’s heart swelled with the pride that filled him every day. “Don’t get cocky. Focus.” And because she’d caught him, he adjusted his grip behind his back and sent the ball flying across home plate of the baseball field in Skipper Park.
She swung, caught the edge of the ball and sent it soaring up, but not far. He found himself racing forward as her laughter caught on the Saturday-morning breeze. She hit first base before he had the ball solidly in his glove.
“Now, that’s what I call a fake-out.” She bent over, hands planted on her knees, and grinned up at him. “Good enough to make the team, do you think?”
“Good enough.” He tried to sound casual, but inside he was already calling her a star. Whatever sports ability he possessed, she’d far surpassed it. Basketball, soccer, swimming and now softball. She excelled at them all and seemingly without much effort. Thankfully business at Cat’s Eye Bookstore was good enough for him to hire part-time help and leave him with money to afford all the team and uniform fees that loomed in his future. He’d be glad when Mandy found a favorite sport and settled on it. Personally? He was hoping for softball.
With the sun cresting in the sky, he called it a morning and waved her over, turning the batting-and-pitching area over to the group of kids nearby.
It was warm for mid-February, even by Butterfly Harbor, California, standards, and the weather had brought out a fair number of residents of the small coastal town. The frenzy of the holidays had been replaced by the barely restrained eagerness for spring as rain and sunshine battled it out. Couples, families and groups of friends mingled here and there, in the park, down at the Butterfly Diner. Some grabbed spots down on the beach for the promised welcoming, but chilly, gentle tide. Life didn’t get much better than this.
Butterfly Harbor had been his home from the day he’d been born. The small West Coast town had gotten its name due to being a stop on the monarch butterfly migratory path and was quickly boosting its reputation as a tourist destination. A reputation that soon would be kicked into high gear thanks to the butterfly sanctuary and nature center currently under construction.
He caught sight of Kyle Knight lounging in the stands as he talked and joked with Butterfly Harbor’s newest probationary firefighter, Jasper O’Neill. Sebastian would have to have been blind not to notice the young man these days, and not just because Kyle and Mandy had developed a friendship in recent months. But their “friendship” did strike an odd, familiar and worrying chord inside Sebastian. A chord that even after fifteen years had the power to send his heart to stuttering.
He shouldn’t be anxious. The logical part of his brain said that, at least. But Mandy was his little girl. And while she’d be fifteen in several weeks, she would always, much to her horror, be his baby.
A pang of envy hit him when he glimpsed Deputy Fletcher Bradley and his almost ten-year-old daughter, Charlie, kicking around a soccer ball in the distance. Sebastian was fast running out of those days to spend with his own daughter, who would be off to college soon.
“Dad. Hey, earth to Dad!” Mandy snapped her fingers in front of his face.
“What?” Sebastian’s brow furrowed.
“I said can we stop by the marina to see Uncle Monty’s new boat?”
He looped an arm around Mandy’s shoulders and, after another longing look at the other father and daughter, steered his daughter toward town. She waved a goodbye to Kyle over her shoulder. “It’s like you’re reading my mind. Lunch at the diner after?” Their tradition after spending time at the marina with Mandy’s honorary uncle.
“Yes,” Mandy said. “But I have to be at Kendall’s by two to babysit—I mean kid-sit—Phoebe.”
Sebastian laughed, recalling the horrified expression on little Phoebe MacBride’s face when she’d heard the term babysitter. She was not, she’d declared to her parents, with hands on her tiny hips and big black curls dancing around her round face, a baby. “We’ll get you there, Man, don’t worry.”
“If I had a scooter, it wouldn’t take you away from the store.”
“If you had a scooter, I’d need medication. You have a bike.” He pulled her in and kissed the top of her head. “That’ll suffice for now.” Thank goodness state law didn’t allow moped licenses until age sixteen.
“Aw, man.” But Mandy said it good-naturedly. It wasn’t the first time they’d had this discussion. It wouldn’t be the last.
They talked about her classes and what else she was occupied with. Just before Christmas she’d taken in a box full of kittens to foster. Now all but one had been adopted, leaving only Zachariah, their permanent senior feline resident, and the mischievous gray fur ball Mandy had named Tribble. Thanks to a recent adoption drive in town, and a ton of new volunteer households, they had been foster-cat-free since Christmas. While the cats acted as a draw for people to come to the bookstore, he was grateful for the reprieve.
These Saturdays had become sacred to him. Time with his daughter was passing entirely too quickly. It didn’t help that she had a social schedule that rivaled most CEOs. Between school and sports and volunteer hours with various causes, he counted himself lucky to see her for dinner most nights.
But Saturday mornings? Oh, Saturdays were just for him.
Mandy tapped the bat along the ground as they walked. Then, as they rounded the corner to the marina entrance, she broke away, racing down the dock to the fleet of boats belonging to WindWalkers and Monty Bettencourt.
“Well?” Monty slapped the rag he’d been using to wipe down the catamaran against the railing. “How’d you do?”
“I hit two doubles and a single off him.” Mandy jumped onto the boat beside him and set down her bat. “I would have had a triple, but the sun was in my eyes.”
“Seems as good an excuse as any.” Monty waved Sebastian on board. “Come down to see your new purchase?”
“Huh?” Mandy crinkled her eyes in confusion.
“Your uncle Monty and I are now partners,” Sebastian told her. “Well, sort of. I made an investment. Gives us use of the boats when they aren’t rented out.” Sebastian feigned skepticism. “Unless you disapprove.”
“Are you kidding?” Mandy squealed and jumped so high that when she landed, the boat jostled. “Whoops! Sorry.” She whipped off her cap and a tumble of blond curls fell loose down her back.
Something inside Sebastian caught. In that moment, she looked so much like Brooke that he almost couldn’t breathe. The excitement, the enthusiasm, the way her blue eyes sparkled. It was as if a time loop had roped him in and sent him soaring back to the day he’d first seen Mandy’s mother. Brooke hadn’t, Sebastian realized with an uneasy squirm, been much older than Mandy was now. Heck, neither had he.
“This calls for an official partner celebration,” Monty announced. “Gotta make it quick, though. I’ve got a diving group coming in about an hour.” He disappeared into the galley and returned with three bottles of root beer.
The trio twisted off the caps in unison, clinked bottles and chugged. The ensuing belches had them all laughing. It was a ritual that the three, or rather four, if you counted Monty’s twin sister, Frankie, had been performing since Mandy could hold her own bottle.
“Can I explore?” Mandy asked.
“Of course.” Monty stepped back. “Have at it. You’ve got a few days off of school next week, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Teacher conferences. Why?”
Monty shrugged. “I’ve got a couple of diving groups booked. I thought maybe you’d like to tag along, earn some extra cash by helping me out. You could get some dive time in, too. Seeing as you’re an investor now...” He trailed off, looking wide-eyed and innocent when Sebastian glared at him. “You’d be okay with that, right, Dad?” Monty grinned and finished his root beer.
“Oh, please, Dad?” Mandy said as she spun to face him. “That would be so amazing.”
“How about you look at your schedule before you commit? Dr. Collins—”
“It’s Dr. Gordon now, Dad. Jeez!” Mandy rolled her eyes. “You were at her wedding.”
“Right. Dr. Gordon. She’s come to rely on you.”
“She also has a new partner and tech assistant, so she doesn’t need me as much at the vet practice. This is a job, Dad!” Mandy reminded him. “Close to it, anyway, and it’s on the water!”
Sebastian couldn’t argue with that. Mandy had practically been born with flippers on. She was a natural in, around and on the water.
“How many jobs are actually fun?”she pleaded. “Besides, it’ll look great on my college applications. Diverse activities and interest, plus employment.”
Sebastian choked on his root beer. “You cannot be thinking about college applications already.”
That earned him another eye roll.
“Of course I have. With my college prep classes, my advisor thinks I can apply in a little over a year, at least for extension classes for the marine-biology department. She’s even verifying if I qualify for early graduation.”
“That’s great, kiddo.” Monty toasted her with his root beer even as he shot a sidelong glance to a silent Sebastian. “Always knew you were ten times smarter than this lug.” The elbow in Sebastian’s ribs told him to laugh at the joke and give his approval to Mandy’s fast-track education.
Sebastian swore he heard a cash register ringing in his head, but he pushed a smile onto his lips. “Right, sorry. I forgot who I was talking to. Of course you’re planning ahead.” And just like that, any similarity to her mother faded. Brooke had been many things, but a planner? Not even close.
There were days Sebastian asked himself why he’d fallen so hard and so fast for Brooke Ardell, but there was never a day he regretted it. How could he when, despite all her faults, despite all the disappointments and rejection he’d endured, Brooke had given him the greatest gift he could have ever hoped for: his daughter.
“You seem a bit lost in thought today,” Monty said to Sebastian as Mandy disappeared around the side of the boat. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just for some reason, I keep thinking about Brooke.” He winced, then distracted himself with the label on his bottle.
“Not surprising.” Monty sat and kicked up his feet. “Mandy looks more like her every day. Must be because Mandy’s birthday’s coming up.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian said as he looked out into the ocean. “Maybe.”
But he wasn’t convinced. Whatever had him thinking about Brooke Ardell, it didn’t matter. She’d walked out on both him and Mandy fifteen years ago, and never looked back. She’d moved on.
Maybe it was time he finally did the same.
“MORNING.” BROOKE ARDELL, still trying to shake off the days-long drive from South Carolina, wobbled into her godmother’s kitchen at just after ten on Tuesday morning. Finally. After all these years, she was back in Butterfly Harbor.
“Good morning, Brooke.” BethAnn turned from where she was pouring coffee near the sink. “I was hoping I’d see you before I headed out. Would you like a cup?”
“That would be amazing, thank you.” Brooke dropped into a chair and stifled a yawn. It had been nice last night to end the day in a comfortable, welcoming home rather than a roadside motel that, if she was lucky, had a vending machine. If she never saw a cheese curl again, she’d consider it an accomplishment.
Looking around the familiar place had her finally beginning to feel settled. The decor had been updated fairly recently, from what Brooke could tell. She could still smell traces of paint and turpentine. The ivory-striped wallpaper and matching curtains were gone. Now a soft mocha colored the walls and contrasting espresso-hued fabric draped the two windows that allowed the morning sun to stream in over the stunning backyard. And the bed in the guest room upstairs? Oh, her back had been so happy not to have a spring invading her spine.
“Sorry I got in so late last night. After four days on the road, I just wanted to get here.” Which was why she’d driven nearly twelve hours straight. Her body was not even close to forgiving her. She lowered her head into her hands, shoved back her hair and sighed in relief as BethAnn Bottomley, one of her mother’s oldest friends, set a filled red mug in front of her. “Nectar of the gods.” Brooke sipped, savored, swallowed. “Thanks.” Given the amount of coffee she’d ingested during the endless drive, she wouldn’t have been surprised if this cup barely gave her a jolt.
BethAnn settled into the chair next to Brooke with her lips pursed, as if trying to keep herself quiet. Not an easy feat, Brooke thought. If she remembered one thing about the godmother she hadn’t seen in more than a decade, it was that BethAnn Bottomley was notoriously curious, determined and loquacious. She also exemplified the distinguished older society woman, right down to her perfectly painted fingernails and brass-button pantsuit. “Go ahead and ask.” Brooke took another sip of coffee. “You wanted to last night. I could tell.”
“You’re a grown woman, Brooke.” BethAnn smoothed a stray, stark blond hair back into the neat chignon. Her years as a devoted state senator’s wife had not worn off since her husband’s death a few years ago.
Brooke nodded. “Yes, I am.” A grown woman who had made far too many mistakes in her life, one in particular she was determined to make right. Her heart stuttered and nearly stopped at the thought. “Judging by the expression on your face, I take it you’ve spoken to my mother.”
“Candice did call.” BethAnn closed her laptop and, much to Brooke’s discomfort, turned all her attention on her. “You left without telling her.”
“I sure did.” She’d also waited to go until Candice had left on her annual sabbatical to France. No way would her mother consider canceling that trip, even to corral her wayward daughter. Never mind said daughter was well into adulthood. “I wasn’t going to take the chance she’d talk me out of coming back here. Not this time. What did she say?”
“That she didn’t appreciate finding out your plans from her housekeeper. And that she was disappointed.”
Brooke snorted. “There’s a first.”
“She also told me in no uncertain terms that if you turned up on my doorstep I was to send you home.”
Brooke sighed. It had been a rough year. First, she’d lost her father, then... Brooke gave herself a hard mental shake. “What did you tell her?”
“Same as I just told you,” BethAnn declared. “That you’re a grown woman. I also said that as your godmother my responsibility was to you, not to her antiquated belief about what a dutiful daughter should do with her life.”
Tears pricked the back of Brooke’s eyes. She’d spent most of her life trying to live up to her mother’s impossible standards, something she’d finally realized she was never going to accomplish. Why that still hurt she couldn’t fathom. “Did you really say that?”
BethAnn let out a sound that was strangely like a snort. “I might have gentled the words a bit, but that was the gist of it.” She reached out and took hold of Brooke’s hand. “She also said you weren’t answering your phone.”
“I left my phone back in South Carolina.” She’d bought an inexpensive one at a convenience store on her way out of town. She’d wanted to leave everything she could behind, including a way for her mother to reach her. The only reason she’d bought a replacement was because she wasn’t reckless enough to make the cross-country drive without a cell. She could have flown, of course, but she’d needed those endless hours to gather her courage and get her head on straight.
“What’s going on, hon?” BethAnn asked. “After all these years, what made you come back?”
So much, Brooke thought. So, so much, and yet...in the end, it was really simple what had brought her back to Butterfly Harbor. Regret. And hope. “Have you ever felt like this bubble inside of you just burst? Or like you’ve spent most of your life screaming into an abyss and no one has ever heard you?”
“Yes,” BethAnn said with an understanding nod. “Yes, I’ve most certainly felt like that. It’s a lonely way to live”
“It took thirty-four years.” Brooke hesitated, the rolling nausea of shame returning as the coffee churned in her empty stomach. “And one car accident, but I’m done screaming into the void. I’m going to live my life, my way.” She managed a quick smile. “Better late than never, huh?”
BethAnn’s lips curved with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I wish I could have been more help over the years.”
“You couldn’t,” Brooke assured her. “No one could. It was all up to me, wasn’t it? Whether I was going to live under my mother’s thumb, her rules. Her...” She swallowed hard. Her control. There. She’d admitted it. Almost out loud this time. “She’s different, now that Dad’s gone. Different enough I could see a way clear. Doesn’t mean things aren’t messed up, because they are. I’m still working some things out.” Like how she was going to approach Sebastian after all the years away.
It was hard to believe she could have anything left to think about given that’s all she’d been doing for the past four days. Drive and think. Think and drive. Dwell on choices she’d made that had put her exactly where she was today. “I’m determined to make this work,” she said, more to herself than to BethAnn.
BethAnn narrowed her eyes and her godmother clung tighter when Brooke tried to pull away. “Whatever’s going on, you can talk to me. You know that, right?”
She hadn’t been sure. Not until now. While Brooke had anticipated an obligatory welcome, she hadn’t exactly thought she’d be so warmly received, even by her godmother. Not after what she’d done. “You’re different, too. Softer than I remember.” Less like her mother. But even the expected severity hadn’t stopped Brooke from finally taking a stand and going against her mother’s wishes that she never come back to Butterfly Harbor.
BethAnn looked startled for a moment. “Well, the last few years have been difficult here, too.” She cleared her throat. “Best you hear it from me. I didn’t deal well with Edgar’s death. I...well, I drank. A lot. Enough that it turned into a real problem. I’m better now, though,” she added when Brooke was about to speak. “I don’t want you worrying over it. I’ve made friends here in town. A lot of them. Lori Knight—well, you’d remember her as Lori Bradley—she and her husband, Matt, kind of made me their project. It’s been an adjustment, going from the life I was used to living to realizing I wasn’t the most important person in the room. Or town.”
“I guess we both have something to be sorry for. I wish I’d known. Maybe I could have come back sooner...” she trailed off. Another habit she needed to break. The unending apologies she uttered almost by rote. She couldn’t have come back before now. She hadn’t been ready. Funny what courage she’d found by almost dying. “Fact is, I’m here now and if there’s anything you need, I hope you’ll think to ask me.”
“You’re sweet to say that.” BethAnn patted her hand. “I’m sure we won’t get in each other’s way much. I’m working. Sort of. Volunteering most of the time. Little things here and there. I’ve become quite good friends with Ezzie Salazar.”
Brooke shook her head. “The name’s not familiar.”
“No reason it should be. She’s just moved out here from Boston. She’s our new fire chief’s mother. Make that co-chief. Roman, that’s her son, is engaged to the other co-chief.” The knowing expression on BethAnn’s face filled in the blank.
“Frankie Bettencourt.” Brooke’s heart might have lightened at the idea of her one-time best friend finally getting the job she’d always dreamed of: Butterfly Harbor fire chief. But co-chief? She’d bet there was a story behind that development.
“I can understand why you wouldn’t have kept up with me, but you haven’t been in touch with anyone? Not even Frankie or Monty?” BethAnn asked.
“No.” The image of Sebastian Evans swirled through her mind. “No one.”
It had just been easier to push them all out of her mind as if they’d never existed. Tears she’d banked for what felt like decades filled her eyes. She rested her elbows on the table and wiped her eyes to stop them before they spilled over. How had she let things get this far? “I’ve made such a mess of my life.” She choked out the words as if her throat was caught in a vise. “How could I have stayed away so long? How could I have let my mom bully me into staying away all these years?”
“Candice had her mind set on the life you were going to lead before you were even born.”
“So she’s told me.”
“She’s also never been one to empathize with anyone’s situation other than her own.” BethAnn shrugged at Brooke’s astonishment. “She’s always been determined to keep you close. Suffocatingly so. I’ve considered her a friend for a lot of years, Brooke, and while we had a few knock-down, drag-out arguments, the biggest ones were when I told her she needed to let you breathe.”
Brooke had breathed. Whenever she’d been with Sebastian.
“Your mother’s never been the type of woman I’d go to if I needed help. Or to ask for a friendly ear. Emotions are not her strong suit. As you well know. She keeps everything under a very tight lid and she did that long before I met her in college.”
“You’ve now told me more about my mother than she’s ever shared. Dad always said she could turn her emotions on and off like a faucet.” It was still the best explanation she’d ever heard. “That doesn’t explain why it took me so long to realize nothing I did was ever going to be good enough.” All those years. All those wasted years...
“Oh, hey now.” BethAnn got to her feet and walked around to wrap an arm around Brooke’s shoulders.
Her godmother squeezed and drew her in close, and for the first time in a long time, Brooke felt herself relax. “I’ve made so many mistakes. What if they don’t...?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought.
BethAnn gave her another squeeze. “There’s no sense worrying about what you can’t control. The only way you’ll fail is if you don’t take the chance. You’ve taken the first few steps. Don’t stop now.”
“I know.” Her godmother was right, but that didn’t make it any easier to accept. “But my little girl, BethAnn. Leaving Sebastian was bad enough, but how could I have ever walked away from my beautiful little girl?”
“Because Candice didn’t give you a choice.” The harsh tone in BethAnn’s voice actually broke through her self-recrimination. “You and I both know the lengths to which she was willing to go to keep you apart. I’m sure once you explain that to Sebastian—”
“No.” Brooke swiped her cheeks dry and took a deep breath. “No, BethAnn. He doesn’t need to know about all that,” she added when BethAnn seemed about to argue. “It doesn’t matter now, anyway.”
“But if he knew...”
If he knew he’d be angry at her for not telling him in the first place, and he already had plenty to be angry about where Brooke was concerned. “I still left. I still gave in. Gave up. If we focus too much on the past I’ll never have a chance at a relationship with Mandy.” And that, not the threadbare hope of reuniting with the only man she’d ever loved, was her reason for returning. “And that’s all I want.”
“That sounds positive. You’ve stood up to Candice now,” BethAnn soothed. “That’s what matters.”
Brooke squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn’t stood up to her mother. Not exactly. Instead of telling her where she was going, Brooke had skulked off when there was no risk of confrontation. “I had to come back here.” The tears were gone now, replaced with the determination she’d been gathering for years. “I had to see them again. To tell them...” Her hands flailed before she locked them around the mug again, only to find the coffee had gone cold. What? What was she going to say to Sebastian and their daughter about walking away from them?
Hopefully she’d have a chance to figure that out.
BethAnn went to get the coffee carafe, then refilled their mugs.
“Coming back seemed like such a good idea a week ago.” Now that she was here, the fear—frustrating and paralyzing—had descended.
“Don’t you dare back down now. Not after the stand you’ve taken.” BethAnn returned to her chair. “Nothing about coming back here is going to be easy. Your situation aside, don’t forget what happened with the bank after your father left.”
“I heard it went under. The fallout must have been horrible.” Businesses closing, families losing their homes. The foreclosure rate alone...well, she hadn’t seen as many for-sale signs as she’d expected when she’d driven into town. When her father had been sick, he’d been unable to shake the guilt and responsibility that had followed him out of town. One of his biggest regrets, he’d confided in her, even as he told her not to make the same mistakes he had. She’d known, even without him being specific, he was talking about Sebastian and Mandy.
“We’re finally on the other side of it now,” BethAnn said. “Might have happened faster if your father had still been in charge, of course. Going the way he did left the town in the wrong hands. All the same—” BethAnn sighed “—we’re a forgiving group. Mostly.”
“I hope so.” Brooke offered a watery smile. “Thank you, BethAnn. For everything.” Now the real work began. The forgiveness she needed, the forgiveness she’d driven across the country to find, could only be given by the two people she had hurt the most: Sebastian and their daughter.
The question was...would they?
