Authors: Janice Carter

The Man She Left Behind (13 page)

BOOK: The Man She Left Behind

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Nothing at all. Just enough time to see if she wants what I do
.

Resolved, he gave in to the mellow contentment filling him. It was going to be a great day.

The relatively early hour guaranteed a place on the ferry to Hatteras. “It won’t be this easy two weeks from now,” Spence said. He parked in the space he’d been directed to by one of the crew, turned to Leigh and asked, “Shall we go up top?”

But she was already out the door, heading for the stairs leading to the passenger decks on each side of the big flat-bottomed boat. He grinned.
Same old Leigh, all right. Still likes the wind in her hair.

“You know,” he said, standing beside her, “I never get tired of this view, though I must have seen it a few thousand times.”

“But it’s always changing, even in small ways. The clouds, the color of the water, even the shape of the land we pass—so much is determined by light, weather, time of year.” Leigh tossed her head, loving the sensation of wind whipping across her scalp. “I love the smells! That acrid combination of salt and fish. Even the diesel fumes from the ferry don’t dominate. You know—” she faced Spencer “—after I’d been living in New York six months, I went with a friend on the boat cruise to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. When we were walking through Battery Park, I passed a clump of fir trees that gave off a faint scent of pine. I stopped and breathed it in. That faint whiff of pine was the first natural smell I’d inhaled since arriving in New York City.”

She laughed at the absurdity of the incident. “Of course, since then I’ve discovered some real nature places in the city—little oases of fresh air—but until that moment in Battery Park I hadn’t realized how appallingly different the air quality was compared to the Outer Banks.”

There was a flush in her cheeks from the sheer joy of looking out over the Sound. Her eyes sparkled and Spence wanted to kiss her so badly he had to turn away, lean over the railing and fake an interest in the water.

Finally he said, “Nothing compares to life on the Outer Banks, that’s for sure.”

“Why didn’t you ever leave Ocracoke? When you were a teenager, going to the mainland was all you talked about.”

Spence uttered a derisive snort. “Yeah. When I was a teenager, I thought I knew everything.” He looked quickly at Leigh, then back out to sea. “Having a kid when you’re barely out of your teens is a sobering experience. Sam got me a job working for one of the fishermen in the village, and after a couple of years of that, old man Cowan took me on in his charter business. It was the break I needed. Better money, better hours and the work wasn’t so damn hard.” He turned again to Leigh. “I don’t know how Sam and men like your father did it. Especially in the days when commercial fishing boats weren’t as well equipped as they are now with all the high-tech stuff.”

Leigh nodded and Spence swung his gaze back to the water of Hatteran Inlet.

“Anyway, to make a long story short, I practically took over the whole business. Cowan is really just a silent partner now. Once I had an investment of that kind on Ocracoke, there was no way I’d ever leave. Besides, by then I’d grown to appreciate the island and village life. Things are... simpler here. Our wants and needs are—” he paused “—basic. No, more than that. Uncomplicated.”

Leigh looked at Spencer as he stared out over the railing. She’d never in her life considered him an uncomplicated person, and she didn’t altogether agree with his take on life in the Outer Banks—certainly not on Ocracoke. Her experience here after graduation night and later, in the world outside, had taught her there were no simple conclusions to make about places and people.

“But then,” he went on, standing upright and once again turning toward her, “I suppose you’ve experienced a different perspective, having gone to college and living in New York.”

The blue of his eyes assumed a neon quality in the bright sun. They were the same eyes Leigh had gazed into with longing and adoration for two years, but they signaled something different now than they had then.

“Have I struck a nerve?” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“You seemed lost in thought.”

“I was. Thinking of you back then.”

The smile in his face disappeared. “I was a kid back then.”

“A nineteen-year-old kid.”

“Not at the beginning. Not when we started dating.”

Leigh smiled. “We were both kids. I only turned sixteen the July after the Sadie Hawkins dance.”

“When it all began,” he said almost wistfully. “I remember your mother threw that big ‘sweet sixteen’ party.”

“And I was so embarrassed! I didn’t even want to go.”

“No, we wanted to sneak off and go to a movie in Hatteras.”

“But the party turned out to be fun.”

His smile returned. “Yeah. It was.”

After a moment’s silence Leigh said, “We’ve both changed a lot. Gotten older—”

“Wiser,” he put in.

“Yes,” she murmured. “I like to think so.” She leaned her forearms on the railing and looked ahead to Cape Hatteras, looming into sight.

“But there’s no reason we can’t reminisce and enjoy each other’s company. As adults and friends,” he quickly added.

The awkwardness of his proposal tugged at her. “No reason at all,” she said, straightening and looking him in the eye.

A smile stretched across his face.

“LUNCH?” SPENCER CLOSED the truck door behind him.

“I’m starving,” Leigh admitted. “And by the time we wait for the next ferry...”

“Not to mention the forty-minute crossing,” he said.

She laughed. “You don’t need to twist my arm when it comes to eating, believe me.”

“Great.” He shifted the truck into drive and pulled out of the gravel parking lot where they’d deposited Leigh’s cartons in the rows of recycling bins. “I know a little place up by way of Kill Devil Hills, if you don’t mind the drive.”

“No commitments,” she said. And realizing it, felt wonderfully free. Much later, after they’d eaten stony crab at the family-run café outside Kill Devil Hills and stopped for homemade ice cream at yet another tiny out-of-the-way place driving back along the highway, Leigh decided the day had been one of her best in a long long time.

“I don’t know about you,” Spencer sighed, switching off the truck’s ignition after he’d turned into his driveway, “but today was...” He searched for a word.

“Cool? Awesome? Rad?” she suggested with a grin. “Or are those still the in words for teens these days?”

“‘Fantastic’ was the word I was looking for. Damn fantastic.”

Leigh returned his smile. “That’s a good word. Yes, I’d have chosen that word, too.”

“Good.” Spence couldn’t take his eyes off her. There was a glow about her that instinct told him had a lot more to do with spending the day with him than with being in the sun. It had been a day of connections, he realized. Every word, every joke, every accidental brush of skin against skin had created an immediate and charged connection. And he was still riding high on the day, still giddy with the thrill of rediscovery the day had given him.

Rediscovery
. Another good word, he thought. Because that was the way the past few hours had unrolled, revealing new facts about Leigh Randall, as well as sketching in long-forgotten details. But here he was, at the end of that glorious, fantastic day, and he couldn’t let go of it. He wanted it to go on and on.

“Well, guess I’d better get home and see if there’ve been any offers today,” Leigh said, averting her face and reaching for the door handle.

Disappointment was bitter in his mouth. Was that what she’d been thinking while he’d been looking deep into her eyes, sending the message his voice couldn’t utter?

He yanked the keys out of the ignition and followed her out of the truck. When he joined her at the driver side of her car, she paused, playing with her car keys. Reluctant to open the door and drive off? he wondered. Or just thinking of the safest way to say goodbye.

But then she beamed a heart-stopping smile at him and he didn’t wait to analyze it. He simply placed his hands on her shoulders and gently drew her to him. He moved his hands around her back, pressing the hollow between her shoulder blades into him, feeling the softness of her breasts against his chest. He lowered his face to her hair, inhaling its flowery scent, then brought his hands around to cup her head while he placed a line of soft kisses across her brow. He felt her arms wrap around him, then she tilted her head back as far as his hands permitted and parted her lips in invitation. He accepted and brought his mouth to hers.

She tasted of raspberries and cream and the minty gum she’d bought somewhere on the trip home. He shifted his right hand to the dip of her lower back, pushing her hips into his groin. He wanted her so badly he ached. When she pulled back, he felt empty.

“Spence,” she whispered.

Her voice sounded shaky and he knew she hadn’t wanted to pull free.

He stared into her eyes, urging them to stay fixed on his. But they flickered toward the ground, the car door and back to the ground. Anywhere but on him, he thought.

She opened her car door and got in. “I’ll call you,” was all he said as he closed the door after her.

She nodded and backed out the drive. She straightened the car out to head for the village, but then braked and reversed.

Spencer stood watching, puzzled.

Leigh rolled down her window. “You can’t call me—not unless you know my cell-phone number.”

“Got me there,” he said.

“How about dinner tomorrow night? My place?”

“Sounds great.”

“Okay. Bring Jamie. Bye.”

Spencer waved.
Jamie
. Ah, yes, he thought, back to the real world.

When he stepped inside the front door, the pulsing bass of a rock number pumped out from behind Jamie’s closed door. He tapped briskly, then pushed open the door. Jamie lolled on his unmade bed, flipping through a sports magazine. Schoolbooks littered the bed and floor, along with a week’s laundry—clean or dirty, Spence couldn’t have said. He motioned to the CD player, but getting no response, strode over to turn it off.

“Hey!”

“I need to talk to you. Didn’t you see me standing in the door?”

“Yeah, I saw you. I saw plenty.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jamie flung the magazine onto the floor. His face was bright red. “You and Leigh. Jeez, can’t you make out in private?”

Spencer felt his own face flush. “We weren’t making out,” he protested, then hated himself for rushing to defend his actions. “I kissed her goodbye. Don’t you ever do that on your dates?” It was a mean gibe. As far as he knew, Jamie had never had a date.

But the shot went over Jamie’s head. “Some kiss,” he muttered. “Good thing no one was outside to notice. Jeez.”

Spencer thought he’d better let the matter drop. He sensed there was a lot of complicated emotion behind Jamie’s outburst. Instead, he cleared a square of the bed and sat down.

“How’s your grandfather today?”

“Same as when you left him this morning. Before you took off.”

Spencer pursed his lips. Hmm. Did Jamie feel slighted at being left out? “And how was that?”

Jamie heaved a great sigh. “You know. Like Grandpa Sam. Itching to get up and about.”

“That’s a good way to put it. Did the doctor call here?”

“Yeah, said he wants you to telephone Grandpa’s specialist as soon as possible. Said he called the dude himself, told him about the attack and all.”

“Okay. Anything else?”

Jamie shrugged. “Nope. That was it.”

Spence started to leave the room, then turned to ask, “Has it been a long day?”

Another shrug. Then, “Not much doing here, that’s for sure.”

It was Spencer’s turn to sigh. “Look,” he said, “how about catching a movie up on Hatteras? We could go somewhere for a bite after. Maybe talk a bit about the summer. You know, make some plans.”

Jamie scowled, but Spence saw a glimmer of interest in his eyes.

“You mean talk about getting a job.”

Jamie made the word sound like an obscenity. Spence smiled inwardly. “There are jobs...and then there are jobs. I don’t necessarily mean working for me on the boat. But you know, some kids have had the good luck to get part-time work with the National Park Service looking after the herd of ponies.”

Jamie’s head shot up. “The wild ponies here?”

“What’s left of them. They’re not wild by the usual standards because they’re penned in to protect them. But there may be something available.”

Jamie’s mouth twisted. “I bet it takes clout to get a job like that,” he said.

Spencer wondered what had made him so cynical at such an early age.
Was I the same?

BOOK: The Man She Left Behind

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