grinned and was suddenly in a wheelchair. “And I appreciate it. Wish I could help you now, bro. But it’s all on you.”
None of this made sense. Jack looked around. The sand. The sun. The men. Everything was the way it always was in his dream. Well, except for Kevin, grinning like a moron at him from a chair.
“What’s so funny? Do something, damn it!”
“Nothing I can do, dude,” Kevin assured him. “It’s a heart shot. You’re done for. There’s no hope.”
Panic roared through him followed by fury. Damned if he’d end like this. “What the hell kind of help is that? Call a medic. Slap a bandage on my chest.”
“Hearts can’t be healed with a damn bandage, man. You’re way past that.”
Fear and fury were a tangled knot inside him. “Then what do I do?”
“You already know that, Jack,” Kevin said. “You’re not shot, man. Your heart’s broken and the only way to fix it is to find Rita and make this right. It’s as good as over for you.”
Reaching down, he held out one hand and waited for Jack to take it. Then Kevin pulled him to his feet and slapped Jack on the back. “The only way out is Rita.”
“Rita.” Jack looked down at his chest. He wasn’t bleeding. He was healthy enough. He was just...lost. Lifting his head, he glanced around. The dream had changed. The desert was gone.
He was on the beach, the roar of the sea pounding in his brain. And there was Rita, standing at the shoreline as she had been on the first night he’d seen her. And just like that, Jack knew Kevin was right. He felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest. It was over for him.
It had been over from the first moment he’d seen her.
Just the memory of her was strong enough to tear down the dream that had been haunting him for months. Rita had drawn him out, with the help of an old friend.
But when he turned to thank Kevin, the man was gone. Looking back down the beach, he saw Rita, holding a baby girl with dark brown curls and bright eyes. He started toward them just as Rita smiled. Then slowly, she and the baby faded until they finally disappeared completely. When he stood alone on the darkened beach, pain hit him like a fist.
Fix this, he told himself, or lose everything.
Jack woke with a start and sat straight up in bed. His mind racing, heart pounding, he realized so many truths at once, he was breathless. Maybe it made sense that the lesson he needed to learn had come from Kevin. He’d think about that later. Right now, he knew what he had to do, so he lunged for his cell phone on the bedside table. He punched in a familiar number and waited interminably as it rang on the other end.
“Dad? Yeah, it’s me, Jack.” He walked out onto the terrace, into the teeth of the wind and had never felt warmer in his life.
“Jack? Are you all right?” his father asked. “What time is it?”
He winced and glanced at the clock. Two o’clock. He rubbed his eyes and laughed shortly. Taking a deep breath, Jack realized that for the first time in months, he didn’t have a cold stone in his belly. In fact, he felt pretty good.
“Weirdly enough,” he said, “I think I am all right. Or I will be. I’m sorry it’s so late, but look. I need you to do something for me.”
“So have you thought of a name for her yet?”
Rita looked at her bakery manager and shook her head. “No, but I have plenty of time.”
“Yeah, you do. But just remember, Casey’s a great name for a girl.”
Laughing, Rita slid the tray of cookies into the oven. It was good to be home. She’d needed that visit to her family, but being here was what felt right. Back in her apartment over the bakery, doing familiar work with people she loved, it was all good.
Sure, she missed Jack desperately, and there was an ache around her heart that she was really afraid would be permanent. But she would learn to live with it. Learn to live without him, because she had to.
“Thanks, Casey, I’ll keep that in mind.”
When her phone rang, Rita answered, still laughing. “Hello?”
“Rita, this is Thomas.”
Jack’s father? For a second a thread of fear wound through her. Was Jack okay? Had something happened? Would she always be wondering about him? The answer was of course, yes.
Sighing, she said, “Hi, Thomas, everything all right?”
“Oh, yes, yes. Everything is great, really. I was just wondering, though, if you might do an old man a favor.”
Setting the timer on the oven, Rita wandered to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. She uncapped it, took a long drink and said, “Of course. What can I do?”
She heard the smile in his voice when he said, “I hoped you could come down to The Sea Queen to see me.”
“You’re on the ship?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m taking the first cruise. Thought I’d get a little golf in on the islands. But there’s something I’d like to give you before I go.”
Rita did some fast thinking. She really liked Jack’s father and just because the man’s son was behaving like a loon didn’t mean she couldn’t be close to his family. Thomas was, after all, her daughter’s grandfather. And Jack’s sister was going to be the baby’s doctor. Family mattered, whether Jack could see that or not. “Of course I can. What time do you want me there?”
“Wonderful,” he said, pleasure ringing in his voice. “As for what time, the sooner the better.”
Now she was curious. Jack hadn’t said anything to her about his dad going on the first cruise. But then, she told herself, maybe he didn’t know. What could Thomas possibly have to give her that was important enough for her to go scurrying down to the harbor just before the ship sailed? “Okay, I’ll just arrange for my manager to take over and I’ll come right down.”
“Thank you, Rita. I’ll leave word at the dock and they’ll bring you to my suite.”
“Okay, then,” she said, still baffled, “I’ll see you soon.”
She hung up and just stared at the phone for a second or two. Rita had no idea what was going on, but the sooner she got to the harbor, the quicker she’d find out.
* * *
Half an hour later, she was boarding the ship and being met by a young man in a navy shirt and sharply creased white slacks. The Sea Queen was stitched onto the breast pocket of his shirt and just below, he wore a name tag that read “Darren.”
“Mrs. Buchanan?” he asked and when she nodded, he said, “If you’ll come with me, Mr. Buchanan is waiting in the
