Just The Way You Are Part 29

"They'll be along. But since they're not here yet, maybe you can answer a question for me."

"Like what?"

"Like what do you see in the guy?" Jimmy asked with puzzlement in his light green eyes.

"Who?"

"Sam, the boy next door, the love of apparently everyone's life, that guy. He doesn't seem to be particularly rich. He's good-looking, I suppose. Has a business that I think involves a lot of stinking fish. So what is it about him that makes you and Tessa so nuts?"

Alli grinned. Jimmy was probably better looking than Sam, certainly more sophisticated, well traveled, and he had a bit more charm, but in her estimation he still felt short of Sam. Why?

"No one has ever asked me that before," she said slowly.

"Well, there must be a few things about Sam," he said with a mocking note on Sam's name, "that you really like. What are they?"

"He's-he's gorgeous," she said helplessly. "Strong, rugged, handsome. I love his forearms. I know that sounds stupid, but he's got these great muscular arms, and his hands, they're rough and callused, but they can be incredibly-"

"Okay, okay, I get the picture. He turns you on with his hands. What else? And please, let's skip the other parts of his anatomy. There are some things I'd rather not know."

"Sam has a good heart. He's smart and funny. He tells these awful knock-knock jokes that are so stupid but so endearing. And he's good to people, kind, loyal. He's someone you can count on. He's a friend."

"Now you're making him sound like a Boy Scout."

"No, because he's not perfect, he's very human." She thought for a moment. "He can lose his temper, leave his clothes around the house. He can drive me crazy with his need for solitude and the way he keeps his thoughts private, but I guess what I really like best about him..." She paused, wondering if she could put it into words. "He makes me better. Or at least he makes me want to try to be better. He gives me confidence. He makes me feel safe enough to just be myself."

"So tell me again why you're getting rid of him?" Jimmy said dryly. "Because it sounds like you have a lot of reasons for keeping him around."

"Tessa is why we're not together anymore."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about her. You know, you'd make me happy if you'd just hang on to Sam."

"So it's that way," she said with a teasing smile. "I sort of figured."

"It's that way for me. Tessa seems hung up on this guy she hasn't seen in almost a decade, who hasn't sent her a Christmas card or a birthday present or listened to her whine about her job or her aching feet. I don't get it."

"It's simple. Sam and Tessa were in love. I got in the way. Megan got in the way. Maybe their love would have lasted if I hadn't been in the picture. Maybe it wouldn't. But they'll never know unless they have a chance to find out."

"It's a big risk," Jimmy warned her, his expression more serious. "I think Tessa could actually talk herself into sticking around here if it meant getting Sam back."

"Really?" she asked, somewhat shocked, although wasn't that what she'd told herself all along might happen?

"But I don't think she can have her career and have Sam. I'm not sure she's figured that out yet."

"She wouldn't give up her career. It's all she ever wanted."

"Tessa has started believing that Sam is all she ever wanted."

Alli stared at him, still not quite sure Tessa would or could give up her career for Sam. "I thought..."

"What did you think?"

"I thought if anything Sam would go with Tessa."

"How could he? His business is here. His family is here. And what the h.e.l.l would he do with Tessa anyway? Hang up her clothes, comment on her hair, follow her around like a puppy dog? She doesn't need a fisherman."

"That's true. I never thought about that part."

"Take him back, Alli. Save us all from this madness," he said dramatically.

"They have to decide for themselves. I can't fight for Sam anymore. It's his turn to fight for me." She paused, sending him a mischievous look. "But that doesn't mean you can't fight for Tessa. I wouldn't mind if she had another distraction."

"I bet you wouldn't. Unfortunately, it's tough to compete with a memory of some out-of-this-world love affair."

"Tell me about it. I've been trying to do it for the past nine years." Alli stopped as she saw Tessa, Sam, and Megan come into view. They were walking like a family, with Megan skipping between them, her hands in theirs.

The scene tore at Alli's heart. It was one thing to lose her husband, but she couldn't lose Megan as well. And it was that thought that made her throat tighten and her words come out sharper than she intended. "About time," she said. "The tide won't stay out forever."

"I think we'll be all right," Sam replied. "What's the plan?"

"Fill up the bags." Alli tossed him a burlap sack. "Megan, you stay close to me or your daddy. The mud can get so thick it will suck you down like quicksand if you're not careful. And the rocks are slippery, so don't go jumping about," she added.

"But have fun," Jimmy interrupted.

"Yeah, right," Megan grumbled.

"We will have fun," Alli promised Megan, softening her voice and her expression. "We're going to find a pearl today and you're going to help us do it."

"Okay, Mommy," Megan said with a blooming smile.

"I'm taking pictures," Jimmy declared, dropping his bag to the beach and pulling out his camera. "You all go ahead."

"I thought you didn't want to miss out on this experience," Tessa said to him.

"I won't miss out. I'll be watching you. Tessa, you little beachcomber you."

Tessa made a face at him, and he snapped her picture.

"Stop that."

"Blackmail, baby. Tessa MacGuire with her hair blowing in the wind and nowhere near her usual amount of makeup. I can see the tabloids getting into a bidding war."

Alli grinned. She liked Jimmy Duggan more by the minute. Why couldn't Tessa see that Jimmy fit into her life so much better than Sam did?

Picking up her bag, Alli walked toward the rocks and pools uncovered by the vanis.h.i.+ng tide. Megan moved along next to her, with Sam and Tessa veering off to the right. As they climbed around the rocks, they began to see signs of life in the pools, starfish and baby crabs, sea anemones and all sorts of tiny creatures.

A kaleidoscope of colors, a banquet of smells, and the constant hum of the ocean in the distance combined with the clicking of Jimmy's camera provided a rhythm for their oyster hunt. This particular tidal flat was open and wild, barely managed by one of the old oyster companies, who had made it known that the locals were welcome to hunt to their hearts' content.

The oysters just lay there, closed up tight in their sh.e.l.ls, waiting for the water to come back to cover them, nourish them for another day. But these oysters were going to be shucked and probed for that one elusive pearl that would finish her grandmother's necklace.

"I think we're going to get lucky today," Megan said as she stuck her small hand into the mud and scooped out an oyster. "Look, I got one."

"You'll get more than one before long," Alli promised.

"I can't wait to show Grams a pearl," Megan continued. "Maybe she'll let me wear the necklace when we get it all fixed up and she comes home from the hospital."

"I'm sure she'll let you try it on."

"When is Grams coming home?"

"Soon, I hope."

"What are we going to do with all the oysters after we open them up?" Megan asked.

"Good question," Sam said, startling Alli by his nearness. "I'm not sure I can take any more raw oysters on the half sh.e.l.l, or that it would be advisable for any of us to do so."

She saw the gleam in his eye and remembered their leaping libidos from the last time they'd gone oyster hunting.

"Stew," she said abruptly. "We'll make oyster stew at Grams's house in her big black pot. And what we don't eat, we'll give away to the neighbors like we used to do."

"Tessa," Sam called. "Alli says we're making oyster stew at Phoebe's house tonight."

Tessa looked up in surprise. "Why? Why can't you make it at your house?"

"Because we always did it at Grams's house," Alli explained, although she was irritated that Sam had felt the need to bring Tessa into it at all. She belonged at her grandmother's house as much as Tessa did, if not more.

"I still don't see-" Tessa began.

"You don't have to see," Alli cut in. "That's where we're doing it. Her kitchen is bigger. The table is longer. And besides, we almost always found the pearl sitting around Grams's kitchen table."

"Fine," Tessa said with a sigh. "Let's just get this over with." She wrinkled up her nose as she bent over and scooped several oysters into her bag. "I can't believe I'm doing this. I never thought coming home would include wading in the tide pools. I can feel the water seeping through my rubber boots."

"You'll live," Alli said crisply.

Tessa shot her a dark look. "Of course I will. Did I say I wouldn't?"

"Are you guys fighting?" Megan asked curiously.

"No," Alli said quickly. "We're just talking like sisters do."

"Sounded like fighting to me," Megan muttered.

"Me, too," Sam said, taking his daughter's hand. "Why don't we go look over there? I think I see a better spot."

Alli bit down on her lip as Sam and Megan wandered away. She hadn't meant to snap, to start anything. Why couldn't she just stop putting her foot in her mouth?

Two hours later, their bags full, they began the hike back to the car. Tessa handed Jimmy her bag to carry. "It's the least you can do," she told him.

"Anything for you, princess," he said, swinging the sack over one shoulder, the camera bag on the other.

"Thus speaks the man who wouldn't get his feet wet or his hands dirty."

"I got some great shots, though. This is a beautiful piece of coastline, and with you in it, it's quite spectacular." His voice turned husky and something inside of her melted. It was nice to be appreciated. Sam hadn't paid her much attention at all, catering to Megan, helping Alli, talking to Jimmy. In fact, it seemed like he'd gone out of his way to avoid her.

"Come on," she said. "I'm thirsty. I just want to go home, put my feet up, and have a really big gla.s.s of iced tea."

He sent her a strange look.

"What?"

"You just called your grandmother's house home."

"It was my home," she said slowly.

"Freudian slip?" He didn't wait for an answer, heading up the path with Alli, leaving Tessa once again to bring up the rear with Sam.

"Tired?" Sam asked her as she let out a sigh.

"A little. I'm not used to all this fresh air."

"I don't think I could breathe in a city," he said. "We went to L.A. for a weekend a few years back. The smog about killed me. I don't how you can stand to live there."

"It has other things to offer besides fresh air."

"Which you can't enjoy, because you're dead."

"Oh, hush," she said, knowing he was teasing her by the curve of his lips. "It's not that bad. Maybe if you spent some time there, or in New York-it's such a wonderful city, so much energy and action and things to do. I think you'd like it."

"Manhattan was always on the top of your list of places to see. I'm glad you got there, Tessa."

"Me, too."

He nodded and they set off up the hill. He didn't have much to say and for the moment she didn't either. They'd talked around their relations.h.i.+p in so many circles she wasn't sure if she was coming or going. Her feelings about Sam were just as mixed up, just as confused.

"Sam-"

"Later," he said, cutting her off.

"It is later."

"Alli and Megan are just up ahead."

And he was still concerned about them. Tessa could understand that, sort of. But it was irritating just the same. She couldn't get a handle on this new Sam, the one who didn't put her first, who didn't turn his back on Alli. Not that she selfishly expected him to be at her beck and call, but he'd always been so attentive before, so interested in what she was interested in. Could they ever find that common ground again?

A piercing scream came from up ahead.

"Megan." The word came out of Sam's mouth in a rush. They both burst into a run, turning the corner to see Megan in a swarm of bees.

"Oh, my G.o.d," Tessa said, as Alli and Jimmy tried to swat the bees away from her.