he tried the knob, the door was locked. He jogged back down the flight of stairs and briefly pondered his next move. It was a no-brainer. He knew exactly where she went when she was upset.
* * *
OLD HABITS GOT a person caught every time.
Caught was the last thing Rachel wanted right now, so when she heard a car pull up in the parking lot on the other side of the boathouse and subsequent footsteps on the gravelly ground behind her, she silently called herself a slew of not-so-nice names.
Why hadn’t she gone...anywhere else besides the boathouse on the bay? Because she hadn’t been thinking straight, of course. She’d been going on instinct. The walk from the beach to here was short, as the island was only about a half mile across at that point, and she hadn’t given a second thought to heading for the quiet of the deserted boathouse.
When she’d gotten to Buck’s, which she’d known was closed for the night, she’d at least had the foresight to go around to the back side and find a place in the shadows to sit by the placid water. But she was in plain sight if anyone really wanted to find her.
Obviously, Cale wanted to find her.
“There you are.”
The smooth, low timbre of his voice breaking into the quiet made her want to weep. She drew her knees to her chest and buried her face in her arms.
“I’m surprised Buck hasn’t given you your own set of keys,” he said, not taking the hint that she didn’t want to see him.
She so wasn’t capable of mindless chatter or heart-to-hearts and didn’t want any kind of company whatsoever. She said nothing and prayed he would give up easily and go away, even as she knew full well he wouldn’t. That wasn’t the kind of man Cale was. He was the good kind, the persistent, caring, get-to-the-heart-of-the-problem kind of man.
He sat down next to her on the man-made embankment. “You didn’t think you should tell me you were leaving the concert?”
Rachel sucked in a leveling breath, steeling herself, and dared to look at him. She intended to reply but found she had no answer that would make sense. She merely shook her head, her heart breaking all over again at the sight of his concern and confusion.
“That song was rough.” Cale’s fingers trailed lightly through the coarse sand between them, back and forth, digging a minivalley. “It was perfect for her. So perfect it hurt. And the photos...”
He thought she was upset merely from Tim’s song? A month ago, it would have been her undoing, but tonight, though it had made her chest ache from the moment Tim had said he’d written it about Noelle, Rachel could finally handle that kind of reminder of her sister. In a way, she almost embraced it. However, letting Cale believe the music was the root of the problem was easiest. She nodded halfheartedly.
“Did you know they were planning to do that?” Cale persisted, and again, Rachel responded with only a head signal, this time in the negative.
“Come here,” he said, holding his arm out for her to burrow into.
Except she couldn’t.
He stared at her expectantly and then slowly dropped his arm. Not easily swayed, he scooted close to her side, until their thighs brushed together. When he put his arm around her, she couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t sit there and act as if everything between them was status quo when it wasn’t. When it could never be. She jumped up to her feet and put some space between them, walking away from the water, her back to him.
“Cale.” His name got caught in her throat and she dug deep for the right words.
He was standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders, before she even realized he’d stood.
“Rachel.”
She felt his breath at her ear and shook her head.
“Baby, let me in. We can get through this together.”
“No.” She stepped away, shaking her head. “I can’t do this, Cale. Once and for all. No.”
“Whoa. Rachel, what’s going on here? I think I missed something.”
She kept her back to him and it took every ounce of her will to not start crying. But she didn’t. She held strong. The only problem was that she couldn’t speak a word.
“Are you gonna talk to me?” he asked.
Rachel could only shake her head.
He swore under his breath, obviously frustrated. “Okay, then. I’m gonna talk. I have some things to say. Are you at least going to turn around and face