Until Then (Cape Harbor #2) - Heidi McLaughlin Page 0,108
snickered.
“Lady in the water,” Isaac Davis pretended to yell.
“Ha ha, very funny. A friend and I went to San Juan for a couple of days, and yes, I brought her back.”
“Ah, we’re just giving you shit, Graham.” Ned batted his hand through the air. “How’s your brother?”
Graham paused. His usual response would be something sarcastic, but since Grady had been in rehab, things had a positive outlook. “He’s thriving,” he told the men. Word spread fast about Grady going into rehab. Most people mumbled it was about time, which they weren’t wrong to say. Graham was thankful his brother was safe, and therapy seemed to work for Grady.
Graham’s pile of notes started to dwindle as the day went on. Each time the phone rang, he tried to pick it up by the second ring, hoping each caller would be Rennie with a new cell phone number or notification that she had a new phone. He was hoping for the former, even though it would be a pain for her to change her number—he didn’t want Theo to contact her. One could call it jealousy or a streak of possessiveness, but Graham never wanted to hear the name Theo again, especially where Rennie was concerned.
By late afternoon, the crowd started to pick up. People were coming in to watch the games: college football in the front, and the NBA toward the back. Bowie’s crew was in, playing their regular dart game, and there were enough food orders to keep Mark busy in the kitchen. The day was going better than Graham had anticipated, especially when Bowie, Brooklyn, and Brystol walked in.
Graham nodded to them, and after they found a seat, Brystol came to Graham. “Want my help?”
He paused and thought about it for a second and nodded. “Grab your apron,” he instructed her. Brystol ran off, and Graham went over to her parents’ table.
“It’s okay if she works for a bit?” he asked them.
“I’m fine with it. She’s still on vacation from school,” Brooklyn said. “Wanna talk about these past couple of days?” She waggled her eyebrows at Graham, whose cheeks heated up with embarrassment.
“Can’t say I do.” But he did. He wanted to know what Rennie had said to Brooklyn. He would have loved to pull out a chair and listen to her tell him everything, but he would never betray Rennie’s trust in Brooklyn, no matter how desperate he was.
“Probably for the best, man.” Bowie chuckled. “Those two were squealing like schoolgirls. I think one of my eardrums blew.” He put his finger in his ear and started to wiggle it back and forth. Brooklyn pushed his shoulder and laughed.
“All I’m going to say, Graham, is you’ve made her happy.”
A feeling of satisfaction washed over him. He took their order with a shit-eating grin on his face and excused himself to go help two others who had sat down at the bar. As soon as Brystol came out from the back, he felt a bit relieved. He could handle the drinks easily, especially with her taking care of all the food orders. They had a good little system between them whenever she worked.
Graham finished helping the people at the bar and took Brooklyn’s and Bowie’s drinks over to them. He sat down again and sighed. He tried to think of a way to bring Rennie up without looking desperate for information but couldn’t.
“What did she tell you about Theo?”
“That dude was beside himself when he showed up,” Bowie said. “Pounding on my damn door like I owed him something. Pissed me off.” He leaned back, and Brooklyn rested her hand on his thigh. “The guy was yelling into my house, calling for Rennie, except he calls her Renee, which I’ve never understood, and I’m like, ‘She isn’t here. Haven’t seen her since she left with you,’ and then he says she left Canada, that he can’t find her, and all I can think is this guy did something to Rennie. Then I started to get really pissed.”
“And then I come downstairs and ask what’s going on, and he tries to come into the house! But Bowie isn’t having that and pushes him back outside,” Brooklyn told Graham. “I ask him again, and he tells me he and Rennie got into a fight and that she left. He expected to find her back in Cape Harbor. I was confused because if she were in town, why wouldn’t she be at our house, right?”