Carly Phillips - Under the Boardwalk

“I noticed the monkey’s not up here,” Quinn said, breaking the silent connection between them.

“She’s in the basement,” Aunt Dee said. “With her trainer.”

“New owner,” Sam chimed in. “Did you hear? Spank’s got a new job.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow. “She’s not mooning in exchange for spare change, is she?”

Apparently Quinn hadn’t been privy to the recent developments involving the monkey.

“Spank’s gonna be a star!” Sam said, her excitement tangible. “You see, Ari found a man who’s allowed to own monkeys. Because she didn’t want my caseworker to make me leave here. At first I was so pissed.” She shook her head, obviously catching Quinn’s glare. “I mean I was so mad.”

“Better,” Quinn muttered. “Go on.”

“But then Zoe came back, and she told me that Ari’s the conscience of the family. She wants everyone to do the right thing. And giving Spank away is the right thing to do if I want to live here forever. And I do, Quinn. I really do.”

Ari watched as the dialogue between Quinn and Sam took center stage, his planned lecture giving way to something far different. His expression softened as he listened to Sam’s heartfelt plea. The rest of the family remained silent, taking it all in, too.

“I agree that Ari wants what’s best for everyone,” Quinn said, surprising her. “Except herself. Then she’s too afraid to stand up for what she really wants.”

The room was awash with loud gasps.

Ari raised an eyebrow, her hands coming to her hips. “Of all the unmitigated gall,” she muttered. It was one thing to yell at her in private, but to condemn her in front of her family was something else entirely and she wasn’t about to let him get away with it.

“Are you telling me I’m wrong?” Quinn asked, obviously challenging her.

“Ooh, I sense a good argument,” Nicholas said.

“It’s like one of ours,” Elena agreed.

Nicholas let out a loud growl. “But ours end up in the bedroom and they aren’t married,” he said in protective-father mode.

Zoe placed her hands over Sam’s ears.

Ari cringed. She’d wanted to wait until the party ended to talk to Quinn, but he was obviously spoiling for a fight. And no matter what her father said, Ari refused to discuss her future in front of her entire family.

“Apparently you forgot you were about to lecture everyone here on morals and upstanding behavior?”

He glanced at her family. “No more cons, no more games. I’m a cop and if I catch you red-handed, you won’t leave me with a choice but to turn you in. Plus if a caseworker gets wind of anything other than a respectable business going on here, she’ll pull Sam faster than Spank can pick my pocket. Got it?” he asked.

They all nodded and murmured their assent. It was a miracle, but somehow Ari believed they understood.

Then Quinn turned his glittering eyes back to her. “I’m finished.”

“Good.”

She’d learned more than she realized from watching her mother deal with her father over the years, and now Ari decided to take control of the situation and Quinn. “If you have something to say to me, you can do it in private. Now.” She turned and walked out of the room, not looking back, ignoring the stares of her relatives, the laughter, the knowing looks.

She’d just executed a typical Costas-woman move by making a scene. Well, Quinn had started the spectacle, and if he wanted to talk, he’d just have to damn well follow her and accept that the family thought she had complete power over him.

In reality, Ari knew better. Even if he followed, the man had the power to break her heart.

• • •

Quinn didn’t know what had possessed him to provoke Ari in front of her family, but he was furious at her and when the opening presented itself, his frustration and anger had spilled over. Now he had to pay in the form of humiliation in front of all her relatives.

Ignoring Connor, who stood in a corner trying not to laugh, Quinn glanced around the room at the expectant faces, especially Nicholas’s.

Finally he merely shrugged. “You said it yourself.” He spoke directly to Ari’s father. “It’s the best part of making up.”

“When you are married.”

Quinn groaned. “Then tell your daughter to stop running away.”

“I heard that,” Ari called from the doorway.

Quinn had had enough. He strode through the crowd, grabbed her hand, and pulled her through the entryway and out the front door.

“Where are we going?” she asked, outraged, as he opened the door to his truck and nudged her inside.

“Somewhere we can be alone.” But somewhere he could get to quickly, which didn’t leave him with many options.

Minutes later, he’d parked near Islet Pier. Once again, he grabbed her hand and led her to the vacant snack shack where they’d first officially met. She didn’t have a coat and neither did he, which suited him fine. It would force her to talk fast and openly or freeze to death.

No sooner had he pulled her into the shack and slammed the door and the cold wind behind them, than Ari cupped his face in her palms and kissed him. A quick, hard, determined kiss.

“What was that for?” he asked, stunned at her complete reversal in behavior.

“For being you. For loving Sam enough to put yourself out for her. For being a master at handling my family. For putting them in their place. For gaining their respect and mine.” As she spoke, she rubbed her hands together to keep warm.

He knew she was cold but Quinn wasn’t ready to pull her into his arms and provide body heat. “I’m so glad you approve of my actions.” He wasn’t anywhere close to understanding where this crazy female’s mind or heart was, and he refused to let Ari trample him again.

“You need to understand a few things.” She paced the floor, an obvious attempt to keep moving and stay warm. “You think that I should get the concept of family because I’m so lucky to have one.”

Quinn shook his head. “Honey, I know exactly what it was like for you.” And he’d offered her as much understanding as possible. “Maybe you need to hear what it was like for me. My mother was a drug addict and a hooker. My father was any one of hundreds of guys who paid for the right to her body. I don’t know and I don’t care. Neither did she as long as she had the money for her next fix. Food wasn’t as important as drugs and because of that, she OD’d one day and I found her.”

Ari winced. “Go on,” she said, apparently knowing not to offer sympathy.

Smart girl, he thought. He hated talking about where he’d come from. Now he started pacing the floor, trying as always to outrun what was always there, inside him.

Ari remained silent, frozen in place, waiting for him to continue.

“From there it was one foster home after the next. I’ve been on my own for longer than I can remember, and I always lived by rules that I understood. Nobody watches out for you except yourself, and everybody will take off one day if given the chance. Including you. Hell, especially you. I told myself over and over that not only would you leave, but you wouldn’t want anything to do with me long-term. And man, you proved me right.”

He refused to meet her gaze. “So whatever game you’re playing now, dressing and talking like Ari, I’m completely prepared for you to morph back into your prissy Ariana mode. I’m through trying to convince you I love all parts of you. Hell,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I’m just through.”

“Good,” she said, coming up beside him. “Because I’m just getting started. Everything you ever said about me was right. I was running. I’ve always been running. Growing up is a scary thing for anyone. Some more than others. I never realized how good I had it. The truth is, you get the notion of family a lot more than I ever did.”

He shot her a disbelieving glance. “Now, that’s a laugh.”

“You didn’t have a family and you created one out of Connor and Sam. You met my parents and my wacky relatives and you didn’t judge or condemn. Instead you fit right in and a part of me resented you for it.” She shook her head. “It was just so easy for you, when it never was for me.”

Though he warned himself not to, he reached out and touched her arm. “To fit in anywhere, all you need to do is accept yourself.”

She blinked, tears forming in her eyes. “I know that now. From the minute I heard Zoe was missing until right this minute, I’ve had to really look inside myself.” She bit down on her lower lip.

The uncertainty in that small gesture tugged at his heart. “I’ve seen inside you all along.”

She smiled. “I know that, too. You helped teach me to accept myself.”

“Is this your way of telling me you’re leaving for Vermont, Ariana?” He used her full name for the first time, hating the feel of it on his tongue because it signaled the end.

“I can understand why you’d think that, but no. I’m trying to tell you that I’m staying. I love my family and I miss them and I want to come home. Well, not to their house. That would be too much for any partially sane person. But home to New Jersey,” she said, her words rambling, coming as fast as her thoughts. “It has to be after I finish the semester, because I really do owe the school and the students that much. Unless of course they don’t need me after all. We’ll see.”

“That’s all great.” His head spun from the unexpected revelation.

She met his gaze. “And I’m so grateful to you for helping me reach this point in my life.” She grabbed his hands and held on tight.

He remained silent.

“Don’t you have anything else to say?” she asked, hope and something more in those huge green eyes.

What did she want from him? “I’m thrilled that your family has you back. I am. But I can’t exactly say I’m overjoyed I’ll have to run into you when I come to visit Sam.”

Without warning, Ari burst out laughing. “Oh, Quinn, I’m sorry. I just replayed that whole conversation in my head and in all my soul-baring I forgot the most important thing.” Her expression sobered, her eyes grew wide and imploring.

He almost allowed himself to hope, but that flame had already been extinguished.

“I love you. Whether or not I blew my chances with you, I’m coming home to stay. But you have to know that I do love you. I may have spent my life running away from everything that was good, but I’m stopping here. Now. And I want to walk out of this frozen snack shop knowing I’m heading toward a future. With you.”

Quinn felt as if time had stopped. He’d given up hope and stopped believing. Even when she said she was staying, a part of him clung to the past and the little boy who felt he didn’t deserve the family all the other, good kids had. He was certain Ari was letting him know that although she’d be in town, they wouldn’t be together. He couldn’t allow himself to think she’d want him and to suffer the unbelievable pain she’d inflicted the first time she’d walked away.

Until now. Until she said those three words that nobody in his life had ever said to him. Ever.

He pulled her close. “Do you mean it?” He asked because he had to, but he already knew. He felt the warmth, the caring, the love he knew had always been there between them. She’d dug deep enough to cause herself inner pain and had come out the other side whole.

She nodded. “I mean it. I love you with every fiber of my being. And though I wouldn’t blame you if you turned and walked away, I wouldn’t let you. I’d just have to tackle you on the beach and take your breath away. Like you did to me that first time. Like I want you to do to me now.”

Quinn was only too happy to oblige. He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her like there was no tomorrow.

Ari threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him close, although with the barrier of clothing, she couldn’t satisfy the desire to feel skin against skin and lose herself in him.

But that was okay for now. They had all the time in the world together. And only the rest of their lives would do.

The Islet Pier News

Monkey Business Disrupts Broadway Premier

The much anticipated Broadway premier of Doctor Dolittle, starring hometown heroine Spank Costas, a monkey of questionable family lineage, was marred by rude gestures and crude remarks. The histrionics didn’t come from a boorish audience member but from the star of the show when a cast member forgot to empty his pockets. The actor did a handstand and a penny fell to the floor on the stage. In turn, the monkey dropped her pants and mooned the shocked audience. “Learned behavior is easier to teach than to unteach,” said her trainer, the reputable Michael Peters, who blamed her previous owners for the night’s catastrophe. The play was postponed indefinitely.