“After we left Cordelia’s, I took Connor’s boat out.”
“Catch anything?”
He chuckled. “I didn’t even try. Trying to keep the boat from going in circles was about all I could cope with.”
“Is that what put that expression on your face? Doing something at which you didn’t excel?”
“Believe me, there are plenty of things I don’t do well. And I don’t know what expression you thought you saw, but being on the water was nice. It was a new experience, and I’m always open to trying new stuff.” He gave her a lingering look. “On that note, how about dinner tonight? We can plot our anti-matchmaking strategy. And I’ve been hearing really good things about Brady’s.”
“It’s excellent,” she confirmed, tempted.
“Is that a yes?”
She couldn’t think of a single good reason to say no, other than panic at the thought of spending an evening with him in the romantic ambience of Brady’s. Since she tried really hard not to avoid things just because they were scary, she nodded.
“Sure. I’d love to go. I’ll want to go home and change first.”
“You close up here at six, right? How about I pick you up at seven? I’ll make a reservation.”
“Good idea. It’s the summer season, so it can be packed.”
He gave her another long look, one she couldn’t quite interpret. It made her toes curl just the same.
“Thanks, Liz. I’ll see you at seven.”
And, as he had too many times before, he bolted before she could make sense of exactly what was going on. The man was a mystery, and as anyone in their so-called book club could testify, Liz was a real sucker for a good mystery. This time, though, she had a hunch that even with her well-honed detective skills, the ending might be totally unanticipated.
* * *
Mick was sitting on the porch smoking his pipe, something he’d been forbidden from doing inside, when he spotted his brother and nephew coming up from the pier.
“Catch anything?” he asked Sean, who promptly beamed at him.
“Two big rockfish,” he said proudly. “And I reeled ’em in all by myself.” He glanced up at his dad, then amended, “Well, mostly by myself. Wanna see?”
“Of course I do,” Mick said as the boy lugged the heavy bucket filled with seawater over to him. The water sloshed onto the porch, causing Sean’s eyes to widen with dismay.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll clean it up.”
“Hey, it’s not a big deal. Maybe you could run into the kitchen and ask your aunt Megan to give you some clean water to rinse it off.”
“Sure,” Sean said eagerly, running off.
“Connie’s doing a real good job with that boy,” Mick said.
Thomas feigned a scowl, just as Mick had anticipated.
“Hey, I know a thing or two about manners,” Thomas protested. “Ma saw to that.”
Mick laughed. “She did, indeed.”
Thomas sat down in the rocker next to Mick’s, drawing in a deep breath. “That pipe tobacco still reminds me of Dad.”
Mick nodded. “I know. It’s the only reason I smoke the thing. It brings back memories.”
They sat there for a few minutes in surprisingly companionable silence given their sometimes contentious relationship.
“Thought I saw Aidan coming up from the pier earlier,” Mick finally said.
Thomas sighed. “You did. He’d apparently taken Connor’s boat out for a while.”
Mick studied his brother. “Now, why does that put that particular look on your face? Did he toss some trash into the bay? Let some oil spill out of the motor?”
Thomas frowned at him. “He did neither one. I’m just finding him hard to read. I saw him here at dinner and once since, and he seemed to get along well with everybody, but when I’ve spoken to him, he gets real uptight.”
“You must be imagining things,” Mick said.
“I thought so, too, at first, but it’s happened more than once. He’s supposed to replace Coach Gentry with that bay preservation club at the high school, but when I spoke to him about it at the school and again just now, I sensed he wasn’t very enthusiastic about the idea. I even mentioned that to Kevin after the first time we spoke. He said he talked to Aidan and that he swore he was committed to the project. Even today, he said all the right words, but there was no passion behind them, if you know what I mean.”
Mick gave him an amused look. “Do I need to point out that there’s probably nobody on God’s green earth, and I use the term advisedly, who’s as devoted to the cause as you and my son?”
Thomas chuckled, visibly relaxing. “You’re probably right about that.”
“Stop your worrying,” Mick advised. “Give him time to get up to speed. If Aidan doesn’t seem to be coming around, you can insist on a new adviser for the group. Or you can talk to him about it, see what his reservations are. It could be as simple as being single-minded about getting the football team into shape. That is why he was hired, after all.”
“That’s pretty much what he said to Kevin. I just wish I didn’t have this sense that there’s something I’m missing.”
“Such as?”
“I don’t know exactly,” Thomas admitted. “He reminds me of someone, but I can’t put my finger on who it might be.”
“Now you really are imagining things,” Mick said. “That boy’s never been anywhere near Chesapeake Shores before. I’ve seen his résumé. He grew up in New York, went to school there, played ball there. In fact, that’s probably why he looks familiar. You probably saw him play a time or two on TV, that is if you ever glanced up from one of your books long enough to watch football.”
Thomas ignored the gibe and nodded. “That’s probably it.”
Sean came back just then with water and a mop. He could barely lift the bucket, so Mick dumped the sudsy water on the porch to wash away the salt water, then reached for the mop. “I’ll take care
