It had turned out to be one of the most outstanding days of his life.

“WHAT THE—”

Holly stood in the open sliding door, staring at the sexy old dude from next door and her mom, romping around in the lit-up pool like teenagers. What were they doing? What music were they listening to? Why was her mom laughing so hard?

Please, God. Don’t let them be naked.

“I thought your mom hated hip-hop,” Hannah whispered into Holly’s ear.

“With a passion.”

“You said she goes to bed every night around nine.”

“Like clockwork.”

“Hey girls!” Her mom waved enthusiastically, a huge smile on her face. It was then that Holly noticed the familiar straps of her mom’s fugly one-piece aqua-blue swimsuit and knew it was safe to start breathing again.

“Hey!” Hannah answered for both of them. “Here we are, home by curfew, just like we promised!”

“That’s great, girls. I really appreciate it.”

Her mom paddled over to the pool’s edge while the captain dove underwater. Holly watched him glide to the pool wall, all sleek and dark muscles in the Day-Glo green water.

She didn’t trust him. He was probably a player. And her mom was clueless. It was like watching an Animal Planet episode on lions and gazelles on the Serengeti. She wanted to cover her eyes.

“I was just getting ready to head home.” Jesse propelled himself straight out of the water then smoothed back his hair. Hannah made a little squeak of appreciation as he turned his back to them and bent over to grab his towel. At least his swim trunks were the normal kind and not an old-pervert Speedo.

“Did you guys have fun tonight?” her mother asked, looking up at them with that big smile still on her face. Holly decided she looked totally blissed-out.

Oh, God.

“A great time,” Holly said, not wanting to be outdone by her mom. “We met these awesome local boys who were really nice and showed us around.”

Her mom just nodded, but the comment caught Jesse’s attention, and he spun toward them while he toweled off his hair. “Oh yeah? What are their names?”

“Luis and Nestor,” Hannah answered. “They said you were like family to them.”

Jesse’s arm stopped in midair. It was only for a split second and he went on as though nothing happened, but Holly noticed the reaction.

“Do you know them?” her mom asked Jesse. “Are they good kids?”

“Absolutely,” Jesse said, smiling a smile that Holly thought looked genuine. “Their dad’s one of my best friends. No worries.”

That seemed to make her mom happy.

“Just tell them I said to behave.”

Hannah thought that Jesse’s comment was funny, but Holly detected a real nervousness in the way Jesse was moving and speaking. Now she knew for sure the guy couldn’t be trusted.

Just then her mom jumped from the pool and began to dry off, asking if the girls had eaten and inviting them to join her and Jesse tomorrow. He was taking her to swim with the dolphins, she said.

“Thanks, but we have plans.” Holly answered while keeping an eye on the captain.

“Oh. Okay, then.” Her mom gave both the girls a kiss on the cheek. “I’m headed off to bed—I’m completely exhausted.”

I just bet you are, Holly thought.

Then she watched her mother smile at Jesse. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for a wonderful day.”

The captain smiled back at her. “Sleep tight.”

Hannah and her mom had already stepped through the back sliding door, and the captain was headed to the pool gate.

“Um, Jesse?”

He turned around, the smile he had for her mom still hanging around on his face. “Yes?”

“She’s not, you know—” Holly checked to make sure her mother was out of earshot. “My mom, I mean. She’s not all that experienced with men. She’s kind of naive.”

Jesse tugged the towel tight around his waist and looked at Holly with kind eyes. He nodded slowly, as if he was thinking about what she’d said.

“Mom’s only been with my dad, and she got pretty hurt.”

“She’s told me everything.”

That was a surprise. Holly took a step closer to him. He really was very handsome—for an old guy. “Don’t hurt her. Just don’t. It wouldn’t be good.”

A smile spread across Jesse’s face, and he looked away, almost like he was embarrassed. He laughed softly before he looked at Holly again. “Your mom is a very perceptive and smart woman. I wouldn’t worry too much about her.”

She shrugged, not wanting to admit that was what was going on here—she was worried about her mom.

Jesse took a step closer to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Believe me, Holly. The last thing I’d ever want to do is cause your mom pain. She’s a very special lady, and she deserves the best.”

Holly crossed her arms over her chest and studied him. He seemed like a decent enough guy. And he liked her mom. That was obvious.

“Well, okay,” Holly said tentatively. “But I’ll be keeping my eye on the two of you, just in case.”

Chapter seven

“CHAGO. YOU UP?”

His friend yawned into the phone. “I am now, man. What’s going on?”

“Your boys home yet?”

“Oh, shit. What’d they do now?”

Jesse laughed. “Nothing. I just have a favor to ask you. Are you awake enough for this conversation?”

“Hold up, man.”

Jesse heard him rustle out of bed and take the phone in another room so he wouldn’t wake his wife.

“Okay. What’s goin’ on?”

Jesse took a breath. “Listen, I know this is going to sound strange, but hear me out. I need you to take down the ‘Dark Blue’ series display for a few days, and put my books in the back room where no one can see them.”

The phone went quiet for a moment. “Say what?”

“Please.”

“What the hell for, man?”

“As a personal favor to me.”

Chago laughed. “Sure. No problem. That’ll leave me with Pat the Bunny and the cookbooks. I’ll have to beat the customers away with a stick.”

Jesse felt horrible, but he pressed on. “Please, Chago.”

“Look, you’ll have to tell me what this is about, because you and I both know that J. D. Batista is the only marketing hook I got. That new chain store on Roosevelt is killing me, man.”

“I know. And I’m sorry.”

“So what’s this got to do with my boys?”

Jesse gave him a basic summary of the situation, describing Gail in only the most general terms, explaining that he was asking only that Nestor and Luis not mention anything about his writing career to the girls. Jesse emphasized that he wasn’t asking them to lie, but he would appreciate it if they didn’t bring up the topic in conversation.

Chago said nothing at first, then Jesse heard him chuckling into the phone. “Okay. Sure. I’ll tell the boys,” he said. The chuckling started up again.

“Thanks.”

“You sure about this, man?”

Jesse sighed. The truth was, he’d never attempted anything like this charade. He’d never needed to, but Cammy’s con game had made him damn near paranoid. “Look, I can see something happening with Gail, okay? She’s that great. I just need a couple days before I tell her everything.”

“This is about Cammy, isn’t it?”

“In a roundabout way, yes.”

“So you’re testing her, is that it? You want to make sure she’s not gonna sell your ass to The National Enquirer? Is that what’s going on?”

“Yeah.”

Chago whistled low and soft. “Whatever you say, man, but I think you’re making a mistake. If this Gail is as great as you say she is, she’s not gonna like it when she finds out you’ve been lying to her. I don’t know too many women who’d stand for that kind of shit.”

“I’m not lying. I’m postponing.”

“Right,” Chago said. “So that’s it? You just want me to move my only moneymaker to the stockroom? You sure I can’t interest you in a quart of my blood? My bone marrow? My fuckin’ kidney?”

Jesse laughed. “You’re a good friend, man. I appreciate it. It’s just for a few days.”

“Consider it done,” Chago said. “I guess it’s the least I can do. You’ve single-handedly kept me in business all these years.”

“I appreciate it.”

“I just hope you know what you’re doing, man. From where I sit, it looks like a train wreck in the making.”

NOT THAT GAIL WAS AN OLD hand at this sort of thing, but she recognized what was happening with Jesse. She was being swept away. The hours in his company were running together in a blur of sunshine, ocean, laughter, discovery and pleasure. She treasured every moment of it, too, even as a tiny ball of panic began to form in her stomach, warning her that it was all temporary, an illusion, and that it was building up to nothing but a wistful memory.

And she let it happen anyway.

On Monday, Jesse took Gail out on his sailboat to where the dolphins played. Since Jesse was a friend of a marine biologist who’d studied Key West dolphins for over a decade, he got a heads-up on where to find them. Jesse followed his friend’s directions to a spot about six miles from land, where currents had swept schools of fish that were attracting one of the dolphin pods for feeding.

Gail gasped when she saw her first two bottlenose dolphins, so graceful and shiny in the water. She and Jesse lay down on their bellies on deck to watch. That first dolphin couple was soon followed by another, then at least a dozen more animals. They swooped, dived, circled and talked to each other in clicks and chirps. One couple even jumped out of the water with fish in their mouths, as if showing off.