Mending His Past Page 5

  “Olivia?” Trent said.

  The desperation in his voice was almost enough to make her feel sorry for him. Almost. She picked up a crate of driftwood. “Sorry, my hands are full,” she said, unable to hold back an ornery grin.

  Trent’s brows knit together as he tried to figure out how to dress Molly’s favorite doll.

  Olivia watched him out of the corner of her eye as she worked. There was something endearing about seeing such a big man grapple with something he seemed so completely unprepared for.

  Trent’s cheeks flushed beneath Molly’s watchful eye. After several failed attempts to dress the doll, he finally spoke up. “All right little Miss, I—”

  “That’s not my name.”

  “All right then, Miss Molly—”

  Molly put her little fists on her hips and cocked her head to the side. “That’s not my name. Molly Malone.”

  Trent’s lips curved into a warm smile as he looked down at Olivia’s feisty little girl. “Molly Malone. Both of your names start with the letter M. Did you know that?”

  “Two M’s?” Molly held up two fingers with a puzzled look on her face.

  “That’s right. M and M.” Trent tapped each of her fingers in turn as he spoke.

  “Just like candy,” Molly said.

  “That’s right.” Trent chuckled. “Does that mean you’re made out of chocolate?” Molly doubled over with laughter when he poked her belly with his index finger.

  “I’m a M&M!”

  Trent sat on the step and gazed into her round eyes. “Let’s figure this out together, okay, little Miss M&M?”

  Olivia scarcely breathed as Trent’s thick fingers worked the tiny hook-and-loop closures on the doll’s clothing, with Molly chattering away as if he were her long-lost best friend.

  “This is pretty hard,” he said, struggling to get the doll’s arm into the sleeve.

  “It’s not hard,” Molly said.

  “Why do you need my help then?”

  “It’s hard for little girls—not big mans.”

  Olivia’s eyes welled up at the rich timber of Trent’s soft laughter. What had started out as a teasing prank was quickly turning into something very different. The sight of the two of them together touched her heart. Kat had been right. She wished more than anything that her little girl could know a father’s love, but Molly’s father had abandoned them before she was even born and finalized the divorce before she’d taken her first steps.

  Men were unreliable. Her husband had left her, her father had married a woman who drove a wedge between them, and Trent had disappeared for ten years without a word of explanation.

  The family life she longed for was a fairy tale, and fairy tales only existed between the covers of books. She was too old to believe in fantasy; she had a job to do.

  Not only did she have to protect her own heart—she had Molly to think about. No relationship was worth risking her little girl’s heart over. There wasn’t a man in the world who could hurt them if she did her job and kept their hearts safely locked away.

  She looked away from the sweet scene unfolding in front of her and filled her lungs with a deep breath of air that felt more stale and constricting than ever. Without lifting her eyes from the crate in her hands, she said, “It’s time to go inside now, Molly. Me and Mr. Trent have some work to finish… so he can go home.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Come on, boy. Don’t quit on me now.” Trent jogged to the spot on the beach where Sport had lain down, abandoning their morning run. The dog’s chest heaved with heavy panting as his swollen tongue hung from the side of his mouth.

  Trent doubled over, resting his hands on his knees as he worked to catch his own breath. “You gotta help me out here, Sport. You need to work up an appetite as much as I need to clear my head. Running’s the cure for the both of us.”

  All Sport had to offer were a few wags of his tail before stretching out on his side and resting his head on sand illuminated by the first rays of the sun.

  Trent plopped down next to the dog and stroked his head. “I guess we can afford to take a little breather.” He leaned back on his elbows, crossed his ankles, and closed his eyes. Thoughts of seeing Olivia the day before ran through his mind. She was still just as perfect as ever.

  Last night had been wonderful and terrible at the same time. Feelings he’d given up on ever having again had begun to awaken after only a short time spent with Olivia and Molly. Getting an up-close-and-personal view of the future he’d walked away from all those years ago had been a slap in the face. What kind of an idiot walks away from someone like her?

  He heaved a heavy sigh. “I need to get out of this town, boy. Never should have come back. What am I going to do?”

  “You do realize that dog can’t answer you, right?” A deep voice drawled the words from somewhere off to the left.

  Trent turned and saw a man with a tousled mop of shaggy strawberry-blond hair walking toward him. He looked vaguely familiar, but it was difficult to make out his features beneath the thick scruff on his face. His wide smile looked all the brighter surrounded by the rich golden-red hue of a beard still in its infancy.

  “Do I know you?” Trent asked, sitting up.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the only kid in Liberty Cove who could swim faster, dive higher, and beat you at every competition we ever had?”

  Trent recognized the cocky grin on the newcomer’s lips. “Renner? Levi Renner, is that you?”

  “In the flesh.”

  Trent stood to shake his childhood friend’s hand. “You didn’t beat me at every competition. I won by a slice and a half that night at Antoli’s Pizzeria.”

  Levi threw his head back and laughed. “And that might explain why I beat you at everything else.” He stuck his stomach out and rubbed large circles on it.

  “Touché! How you been, man?” Trent said with a laugh. “I haven’t seen you since we were what? Fifteen?”

  “I’m still breathing. I guess I can’t complain. So, why are you out here sitting on a lonely beach, asking a mutt for advice?”

  “First of all, Sport isn’t a mutt. He’s a German Shepherd. Second, it’s a long story.”

  Levi sat on a nearby tuft of beach grass and fixed a steady gaze on Trent. “I’ve always got time to catch up with an old friend. Besides, I start a new job later this morning that I’m not exactly thrilled about. I could use the distraction. Why don’t you humor me and tell me this long story?”

  “New job? Congrats, man.”

  Levi shrugged. “It ain’t my dream job, that’s for sure. But I guess it’s better than ending up on the streets, right?” He stretched out on his side. Propping his head up on the palm of his hand, he gave off all the vibes of a person settling in for a good, long story. “But enough about me and my thrilling life. Story. Now.”

  Trent might have known he couldn’t derail Levi’s line of questioning. Besides Olivia, Levi had been his closest friend during his summers spent at Liberty Cove. He’d always been able to wheedle information out of him. It was good to see another familiar face, but even so, the idea of baring his soul wasn’t one he relished.

  Trent sat next to Sport once again and patted his silky coat. “Last night was rough. I was just talking a few things out with my good friend here.” He held his breath, knowing this short answer wouldn’t satisfy his old confidant.

  Levi waited a few moments before speaking up. “Um, I get that you’ve always been a man of few words, but a little more information would go a long way.”

  Trent smoothed his palm over his short, dark hair. “I went over to Olivia’s last night to help unload her truck.”

  Levi winced. “Whoa! Man, no wonder you’re talking to that mutt about getting out of town. Ouch! Did she let you have it for dumping her like you did?”

  “How did you know about that?”

  “My parents moved us to the next town after that last summer we had here—not the other side of the world. Word gets around.”
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  Trent grunted. “To answer your question, no. She didn’t unload on me. I got to her house and she treated me like an old friend. She was amazing. Except…”

  Levi gestured with his hand, encouraging Trent to continue. “Except… what?”

  “I don’t know. She seemed to tense up near the end of the night. I don’t know what I did wrong.”

  “Did you try to kiss her?”

  Trent’s brows shot up. “No, man! I haven’t seen her in ten years.”

  “Well, there you go. You said she treated you like an old friend. That’s what you used to do in the good old days. Maybe that’s why things got weird. She wanted you to make a move and you didn’t.” Levi shrugged.

  “No. That’s definitely not what it was. Maybe I was just seeing things that weren’t there.”

  Levi’s brows drew together as he nodded and pursed his lips, pretending to contemplate Trent’s predicament. “You really do have a big problem. I can see that now.”

  “You can?” Relief washed over Trent. This conversation was going much more smoothly than he’d anticipated. It was good to know that even after all these years, Levi still got him.

  “I sure can,” Levi said. “You’ve got the worst luck, man. You had to spend an entire evening with an amazing and beautiful woman who isn’t holding a grudge at you for being an idiot. Clearly, your only option is to get out of town, like you were telling your therapist over there.” He nodded in Sport’s direction, struggling to repress a smile.

  Trent rubbed the back of his neck as the stress he’d come to the beach to outrun caught up with him. “You don’t get it. Being with her at the house, seeing her little girl—it just…” There it was again. His chest tightened as the words refused to come out. Anytime conversations turned real, his words turned off.

  Understanding dawned on Levi’s face. “You got a good look at what you walked away from and now you’re realizing what a bonehead you were for bailing on Olivia.”

  Trent had forgotten how good Levi was at being a know-it-all. “Yeah, that’s about the size of it.”

  “Why did you do it?” Levi asked.

  “Her truck was full of furniture. She needed—”

  “No, why did you call it quits with her? I know you loved her. Everyone knew. You had a thing for Olivia ever since we were ten years old. Why break things off when you were finally old enough to do something about it?”

  Trent dropped his head. “I was stupid.”

  “That’s the understatement of the year, but it doesn’t answer my question.”

  “I was a spineless coward who didn’t know how to stand up and be a man. Does that answer your question plain enough?” Anger churned in the pit of Trent’s stomach, but it wasn’t directed at Levi. He was angry at himself and would have given anything to go back in time and knock some sense into his own young, dumb head.

  Levi plucked a long stalk of grass and twirled it between his fingers. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Taking a relationship to the next level can be pretty scary when you’re as young as we were back then. It’s scary now and I’m almost thirty years old.”

  “I wasn’t afraid of commitment.”

  “What then?”

  Trent filled his lungs with a deep breath and mulled over his response. It wasn’t easy to unpack words that had never been spoken before. “My dad.”

  “What did he have to do with it?”

  “He had my life all planned out. I tried to tell him so many times that I didn’t want to work in his oil empire. I didn’t want that life, but he never heard a word I said. I was just another asset to be managed in his multi-billion dollar corporation.”

  Levi scratched his chin, then smoothed the wiry hairs back into place. “What did that have to do with you and Olivia?”

  “He showed up at school one day, out of the blue, and went straight to the dean’s office. He pulled me out of all of my classes, and enrolled me in a program to groom me for the job he had in mind.” The memory of that day sent heated blood racing up Trent’s neck and into his face.

  “How could they even do that without your okay?”

  “He was a major booster and an alumnus. They’d have let him tap dance on the dean’s toupee at graduation if he’d have wanted to.”

  “Being an oil baron does have its perks, I guess.” Cynicism bit through the flat tone of Levi’s voice. “But still, changing all your classes without your permission? It sounds kind of extreme.”

  A single bitter laugh popped out of Trent’s mouth. “That’s my dad for you. Or, at least that’s what he used to be like. He says he changed after his heart attack, but who knows. I was overseas when his supposed epiphany took place.”

  Frustration welled up from deep inside. Everything had changed while he was deployed. The world, his family, himself. Trying to wrap his head around all of the changes made him wish he’d taken the easier road and reenlisted.

  “And Olivia? That’s the part of the story I’m interested in. Why did you leave her?”

  “I don’t know. Panic? Shame? When dad handed me that new class schedule, something inside snapped. I knew I had to get out right then and there, or I’d spend the rest of my life as one of his soulless drones.”

  “So, you ran away from home, and good old Uncle Sam welcomed you with open arms.”

  “Something like that. Even with all his money, there wasn’t a thing in the world dad could do after I signed the enlistment papers. I had to get away, and the army seemed like my only chance.”

  “And Olivia didn’t want to wait?”

  Trent’s stomach soured. “I think she would have.” Saying the words was like rubbing salt into his wounded heart. There was no question about it—she would have waited. She’d told him as much while they stood on the curb outside her dormitory waiting for his taxi to arrive. The unwelcome memory pushed its way to the forefront of his mind and remained there. He couldn’t get away from the vision of the pain and confusion that swirled in her eyes that day. “I couldn’t let her do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Waste her life waiting on me.”

  Levi cocked his head to the side, furrowing his brows. “She wanted to try to make things work, but you said no?” He paused and shook his head before continuing. “I’m no love expert, but that sounds messed-up.”

  “If I wasn’t even man enough to stand up to my dad, I wasn’t man enough to deserve her love. I knew she could do so much better than me, so I took myself out of the picture.” He stood and brushed the sand off the seat of his pants. That was enough sharing for the month.

  “But on the bright side, you said she didn’t seem to be holding a grudge. Maybe you could…” Levi wagged his brows and grinned.

  “No. I’m no good for her.”

  “Don’t you think spending ten years in the army counts as you standing up to your dad and becoming your own man?”

  Trent stood a little taller. “Yes, it does. I am my own man now, but that’s not the problem anymore.”

  “What then?”

  Trent’s lips disappeared as he pulled them inward and shook his head. “As soon as the rescue is rebuilt, I’m out of here.”

  “You never know, Olivia might want to come with you,” Levi said.

  “Nah, she mentioned a few bumps in the road, but overall she’s got a good thing going. I don’t want to mess it up for her and her little girl.”

  “Did she tell you that?”

  Trent folded his arms across his chest. “Not in so many words, but I saw it with my own two eyes.” An unsettling quiet fell over the beach. “I’ve talked more about myself in these last few minutes than I have in the last few years. Enough about my mess. What’s been going on with you? You joined the Air Force when me and Olivia went off to college. How’d that work out for ya?”

  “I didn’t hate it. Spent seven years as an aircraft maintenance specialist. I enjoyed the work and the respect. Turns out I’m a really good mechanic.” Levi avoided eye contact, but Trent could
hear the disappointment in his voice.

  “And then?” Now it was Trent’s turn to pry information from his friend.

  “Nothing really went according to plan. But that’s the story of my life.” Levi scrubbed his fingers through his hair and forced a tired smile onto his face.

  “What was the plan?”

  “I was going to stay in long enough to retire. But then my mom got in a bad wreck and racked up about twenty zillion dollars in medical bills. My dad couldn’t take care of her right and work at the same time. He ended up losing his job, and had to file for bankruptcy. They tried to keep it from me, but I could tell things were bad on the home front. They never asked for anything, but they needed me, so I got out.”

  “I’m sorry, man. That sounds rough. But at least you’ve landed on your feet. You’re starting a new job today. That’s got to be good news.”

  “Yeah, great news.” The mock enthusiasm in Levi’s voice told the real story loud and clear. “In about twenty minutes I’ll embark on a brand new career path as a human pooper-scooper at the Wounded Warrior Rescue.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. I work for your aunt now. No offense, but that’s not the future I had in mind when I left the Air Force.”

  Trent shoved his hands into his pockets as the wheels in the back of his mind started turning. “The only reason I’m in town is to work on the repairs from hurricane Parker.”

  “Well, I’ll be thinking of you while I’m outside shoveling sun-baked puppy-nuggets.”

  “How would you like the chance to get out of puppy-nugget duty?”

  Levi stood and slapped the sand off his worn jeans. “I’m listening.” The two men plodded down the beach toward the rescue.

  “Aunt Kat hired Olivia to work with me on the reno. I know what she’s planning,” Trent said, wiping his clammy hands on the sides of his pants.

  “She thinks if she pushes you two together long enough, you’ll end up back in each other’s arms, right?”