Summer Secrets - Barbara Freethy [63]
"He always wanted it. He couldn't stand that Nora and I built it together."
"So this does have something to do with Mom," she said slowly. "Just like he said. Something happened between the three of you. I remember when he was your best friend. He spent all the holidays with us, then he was gone. Instead of being our favorite uncle, he was someone you didn't even speak to. What happened?" Kate couldn't bring herself to ask if there had been an affair. It sounded so disloyal. Her mother wouldn't have had an affair. She had too much character and integrity, and she had loved Duncan. Kate would have bet her life on it.
"That's between K.C. and me. What you need to be concerned about is someone else sailing our boat."
"Someone else has been sailing our boat for eight years."
"Not this someone."
"You'll have to give me a better reason." She turned to Tyler. "Would you mind giving us some privacy?"
Tyler simply smiled in return. "I don't think so."
"K.C. bought the Moon Dancer to show me up," Duncan said, obviously not caring that a reporter was listening in. "He wants me to think he's the winner and I'm the loser, but he's wrong. And I'm going to prove it."
"Hasn't the time for proving things passed? Haven't you both lost enough?"
"I want my boat back. Our boat. Our home. Think about it. It's the last place we were together, and I mean your beautiful mother, too. We designed and built that boat, decorated it in our own way, spilled sweat, blood, and tears on that deck. I won't have K.C. in it. I won't have him living my life. Help me, Katie."
Kate didn't like the idea of K.C. sailing the Moon Dancer, either. But to race again? To compete for a boat that held so many memories, both bad and good? She couldn't do it. It would be too painful. "I can't."
"Katie, please."
"You'll have to do this one on your own. I really wish you'd forget it. Let K.C. take the Moon Dancer and sail to Hawaii. He'll be gone in a few days, and we can get back to normal."
"Normal? You call this normal -- this life we're leading? Hell, Katie, I haven't felt normal in eight years."
Kate watched as he drained his drink. "Maybe it's all the booze. Maybe that's why you don't feel normal."
"Fine. Whatever. Go on, get out of here. You know, Katie, your mother was never so judgmental. So hard. Everything with you is black and white. People are good or they're bad; there's no in between." His eyes bored into hers with anger and frustration. "You can't stand to be wrong, and you can't stand it when people don't measure up to your lofty standards. Some of us are human. Some of us have weaknesses."
Kate felt incredibly hurt by his harsh words. She wasn't judgmental or hard. And she was human. She cared. She cared too much, if he only knew the truth. "This isn't about right or wrong --"
"I thought you were leaving," Duncan said, cutting her off. "I've got business to discuss with my new friend here." He tipped his head in Tyler's direction.
Kate saw concern in Tyler's eyes, or was it guilt? No, he didn't feel guilty. He'd already told her he didn't waste time on that emotion. This was the opportunity Tyler had been looking for, a chance to get the inside scoop from Duncan. And there was not a damn thing she could do about it. If she protested, it would only make Tyler more suspicious, and Duncan was hell-bent on living out his glory days one more time. Sometimes she wondered why she bothered to protect him. But it wasn't just him, she told herself firmly. That's what she had to remember.
"I'll call you later," Tyler said quietly.
She got to her feet. "Don't bother. I've said all I need to say -- to both of you."
Ashley dragged an old duffel bag off the top shelf of her closet. It came down with a layer of dust and a couple shoe boxes. She coughed, sneezed, then nearly burst into tears when an old and terribly familiar smell wafted through the room. It was the smell of the sea, the smell of the boat,