The Sweetest Thing

Oh boy. “Ask,” Tara said bravely.

“I’ve been wondering why you lost contact with Ford after you had me. You two loved each other, and yet by all accounts, you just walked away.”

Tara drew in a long breath. “I went back home. To Texas. It’s pretty far from Lucky Harbor.”

“Yes, but there are phones. Computers. The U.S. mail service. And your mom lived here.”

“Phoebe didn’t live here, not yet. She was only visiting that summer, and… and well, Ford and I had only met that summer, and we each had our lives.” Lame excuses. And Mia deserved better. “Part of it was that I wasn’t nearly as mature as you.”

“You didn’t want to keep in contact?” Mia asked. “You didn’t like him anymore?”

“Mia, it wasn’t that simple, and we were just kids.”

“You could have come back here instead of going to Texas.”

“No, because Phoebe didn’t stick here, either. But even if she had, I wasn’t used to living in a small town. It was different.”

“Good different?”

No. Tara had felt claustrophobic and smothered, but she didn’t want to say that. “I was used to more. And I wanted to go to school in Texas, to Texas A &M.”

“A big college,” Mia murmured.

“Yes, and…” Tara trailed off, at a loss on how to make it sound logical when the truth was it hadn’t been logical at all. Her reactions had been of sheer emotion. “Honestly, I was just trying to keep it together, and not doing all that great a job.” Tara took Mia’s hand. “But I’d like to think I’ve done a lot of growing up since then. If I could go back now, I’d-”

What?

What would she do differently? She wasn’t sure.

“You can’t go back,” Mia said quietly. “Even I know that much. You can’t ever go back.”

Wasn’t that the truth.

With a sigh, Mia turned to the door. Tara followed, just happening to glance down at the trash can.

At the empty condom wrapper right on top.

She stared at it, then slowly looked up at Mia. Who was also looking at the empty condom wrapper, chewing on her lower lip and looking guilty as hell.

“Maddie’s,” Tara said hopefully.

Mia gnawed on her lip some more and slowly shook her head. “No. Not Maddie’s.”

“But you said you weren’t having sex,” Tara said with what she felt was remarkable calm.

“No, I said I wasn’t having unprotected sex.”

“God.” Tara pressed her fingers to her eyes. “Mia…”

“Do you want me to go?”

“No! I want…” She dropped her hands from her face and met Mia’s shuttered gaze. “I want you to be able to tell me the truth.”

“Really? You wanted me to tell you I was having sex with Carlos?” Mia asked with disbelief, winding up to a defensive stance.

“Yes!”

Mia shook her head. “Did you tell your parents when you were having sex with Ford?”

Tara staggered back and leaned against the counter. No. No, she hadn’t told anyone what she’d shared with Ford. It’d been for them alone. “I’m failing you,” she whispered. “This is all my fault, somehow.”

Mia sighed. “No, it’s not. It has nothing to do with you. And you’re acting like I’m too young or something.”

“You are too young.”

“Because you weren’t doing the exact same thing when you were my age?”

Tara opened her mouth, then shut it, at a complete loss. “Mia, having sex is a huge emotional commitment, and I don’t think any seventeen-year-old can possibly be ready for it.”

“Yes, well, I need to make my own mistakes,” Mia said. “Not yours. Mine. And for this to work, you’re going to have to let me.”

“Mia-”

But she was gone.

Tara needed a sister bad. Chloe was off God knew where doing God knew what, but Tara found Maddie at Jax’s house on the bluff. They sat outside on his deck, and while he barbecued, Tara filled Maddie in on how she’d screwed up with Mia. “Epic failure,” she said as Maddie poured them both wine. “And the worst part of all is that I practically hand-delivered Carlos right into her lap. I de-virginized my own daughter!”

“You don’t know that Carlos was her first.”

Tara went still as she absorbed that, then groaned and covered her eyes. “Okay, not helping.”

“Look,” Maddie said finally. “Seventeen is nothing but one big pleasure button, from head to toe. You know that. And Mia and Carlos care deeply for each other. You know that too. At least she’s with someone who thinks the sun rises and sets on her. He’ll make it good for her, Tara.”

Tara groaned again.

“What, you’d rather she be with someone who doesn’t care about her needs?”

“I’d rather she be with no one at all!” Tara said. “At least not until she’s thirty-five, or I’m dead. Whichever comes last. And can we not talk about her having sex?” She winced. “Let’s concentrate on getting her to like me.”

“She does.” Maddie sipped from her glass, her gaze slipping to Jax where he stood at the grill about twenty feet away, turning over the chicken. “Remember how you felt when I wanted you and Chloe to stay with me here in Lucky Harbor, and all you wanted to do was run like hell?”

“Yes.” It’d been a tough time for all of them, facing the rush of fresh memories from simply setting foot inside Lucky Harbor. But Maddie had been searching for a place to belong, and at the i

And resigned to sticking around longer than she’d wanted in order to protect their investment-the i

“Chloe and I won you over with our charm, and that charm is hereditary.” Maddie said on a smile. “You’ll charm Mia too, you’ll see.”

“I gave her up at birth,” Tara said. “I let someone else raise her. I don’t think charm can help me with her.”

“You had valid reasons,” Maddie reminded her gently. “And Mia knows that. Honey, she came looking for you. Give her some time to put it all together and understand. It’s time to stop grieving over what you lost out on and live for the now.”

Jax came up behind Maddie and set down a plate of grilled veggies that looked mouthwatering. He squeezed Maddie’s shoulder, then leaned in for a quick nuzzle and kiss. “Okay?” he asked.

Just looking at the two of them together had Tara’s heart sighing. They were so meant for each other. That they were together was because Maddie had done what she’d just told Tara-she’d taken her now.

“We’re good,” Maddie told Jax. He smiled at her, stole a long swallow of her wine, sneaked another kiss, and ambled back to man his station at the barbecue. Maddie watched him go with a dreamy sigh on her lips. “I love his ass,” she said.

Tara laughed out loud, causing Jax to turn and eye them curiously. Maddie waved at him, and Tara murmured, “You’d better snag him up, Mad. Because a good ass is muy importante.”

Maddie gri

Tara lifted a brow. “Listen to you, saying the M word so freely now.”

“He’s the one,” Maddie said simply. “The only one.”

Tara nodded and sipped her wine, and envied the conviction that was all over Maddie’s face.

The next morning Ford took Mia out for a long sail. He’d discovered that his daughter liked early mornings, as he did, so they left just before the crack of dawn and caught the sunrise. He taught her how to motor away from the marina and then point the bow into the wind, how to work the mainsail with the halyard and crank it around the winch when she needed to, in order to get it hoisted. He had her unfurl and furl the jib and pull it out with the sheets, and now she stood in the cockpit, hands on the wheel, the sail billowing in front of her, the wind whipping her hair from her face, looking happy and carefree.