A moment later, Brendan bounded up the porch steps wearing swim trunks, flip-flops and a towel around his neck.
“Uncle Liam dared Uncle Marc to do a back somersault off the dunes, and he did it!” Brendan told his mom in a rush of excitement. He noticed Mari sitting next to his mother and said a polite hello before he launched into a description of his uncle’s dive.
“Marc,” Colleen scolded as her brothers came up the steps. “You’re going to hurt yourself. You’re too old to be doing stuff like that.”
“That’s what Liam thought,” Marc replied. His cocky grin at his brother froze when he saw Mari sitting there.
She realized he hadn’t noticed her because of the porch railings. Mari tried to look calm, but suspected she failed awfully. He was wearing a pair of board shorts, a white T-shirt and a pair of sunglasses. For just a few seconds, the man and the boy of her memories blended seamlessly.
“Hey, Mari,” Liam greeted her pleasantly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for them to find her there. “You should have come with us. Marc could have pulled off a double if you’d been watching.”
He flinched and laughed when Marc flicked his towel at his calf.
“What?” Liam asked his brother, eyes wide with innocence. “That’s the way it always worked, wasn’t it? Mari Itani comes around, and Marc suddenly has to double anything he’s doing…dive twice as high, swim twice as fast, flirt twice as much…”
“Tackle his brother twice as hard,” Marc muttered under his breath as he came the rest of the way up the stairs.
“Man,” Brendan muttered in awe as he looked at Mari. “You should come with us next time, Mari.”
Colleen snorted, but Marc seemed to have forgotten Liam’s teasing as he leaned against the rail, his arms loosely crossed, his stare on Mari.
“What are you doing here?”
“Catching up,” Mari replied, nodding toward Colleen.
Marc nodded slowly, his laserlike gaze never wavering from her. “You never called me today.”
“Oh…” She furtively glanced over at Colleen and Liam, suddenly feeling like she and Marc were in a spotlight on a stage. “I…I forgot.”
His eyebrows arched. “Not about dinner, too, I hope.”
“No,” she replied, trying to be nonchalant. It was difficult with not only Liam and Colleen, but Brendan watching their exchange with apparent interest. Mari wondered if Brendan thought his uncle was going to do a double somersault from the porch to the front yard. “I went shopping earlier and have some salmon marinating in the fridge.”
Liam clapped his hands together loudly. “Great. I love salmon.”
“Shut up, Liam,” Colleen said without heat.
Mari was staring at Marc and laughing when a vehicle pulled into the drive. She recognized Brigit behind the wheel and hopped up from her sitting position like she was on springs. She’d been enjoying herself so much she’d forgotten the time.
“I should be going,” she said as she hurried toward the stairs.
Both Colleen and Marc called out to her. Ignoring them, she rushed down the steps. She realized she’d stood up too abruptly. It seemed as if she was walking underwater as she made her way down the sidewalk. Her sense of unreality only deepened when she heard a man’s voice coming from down the street.
She knew that voice.
She peered at her house. Wearing jeans and a dark red T-shirt, her brother Ryan stood next to a blue car. He stared back. Even at this distance, she sensed his surprise…his shock. Her feet slowed. Her vision blurred. Oh no…not again…not now, she thought in dazed irritation, recognizing the symptoms from this morning in Dr. Hardy’s office.
Suddenly, a pair of arms encircled her from the back. Somehow, despite her disorientation, she knew it was Marc. She didn’t resist when he took most of her weight and leaned her body back against the length of him.
“It’s okay, Mari. I’ve got you. Take a some nice, easy breaths,” Marc’s voice rumbled near her ear.
She did what he said and soon the green canopy of the giant sycamore tree overhead resolved into separate, rustling leaves.
“I’m okay,” she murmured. She tried to straighten and resume her flight from the Kavanaugh house. Marc allowed her to take her weight back on her feet, but he refused to move the circle of his arms from around her waist. In her new, upright position, she could see directly in front of her.
What she saw made her wish she’d passed out.
Brigit Kavanaugh stood to her right, her face pale and stony as she stared at them. To the left, her brother Ryan stalked down the sidewalk toward the scene. Despite her disorientation, she was so happy to see him. He was safe. Ryan was home. She gave a soft moan when she saw Eric Reyes jog up behind Ryan. She realized it was Eric’s car her brother had stood next to a moment ago.