Waiting for Love by Marie Force Read Free Book Online Page A

Adam ached for his sweet dad, who would’ve been tortured by having to wait hours for word about his boys. 
    “That’s putting it mildly. I had to get between him and the Chris Craft a couple of times that day.” Luke referred to the classic boat he’d restored for Big Mac years ago. “He’s been pissed at me ever since.”
    “I know it’s hard, but try not to take it personally.”
    “I’m trying.”
    The way he said the two words told Adam a lot about how difficult it had been for Luke, who viewed Big Mac as the father he’d never had. “How’s Syd?”
    Luke’s entire demeanor softened. “She’s great.”
    Adam gave him a nudge as they walked toward the restaurant. “Marriage seems to agree with you, old man.”
    “I rather like it.”
    Adam stopped abruptly and turned to Luke. “You didn’t mention anything about Grant.”
    Luke glanced down at the parking lot. “He’s not doing too well. Something’s not right, but he’s all locked up. We’ve all tried to get through to him, but he’s not talking.”
    “I saw him earlier, and I have to agree.”
    “Maybe having you around will get him talking. You two have always been close.”
    “When we were younger, but not as much now,” Adam said, filled with regret to realize it was true. He’d been so focused on his work that he’d let a lot of important relationships slide while he focused on others that turned out to be less important than he’d thought.
    They stepped into the marina restaurant where Grant’s fiancée, Stephanie, appeared to be doing battle with the cash register. 
    “ Adam! Is that really you? You’re just the man we need right now! Come. Quickly.”
    Luke sent him a sympathetic smile and gestured for Adam to proceed to the counter.
    “Hello to you, too, Steph.” He returned the quick hug she gave him. “What seems to be the problem?”
    “This stupid thing keeps rebooting itself right in the middle of transactions. Tell me there’s something you can do.”
    “If you give me a minute to look at it, I should be able to tell you.” He reached into the pocket of his cargo shorts and withdrew the glasses that had become necessary for twelve-hour days in front of computers and slid them on. 
    “Very sexy in a nerdy sort of way,” Stephanie said after careful assessment.
    “Gee, thanks. You still want my help?”
    “Sorry. I just have no time for this. I need to get back to my restaurant, but I can’t leave them in the lurch. And I need to check on Grant.”
    As Adam clicked around behind the scenes on the computer’s hard drive, he said, “I saw him a little while ago.”
    “Was he up?”
    “Just.”
    Her deep sigh said it all.
    “What gives?”
    “Hell if I know. He’s not talking. He tosses and turns all night. When he does sleep, usually during the day, he wakes up sweating and breathing hard like he’s been running a marathon or something. He’s not working or writing or getting anything done. It’s all very unlike him.”
    “So you’re worried?”
    “I’m very worried, but I don’t know what to do. Everyone says to give him time, but it’s been a week, and he’s still a mess. Physically he seems fine, so I don’t think it’s that.”
    “My mom thinks something happened out there that he can’t bring himself to talk about.”
    “Like what?”
    “I don’t know, but it had to be pretty traumatic. Too bad there isn’t a shrink on this island. Seems like we might need one.”
    “If he won’t talk to me, what makes you think he’d talk to a shrink?”
    “Maybe it’s something he doesn’t want to tell you or any of us because he doesn’t want us to know about it.” With a few more keystrokes, he had cleared the cache on the register’s computer and freed up enough memory to get it running again. “There you go.”
    Stephanie’s eyes bugged. “What did you do?”
    Amused by her reaction, he tugged off his glasses. “Do you honestly care?”
    “No, I absolutely don’t care. I only