Finding Paradise

by Barbara Dunlop

  “You know you came out of this all right. While the rest of us were sweating our asses off, taking risks, you—”

  “Don’t you dare turn this on me. I was a child.”

  He snorted. “Old enough to turn your back on your family.”

  “Because you deserved it. You made your decisions. You made your choices. You’re on your own now. Goodbye.”

  “Wait!”

  She hesitated, hating herself for the lurch of guilt that hit her. None of this, not a single bit of it was her fault. She’d learned the hard way that her family was poison. It was dangerous for her to get too close. Still, she put the phone back to her ear. “What?”

  “The least you can do is help.” It was his cajoling voice. He’d used it on her mother when all else failed.

  Marnie wouldn’t fall for it. And she wouldn’t let him worm his way back into her life. “Tell the parole board the truth, and good luck.”

  She ended the call and tossed the phone to the middle of the bed, glaring at it. After a few seconds, she picked it up and set it to silent.

  Then she swallowed the coffee, angry with her father for ruining that little pleasure. As her heart rate slowed to normal, she made her way to the shower, determined to forget about him, to fill her day with things that kept her mind busy and off her family.

  She dressed in jeans, layering up with a T-shirt and soft sweater, deciding to find something around the house that needed doing. It was about time she paid back Mia’s hospitality anyway.

  An hour later, Mia found her in the loft sorting her way through a box of books and organizing them on the shelves below the windows.

  “What are you doing up here?” Mia asked, a cup of coffee in each hand.

  “Being useful. You have a lot of mystery novels.”

  “I brought some of my favorites. I was picturing cold winter nights curled up in front of a warm fire.” She set the two coffees on the low table and sat down on the floor next to Marnie. “Looking for something to read?”

  “Looking to keep busy and repay your hospitality.”

  “What’s to repay? I strong-armed you into staying, and you’re doing legal work for me.”

  “You’re paying me for the legal work.”

  “So?” Mia stretched her arm back to the table and handed Marnie one of the coffees. Then she took the other for herself. “The production company can pay its own way.”

  “The production company doesn’t exist yet.”

  “But it will, thanks to you. Things take a little longer when you’re trying to do them so remotely.”

  Marnie had discovered that. She took a sip, pondering their distance from . . . well, everything. “When you first left LA, I remember you saying you felt safe up here.”

  “I did feel safe.”

  “I can see why. I didn’t understand it at the time, but there’s this feeling”—Marnie gazed out the window—“this feeling that nothing can touch you, nobody can find you. It’s reassuring.”

  Mia shifted a little closer, a small frown on her face as she picked up on Marnie’s slight change in tone. “Has something gone wrong?”

  Marnie sighed. “I just had a call from my father.”

  “From Kansas?” Mia knew that Marnie was estranged from her family, but that was all.

  Marnie had never told anyone her family was in prison. At first, she’d been afraid of the stigma of having felons for relatives. Now she was more afraid of the pity. “Yes, from Kansas.”

  Mia looked relieved. “The way you were talking, I thought he might have followed you to LA.”

  “No, no. He’s reaching out, wanting to reconnect.” Marnie gave a little shudder. The sound of his voice still grated on her—never mind the demands he’d tried to make.

  “What did you tell him?”

  “To back off and leave me alone.”

  “Did he listen?”

  “I don’t know. My phone’s on silent now.”

  “Good. Keep it that way.” It was Mia’s turn to look around. “So, you need to take your mind off him.”

  “Yes.”

  “I have just the thing.”

  “More books?”

  “Film stuff. There’s a new version of the script, and Hannah called. They’ve agreed to host a party for Scarlett.”

  “That’s great! And that’s really nice of them.”

  “Hannah loves any excuse for a party, and Henry wants to invite pretty actresses.”

  “Are they inviting actresses?”

  “Maybe a few to appease Henry. They’re making a list of notables from the broadcasting community, hoping they’ll come. Scarlett says we need a director. Turns out a good director brings a good team with them.”

  “Open up the wine cellar and everybody will come.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Mia said with enthusiasm.

  “You weren’t planning to serve wine?” That didn’t make sense to Marnie.

  “The tour part,” Mia said, typing something into her phone. “Alastair did that occasionally, tours of the wine cellar with tastings and amusing anecdotes.”

  “Hannah and Henry don’t strike me as the amusing wine anecdote types.”

  “True,” Mia said, screwing up her face. “We might have to invite a vintner or two for the storytelling part.”

  “Oh, sure,” Marnie said flippantly. “As one does.”

  “It’s not as crazy as you’d think. With A-list guests who are potential customers, winery reps will happily attend. They’ll even bring along some wine. If you set it up right, everything builds on everything else. It’s the same as Scarlett’s idea of getting the right director to bring in the right team.”

  Marnie understood the concept. Success attracted success. “Can Hannah orchestrate something like that?”

  Mia gave a shrewd, enthusiastic grin. “Hannah was born to orchestrate things like that.”

  * * *

  * * *

  Marnie was happy to leave the entertaining to Hannah and the script reading to Mia. She’d started work on boilerplate contracts for a director, the talent and the crew. If Hannah and Scarlett’s schmoozing efforts worked, she wanted to be ready to sign people up for the project.

  She was at the dining room table with a laptop, while Mia sat curled up on the sofa reading through the script.

  The sound system was playing soft classical music in the background. Marnie didn’t recognize many of the arrangements, but their tone seemed to suit the mood.

  “There are winter scenes in this,” Mia said.

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “Good, assuming we can get things under way this fall. It’ll give us something to do after the snow falls.”

  “Us?” Marnie asked. “This half of us will be enjoying the sunshine of LA.”

  “I meant the generic us. Scarlett and Willow, Raven and Yolanda. And you only if we need you.”

  “If you need me, you can call me in LA.” Marnie cut a creativity clause in the director’s contract and pasted it into another section.

  The side door opened abruptly, and Silas headed through the entry room, his expression tight.

  “Something wrong?” Mia came immediately to her feet.

  Marnie sat up straighter.

  “The bears were in the schoolyard.”

  Marnie’s stomach tightened in concern.

  “Oh no,” Mia said, her eyes round in horror. “Is everyone safe?”

  Silas went to a closet and pulled out his compact flight bag. “One of the cubs charged a group of kids. Luckily, Ms. MacFarlane was there and got them all inside. The bears took off, but we need to chase them out of town.”

  “What do you need?” Mia asked, moving toward Silas.

  Marnie rose from her chair, not sure what she could do to help but more than willing to step
in.

  “Can you take the radio base at the airstrip?” Silas asked Mia.

  “Sure. Absolutely.”

  “Shannon’s gone to the school to be with her grandkids. We’re going to put a few planes in the air.”

  “To find the bears?” Marnie guessed.

  Silas nodded while Mia gathered her jacket and boots from the entry room.

  “If we find them,” Silas continued, “you can direct the ATVs.”

  “What will they do on the ATVs?” Marnie understood the danger, but she hated to think they were going to kill the bears.

  “The bears need to associate Paradise with unpleasant experiences.” He seemed to take note of her expression. “Beanbags and rubber bullets on the rump. They’ll sting but won’t injure them. Kind of like a person being hit by a paintball.”

  “I’ve never been hit by a paintball.”

  “Neither have I,” Mia said as she laced up her boots.

  “Well, it hurts enough to get your attention,” Silas said. “It should be enough to keep them away.”

  “Can I help?” Marnie asked.

  “Stay inside while we’re gone,” Mia said. “Just as a precaution. We’ll call when we know something.”

  “You sure that’s all?” Marnie asked, not knowing what she could do toward the effort but wanting to help.

  Silas shook his head in answer while he stood by the door waiting for Mia. “It’s under control. Text alerts have gone out, so people know to sit tight where they are. You’re not the only one waiting it out.”

  Marnie felt a little better knowing that.

  “I’ll call you when I can,” Mia said as she passed by Silas and the two of them headed out the door.

  After it shut tight behind them, the background music seemed louder. It didn’t seem to suit the mood anymore, so Marnie turned it off and the house went silent.

  She couldn’t decide if she should worry about everyone’s safety—then thought probably not. Given the efficiency of the town’s response, something like this must have happened before. If they’d gone to the trouble of having a preplanned text alert system and an air search plan for rogue bears, it must have been for a reason.

  She found herself smiling. This sure wasn’t LA anymore.

  Slightly restless, she wandered the house for a few minutes, then she opened herself a soft drink to sip and went back to the laptop, turning her mind to the contracts, doing some searches to learn more of the creative control nuances between the writer, the director and the executive producer.

  As time slipped past, she heard a plane in the distance and wondered if they’d spotted the bears yet. She wondered then about who would take off on ATVs to shoot rubber bullets. Maybe Cobra since he was such a good shot.

  A shudder ran along her spine at the thought of Cobra chasing after three grizzly bears. Surely, he’d be good at something like that. Still . . . they were grizzly bears.

  A truck door banged loudly out front, startling her. She hadn’t expected Mia and Silas back this soon. She hoped it meant they’d located the bears and successfully chased them off.

  She listened for the side door to open, but they didn’t come right in.

  There was a crash at the back of the house, louder this time.

  Marnie moved quickly, wondering why they would come up to the sundeck and hoping nobody had fallen on the stairs.

  One look through the glass told Marnie they hadn’t.

  It wasn’t Mia and Silas out there. It was a bear, a huge, brown bear, fur bristling on its neck and hump as it nosed the barbecue.

  She snapped her hand from the door handle and paced backward, a chill coming over her as she wondered if bears knew how to break glass.

  She crept silently from the kitchen, slipping around the corner and taking the loft staircase to the top. She didn’t know why her instinct took her there. The bear had already climbed the sundeck stairs—if it broke into the house, the loft stairs weren’t going to slow it down.

  Would it be able to follow her scent and find her? Would it be interested in chasing her? She peeped out the window and saw the two cubs milling around at the bottom of the sundeck stairs.

  She fumbled for her phone then, pressing Mia’s contact, breathing heavily as the call rang through then went to voice mail. Her heart thudded through Mia’s breezy message.

  “They’re here,” Marnie said in a raspy voice. Then she cleared her throat. “The bears are at your house. Right now.” She hung up and dialed again but still got voice mail.

  She tried Cobra but didn’t get through on his line either. While she scrolled through her contacts for Raven’s number, the phone rang in her hand. Relieved, she took the call, not caring if it was Mia or Cobra or anyone else, just grateful someone would know to send help.

  “They’re here,” she said, voice shaky. “On the sundeck. At the grill.”

  “Marnie?” a man’s voice said. “Is that you?”

  It took her a moment to zero in on the voice, then another moment to switch gears.

  “It’s Ethan,” her brother said.

  Her father had obviously sent reinforcements. “This isn’t a good time.”

  “I know, I know.”

  “I mean, this really isn’t—”

  “Dad said you wouldn’t talk to him.”

  Marnie clenched her teeth. “That’s not true.”

  “We get that you’re still angry,” Ethan continued.

  “Angry?” Talk about an understatement.

  “But it’s more complicated than—”

  “Can I call you back?” The last thing she wanted to do—now of all times—was talk to anyone in her family.

  “You can’t call me back,” he said.

  There was a clunk, then a bang, then a jangle below her. “Well, I can’t talk now.”

  “I don’t have much time.”

  “I can’t—”

  “Listen, Marnie,” he rolled right over her. “Just listen. Hear me out. Maybe I don’t deserve your help. I damn sure know Dad doesn’t deserve it. But I’m asking anyway. We’ve been in here a long time.”

  “That’s how a jail sentence works.” She sounded bitter, and she was. They’d lied to her, lied to her right up to the very second the documented facts overwhelmed them. On top of everything else, she’d felt like a fool.

  “It’s on Tuesday,” he said. “I know we can’t force you, but the hearing’s on Tuesday. That’s it. That’s my piece. I’ve said it.”

  There was a shout in the background, and a sudden visual of her brother in prison came into her mind.

  The line went dead just as something thudded dully against the side of the house, vibrating the floor beneath her feet. Marnie was jolted back to the present. Her heart sped up further as the barbecue banged and clattered around the sundeck. The barbecue wasn’t edible, and the bear was going to figure that out pretty soon.

  Then a plane sounded overhead, and Marnie’s phone rang again. This time it was Mia.

  “Hi,” Marnie’s voice was shaky.

  “They’re on their way to you now,” Mia called into the phone. “Silas can see the bears from the air. Cobra and Riley are only a few miles out. You okay?”

  Marnie drew a breath. “I’m fine, but the bear is destroying your barbecue.”

  “We’ll buy a new one. Where are you?”

  “Upstairs. In the loft.”

  “Good. Don’t go near the kitchen windows.”

  There was no chance Marnie would do that. “I won’t.”

  “They’ll get to you soon, so just sit tight, okay? Don’t worry, you’ll be okay.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Marnie tried to keep the fear out of her voice.

  “The cavalry’s coming.”

  “I know.” Marnie trusted Cobra over anybody to deal with the bears.
/>   “Just stay on the line with me.”

  “I’m fine. You go back to work.” Marnie knew Mia was the radio link between the planes and the ATVs.

  “I can—”

  “Not necessary. I’m okay. Really, I am. Direct traffic—that’s more important.”

  “Sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” Mia ended the call.

  Marnie listened hard then as she crept back to the window to peep down at all three bears pawing through the barbecue debris. After a few minutes, she heard the sound of ATVs in the distance. From her vantage point, she could tell the bears heard it too.

  The mother stood on her hind legs, her head swiveling in the direction of the sound. She seemed to ponder it for a minute, sniffed the air, then decided the ATVs weren’t worth fighting, or the barbecue wasn’t worth the effort—hard to tell which. She dropped to all fours and galloped down the stairs. Her cubs followed, and they all took off up the river with Cobra and Riley hot on their heels.

  Marnie slid down the wall to sit on the floor, her breathing shallow and her heart lodged in her throat.

  It was over, she told herself. The bears were gone, and she was safe.

  She gripped her phone tightly as the sound of the ATVs disappeared.

  Her hold left a red line along her palm. As she stared at the mark, the memory of Ethan’s call came back: what he’d asked, what she’d said and what he’d wanted.

  Six years ago, feeling so incredibly betrayed, she’d decided she owed them nothing, none of them. But now she thought about Ethan, how he’d been only sixteen when their mother had died. Their father might have lied to Marnie, but Ethan had been dragged into the thick of the nightmare. And he’d paid. He’d paid with his freedom, while she’d been given a chance at a normal life, far away from them.

  * * *

  * * *

  Cobra pulled Marnie close, but it felt like she was far away.

  The excitement had died down, and they were finally alone in her room, the house quiet around them.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked, gently setting her back from him to gaze at her expression.

  He wouldn’t blame her for being rattled by the bears. She’d joked around afterward, and she’d been safe inside, but it must have been frightening all the same.