by Sage Parker
THE BEACHSIDE CAFE
SALTWATER SECRETS BOOK 6
SAGE PARKER
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Copyright © 2020 by Sage Parker
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
The book is a work of fiction. The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Books by Sage Parker
About the Author
ONE
Jaymee Mason gazed at the fish tank, her eyes searching for the newest additions. She would always be partial to the very first fish she bought – her own Clownfish, who, despite his similarity to Nemo, had both fins.
Jaymee smiled at her thoughts when the little fish swam right past her as if to say, “Here I am!”
She was standing in the middle of Saltwater Café, which she owned and operated on a sunny beach in Grand Bay, California. She glanced around as she left the tank behind and went out on the veranda. It was 2:30 in the afternoon on a Thursday, which was just after lunch and there weren’t a lot of customers inside or out on the deck.
She smiled at a couple as she walked past them to go to the railing that surrounded the veranda. When she looked out over it, she was filled with awe at the beauty she saw. It was the same awe she’d felt since she had first found the location.
“Jaymee?”
A man’s voice behind her made her turn. She instantly recognized Bob Palmer, one of the men Doug had contacted about the café. One of the only two precious things her deceased ex-husband had given Jaymee was the Saltwater Café. He hadn’t had anything to do with its development. He’d only written checks.
The other good thing that had come from her marriage to the man, who turned out to be a criminal involved with a very shady company called Intersectional Dynamics Laboratory, was their daughter, Cheyenne. At one time the only bright light in her father’s eye, now she was by her mother’s side through thick and thin.
“Bob,” Jaymee said, taking a step closer to the man, who had a huge smile on his face. “How are you?” She held out her hand and he shook it energetically.
“It’s so good to see you, Jaymee. The café has done so well. I haven’t looked at your books but I’ll bet they are exploding with black ink.”
Jaymee laughed. “We’re doing well, thank you. My partner and I collaborate, and it seems we both have had nothing but good ideas so far.”
Bob looked around. “How is Doug? I haven’t seen him since we worked together securing this location for you.”
Jaymee blanched, not wanting to talk about Doug. Her heart had grown cold after she found out he was blackmailing people and what they’d discovered about IDL, the company he had worked for. She couldn’t help giving the man an astonished look.
His dark eyebrows shot up. “What have I said? Uh oh. Are you two not together anymore?”
Jaymee saw his eyes flick down to her left hand. That wouldn’t help him. She was wearing her engagement ring to Cameron Smith, the private investigator who helped her solve Doug’s mysterious disappearance. She held up her hand so he knew she was aware he was looking at it.
“Doug is dead. He was caught in a big scandal months ago. You don’t know about it?”
Bob’s face went pale and the look of surprise assured Jaymee he didn’t know anything about Doug’s death. She wasn’t about to relay the details – how one of his blackmail victims, a ruthless woman named Amanda Dinklage, killed him with one of the chemical substances she and others were creating in the labs at IDL and inflicting on human guinea pigs.
“He’s been gone for almost five months,” Jaymee said. “It’s a very long story. I’m surprised you didn’t see it in the Grand Bay Times.”
“I haven’t been in California since last year when I was helping you find a location out here. I only visited as it was. I’m sorry to hear of his passing. How is your daughter? I know he was so proud of her. He talked about her all the time.”
Jaymee’s heart squeezed with sorrow. Her daughter had been a daddy’s girl, that was for sure. “Yes, they were very close. She’s dealing with it the best she can. She’s out on her own now and has a very nice boyfriend. A scientist. Very smart.” She smiled, tapping her temple with one finger.
Bob looked like he wasn’t quite sure what else to say. Jaymee was amused at his expression. It looked like he desperately wanted to run away as fast as he could. She was sure he was regretting stopping to talk to her.
“So how long will you be here in California this time?”
Bob looked relieved. His shoulders relaxed a bit and he spoke quickly, “Oh, well, I’m on a flight out of here in a couple days. I just had some business to take care of.”
“Looking at locations?” Jaymee asked. “Not bringing me competition, are you?”
Bob laughed softly. She was glad he was feeling more comfortable. She didn’t want to talk about the situation any more than he wanted to hear about it.
“Well, I don’t really have any control over…”
He stopped when Jaymee threw her head back out and let out a laugh. “I’m teasing you, Bob. Stay and have a drink?”
“I’d like that very much,” Bob smiled at her and she noticed how incredibly straight and white his teeth were. They went back inside the café together and walked to the bar with Jaymee in the lead, weaving around the tables, where there were only a few customers.
She slid onto one of the bar stools and signaled to Carmine, her bartender. He came over and smiled at her. “What can I get you, boss?”
Jaymee laughed. Carmine had been one of Doug’s blackmail victims who had turned out to be on the right side of the law instead. When Jaymee realized what had happened to him, going so far as to saving his life, she offered him not only a job but a new place to live.
All of this was approved of by Cameron, Jaymee’s now-fiancé. Not only was Carmine more than a decade older than Jaymee, he was a little old Italian man who wouldn’t hurt a hair of Jaymee’s head. And he was there if Jaymee got lonely in that huge house she still owned.
She was planning on getting out of that house. But for now, she was content to let Carmine stay in the adjoining apartment. When the time came, she was prepared to put it on the market.
Jaymee and Bob ended up talking more about the business of real estate and how difficult it was to start up a successful business. Bob was impressed with her success and told her so.
“The economy keeps fluctuating from one direction to the next. My brain is a little tired from trying to keep up,” Bob said, lifting a beer bottle to his mouth and taking a sip. “Don’t you think?”
“Abso
lutely. I don’t think I would be as successful as I am if I hadn’t let other people advise me,” Jaymee replied. “I don’t think people should think they know everything about business. There are so many different aspects of it. I mean, if I didn’t have an accountant, I know for a fact I wouldn’t be as successful. My books would be a complete mess. I just don’t have a mind like that. I’m better at solving things. Puzzles, riddles, things like that. I didn’t realize that until recently though. After Doug’s passing, as a matter of fact. I mean, I didn’t know he was gone at that time, when I realized it. But he was gone.” She stopped, realizing she was rambling. She would end up telling him the whole story if she wasn’t careful.
“So what are you doing now besides running the café?” he asked.
“My partner and I, I’m engaged to him and I’ve joined his private investigation company.”
Bob’s eyebrows shot up. “So you’re a private investigator now?”
Jaymee grinned. “Yes. He already was. We worked together to solve the situation with Doug. So I joined his company.”
“The situation with Doug?”
Jaymee shook her head.
“You don’t want to tell that story again, do you, Jaymee?”
Jaymee turned her eyes to see Cameron had come in, flashing a smile at her that made her heart beat harder.
TWO
Cameron was the one who ended up telling Bob the story of how Doug went missing, they found some mysterious vials of liquid, followed clues and eventually discovered who it was that had killed the man, where he was and what was going on at the Intersectional Dynamics Laboratories.
Bob hailed a taxi to get back to his hotel and told them he would take a taxi back after he had some rest and sobered up a bit.
After he left, Jaymee and Cameron went outside together to enjoy the evening sunset together.
The seats began to fill up as the dinner crowd began to show. Jaymee and Cameron stayed at their little table in the corner outside on the veranda. Every now and then Carmine would check on them to see if they needed anything.
But Jaymee didn’t need any alcohol or food or anything else, really. What she wanted was seated right across from her. She got a pleasant thrill from watching his face when he wasn’t looking at her. His high cheek bones, blue eyes, sculpted chin. He could be a movie star, hands down. A leading man. He had classic good looks.
Jaymee was glad he was the kind of man that didn’t know that. At least, he didn’t seem to have an ego bigger than anyone else’s, even though he could have. He was a wealthy man, money that actually belonged to his family and was in turn passed to him upon the death of grandparents and other rich relatives.
Cameron was handsome, wealthy, and strong at heart. He had a compassionate heart and an intelligent mind. How Jaymee was fortunate enough to be marrying him was beyond her. It had to be divine intervention. She’d spent 22 years married to a man who barely knew she was alive. And now she had someone as magnificent as Cameron.
Jaymee was blessed, beyond a doubt.
“So I’ve been thinking,” Cameron said, staring down at the cocktail in one hand. “We should have our wedding out here on this deck.”
Jaymee looked around, quietly assessing his suggestion in her mind. “Well, I guess we could. How many people are we going to have though?”
“I did tell you my grandmother is going to make you a wedding dress, right?” Cameron pulled his phone from his back pocket and touched the screen. “Let me pull up the picture she sent me.”
Jaymee was holding her breath on that one. She had already chosen her wedding dress. She was fairly sure Cameron already knew that. They had narrowed down almost everything for the ceremony and reception except a few things – one of them being the guest list and location. Most people might have done those right away. But it seemed to Jaymee they agreed on nearly everything, so she wasn’t worried about getting it all in place by their wedding date.
He finally turned his phone around and showed her the picture of the dress. It was the most hideous thing Jaymee had ever seen. Lots of bows, lace in the wrong places, it looked very uncomfortable. She sucked in her breath and her eyes widened instinctively. There was no way she could have kept herself from having that reaction.
“Oh… oh my…” she breathed.
Cameron’s smile was huge. He turned the phone back and looked at the picture. “I know. Isn’t it amazing? She’s working her fingers to the bone on it.”
Jaymee felt a little sick to her stomach. “Oh, Cameron, that… is so nice of her.” She thought maybe she might cry. How was she going to get out of this one? She didn’t want to hurt Cameron’s grandmother. But there was no way she was going to wear that dress.
Cameron stared at her for a moment before leaning forward. “Hey. I’m just kidding. She isn’t making that dress for you. Lord, woman, I might have just told you your favorite dog died.”
Jaymee reached out and slapped playfully at him. “Oh, Cam! You had me freaking out. Don’t do that! I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, you know.”
“I know you don’t. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. But I know you had that exact dress in mind for your bridesmaids, right?”
Jaymee laughed, shaking her head. “No. That’s not going to be the dress Cheyenne will wear. And I’m not having any bridesmaids. I just want Cheyenne to stand up for me as my maid of honor. I assume you’ll have Alex as your best man?”
Cameron nodded. “Who else?” He set his phone down on the table next to him. His best friend, Alex, was a scientist with a laboratory of his own and had been instrumental in pointing out what chemicals were in the vials Cameron and Jaymee found in their investigation into Doug’s disappearance.
“You know he’s seeing a whole lot of Cheyenne, don’t you?” Cameron asked.
Jaymee blinked at him. “Well, if I didn’t know and had an objection, you would have just ratted on your best friend. How can I trust you from now on?” She ended the question with big grin so he would know she was kidding.
“I’m usually very honest with you,” he deadpanned.
Jaymee immediately caught what he said and let her jaw drop. “Usually?”
Cameron shrugged.
“Yeah, I knew about it.” Jaymee brought the joke to an end, shuffling in her seat and leaning forward to grab her drink. “I’m glad. I thought from the very beginning that he would be a great catch for her. They’re both very energetic and like to get things done. I’ve been delighted with Cheyenne’s work for our PI business. She really knows what’s she’s doing.”
“She’s a smart girl,” Cameron agreed. “You should be proud.”
Jaymee thought about Cheyenne, picturing her daughter in her mind. She couldn’t help smiling. “Oh, I am. Very much.”
“So you want to have the wedding here out on the veranda with a mariachi band and flowers everywhere? What about a theme?” Cameron’s eyes slid to the tank in the middle of the restaurant. Jaymee knew he could just barely see it through the window, but was positive that’s what he was looking at. His smile told her he was going to say something humorous and she waited anxiously.
It was one of the things she loved the most about Cameron. He had a quick wit and a sense of humor that was in line with hers.
“How about Little Nemo? We can get a bunch of kids in here that way. I mean, it is called Saltwater Café, after all. It would kind of follow the general theme you already started by just having a clownfish.”
Jaymee laughed delightedly, thinking about a Little Nemo themed wedding.
“So I wear orange and white and have Cheyenne wear blue for Dory?”
“I’ll wear a dentist’s uniform. It will be great.”
Jaymee continued laughing, shaking her head at the same time. “I don’t think we’ll be going with that idea. But a cute one it is, Cam, really.”
“Aww, I thought we hit the nail on the head.”
“Let’s keep thinking.” Jaymee felt a sudden rush of affection
and leaned over the table, resting her hand on his side while looking him in the eye. He immediately sat forward and took her hand in both of his. “I’m so glad to have met you, you know,” Jaymee continued. “I don’t know where I would be without you. I love you. You know I do.”
Cameron nodded, his eyes soft with adoration. “I feel exactly the same, Jay. When you opened that door the very first day I met you, I really… really hoped you weren’t Doug’s wife. I had never met you and he’d never talked about you in terms other than what you wanted to do to the café to make it profitable. That was the first time I’d ever been to his home office.”
“And what a time to come to me. It’s almost like God was telling us something that day. He disappears and you come into my life? And not just you but you brought Alex along and now Cheyenne is having the first true romance of her life.” Jaymee felt a wave of emotions wash over her.
Cameron picked up her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the top. “You’re going to have a wonderful future, Jaymee.”
“We are going to have a wonderful future,” Jaymee stressed.
“Yes, I sit corrected. We are. I love you. And I can only pray for the best with Cheyenne and Alex.”
THREE
Jaymee woke up from a sound sleep to hear light chattering coming from somewhere outside her room. It was as if two people were standing in the hallway talking. She pushed herself up to a sitting position and ran her hands through her hair. She stretched her arms up over her head and cracked her back.
The voices coming from outside had stopped. She wondered if she’d merely dreamed them.
Jaymee slid off the bed and grabbed her robe, which was on the round cushioned chair beside the door to the room. She pulled it around her shoulders and went to the door, opening it and sticking her head out to look up and down the hallway. There was no one there.
