Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  “Yes, ma’am,” I answered when Vera didn’t. She glanced back at me and mouthed the word “ma’am” with wide, questioning eyes. I shrugged my shoulders. The lady just seemed like the type you’d say ma’am to. She oozed authority for some reason.

  “Theo, you scooch on down and let these two ladies have seats beside one another,” the old woman ordered the eye candy with the broad shoulders.

  Theo turned and flashed the old woman a dazzling white smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “See,” I whispered and elbowed Vera in the ribs. “I’m not the only one who thinks she should be called ma’am.”

  “Uh-huh” was all I got. Vera was lost in Theo’s good looks.

  Once I aimed my gaze his way, so was I. At least six foot tall and powerfully built, Theo nearly buckled the toothpick-legged stool beneath him. He was attractive, yes, but not in the pretty boy way I was used to with Ryan. No, Theo had something else going for him. He had the type of face that could freeze someone solid or turn a girl’s bones to liquid depending on his expression. Long, dark lashes framed his caramel-colored eyes. His facial features were broad, but chiseled all at the same time. And those lips … those sensual, plump lips that were twisted at such a delicate curve while he eyed the old woman and stood to scoot over … they were blissful.

  “Here, today’s special is shrimp cabob with scalloped potatoes,” the old lady said as she passed out a menu to both Vera and me.

  “Sounds good,” I said distractedly. My fingers fumbled against hers as I reached for my menu, and I attempted to gather my thoughts quickly before I made a fool of myself.

  The old woman inhaled sharply. “No,” she whispered as she clutched her chest suddenly.

  I gripped onto her arm. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, jerking her arm free from my grasp roughly. Her honey-colored eyes locked with mine and darkened. “I’m fine, but I’m tellin’ you right now, you won’t be if you don’t figure out what ya want from this place and then get the hell out.”

  I drew back, shocked by her words and the hiss of her tone. “I’m sorry?”

  “I’ll send someone to take your order in just a bit,” she said, ignoring my question and walking away, acting as though she hadn’t just threatened me.

  I swallowed hard and remained where I stood for a moment, gripping the paper menu to my chest. Had she just threatened me? What the hell had that been about?

  “Sit, Addison,” Vera beckoned. “People are staring,” she whispered under her breath.

  I sat in the seat beside Vera, noticing she’d taken the one beside Theo, completely aware that I was the only one who’d witnessed our host’s odd behavior. I looked at the menu in my hands with interest, positive I didn’t want to find out what the old lady was capable of. I planned on ordering, eating, and then getting the hell out of here as fast as I could.

  “This is Theo Van Rooyen, Twila’s grandson,” Vera informed me by way of introduction to Theo. “And this is my best friend, Addison. She just inherited this amazing house on, what was it called street?”

  “Aduro,” I answered, still studying the menu.

  “Right, Aduro Street,” Vera said, sounding bubbly. This was her I’m-cute-don’t-you-want-me tone. We’d been friends for forever and I knew it well. She was completely into Theo. “I’m here for two weeks, but Addison is here for the summer.”

  “Who’s Twila?” I asked without looking up from the menu.

  “The hostess who showed us to our seats, duh.” Vera scoffed.

  “Aduro Street, huh?” Theo’s voice was seductively smooth, even though there was a slight unsettling edge to it.

  I raised my eyes to glance at him. He was staring directly at me as Vera continued rambling away about things of little interest to him. Theo’s eyes darkened just like his grandmother’s had once they locked with mine. A foreboding feeling slithered along my spine, and I suddenly felt the crushing sensation I wasn’t wanted in this place overcome me. Was that what Twila had meant, that I had better figure out what I wanted from this town and not this restaurant? Surely not.

  “So, is there any place fun to hang out here?” Vera asked, oblivious to the death stare I was getting from Theo.

  He blinked and his features softened as he turned his attention back to Vera. “The beach, of course.”

  “The beach, right.” Vera smiled. It was embarrassing how stupid she made herself appear sometimes and all for the sake of a guy. “You think you could maybe show us around after we eat?”

  “You ready to order?” a round woman with dark skin and tired wrinkles around her eyes asked me from behind the bar.

  Wow, Southern hospitality had not graced this place with its presence. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to move here after all. “Umm, yeah. I’ll take the special, please, with a sweet tea.”

  The woman wrote down my order and then turned her wary eyes away from me and to Vera. “What about you, blondie?”

  “Well.” Vera leaned forward, glaring at the lady’s name tag. “Stina, I’ll take the crab cake platter with a sweet tea as well.”

  Stina added Vera’s order to our shared ticket. When she was finished writing, she looked up and glared at Theo. “You watch yourself, boy. Don’t you be messin’ with these two. Especially that one.” She pointed to me with the tip of her pen and then walked away, her dark eyes nearly black as they met mine.

  I raised my eyebrows. “Wow, this place just oozes Southern charm.”

  “Seriously, that lady was a real piece of work.” Vera scoffed.

  “That piece of work was my mother,” Theo said, and I thought Vera was going to have heart failure as she tried to take back what she’d said.

  I smiled and glanced her way, waiting to see what she would say next to smooth over that statement, but it was Theo’s glare directed toward me that captured my attention. His obvious dislike of me flared in his caramel-colored eyes. I shifted in my seat and glanced around the bar, taking in the array of glass bottles and fishing nets with seashells hanging from the ceiling. The place was nice, but the people weren’t. I hoped the entire town wouldn’t be the same.

  CHAPTER THREE - A Sigh of Something Unfurling

  “Well that was weird,” I said as we exited Fisherman’s Brew and climbed back into my Jeep.

  Vera nodded. “Yeah, tell me about it. I was putting the vibe out there and everything. Not many can turn me down when I let it release full-throttle like that.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Sure …”

  “What? I’m serious!” she insisted. “Let’s head back to your place and then walk down to the beach. Since that was the place non-interested Theo said was the hangout spot, maybe we’ll both get lucky and find our hot fisherman flings there.”

  “Like I said, I’m not looking for anyone, but I will go down there with you,” I said as I turned out of the parking lot.

  Vera cranked up the radio, blaring a Katy Perry song and singing along off-key. I couldn’t even enjoy the moment and her ridiculous version of the song. Instead, my mind was caught up on Theo, Stina, and Twila. I replayed the warnings given to both me and Theo repeatedly in my mind on the drive home, not understanding a single word of their meaning.

  “Oh my God, look who’s back!” Vera shouted as I turned into the driveway of my house.

  Sitting on the porch in front of the dingy front door was the same black and white cat from the basement. It stared directly at us as I crept up the driveway, its greenish-yellow eyes reflecting my headlights.

  “Wow, guess he decided not to use the window now that someone is living here again,” I said with a tiny smile as I cut the engine.

  I’d always wanted a cat, but my dad was allergic. We stepped out and I half expected the cat to run off from the noise of our doors closing, but he didn’t. Instead, he perked up.

  “Guess so,” Vera said as we started up the stairs. “So, what are you going to name him? Creeper? Freeloader?”

  I laughed as I began to fish out my
keys from my purse. “I forgot you’re not an animal lover.”

  “Not in the least,” she said. Her face twisted into one of panic the closer we got to the cat. “Especially when it comes to cats—they’re so quiet and creepy.” She shuddered.

  “Aw, but he’s so cute,” I cooed as I slowly bent down to pet the cat. He brushed his head against my hand and began to purr loudly. “At least I think it’s a he.”

  “Oh, it’s a he,” Vera confirmed, ducking down and taking a glance to be sure. “I’m guessing you’re keeping him, right?”

  “I think he came with the house, really.” I chuckled as he purred even louder. The name Binks suddenly came into my mind. “I’m gonna name him … Binks.”

  “Binks? What kind of a name is that?”

  “A good one,” I cooed as I continued to scratch behind Binks’s ear.

  “Whatever, please just let me into the house so I can change into some flip-flops and we can head to the beach. I’m desperate for some fun. That’s what this trip was supposed to be about.”

  “Chill out, we just got here. We have plenty of time for fun,” I insisted, hoping I didn’t come off as sounding too bitchy.

  I stood and began fumbling with the lock. Binks wove his way between my legs, brushing up against me. I opened the door and he darted inside past me. Vera headed up the stairs, and I followed behind Binks to see where he was going in such a rush. My mom had always said that another reason why we couldn’t get a cat, especially a male one, was because they sprayed all over. I wanted to make sure this was not what Binks was doing.

  He sat in the center of the kitchen, glaring at me with those yellow-green eyes of his, as I rounded the corner. I flicked on the light and he meowed at me twice.

  “Are you hungry or something?” I asked him. I started toward the cabinets to rummage around for a bowl of some sort and possibly something for him to eat. I’d have to go to the store tomorrow and buy him some Meow Mix or something.

  Vera came bounding back down the stairs and rounded the corner into the kitchen. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for something to feed the cat.”

  “I think there was some canned cat food in the pantry.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked.

  Maybe the cat really did come with the house. But how? The place had been sealed off for years; the dust on everything was testament to that. My biological mother hadn’t lived here, and by what I knew from the lawyer, she had inherited the house from her mother when she’d passed away years ago. No one had lived here since my grandmother’s passing.

  Vera walked over to the wooden pantry door. “Yeah.”

  Binks watched her, but didn’t follow.

  “See, here it is. Yummy canned cat food,” she said, holding up a green can with a white cat on it.

  “Awesome, but what’s the date on it?” I asked as I crossed the room to look.

  I grabbed the can from Vera and searched for the expiration date. The date said February 2007. Nope, not feeding him that.

  “It’s expired.” I frowned.

  “Ew, good call. Wouldn’t want to give him something rotten. That’ll make him crap all over for sure.”

  “Wait, didn’t you pack one of those tuna salad kit things?”

  “Yeah, it’s in the pantry. I guess the creeper can have it, but we need to go to the store tomorrow,” Vera said, hoisting herself up to sit on the counter.

  “I know. I’ll buy him some real food then.” There wasn’t much in the pantry besides some Top Ramen noodles, cereal, and Vera’s tuna salad kit. I opened the package, and Binks came over to me and brushed against my legs, weaving between them once more. “I’m hurrying. I’m sure you’re hungry.”

  Pouring the tuna into a plastic bowl I’d found in a cupboard, I set it down on the floor for Binks to eat.

  “Done. Let me change my shoes and then we can go,” I said.

  “You know, if you’re keeping this house, you really should paint the walls or something,” Vera said, glancing around the room. “It could be so cute with some color in here.”

  I looked around. The kitchen was dark. The cabinets were an old knotted wood that matched the wood on the ceiling perfectly. The floor was dark linoleum that seemed fairly new and the countertops were a yellow color that could have easily been yellowed from age, the same color splashed up the walls. The appliances were the only brand new-ish things in the entire kitchen—and that was saying a lot, considering they were an off-white color. A tiny, round, wooden table was nestled in the corner up against the wall. Two windows gave the room some natural light, along with the window in the back door that led to outside.

  “Yeah, some color would be good. There’s just no place to paint really; almost everything is wood.”

  Vera looked at me with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Who says you can’t paint wood?”

  “Ugh, that would just look tacky and horrible.” I grimaced, picturing chalky paint covering the cabinets and extending all the way up to the ceiling.

  “You could at least paint the walls. You’re the owner now, who says they have to stay this farm-girl, buttercup yellow?”

  I smiled. “Another day. Right now, let’s head to the beach and see if we can find you a guy so you don’t make me redo my entire house over the next two weeks because you’re bored.”

  ***

  The beach was only a few yards away from the back door of my inherited house. Slipping my flip-flops off, I carried them between my fingers as I squished my toes into the cool sand while walking to the water’s edge alongside Vera. I inhaled the salty breeze and enjoyed the dampness of the warm air against my skin as it seeped through my pores and rejuvenated me from the inside out. Stepping farther out, I let the surprisingly warm water slip against my ankles.

  I’d always loved the water. Well, at least looking at it. I wasn’t much of a swimmer. In fact, I didn’t know how. Sure, I could doggy paddle like nobody’s business, but that didn’t really count as swimming in a time of crisis. Nope, swimming wasn’t my thing. I didn’t understand the hype of tiring yourself out to the point of exhaustion like that and calling it fun. I preferred to sit quietly near the water’s edge and read.

  “This is gorgeous,” Vera said. “You are so not selling this house. I know I’ve already said that a few times, but it’s because I mean it! I want to come back here every summer.”

  I laughed. “That could be arranged.”

  I didn’t say what I was thinking, how I was seriously considering moving here for good, even though the people of Fisherman’s Brew didn’t seem to want me here.

  Vera and I continued down the strip of sandy shoreline a little farther. The warm wind blew through my hair, its saltiness clearing my sinuses with every breath I took. Claritin be damned, all anyone needed to set their allergies right was a little ocean air.

  “Well hello,” Vera said, glancing somewhere down the beach. “This town is just hopping with scorching hot fisherman fling material.”

  I glanced to see who she’d spotted this time and couldn’t agree more. The never-ending supply of hot guys here did seem to play in the town’s favor. I watched as the Ken doll look-alike continued jogging down the beach and closer to where we stood, towing his large golden retriever alongside him. He wore baby blue athletic shorts and a crisp white T-shirt.

  “Good God, what is in the water here? These guys are all picture perfect little morsels,” Vera breathed, her eyes still glued to Mr. Hottie as we paused where we stood.

  “Please don’t talk about him like he’s food.” I grinned. Once she got on that kick, I’d hear it about every guy that was decent looking within a five-mile radius for the next two weeks.

  “Oh, he stopped to talk to a couple. Quick, look at him.” She turned her head sharply in his direction to stare openly at him. “Could he be any more perfect?”

  I rolled my eyes, but turned my head to glance at him anyway. He was more than easy on the eyes—lean, but thickly muscled, with dirty b
lond hair and sun-kissed skin. He stood talking with a dark-haired guy and a brunette girl who were holding hands and clearly a couple. Suddenly, I felt like a creeper standing there staring at them, ogling the guy’s good looks.

  “Let’s head back to the house. I’m exhausted,” I said, turning around.

  “Yeah, all right. He’s probably got a girlfriend anyway.”

  I’d only taken four steps back toward my house when Ken doll’s dog was at my feet, blocking me from going any farther. He stood in front of me, wagging his tail and panting loudly like he’d raced over to greet me as fast as he could.

  “Dibs! Dibs, get over here!” Ken doll shouted as he jogged in our direction.

  “Thank you, Fate,” Vera whispered under her breath as she tossed her eyes up to the sky.

  Dibs nudged at my hand. I laughed and bent down to pet him like he wanted. “Hey, there.”

  “I’m so sorry. He just got away from me,” Mr. Hottie said as he rushed over to retrieve his dog.

  “No, it’s okay,” Vera said with a wide smile. “My friend here has been like the animal whisperer lately or something.”

  I eyed Vera. The animal whisperer, really?

  “The animal whisperer, huh? Well, he does seem to like you,” Mr. Hottie said, flashing a knee-weakening smile my way.

  “Aw, he’s a cutie. Love his name too,” I said as I stood.

  “Thanks. I called dibs on him first out of my grandfather’s dog’s litter … so, Dibs it was.” He grinned and his eyes locked with mine intently. They were a light, icy blue. It was a color that I was sure could appear cold on some, but on him, with that smile, they didn’t seem cold at all. In fact, they made my knees go weak. “I’m Kace by the way, Kace Sullivan.”

  “Hey, I’m Vera Collins and this is my friend, Addison Harmon,” Vera chimed in before I could introduce myself. Locking eyes with Kace, I’d honestly forgotten she’d been standing there for a moment.

  “Nice to meet you two. Are you guys vacationing here or something?” Kace asked, his blue eyes shifting back to me.