Coastal Erosion

by Rachelle Paige

  “She’s been there for me and my wife through the years and she’s become a friend. I saw the way you looked at her on the beach. Don’t screw it up.”

  “I screwed it up a long time ago. This is supposed to be my redemption tour,” Landon muttered.

  He stared down at his hands, loosely clasped together. Useless. These hands couldn’t build their future.

  “And how’s that going for you?” Phil prodded, leaning forward slightly. Power still reverberated in the man’s arms, flexed against the bar. But the fire of protection in his eyes had extinguished.

  “First I took the land she wanted and got her fired. Now she’s got a new job and just snatched that land out from under me.”

  “Really? How?”

  “Bones. She mentioned there might be some kind of cemetery on the land that had been lost over the years?”

  “Huh, interesting,” Phil nodded and took a step back. “So let me ask you this. You told me getting her fired wasn’t personal. Can’t the same be said about this? There’s even more of a case that it isn’t personal, Kim didn’t go out and plant a body in the middle of the night.”

  “I didn’t say I was here to be logical or rational and have a grown-up conversation.”

  “I think we both have too much to do without letting self-pity get in the way.”

  Landon mulled that thought over. He had had so much to do. Working nearly non-stop since Kim had been fired and then not sleeping over thinking about her and what he said and a chance for them, he was a wreck. He needed to sleep for a week.

  “So what do I do?” Landon asked.

  Phil wiped down the bar, smoothing the cloth over the wood nearly the length of the grain and then back up. The rhythm of the movement was almost like a dance or music. The actions, though work, struck Landon as soothing. He needed something like that to occupy his body and free his mind to relax.

  “I think you need to call your backers and get straight with them. Start looking at other plots for sale. And maybe it’s time you double down on Kim.”

  “I don’t know about Kim. If the land is gone, how can I stay?”

  “But if she’s here how can you leave?”

  Landon froze at the words. He didn’t know how he’d be able to leave. Now that he knew the truth and had to confront some of his own stupidity to do so, he couldn’t back away and back off. But without a property to develop, what kind of job could he get? He doubted Phil paid people to take up seats at the bar and not drink anything. And the idea of living off his family’s money seemed indolent and lazy. Having money had always been a bigger deal to the people around him.

  “Look, Landon, I’ve seen you two together. And I think that was the only meeting in recorded history where my cousin-in-law didn’t end up with a guy’s phone number. Do yourself a favor and take her out, win her over, and figure out your next step. Neither of you is married, so whatever you had must have been worth holding onto for so long.”

  “Yeah, I guess I’ll try.” Landon agreed.

  He knew he had to separate his emotions from business. If he wanted to make working for himself successful, he couldn’t be tied into every deal. And with nothing between them now, he had nothing left to lose. Time to make a move or leave.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Leaning in for a closer peek at the hole in the ground, Kim didn’t see Landon walk away. She felt the loss of heat, her body shivering at the sudden chill. But she hadn’t turned to stop him. She’d figured he might have taken a step back to let her in to observe. Burials on the island were a tricky business. With so much of the perimeter dedicated to either marsh or coast, finding solid ground for the dead only left limited options. After studying old surveys and reading accounts of the plantation’s history, she figured they’d find the cemetery somewhere on Landon’s land.

  She had discussed with Lily the potential for her to be on site observing the construction while also trying to locate where the cabins might have been. They’d agreed she could be on location for months with not much happening. Someone needed to be on hand in case they did discover a fragment of bone or a shard from pottery.

  “You’re sure you want to babysit the construction?” Lily had asked. “It would be a big help but would drain your time. You’d have to work longer hours to help with our other projects and responsibilities.”

  “I think I can manage,” Kim had assured her.

  Any excuse to be with Landon, despite the divide between them, seemed worth the extra hours. She’d been counting on the project dragging out. Maybe working together could help them figure out their relationship.

  But hitting pay dirt the moment they dug the first foundation was beyond her wildest dreams. The digger had uncovered a large bone, maybe a leg but she had no experience with skeletons. The darkened color gave her hope that it was the right age, but why wouldn’t it have been buried in a casket? She’d have plenty of questions for the experts.

  The land would be saved. She wanted to smile. Victories in saving the open spaces of the island had been numerous in the immediate years after the housing crash. But with construction picking up speed, the SCL often found themselves outmanned and outgunned. Many pieces of property had slipped through to development in the last year, already stressing the at-capacity infrastructure. Finally, they’d won.

  Too bad that it had to be at his expense. Kim straightened and took a step back. She’d rejoin him, not that she had anything to say to help. She didn’t see him in the crowd of men and stepped beyond the semi-circle they’d formed. Needles and pinecones crunched under her feet as she walked several yards away. The sudden roar of an engine turning over preceded his convertible speeding past on the gravel road, dirt flying in its wake.

  Kim frowned. She didn’t blame him for wanting to leave. But shouldn’t he have stayed to give the crew he’d hired direction? The foreman approached and stood next to her. She’d seen the man before around town and on different projects. Always on opposite sides of the development issue. She respected that he was probably trying to earn a living for his family. She just wished there could be a way for everyone to co-exist.

  “I think you can wrap up for today. I need to phone this in to my boss.”

  “We called the cops. They’ll be here in a few minutes too.”

  Kim raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s standard. Anytime you find bones, you have to call the police. This could be a crime scene.”

  “Or a cemetery,” Kim countered.

  The man put his hands up as if to say just doing my job and took a step back.

  “Fine. I guess the two of us should stay and the rest of your crew can go.”

  He nodded and stepped back into the crowd. The crowd dispersed, gathering their tools and driving the trucks and diggers back to the gravel road. Kim pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Lily’s number.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi Lily, it’s Kim at the site. Believe it or not, they found a bone.”

  “Wow, already?”

  “Yep. The bone wasn’t in a coffin so they called the police to come out and treat this like a crime scene. Do you think you can come by to help oversee this? I don’t want them to disrupt anything.”

  “On my way. This is great news. Hang back until I get there and then we can work on getting in touch with the archaeologists to start excavating. I’ll need you to start paperwork on applying to the government to protect the land. And we’ll have to figure out who is going to pay for this excavation and how.”

  Kim tried to absorb the information being lobbed at her. But this was totally out of her wheelhouse. Working for the SCL would be part engineering, part project management. She’d have to learn as she went. But she was eager to.

  “Hope you don’t have any plans this week,” Lily chuckled on the other end of the line.

  “Nope. I’m all yours.”

  “Good. I’ll see you in fifteen minutes.”

  Hanging up, Kim strolled back over to the grave. Ma
ybe the box had fallen apart or maybe this was a burial pit instead of a true cemetery? She didn’t know that much about the practices and rites of the nineteenth century. A chill went down her spine thinking that anyone could be thrown into a pit to be forgotten. This person deserved to have their story told, no matter how much others might like to erase the past. Preserving this land and maybe turning it into a national or state park to give people a chance to confront history head on, even the gruesome parts, might be exactly what the island needed.

  The diggers backed up and headed on the gravel road towards Lawrence Road. Only her old truck and the foreman’s remained parked off to one side. The foreman paced a few yards away, with a hand in his hair. He seemed anxious and frustrated. She could only imagine. Landon needed to figure out what he was going to do. He couldn’t just leave them hanging.

  Her phone rang in her hand. She smiled as she answered. Grandma Rose always had impeccable timing.

  “Hi Grandma, how’s it going?”

  “Great!”

  The shout and the ambient noise told Kim she was on speakerphone while Grandma drove. Grandma Rose had been remarkably adept with technology. She’d been game to get a cell phone a few years earlier, at the urging of both Kim and her father. And ever since, she’d been texting, emailing, and face timing with the best of them. Despite her best efforts, Kim hadn’t been able to discourage her from calling while driving. She worried that even on speaker Grandma got too distracted. It also didn’t help that she had a tendency to speak with her hands. Kim cringed, imagining Grandma exclaiming, spinning the wheel and ending up in a ditch.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Oh just to lunch. We haven’t had a chance to talk. How’s the new job?”

  “Good. I think I have a lot to learn, but Lily is giving me room and training me.”

  “What do you have to learn?”

  “This is much more management than I’m used to. And I think there will be quite a bit of socializing and fundraising now.”

  Kim shuddered. She’d managed to avoid the annual black tie gala the SCL threw to fundraise. She had no idea what she’d talk about with the very wealthy benefactors who lived on adjoining Sea Island. And she hated the thought of going alone. Landon would know what to say. Maybe she could take him if she had to start attending.

  “You okay?” Grandma asked.

  “Sorry, lost in thought. I’m actually at the property. They started breaking ground today and Lily wanted me on-site in case they stumbled across anything.”

  “Oh, so you’re just standing around today?”

  “Actually no. Believe it or not, they found a bone.”

  “Already? So what does that mean?”

  Kim took in a deep breath. Everything she’d been hoping for and working towards had happened so suddenly, she almost couldn’t believe her luck. She’d never been smiled upon by fate before. She had a hard time believing today could be so drastically different.

  “It means we can save the land,” Kim muttered.

  “You don’t sound very excited.”

  “I don’t?” Kim frowned. “I am I really am. This is the best we could have hoped for. But it’s a little complicated.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Not yet.

  “I’ll take your silence as a no.”

  “Sorry Grandma. I’m kind of overwhelmed with work right now.”

  “That’s okay honey. I wanted to thank you again for watching Scooter for me. I just dropped him off at my neighbors, and I’m thinking about a massage later. He might be an old dog, but he still takes a lot of energy to manage.”

  “Really?” Kim didn’t agree with that assessment.

  She’d grown to like the shaggy companion. She’d ended up keeping him through the weekend, only dropping him off yesterday afternoon.

  “Really. I don’t think a pet’s for me.”

  “You don’t miss the companionship? Having someone to talk to?”

  “No. Honey, I’ve lived alone for so long now I prefer the solitude.”

  “Huh.”

  “I know I have to keep explaining this, but I’m not lonely. Being alone doesn’t mean I’m pining for company.”

  But maybe I am lonely. She hadn’t realized how comforting coming home to Scooter had been until she’d slept in the house without him the night before. She’d been up quite a bit, tossing and turning. She’d never felt anxious or nervous on her own. But without the other warm body, every creak of the old house startled her.

  “I think I miss him.”

  “You do? I’m shocked.”

  “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t realize I was lonely until… A lot has been changing for me lately.”

  “Your life is moving forward, honey. That’s not a bad thing.”

  “No, it’s just…”

  “What is it, Kim? You’re never vague or ambivalent. What’s wrong honey?”

  The love of my life came back, and I don’t know if we can ever get another chance. He’d come to take something from her, and now she’d taken something from him. Just like with the foreman, she wondered why they couldn’t co-exist in harmony. When they’d first met, everything had been so easy. Now she couldn’t seem to make it more than a couple of days without another issuing popping up between them.

  “I think I need to clear my head. I’m waiting on Lily to come and take over the site, so I can get back to the office and start working on the next steps. I might go for a walk or a long lunch or something.”

  “What about your art? Have you been keeping up with that?”

  “I’m working at the craft fair this weekend. I have full stock. And I’m taking measurements of the women’s restroom at the bar in the Pier Village. Remember my friend Trish?”

  “Sure, with that adorable toddler?”

  “That’s her. She wanted to hire me to tile the bathroom, but I haven’t had a moment.”

  “You should do it. That always helps you clear your head.”

  The wail of a siren interrupted the call. Kim followed the progress of the police car through the winding gravel road. She caught glimpses of flashing lights through the trees. The car parked next to her truck and a policeman got out. No sooner had he cleared the road then Lily’s car zoomed down the road past him.

  “Is that on my end of the phone or yours?” Grandma Rose asked.

  “Mine. I guess procedure is to call the police to open an investigation when you find remains.”

  “That sounds like a lot of paperwork.”

  “Yeah, don’t remind me. Okay, Lily just got here, I’d better get going.”

  “Okay honey. Make sure you do get back to your art. You sound like you need an outlet.”

  Kim nodded. She needed more than that.

  “And when you’re ready to talk about what’s really going on, call me,” Grandma added.

  Kim cringed. She should have known Grandma wouldn’t be put off so easily.

  “I love you, Grandma. Have a nice lunch.”

  “I will. I’m thinking of making this a total day of relaxation. If I don’t pick up the phone later, don’t be shocked. I might get my nails done.”

  Kim chuckled. “Sounds good, bye.”

  Lily approached her, and Kim filled her in quickly on the situation. There wasn’t that much to tell, but she did suddenly feel anxious to get away. And maybe call Landon. What would she say? I’m sorry this worked out exactly my way but you need to make things right by the crew? You shouldn’t have stormed out of here unless you wanted to ruin your reputation? She had never had a desire to be his mother or to take charge of him. And she didn’t want to scold him when she’d stormed out on him before too.

  She focused on Lily, putting her own turmoil aside for the moment. She had a job to do. She began taking notes and as her hand started to cramp, Lily excused her. Kim walked swiftly to her truck. She’d have a long day ahead of her. But first, she needed another coffee.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

&nbs
p; Landon stood before the French doors, soaking in the afternoon sunshine. The warmth on his face and the smell of lemon furniture polish from his grandmother’s meticulous housekeeping almost had him relaxed. Almost. He leaned back against the cream colored sofa. Several chintz swatches slipped under his hands and fluttered to the floor. He watched the fabric samples float and fall like the leaves of the big magnolia in front of the house. He pushed away, scooped up the squares to toss onto the couch, and headed toward the kitchen. He felt just as aimless as the patterned fabric swatches, just as purposeless too.

  After a disastrous dig on Monday, Landon had been called out to the property by the police shortly after leaving Phil’s bar. He’d expected to meet up with the construction crew and Kim. He’d been working out his apology the entire way there. Unfortunately, he met with a surly woman from the Society of Coastal Living and a browbeaten police officer just trying to do his job. Finding a bone meant calling the authorities, filing a report, and as the owner of the land, he had to give a statement. Not that he’d been given much of a chance. The woman fed him his lines. Feeling out of the loop and slightly on edge at the situation he’d walked into, Landon had excused himself and made his way back home.

  His time, resources, and energy had all been for nothing. Without a doubt, he’d lose the land. He’d spent the rest of the week trying to understand his options. He’d called a lawyer who had also been a family friend for advice. Too bad that person had decided to let it slip that Landon had lost the property or at least was in the process of losing it, at a cocktail party. All of his investors had been leaving him messages pulling out their support.

  Landon had tried to reassure them, many of them men he’d known his entire life whose good opinion he valued. But without any other back-up plan, he had nothing to offer. A few said they’d be willing to consider another investment at some point in the future. But all of them except for one wanted their money back. Now.

  Returning phone calls, leaving messages, and sending money back from this account to that one had eaten up his entire week. He’d managed to call the builders and apologize. He went to their office in person to further explain his position that morning.