by Amy Cissell
Sandy took a deep breath and a long sip. “You’re right. I’m much too worked up about this. We know the truth, and the good guys will win.”
A rare beam of sunlight streamed into Sandy’s kitchen, and she stretched up into the warmth like a cat. She was enjoying her third cup of tea and replaying last night’s conversation with Vincent in her mind before opening the shop for the day. A smile played across her face and fire sparked when she recalled the promise Vincent had made regarding their next meeting.
Sighing her discontent at having to leave her reverie, she rinsed her teacup and went to open the shop. The second she unlocked the door and turned the sign on, the door opened so suddenly that Sandy had to take a few quick steps backwards to avoid getting beaned.
Darwin rushed into the shop and slammed the door behind him. “I can’t do it,” he said.
“Calm down, Mr. Sibel. You can’t do what?”
“I can’t testify against him in court. He knows all my darkest secrets.”
“I’m ready to testify against him in court, and I was married to him. I think you’ll be fine.”
“You never said you were his ex-wife. You should’ve told me.”
“Would’ve that changed anything?”
“How do I know you’re not making all this up for revenge?”
“Would you like a cup of tea? I find that helps me settle my mind.”
“I guess so,” he said. “I’ve never had tea before.”
“You’re in luck. I happen to have an excellent selection of tea. Follow me to the kitchen, and while we’re waiting, I’ll tell you how you can be sure this isn’t just a petty revenge scheme.” Sandy filled up the electric kettle, turned it on, and set out two cups of tea. She pulled two bags of English Breakfast tea out of the cabinet, deciding that Darwin didn’t warrant loose leaf.
“It is true that I am in the process of divorcing Aaron Bell. It is also true that I am dating Vincent Bryson. On the surface, I can see why you’d be suspicious. But when we dig down, we can learn the truth. Up until very recently, I was responsible for my household finances, and I can tell you that there is no way in hell he could afford one custom Aston Martin, much less two. His clothes, the travel, his promises…all of it are out of his price bracket.”
“He got a company bonus for finding the embezzler.”
“A company bonus that was at least fifty percent of the value that went missing? A bonus that is inexplicably—according to Aaron—exempt from income tax? Because that’s what he told me.”
“You could be lying.” Darwin didn’t sound like he believed himself.
“He told you a year ago that this town would be for sale. How would he know?”
“He was already on the trail of your boyfriend and knew he was stealing.”
“Or he was setting him up. Do you know why Vincent owns most of the real estate in Oracle Bay?”
“No,” Darwin said, sounding defeated. “You’re going to tell me, though, aren’t you?”
“When it went on sale, Aaron advised Vincent to buy. He knew Vincent owned this town. How much of the profits from the post-development sale was he going to get?”
“Half.”
“Are you serious?” Sandy’s voice rose to what could only be called a shriek. “You had to put up all the capital up front, and you were still going to give him fifty percent of the profits?”
He nodded, miserable. “It sounded like a good way to jump-start my career. Great exposure, you know?”
“What did he tell you last night? Why are you having second thoughts?”
“He said that even though your guy wasn’t selling right now, they’d force him to sell off all his assets when he was convicted, and I could get everything even cheaper.”
“If you cut your losses now, will you be able to recover financially?”
“If I can get my old job back.”
Sandy tapped a finger against her lips while she thought. “If you testify against Aaron when he goes to trial, it might earn you some karma points you can show to your old boss. It sounds like he’s a forgiving type.”
“But what if you’re making everything up right now? What if this is my big chance?”
“If I’m making all of this up, there won’t be enough evidence to bring Aaron to trial, and you won’t have to testify against him. And if this is a pack of lies, Vincent will go to trial, and his assets will be liquidated; you can try to get your paws on them then. I can’t manipulate the courts the way you seem to believe I’m manipulating you. All I can ask is that you keep an open mind and if the opportunity presents itself, you will agree to testify.” Not that you’ll have a choice if you’re called as a witness, but willing is better than not.
He seemed to come to a decision. “I’ll do it,” he said. He took a fortifying sip of his tea, coughed a bit as the hot liquid hit his throat, and offered a tremulous smile. “Thank you.”
Sandy wasn’t sure what he was thanking her for, but she was eager to be done with this conversation so she could get back to the normalcy of reading people’s fortunes for money. “You’re welcome.”
He stood up, inclined his head slightly, and asked, “Is it okay if I go out the back? I don’t want anyone to see me.”
“Sure. Knock yourself out.” She opened the back door for him. “See you around, Darwin.”
“I hope not,” he muttered as he disappeared from sight.
Sandy sat in the Buoy Brewery in Astoria and nervously drummed her fingers on the bar. She’d ordered a Pilsner from the bartender and was drinking it way too fast.
“Are you waiting for someone?” the bartender asked.
“I am. I didn’t have as far to drive as he did. I’m sure he’ll be here soon. Can I get a glass of water?” She winced as the word salad fell out of her mouth.
“Of course.” She returned with a glass of water and a menu. “You can look this over while you’re waiting. Or you can go check out the sea lions in the main restaurant.”
“There are sea lions in the restaurant?” Sandy tilted her head to one side and gave the bartender a quizzical look. “Are you pulling my leg?”
“Not at all. There’s a section with a glass floor, and there’s almost always several sea lions hanging out. Go ahead and check it out. I’ll make sure no one takes your seat.”
Sandy shrugged, took a long drink of water, grabbed her beer, and headed to the other room. Sure enough, just as the bartender’d said, there was a square of thick glass revealing several barking sea lions underneath. The space was mainly taken up by children, and she didn’t want to horn in on their fun, but she did move in as close as possible without crowding into a kid. She watched them do nothing but make noise for several minutes, sipping her beer, until someone put their hand on her back. Assuming it was someone who wanted a closer look, she turned to apologize and get out of the way.
“Hey there, sweetheart.”
Sandy couldn’t stop the smile spreading across her face. “Hey,” she replied.
“Sorry I’m late. I got held up at my lawyer’s office.”
“It’s okay. Wanna grab a beer? The bartender in the other room is holding our chairs.”
“I’d love one.”
After putting in Vincent’s beer order and ordering a couple of sandwiches, Vincent leaned back in his seat and looked at Sandy.
“What?” she asked, hand going self-consciously to her hair.
“I just can’t believe you’re real; that this is all real.”
A happy flush warmed her cheeks. “I know. It seems…” She searched for the right words. “Almost too good to be true.”
“Almost?”
She grinned and poked him in the chest. “There are definitely some less good parts that keep this firmly planted in reality. I wouldn’t trade you for anything, but I wouldn’t mind an easier journey to the finish line.”
He reached around and cupped her head in his palm, pulling her closer to him. “We’re almost there. It’ll get easier soon, I promi
se.”
He kissed her lightly then backed up just far enough that he could gaze directly into her eyes. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m glad I did it.”
The bartender set Vincent’s beer down in front of him and grinned at them both. “Your food will be out shortly. Can I get you two lovebirds anything else while you’re waiting?”
Vincent’s eyes didn’t leave Sandy’s face. “No, thank you. I have everything I’ve ever needed right here.”
The feeling spreading throughout Sandy’s body was one she’d never experienced before. Her throat was tight and heat radiated from her chest. After a moment, she recognized the sensation as joy. The happiness threatened to make tears leak from the corners of her eyes and her voice choke when she spoke, but she pushed through it. “I have never been this happy in my life. I don’t think I knew what happiness was before I met you.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” the bartender said. “But there is a man who just sat down a couple tables over who is glaring at you guys. If you want, I can ask him to leave. There is definitely something off about him.”
Sandy twisted around in her seat to look at the creeper. He waved at her and smirked. It was Aaron. “Well, that’s just fabulous,” she muttered. “I don’t know if he’s following me or you, but there’s no way this is a coincidence.”
“Want me to ask him to leave?” the bartender asked.
Sandy started to answer in the negative but stopped herself. “That’s my almost ex-husband,” she explained. “I left him after I caught him cheating on me, and now he’s being weird and showing up wherever Vincent and I are.”
“You should get a restraining order. Especially if he’s threatened either of you.”
“He did try to start a fight with you that one time,” Sandy said to Vincent.
“That’s enough information for me,” the bartender said. “I’m gonna grab another guy, just in case he gets obstinate.”
A couple minutes later, their bartender and another big guy approached Aaron. He appeared to argue with them, but quickly acquiesced in the face of two staff people, one of whom was much larger and both of whom appeared to be much stronger. The look he directed at Vincent and Sandy, however, was nothing but venom.
“You’ll want to watch yourselves,” the bartender said when she returned.
“We will,” Sandy said. “What’s your name?”
“I’m George. Pleased to meet you.”
“I’m Sandy, and this is Vincent. Thank you so much for kicking him out. He must have followed me—I saw him in Oracle Bay yesterday.”
“You guys didn’t come together,” George observed. “If you’re not leaving together, I’d be even more cautious. Do you have someone back in Oracle Bay that you can let know you’re on your way?”
Vincent looked George up and down. “You seem awfully invested in this.”
“My sister had a hard time getting out of a relationship once. Her ex stalked her and creeped on her. She kept saying it was no big deal and that he’d get bored and go away eventually. Said that until he ran her off the road and she ended up with a three-week hospital stay. Some guys aren’t right in the head, and I think your ex is one of them. I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt the way my sister did. Listen to your gut. A lot of people like to discount intuition, but I am a firm believer that women especially know when someone’s off. We don’t listen, because we’re told that facts matter more than feelings, but the truth of the matter is, our feelings are informed by facts that are processed too quickly to notice.”
Sandy rocked back in her chair a bit and stared at George. “Whoa.”
“I know, right? I read a book after my sister nearly got killed. I can’t remember the name of it, but it changed my life—both as a woman who’s out there dating men and as a bartender who deals with a lot of sketchy characters. Your ex set off alarm bells right away, and I don’t ignore that feeling anymore. It’s cut down on incidents in the bar by a lot.”
“I’m so glad I sat in the bar today,” Sandy said.
“I’m glad you did, too,” Vincent said.
“I’ll have Jeff—the guy that helped me out earlier—do a sweep of the parking areas before you leave. Make sure you have a contact and check-in times arranged before you leave. Maybe it’s over-cautious but better that than under-cautious. My sister was trapped in her car for over four hours because no one knew to look for her, and she was far enough off the road that she wasn’t immediately visible in the late afternoon light.”
Sandy shivered. The happiness of earlier was replaced with the clawing nausea of fear.
“Your sandwiches are up. Let me buy you both another pint, to make up for scaring the crap out of you.”
Chapter Sixteen
“What are we doing here?” Misty demanded. “You’ve not been a member long enough to get to call emergency meetings.”
“You don’t have enough furniture to call emergency meetings,” Drew said, perching on the corner of her kitchen counter. “We need to take you shopping. Two chairs and a table are not enough furniture.”
“I have a bed.”
“And you’re going to take us all to your bedroom for this?” Morgana asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I probably wouldn’t turn you down, but that seems out of character for you.”
Sandy flushed and stuck her tongue out at Morgana. “You’re crude.”
“That wasn’t crude, child. That was barely innuendo. You need to buck up a bit if you’re going to survive here.”
“She’s right, you know,” Drew said. “Crude isn’t hinting at an all-psychic orgy. Crude is asking which of us you’d like to f—”
Sandy clapped a hand over his mouth. “Drew! That is not okay!”
“She’ll get used to it,” Jezebel said. “We all give up our finer sensibilities after spending any time with you, Morgana.”
“Like you had any finer sensibilities,” she retorted.
Jezebel pouted. “How could you say that? I am the purest seer in the land. Delicate. Demure. Innocent.”
“You’re about as innocent as a Las Vegas Madame in her prime.”
Jezebel preened a bit. “Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you.”
“Will you all be quiet?” Misty shouted. Everyone looked at Misty, jaws dropped.
“What the hell, Misty?” Paska said. “You’re not usually wound this tight.”
“I had plans, but instead I’m here. There’s no wine. I don’t know what’s going on, and I am not happy about it.”
“I have wine,” Sandy said. She grabbed a couple bottles, a sleeve of plastic party cups, and a corkscrew. She handed the bottles to Drew. “Can you open these? I’ll explain everything else. Misty should get the first glass.”
Once she had wine—although she cast a dubious stare at the red party cup—Misty looked slightly mollified.
“I called you all here this afternoon because we have some very big news.”
“Sandy—if you’re finally getting laid, that could’ve gone out in a group text,” Morgana said.
“I am not getting laid,” she sputtered.
“Too bad for both of you,” Morgana said under her breath. Jezebel and Drew laughed, and everyone else but Misty and Sandy cracked a smile.
“Anyway,” Sandy said. “Back to the subject at hand. Vincent will be here any minute, and it’s really his news, but he asked me to get you all together.”
“If this turns out to be a public proposal, I am going to be very upset,” Misty said. “The only public proposals I’m interested in are on the jumbotron at sporting events and end in disappointment and tears.”
“You are a terrible person,” Ceri observed.
“I am in a terrible mood,” Misty corrected. “I wasn’t kidding about having plans.”
Someone knocked on the door, and Sandy walked over to open it.
“If that’s not him, I’m leaving,” Misty warned.
Vincent walked in the room. “I’m glad you’re s
till here,” he said to her. “You’re the most important person here right now.”
“Your girlfriend is going to be pretty upset if you continue in that direction,” Drew said.
Vincent glanced over his shoulder at Sandy and smiled. “I think she’ll be okay. After all, she knows what’s about to happen.” He reached out and took one of Misty’s gloved hands in his. “Mystic Greene, would you do me the honor of buying this town from me for a thousand dollars?”
Her jaw dropped, and she looked around the room. After a moment of stunned silence, the entire group erupted into applause.
“We’d talked about this,” she said. “Sandy’d mentioned it. But I didn’t believe you’d find a way to work it out.”
Vincent retrieved his briefcase and pulled out some paperwork. “Here’s the sale paperwork. My lawyer, along with a real estate lawyer he knows drew everything up. I’ve set up a separate escrow account to pay the property taxes and insurance for the next five years, after that it’s your responsibility to figure it out. Take the paperwork, have your lawyer look it over before signing, and then let me know. As long as it’s signed by five o’clock Friday afternoon, the deal is good.”
“This is…” Misty’s voice trailed off. “This is amazing. Aren’t you taking a huge loss?”
“Financially, yes. There are a couple of clauses that make this more beneficial to me, though. One of which guarantees that this space will be leased to Sandy for as long as she wishes to maintain it at the current rent.”
“Of course,” Misty said as she started paging through the stack of papers.
“Don’t you have plans?” Drew asked, with a healthy amount of snark in his voice.
“Thank you,” she said to Vincent. “This is amazing. With this, we can keep our town the way it is. Bill is going to be so excited that he won’t have to compete with a Main Street Starbucks.”
“You can make it a requirement that all new businesses have punny names,” Vincent said. “Your dream of having the Oliver or Twist cocktail bar next to the What the Dickens? Bookstore can finally come true.”
