I turned away from Teague and stared at the ocean instead, being much easier on my eyes. “Oh, and that’s not even the best part, Teague. You’re really going to think I’m amazing after you hear this. My assistant principal, Jonathan, worked out the deal with the Ketterings and insisted on a few rolls in the hay as payment. We’d been broken up for months. He dumped me as soon as I started making waves about getting married, meeting my family.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “I knew how wrong it was, but I was so scared that I did what he wanted. What does that make me, Teague?”
“Human,” he answered quickly. I huffed.
“Me and all my talk about intimacy, right?” I sneered. “Serving myself up like some kind of sick dessert for a man who made toying with me a habit. What an idiot! You make a deal with the devil and it follows you wherever you go. Jonathan’s got me again, holding Lewis at bay with all his questions about my past, keeping my secrets for me.”
I kicked at the sand angrily. “Labor Day weekend he’s coming to collect if I’m not in jail by then, of course. What’s worse? Letting Jonathan have me or going to jail for something I didn’t do? If Lewis finds out and then it gets in the paper, I’m absolutely done.”
“I promise, neither of those things will happen,” Teague returned. He put his hands on my shoulders and I madly shook them off.
“Don’t touch me,” I told him. “This is me, Teague! Your heaven, right? More like hell. And the funny thing is it’s all your fault!” Suddenly, I felt that I had the heart of a whale – huge and full.
“My fault?” he repeated confused.
“Yes!” I turned to storm off, again, but he followed.
“Wait, what’d I do?”
More than anything, I wanted to be the size of a whale right then, so I could barrel past him and swim off to my millions of miles of vast ocean. Teague wouldn’t allow it. He held my arm, gently but firmly, and pulled my back to his chest.
“Let me go,” I insisted.
“Delilah, I know about fifty ways to physically immobilize you,” he whispered in my ear. “You aren’t running away from me again.”
“You’re a jackass,” I said, though I melted. He turned me around to face him, and held tight to my waist.
“What’d I do?” he asked again, his voice sincere.
I breathed in heavily. The breeze kicked up, sending my hair dancing in the wind. His gentle smell tickled my nose. I felt his fingers on my back and my knees trembled. Another tear slipped away. He wiped it with his finger.
“What do you think one perfect day does to the rest of them?” I stammered. “You ruined me.”
Teague’s free hand brushed my cheek. He smiled lightly. He lifted my chin, and when our lips met I swear I could hear the sweet sounds of whales singing.
Chapter Forty-Three
Serenade
Whale songs sound ghostly, the aching moans and groans of a haunted melody. What is clear is that they do sing songs. Whales in the same locations repeat the same rhythmic patterns, as if humming to their own Top 40s. Individual variations on the songs occur during mating rituals, as if males sing directly to named mates. However romantic that is, the songs sound sad to me, and in their enormous ocean home, they do not stay together, continuing their slow serenades.
Teague’s kiss was just as I had always imagined it to be. Soft and strong. Delicate and passionate. My legs tingled. My whale heart pounded. My hands dropped my shoes and found his chest, then the back of his neck, and then his chest again. With his hands touching me, I could barely think. His fingers on my face, along my neck, scooping up my hair, dragging down my back. I was intoxicated.
My legs gave way, and we dropped to our knees, continuing our slow serenade. I pulled him as close as I could, at once loving and hating, until I felt so full that I could burst.
“Stop,” I whispered between breaths. But, he kissed me again. I pulled away, though it was a struggle. “No, really. We have to stop.”
“Why?” he asked breathlessly. I couldn’t answer right away. He leaned his forehead against mine. “Why would you ever want to stop?”
“There’s something I have to know,” I whispered.
“Anything.”
My heart raced against his chest, and I could feel his doing the same. I smiled lightly. “It’s hard to think.”
He laughed. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”
Finally, I managed, “Why now? Why not then?”
“What? The kiss?” he asked. “I was really nerv-”
“No, not the kiss,” I interrupted. “You’ve dreamed about me all these years and carried me away to far off places. You’ve kept me close. And yet, you’re the one who pushed me away. Why?”
His face shot back with confusion. I dropped my hold on him.
“I have to know,” I added. “No matter what reason it is. It’s killed me every day since.” We both sat back against our heels, staring at each other.
“Delilah, I never pushed you away,” he said.
“I’m a big girl,” I assured him, “I can take it. Was it the nervous talking? Or the distance? Was it someone else? Whatever it was, I’m sure-”
“What makes you think that I had a reason? I don’t get it,” he returned.
“Candy gave me your message,” I said. “Come on, stop dancing. Just tell me. Why’d you reject me?”
“I didn’t reject you,” he insisted. “What did she tell you?”
“That you just weren’t interested in me. You didn’t give her a reason. You said that it was a nice day, but that’s all it was.”
His mouth dropped and his eyes widened. “I never said that!” Teague jumped up, and paced around the beach. I stood up, too, surprised to see him so flustered.
“You believed her?” he asked after a minute. “All these years?”
“Yes,” I insisted. “I had Candy tell me over and over again. I was devastated.”
He stopped pacing, walked over to me, and grabbed my hands. “I came by the next morning. I waited until 10:00 because I decided that any earlier would appear too eager and any later, well, I couldn’t wait any later,” Teague explained. “I was crushed when Candy told me you’d gone back to Wilmington. I couldn’t believe that after the day we had, you could possibly leave without so much as a good-bye-”
“I didn’t go home,” I countered, “I was at the bookstore with Great Aunt Laura.”
“Candy said there was some family emergency,” he replied. “I had a present for you. Did she ever give it to you?”
I squinted. “No.”
Teague huffed, and shook his head. “I have no idea why she’d do this. I told her clearly that it was the best day of my life. When she told me you’d left, I said I’d call you. Candy insisted that I’d get you in trouble with your mom if I did that, and after what you’d told me, I believed her. So, I trusted Candy to tell you I’d come by, to give you my present, to be the link between us-”
“That can’t be true.” I folded my arms across my chest and shook my head.
“I pestered her every day,” Teague continued. “She promised me that she’d talked to you, told you everything, but that you didn’t care. And, after a few weeks, she told me you moved on with someone else.”
“No, she never would have said that,” I insisted, putting my hand up.
“I didn’t believe it either, didn’t want to, at least. So, at Christmas, I hid outside the Duffy house because I thought for sure you’d be there. You never showed.”
“We went to my mom’s family that year,” I remembered.
“Ended up calling your house anyway, to hell with getting you in trouble,” he went on, “always your mom answered and she’d give me some rule about you not being allowed to talk to boys on the phone. I finally decided that this was your way of getting rid of me.”
“She never told me you called,” I said, though I could picture my mother saying such things to him and not telling me about it.
“Well, I did,” he
insisted. “And in the spring, Candy was happy to tell me that you and your very serious boyfriend were going to the prom. You went to the prom. I enlisted.”
“So, Candy’s a liar?” I clarified angrily. “That’s what you’re saying?”
“Yes!”
“Why would she?” I demanded, voice shaking.
“I don’t know,” he argued. “Let’s ask her. We can clear this up right now.” He pointed up the beach and started walking toward the house. I stopped him by grabbing his arm.
“I spoke to her about it just the other day,” I told him, “and she said the same thing.”
“Why would I lie?” he demanded.
“I don’t know,” I retorted. “Candy set the whole thing up in the first place. She’s the one who encouraged me to go through with it, and she’s the one who had to help me through that crushing rejection.”
“But, I didn’t-” he cut in. “I’m telling you. I didn’t. I’ve never given you a reason to doubt me.”
I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t make any sense.” I turned away from him, and stared out at the ocean. He came up behind me and put his hands on my arms. I shook him off.
“Delilah,” he said, surprised. “You have to believe me.”
“Right, because my judgment is just spectacular,” I returned sarcastically.
“I’m telling the truth,” he said. He moved in front of me, and I folded my arms across my chest. “Delilah, you remember that day. How could you think that I wouldn’t want to see you again? I told you I wanted to, remember? In the sand?” He smiled.
“I can’t think!” My mind was muddled and junked up with memories and words and I couldn’t sift through it all. “Why should I believe you? I don’t know you, not really. Candy, I know-”
“You know me,” he insisted.
“Really? Do I?” I said, shaking my head. “Then how come you haven’t told me about being married?” His eyes fell.
“Hasn’t come up,” he answered simply.
I laughed. “Was I supposed to ask?”
“That has nothing to do with this. Being married before doesn’t make me a liar.”
“It’s evidence of broken promises,” I bit back. “That’s as good as lying-”
“You don’t know anything about that,” he retorted. “If that guy’d asked, you woulda ran down the aisle, so don’t judge me so fast. You’re just changing the subject.”
He took a step toward me and I stood my ground. I’d never seen his face angry before. His blue eyes looked icy.
“I’m telling you the truth. I did not reject you. I couldn’t. It would be like breaking myself in half. You either believe me about this one thing or you don’t. If you don’t, then whatever else I tell you won’t matter,” he finished calmly.
“You’re right. The rest doesn’t matter,” I said after a minute. “When Candy told me what you said, I-I completely freaked out. Candy would never let me go through all of that if it wasn’t true. She just wouldn’t.”
Teague kicked at the sand and exclaimed, “Damn it!” Willie barked.
“You should go,” I said, though something inside ached upon saying it.
“As shitty as they’ve all been, you’re still going to believe her over me?” he demanded.
“Fine, I’ll go.” I snatched Willie’s leash from his pocket, and headed up the beach. He followed, steaming. Instead of going through the house, I aimed to cut through the garage and bypass my family members.
“Quit following me,” I told Teague. “I’m going home.”
“I’m going inside to talk to Candy.”
“No!”
“Yes,” he returned. He headed toward the back deck and started climbing the stairs. I turned and followed him. “I’m not going to stand by and be accused of something I didn’t do.”
“Don’t you dare cause a scene!” I warned him.
“Who cares if I do? Your family’s used to ‘em,” he belted back. He stomped up the steps.
“I care. Please. Don’t give them something else to shake their heads at,” I countered. He stopped.
“Let me get her, and I’ll bring her to the front porch. Then you can ask her whatever you want,” I suggested. “Okay?”
“Fine.” I handed him Willie’s leash and told him to wait out front. I slipped in the sliding glass door. Candy was in the kitchen tasting whipped cream on her finger. I pulled her to the front porch, where Teague waited with Willie on the steps.
“You look hotter than a jalapeno, Officer Teague,” she cooed. “What’s this all about?”
“You’ve been lying to Delilah. How could you tell her that I wasn’t interested in her back then?” he asked quickly.
“That’s what you said,” she returned. “Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“Tell her the truth,” Teague insisted calmly. “You have to. You know I didn’t say that. I could never say that.”
Candy shrugged. “I’ve told her everything I know,” she said, fumbling with her seahorse necklace, “over and over again as a matter of fact. You showed up, told me to pass along the message, so that’s what I did.” Teague huffed and squinted his eyes.
“Where’s the present I asked you to give her?”
Candy shook her head, and to me said, “He didn’t give me anything.”
I turned to her and asked, “Did he ask you about me after I left?”
She shook her head. “We didn’t run in the same circles. I barely saw him.” Teague took two steps up the stoop, and Candy moved back toward the front door. Her smile fell. Teague gripped the railing so hard that I thought he’d break it off.
“Why are you sabotaging us? She thinks I’m a liar. How could you let her believe that about me? Tell her the truth,” Teague ordered.
“Like I said, I told her everything,” Candy sternly replied, “well, I guess there is one little thing I left out, but that was only to spare her feelings.”
“What?” I prodded.
“Only that I had to bribe him to give you that surfin’ lesson in the first place,” Candy revealed with a roll of her eyes. Teague looked down at his feet. “Cost me a whole day’s work, but you know, you were so happy about it.”
“Seriously?” I sputtered. My face flushed red hot. I looked at Teague and could tell by his face that it was true.
“I didn’t accept the money,” he offered, but it was too late. I stormed down the steps, snatched Willie’s leash, and rushed to the car.
Chapter Forty-Four
Sand
White sand, or calcium carbonate, is what’s left of ancient bones and shells, thrashed and broken and beaten until turned to tiny grains. Though it’s little more than a graveyard, the sand felt warm and soothing filtering through my toes.
Willie jumped in and out of the foamy surf, while I watched from a safe distance. Night had long since claimed the sun, the tourists, the heat. But, peaceful scenery did nothing to quell my frustration. Tipee Island was trying to break me into pieces, and I didn’t know quite how to stop it.
The stew of my emotions bubbled inside me. I’d handed Sam Teague my secrets, and like an idiot, let myself fall into his trap, again! What was I thinking, falling for the same guy who’d wrecked me once already? Why couldn’t I feel his deception in his kiss or see it in his eyes? And why, of all the things I had to think about, did that stupid kiss keep replaying in my mind like a naughty treat?
I huffed, rounded up Willie, and headed back to Starfish Drive. The ocean wasn’t helping me tonight.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to find Sam sitting on the bottom of my steps when I got home. “I don’t want to see you.” Teague’s face was somber. He stood up as I approached. The kiss flashed through my mind and my knees felt weak again. I closed my eyes to blank out the image.
“I know. I’m sorry,” Sam said softly. “Just thought you’d like to know-”
“What?” I demanded sternly.
“They picked up your intruder,” Sam returned. “He was loitering down
at the state park bathrooms. His name is Henry Bellows, local homeless guy. Unless he’s been drinking, he’s relatively harmless. Detective Lewis believes that he may be your squatter.” Sam followed me up the stairs.
“Did he come up with that all on his own?” I replied, fumbling with my keys.
“When we ran the prints off the door and window, his name came back quickly. He’s been arrested a few times for various misdemeanors.”
“So, what’ll happen now?” I asked.
“He’ll be charged, given a court date, and released until he’s required to report to court,” Teague explained. “He’ll be given a public defender, but since he’s had charges before, he’ll probably get a little time for this one.”
“In jail?” I asked my eyes wide. I filled a glass with water and gulped it down.
Teague nodded. “That’s usually where we put them. It might be good for him, a place to sleep and three meals a day.”
I shook my head. “Would you ever prefer jail?”
Teague shrugged. He stood near the door, unsure. “At least you can sleep better tonight.”
“Doubt it.” I took a seat at the kitchen table and rubbed my eyes.
Teague sat next to me. “Delilah, I-”
I held my hand up to stop him. “No. Don’t.”
“I know you’re upset. I don’t blame you-”
“Teague, I need you to know,” I started, “I’m on borrowed time here, as it is, ‘cause there’s no way that Lewis’ll solve Darryl’s murder, but I’ll tell you this. If you tell anyone about Durham, I’ll never speak to you again. I mean it.”
“Delilah, I’d never betray your trust,” Teague returned. “And what you did doesn’t make any difference to me.”
“You always know just what to say,” I replied sarcastically. He shook his head, seeing that he was getting nowhere with me. He stood up, tucked his chair under the table, and squinted his eyes together, in that concerned way he does.
Sea-Devil: A Delilah Duffy Mystery Page 19
