Joe Silveira’s face flashed through her mind. He was not someone else. He was the chief of police. He was married. But he sent her blood pressure soaring, a fact she tried very much to deny. “No,” she said, realizing Andrew was still waiting for an answer.
“That took you a while,” he said with a contemplative expression.
“I’m concentrating on my career and my mother right now. That’s all I can handle at the moment.”
“How is Annie doing?”
“Good. She’s getting along great with my mother. And I must say I’m surprised that my mom can be so open-minded about Annie’s teenage pregnancy, when she was so . . .” She bit off the rest of her sentence, realizing she was getting into dangerous territory.
“So what?” Andrew prodded.
“So rigid with me. Remember my curfew? It was ten o’clock when I was sixteen years old. Talk about embarrassing—everyone made fun of me.”
“We still managed to have some fun,” he said with a mischievous smile.
She gave him a warning look. “I can’t imagine how you’re going to counsel the teenagers in this town, having done what you did.”
“I think it will help me.” His expression grew serious. “I know what they’re feeling.”
“So you’d tell them to wait?”
“I would,” he said, meeting her gaze.
“Do you regret that we didn’t?”
He thought for a moment. “I think I do. Not because it wasn’t great, but because if we hadn’t crossed that line back then, maybe you’d be more willing to give me a chance now.”
“You think I won’t go out with you because you took my virginity?” she asked in amazement. “I’m not holding that against you.”
“What about the fact that I slept with someone else three days later? Not my finest days.”
“True, but those weren’t my finest days, either.” And she wasn’t talking about what had happened with him. “Let’s eat before this gets cold.”
“All right. When we’re done, I’ll practice my sermon on you. That way if you fall asleep during the service tomorrow, you won’t miss anything.”
She made a face at him. “That was just once, and I was up all night delivering a baby. As I recall, you were talking endlessly about apples.”
“I was talking about temptation,” he corrected.
“Well, you tempted me to fall asleep.”
“That’s why you need your own personal minister: to keep you on the straight and narrow.”
“I tried to walk that line for eighteen years, Andrew. I failed.” She put up a hand to ward off any pep talk. “Enough about us. What gossip have you heard lately?”
“I can’t tell you what I hear in confidence.”
“How about what you hear at the café?”
He grinned. “Well, this morning I overheard Mary Harper tell Lucy Schmidt that you got a boob job. And how it was so sad, because men didn’t marry women with fake breasts.”
Her jaw dropped, and she felt even more uncomfortable when Andrew’s gaze fell to her chest. “They’re real. You know they’re real. Mary Harper said that so you’d overhear her. She has her eyes on you, so watch out.”
“I’m not worried—because I have my eyes on you.” His gaze moved once again to her chest. “They are a little bigger, Charlie.”
She threw her napkin at him. “Okay, dinner is officially over.”
EIGHT
When Lauren returned from the police station, she found her father dozing in his favorite recliner. She shut the door softly, watching him thoughtfully. It was no secret that he’d favored Abby with his attention, but his money—that surprised her.
She’d been surprised a lot in the past few days. She’d thought she knew the people she lived with, the people she loved. But they were showing new sides of themselves, making her doubt that she’d known them at all. She hated the idea of Mark Devlin’s movie, but she had to admit he was stirring things up.
She set her purse on the table, and her dad started. He opened his eyes, blinking against the light, as he stretched his arms over his head. “Lauren,” he murmured with a yawn. “You’re back.”
Thank God he knew who she was.
“Where have you been?” he asked as he brought his chair back up into a sitting position.
“The police station.” She sat on the couch. “I met with the chief of police, Joe Silveira. He’s reviewing Abby’s case.”
Her father looked pleased. Would he be so happy if he had something to hide? She might as well find out.
“Chief Silveira mentioned a bank deposit that you made the day Abby died,” she continued. “You put eight hundred dollars into her account.”
“He asked me about that the other day. I was starting to save for her college education. She had a couple of years of high school left, and I wanted to put some money aside.”
His answer seemed truthful. And he wasn’t acting as if he’d done something wrong, which disturbed her on another level. “Why weren’t you putting money aside for my college?”
Surprise flashed in his eyes. “You wanted to go to the community college and work at Martha’s Bakery.”
“I wanted to go the Culinary Academy, but I didn’t think we could afford it.”
His mouth turned down. “You’re angry about the money.”
“I know you and Abby were close, but why was her education more important than mine?”
“It wasn’t more important. I don’t remember ever hearing that you wanted to go to the Culinary Academy. But Abby and I used to talk a lot about her dreams. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was young, too, but there wasn’t enough money for me to go to school. I wanted to give Abby what I missed out on. It’s not that I didn’t want to help you, Lauren. I thought you had what you needed. You seemed happy.” He gave a little shrug, as if he’d never understand her or get it right.
She had been happy that year. She’d been falling in love with Shane, and she’d spent less and less time at home. Was she wrong to blame her father for not knowing her dreams? Had she even tried to share them with him? Or had she just gotten so used to his disinterest that she’d given up?
“Your mother gave me hell for putting that money in Abby’s account,” her father continued. “It was one more reason for her to hate me.”
“So Mom didn’t know about the money until later?” It was nice to know that her mother hadn’t been conspiring behind her back.
“No. She liked to keep her eye on the money, along with everything else in the house,” he grumbled.
“Were you and Mom happy together, before Abby died?” Lauren asked, wondering what else she didn’t know. “Mom always said that Abby’s death killed the marriage, but it sounds like you had some issues.”
“Every marriage has problems, but I thought things were good. Life was busy. We had three kids. My business took up a lot of time that your mother didn’t always appreciate. I don’t know. I suppose we both could have done some things differently. No one is perfect.”
“That’s true.” Lauren settled back against the cushions. “So how are you feeling tonight? Do you want some dinner?”
“I had stew at the café with Mort. You know, Mort, Rita, and your mom and I were quite a foursome back in the day. We’d barbecue every weekend, go out on the boat, spend Christmas Eve at each other’s houses. You and Leslie were good friends for a long time, and Rita and your mother loved to quilt together. I bet your mother doesn’t quilt anymore, does she?”
Lauren was sure her mother had left her needle and thread in Angel’s Bay, along with everything else. “She’s into wine tasting. She lives near a couple of vineyards.”
“She used to like beer.” His lips tightened. “I guess she couldn’t allow herself to like anything that she cared about before she left.”
Lauren saw sadness in his eyes, as well as anger. She’d always been on her mother’s side in the divorce; she’d never considered her father’s point of view. Maybe she had
n’t been completely fair. But when only one person spoke, it was difficult to understand the other side of the argument.
Her father picked up the newspaper in his lap and handed it over to her. “You might want to take a look at this.”
“What is it?”
“Some gold coins from the Gabriella washed ashore yesterday on Refuge Beach. The ship’s bell was discovered three months ago, and now these coins. I think that wreck may finally be ready to show itself.”
Lauren skimmed through the article. The ship had been sailing south from San Francisco filled with what was rumored to be Gold Rush spoils, when it had gone down in a ferocious storm in 1850. After several bodies and the initial items of the wreck washed ashore, nothing was ever seen again. Treasure hunters speculated that the Gabriella was hidden in one of the deep underground canyons off the central coast, which were only revealed during certain tidal conditions, but to this day no one had been able to find the wreck.
“I’d love to see that ship raised,” Ned said with a sparkle in his eyes. “I wonder what story it would tell—if we’d finally know what happened to the crew, the passengers, and the gold.”
“Don’t we already know most of it?” she asked, setting the paper aside. “I remember when you used to read to me from Leonora’s diary. It was such a romantically tragic story.”
“It was. She and Tommy met when they were kids, but Leonora was promised to another man. She married Clark Jamison, they had a son, Jeremy, and a few years later, Clark died. Then Tommy suddenly reappeared. He sailed into San Francisco, the captain of the Gabriella, and when he saw Leonora on the docks, he was amazed and struck by her beauty, just as he’d been at sixteen. It had been twenty years since they’d seen each other but Leonora said it felt like only a few minutes.”
The phrase hit home. Lauren had thought the same thing when she’d seen Shane again after thirteen years.
“Tommy was a widower, too,” her father continued. “His daughter was living in San Diego with his mother while he was away at sea. He had to sail the Gabriella back down the coast, and he asked Leonora and Jeremy to go with him. They married the night before the ship sailed south. They only had a short time together before the storm hit and the Gabriella broke apart. The ship had taken on more than its normal number of passengers, because people were leaving the Gold Rush by them, and there weren’t enough lifeboats. Leonora wanted Tommy to come with her and Jeremy on the lifeboat, but he was the captain. He would be the last to go.” Her father paused, his eyes distant, as if he could almost see that moment in his mind. “That was the last time Leonora saw Tommy, and his body never washed ashore.”
“And Leonora made a life for herself and Jeremy here in Angel’s Bay. And that’s where our family started,” Lauren finished.
“First love is a powerful thing. It’s hard to get over,” her father said.
“Mom was your first love, wasn’t she?”
“Oh, yes. She came to visit her cousin one summer, and we fell instantly in love. We got married after four months. It was probably too fast. I was ten years older than her and should have given her more time to grow up. But I wanted her, and at the time she wanted me.”
“I wish you had fought harder to stay together after Abby died,” Lauren said quietly. “I know Mom tried to comfort you, but you wouldn’t let any of us in. You shut down emotionally. You went out to sea for days at a time. Every night that you weren’t here, Mom would cry herself to sleep. I couldn’t stand the sound of her sobs.” She drew in a shaky breath. “You think Mom ran away with me and David, but you left us first.”
The bleakness in her father’s eyes reminded her of how he’d looked in the weeks after Abby’s death. “I didn’t know what to do back then—how to handle things. I tried to talk to your mother, but she wouldn’t let me speak of Abby. All she wanted to do was throw things away. Every time I left to go to work, I was afraid I’d come back and discover that your mother had erased Abby’s life from the house. And when your mother announced she was leaving, there was no discussion. She didn’t ask me to go with her, with you and David.”
“You shouldn’t have waited for her to ask. You should have insisted that we all stay together, either here in Angel’s Bay or somewhere else. We were a family, Dad. Even with Abby gone, we were still a family. Why didn’t you fight for us?”
He swallowed hard. “I knew you’d go with your mother. You were always her champion. And David was too young to be without her.”
“You should have come with us.”
“I couldn’t leave Angel’s Bay. I couldn’t leave Abby behind.”
“But you had two other children who still needed you.”
“You weren’t alone,” he argued. “You had your mother and David. The three of you had each other.”
“We didn’t have you.” She blinked back an unexpected tear. “You were my hero when I was a little girl. I loved you. I needed you. When we left, I cried all the way up the coast.” She wiped her eyes. “I would have been your champion, too, if you’d given me a chance.”
Her father stared down at the carpet. The minutes ticked away. Finally, he lifted his head. “I’m sorry, Lauren.”
She’d wanted to hear the words for a long time. Now that she had, it didn’t change anything. It didn’t make up for the fact that she’d lost her father at the same time she’d lost her sister.
“I never meant to hurt you and David,” he continued. “I couldn’t leave, and your mother couldn’t stay. Part of the reason I didn’t fight to keep you here was because I wasn’t sure I could be a good father anymore. I hadn’t protected Abby, kept her safe. I thought you were better off with your mom.”
“You should have found out if I was better off. At the very least, you should have come to visit, written me letters, and called. But you didn’t do any of those, except for a few holidays and birthdays.”
“You’re right. I could have done better.” He paused, his gaze direct and clear. “So what do you want from me now?”
That was the toughest question he’d ever asked her. What did she want? She wanted her family to be the way it was. She wanted Abby to be alive. She wanted to turn back the clock. But none of that was possible.
“I want you to be happy, and I want you to be safe,” she said. “If you won’t come to San Francisco with me, then what’s your plan?”
“I’m not your problem, Lauren.”
“I can’t just close my eyes to your medical condition. You’re my father. I’m your daughter. That’s the way it is. So let’s figure something out.”
“I do understand that my brain is shutting down,” he said slowly. “It scares me, not always knowing what I’m doing. Sometimes I wind up places and I don’t understand how I got there.”
She was shocked to hear his admission. He’d been brushing his illness aside since she’d arrived.
“But here in Angel’s Bay, I have landmarks,” he said. “I know where I am, and I can find my way home. I couldn’t move to a strange city; I need things to be familiar.”
His fear tugged at her heart. “All right, Dad. So how can we make it work? What if I hired someone to move into this house with you?”
“I couldn’t live with a stranger.”
“What about someone who comes in during the day, cleans up and makes sure you have food?”
“I guess I could use a little help, but I don’t have much money.”
“I can help pay for it.”
“You got a lot of money, do you?” he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.
“I wouldn’t call it a lot, but I’ll share what I have.”
He tilted his head, giving her a thoughtful look. “Why would you want to? I think we just established I’m a rotten father. I don’t want to be your duty.”
“I don’t want you to be, either, but you are.”
“Well, at least you’re honest.”
“It’s time for that, don’t you think?”
“If you want to know what I really thin
k—I think you should move back here. We haven’t had a bakery in town since Martha retired two years ago. Sam at the café makes some cookies and pies, but that’s about it. And the supermarket brings in prepackaged sweets from who knows where. Angel’s Bay could use a good bakery. You could open one, the way you always said you would.”
She was shocked by his suggestion, especially since it appeared he’d actually thought about it. And he was right. Opening a bakery had been her dream once, but not anymore. “I don’t want the same things now. I’ve moved on.”
“Move back.”
“No.”
“It could be good for you.”
“It wouldn’t be.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I do,” she said in frustration, feeling as if she’d just gotten on a runaway train. Her father had never cared about what she was doing. The fact that he did now was unsettling.
“Just think about it,” he said. “Spend the week here, get reacquainted. You might discover something.”
“Like what?”
He smiled. “That there’s no place like home.”
Shane had grown up in a two-story house at the end of a cul-de-sac in one of the older neighborhoods of Angel’s Bay. With five kids in the family as well as an assortment of pets, home had never been a quiet place. Tonight was no exception. As he parked his motorcycle at the curb, he could see a crowd of people in the living room. His mother had gone all out for his father’s sixty-fifth birthday.
It was strange to think that his father and Ned Jamison were almost the same age, yet there was a world of difference in the state of their health. John Murray was a robust man with a healthy appetite, a few extra pounds of girth, a hearty laugh, and an energetic spirit. He’d always had a personality that was bigger than life. Shane had been close to his father in childhood, but high school had been a different matter.
He got off his motorcycle as his sister Kara parked her car in front of the house. She got out with an exaggerated groan, weighted down not only by her very pregnant belly but also by an enormous gift.
He walked over to take it from her. “What’s this? Trying to outshine me?”
On Shadow Beach Page 10
