The Newcomer (Thunder Point)

by Robyn Carr

  “Where does Landon stay when you sit alert overnight?”

  “He’s pretty much okay on his own, as long as he has his phone and my contact numbers. If I have a temporary assignment out of town, like simulator training or something, there’s this guy I’ve been seeing…local guy, civilian. He doesn’t mind Landon duty for a few days or a week, but trust me…”

  “Guy?” Buzz said. “Guy? Why don’t I know about this guy?”

  Sarah smiled in spite of herself.

  “How long has this been going on?” Buzz asked.

  She gave a shrug. “Six months or so.”

  “You never bring him around. You protecting us from him or something?”

  “I could be protecting him from you….”

  “Hmm. Well bring him around sometime. Happy hour or something.

  “I just wanted you to have a heads-up on the assignments,” he said. “With any luck someone could request a relocation in the next couple of months—maybe just the right person will come along and take these potential east coast assignments off your hands….”

  “Two of them?” she asked cynically.

  “There are people who would kill for a chance like you have,” he said.

  “I know,” she said. She could go far in the Coast Guard; Commander was a prestigious rank in a demanding service and she’d earned it. She was only thirty-three. “I could quit, but I can’t retire….” Quit and do what? There was the little matter of paying rent, buying food, making car and insurance payments…tuition. She stood up. “Well, thanks, boss. I guess.”

  “Don’t panic,” Buzz said. “Yet.”

  *

  Sarah wasn’t one to panic, unless her career was about to turn everyone she loved upside down once again. She could tell Landon, give him time to adjust to the possibility and come up with his own coping options, but she wouldn’t do that—not yet, anyway. She wasn’t afraid he’d balk and sulk, she was afraid he’d say, “Whatever, Sarah. Just let me know.” He was that kind of kid, that kind of brother. He wasn’t a typical sixteen-year-old boy, probably because of how challenging his life had been. She often worried about how much disappointment he was holding inside to spare her feelings.

  Landon was only five when their parents were killed in an accident and he spent one horrifying year with their mean spinster aunt and then had spent the past ten years as her responsibility. She’d moved him five times, put him through a divorce from a man he’d grown attached to and now, just when he was happiest… No, she couldn’t talk to him yet, not until she had time to think things through.

  She could tell Cooper. He loved her; he was proud of her. But he’d just put all his time and energy into setting up his new local business and she couldn’t put him in the position of choosing between breaking it off with her or leaving behind everything to follow her. She could tell that his new lifestyle not only suited him, but he was also very happy. Relaxed.

  *

  That afternoon she hadn’t even made it home after work before Landon called her cell. “You going out to Cooper’s tonight?”

  “Not tonight,” she said. “I have things to prepare for for our inspection.”

  “If Eve comes over to do homework tonight, will it bother you?” he asked.

  “Nope. I’ll take my paperwork to my bedroom. What are you cooking?” she asked.

  He laughed at the joke. “Want me to pick up a pizza? I still have that twenty you left me.”

  “I’ll make sloppy joes. Save the pizza money—I sit alert tomorrow night and you’re on your own. And before you even ask, no, Eve cannot spend the night.”

  “Damn,” he said, making her laugh.

  She made the same excuse to Cooper, though he didn’t buy it as quickly. “Can’t you do your paperwork tomorrow night while you sit alert?”

  “I have enough work for both nights. We’re gearing up for a big inspection. I’ll see you in a couple of days. I mean, we’ll talk, but—”

  But I have to work on my poker face.

  “—I have the day off after my twenty-four at the station and I’ll come out to your place. If the sun’s shining, maybe I’ll take out my board.”

  “I love to watch you on the water,” he said. “The ocean is more beautiful when you’re out there.”

  *

  Sarah hadn’t seen Cooper in a couple of days and she could’ve taken the Razor—the all-terrain vehicle—across the beach with Hamlet, but they both needed some exercise. She’d just had two long nights and now she was stiff and groggy and Hamlet was restless.

  Rather than getting right to their walk across the beach to Cooper’s, Sarah stopped at the diner to say hello to Gina. Hamlet enjoyed that part of his walk almost as much as being on the beach. He didn’t mind being hitched to the lamppost with a bowl of water and treated to pats and pets from every passerby.

  Mac McCain was sitting at the counter in the diner. Gina was on the other side and they were holding hands across the counter. Sarah realized she’d been so self-involved she hadn’t even remembered that almost every midmorning around this time the diner was usually empty and Mac took his coffee break with Gina. They were so focused on each other, Sarah was impressed that they looked up and smiled at her. “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey, yourself. I hear you’ve been putting in a lot of hours,” Gina said.

  “A lot of hours, but I’m off today.”

  Gina and Mac might be the cutest couple in Thunder Point. They’d been best friends for years. Both single parents, their sixteen-year-old daughters were also best friends. Just a couple of months ago, they came out as a couple. A real couple, not just a couple of good friends, and ever since that had happened, they’d been staring soulfully into each other’s eyes when they weren’t stealing the occasional kiss. For a brief moment Sarah turned cynical and almost said, “Look out—when you think you’re staring happily ever after in the face is when the fates get jealous and pounce.”

  “On your way to Cooper’s?” Mac asked.

  “Yep. I think I’m going to take my board out for a while. There’s sun today and I could use some exercise.” And alone time, think time. Not that she hadn’t had enough of that over the past day or two. “And Cooper always needs quality time with Ham.” She laughed. “If we ever break up, I’ll have to share custody.”

  “You’ll never break up,” Gina said. “You’re down for the count.”

  No, she thought. Just down…

  Two

  Mac and Gina might be enjoying new love, but that didn’t keep them from spending plenty of time talking about their families. While Gina only had one child, sixteen-year-old Ashley, Mac had three kids. His oldest, Eve, also sixteen, his son, Ryan, was twelve and another daughter, Dee Dee, was ten. Recently, their sixteen-year-old daughters seemed to take up most of their conversations about kids—Eve was a little too in love with Landon, sometimes worrying Mac, and while Ash had had a steady boyfriend for the past year, she had seemed a little out of sorts lately. Ashley was sulky and down in the dumps.

  “Things haven’t been what you’d call hearts and flowers between Ashley and Downy lately,” Gina said, wiping down the counter. “All Ashley will say about it is that Downy seems to be too busy to take her calls or return them, something that hasn’t happened before now.”

  “And I’ve got nothing but hearts and flowers between Eve and Landon,” Mac said. “Doesn’t help me sleep at night, either.”

  Since teenage girls can fluctuate between true love and moodiness with regularity, Gina didn’t worry overmuch about Ashley’s sulk.

  *

  After work, Gina walked home to find a message from the high school on her answering machine. The school had resorted to leaving recorded messages that informed parents if their child had been absent. Ashley had missed her last two classes. Since she’d borrowed Gina’s Jeep for cheerleading practice after school, Gina wondered what was going on. She immediately called her daughter, but Ashley didn’t answer her cell phone. Gina then called Eve, who
answered right away. “She skipped practice,” Eve said. “I don’t know why—she didn’t say anything to me.”

  “Do you have any idea where she could be? She’s not answering her phone.”

  “I have no idea,” Eve said. “If she calls or shows up, I’ll be sure she calls you.”

  Gina’s mom, Carrie, had just returned home herself, and hearing Gina’s story she said, “You know how these girls can get distracted. You left her a message, right?”

  Of course she had. And Gina was not typically a worrier, but Ashley had been in a real funk for the past week, complaining that Downy was acting weird, as if he couldn’t be bothered with her. After a year-long, intense romance, one in which the phone calls and texting seemed annoyingly constant, even Gina wondered what was up. But Downy was a college freshman now and baseball was in full swing. He was attending Oregon State on an athletic scholarship; he was a baseball star. Maybe he just had a lot going on.

  A couple of hours later, just as the sun was going down, Gina called Downy’s cell phone. He didn’t answer, either, and she left yet another message. “Downy, it’s Gina. I don’t know where Ashley is and I’m really worried. Have you heard from her? Call me please.”

  A half hour later Carrie said, “You’re pacing, Gina. Call Mac. Maybe he’ll have some advice.”

  Gina sat at the kitchen table and punched in his numbers. “Mac, I have a problem. As far as I know, no one has seen or heard from Ashley since about one o’clock this afternoon. She skipped her last two classes, didn’t go to cheer practice, isn’t taking or returning calls. Eve hasn’t seen or heard from her and Downy isn’t picking up.” She felt her voice go all warbly. “I’m worried. I don’t know what to do. I’d go look for her, but I don’t know where to look. Could Downy be playing ball? Maybe that’s why he isn’t picking up?”

  “Stand by, let me check,” Mac said. A moment later he said, “No game today. The next game is in three days and it’s a home game.”

  “My God, where could she be?”

  “Leave another message for Downy. Maybe call some of her other girlfriends?” Mac suggested.

  “Okay, I’ll see what I can find out.” Gina disconnected and placed another call to Downy. This time she used her mother voice. “Crawford Downy, I can’t find my daughter. If I don’t hear from you in five minutes, I’m going to call the police.” Then she clicked off.

  “You did call the police,” her mother said, placing a glass of wine in front of Gina. “Calm down. What are you so afraid of?”

  She looked at Carrie imploringly. “That she’s in some kind of trouble. That she’s missing. That she ran off with Downy or something…I don’t know. This really isn’t like…” Her phone twittered. “Downy,” she said to her mother. She picked up the call immediately. “Where’s Ashley!” she demanded.

  “Easy, Gina,” Downy said smoothly. He’d grown up in Thunder Point, just like Ashley had. He’d known Gina and her mother since he was a little kid. “She’s on her way home. She’s fine.”

  “On her way home from where?” she demanded.

  “She came here, to State, to Corvallis.” He took a breath. “She wanted to talk about our…ah…situation. I was going to talk to her in person after our weekend game—I was coming home mostly to talk to Ash. But she couldn’t wait and drove up here.”

  Gina sank weakly onto a kitchen chair.

  “She’ll be home in a couple of hours or less,” he said.

  “She drove all the way to Corvallis to ask you why you don’t pick up or return her calls and you say she’s fine? Downy, what the hell is going on?”

  “Can you just ask Ash about that, okay? Because it’s—”

  “Is my daughter pregnant?”

  She felt rather than saw her mother sit straighter, even more alert. Gina had been an unmarried teenage mother.

  “No! God, no!” Downy nearly yelled into the phone. “Listen, really, if you’d just talk to Ashley about this when she gets home…”

  “Tell me right this second, Crawford Downy! My daughter has been upset about your relationship and she lied to me to take my car, drove three hours to Corvallis to talk to you and she’s just now on her way home? Tell me right now or I’ll call your mother!”

  The young man took a deep breath. “I don’t want to tell you this, Gina. It’s really between us, but…I felt like we might be getting too serious. I thought we should take a breather, maybe date around a little, you know.”

  Gina felt her stomach tie itself in a tight knot. Oh, God, her poor girl. No one could know better than Gina how something like that felt.

  “Let me guess, there’s someone at State you’ve started dating a little?” she asked acidly.

  “Come on, hey. I’m all the way up here, only see Ash a couple of weekends a month at the most. It got kind of old, sitting around my room alone twenty-six days of the month. She should be getting out more, too. It’s not that big a deal. We just need to lighten up a little, y’know?”

  “Why didn’t you tell her this before she drove all the way to Corvallis to find out what’s going on?”

  “I didn’t want to say it over the phone! I wanted to be decent about it!”

  And he hung up on her.

  It was just as well. She was going to have to kill him, anyway. Downy was eighteen. His behavior was hardly odd for a boy his age. Still…

  Gina looked at her mother. “I would not have let her drive all the way to Corvallis alone. Driving home alone. At night.”

  “I know. But she’ll be okay,” Carrie said. “She’s a bright girl. There’s no rain tonight. She knows the way as well as you do.”

  “God, I hope she’s okay,” Gina said.

  There was a knock at the door. “Mac!”

  Carrie got up from the table and let him in. “Hey, Mac,” she said.

  “Hey, Carrie. What do we know?”

  Carrie just inclined her head toward Gina.

  “She drove to Corvallis to talk to Downy, who, I gather, dumped her and sent her back home.”

  Mac lowered his gaze and shook his head.

  “She’ll be home in a couple of hours,” Gina said. “But what if she’s so upset she’s not safe and something happens?”

  Mac walked into the kitchen, slipped a strong arm around Gina’s waist and pulled her against him just briefly. He put a finger under her chin and looked into her eyes. “Never a good idea to drive when upset, but try to be realistic—if teenagers who just had a breakup had accidents, the accident rate would be too shocking to imagine. The road is good, the weather is good, she’ll get here. And she’ll need some comforting, I imagine.” He lifted one of her hands, which was trembling. “I think the wine is a good idea. Just calm down and be ready to be wise and understanding.”

  “What if I have to go get her or something?”

  “I’ll do it. Or Carrie will. Gina, honey, stuff like this happens. It’s not deadly.”

  “It sure feels that way,” she said in a small voice.

  *

  Gina and her mom sat at the kitchen table together talking quietly, waiting for Ashley to arrive, while Gina sipped on a glass of wine. They were two women who knew how deeply a girl of sixteen would feel the trauma of a breakup. Leaving the two of them to talk, Mac stepped away, into the living room, where he used his phone.

  When Ashley started dating Downy, Gina was brutally honest with her about the possible consequences of too much love too fast. She tried to discourage the dating, but there was little she could do—they saw each other at school every day and it was a match made in heaven. Gina had worried about what would happen when Downy moved on to college, leaving Ashley—who was two years younger—behind. But they had managed to make it work. Downy was back in Thunder Point most weekends, especially during football season and for holidays, and they talked and texted every day, many times a day.

  And then, in the peak of spring, with love all around, suddenly and without warning, Ashley said, “Something is wrong. Downy sends me right
to voice mail and he doesn’t call me back. Mom, something is wrong.”

  Gina had said, “He’s probably overwhelmed. He’s got baseball and, academically, he sometimes struggles. Try to be patient.” Downy was a jock, but not a strong student, which presented problems for some college athletes.

  “It never happened like this before,” Ashley wailed. “He’s said about ten words to me in a week. He’s busy, he says. He’s studying, he says. He doesn’t call me back because he doesn’t have time. He doesn’t answer my texts. He always texted more than me—right during class. I think he might be with someone new.”

  “Did you ask him?”

  “Of course! He said no! But he’s lying. I can tell he’s lying. And he’s never lied to me before!”

  “Ash, he’s only eighteen. You’re only sixteen. Let’s try not to go crazy here. Maybe this is a little adjustment of some—”

  “He said he loved me! What am I going to do?”

  The poor darling, Gina thought. Shattered and helpless. She took another sip of wine. Glancing at her glass she said to her mom, “Good suggestion.”

  “It’s always more dramatic when it’s your daughter. It cuts deeper,” Carrie said.

  “I don’t want her to ever hurt.” Gina whispered.

  “I know,” Carrie said. “Believe me, I know.”

  Gina hadn’t taken Ashley’s pout over Downy too seriously. After all, he was the scholarship kid with the atomic arm, gone to State to play ball and it was spring—baseball was the game of the day and Downy, a freshman, was starting pitcher. He was busy with practices and games, maybe too busy now to text and call Ashley all day. But Gina’s attention was definitely snagged by Ashley’s flight to Corvallis and Downy’s explanation that, stated simply, he was done with her. There was not a woman on the planet who didn’t know how much getting dumped could hurt. And as for mothers? It hurt more when your little girl suffered than when you suffered yourself.

  Mac came into the kitchen, poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down with Gina and Carrie. “I called my aunt Lou and told her what was going on and that I’d be staying with you until we knew a little more. Lou will manage the family while I’m here. And I talked to Eve. She knew Ashley was all sideways about Downy and she was worried about her, but she didn’t know she’d driven to Corvallis. I find that strange—they usually know everything the other is doing. Eve thought Ashley just skipped out on practice. So I’ll stay with you until she’s home.”