Code Redhead - A Serial Novel

by Sharon Kleve

  “I ran the Zephyr.”

  “Yes, I remember. The charter boat was blue and white. You took my parents out once on their anniversary.”

  He chuckled. “Yes I did.”

  “How’s your mom and dad?”

  “Good, they moved a few years back.”

  He shook his head. “The Keys aren’t for everyone.”

  “It wasn’t that. My father’s company put him in charge of one of their factories in Ohio. They upped his salary and benefits. He couldn’t turn it down.”

  “It’s good to see you two back together after all these years.”

  He turned and left.

  “Ugh! That’s so frustrating.”

  “What?” asked Ryder.

  “Everyone remembers us, but me.”

  “Why is it so important to remember the past?”

  “Because, if I did something wrong. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”

  He leaned forward, like he would kiss her, but Paul and Mindy surfaced, and he pulled back.

  “I’ve been coming here all my life,” Mindy said. “I still see things that I’ve never seen before.”

  Paul swam past her, pulled himself up and helped her onto the ledge. As though sensing tension, they both stared.

  “Is everything okay?” asked Mindy while drying her hair.

  “Everything’s great,” replied Ryder. “Right, Tara?”

  She chuckled, feeling slightly embarrassed. “Right.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Tara sat up, gasping for air. The sailboat on the front of her over-sized T-shirt, clung to her sweat-drenched skin. She kicked the covers off. Her legs were also bathed in sweat.

  The early morning sun worked its way through the blinds and she wondered what time it was. She read the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was eight-thirty. The smell of bacon seeped in under the door reminding her that she was hungry.

  She grabbed a pair of jeans and a tank top and pressed them to her chest. Tara opened the bedroom door, but this time instead of falling victim to another embarrassing collision with Ryder, she paused and looked both ways. The coast was clear. She opened the bathroom door and squealed. Ryder stood over the sink, grinning above his toothbrush.

  “Sorry,” she said, pulling the door shut.

  That made twice in two days he’d seen her a hot mess. She padded back to the sanctuary of her room to wait. There was a light rap on the door.

  “It’s all yours,” he said.

  “Thank you.”

  After a moment, she raced back to the restroom to get a shower. Standing under the warm water, she tried to make sense of last night’s dream. Her gut told her it had something to do with Ryder, but, what?

  After leaving the bathroom, she dropped her dirty clothes off in her room and hurried to the kitchen to join the others. Ryder and Paul were at the table discussing a Spanish ship that had mysteriously sunk on Key West’s coast in the 1800s. No one ever recovered the treasure. Between nods, they shoveled a mixture of bacon and eggs into their mouths.

  Tara went to the kitchen to see if she could help Mindy with breakfast. Her friend handed her a warm plate and told her to eat while it was still hot. Ryder smiled as she took a chair across the table from him. She returned the gesture.

  “Jerry called this morning about your car.”

  “What did he say?” Tara asked.

  “They ordered the hood but it will be four days before it comes in. Another two days to prep and paint it. Looks like you might need an extra week of vacation.”

  Mindy looked happy. So, did Ryder.

  After breakfast, Tara helped Mindy with the dishes. Paul and Ryder stepped out on the porch, probably discussing the treasure they wished they could recover like half a million other treasure hunters.

  “How’s the memory game going?” Mindy asked, drying a plate and stacking it on a shelf in the cabinet. “Have you remembered anything else?”

  Tara shook her head then remembered the dream.

  “What?” Mindy asked.

  “I had a dream last night.”

  “About?”

  “That’s just it. I don’t remember.” She wrinkled her nose in frustration.

  “Was Ryder in it?”

  “I don’t know, but I just have a gut feeling he was. And me. Maybe, even us as a couple.”

  Mindy chuckled. “You too look cute starting over.”

  “Oh thanks, Mindy.” She chuckled. “You should have seen his face when I walked in on him brushing his teeth.”

  “No. You should have seen his face when you stepped into the dining room.”

  “I just wish I could remember why we broke up in the first place.”

  “Maybe, you should leave it alone.”

  Tara frowned.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Thanks, Bill. I appreciate you covering the Miller case.” There was static in the background then silence. “Bill? Bill, are you still there?”

  “Yeah, but you’re breaking up—”

  Tara raised her voice. “I’ll call you in a few days when I know more.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “Enjoy your vacation. We’ll make do.”

  “Later, Bill.”

  She tossed the phone on the bed.

  There was a hard rap at the door. She went to see who it was. Probably, Mindy wanting to know if she was ready to go get back out on the water.

  To her surprise, Ryder leaned against the doorjamb in swim shorts and a T-shirt, with his arms crossed.

  “How’d it go?” he asked, glancing at the cell phone on the bed like he’d overhead her conversation with Bill.

  “Oh. My boss?” She shrugged. “He’s covering my case. He also approved another week of vacation.”

  Ryder’s gaze moved up and down her body. “Can’t say I’m disappointed. Get dressed. Mindy and Paul are waiting outside.”

  “Give me a second to get my suit on.” She shut the door and pressed her back into it, thinking how adorable Ryder was.

  She pulled her pale blue swimsuit out of the zipper pocket of her suitcase and slipped it on. Then tugged a pair of wind shorts over her hips and grabbed a T-shirt and pulled it over her head. She clipped her hair back and glancing at the cell phone on the end of the bed, decided to leave it there. It wasn’t waterproof. All she needed was to get it wet when it had all her work contacts on it. Not to mention, she hadn’t backed it up since she left Texas.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Wait up!”

  Ryder ran toward her in swim shorts, kicking up seawater with his bare feet. She waited for him to catch up.

  “Want some company?” he asked, stretching a T-shirt over his head.

  Despite setting out to clear her mind, she said yes.

  The sun on the horizon gave the water a pale orange glow. “I forgot how beautiful the sunsets are here.”

  “How long have you been away?”

  “Ten years.” She cleared her throat, surprised that he didn’t know that, then continued. “I moved to Corpus, after graduation, completed law school and landed a job at a downtown law firm.”

  “Nice.”

  She cocked her head, watching him pluck a marine mollusk from the sand and toss it back into the water.

  “I enlisted in the Marines.” His voice was so low that it was almost drowned out by the waves. “They sent me to Iraq to fight a war no one thought we could win.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “It wouldn’t do any good.”

  “Maybe not. But it might feel good to get it off your chest.”

  He took her by the wrist and pulled her into his personal space. His hands cupped her face. His lips brushed methodically against her lips like he was moving toward a goal he had yet to achieve. It was both intoxicating, as it was fondly familiar.

  A photo flashed in her head as if they’d done it before. She tried to dial in the memory. She could see herself on the beach, crying. The fear of being alone or abandoned swept over her
.

  Ryder brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “Are you okay?”

  Facing him, she whispered, “Did we spend a lot of time on this beach?”

  “Almost every day.”

  “We were on the beach, kissing.” Heat flooded her cheeks.

  “That could have been any number of nights,” he said.

  “I was carrying a bear.”

  “A black and white panda?” He smiled. “I won it for you at the carnival. Then I walked you home.”

  “Yes,” she said, grinning, “I remember that.”

  Ryder chuckled. “Cost me almost forty bucks before the woman handed me a rusty pellet gun from under the counter. I hit four out of four targets.”

  “I remember that,” Tara said, laughing.

  A neon sign flashed above a small snow cone shack. He paused to read the assortment of flavors.

  “You know you always get banana with a scoop of ice-cream.”

  Wide-eyed, she stared up at him. How did she know that?

  “Can I help you?” the girl behind the counter asked.

  “Let me have two medium snow cones.” He glanced down at her. “Banana with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream in the bottom.” He handed the young blonde girl his money and she counted out his change.

  Staring out over the water, another vision hit her. She was on the beach, rain was stinging her face, wind whipped at her hair as she hugged her body. Tears trickled down both cheeks.

  Ryder traced the bridge of her nose with his finger then drew her to his chest. It felt good to be in his arms. His manly scent enveloped her.

  The girl handed them the snow cones and told them to enjoy the night. They continued down the beach in silence except for the sound of slurping through straws. When they were done, Ryder dropped their empty cups in a trash receptacle along the sidewalk.

  He turned to her. A smile adorned his face. He seemed to be studying her, his gaze taking in her face, her hair. He brushed his mouth along her cheek then to her mouth.

  She parted her lips giving him unrestricted access. The kiss started out slow, then deepened.

  He whispered to the side of her face, “I’ve missed that.”

  She looked up at him. “Ryder?”

  “Yes?”

  “Did you love me back then?”

  He looked away like the memory was somehow painful.

  “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

  Sand squished between her toes followed by the foamy sea water lapping her ankles as they continued down the beach.

  The wave left a starfish stranded in the sand.

  “Look.” She pointed. “It’s still alive.”

  Ryder picked it up by a spiny tentacle and tossed it back into the water.

  “To answer your question, yes I loved you back then.” A sadness crept into his eyes and her heart thumped an extra beat when she got the feeling he still did. She smiled so big it covered the entire bottom half of her face.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Tara rose early the next morning and fashioned her hair into a ponytail then put on a pair of jeans and a pink tank top.

  Paul and Ryder said they were leaving at daybreak for a day of fishing. After brushing her teeth, Tara went to the kitchen to see what Mindy was up to.

  Mindy was at the table staring over the top of her laptop.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” Mindy said munching on a sausage patty.

  “It’s only seven o’clock,” Tara said, glancing at the clock above the pantry door. “Besides, I’m on vacation.”

  “Did you forget that we’re going to the high school today?”

  Tara palmed her forehead. “Is that today?”

  “The reunion’s tomorrow night.”

  Tara poured a small glass of orange juice and took a sip. She couldn’t believe she forgot, but with everything going on, it slipped her mind.

  Mindy rested her chin on her hand. “What time did you and Ryder get in last night?”

  “Late. We got a snow cone. When we got back, all the lights were off, so we sat out on the porch talking for hours.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t go to the lighthouse.”

  “Why?”

  “It was your favorite hangout.”

  Tara pursed her lips. “I did remember something last night.”

  “What?”

  Tara pulled out a chair and sat down staring at the plate piled high with sausages. She took one.

  “I remembered that Ryder liked banana snow cones. It was the funniest thing. He was trying to decide on a flavor and I just blurted it out.”

  “The doctor said everything could come back in pieces,” Mindy said. “So it shouldn’t be a surprise.”

  “Watching him, I knew in the end he would choose banana with a scoop of ice-cream.”

  “Well, that’s a good thing, right?”

  Tara nodded. “I guess. I also asked him if he loved me in high school.”

  “That was public knowledge, even back then. Ask anyone. They’ll tell you the same thing.”

  “Was it that obvious?”

  Mindy frowned. “You even picked out a house to buy after the wedding.”

  Tara arched a brow. “Wedding?”

  Her friend nervously nibbled her bottom lip.

  “Are you saying that Ryder and I were engaged?”

  “We better go.” Mindy took the plate of sausages to the kitchen and dumped it into a baggie then stuffed it into the icebox.

  Just as Mindy picked up her car keys, the phone rang.

  “Hello,” Mindy said, grinning then handing her the phone. “It’s Jerry.”

  Tara took it hoping he had good news regarding her car.

  “This is Tara.”

  “I thought you would like to know, your hood arrived this morning. We’ll prep it today. Should have it ready by the end of the week.”

  Tara thought the news would cheer her up, but it didn’t. It only reminded her she would be leaving soon.

  After thanking Jerry, she stared down at the floor.

  “Is everything okay?” Mindy asked, from the doorway.

  “Yeah,” she said. “My car should be done by the end of the week.”

  “That’s good news, right?”

  Tara forced a smile and nodded. Truth was, she wasn’t looking forward to saying goodbye to Ryder.

  Mindy had a yellow Jeep with dark tinted windows and wide grooved tires perfect for cruising the beach. Unlike her red Corvette, which would get buried in the sand.

  As Mindy drove down Main Street, it felt like stepping back in time compared to Corpus Christi. Ten years had passed, yet everything still showed the same old scars of how vulnerable the islands were to Mother Nature. Few tourists knew that the original name given to Key West was, Cayo Hueso. When translated, it meant Bone Key or Isle of Bones.

  When the island was young, it was plagued with seedy pirates that left a trail of death spawning ghost stories. Justice was often determined without a judge or jury. The condemned were simply carted off to a hanging tree. One of which was still a historical landmark and conversation piece at one of the local saloons.

  “Thanks for coming,” Mindy said turning into the parking lot of Cindy’s Catering to check on the food for tomorrow night’s festivities.

  “No problem,” Tara said, climbing out of the Jeep. She shut the door and met Mindy on the driver’s side. “I can’t wait to see everyone after all these years.”

  Mindy gave her a funny look. “Don’t you mean, you can’t wait to see Casey Johnson’s face when you stroll in with Ryder?”

  Tara gave her a smirk. Surely, Casey has gotten over her crush on Ryder after ten years.

  “Hey there,” Cindy said stepping from the back. “Glad you stopped by. I need to get your take on cake.”

  “Sure,” said Mindy.

  “Tara? Is that you?”

  Tara chuckled and nodded. Cindy had put on a few extra pounds but it looked good on her. She still had cu
rly auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail, and freckles.

  Cindy walked around the counter and gave her a hug. “Been a long time. How’s Corpus treating you?”

  “Good,” Tara said. “After law school, I got a job at a local firm.”

  “Wow, I’m impressed. Most of us never leave the Keys.”

  Tara stared down at the delicious mini deserts and cupcakes and regretted not scarfing down more sausage.

  Mindy rubbed her hands together. “Let’s see your masterpiece.”

  Cindy took them down a hall and into an extremely cold walk-in cooler. She pointed to a three-tiered cake decorated in blue and white icing that looked like Key West’s beach and shoreline. But, it was the lighthouse on the top layer that held Tara’s attention.

  “Nice,” Mindy said with her hands on her hips. “What do you think, Tara?”

  Tara was too distracted by the visions in her head to answer.

  In a cloudy haze, she saw Ryder in the lighthouse, on a black wrought iron stairwell. It felt like yesterday. She wiggled free and hurried up the stairs with his boots clanging against the steps behind her. At the top, a breeze tugged at her hair as she gazed over the side.

  Ryder spun her around by the shoulders. “Marry me, Tara.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  After leaving Cindy’s Catering business, they stopped by the high school gym to see how the decorations were coming along. The gym doors were propped open and they went inside. Music blared from the gym’s speakers. Everything was decorated in orange and white, their school colors. Almost immediately, a girl with shoulder-length ash blonde hair marched toward them.

  “Tara?”

  Tara blinked, hoping Mindy would say the girl’s name but, her friend headed toward several other girls attaching orange and white balloons to the ceiling beams.

  “Look at you,” the girl said, looking her up and down. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

  Tara grinned, happy she didn’t notice the ten pounds she’d put on since high school.

  “Just in time,” the girl said, standing in front of a table piled high with white carnations. “You can help me with the flower arrangements.”