Barefoot Bay: A Soldier's Surprise (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Beyond Valor Book 2)

by Lynne St. James

  “Mrs. Mitchell?”

  “Yes, sorry. I was thinking. Thank you for checking with us, but we’re going to have to skip it.”

  “Sure, no problem. Have a great day and if there is anything you need let us know.”

  “Thank you.” She hung up the phone and made a dash for the bathroom. Oh yay, and it’s just beginning. Ugh. I’m only four months along. She sure hadn’t missed that. Fully awake she decided to take a shower before she hunted down her husband.

  The collection of empty scotch bottles on the island in the kitchen didn’t bode well. Sure enough, he was stretched out on the chaise and snoring loud enough to wake the dead. He only snored like that when he’d had too much to drink, and seeing four other bottles sitting on the table next to him, told her all she needed to know.

  Most of her anger had dissipated while she was in the shower, but it was back with a vengeance. She couldn’t believe he decided that the right choice was to drink himself into oblivion rather than talk to her. So much for a romantic weekend. If the chair had been any closer to the pool’s edge she’d have pushed him in, and it would have served him right.

  It didn’t often happen, maybe three or four times in their entire marriage, but when he drank like that it usually took him most of the day to sleep it off. She wasn’t going to sit around and wait for him all day. Food sounded like a plan. Even the sour scent of scotch didn’t stop her stomach from growling. They hadn’t eaten much at all yesterday, probably not the best thing for her baby either.

  Leaving Logan to sleep off his alcohol induced coma, she grabbed her purse, cell phone and one of the key cards. Making her way along the path they’d taken yesterday, she stopped by the main building to get something to eat and figure out a plan. Exploring the island sounded like a great idea, and while she was at it, maybe she’d figure out what to do next.

  Chapter Ten

  It was early Sunday and considering it was a semi-large resort, she was surprised there weren’t many people around. Deciding to check out Junonia, she took the waitresses suggestion and ordered the French toast. It was delicious, maybe the best she’d ever had, and she couldn’t thank the woman enough for the suggestion. After she had finished eating, she stopped by the reservation desk to ask about suggestions for her little exploration trip. Lacey wasn’t there. Instead, it was a younger woman, but she was just as knowledgeable and helpful. She handed Chloe a couple of maps and explained a bit about the island.

  Looking forward to some quiet time to think, she went out to the car and headed into town. Susan, the clerk, said she could pick up some snacks from the Super Min at the Four-way. It sounded like code. Super Min? For way? What? Armed with the map and directions to town, she meandered through the parking lot, enjoying the bright early summer morning and stopped to sniff the flowering plants. It was supposed to be a fun weekend, and she planned to enjoy it even if it killed her. Depending on how things went with Logan later, it just might.

  Chloe drove down Harbor Drive until she reached the intersection with Center Street and she realized why Susan called it the four-way. All roads led to the center of the quaint little beach town and met at the “Four-way.” There was even a motel named after it. Cute. She pulled into the parking lot, checked her gas gauge, and decided to fill up while she was there. Since she wasn’t sure how much exploring she was going to do, it didn’t hurt to have a full tank.

  After she parked and got out of the car, she stopped and surveyed the area. It looked like the town she’d visited with her parents when she was a child. Colorful stucco buildings, some with awnings, and just an overall sleepy feel. She wished Logan was there to see it with her, but then she remembered why he wasn’t, and her temper flared. Shaking her head, she reminded herself she was there enjoy herself, explore, and maybe pick up a few gifts for Lily and the girls. Thinking about Logan could wait until later. With her plan made, she pulled open the door of the Mini Mart and stepped inside.

  The little store was empty, on the old side and without much of a selection of healthy snacks. She found a container of nuts and a couple of granola bars, then grabbed a couple of water bottles from the cooler. As she approached the register, she came under the scrutiny of a pair of dark brown eyes. Chloe smiled at the woman, who was drumming her long bright red nails on the counter, her face set in a sour expression. The woman’s mouth showed no hint of a smile in return, and Chloe contemplated putting her stuff back and leaving. The town might look friendly, but someone forgot to tell this woman.

  “You must be staying up at the resort.”

  “Ah, yes I am. Me and my husband.”

  “Where’s he then?”

  Taken aback, and already on edge, Chloe’s temper bristled. “I don’t think that is really any of your business. Is it?”

  “Everything’s my business.”

  “Umm, well,” Chloe started and looked for the woman’s name tag. “I just want to buy these and get some gas, then I’ll be gone, and you can forget you saw me. How’s that?”

  “Snippy little thing, aren’t you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Are you hard of hearing?”

  “No. Are you always this rude?” Before the woman could answer, the door opened, and another woman came in. Overhearing the tail end of Chloe’s remark, she chuckled.

  “Don’t mind Charity. She’s always like this. Mostly she’s harmless.”

  “Nora…” The woman whose name turned out to be Charity said with a warning.

  “Charity?” The ornery woman just shook her head and rang up Chloe’s items.

  “Twenty-five thirty-two.”

  “What? For a jar of nuts, two granola bars, and two bottles of water?”

  “Not enough? I can make it higher.”

  Looking back and forth between the two women, Chloe decided to get out while she was ahead. “Can you add ten dollars of gas, too?”

  “That’ll be thirty-five thirty-two then.” Chloe handed the woman two twenty dollar bills and shouldn’t have been surprised when she whipped out one of these security markers from her pocket to check them. Seriously, what was wrong with this woman? Was the whole town like her?

  After making sure they were real, she gave Chloe her change.

  “May I have a bag, or is there an extra charge?”

  The woman named Nora laughed and Charity looked like she had sucked on a lemon, but grabbed a bag from behind the counter. “Maybe you should go back to the resort and take care of your husband.”

  Shaking her head, Chloe grabbed the bag and stuffed her things in, and left without another word. There would be no winning with that woman. And who in the world thought that Charity would be a good name for her? She was so flustered from her experience in the store, she almost left without pumping the gas. She was sure Charity would have loved that.

  Finally, on her way, she set out for the Calusa House and Museum on Barefoot Mountain. The idea of a mountain on the little island amused her, but she loved studying Native American history, and her parents had taken her to many pow-wows when she was growing up. But then again, she loved history, studying, reading and immersing herself in it.

  The Calusa House and Museum weren’t as large as she’d hoped but it was also relatively new. They curator told her that they’d only unearthed all the artifacts a few years ago around the time they were building the new baseball stadium and that the owner had planned on locating his new home on the land. Instead, he’d donated it, and the museum was built.

  Chloe wandered around the small building, reading all the information and enjoying the peaceful surroundings. She felt at home there, no idea why, but she knew she’d made the right choice to visit. After she’d gone over every inch of the museum, she returned to the car. Her stomach rumbled, and when she pulled out her phone to check the time, she was surprised to see it was mid-afternoon. How had she burned so much time? It had been before nine when she’d left Logan sleeping it off.

  Shrugging, she decided she wasn’t ready to return t
o the villa, and ate some of the nuts and one of the granola bars she’d purchased from the wretched woman in the mini mart. It wasn’t too far to the new baseball stadium and shops, and she decided to make that her next stop.

  ***

  The heat of the sun beating on his face woke Logan from his scotch-induced slumber. Disoriented, it took him a few minutes to realize he was still outside by the pool. Oh shit. Chloe was going to be pissed. Then he snorted. Was going to be? Fuck. She was beyond that last night or actually early morning if he remembered right.

  It hadn’t started out as an argument, and he still wasn’t sure how it had morphed from talking about his nightmares to his always being gone, and then the bombshell she’d dropped about being pregnant. His head throbbed, and little flashes of lights dotted his vision. A sure sign a migraine was on the way. Asshole. The perfect way to celebrate your anniversary, right?

  That Chloe hadn’t woken him earlier wasn’t a good sign either. From the location of the sun, it had to be near mid-afternoon. She was probably still pissed. Just how long had he slept out there? Had housekeeping come by and seen him stretched out in his boxers? Fuckin’ A.

  His eyes rested on the four empty mini-bottles of scotch that stood in a line on the little table, a reminder of how stupid he’d been. Worse was he knew there had to be more based on how shitty he was feeling, but he couldn’t remember how many there’d been. Not good at all. He wasn’t used to drinking hard alcohol, hell he rarely had a beer. They were in a no drinking, no smoking location. Plenty of the guys snuck cigs, but alcohol was confiscated. The last thing their superiors wanted was for them to show a lack of respect to the locals. It was kind of crazy since at least half of them had made it their life’s work to kill as many westerners as possible. Fuckin’ Jihad.

  Realizing he was stalling, he stood—slowly—hoping he wouldn’t blow chow. It would have been the icing on the cake for sure. Eww. Don’t think about cake. He moved tentatively hoping if he didn’t jostle his head too much it wouldn’t turn into the full blown migraine lying in wait. Offering up a prayer Chloe wouldn’t yell when she saw him, he opened the French doors and went inside the villa.

  The air-conditioned air washed over his sun-heated body and eased some of the pain in his head. Quiet. No sign of Chloe anywhere. He searched the villa and searched again thinking she might have left him a note. Nothing. Not a damn thing. Maybe she’d left him a text. Where had he left his phone?

  The bedroom. The scene of the crime—aka nightmare—that triggered everything. Why couldn’t he have gotten through a couple more nights without having one? He’d managed to hide them from everyone but Alex for the last year. So why now? When it did more damage than he ever imagined.

  Grabbing his phone from the bedside table, he swiped the screen, but there was nothing. No missed calls and no texts either. She must have been even more pissed than he realized, or maybe finding him in his drunken stupor pushed her over the edge. He winced thinking about the lovely picture he must have made.

  Oh well. He’d learned after the first year of marriage that if he made a mistake, the best thing to do was apologize. He wasn’t even beyond groveling at this point. Rather than take the chance, he sent Chloe a text.

  Hi, baby. Where are you?

  Running his hand over his face and feeling the day old growth, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to shower while he was waiting to hear back. With any luck by the time he was done she’d have returned and they could calmly—hopefully—talk it out. Clean, shaved and probably smelling a whole lot better he pulled on a pair of shorts and a polo shirt. There still was no sign of Chloe, and she hadn’t answered his text either.

  He was worried. He had no idea when she’d left or where she’d gone. When he reached for the keycard, he saw the other one was already gone. That told him something but not much. Her purse and phone were gone too, but again, standard. Pulling his phone from his pocket he checked the bars thinking maybe the reception was poor, but he had all five. She was either still pissed, her phone was dead, or she was hurt. Maybe something happened with the baby?

  The pounding in his temples increased, the migraine was determined to show its ugly face, but he was just as determined to ignore it. After swallowing a couple of Advil and half a bottle of water, he went searching for his wife. First stop would be the main building. Maybe she’d decided to get a massage, although he’d booked a day of beauty for her tomorrow. His head was too muddled to reason this out, he’d just have to follow his instincts. Maybe, this time, he’d learn his lesson and leave the hard stuff the fuck alone.

  Chapter Eleven

  Who’d have thought goats could be so adorable? After visiting the goat farm and a bunch of little shops, not only had Chloe found some beautiful scented candles to bring back for Lily but she’d bought a couple of stuffed goats for the girls. They weren’t as cute as the real thing but would be a lot easier to take care of. She grinned thinking about the look on Logan’s face if she’d brought a real goat home. The girls would have been ecstatic.

  Thinking about Logan, she reached in her purse to check her phone, but she couldn’t find it. Then she remembered she’d been looking at her pictures from the museum and scenery she’d taken while having her snack, and probably had left it in the car. Not sure what time it was, the rumbling in her stomach told her she was late for her next meal.

  Stashing her packages in the trunk, she got into the car, and the phone was waiting for her sitting on the console. After starting the ignition, the clock displayed three o’clock. Holy crap no wonder she was hungry and tired. The French toast for breakfast had been impressive, but she’d eaten at eight and only had the nuts and granola since then. Seeing the time made her check the phone to see if Logan had tried to reach her. Two messages were waiting for her, both from Logan. She wondered when he’d woken up, and what he was thinking about their argument. After the delightful day, she felt a lot better about things. Maybe she’d just needed some alone time to get her head back together. She wasn’t going to argue about it anymore, that’s for sure.

  Not wanting to argue, and not wanting to let him off the hook yet either, she decided to make him wait a little longer and drove back to the resort. She was pulling into the parking lot when she saw him. He was actually pacing back and forth in the spot their car had been parked in. When she got closer, she realized he was talking on the phone. Now his pacing made more sense. He always walked around when he talked on the phone, it was like he hated sitting still for any reason.

  She pulled into the spot next to where he was, and their eyes met through the window. His brows were drawn together with concern and something else. The stiffness of his back and tension across his chest told her something was definitely wrong. Had something happened to the girls? Grabbing her phone, she checked her messages. Nothing except his two texts and all they said was hi and where are you.

  Not the girls then, because Lily would have definitely called her first. So what was going on? If it was about her, he would have hung up the phone as soon as he saw her. The rumbling in the pit of her stomach turned to a slow burn, and a chill slid down her spine. Her intuition told her something was very wrong. But she wasn’t going to figure it out sitting in the car.

  After taking a deep breath, she reasoned that whatever it was they’d get through it together. She grabbed her phone and shoved it in her purse and got out of the car.

  “Yes, sir. I understand. What about the colonel…”

  Who was he talking to? The wrinkles between his eyes and set of his jaw told her how angry he was, but it wasn’t coming out in his voice. That meant only one thing, he was speaking to a superior officer, and it definitely wasn’t good news. But what could it be when he was thousands of miles away from Afghanistan.

  “No, sir. I’ll make sure I’m on the transport.” Hearing the fateful words, a loud buzzing started in her ears, and the sunlight faded turning to gray. She had just enough time to reach out her hand as she blacked out.

  ***


  It happened in slow motion, like a dream sequence in a movie. One minute Chloe was standing between him and the car trying to figure out who he was talking to if he knew his wife at all. Then in the span of a few seconds, he watched the color drain from her face. Not even a second later she passed out. He dropped his phone and caught her just before she hit the pavement. Lifting her into his arms he bent and retrieved the phone.

  The captain was still talking, and he had to cut him off. “Sorry, sir. But I’m going to have to get back to you. Chloe just passed out, and I’m standing in the middle of the parking lot.”

  “Okay, Logan. Get back to me as soon as you get back home. I’ll leave any other orders for you at the base. Take care of your wife.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Logan headed for the lobby hoping that being inside in the cooler air would help revive Chloe. He couldn’t remember her ever fainting in all the time he’d known her. Was it the baby? Or something else?

  As he crossed the marble floors of the lobby, the woman at the front desk ran over to him.

  “Oh no. What happened to Mrs. Mitchell?”

  “I’m not sure. She just fainted in the parking lot.”

  “Here let’s get her into the spa. They’ll have a place she can lie down.”

  He followed Susan, according to her nametag, through one of the doorways into the Eucalyptus Spa. Tranquility would be the word he’d use to describe it, and it might even have been what was used in the brochure. Either way, it was true. Like he’d been transported into a secret garden.

  Susan spoke to a tall, thin woman who’d been chatting with another woman. As she approached with Susan, Chloe started to stir in his arms.

  “I’m Joss Palmer, the manager. Let’s get her into one of the rooms.”