Love Finds You in Holiday, Florida

by Sandra D. Bricker

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Millicent has the Southern-bred ability to spread gossip faster than a speeding crawfish.”

  “Even if I ask her not to say anything to—?”

  Cassie cut herself off. She hadn’t even finished the thought before realizing that there was no fighting it. Giving Millicent something juicy to tell and then asking her not to tell it would be like putting a screen door on a submarine. She wouldn’t be able to help herself.

  “You’re right,” she breathed. “I can’t tell Millicent.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But you know, everyone in town thinks it’s you.”

  “I know.”

  “And it’s only going to spread from here. Doesn’t that bother you?”

  “The only part that really bothered me,” he said, leaning forward and staring at the floor, “was letting you think it was me.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Why?” When he didn’t respond right away, Cassie grinned. “Because you’re sweet on me?” She elbowed him and giggled. “Huh? Is that why?”

  Richard raised his head and narrowed his eyes, burning a hole straight through her.

  “Do you still want to know what I think about that?” she asked him.

  He looked as if he was going to simply shrug, but then he turned it around with an abrupt nod. “I do.”

  “Well,” she began, and then she heaved a hefty sigh. “The truth is…I don’t know how I feel about it, and that’s why I didn’t respond to you sooner than this. Even after all these months, I can’t really wrap my brain around the fact that Zan is gone, but he is. And he’s not coming back. And I have to move on but, frankly, I just don’t know how to do that.”

  Richard nodded. “I get that.”

  “So I can’t give you any definitive answer. Even though you didn’t really ask any questions. I mean, I can’t deny there’s something going on here—an attraction or chemistry or something. But the thing is, Richard, you know…I…uh—” Cassie broke off and blew a puff of air up under her bangs. “I’m babbling, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll stop now.”

  “Good idea.”

  “So we’re good?” she asked him timidly. “For the moment?”

  “For the moment.”

  “Good.”

  “And you’re keeping my secret?”

  “For the moment,” she replied with a smile.

  “Good.”

  And with that, Richard leaned back into the sofa cushions behind him and sighed. “So about that green stuff you had on your face. What in the world was that?”

  Chapter Twelve

  17 ACROSS: Causing one to gasp; thrillingly beautiful

  Cassie had to read it a second time. She didn’t know what the twelve-letter answer was for 17 Across, but the clue made her heart beat a little faster to know that Zan was able to think of a word that meant “causing one to gasp” and “thrillingly beautiful” and still manage to associate it with her.

  She looked hard at her reflection in the sliding glass door as she wondered if he’d ever included such lovely clues in his crosswords before. The answers she could remember from years past were words like dependable, loving, and sensible.

  But thrillingly beautiful?

  Cassie squinted at her image again, trying to find something thrilling or beautiful there, and then she grinned from one ear to the other.

  Causing one to gasp!

  She especially liked that clue, but it poked her with an instant reminder of Richard’s reaction when she’d unwittingly opened the door to him while donning a full Kabuki-style facial mask. The recollection caused her to chuckle out loud while she smeared another blob of peanut butter onto a saltine.

  The sun would be coming up soon. As soon as she finished eating, she’d grab a quick shower and get dressed in the hope that she might have time to share some coffee with the sunrise before Tameka arrived at eight thirty. Florida certainly held the top spot in the country for amazing sunrises, and she’d been kind of dreaming about experiencing one of them close-up from outside at the end of her dock. This morning might just find her in the right place at the right time to do that.

  Cassie downed the last of the cold skim milk in her glass and then reached forward to move the crystal “Surprise Yourself” box closer. She plucked out the first card and read the scripture verse on the front.

  “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it” Philippians 1:6.

  She popped another cracker into her mouth as she turned over the card.

  Think about the bigger picture today.

  Funny, that was just what she intended to do.

  And then the second sentence gave her a bit of a scrape.

  Who are you destined to become?

  Cassie sighed, fixing her focus on the chair rail on the wall across from her for no good reason except that it was there.

  “I wish I knew,” she told the card, and then she tucked it into the back of the box and closed the lid.

  The question hummed inside her as she put away the jar of peanut butter and placed the knife in the dishwasher. It continued to sing softly throughout her shower and while she applied some makeup and put on her clothes. Pumping up the volume, it throbbed to the beat of her heart as she dragged a chair out to the edge of the dock and sat down, resting a cup of coffee on the knee of her denim jeans. She reached over the arm of the chair to scratch Sophie’s neck. The collie sat beside her, erect and looking out at the water, a stuffed reindeer hanging out of her mouth.

  Who am I destined to become? Cassie asked herself in harmony with the echo of the message on that card.

  She thought back to the morning that she and Zan had brought Debra home from the hospital. Sitting there in the bright white rocking chair, surrounded by pale green walls and a border around the room illustrated with happy dancing bears wearing soft yellow hats and light blue ribbon sashes, her destiny became so clear. Her future was all about that tiny baby in her arms, as pink as the cashmere blanket that held her. Cassie knew then that her destiny was to become the best mother she could possibly be.

  Debra was all grown up now, and she’d probably had those very same thoughts on the mornings when she’d brought Zach and Jake home from the hospital. When Zachary had been christened at the little stone church near Debra’s home in suburban Baltimore, Zan had wrapped his arm around Cassie’s shoulder and squeezed her toward him.

  “Well, Mac,” he’d said, “this is one of those defining moments. Our girl has officially broken free of us, and it’s just you and me now.”

  The horizon beamed with pink and orange as the memory tickled Cassie’s heart. Zan was gone, and she was alone. She’d never imagined she would grow old without him.

  Think about the bigger picture today. Who are you destined to become?

  It was a very good question, and she was just on the brink of that place where she needed to answer it soon. While she pondered the subject, the bright pinks and oranges on the horizon gave way to purples, and then the blue Florida sky emerged. The occasional cotton ball of white fluff appeared, but for the most part she saw an endless indigo canopy stretched out over the river canal, beyond the roofs of the houses on the other side of the wooden docks, and clearing the tops of the tallest palm trees in the distance.

  By the time Tameka arrived at 8:35, Cassie had spent more than enough time with her own questions and thoughts. She was ready for a second cup of coffee and some digging for information.

  “I spent the morning watching the sun come up,” she told her friend, as she set down two mugs of hot coffee between them at the dining room table. “You really have to give the place credit for those sunrises, don’t you?”

  “I try to see as few of them as possible,” Tameka replied playfully. “I much prefer to sleep through them and concentrate on the sunsets instead.”

  “Well, those are good, too.”

  T
ameka’s smile was so engaging and warm. Her teeth were as white as pearls against her light tea-colored lips and dark brown skin, and her cocoa eyes sparkled like glass in sunlight.

  “I think I have some pretty good news for you.” She gleamed, and Cassie straightened in anticipation.

  “You do?”

  “I haven’t been able to find out who’s behind the offer, but those mystery guests I told you about are willing to pay you eleven grand more than the asking price for your house.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “I’m not. Their representative paid me a visit yesterday.”

  “Do you have a guess about who he’s representing?”

  “Well, the Holiday rumor mill has been circulating a theory about Richard Dillon being behind this. He used to be an attorney for a big developer, so it’s not so far out of the realm of possibility.”

  “Is that what you think?”

  “No, I don’t think it’s Richard. The questions this guy was asking just don’t seem to be questions Richard would need to ask. He’s been living in this community long enough to know.”

  Cassie nodded, trying to keep her expression as close to blank as possible without going over the edge to unconvincing.

  “So who does that leave?”

  “I hope I’m wrong, but I think this guy is a front for the Mandalay Corporation.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “They’re developers out of California. There’s a history there of buying up property that backs up to a central location of interest, like a lake or some developed tourist attraction like a national park.”

  “Or a golf course?” Cassie asked, trying to maintain a display of casual curiosity.

  “Right. This would be small potatoes for them, but I can’t get a line on anyone else. They usually come in and strip the place down to the bare bones and start again. It’s great for bringing jobs into a community, but it’s not so great for the residents when their taxes go sky-high and their quiet surroundings turn into an amusement park of tourists and traffic. I’d hate to see that happen to Holiday.”

  “I don’t really see it happening, Tameka. I mean, Millicent, for one, isn’t going to sell. They can’t just build around her.”

  “Oh, Cassie, if it’s Mandalay, they can and they will. And when it becomes unbearable for her to remain, they’ll give her a pittance for her house and she’ll take it just to escape. The golf course is the main attraction here, I think. As I said, that’s very small potatoes for Mandalay, but it goes to auction next week. Once they have that, there will be no stopping the progress.”

  “What if someone else buys the golf course?”

  “Someone who can afford to outbid Mandalay? Not likely.”

  Cassie’s spirits dropped. She wanted to ask Tameka if she could help Richard get the golf course before it went to auction, if she had any information or connections that could aid him, if only for the good of the community of Holiday. But she couldn’t break his trust, and she’d promised her silence.

  “So you have a decision to make,” Tameka told her. “Do you want to take their offer?”

  “Oh, Tameka, I don’t know. It seems like such a betrayal of Holiday.”

  “I understand. But your goal is to leave here, so I have to present the offer to you and let you decide based on your own priorities.”

  “Why do you have to be so fair-minded?” Cassie said, chuckling. “Can I have some time to think about it?”

  “I’ll call you in a day or two.”

  Cassie stood in the doorway and waved at Tameka after she pulled out of the driveway. The minute her Dodge Caravan shifted into Drive and headed down the street, Cassie closed and locked the front door, raced through the living room, grabbed her purse and keys, and flew into the garage.

  She’d only been to Richard’s house that one time, the first night they met, when she gave him a ride home after the Hootzes’ boat sank. She wasn’t sure she remembered how to navigate the twists and turns of his neighborhood, but she defied her own doubts and drove straight to the one-story ranch with the brick planter out front.

  She knocked on the door and then tapped her foot while she waited for him to answer.

  “Cassie!” Richard exclaimed when he opened the door.

  “I should have called,” she said. “Are you busy?”

  “No. Come on in.”

  She brushed by him into the foyer, and while he closed the door behind her, she peered into the living room and immediately met the gaze of a large albino fish with red eyes and a thick mustache. Its glass tank was built into an enormous wooden cabinet that acted as a separation wall between the living room and dining room.

  “What’s up?” Richard asked as he led her inside.

  She couldn’t take her eyes off the odd fish, and she approached the aquarium and gave the glass a soft tap. “Hi there.”

  “That’s Chi Chi.”

  “Chi Chi?” she repeated with a laugh. “Well. Good morning, Chi Chi.” Several other varieties of fish swam out from behind the plants at the back of the tank.

  “Chi Chi Rodriguez. He’s an Albino Aeneus Cory Cat. There are a couple more like him in there.”

  “What are these others, here?” she asked, pointing at the smaller, rounder occupants that looked as if they’d been dipped in gold.

  “Gold Veil Angels,” he told her. “Jack and Arnold.”

  Cassie looked at Richard, and he gave her a sheepish grin.

  Pointing at the darker, striped guy keeping to the far side of the tank, she said, “Let me guess. This one’s Tiger?”

  “How did you know?”

  “My husband loved golf, remember? Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer… What is it with the game of golf?” Cassie asked him, shaking her head. “Men become absolutely giddy and obsessed!”

  Richard stared at her in disbelief. “Uh, it’s golf,” he stated. “The greatest sport in history.”

  “Oh, please. Can I sit down?”

  “Be my guest. Can I get you something? Coffee?”

  “No, thank you. I wanted to tell you about a conversation I had with Tameka this morning. She got an offer on my house, without them ever setting foot inside.”

  “Ahh,” Richard groaned, and the two of them sat down at opposite ends of the micro-suede camel sectional. “Any idea who’s behind the offer?”

  “Have you ever heard of the Mandalay Corporation?”

  Recognition sparked in Richard’s crystal blue eyes, and he nodded. “Of course.”

  “Tameka hasn’t been able to confirm it yet, but she thinks that’s who it is.”

  “I thought they stayed out West,” he remarked. “California, Arizona, New Mexico; those are Mandalay’s usual stomping grounds, if I remember correctly. And Holiday seems like small-time for a company like Mandalay. Why did Tameka zone in on them?”

  “She didn’t say. She just said that’s who she suspected.”

  Richard leaned forward, his elbows pressed into both knees, and Cassie watched as the wheels of thought churned in his expression.

  “Thank you, Cassie,” he said.

  “I knew you wanted to know who you were up against.”

  “I don’t know how much good it will do to know, but I appreciate it,” he told her.

  “You know, I’ve really been thinking about this,” she said. “And I can’t figure it out.”

  “Figure what out?”

  “Well, why are they offering so much more than the appraised value? I mean, if they’re buying up all the property in the area, shouldn’t they be trying to get it for as little as possible?”

  “I can’t begin to tell you what the logic is behind any of it,” Richard admitted with a shake of his head. “Are you going to accept their offer?”

  “That’s why I wanted to speak to you. How much damage will I do if I take the money and run?”

  Richard turned his head and watched the fish swim for several moments before answering. “I’m debating on giving you the selfish answer o
r the one that’s good for you.”

  Cassie smiled. “Why don’t you give me both?”

  “I don’t want you to go,” he admitted as he looked into her eyes with such intensity that it rocked something inside her. “So, no, I don’t think you should take their offer. I think you should hold out for a legitimate buyer, someone who is going to appreciate the work you’ve put into making that house a home for them.”

  “And?”

  “Oh. Well, the flip side is that, yes, you should take their offer. You can be back in Boston by the new year and put sinking pontoon boats and ballroom foot-stomping lessons and everything else about Holiday far behind you, once and for all.”

  Not so fast, she thought. What if I don’t want to put everything about Holiday behind me?

  The sudden consideration astonished her, even as it jiggled around in her mind.

  “Speaking of the new year…,” she began. She pressed her pant legs with both hands. “The seniors are having a costume disco party at the church on New Year’s Eve. The flyer says it will say good-bye to the seventies—never mind that most of them have already said good-bye to their seventies.”

  Richard grinned. “I heard. Also never mind that they’ll all be home and in bed by 9:30.”

  “Could be,” she replied on a laugh. “Do you have a date?”

  “Did you just call me a senior?” he asked.

  “Certainly not!” she exclaimed, punctuating it with a giggle. “But I know they all adore you. So I wondered if you’d like to go with me.”

  Richard gazed at her without speaking, something akin to curiosity in his expression.

  “We can wear spandex and polyester and big hair,” she teased. “It will be a happening!” She paused. “Will you be my date, Richard?”

  “Millicent won’t mind?”

  “Well, she’ll be with us, of course.”

  “In that case, I’d love to,” he said, and then he pointed at the ceiling in an overly casual Travolta move.

  “That’s great! I’ll stock up on hair spray and dig up some spandex.”

  He’d almost decided not to invite Cassie along, but as Richard turned and glanced at her now, he was really glad that he had. The window on the passenger side was rolled three-quarters of the way down, and there was a chilly breeze pushing back her hair. She closed her eyes and tilted her face into the sunlight, and he thought what a beautiful, porcelain face it was.